As with most projects and rebuilds, they all start in the same place, mine was no different. However, this isn’t truely the start of my forever ongoing Z project. I’ve owned this car (my second Z) since 2008 when I purchased it from a former member. For the first 5 or 6 years I did the usual mods with suspension parts and basic bolt ons. For reasons unknown, whilst running stock boost, piston 5 cracked a ring land during a track day at Castle Coombe. A forged build and a remap later all was well until a sunny October’s day 2013 at Bruntingthorpe killed that engine with what at the time was a suspected head gasket failure at 181mph..... And this is where I shall start my journal.

 

The Z was stored off the road from Oct 2013 until March 2015. I’d had a major knee operation at the beginning of 2015 which meant I was going to be off work for 6 months. I’d saved up enough to start thinking about a parts list to rebuild her and frankly, after a couple of months of staring at the same 4 walls, I was going stir crazy! I employed the help of a good friend and decided to pull the engine and see what was what.... just a head gasket my arse!

 

March 2015

Problem 1: It turns out stainless steel, exhaust wraps and condensation don’t mix well

 

Before I’d even got the engine out, a new set of downpipes was added to this list. These AMS items were only 2 years old, so I was far from impressed! I contacted the retailer and after a bit of tooing and froing I secured myself a set of replacements for free... how long they will last, only time will tell!

I’ve also finished the sound deadening across the rear arches, bench seat and inside the doors.

once I topped and tailed that, the replacement early spec carpet and boot carpet went in, as did the seats and trim panels.

 

The dash and centre console are staying out for the time being while I sort the wiring out for the Haltech, map switch and a few other little bits and bobs I want to tidy up under there

As I’m now using the internal MAP sensor for on the Haltech ELITE, I’ve been able to repurpose the bracket I made for the external map sensor for the Boost Solenoid. I was never happy with how I had it previously mounted down under the brake master cylinder, now this is more accessible in that left hand corner

What a sight for sore eyes Nick! Those engine shots have been a long time coming for you.

 

Isn’t it just!

 

just a little wiring to do and she’s ready to fire up

Looking good!

The new blood for the gearbox turned up this morning.

 

I decided to not to go with the MT90 trend and stick with a brand a know and trust in Motul. I’m yet to come across a product they make that doesn’t live up to expectation, and it’s more widely available than Redlines MT90.

 

the cars is still a little way off moving under its own power, but I’ll report back with how I find it..... although my gearbox as always been smooth and quiet, so I’m not expecting to feel anything different.

Exhaust is now topped and tailed and sitting as good as we can get it.

 

it appears the mistake we initially made was to get the pipes straight and level on the boxes so they measured the same tip to box, tip to tip and parallel to the box itself. However, when they were on the car, they looked to have a droop on the outside tips (as appears to be common with customs quad setups on Z’s).

 

We finalised the welds on the pipework, vbands and hangers and then spent a good few hours getting the tips in the right spot. That’s why on the bottom pic, the tips look wonky

 

 

Edited May 16, 20214 yr by nickz32

Wiring harness all made up for the Haltech.

a friend of mine, who owns Paradox Motorsport, made the loom up for me using tefzel wiring, braiding and all new connectors for my sensors (with tags for each branch of the sub loom) It’s a shame that no ones ever going to see it due to how im routing it

 

 

And another little job out of the way. My balance bar was looking tatty with chipped paint, so I commandeered the green house for a bit of painting. Quite happy with how it came out

 

 

What paints did you use?

Just generic etch primer and gloss black rattle can and a 2k rattle can clear coat, nothing special

Bar coolant, ps fluid, trans oil and installing the battery, she’s all done and ready to fire up

 

 

Looks amazing ? Good luck with the first fire up.

Well here she is ladies and gents. The first post calibration start up of my EPR build.

 

still some work to do with the ecu settings, but she’s on the home straight

 

https://youtu.be/GRBhs3MzAIM

That's great to see (and hear) Nick - really pleased for you. It has been quite a journey! 

Great job Nick, well please its all coming together now.

That sounds real good Nick ?

That’s got a real nasty sound about it, a mean animal even at idle. 

Took a bit of a break from Z stuff this week to enjoy some time on the bike.

 

sadly I’ve had to put her up for sale due to post Covid budget cuts at work, but I think she had a pretty good send off!

Now she’s ticking over nicely, it’s time she had a cosmetic birthday!

a good friend of mine, who is as into detailing as I am, popped over, and we gave the Z a thorough clean and decontamination.

 

She was wheeled back indoors, dried off and taped up.

ive always thought the finish on the paint could be improved upon, aswell as a couple of scuffs that have occurred during its time off the road, I decided to wet sand the paint using 3m’s trizact foam backed 3000grit discs.

 

After a bit of testing with various polishes and pads, we found that the Lake Country wool pads with Scholl Concepts S3+ followed by S20 Black on a meguairs polishing pad, then finished with S30+ on a meguairs finishing pad gave use the best results.

 

we only managed to “finish” the bonnet by the end of the day, so there’s still more work to do before I ceramic coat the paint to seal in the finish. But, I think the pics show, she’s going to look amazing!

 

 

V. shiny so far, can't wait to see the final result!

Looking good! Last picture: i thought why has he take a selfie of the roof and phone....then it clicked....?

Liquid black ?