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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Love the e39 5 series in my opinion they are the best of all the 5 series range.

13 hours ago, Gaz 300 said:

Love the e39 5 series in my opinion they are the best of all the 5 series range.

That's not just your opinion, it's a worldwide opinion! All the BM's of that era, the E46, E38 are known as the best of the lot, and for good reason. That's why I've got an E46 facelift coupe rather than something newer. Love them to bits for daily driving, would have that era of BM's over anything modern. I had the later E90 before, but the E46 quality, handling, hydraulic steering etc. is x10 better. 

Take a look at a company called Evolve Automotive based in UK who have a beautiful red E39 M5 with BBS LM's, supercharged to 600+ hp. Dream daily driver ?. They'd never sell it though sadly, due to the sentimental value. 

I loved my e39  525 M sport and would love another. I keep watching the e39's on Pistonheads and love the low mileage jap import for sale.

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12151965

10 hours ago, Gaz 300 said:

I loved my e39  525 M sport and would love another. I keep watching the e39's on Pistonheads and love the low mileage jap import for sale.

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12151965

Do it - life's too short! That one on Pistonheads is super clean and well worth the money. Sell the 4 series and get back into one of these ?. I've noticed these German Jap imports with super low miles over the last couple years - they're better condition than the low miler cars in the UK I've noticed. Saw an E38 740i in silver with the M twin parallel wheels with say 40k miles, not that expensive either. Was tempted but have spent too much making the E46 perfect, I couldn't justify it sadly.

I had a 535D M loved that car had it for 3 years never let me down and plenty of power when needed  and a great daily drive 

 

Glad to see the shell is in good order mate, was sure it was, but you never know what bodges can be hiding under the paint.

On 11/03/2022 at 23:54, gray said:

I had a 535D M loved that car had it for 3 years never let me down and plenty of power when needed  and a great daily drive 

 

Exactly yeah, there's a reason these cars were so popular. When the 335d/535d's came out, they were so popular. After a remap, some crazy torque figures to be made. 

23 hours ago, Dazsw said:

Glad to see the shell is in good order mate, was sure it was, but you never know what bodges can be hiding under the paint.

Thanks mate, yep so glad it was and as I mentioned, I expected it to be to be honest. The engine bay rust under the brake booster I believe was only caused as she's been sat on my driveway for the last two years, although under a car cover during winter, water still got in through these tiny air vents, to the engine bay, which caused that - water sitting there with nowhere to go. Am in the process now of sorting out access to my garage which is in the rear garden, so can prevent that ever happening again. 

I thought I was done with parts ordering (!!!) but naturally as you go through the rebuild process, aspects you hadn't fully considered before, become apparent.

A few additions to the parts list:-

- BDE transmission mount; a beautifully made part and appears to be the best product on the market. Originally I intended to keep my Nismo mount, but after going through the service history, I realised the mount was around 11-12 years old. Jim pointed out the car had only done around 30k KM's in that time so it wasn't strictly necessary, but I wanted to replace any key parts like this, whilst I have the chance now. This is a lifer car for me, so future proofing whilst parts are still available is important, which I have to remind myself sometimes, to help justify all these parts!

- Walbro 450lph fuel pump. Similar to the trans mount, my car had an upgraded AEM 340lph pump fitted around 7 years ago, which I intended to keep originally. Jim asked me a few weeks ago if I had ordered a new one, to which I said I was going to re-use my old one. After saying that out loud, whilst remembering reading horror stories where peoples engines have blown from failed fuel pumps (failing without any warning), paranoia kicked in and I decided to order the replacement. The new pump, as the numbers suggest, flows at a much higher rate, which gives an added peace of mind and power capability for the tuning phase. 

.......you fancy selling that Nismo mount on to a worthy cause?..... 

.......you fancy selling that Nismo mount on to a worthy cause?..... 

Of course [emoji846]. I shall message you tonight after work.


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On 10/03/2022 at 07:37, Gaz 300 said:

Love the e39 5 series in my opinion they are the best of all the 5 series range.

Agreed - the e39 still has the cleanest lines of any 5-series..... And all before the cars grew too much in size..... ? 

After the front and rear windscreens were removed, off comes the boot and front pillars/roof paint. Note the targa drain was capped off and removed when they blew all the dust off.

Some rust was found hiding under one of the seals [emoji50]. I’m glad I’ll finally be able to store her indoors hopefully from this summer, to prevent that ever happening again.


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The bodyshop repeatedly said how great of a fitment every Twin Z part they’ve fitted has been, which must have jinxed my rear spoiler! As it didn’t fit perfectly. They’re getting around it though by doing some trimming, minor adjustments etc. Not a big deal, just not the perfect fitment they usually are.

Looking good though regardless [emoji41].


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Engine bay getting stripped down too woohoo [emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]. Not a full strip down and show car paint job though. Main aim is to repair two minor areas of rust and to freshen it all up.

The bulkhead will get a repaint too. I had quoted separately for a full strip down and repaint to a high end finish but it was just too much over and above what’s already being spent. We both agreed you can’t really see much of the paintwork in the engine bay due to how cramped these engines are! Unless I do a full on engine tuck which I’d never do - couldn’t bring myself to hack up a brand new OEM wiring harness etc.

Anil at the bodyshop cant bare to put back the stock old and dirt ingrained bolts when they put the engine bay back together so will put back S/S bolts everywhere. I decided to go for gloss black bolts for where the wings/arches bolt onto the frame. They advised painting them like the OEM finish can lead to the paint cracking up over time, which I want to avoid at all costs - never want to do paintwork again!!

Jim will repaint the plenum in the stock silver and do the balance bar in black, as it had chipped away. I want to do a full on engine bay refresh in the next few years including a plethora of zinc coated parts - like what funkysi did to his bay before selling her and what the USA Skyline fanatic (Youtuber) tommyfyeah does to all his skyline rebuilds.

For now though, the above will be x10 better than what it was like before, so more than happy.


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Jim is ploughing along with the engine too. Looking fantastic - can’t wait to have the peace of mind of a freshly built engine by the best in the business.

BDE mounts being put to use. I ticked the ceramic coating option for the AMS exhaust manifolds for the heat management benefits, but the unintended consequence is that they look soooo much better than the original items.


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Going to be a perfectionist's dream when it's done. When we are you anticipating to have it all done and back on the road?

2 hours ago, Peage said:

Going to be a perfectionist's dream when it's done. When we are you anticipating to have it all done and back on the road?

Thanks mate and yes absolutely, a real dream come true ?. Well the bodyshop are hoping to be done by end of May, so depending on how swamped Jimmer is, and the gap between to get the car tuned, I'd hope for it to be back on the road by July. I wanted it done earlier but these things never go to plan. Although it's slightly delayed, I'm not bothered at all as I'd prefer perfection rather than a rush job!!

Gives me time to give a bit of TLC to the daily driver in the mean time haha. 

After stripping the engine bay more, they found lots of surface rust scattered around, which would have spread, and they just couldn't leave it the way it was/cover it up etc. So sod what I said earlier about not going mad on the engine bay - I guess we're already part way there...

Epic? coming along fast ?like you say don’t rush it….who’s doing your tuning…Greg? 

Took over a year to rebuild mine but who cares ?‍♂️

took me 15 years to get it where it is ?

Theres some tidy zeds been knocked out over the last few years 

Edited March 25, 20223 yr by gray

9 hours ago, gray said:

Epic? coming along fast ?like you say don’t rush it….who’s doing your tuning…Greg? 

Took over a year to rebuild mine but who cares ?‍♂️

took me 15 years to get it where it is ?

Yep Greg is doing the tuning - wouldn't take her to anyone else. He fitted my Link G4X last year and as Jim recommends, he definitely is the man to go to. His pre-dyno checks tell you everything you need to know about his workmanship. Trying to work out timings now as you need to book in with Greg about 3 months in advance, since he's so high in demand.

Wow that is a long, long time - I definitely don't have that patience! Am sacrificing plenty of other important 'life' things to get this done though.

I’m still amazed at the level of detail going into this build, when finished it’s definitely got to be up there with the best Z32s in the country!! I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing your posts when it’s finished! I have had my Z32 for 21 years but it’s always been rolling maintenance when required to keep on top of it - never anything like the level some of you guys are achieving. Well done ? ???

I’m still amazed at the level of detail going into this build, when finished it’s definitely got to be up there with the best Z32s in the country!! I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing your posts when it’s finished! I have had my Z32 for 21 years but it’s always been rolling maintenance when required to keep on top of it - never anything like the level some of you guys are achieving. Well done [emoji122] [emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

Thanks mate, really appreciate the love [emoji846]. Oh I wouldn’t be so sure about that, there’s quite a few Zeds on this owners club that have had more attention to detail than mine and years and years of development.

21 years is impressive! This is a life long car for me, hence why I’m doing all these works.

Will keep updating this thread throughout the project until we’re all done and back on the road [emoji41].


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Loving following this mate, great to see all the work going on, the amount of money spent over the years by everyone on this car is mega!