Hi All,

 

I mentioned in various previous posts that I would start a thread about my new and first 300zx. I’ve copy and pasted an introduction that I posted in the newbie section a while back (with some updates) so you can get an overview of the car;

 

Almost two months ago at the spur of the moment I went and bought a lovely Jap spec blue 300zx TT Manual LWB with 98k miles.

 

An over view of the cars spec is;

- 390bhp tuned by ProTuner

- stock turbos and internals

- 800cc injectors, selin twin maf conversion

- Kakimoto mid and rear section exhausts

- aftermarket turbo elbows, downpipes, front pipes etc.

- 98 spec fairly new manual gearbox

- K Sport big front brakes, stock rears

- Veilside Andrews racing split rim wheels in gunmetal grey

- two tone grey/black leather seats, hicas lock out, fairly new polybushed rear end and BC Racing shocks. List goes on but that's some key bits from memory.

- 98k miles

- Has been very well maintained with a lever arch of service history from the previous owners.

 

I've got plenty of plans consisting of refreshing the car including modernising where possible to create an OEM+ look (no cheap chav bits don't worry).

 

The Zed was booked into the bodyshop 23rd March but sadly due to the coronavirus lockdown, these works are now postponed. The works were to fit;

 

- 99 spec front bumper

- Respray to bonnet, both front arches to get rid of peeling lacquer, drivers door, rear bumper and getting rid of surface rust to around rear lights/boot

- Replace side indicators with genuine Nismo clear indicators as existing clears ones seals have fallen apart

- Fit new trims that were missing between boot and rear lights

 

I’ll have all this done as soon as the lockdown is over and the bodyshop is back open.

 

I’ve got on the to do list the following;

 

- Source a 2nd hand AC compressor and get it reconditioned and then installed as the previous item exploded under the last owners ownership

- Full leather retrim as existing leather is cracking up/poor quality.

- Get a double din music system trim kit so I can fit a nice double din screen unit with modern features such as bluetooth etc. and also change all speakers

- Paint the stock rear Z32 brakes in black to match the K Sport fronts

- Sills need re-doing as they have rusted in areas from where its been jacked up in the wrong location!! Paint has obviously been damaged and flaked off leaving the bare metal to rust so will get this sorted

- Fit Michellin PS4 tyres when the current tyres have worn out

- Probably go for more power in about a years time maybe but for now coming from a 2 tonne 270bhp 4x4, 390bhp is more than enough to make me giggle.

 

I’ll start a new post with what I’ve done so far with photos of course!

 

Pics of the car when I bought it;

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

9 hours ago, Gaz 300 said:

Nice garrage space Raja and your Z is awesome mate.?

Cheers mate, wish I owned it! Just renting it but thankfully its close to my home and clean, dry and enough space. Got some of the landlords bits in there as you can see, but he'll clear all that soon. Just relieved to have dry storage for her finally. 

Brilliant mate, delighted for you that it is finally back and in good order.

Time to drive and enjoy before the winter.

You really couldn’t make this S**T up!!!

I was driving upto the detailers in North London yesterday early morning, left home at 6 am. I was on the M23 motorway which joins onto the London M25, in the middle lane. Out of nowhere I see what looks like a solid piece of chunky plastic on the left of the right lane, all in slow motion. A van went over the plastic and it shattered into a million pieces, hit all the cars in the vicinity, including mine...

I heard a bang as it hit my front end and didn’t have the heart to pull over. When I got to the detailers we inspected it and below is the aftermath. It hit the right outer side of my front bumper and took a chunk out of my left inner side, causing stress cracks below. Never has this happened to me before and what were the chances, 5 days after getting her back, on the way to get PPF fitted, that this happens...

All getting sorted as the detailers have a trusted bodyshop nearby they use for customer cars. Thank god it only hit the lower side of my bumper. If it hit my bonnet or the side of the car then the bill would have been massive. At least on the lower side of the bumper, they can respray and blend the paint without it being obvious.

I contacted dream body works straight away to get the exact paint spec and supplier details, and forwarded to the detailers. Within an hour they had a quote sorted for me so great service from them to be fair, although because they’re used to working on high end tarty cars, they charge a bloody high premium, which added salt to the wound.

Safe to say I was cheesed off for the rest of the day.
 

Edited September 17, 20223 yr by Raja93

Ah no mate, that must have felt terrible hearing that bang! Glad you're able to get it sorted relatively easily but the bills are racking up!

Thats such bad luck mate but it could of been worse. 

Sorry to here that bud but at least you are getting it sorted ?

personally  this is why I wouldn’t spend the money getting mine done and why I’ll never have a show car as I enjoy driving it and it would break my heart If that happened to me.

 

14 hours ago, sumshiftyguy said:

Ah no mate, that must have felt terrible hearing that bang! Glad you're able to get it sorted relatively easily but the bills are racking up!

Heart sank at that moment! Yep definitely ?

10 hours ago, gray said:

Sorry to here that bud but at least you are getting it sorted ?

personally  this is why I wouldn’t spend the money getting mine done and why I’ll never have a show car as I enjoy driving it and it would break my heart If that happened to me.

 

I remember you saying this before and see what you mean... Will soldier on, until I go bankrupt of course ?.

Heart goes out to you mate!

The bodyshop took their time in repairing the front bumper. They were due to return the Z to the detailers last Wednesday, which turned into Thursday, Friday, yesterday and finally it arrived back this morning. I received a call and video of the bumper and thankfully the paint is a perfect match - no indication of any repairs carried out. 

Better news is I will have her back for Saturday afternoon, just in time for the AGM on Sunday ?.

On 16/09/2022 at 23:12, gray said:

Sorry to here that bud but at least you are getting it sorted ?

personally  this is why I wouldn’t spend the money getting mine done and why I’ll never have a show car as I enjoy driving it and it would break my heart If that happened to me.

 

So sorry to hear that Raj - especially after seeing the fine paint job whilst at Jimmer's back in June....

......And why, sadly, I concur with Graham. Good luck in getting the Zed repaired mate!

5 minutes ago, RichardS said:

So sorry to hear that Raj - especially after seeing the fine paint job whilst at Jimmer's back in June....

......And why, sadly, I concur with Graham. Good luck in getting the Zed repaired mate!

All sorted and back to the detailers this morning as per above post, ready to have PPF applied to the whole front end/sills and ceramic coat the rest of the car. My Z's paintwork was shocking before, so it needed a respray and body trims replacing no matter what. With that paint protection, It'll be absolutely fine to use a lot. This is just ridiculously terrible luck...?. If I'm going to the pain of getting a respray, then I'll always choose to do a proper job over a cheap one, that'll never look 10/10 and will need re-doing in 10 years time (like the last respray on this Z). 

Great progress today [emoji2]. PPF has been applied to full front end, mirrors, sills. Just ceramic coating to rest of the car left.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ooof! ?

Dam that Z looks great ?

7 days have passed now since I collected her, so it's now safe to clean the Z, as per the detailers instructions for the PPF. She'll be getting a good thorough clean tomorrow. 

Went for a drive today, first time in a week, in the sunny weather and the power is just potent - like a rollercoaster. Still haven't got all the way up the rev range yet, pushing it slowly, getting used to it. Second gear is brutal, as is third and fourth haha! With the power it had before (390hp dyno'd but with the turbo / compression issues, more like 330hp), it was great fun but it never smoked more modern cars as much as I'd like. Now she leaves cars for dead - exactly the way I want it ?.

One mistake I made was getting both the BDE engine and transmission mounts. The first thing Jimmer said after running the engine was the car has too much vibration now - I should swap the transmission mount out for a Nismo one, like the one I had before, and that will sort it. Even Greg at Protuner who drifts a V8 200sx said it was too harsh for the road. Right, point taken! Seeing as the Z is going into hibernation in about a months time, and also being absolutely skint, I can't be bothered to swap it over this year. It'll be on the to-do list when coming back out of hibernation next year. 

Unfortunately the Nismo mount is now discontinued!! CZP show discontinued, and although Z1 advertise it as available, they confirmed it is discontinued. Have contacted Import Parts Pro to see if they have any stock - fingers crossed. Failing that, will have to search the Japanese auctions or contact other suppliers. 

Going to visit Jimmer next week for a post-tune oil change, full check over and refitting some of the under trays - he leaves them off for the dyno tuning, in case boost/intake pipes or other bits pop off. Since they're all brand new parts and not fully sealed/run in, they can pop off, which funnily enough is exactly what happened with the intercooler pipes as the Z1 clamps were giving up under pressure. Greg thankfully replaced them all with stronger items.

Now going onto the subject of PowerZed, Jimmer provides such a thorough and top standard service, you really can relax knowing your 300ZX will be properly taken care of under his watch. He provides a real turn key build service, that you cannot get anywhere else. Endless knowledge and direct answers to all your questions. The number of PowerZed built engines out there that are solid speaks for itself. In my view, it's not worth the heart ache of building it yourself with the risk of making mistakes or taking elsewhere and risking blowing up the engine due to poor workmanship. Do it right the first time and take it to Jimmer. You'll save money in the long run and actually get to enjoy your Z. 

7 days have passed now since I collected her, so it's now safe to clean the Z, as per the detailers instructions for the PPF. She'll be getting a good thorough clean tomorrow. 
Went for a drive today, first time in a week, in the sunny weather and the power is just potent - like a rollercoaster. Still haven't got all the way up the rev range yet, pushing it slowly, getting used to it. Second gear is brutal, as is third and fourth haha! With the power it had before (390hp dyno'd but with the turbo / compression issues, more like 330hp), it was great fun but it never smoked more modern cars as much as I'd like. Now she leaves cars for dead - exactly the way I want it [emoji41].
One mistake I made was getting both the BDE engine and transmission mounts. The first thing Jimmer said after running the engine was the car has too much vibration now - I should swap the transmission mount out for a Nismo one, like the one I had before, and that will sort it. Even Greg at Protuner who drifts a V8 200sx said it was too harsh for the road. Right, point taken! Seeing as the Z is going into hibernation in about a months time, and also being absolutely skint, I can't be bothered to swap it over this year. It'll be on the to-do list when coming back out of hibernation next year. 
Unfortunately the Nismo mount is now discontinued!! CZP show discontinued, and although Z1 advertise it as available, they confirmed it is discontinued. Have contacted Import Parts Pro to see if they have any stock - fingers crossed. Failing that, will have to search the Japanese auctions or contact other suppliers. 
Going to visit Jimmer next week for a post-tune oil change, full check over and refitting some of the under trays - he leaves them off for the dyno tuning, in case boost/intake pipes or other bits pop off. Since they're all brand new parts and not fully sealed/run in, they can pop off, which funnily enough is exactly what happened with the intercooler pipes as the Z1 clamps were giving up under pressure. Greg thankfully replaced them all with stronger items.

A few pics after today’s clean - good old car park lighting, for maximum effect [emoji41]

Looks really good.... Looks amazing..... would look even better in red.... ?

Seriously Raja, thumbs up my man ???????

Looks amazing personally I’d be frightened to death of driving it ? 

don’t go to Asda in it ?

Looks fantastic! I think I'd also be very scared of driving it but good you have the PPF on there now. How come you'd go for full coverage with it?

1 hour ago, sumshiftyguy said:

Looks fantastic! I think I'd also be very scared of driving it but good you have the PPF on there now. How come you'd go for full coverage with it?

Full coverage was £8400 inc VAT which I thought was daylight robbery - there's a reason to the cost as explained below. The backstory is I never budgeted to get PPF done at all, as I always drive old cars and detail them myself - it was only because the bodyshop highly recommended it and kept banging on about getting it done. Eventually I did the research and agreed it was a good call. Issue is, it pushed me over the edge it terms of budget, so I did PPF to full front end, mirrors and sills, which TBH is where the Z and most cars get the damage. Ceramic coated rest of the car. 

The Z needs a custom PPF designed with specialist software/computers as there are no standard PPF templates available for them (as there are for common cars), which can only be done by one place. As you know, the word custom, antique or rare adds a premium to everything!

All other detailers, when doing a model of car for the first time, cut a big sheet on your car, free hand, with the risk of nicking the paint - that was a big no no for me. A full car coverage PPF for a common car like a Bmw or Porsche with templates available is £4.7k, which would be more justifiable. 

A good idea would be if someone else from the owners club took the plunge and had their whole car PPF'd. I could then come along and use their template and get installed for the normal rate ?.

Edited October 10, 20223 yr by Raja93

2 hours ago, gray said:

Looks amazing personally I’d be frightened to death of driving it ? 

don’t go to Asda in it ?

Thanks mate ?. Haha with the PPF installed, it doesn't really bother me tbh. I treat it the same way as I did before - drive it hard but keep it clean, park in the furthest away bays or in car parks with big spaces etc etc. Only thing that worries me is the 99 spec front bumper seems to be slightly lower than the 89 spec one I had before, and is catching more on roads than it did before. The Bigger 3" exhaust also catches speed bumps it never would. Will probs get front end raised to sort that, otherwise, all good. 

Edited October 10, 20223 yr by Raja93

Visited PowerZed today for the post tune and final oil change as part of the engine build service, including a full check over. Fitted all new hardware to the under trays and fitted the under trays that were left off for the tuning. Clean bill of health and now all done and dusted, ready for winter hibernation soon. It's the little things that Jim does like clocking some suspension bits being a bit dry and needing grease, amongst various other bits and bobs he picks up, that make the journey so worth it.

Highly recommend PowerZeds wheel alignment. I got it aligned by my local so called trusted place a few years back and last year summer Jim re did it, making it bang on - handled so much better. A year and a half later the tyres have completely even wear on all 4 corners which tells you the great job he did, so highly recommend owners get this done with him and not your local places. 

The drive there and back was fantastic with all dry roads - experienced wheel spin in 5th gear at 100.... KPH of course. Getting used to that power now. I thought, why did the revs suddenly jump, then immediately realised - holy sh*t, this things got some torque!!!

Ha! KPH...