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

 

That is some machine, credit to you ?

Looking forward to going through this thread. ?

On 28/09/2022 at 20:10, Raja93 said:

Great progress today . 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

Did they have templates for the PPF or was it freehand?

On 04/12/2022 at 09:36, A 2X OK said:

Did they have templates for the PPF or was it freehand?

No templates available for our cars unfortunately.

They (Topaz Detailing) used new design software to custom print PPF to suit my car, which is why I went with them - thanks to Funkysi for recommending this service of theirs. Everyone else does freehand, which was a definite no no for me - didn't want to risk nicking the paint etc.  

As far as I'm aware, their film is also the only one which improves the shine of the paint, whereas all other suppliers seem to dull the paintwork. I know of a Z owner who was the first to get his respray by Dream Body Works (so same standard as mine) but his PPF which was installed and supplied by another company, dulled the finish sadly. 

Edited December 5, 20223 yr by Raja93

The Z's been in hibernation since early November so nothing has really happened in these last few months, other than going to the garage once a week or two to check all is in order. 

During the works last year, all went really smoothly in the hands of Dream Body Works and PowerZed as you'd expect, but went a bit pear shaped when the tuner had it, as it sat outside during the heatwave for 3-4 weeks until any work was even done on it, with the fresh soft paint... If I knew it was going to sit outside for that long, I would have brought it home until it was actually going to be worked on. Lots of phone calls and texts asking for updates to see what was going on, but was ignored for about 4 weeks!! Unfortunately this caused a bit of damage to the car as follows:-

- All tail lights cracked up from the heat (they're about 13-14 years old)

- Rear reg plate cracked up  

- Mild lacquer burn over the car (thankfully machine polished out)

- Some other bits Jimmer and me found when I last visited him, but that's for another day...

A random one which happened, assuming due to a manufacturer defect, is the front bumper indicators cracked up around the screws, as this happened before it went to the tuner. 

Over the past month I ordered a new set of front bumper indicators, a complete set of new tail lights including the centre section. The centre section is on back order, so will be posted at a later date. Also got x2 replacement screws for the kick plates, as those are the only ones the bodyshop lost - not bad considering this time last year every body panel was off the car!

 

Old indicators all cracked up

Edited January 29, 20232 yr by Raja93

Nice shiny new ones crack free ?

Tail lights cracking up internally - a right mission to take these photos as the back of the car is parked right up against the back of the garage, hence not the best pics. Got that same cracking up but more on the centre and passenger side sections - just couldn't get a decent picture.

I'm not going to replace these until the weathers ok to drive again, as I don't really want to start the car, just to move it slightly out so I can get enough space to change these lights. 

Old cracked reg plate at the bottom vs nice shiny new one at the top ?. Drilled out the new holes today so ready to go back on. 

A random thing I noticed when I detailed the engine bay in the past - the red V6 3000 emblem on the throttle cover was discoloured. Ordered a replacement made my Dewla Design from CZP, about 12 months ago! Old vs New shown to highlight the colour difference - nice and fresh now. Didn't manage to stick down today as the old emblems adhesive residue would have taken an absolute age to scrape off - need to get a residue remover spray like Goo Gone to clean surface, then will stick down. 

Now that I've found a good local powder coater, the next item on the to do list is to get some engine bay metal ware refinished. Going for either gloss or satin black. Currently got in mind the cruise control motor bracket, fuel filter bracket and possibly balance bar. I'm sure I'll find some other bits when I take a proper look. Quite a few of the other key areas were already painted kindly by Jim. Update to follow when all done and dusted. 

On 29/01/2023 at 18:06, Raja93 said:

The Z's been in hibernation since early November so nothing has really happened in these last few months, other than going to the garage once a week or two to check all is in order. 

During the works last year, all went really smoothly in the hands of Dream Body Works and PowerZed as you'd expect, but went a bit pear shaped when the tuner had it, as it sat outside during the heatwave for 3-4 weeks until any work was even done on it, with the fresh soft paint... If I knew it was going to sit outside for that long, I would have brought it home until it was actually going to be worked on. Lots of phone calls and texts asking for updates to see what was going on, but was ignored for about 4 weeks!! Unfortunately this caused a bit of damage to the car as follows:-

- All tail lights cracked up from the heat (they're about 13-14 years old)

- Rear reg plate cracked up  

- Mild lacquer burn over the car (thankfully machine polished out)

- Some other bits Jimmer and me found when I last visited him, but that's for another day...

A random one which happened, assuming due to a manufacturer defect, is the front bumper indicators cracked up around the screws, as this happened before it went to the tuner. 

Over the past month I ordered a new set of front bumper indicators, a complete set of new tail lights including the centre section. The centre section is on back order, so will be posted at a later date. Also got x2 replacement screws for the kick plates, as those are the only ones the bodyshop lost - not bad considering this time last year every body panel was off the car!

 

Sorry to hear your woes but glad your getting them sorted 

yes Greg’s customer relations aren’t the best and caring for your car while in his possession isn’t high on his concerns ?‍♂️ i also got mine back with very large elbow dents in both my new front wings ?‍♂️ this will be where he was leaning all over it while thinking of a figure to charge me for the wonderful job he did tuning my car ? 

Edited January 30, 20232 yr by gray

Nice work on the lights and the engine cover. Weird to see them crack like that though - almost like they might have been installed poorly and the heat finished them off? Maybe overtightened on the front corner lights and someone pulling at the rear lights to remove them at some point? I created a bit of that crazing on my original taillights when removing them to swap in the JSpec ones. The sticky black gunk they use/provide is tough.

As an aside - neither of you are painting a great picture of the tuner. I thought they came very highly rated?

5 hours ago, gray said:

Sorry to hear your woes but glad your getting them sorted 

yes Greg’s customer relations are the best and caring for your car while in his possession isn’t high on his concerns ?‍♂️ i also got mine back with very large elbow dents in both my new front wings ?‍♂️ this will be where he was leaning all over it while thinking of a figure to charge me for the wonderful job he did tuning my car ? 

That's exactly what he was doing when he was leaning on your car ? Absolutely shocking! I remember know when Jim mentioned this about your wings.

The clamps on my intakes and intercoolers were flying off with the boost, so he had to replace them which involved jacking the car up. About a month later when I was down at Jim's, we both found he tried jacking it on the pinch welds, bent the passenger side, then thought it would be a good idea to jack up the drivers side. After that, a light bulb moment must have happened because he then decided to jack it on the radiator support. 

His tuning work is fantastic but my god the lack of communication and destroying the bodywork has got me searching for a new tuner now, to do some finishing off works. Looking at either Horsham Developments or Redline Tuning. Redline did Dream Body Works (Anil's) R32 GTR to around 650-700bhp - he's been ragging the hell out of it and its still solid. Horsham are long term experienced in 200sx's and 350/370z's. Not so much the Z32 which makes me a bit nervous. 

Anyway yeah, think he pissed us both off, as well as Jim.

Getting Anil to sort the bodywork in a couple months time so all will be well. 

20 minutes ago, Peage said:

Nice work on the lights and the engine cover. Weird to see them crack like that though - almost like they might have been installed poorly and the heat finished them off? Maybe overtightened on the front corner lights and someone pulling at the rear lights to remove them at some point? I created a bit of that crazing on my original taillights when removing them to swap in the JSpec ones. The sticky black gunk they use/provide is tough.

As an aside - neither of you are painting a great picture of the tuner. I thought they came very highly rated?

Thanks ?. Yeah strange about the indicators. I saw the car when the bodywork was done and they were perfect - took tonnes of photos too. This was before the heat wave though, end of May. I assumed they were overtightened but the bodyshop if you know who they are, are obsessive with the details so wouldn't have thought they'd do this. Anyway problem all solved.

Interesting, maybe when they were removing the taillights, that involved lots of yanking to get them out, which didn't show any hazing initially, but the heat probably finished them off.

Horsham have caught my eye before. Will be interested to see what you think of whoever you end up with. 

Out of interest, what do you feel is incomplete with your tune at the moment?

30 minutes ago, Peage said:

As an aside - neither of you are painting a great picture of the tuner. I thought they came very highly rated?

No longer recommend unfortunately. 

I used them in 2021 and they were fantastic, great communication, took care of the car, great quality of work. Previous owner used them in 2018 and had same experience. It seems as though, over the last year, with my car, Grahams and some others I believe, that the communication has gone downhill, as has the taking care of the car aspect. Jim had been relying on him (as agreed) to do some remote basic tuning so we could get the car running, get it MOT'd and fill up fuel, but he just ignored Jim. Too many negative points to ignore so will no longer use him.

32 minutes ago, Peage said:

Horsham have caught my eye before. Will be interested to see what you think of whoever you end up with. 

Out of interest, what do you feel is incomplete with your tune at the moment?

Will keep you all updated. 

He left the boost control with the old Greddy EBC, whereas it should have been programmed to be controlled via the Link G4X ECU - a switch for the different boost levels was supposed to be put into the interior to control. Traction Control not set up yet as he wanted to try a newer method by making up a bracket, purchasing some new OEM wheel speed sensors and using them, as he's worried about interference with the ABS system, when using the ABS sensors. Although the 580bhp is more than enough for me at the moment, Jim's confident it should be pumping out quite a bit more, so I feel its worth to get it up to its safe potential. Lastly it developed a strange idle issue soon after getting it back when cold or first started, but goes away after 30 seconds - we narrowed it down to a tuning issue so want to sort that too. 

1 hour ago, Raja93 said:

Will keep you all updated. 

He left the boost control with the old Greddy EBC, whereas it should have been programmed to be controlled via the Link G4X ECU - a switch for the different boost levels was supposed to be put into the interior to control. Traction Control not set up yet as he wanted to try a newer method by making up a bracket, purchasing some new OEM wheel speed sensors and using them, as he's worried about interference with the ABS system, when using the ABS sensors. Although the 580bhp is more than enough for me at the moment, Jim's confident it should be pumping out quite a bit more, so I feel its worth to get it up to its safe potential. Lastly it developed a strange idle issue soon after getting it back when cold or first started, but goes away after 30 seconds - we narrowed it down to a tuning issue so want to sort that too. 

Interesting. Sounds like a bit of a half job then sadly for you. 580 is a very nice figure though.

Regarding the ABS sensors, he's kind of right but I don't see how his solution of a second set of sensors helps at all unless they're an active type. You said OEM though, so I assume new standard items? The interference is coming from throughout the car. The Nissan wires are shielded already.

I covered this in my build thread and made a janky filtering box which is fitted in-line with my ABS sensors. It doesn't completely remove all interference but it helps a huge amount. Mine works really well. You have to set it to be inactive under a certain low speed though, these types of sensor are just too unreliable when the speed is low/signal is weak.

All what you say sounds correct this is what Greg told me but some how my traction works very well…I have low boost and high boost switches too 

low boost around 500bhp 

high boost 600bhp 

wheel hp  not fly 

ps I can also turn traction off ! God knows why I’d do that ? 

21 hours ago, Peage said:

Interesting. Sounds like a bit of a half job then sadly for you. 580 is a very nice figure though.

Regarding the ABS sensors, he's kind of right but I don't see how his solution of a second set of sensors helps at all unless they're an active type. You said OEM though, so I assume new standard items? The interference is coming from throughout the car. The Nissan wires are shielded already.

I covered this in my build thread and made a janky filtering box which is fitted in-line with my ABS sensors. It doesn't completely remove all interference but it helps a huge amount. Mine works really well. You have to set it to be inactive under a certain low speed though, these types of sensor are just too unreliable when the speed is low/signal is weak.

Yep pretty much a half job, all rushed. It is plenty of power for me though. 

Thanks for the feedback - I do remember reading your posts now. He said that gray's car TC set up worked great on the ABS sensors but he was worried about the interference. By new sensors I mean OEM wheel speed sensors. 

Whoever ends up finishing off the tuning on mine, I will likely end up using the ABS sensors and will use your filter method - thanks for the reminder. 

11 hours ago, gray said:

All what you say sounds correct this is what Greg told me but some how my traction works very well…I have low boost and high boost switches too 

low boost around 500bhp 

high boost 600bhp 

wheel hp  not fly 

ps I can also turn traction off ! God knows why I’d do that ? 

BEAST! ?

23 hours ago, gray said:

y 

ps I can also turn traction off ! God knows why I’d do that ? 

You only live once?

Edited February 1, 20232 yr by TheRealNips

On 29/01/2023 at 18:39, Raja93 said:

Now that I've found a good local powder coater, the next item on the to do list is to get some engine bay metal ware refinished. Going for either gloss or satin black. Currently got in mind the cruise control motor bracket, fuel filter bracket and possibly balance bar. I'm sure I'll find some other bits when I take a proper look. Quite a few of the other key areas were already painted kindly by Jim. Update to follow when all done and dusted. 

Took a couple of months for me to get around to make a start on this. The cold and being busy kept me delaying it - got this week off so perfect time. Spent yesterday stripping off the tin ware from the engine bay. Because it was a spur of the moment decision to start this week, I didn’t even consider the hardware. 

After getting home from the garage, I thought ideal timing to get all those bolts zinc coated - always wanted to do this since seeing Funkysi’s engine bay refurb and also a well known Skyline refurb shop who replaces every bolt with zinc coated items 😍. 

After dropping off the bits to be powder coated in gloss black, I went by the garage, removed some more bolts and dropped off the lot at the metal platers. 

Been waiting a long time to do this - every time I open the bonnet these crusty metalware bits gives me the OCD shivers 😬. 

Edited April 6, 20232 yr by Raja93

Jimmer replaced the coil pack bolts and some other misc ones with a lovely set from Z Spec. Hopefully the refinished ones will look as good.

I left the stainless steel hardware holding the arches on the frame, as I didn’t want to undo them and mess about with the bodywork alignment! 

In the future to finish it off, I’ll need to repaint the power steering reservoir, replace the fuse box cover, swap out the blue hoses I’ve got left and carry out the throttle mechanism/spring refurbishment.

Had to be super careful when removing the various brackets due to the shiny new paint under. Had a bag full of microfibres to place under, to make sure the components when unbolted didn’t scrape the paint! 

Edited April 8, 20232 yr by Raja93