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

 

Picked the Z up from the bodyshop last Sunday - what fantastic weather it was, perfect for the fast drive back down the M4 😎. My friend was driving behind me and liked how everyone moved out the way for me in the right lane haha. People never move out the way when I’m in my daily E46! 

Anil never fails to impress; he completed the following works to an impeccable finish 👌🏽:-

- 3 stage polished the car, took out the lacquer burn which Topaz failed to even notice. Ceramic coated entire car with some high end stuff with the help of a professional detailer friend who works on Ferraris/Lambos etc 

- Straightened out my drivers sill/arch bottom and passenger one that the tuner bent. Applied a corrosion proofing wax to sills too

- Replaced my taillights with new ones. The ones had melted at the bottom to the car frame, due to the last august 40c heatwave when it was left outside for a bloody month!! 
- Refixed the drivers targa a pillar rubber that he incorrectly fitted 

- Repainted the roof around the T-Bar that melted due to the last August heat, as a favour free of charge 

- Touched up a scrape on the brake master cylinder so looks new again 

- Refixed a small area of the new spoiler that lifted a bit 

- Realigned my doors as he noticed they weren’t flush anymore 

Even after the Topaz PPF and supposed ceramic coating, the PPF area looked great but the rear I had thought never looked as good as it did when I first saw her after the respray back in May 2022. Now it looks just as beautiful as it did a year ago, so very very happy. Back to its former glory! 

Its all those extra bits he does FOC (like Jimmer) treating it like his own car 😍😃. 

Edited May 29, 20232 yr by Raja93

And of course pictures for eye candy. The pics with his skyline were before the ceramic coating treatment. 
 

 

And these on and after collection

Edited May 27, 20232 yr by Raja93

Next year or later maybe I want to get new wheels. My JR wheels were bought as a quick fix because I bought the Z with a buckled passenger rear wheel in Feb 2020 (seller did disclose). With lockdown from March 2020, I had to have the Z back on the road for my sanity so ordered my current wheels which came quickly. Unfortunately the quality is crap as the front wheels had started peeling around the nuts within months. I got the fronts replaced free of charge under warranty but it took until December 2020 for them to arrive. By the time they arrived, the rears started peeling. They advised I ceramic coat with Carbon Collective brand coating, which I did two 2 full coats and the proper curing time and prep work. They still peeled after! I also want to step up to 19” (these are 18”). Trouble is they do look great! They’re essentially a replica of the CCW Classics which cost £5-6k!! So that’s out the question! I’ll see what I can find and go from there. Always liked the Works VSXX wheels…

 

Edited May 27, 20232 yr by Raja93

I do like the deep dish look.

56 minutes ago, Bones28 said:

I do like the deep dish look.

Same, makes em look meaty! I like the bottom picture wheel the most. Ideally want to get much wider rears to aid in traction. Although my traction is excellent with Jimmers alignment and Michelin PS4’s, it’d be much less nerve racking when getting on the loud pedal if I had 295’s or so. 

New wheels will be the icing on the cake. This Z looks 😍😎🔥!

On 29/05/2023 at 07:34, Joely P said:

New wheels will be the icing on the cake. This Z looks 😍😎🔥!

They really would! And thanks mate 👍🏽❤️. At the mo, the callipers had to be shaved a little as the gap between them and wheels are so so tight! My front end is too low so scrapes arches occasionally (although does look mean as f**k) - would be fine if negative camber reduced, height raised and bigger wheels put on. Rear end the wheels look too small when looking at the side profile. New wheels would sort all these issues out 😃. Something for next year…

Been a while since the last update. After the rebuild and paintwork last year, I didn’t get the Z back on the road fully until October last year which only gave me a month until winter hibernation. 

This year I’ve been driving it quite a bit which has been fantastic; evenings after work on sunny days, all throughout weekends and since I’ve changed jobs to another firm who pays private car mileage, I’ve been using the Z to drive to work meetings where I know the roads are great 😃. Whenever I’m driving hard (most the time!), I’m grateful I had Jimmer build the engine as it’s been faultless over quite a lot of mileage this summer. 

Next on the list is interior; sound system, modern alarm and retrim. 

Ordered some samples from Muirhead leather which is all top notch lovely stuff. Most turned out to be completely different colours than what I thought but the Fawn (top one) interested me as it’s super smooth and thick nappa. After some thought and chatting to Vig, I decided It’s too light for my liking, so got some alternative samples which hit the nail on the head. 
 

The chosen Tan sample shown below, compared against the door card colours and the blue paintwork. Also compared to the Fawn sample which is too light.

I wasn’t too happy with the creasing in this tan sample so got a Porsche nappa tan as below image, but as expected, it is shockingly expensive!! Makes the job 75% more expensive, even though it’s the same quality as the Muirhead leather. Annoyingly Muirhead don’t do dark tans which is where my issue lies 🤦🏽‍♂️. The search continues… 

 

 

Interior retrim plan is:-

- New muirhead leather to match OEM colour and grain to A & B pillars, upper door cars, rear quarter upper trim, rear quarter window surrounds, targa handle surround

- Tan leather to all seats, lower door cards, rear lower quarter trims, gear and hand brake gaiters, glove box, under steering wheel and around transmission tunnel sides. Seats centres hoping to go perforated leather. 

I’m not getting this done until November 2024 so got plenty of time to sort the tan leather spec out! 

Interior Innovations do front seat foams so may order a set of those whilst I’m at it. Would help get that perfect leather fit appearance and avoid creasing. 

The new tan looks spot on to me! And I think the creasing adds som character but I suppose you'd want that to develop over time versus being there from new!

3 minutes ago, sumshiftyguy said:

The new tan looks spot on to me! And I think the creasing adds som character but I suppose you'd want that to develop over time versus being there from new!

Exactly what I’m thinking. The second tan sample that was far too expensive, is perfect in regards to creasing - typical!! Muirhead do make custom colours so may send them the sample and see what their custom colour pricing is like. Although whenever you add the word custom or specialist, pricing goes through the roof ☹️

Loving the tan Raja. 👍

Exciting times! Tan will look awesome.

@Raja93 You could ignore the interior for a couple of years and actually get out and drive it/enjoy it 🤣

Edited September 17, 20232 yr by TheRealNips

37 minutes ago, TheRealNips said:

@Raja93 You could ignore the interior for a couple of years and actually get out and drive it/enjoy it 🤣

Haha 😂, no no you got it all wrong. I’ve been cured of my modifying addiction - look at my first post from Wednesday, been driving it loads! Hence why I haven’t posted anything since early May. Now moved home to a 5 min walk from the garage I rent which makes it easy to jump in and drive anytime weathers decent. Reason I chose winter 2024 is so I can save for it and secondly because it goes in the garage anyway from November to end of March, so I then don’t lose any summer driving time 😎.

5 hours ago, Raja93 said:

Haha 😂, no no you got it all wrong. I’ve been cured of my modifying addiction

Are you really sure Raja?

4 hours ago, AndrewG said:

Are you really sure Raja?

Well…..😬

I’ll end up tidying small bits and bobs here and there but other than the interior, alarm and music system, no other major work to be done. After 3.5 years, it now drives amazing, looks beautiful and most importantly is reliable, so the key box’s are ticked. 

I don’t actually enjoy the modifying at all (just the end result I enjoy). It cheeses me off how changing one thing opens up a can of worms and then results in another part needing changing. That’s why I told Tom to never modify his Z, other than absolute essentials. I would have much preferred to buy an already mint car that doesn’t need anything doing to it to save all the hassle and time wasting. 

Other than the suspension refresh and 99 headlights, everything else done to the car was down to faults it had when I bought it unfortunately - compression issue + turbo seizing, paint lacquer peeling in various places, tired trim and minor rust, brakes getting old etc. Interior is shabby hence the retrim next year.

So fingers crossed by the end of 2024 I’ll have a finished Z 😃. 

On 17/09/2023 at 18:28, Raja93 said:

Well…..😬

I’ll end up tidying small bits and bobs here and there but other than the interior, alarm and music system, no other major work to be done. After 3.5 years, it now drives amazing, looks beautiful and most importantly is reliable, so the key box’s are ticked. 

I don’t actually enjoy the modifying at all (just the end result I enjoy). It cheeses me off how changing one thing opens up a can of worms and then results in another part needing changing. That’s why I told Tom to never modify his Z, other than absolute essentials. I would have much preferred to buy an already mint car that doesn’t need anything doing to it to save all the hassle and time wasting. 

Other than the suspension refresh and 99 headlights, everything else done to the car was down to faults it had when I bought it unfortunately - compression issue + turbo seizing, paint lacquer peeling in various places, tired trim and minor rust, brakes getting old etc. Interior is shabby hence the retrim next year.

So fingers crossed by the end of 2024 I’ll have a finished Z 😃. 

Mine is staying (mostly) the way it is now. I may convert to manual at some point, might even fit an air filter to gain a bit more power from the restricting airbox setup. Andrew was trying to convice me to change the injectors for newer ones, so might do that, but as its an early model with the early plenum, that means changing the fuel rail etc. faff!

Im loving that I can jump in it, turn the key and it just works. I can enjoy it whenever I like. I dont have to worry! Over the winter I will get my UK alloys powder coated and on the car with new tyres. The interior could do with a look at, but overall im happy with the way it is!

3 hours ago, TheRealNips said:

Mine is staying (mostly) the way it is now. I may convert to manual at some point, might even fit an air filter to gain a bit more power from the restricting airbox setup. Andrew was trying to convice me to change the injectors for newer ones, so might do that, but as its an early model with the early plenum, that means changing the fuel rail etc. faff!

Im loving that I can jump in it, turn the key and it just works. I can enjoy it whenever I like. I dont have to worry! Over the winter I will get my UK alloys powder coated and on the car with new tyres. The interior could do with a look at, but overall im happy with the way it is!

That stock reliability is exactly why I said not to modify it! Thankfully I’m now at that stage that it just always works - hurrah! I’d look at doing injectors, series 2 PTU and maybe a new fuel pump, purely for reliability reasons. Nothing else needed on yours. 

UK spec wheels will be the icing on the cake, will fill out those rear arches nicely. Your interiors in much better condition than mine so I’d leave well alone for a good couple years at least. 

On 19/09/2023 at 20:45, Raja93 said:

That stock reliability is exactly why I said not to modify it! Thankfully I’m now at that stage that it just always works - hurrah! I’d look at doing injectors, series 2 PTU and maybe a new fuel pump, purely for reliability reasons. Nothing else needed on yours. 

UK spec wheels will be the icing on the cake, will fill out those rear arches nicely. Your interiors in much better condition than mine so I’d leave well alone for a good couple years at least. 

Its starting to show age. The dash is starting to lift by the windscreen vents, although @AndrewG told me about a trick involving tennis balls and glue. The quarter panels by the rear bench seats is starting to peel so will need re-glueing and on the A pillar trim and door cards im starting to get bubbles where the glue has failed behind.