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;

 

 

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On 24/07/2021 at 12:53, jimmer said:

Hi Rajah,

I can still remember how happy you were when we tried a wheel on Andy,s car and Viola !!! It cleared the Akebono,s. They look so good and the stance it has ?

This is mine and I have the 8.5J fronts with 9.5J rears.

Fitted with 245/35/18 and 275/35/18 Michelins.

Offsets on all four concave fitment wheels are +32, rears just bolted on, fronts have a 10mm spacer, of course that makes those +22.

All very similar to Rajah's but for mm's.

I took her upto Protuner in Coventry on Friday 20th August to fit the Link G4X ECU, partly to solve the minor running issues the car has and also as preparation for the forged engine rebuild and big power, which I had planned for the next 2-3 years. The running issues were minor and very random/infrequent, of which I ruled as being caused by a dodgy Nistune chip or the butchering of the chip by Turbonoz - forum posts the previous owner (Ollie) made, findings with Protuner when Ollie had the 740cc's fitted/mapped and general research brought me to this conclusion. I set off early at 5:30am with a stop off to fill up with Shell's finest V-Power. Unlike @TheRealNips's beauty that manages over 300 miles (jealous!!), mine only manages 220-230 miles on a run, driving at or around the speed limit. Second photo is just after I arrived at Protuner, with an array of 90's Jap cars. 

The following week, Greg and the guys carried out their thorough pre-dyno checks including boost leak tests, compression tests etc. They found the turbo actuator pipework was loose and hanging off one bank, of which was the reason to the occasional over boosting (hitting a wall feeling around 4-5k revs). This has been happening for the last half a year really randomly, and on some journeys not happening at all. I haven’t been driving the car in any anger due to other issues/worn clutch and flywheel and new clutch being bedded in etc. We had thought this was due to the ecu/nistune issues. Unfortunately, this has led to the opposite bank turbo being overworked, and as a result is now leaking some oil. 

They carried out the compression tests and found more bad news – 3 tests were completed and are summarised in the below photo. None of the cylinders are optimal so say the least (circa 175psi ideal??), but cylinder 2 and 6 are in technical terms, fu**ed! 

When the engine is cold, Greg found the hydraulic lifter is collapsed and when the engine warms up after a few minutes and the oil begins flowing well to the head, they release. This explains the cold start idling issues that I’ve always had in the year and 6 months I’ve had her. 

Edited September 12, 20214 yr by naz27

I asked Greg to forward the above findings to Jim @ PowerZed, as I knew with the mountain of bad news, I’d probably forget some of the bits he told me! I can drive it around for the last of the summer he advised, which is the saving grace, otherwise I’d be seriously peed off if she was sat on the driveway for the last of the half decent weather. 

I’ve asked Jim for a quote for a full rebuild and a target of 600bhp, with reliability and response a key, so I’m flexible on power targets for the sake of those two objectives. I’m hoping to get the rebuild done at the same time as the full respray in January, as the bodyshop is Jim’s recommended one in the Bristol area. This will make things much easier logistically and be two birds with one stone timings wise (respray is circa 3 months). 

On the plus side, the Link G4 has seriously improved the driveability of the Zed, with simple things like revs after gear changes being so, so much smoother and just the overall behaviour of the car being much better, despite the terminal problems!! She no longer runs super rich on start up which is good. Strangely, since mid-last year, I’ve gone through a year old refurbished starter motor and onto another. Earlier this year, the starter motor I fitted, began requiring two attempts to start her. Now she starts on one turn.

Another plus is she is now running on a MAP sensor, so the dual MAF’s and the Selin Translator are redundant – they’ll be put onto ebay soonish when I get around to it. 

It's not the end of the world, as I had planned to do the rebuild in the next few years as mentioned above, but it definitely wasn't expected to be needed right now. The next step is to plan the rebuild with Jim depending on his diary, sell some organs to free up some funds and set up a Gofundme page! 

Edited September 12, 20214 yr by naz27

Sorry to hear the slightly bad news, hopefully the engine holds up while you plan the big build as you have certainly put a tremendous effort into yo getting your Zed to this stage!

It goes without saying but the more your tune the Zed then compression issues will show up, the results do point towards worn piston rings and as Greg mentioned you should be able to use it for the last of the summer.

Hope to join you in the 600bhp club!!

Sad times indeed... I have everything crossed that it will be ok. 600bhp will be good, I would love to go there with my car one day. Glad you can use the car (gently) until the winter as we have Go Jap! in less than 2 weeks! I'll get the beer and food in for the BBQ the night before! ??

Sorry to hear the slightly bad news, hopefully the engine holds up while you plan the big build as you have certainly put a tremendous effort into yo getting your Zed to this stage!
It goes without saying but the more your tune the Zed then compression issues will show up, the results do point towards worn piston rings and as Greg mentioned you should be able to use it for the last of the summer.
Hope to join you in the 600bhp club!!

Thanks for the support and feedback. I always thought it would need rebuilding at some stage but yep didn’t expect it to be so soon - one of the many reasons I bought it was because of its meticulous service history - e.g oil changes done every 6 months since import in 2007, with a gigantic service history box. Ah well, it’s all good and will be sorted hopefully before next summer!

Seems to be running ok and yep only driving it gently bentley until November hibernation.


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Sad times indeed... I have everything crossed that it will be ok. 600bhp will be good, I would love to go there with my car one day. Glad you can use the car (gently) until the winter as we have Go Jap! in less than 2 weeks! I'll get the beer and food in for the BBQ the night before! [emoji481][emoji490]

Looking forward to Go Japan and the bbq!! Your cars a lovely example - enjoy it in its stock reliable form for as long as possible [emoji846]. Modifying, as fun as the results are, is like opening a can of worms on cars of this age [emoji51].


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On 25/07/2021 at 21:33, phutumsch said:

This is mine and I have the 8.5J fronts with 9.5J rears.

Fitted with 245/35/18 and 275/35/18 Michelins.

Offsets on all four concave fitment wheels are +32, rears just bolted on, fronts have a 10mm spacer, of course that makes those +22.

All very similar to Rajah's but for mm's.

Looks sweet that zed bud 

On 12/09/2021 at 19:59, naz27 said:

I asked Greg to forward the above findings to Jim @ PowerZed, as I knew with the mountain of bad news, I’d probably forget some of the bits he told me! I can drive it around for the last of the summer he advised, which is the saving grace, otherwise I’d be seriously peed off if she was sat on the driveway for the last of the half decent weather. 

I’ve asked Jim for a quote for a full rebuild and a target of 600bhp, with reliability and response a key, so I’m flexible on power targets for the sake of those two objectives. I’m hoping to get the rebuild done at the same time as the full respray in January, as the bodyshop is Jim’s recommended one in the Bristol area. This will make things much easier logistically and be two birds with one stone timings wise (respray is circa 3 months). 

On the plus side, the Link G4 has seriously improved the driveability of the Zed, with simple things like revs after gear changes being so, so much smoother and just the overall behaviour of the car being much better, despite the terminal problems!! She no longer runs super rich on start up which is good. Strangely, since mid-last year, I’ve gone through a year old refurbished starter motor and onto another. Earlier this year, the starter motor I fitted, began requiring two attempts to start her. Now she starts on one turn.

Another plus is she is now running on a MAP sensor, so the dual MAF’s and the Selin Translator are redundant – they’ll be put onto ebay soonish when I get around to it. 

It's not the end of the world, as I had planned to do the rebuild in the next few years as mentioned above, but it definitely wasn't expected to be needed right now. The next step is to plan the rebuild with Jim depending on his diary, sell some organs to free up some funds and set up a Gofundme page! 

Sorry to here you’re troubles naz…it will be a hell of a car when Jim and Greg’s finished with it..do a thread build something i should of done with mine really as I haven’t give jimmer his just deserve with my zed just out of interest did you have traction control fitted too ?

Sorry to here you’re troubles naz…it will be a hell of a car when Jim and Greg’s finished with it..do a thread build something i should of done with mine really as I haven’t give jimmer his just deserve with my zed just out of interest did you have traction control fitted too ?

Thanks mate and hopefully so, can’t wait until it’s finished! [emoji3]. I’ll definitely continue this thread with updates of the build and respray as we progress.

I haven’t had traction control enabled no, but Greg has quoted for it, launch control and a host of other features for when the rebuild is done. I’ll probably get it enabled to see how it feels.

Yours was at Jimmers over summer wasn’t it? Black SWB almost 600hp? If it was, then you have a lovely Zed sir. You should start a thread, never too late - be interested to see what you did with yours.


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On 04/04/2020 at 19:27, naz27 said:

Ok so far I have done the following;

- given it a thorough detail. It’s washed weekly but over the past few weeks have detailed more and more bits. Today I cleaned all the targa seals and applied autoglym bumper and trim gel with loads of layers.
- replaced the external door trims to both sides
- replaced the rusty wheel nuts with new shiny silver ones
- had an oil/filter change
- brake fluid flush with new motul rbf660 fluid
- new Castrol diff oil
- new 99 spec xenon headlights - absolutely love them!!! Transforms the front end and modernises so much

Unfortunately since last weekend I heard a rough humming noise, from the rear end upon slowing down and especially when coasting. When changing the diff oil, my garage did a sound test with this listening device and headphones and found the noise coming from the diff. When we removed the diff drain plug, we found a shit tonne of metal filings, so pretty safe to say the diff is buggered.

Thankfully Banzai Brokers are currently breaking a 92 TT SWB, and I managed to snap up a good condition diff off them. This should hopefully be with me by next Friday. I can then get it swapped out ASAP. Before I put it in, I’m going to strip off the surface rust, repaint in black, change the bushes. The garage will change the input and output seals when they fit it. Can’t wait as at the moment I can drive the car from a to b, but noise is getting worse. With the weather, I went out today with the t tops off and it’s so hard to not floor it!

Also managed to get some new wind deflectors for the t top area from Banzai, because as you can see, the existing ones have been taped together!

Here’s some pics of the bits discussed above;


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Love the head lights ?

1 hour ago, 247phil said:

Love the head lights ?

Cheers mate ? You can actually see where you're driving at night with these, day and night difference to the original headlights! 

20 hours ago, naz27 said:

Thanks mate and hopefully so, can’t wait until it’s finished! . I’ll definitely continue this thread with updates of the build and respray as we progress.

I haven’t had traction control enabled no, but Greg has quoted for it, launch control and a host of other features for when the rebuild is done. I’ll probably get it enabled to see how it feels.

Yours was at Jimmers over summer wasn’t it? Black SWB almost 600hp? If it was, then you have a lovely Zed sir. You should start a thread, never too late - be interested to see what you did with yours.


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Mine is still with jimmer naz should be collecting next week but will have to be trailered away as with new cams and other bits the map is now out of sink…..its booked in with Greg for 12th November for G4 link with traction control so that’s why i asked if you had it done.going to push the power over 600bhp this time it will be bonkers as now with 535bhp it’s something else!?

keep us updated mate on the build hope all goes well ?

Mine is still with jimmer naz should be collecting next week but will have to be trailered away as with new cams and other bits the map is now out of sink…..its booked in with Greg for 12th November for G4 link with traction control so that’s why i asked if you had it done.going to push the power over 600bhp this time it will be bonkers as now with 535bhp it’s something else![emoji15]
keep us updated mate on the build hope all goes well [emoji1690]

Thanks mate [emoji1417]. Over 600bhp sounds nuts - will be so much fun to drive. Hope the mapping goes well and let me know how the traction control feels once set up. Hope you got some decent rear tyres to cope with all that extra power!


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Really nice car that I've enjoyed following along. 

Slightly random question but did you lose cruise control functionality with a standalone ECU like the Link or are we fine as they have their own control unit in our cars?

Really nice car that I've enjoyed following along. 
Slightly random question but did you lose cruise control functionality with a standalone ECU like the Link or are we fine as they have their own control unit in our cars?

Glad you’ve enjoyed the journey and thanks mate, appreciate it [emoji846]. Good question! I’ve never used cruise control in any of my cars so not sure, but the next time I drive it, I shall let you know. In theory it should do, because as you say it’s got its own ecu and the link is known to be a drop in solution, retaining the factory features. Anyway, I’ll update you once I’ve tried it.


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Ahh bugger mate, that's a damn shame!

I can still mind the figures when I had it compression tested in 2013, lowest was 162 and highest 166, pretty solid at the time.

Jimmer will have it all sorted out for you, his rep is superb as you will know, and low comp can be caused by various things, so not always that bad....but if you want big power, would need to rebuild in any case.

On 07/10/2021 at 19:37, Dazsw said:

Ahh bugger mate, that's a damn shame!

I can still mind the figures when I had it compression tested in 2013, lowest was 162 and highest 166, pretty solid at the time.

Jimmer will have it all sorted out for you, his rep is superb as you will know, and low comp can be caused by various things, so not always that bad....but if you want big power, would need to rebuild in any case.

Yeah is a real shame but ah well. Back in 2013 it would have been 20 years old - considering the perfect number is 175 psi, for a 20 year old car, that's pretty dam good I guess. Yep at least it'll be in safe hands with Jim so can relax. I'm looking at all the parts options now; I want response and reliability so thinking Z1 GT525's and CP Pistons/Rods seem to be best quality. Teaching myself as I go though so will wait and see what Jim advises. I won't ever sell this Zed, so knowing the engine is solid will be a peace of mind TBH. 

On 16/10/2021 at 09:46, Raja93 said:

Yeah is a real shame but ah well. Back in 2013 it would have been 20 years old - considering the perfect number is 175 psi, for a 20 year old car, that's pretty dam good I guess. Yep at least it'll be in safe hands with Jim so can relax. I'm looking at all the parts options now; I want response and reliability so thinking Z1 GT525's and CP Pistons/Rods seem to be best quality. Teaching myself as I go though so will wait and see what Jim advises. I won't ever sell this Zed, so knowing the engine is solid will be a peace of mind TBH. 

It's in the right hands for sure, Jimmer will be able to advise on whatever route you choose ?

On 18/09/2021 at 20:29, Peage said:

Really nice car that I've enjoyed following along. 

Slightly random question but did you lose cruise control functionality with a standalone ECU like the Link or are we fine as they have their own control unit in our cars?

Been meaning to test the cruise control every time I go out in her, but keep forgetting. Managed to test it this morning and not working unfortunately. First time I've tried it in this car, so not even sure if it was working before the Link ecu went in or not. The cruise control light illuminates and the second cruise control light flashes but nothing happens. This was at dual carriageway speeds around 70 and above. Will try and test again when roads are empty as it was a bit difficult due to amount of cars on the road. 

Following the replacement of all the suspension bushes last Oct/Nov, the BC Coilovers seemed a touch too harsh and their shock absorption was not as good as when I had the old bushes. This was due to the slack in the old worn bushes now having been removed with the new ones.

The coilovers have adjustable top mounts for adjusting softness/hardness etc. I trialled a load of combinations a few months ago, and found turning them down one notch on all four corners sorted the ride out. I think this adjustment and the fact the bushes have worn in a bit, since I've done a fair amount of miles this year, has now provided a nice compliant ride. 

Another bonus of the above is when I fitted the 10mm spacers on the front to clear the Akebono's, the car would rub the arch liners sometimes (say once every two journey's), as mentioned earlier in this thread. Now they only mildly rub on crater like dips in the road - so not often. I can live with that so happy with the end result ?.  

11 hours ago, Raja93 said:

Been meaning to test the cruise control every time I go out in her, but keep forgetting. Managed to test it this morning and not working unfortunately. First time I've tried it in this car, so not even sure if it was working before the Link ecu went in or not. The cruise control light illuminates and the second cruise control light flashes but nothing happens. This was at dual carriageway speeds around 70 and above. Will try and test again when roads are empty as it was a bit difficult due to amount of cars on the road. 

Interesting - thanks for checking for me!

On 24/10/2021 at 11:35, Raja93 said:

Been meaning to test the cruise control every time I go out in her, but keep forgetting. Managed to test it this morning and not working unfortunately. First time I've tried it in this car, so not even sure if it was working before the Link ecu went in or not. The cruise control light illuminates and the second cruise control light flashes but nothing happens. This was at dual carriageway speeds around 70 and above. Will try and test again when roads are empty as it was a bit difficult due to amount of cars on the road. 

For info it did used to work, when the car first came to the UK in 2005/2006 or something like that the cruise control was faulty, but was repaired and working solidly.

 

Hopefully just something daft ?

For info it did used to work, when the car first came to the UK in 2005/2006 or something like that the cruise control was faulty, but was repaired and working solidly.
 
Hopefully just something daft [emoji846]

Cheers for the info mate and yes you’re right as I do remember seeing some cruise control repair invoices in the stack of paperwork. Not too fussed because as I say I’ve never used the cruise control, but would be nice to know it works. Researched it and it can be lots of little things like switches on brake pedals etc. Will sort it at some point.

The service history got too much for that orange folder so I migrated it to a new folder! That folders been in service for a good decade I bet - I’m assuming you must have bought that. Put each bit of paperwork into a nice a4 pocket file to preserve it all!


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