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!

:blink: Crikey that’s some list Nick. When is the engine likely to be back in the UK

I’m hoping for a video call with Mitch this evening to try and get a firm date. The unknown is the heads as they’re CNC machined by an outside company..... and they’ve had them for 5 months!

FINALLY, it’s in the assembly room

 

 

And an interesting comparison between the Wiseco/Eagle combo vs CP/Saenz combo.

 

Wiseco 88mm piston and Eagle forged rod weigh 863 grams combined (the setup I had on my previous build)

CP 88mm piston and Saenz Tri Beam forged rod weigh 754 grams.

 

Total weight saving of the internal rotating assembly: 0.65kg!

Edited June 16, 20196 yr by nickz32

Crank has been modified, machined, welded and balanced and bar a final clean is good to go

 

Nick stop it !!! That is pornography chap, Tissues please somebody :whistling: Ti

So I’ve been cracking on with the to do list.

 

Firstly I’ve ordered a few parts. The Improved Racing thermostatic oil filter relation kit and a pair of Vibrant Ultra Quiet resonators (which will replace the useless LongLife resonators in my H pipe). I think the only bits I need to order now are a new oil coolers, some dash 10 braided hose and some AN10 fittings for the remote oil filter and cooler lines

 

This evening I also finished my first attempt at retrimming some interior parts, the rear quarter panel vinyl sections. I don’t think they came out too badly consider my inexperience. The colour is a tiny bit darker and the faux texture differs slightly, but it’s close enough that I doubt anyone would notice

What was your solution to the oil filter bypass?

Excuse the crude drawing

 

 

In short the OEM oil tree has been replaced with a BDE oil tree plate. Hot oil is fed along -10 line to the Improved Racing remote filter head. That will be mounted near the AC dryer. I’ve removed the OE cooler lines to give me more space

 

While the engine warms up, oil is passed through the filter and returned back to the engine bypassing the oil cooler. Once up to 185F, the thermostat directs all the oil through the filter and to the oil cooler. From the cooler, back to the IR filter head and back to the engine.

 

Where is the oil filter bypass valve in that setup?

Sorry, I misread your original question. I’m using a Wix filter that has one built it. However, as I thought more about the bypass issue I realised a couple of things. 1) I’ll be changing the filter every 12 months or 3000 miles anyway, which isn’t going to be enough time to block a filter to the point where I’d need the bypass valve. 2) if I do block a filter that quickly, the engines likely toast anyway so a bypass valve wouldn’t offer me any extra protection

...

Edited June 27, 20196 yr by nickz32

On a positive note, I got back rear brake calipers back from refurb. As I suspected, I had a couple of sticky pistons due to a build up on aluminium oxide. So after an ultrasonic clean and polish of the pistons, new set of seals they’re good to go

 

 

I’m hoping, at some point next year, to sort my rear brembo conversion out, but in the mean time these will do

On the engine front, the block has had its final debur, clean and paint (not pictured) and assembly will start later today.

 

 

A couple of interesting point of note:

 

Oil Squirter: as you can see in the bottom pic, they’ve been blanked off. Why? Due to the coatings applied to the pistons, that spray of oil is not needed. That mean less parasitic drag on the internals and reduces windage and potentially less crank case vapours.

 

Block oil restrictions: The OE press in restrictors have been removed and replaced with removable items (to assist any future cleaning should the worst happen)

 

Freeze plugs: I was gonna smacked at how much junk was hiding behind them! Just shows how much cleaning is truly required on an engine rebuild

Time to let those 48P’s breath!

 

Lower Plenum has now been ported, with the injector entry altered for better dispersion(you can see before porting on the right hand port and after on the left hand port) It's completely matched to the cylinder head ports for optimal flow. The heads have been shipped back to EPR and should be there on Monday for the valve seat cut and assembly

 

Edited June 30, 20196 yr by nickz32

Just noticed, over 5000 thread views in 18 months and over 1000 likes on the cars IG page since January! Wow!

 

All I can say is thanks for the interest, and there’s plenty more stuff planned for the future.... but first things first, I’m looking forward to getting some seat time in the car and enjoying it!

Edited July 3, 20196 yr by nickz32

New Vibrant Ultra Quiet resonators turned up today... hopefully they’ll save my ears!

 

A slightly unexpected purchase aswell. Saw these on a breaker near me and snapped them up! They need a refurb, but will add to what will eventually be a full Whiteline suspension package

Edited July 4, 20196 yr by nickz32

 

Edited July 6, 20196 yr by nickz32

64 million dollar question.............When is due to leave EPR Nick?

64 million dollar question.............When is due to leave EPR Nick?

 

I wish I knew mate!

 

So the heads are having their valve seats cut at the moment so should be with EPR beginning of next week. Then it’s machine for cam lobe clearance, debur, clean and assemble. After that, front of the engine goes on so it can be timed up. The turbine housings need porting and the hot side parts need ceramic coating.

 

I was hoping to make Beaulieu, but I think that’s unlikely now

Well after getting fed up with 1st Direct Windscreens refusing to admit fault at incorrectly fitting my windscreen, I finally sorted another company to come to my workshop and reinstall my windscreen properly, with the Nissan upper windscreen moulding

 

 

Annoyingly, I appear to have misplaced the little white block clips for the roof part of the side mouldings. Bloody annoying when that happens!

A little, slightly annoying update.

 

Yet again I’m having to redo work that I’ve already paid a pretty penny for. In the process of having the valve seats cut, Mitch has found that the Ferrea guides on the exhaust side that were installed by Roland Alsop were not machined correctly and were 4deg off concentric. Luckily there is no damage to my SuperTech valves (the joys of Inconel!)So another set of Ferrea valve guides are going in the exhaust side.

 

I was hoping to be able to make Simply Japanese at the end of the month, but this unexpected discovery and associated delayed now makes that unlikely.