So I've been around the Zed scene in one model or another for almost 15 years now. Last owned was a 1995 Slicktop which I bought on a bit of a whim. Unfortunately it was a terrible time to own a project due to have new born twins when I bought it, doing a huge house extension shortly after, and then having another set of twins. Basically didn't have the time to dedicate to it so ended up selling. 

A number of years later, no more wiser, and a bit of a tragedy later and I ended up buying another Z32. 

Most people here will know this car, and know it's had a hard life. Over 15 years in the UK, never undersealed, and a sketchy service history for the past 5 or so. 

Just about every panel is a different shade of midnight purple. 

After discovering that the ignition barrel had been rodgered and that a screwdriver could start the car it was time to correct that before everything else. 

So a full lock and key set was ordered from Japan. Ignition now fitted. Door locks to follow. 

List of items to do (in no particular order) :

1. Purchase and replace heater pod - Done

2. Replace window upper sliders - bought but not yet fitted. 

3. Source OEM airbox to replace the awful cone filter. - Done

4. Raise suspension up to a sensible height. (need to buy a MeisterR spanner) - Done

5. Fit better size spacers for the wheels - Done

6. Replace front drop links - Done

7. Remove all suspension, soda blast, paint, refit. DONE REAR. Part done front

8. Rear subframe to come off. Soda blasted. Paint. New bushes. DONE

9. Rear diff oil replaced, new gasket, paint. - Done

10. Replace fuel lines front to back. 

11. Clean, treat, paint entire underside

12. Sill replacement both sides (eeeek) (recent investigation suggests only rear returns will need doing. Here's hoping). - Done

13. Repair to front radiator mount (lower) - Done

14. 120k full service to complete. Probably Powerzed, but it's a heck of a journey for me. Will see. - Done

15. Fix clocks ambient lighting. - Done

16. Replace HID bulbs with 4300k - Done

17. Replace indicator bulbs with none chromed ones. DONE

18. Replace/refurb boot struts

19. Full respray. 

20. Rear bumper mount metal work repair. - Done

21. Remove crappy dynomat from boot floor and investigate condition

22. Make new boot plywood cover sheets - Done

23. Repair partial shelf blind 

24. Remove rear tints

25. New Cats

26. New exhausts (double twins) 

Edited May 17, 20223 yr by Lexx

Cut that short shifter up Lexx so it can never inflict misery on another Z again  !

25 minutes ago, jimmer said:

Cut that short shifter up Lexx so it can never inflict misery on another Z again  !

It's already away with the rag n bone man along with the old Halfrauds battery it had and the discs off the wife's Qashqai. No chance of it being used by anyone again! ?

The HIDs that had been fitted to the car were quite a high Kelvin rating. Probs around 6200K. I was never happy with that so got a new set a few months back and was finally able to fit them today. 

Camera doesn't do it justice as it always picks out blue hues, but they are a very clear white (4800K). Also managed to get the ballasts tucked away under the nose panel. In the pics below the passenger side is new set and drivers still has old. 

Cleaned up some of the bay with degrease and fitted a few more stainless nuts and bolts. Discovered what I think is the start of lifter tick from the drivers side. Something to add to the "Jimmer list". 

 

Edited October 13, 20214 yr by Lexx

New scuttle trim and retaining clips fitted yesterday. For anyone buying new clips - beware that the Zspec rectangle  ones are a pain. The screw has a very very tight tolerance into the socket fitting and is very easy to strip. 

New wipers also fitted. Which is handy as I only got the car this far out of its hiding place when the rain turned biblical. 

 

9 hours ago, Lexx said:

New scuttle trim and retaining clips fitted yesterday. For anyone buying new clips - beware that the Zspec rectangle  ones are a pain. The screw has a very very tight tolerance into the socket fitting and is very easy to strip. 

New wipers also fitted. Which is handy as I only got the car this far out of its hiding place when the rain turned biblical. 

 

You know when cats are slowly stalking across someone else's garden and they suddenly freeze because something spooked them...

Ever noticed that life often gets in the way of owning a Zed? 

With my kids now aged 9, 9, 6, and 6 we have started to outgrow the house as it currently stands. So today we appointed an architect to vastly extend the house.... Again. This is not something I'm looking forward to after my last experience of having building work. But needs must. 

As such, the work on the Zed will be coming to a halt for the foreseeable future (likely around 18-24 months) and it will be getting put into dry storage. I'll likely pull it out to get it MOTd next year, but the timing belt is now overdue so I don't want to be driving it around. There's a possibility (funds allowing) that I'll trailer it down to Jim next year too to get the belts and a few bits and bobs done. 

One benefit of the building work is that I am getting the length of the garage extended so that the Zed will finally get a permanent dry home where I'll have space to work on it. 

Every cloud has it Lexx. Just keep on top of the builders mate.

Well the hibernation didn't last long. 

I'm now a fair few $$$$ lighter courtesy of Z1 and CZP. Non of it will arrive in time for this leave, but next leave I'll be moving the car into my own garage to work on it in the warm and dry for once. 

A whole lot of $$$ that will never be seen ?. 

New PCV hose and valves, fuel lines, and vac lines not shown as they're already stowed in the garage. 

I wish I'd found a cheaper mistress and mid life crisis! 

On 24/02/2022 at 18:55, Lexx said:

A whole lot of $$$ that will never be seen ?. 

New PCV hose and valves, fuel lines, and vac lines not shown as they're already stowed in the garage. 

I wish I'd found a cheaper mistress and mid life crisis! 

At least they are the same thing....imagine how expensive it would be if you had one of each!

Plenum pulled and valve covers off. 

Back of the engine is quite wet, but seems to have been coming from the valve covers. I'll have a closer look tomorrow. 

Water bypass complete on the plenum. Just started cleaning it and the valve covers up. Hoping to paint the plenum tomorrow and drop the valve covers and balance bar off at the powdercoaters. 

Got a busy few days with the family now, but all being well ill start the 120k service on Monday. 

 

Not much progress as I've been busy with family stuff. 

Balance bar and valve covers are at the powder coaters. He's stowed out so I won't get those back till Thursday next week. I started to clean up the plenum and applied a test patch of aluminium coloured gloss engine enamel. But tbh I don't think I like it. Will probably just clean up the stock look and leave it like that. 

Injector hardware cleaned up and new stainless foxing applied and torqued up. A couple of the ones fitted as found were a tad loose. Car has had an EGR delete so I know the plenum has been off at some point in the past but no idea if anyone has messed with the injectors. Oh well, all done, loctite, and torqued. 

 

Yup. They were fooked. 

New goodness installed. 

And so it continues. 

I should add that there is a place in hell reserved for the person who fitted this clamp this way round. 

 

How did he do that!!!  Cut it off Al and give him a slap. ?

Likely done with a couple of wobbly bits put together; that or the fan shroud wasn't in place either.

Progress has been slow due to various childcare and household commitments. 

Had a bugger of a time getting the crank sprocket off. Initially started to drill it so that I could tap it and use a pulley. However I snapped a drill bit off (twice) so gave up and pulled out the dremel. A significant amount of patience later (and a cold chisel) and the sprocket came off. 

Next up was the CAS which is fully melded into its bracket. Managed with some fecking around to get the bracket off and not snap the CAS pin. It's still stuck in the bracket though so need to think of a way to fix that in the near future. 

4 X cam and 1 x crank seals removed and replaced with new. New crank sprocket on. Cam gears fitted and torqued. New idler studs on. New water pump fitted. Tensioner correctly gapped at 4mm and loosely fitted. 

Will see how things are tomorrow time wise but hopefully I can get the bulk of it boxed off. Still waiting for new ancillary belts from Luke so won't get to the point of getting the rad in. The valve covers will be back from the powder coaters tomorrow so I might get those on time allowing and can then concentrate on getting the plenum back on. 

Pics will no doubt end up on a weird order so apologies for that. Seems to be an artifact of the software. 

... 

On 30/03/2022 at 15:48, Lexx said:

Re your stuck CAS to bracket. I had the same with a late CAS I bought s/h. To avoid damaging it I cut the bracket itself at two points

to just before the CAS and then split with a small cold chisel and light taps. The bracket is a soft alloy casting and splits easily.  Getting

another bracket would be an easier (and cheaper) option.

 

Edited March 31, 20223 yr by AndrewG

Thanks Andrew. I left it with some penetrating fluid around the edge over night and it came out today without too much fuss. I'll know if I damaged it or not when I get round to starting up. 

Today's progress. 

New aux belts arriving tomorrow. Unfortunately I head back offshore on Saturday morning so this is as far as I'll get. I'll finish it in 4 weeks time and hope I haven't forgotten where anything goes! 

 

Got back on land yesterday and had a slack few hours to work on the car. 

Valve covers fitted including new half moon seals. 

Z1 PCV silicone hoses fitted. 

Z1 IACV silicone hoses fitted. 

New Iridium plugs 

Plenum refitted with new OEM gasket. 

Coil packs in. All the wiring hooked back up (hate those God damn wire clips on the IACV!). Fuel hard-line refitted. 

All the fittings have been replaced with Zspec stainless throughout. 

Left to do:

Fuel filter and new hoses to/from fuel hardlines.

New OEM aux belts to fit. Fan to fit. Radiator to fit and fill. 

Then hopefully it'll be start up time. It'll be later this week though as I have other family and DIY commitments the next few days. 

 

Edited April 30, 20223 yr by Lexx

It's all back together. 

As discussed on another thread having some small issues. First being some white smoke from predominantly the passenger side of the block. It seems to be coming from around the manifold areas so I'm assuming/hoping it's just coolant that dripped all over there during the plenum pull burning off. Going to get my endoscope in there tomorrow and see what I can see. 

The cars runs up to temperature fine and hold steady. 

Other issue is the idle. On (cold) start up the idle runs up and down from 200-900 for 30 seconds or so and then settles down at 950. When blip the throttle the revs drop and stall after lifting off the pedal. Will start hunting for a vacuum leak tomorrow and hope it's that. Worst case the IACV is borked and I'll be £700 lighter by the end of the week. 

Smoking has stopped after 30 mins running today. So putting that down to spilled coolant burning off. Phew. 

Erratic idle is being a pain in the ***. I've adjusted the timing as best I can to 15° BTDC. But with the idle wandering a bit it obviously causes the timing to wander as well. 

Found one vac leak and sorted that. All the PCV and IACV hoses are brand new silicone items for Z1. Balance bar seals are new and torqued to spec. 

I'm looking at the IACV or the CAS now I suppose. I'm a silly sod and didn't clean the IACV when I had the plenum off. So I'll get Luke to send me a gasket and pull the IACV for cleaning. 

Borrowing Bird and his Consult  soon so I can check a few other bits and bobs are in spec.