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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15 hours ago, Dazsw said:

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!

She’s certainly had some love from all the owners hasn’t she. None of us have ran her on the cheap for sure! Hope your C63 is serving you well still, although with current fuel prices, it’s probably bankrupting you ??. 

I know it’s just an empty engine bay so not much to see, but you gotta love the prep work... ?

Edited March 26, 20223 yr by Raja93

8 hours ago, Raja93 said:

I know it’s just an empty engine bay so not much to see, but you gotta love the prep work... ?

The price of the paint job would terrify me I think!

8 hours ago, Raja93 said:

She’s certainly had some love from all the owners hasn’t she. None of us have ran her on the cheap for sure! Hope your C63 is serving you well still, although with current fuel prices, it’s probably bankrupting you ??. 

It's been off the road since November, the roads are salted here from November and still salted now, and it's no fun driving in that, just rusts the cars as well, then I've recently had a knee operation, but recovering well.

Also over winter stripped all the brakes and swapped most bits and had the calipers sent away for repair, the cash spending just carries on matter what car you have ?

Will be taxed and MOT'd again at the start of April though....the price of super unleaded is incredible!

On 26/03/2022 at 19:34, Dazsw said:

It's been off the road since November, the roads are salted here from November and still salted now, and it's no fun driving in that, just rusts the cars as well, then I've recently had a knee operation, but recovering well.

Also over winter stripped all the brakes and swapped most bits and had the calipers sent away for repair, the cash spending just carries on matter what car you have ?

Will be taxed and MOT'd again at the start of April though....the price of super unleaded is incredible!

Ah that doesn't sound fun at all - wish you all the best with recovery. 

Yep you're right there re. the spending and salted roads! Sounds like it will be super fresh ready for summer ?. 

I've never really been too fussed about the AC not working, until those baking hot days, when me and the other half cry for AC. It's lovely when you're moving with the windows down and/or roof off with the wind in your hair, but in traffic, it really does drain you! 

The only option nowadays since the new AC Compressors are discontinued, is to refurbish the existing. When I originally went on the hunt for a decent AC refurb company, they all had equally good and bad reviews, which put me off. I've since been awaiting a forum member to refurbish theirs and recommend a company! 

I recently found out there's a firm that Jim's started using called ACR (there's loads of ACR's on Google, so not sure which one is his one).

I ordered a shiny new AC Drier and OEM O-rings and away we go. Jim had a refurbished compressor already at his place. He mentioned the previous owner thought it was the suction valve which may be at fault. The previous owner told me he thought the AC compressor had blown! Either way, he will get the system up and running and then diagnose. I've read the Z32 Wiki for the AC System and the suction valve - seems like a pretty serious issue if that fails and you can't buy new replacements. Not sure how that will work out if that really is the fault - fingers crossed, Jim works his magic... 

Thanks to Aff68 for pointing out the PCV System to me, something I hadn't really considered to be honest. Jim ordered me replacement PCV valves and hoses. Accompanied with religious oil changes, hopefully the system should operate as intended. After seeing Lexx's recent post of his clogged valves, I'm glad I'm replacing them!

Had my A/C re-installed and recommissioned by Jimbo best move I ever made ?think i timed it right as managed to get a brand new parts before they went NLA 

They found some rust lurking inside the drivers inner arch. How it started in there, I have absolutely no idea!

At one stage, they will fill all the inner wings and cavities with cavity wax, to help prevent hidden rust like this from cropping up. It had been on my to do list, since I bought her, but never got around to it. Glad they offered to do it without me even asking. 

View from inside the arch - camera threaded in via the boot:

Some more photos of the drivers rear arch and also of the drivers side rear bumper bracket area, where we expected to find rust anyway, due to bubbling on the back of the inner arch. 

Edited April 6, 20223 yr by Raja93

And getting repaired ?....

They're hoping to be complete by the end of May, possibly few weeks earlier, but end of May at the latest. Time to now work out how long the engine install will take, so I can get her booked in at Protuner, since they need you to book 3 months in advance as they're so busy. They were equally busy when I took her up there last summer. 

Just had more repair pics sent through [emoji16]...


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Good find that, would have ruined all the hard work when it rusted through!

She is now in primer! Quite a thorough process they take, just to get to primer stage. 

1. Bare metal

2. Epoxy prime

3. Pin pull dents 

4. Any welding and repairs

5. Blocking off the entire body to make straight 

6. High build primer x3 heavy coats followed by more blocking to get closer to perfection.

They put the panels back on for the sake of a photo!

Edited April 14, 20223 yr by Raja93

Some initial paint samples. One obviously much richer than the other! ? They'll be spraying samples tomorrow in various shades of light including daylight. They have this torch with something like 10 different output's of light level in K's e.g. 3000k or 6000k light, so you can get a pretty good idea of how the paint will look in all lights! 

Will get some more pics up after I've got those samples. 

Oh a random point to note is we decided to keep the stone chip! They'll be reinstating it on the side and rear bumper, which thankfully they're bloody good at doing. Initially was going to smooth the body but have been swayed the other way. 

I kind of like the brighter blue, even though TK3 blue is darker on mot cars I've seen.

Stonechip is something badly missed on modern cars, so much rust and damage is caused lower down on cars due to no stone chip and no mud / splash guards, used to be common place!

 

On 18/04/2022 at 12:10, Dazsw said:

I kind of like the brighter blue, even though TK3 blue is darker on mot cars I've seen.

Stonechip is something badly missed on modern cars, so much rust and damage is caused lower down on cars due to no stone chip and no mud / splash guards, used to be common place!

 

Yep same here! The bodyshop also prefer the lighter blue. They showed me some more samples today and said the lighter one looks sooo much better in both sunlight and in dark areas. 

I hadn't initially noticed the darker one is more true to the original TK3 until you mentioned it - having looked at it a couple more times, you're definitely right. 

It was a close call between smooth or stone chip, as cars like AndrewG's swayed me to go smooth originally. I like the beefiness/character it adds to the body TBH and also the obvious protection to the body - both these points as well as the bodyshops persuasion is what swayed me back! 

Edited April 19, 20223 yr by Raja93

Sounds like I'll be in the minority but I actually prefer the look of the darker shade when in the sun. 

Both are very nice though and as always you should go for what you love. 

11 hours ago, Peage said:

Sounds like I'll be in the minority but I actually prefer the look of the darker shade when in the sun. 

Both are very nice though and as always you should go for what you love. 

I'm with you. Whilst the darker shade won't look as good when in shade it will looks so much better when in the sun. 

But each to their own! 

Wrong colour completely Raja..... see below:

 

 

(Love you really....?)

Wrong colour completely Raja..... see below:

 
 
(Love you really....[emoji6])

I’ll be diplomatic here and say all the Zed colours are beautiful [emoji16]


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3 minutes ago, Raja93 said:

I’ll be diplomatic here and say all the Zed colours are beautiful


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Good answer ??

Great progress this week. A forum member should be popping in there today so will end up seeing her before me!


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