Me:
Adam, born 1983, interests include movies, cars, computers and video games.

 

Personal Information:

Married to my beautiful wife Pauline in 2013, our first child Sebastian was born in 2014 and our second child Alessia was born in 2018.

 

Current Job Employment:

Working as a Retail Team Leader (RTL) for Repco Auto Parts, currently stationed at the Roxburgh Park store since 2016.

 

300ZX Experience:

Z32 enthusiast and novice mechanic since 2006.

Model:
12/89 Japanese Domestic Model (series I) None turbo 2+2 Automatic. chassis #GZ32-003944

Build Description:
Complete 2000 model retrofit and OEM+ restoration

Mileage:
Purchased with 97,220km and when I began this build project, the car had reached 190,483km

Body Colour:
OEM Metallic Silver (Paint Code: #673). resprayed in 2012 in same Metallic Silver.

 

Bodykit:
Complete OEM 2000 model body styling retrofit.

 

Engine Type:

OEM 3.0 Litre V6 2960 cc (Code: VG30DE) original engine.

 

Transmission Type:
Purchased with 4 Speed Automatic (Code #re4r01a). Replaced in 2007 and then replaced again in 2017

 

Interior Colour:

Purchased with original Grey Tweed (Code #G), retrofitted with OEM Blue Velour (series II) interior 2012.

Arrival modifications:
NOS Sticker on interior rear view mirror, otherwise bone stock fresh import from Japan.

Bad parts on arrival:
Cracked front bumper bar, plenty of minor scratches and marks on OEM body paint work, badly rusted battery tray, damaged drivers seat side bolster, missing OEM scissor jack and tool kit, no OEM stereo installed and the dashboard had the common lifted demister vent damage

Date of purchase:
September 2006

 

Build Project Start Date:

January 2012 to November 2021

Build Budget:
For Parts the budget was unlimited from 2007-2012 (estimated spend was around $60k-$70k)

 

For paint/bodywork the budget was strictly $5k no more.

 

Between 2012 to 2021 the budget for the build had diminished to almost nothing, with only essential repairs and general maintenance allowed to be spent on the car.

 

 

 

My 300ZX’s Story:

The 300zx was been a car that I fell in love with back in 1997 after playing the original Gran Turismo video game on my PlayStation gaming console as a young 14 year old, with the car’s stunning futuristic aerodynamic body styling being the biggest factor of why I love the 1990 Nissan 300ZX Z32 model.

 

 

In 2006 after several years of looking, I finally found an affordable 1989 Nissan 300ZX Z32 to buy in a none turbo 2+2 automatic configuration which had recently been imported into Australia that same year from Japan. I purchased the car for $7550, and it was the biggest day in my life up to that point and I remember having the biggest smile on my face the whole trip home as I was thrilled to finally own my very own Nissan 300ZX.

 

 

Over the next 5 years of ownership, I learned a great deal about the ins and outs regarding the Nissan 300ZX and the community that supports it. I attended many community events including tech days and several victorian based car cruises to places like the Great Ocean Road and the Goldfields to name a few. Over those 5 years I  have also had the pleasure of meeting a great many amazing and passionate Z32 owners who like me love this car for what it is, a great and unquie japanese sports car. I am glad to have meet them and they will always be life friends to me.

 

 

When I purchased my nissan 300ZX, I quickly developed a desire to not just restore my 300zx over time but I also wanted to upgrade it to that of the latest 300ZX model Nissan had ever produced, that being the 2000 Version R 300ZX model sold only in Japan, and are an uncommon sight to see here in Australia and still to this day. 

 

 

 

To complish my goal I spent 10's of thousands of dollars sourcing and collecting brand new, rare and optional OEM 300ZX Z32 parts from the United States and Japan over the span of 4 years in an attempt to create the world’s first fully optional Nissan 300ZX that could have ever existed.

 

 

In 2012 I had to begin the build phase of the project ahead of sechdule as my partner and I were in the process of organising our wedding day and honeymoon events that following year and so in order for me to help out with paying for some parts of the wedding, I stopped my part sourcing efforts and began the complex task of planning out the dismantling and reassembling phase of the project.

 

It took me 12 months of hard work to strip down my car and then reassemble it using all of the new and used parts that I had been sourcing over the last 4 years to make it as close to a 2000 special edition model as I could. I was extremely proud of the amazing work my Dad and I had accomplished with the build and I brought the car to its first official outing on the 2012 GOR cruise and the response from the community was very positive and lots of intrigue.

 

 

After 2012, my new and improved daily driver was driven as much as possible, almost everyday. The car collected over 100,000 kms after 10 years of driving and though the car was basically finished, I still managed to find more and more rare and optional parts as the years past by and depending on finances new additions to the car we installed but the car remained as is for last 11 years or so.

 

My 300ZX’s Big Accident 2021:

 

My 300ZX's Big Crash 2021 (Part 1) #shorts #300zx

 

My 300ZX's Big Crash 2021 (Part 1) #shorts #300zx

 

Rebuild Project Start Date:

November 2021 - ongoing

 

Rebuild Budget:

Insurance payout was $8k after the accident, but the budget has since blown out to an additional $2k with more finances required to complete the rebuild.

 

Rebuild Project Plans:

Obliviously the main goal of the rebuild is to get the car back to a drivable state and repair the damage, so the car will look like it did before the accident occured. I also feel this is a golden opportunity for me to continue finishing off my original build project that I never really finished back in late 2012.

PARTS ACQUIRED DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST

A huge month of part acquisitions has arrived for the project and boy I can not wait to show you all what I purchased for the Z this month. First up I managed to get my hands on a very rare optional automatic shifter after a year of searching and it has been a long time coming but I can finally say that I have received 'THE LAST" parts order for this rebuild project and with it comes the boost of motivation I desperately needed so I can finally start actually pre assembling various parts from several sections ahead of the final stages of the re-assembly process for the project which I hope will happen within the next month or 2:). 

So without further delay lets have a look at what I parts I received for the month of August.

Optional Navan Automatic Shifter Purchase (Z32 Version) (Nissan P/N: C491V-40P00)

Back in 2022 I purchased my first optional Navan automatic shifter from a seller on eBay in Amsterdam. Overall the unit was in ok condition and I paid roughly $400 AUD delivered for the shifter which I intended to install after the Z was back on the road. I was excited to finally have one of these rare shifters in my collection after not really wanting one for the longest of time.

A year later while browsing through yahoo auctions, I found an auction for the sale of a another Navan shifter and in a moment of curiosity I looked over the listing and what I found amongst the list of photos in the auction was something I hadn't expected to see. There was a photo of the original Nissan/Navan Parts label which indicated that this specific Navan shifter being sold was a Z32 specific version. 

Now this was something I didn't know about at the time and I initially assumed that all of the Navan Auto shifters were the same but after comparing the Navan shifter I had in my hands with the one in the photos on yahoo auctions, I realised that I was wrong and that there are specific Navan shifters for different cars. With this new knowledge I was able to determine that the Navan shifter I purchased in 2022, was probably to suit an Nissan Silvia S14 model and I could spot differences between the two Navan shifters from what I had and from what I could see in the photos from the yahoo auctions listing.

This prompted me to then restart my search for another optional Navan automatic shifter and this time I would make sure to buy one that will suit a 300ZX Z32 model and for the past year or so I have seen several go up for sale on yahoo auctions at a price range of between $400+ to $600+ AUD which were a little too high for me to bite the bullet on when I needed to focus my funding on buying parts that I actually needed to get to be able to put the Z back on the road and so my initial plan was to just wait until after I had the money to make the purchase and or wait until after the Z was finally back together again.

Luckily for me in July of this year, I found the one that I eventually purchased and I brought it for amazing low price of $300 AUD delivered, which is half of what I was willing to spend on one several months earlier and it came complete with the shifter indicator trim piece and even the entire shifting mechanism which I don't really need but its always good to have a spare I guess.

When I received the part midway through August, I was of course wrapped with the purchase and the condition of the shifter is excellent to say the least.

I even compared the S14 Navan shifter with the Z32 version and you can clearly see the length differences between the 2 shifters so I'm glad I never decided to modify the S14 shifter and instead it is currently up for sale on eBay.

The Final Parts Order for the Rebuild Project

The final parts order I made through Concept Z Performance contained every last minute and remaining 300zx part I needed to finally say I have all of the parts required to put the front end of my Z back together again. Trying to be as prepared as possible I spent a good month double checking all of my parts inventory at home so that I didn't miss anything in this order.

I initially budgeted the order with about $400 AUD in parts and roughly $100 AUD guesstimate in freight charges but that price it turns out to be on the very optimistic side of things and the final total cost I ended up paying for the entire order turned out to be closer to $1000 AUD including freight which was over double what I had estimated and my wife wasn't very happy about to say the least. But this is the price we pay for purchasing items from overseas and I only wish I had access to shops like CZP here in Australia and not have to pay nearly $300 in freight charges just to ship my order over from the USA to Australia. 

Thankfully online stores like RGS performance who in my opinion is the best 300zx parts vendor we have here in Australia will continue to release and provide new and existing aftermarket and OEM parts for us Aussie 300zx owners to purchase from and with very low and even free shipping options its hard not to consider purchasing from Rob for your local 300zx parts in the future.   

Still as much as it cost me almost a fortnights pay and a cosey bed to sleep in for a night. I am just happy I can stop spending so much money on the Z at least for a little while and instead I can now focus on just putting the Z back together and enjoy driving it once again after nearly 3 years of it sitting in my Dad's front yard.

Powertrix Carbon Fiber Air Guide Full NA Set (Powertrix P/N: CF3PRAGNISZ32)

Starting off with the big purchase that came in my final parts order from CZP, was the full set of carbon fiber air guides made by Powertrix which I purchased as a way of helping me to cover over the repaired but poorly looking radiator core support. 

Ever since I started this rebuild project I have been going crazy for carbon fiber add on parts and this is just another one that I wanted to have and they look fantastic out of the box. I will need to make a few modifications to each of the 3 air guides in order for me to be able to not just mount the air guides to the core support but to also install a feature that I've never seen anyone else so far do before with these types of aftermarket air guides and that is to add in holes for the ability for me to clip in the factory VIN chassis plate onto the top of center air guide instead of having the guide cover over the plate and keep it hidden underneath as well as add all of the factory engine labels that are located along the core support.

2010 Nissan Murano Universal Optional Sports Horns (Nissan P/N: 25070-30P01)

The other big part that I guess is worth mentioning, is the set of optional sports horns off of the 2010 Nissan Murano that I purchase to replace my original factory Z32 horns with and give my Z a bit more of a modern sounding horn. Funny enough I had been against doing this for a long time as I felt that upgrading the factory horns was 300ZX blasphemy and also a waste of money but my mind has come around to the fact that I have been putting in a lot of time and money into upgrading several parts on the car during the rebuild, so why not upgrade my factory Z32 horns setup while I'm at it and the fact that these new horns can be easily installed onto the 300ZX with no modifications needed was a no brainer for me and the fact that these horns are original OEM Nissan parts also made the purchase worth going for in my opinion.

However this late change could have complications associated with it as the new horns are much larger in size and my planned factory Z32 horn covers setup might experience some sort of clearance issue with these new bigger horns but I was hopeful that would not be the case.

Unfortunately when I attempted to test fit the new sports horns and the factory Z32 horn covers, I did indeed come across clearance issues that made it impossible for the sports horns to be able to fit under the factory Z32 horn covers.

More testing is required to know for sure but I may need to look into changing the mounting setup for the new sports horns and or modify the plastic horn covers to allow for both of them to be able to fit onto the Z as I am intending.

Looking great Adam and lots of info here for owners mate.

Serious build thread here 👍

On 06/10/2024 at 19:28, Gaz 300 said:

Looking great Adam and lots of info here for owners mate.

Thanks mate,  I have put a lot of time and effort into collecting a ton of information, photos and knowledge about the 300zx and it's my goal to provide as much of that information and knowledge into my posts and build thread so that everyone can learn and grow their 300zx knowledge like I have been doing for nearly 20+ years now.

I just hope that I don't come off as a show off with what I'm doing with my Z. That is not my intentions and even though I have sent over 100k+ on this car over the span of 20 years, I am by no means rich and spending money on this car is not something I do on a whim espeically when I have a wife and 2 kids who I need to provide for first and forthmost.

But I do hate seeing so many  people spend so much of their time and money on just engine only builds and performance focus upgrades when I believe there is more to gain for the 300zx community nowdays from an high end OEM+ style restoration build which I think is really lacking when it comes to 300zx build content ATM, so I hope I am making something different and unique that no one in the world has ever done before on a 300zx which I am very proud of and I can't wait to drive this car once again.

On 07/10/2024 at 22:27, Peage said:

Serious build thread here 👍

Thanks mate, things are getting pretty serious for me now with the next step of the process being to check over all of the part sections and pre-assemble as many of the parts as I before the big d day comes where I can finally put the Z back together again.

At long last the final phase of the rebuild project is in full swing now and I have been very busy checking over as many of the sections of the project that I can to make sure I have everything that I will need when it comes time to put this car back together again. 

The other big development that also occurred this month was the completion of my restoration work on a whole bunch of metal parts which I have been slowing working on restoring over the past 8 months or so and with that accomplished now done, I can then focus my attention to when I will actually be reassembling the car back into a fully functional an drivable machine once again. The current plan is to do it over a 2 day weekend, with me staying  over at my Dad's place to allow me to have as much time as possible to slowly install everything back onto the car and deal with any issues that might arise during the reassembly process.

The excitement for me right now is definitely building and I just hope that all of this work and planning will make putting the Z back together as straight forward as can be.

Unfortunately all of this content and effort has caused me to miss my timely monthly update window for the past 2 months which I apologise for and I will be working extra hard now to try and catch up my progress reports so that any further progress reports will not be so delayed going forward.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ADAMZX  Instagram: instagram.com/adamzx_z32[/center]

FINISHING UP THE RESTORATION PROCESS FOR A BUNCH OF MISCELLENOUS PARTS

Starting off the progress report this month, will be the process I went through of me applying a new durable and glossy paint coating to several miscellaneous support and mounting brackets that I have spent the last 8 month or so preparing for new paint which I need to do before I can then reinstall those parts back onto the car.

Back in April of this year, I tested out spray painting a couple of metal parts I wanted to restore using a spray on chassis paint made by Raptor and though I was happy with the look of the part after the coating had dried, the durability of the paint finish turned out to less then what i was expecting it to be and so going forward, I wanted to look into a more durable and easier to apply paint coating.

That is when I found out about a paint coating system made by KBS, which according to the internet and a mate of mine who had first hand experience using this new paint coating system. Would give me the high glossy look and finish I was going for as well as give me a very durable anti corrosive paint coating that would not chip off easily and be able to protect the metal surface of the parts for an extremely long time.

The other benefit of me using this new paint coating was the fact that I could apply the paint using a brush on method which I figured would be a lot easier for a novice painter like myself, to be able to apply the paint to the parts from inside the comfort of my garage. After all of the issues I had trying to use a spray on chassis paint, I was hopeful that this new brush on paint method, would eliminate some of those issues such as trying to paint parts in a confined space as well as not having to worry about any overspray from falling onto the walls and floor of the garage. 

Like with everything I do, I collected as many paint resources and equipment as I could to try and make the painting process as straight forward for myself as much as possible. I purchased several natural bristle brushes and even some roll on paint tools just incase one method turned out to be better then the other.

The 2 paint coatings I will be using for this process will start with an initial application of KBS's rust seal which is the anti corrosion paint layer to protect the metal surface of the part from rusting in the future. I will then apply a second paint layer of KBS's Black Top Chassis Coater in a high gloss black finish and its purpose is to provide a protective UV paint finish for the rust seal paint layer so that it doesn't fade overtime from direct sunlight. 

The setup of the garage consisted of 2 cheap clothes hanging towers I purchased from the local hardware store and would allow me to hang each of the parts from at a suitable height using tie wire. A small table was also setup covered by a tarp so I could paint the exposed grill mesh sections on the Stillen nose panel. Lastly to protect the garage floor as much as possible I placed a medium sized drop sheet down onto the garage floor below the painting area just to prevent any kind of paint spillage that may occur during the painting process from getting onto the garage floor.

Next I then needed to hang all of the parts to be painted from the clothes towers I had setup up, spreading them out as much as possible.

With everything setup I popped open the first paint can and began painting the first couple of parts and this is where the issues that I hadn't accounted for began to appear using this type of brush on application. The first issue I found was the fact that as I tried to brush the paint onto the light weight parts, it would obliviously get pushed away preventing the new paint from really getting on the surface of the part. So to combat this I used an additional hold down point using a tie wire to tension the part and make it more stable and thus not move but this ended up making the part begin twisting on a pivot and so I was having to fight the natural movement of the part hanging downwards while I attempted to brush on the paint on by hand. This became very frustrating very quickly. 

The second issue I had was with paint runs which were unavoidable using this method on such small parts and though I attempted to fix as many of the runs as I could, it meant me having to go over the same part multiple times before I could move onto the next part slowing down my progress.

Still with all of those issues aside, I did end up completing the first coat on all of the parts successfully but it took me about an hour or so to get all of the parts sufficiently coated in paint. The recommend dry time for the rust seal was 12 hours, so I left the parts to sit overnight and then start over again for the second coat which would be the chassis top coater.

The next day I applied the black top chassis coater to all of the parts using the same brush on method which again was tough to apply as I still had all of the above issues to deal with for this second coat but I managed to get it all done in the end and though it was an experience I would never do again all at once, I was happy with how the paint finish turned out for the most part.

And the best finish I ended up getting for the entire process, was with the nose panel which came out exactly how I wanted it to with all of the exposed cutout louvers painted in gloss black which looked so much better then it did before and it really goes well with the silver factory paint colour of the panel.

If I had to do it all again I would definitely be using a spray on method of application for this type of paint job, mainly because the parts I was painting were so light weight that there was no effective way to hold the part steady while I painted it using a brush and it meant I couldn't get a consistent coating like I wanted.

AIR CLEANER SYSTEM SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

The first section we will be looking at for this month is the air intake system (SEC-165) and all of its related components. The system includes the air filter housing assembly which houses the 2 panel style air filters, as well as the location of the mass air flow sensor. Connected to the MAF sensor are air intake hoses that direct air flow from the air filter housing and up into the 2 throttle bodies attached to the intake plenum on top of the motor. As my car is an NA model this section also includes the specially designed resonator hose setup attached to the intake ducting's found in (SEC-628) which help to reduced engine noise on the VG30DE engines which the turbo model cars do not require.

All of the plastic and rubber components for this section where restored using a 3 stage cleaning & coating process I developed myself with a thorough initial cleaning of each part inside and out using a 4:1 ratio of simple green concentrated all purpose cleaner (SG13003) and water followed by a treatment with Bowden's Tar Tar Tar (BOTTT) to remove any remaining staining on the surface of the parts before a coating of Meguiars ultimate protectant Dash & Trim Restorer (G14512) was applied to not just protect the parts from the elements for a short while but to also bring the shine and colour back to the rubber and or plastic components making them look like brand new parts again.

This section also saw me replace several parts as part of many upgrades that occurred during the rebuild project. For this section specifically the Mass Air Flow Sensor needed to be replaced as the original MAF sensor had been crushed during the accident. My initial plan was to swap out the internal sensor and circuit board from the damage MAF sensor into a spare but fautly MAF sensor which had an undamaged housing. With the help of my Dad we were successful in transplanting the sensors from one housing to another but further testing of the unit was required before we could weather seal the housing back together.

To cover my bases, I also decided to buy a spare brand new aftermarket MAF sensor which I purchased off of eBay, just to save me time if the repaired original MAF sensor ended up malfunctioning even after it had been repaired so to speak and with the spare MAF sensor in hand, I could swap it in and be able to proceed with the re-assembly of the car and not have to wait for a replacement sensor to be shipping in which could take weeks to arrive depending on where its coming from.

I also replaced all of the original and rusty looking OEM 2 band style hoses clamps for the factory resonator hoses with brand new Tridon SMP stainless steel smoove banded hose clamps (SMP2XP) which will not rust in the future as well as not damage the plastic and rubber hoses due to the smoove band design of the new hose clamps.

For upgrades I replaced the factory panel style paper air filters with a pair of K&N High Flow air filter (33-2036) replacements which are reusable and will reduce servicing costs in the long run.

Air Filter Housing Assembly & Mass Air Flow Sensor & Hardware

Intake Pipes & Hardware

Resonator Hoses & Hardware

AIR INTAKE DUCTING SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

Following the previous section here is all of the components of the air intake ducting's section (SEC-628) which contains the 2 main air intake ducts which draw air from the wheel wells and direct it into the air filter housing assembly as well as the 2 mounting brackets for the air intake pipes that mount to the frame rail under the headlight bucket panels.

Using my 3 stage cleaning & coating process, I was able to fully restore both of the plastic intake ducts back to looking like brand new again.

I also went about restoring as best I could, a pair of mounting brackets which secure the 2 intake pipes located under the headlight bucket panels using the previously mentions KBS rust seal and chassis topcoater.  

As for upgrades for this section, I replaced the original pair of factory intake piping's rubber mount grommets with a pair of Zspec silicone replacement grommets (PSGRMMTS). Even though they are sold to suit the replacement of the factory rubber grommets on the power steering reservoir, they are also direct replacements for the rubber grommets on the intake piping's mounting setup.

Intake Ducting & Fastener Layout LH

Intake Ducting & Fastener Layout RH

Air Intake Piping LH & RH Mounts & Hardware Layout

CARBON CANISTER UNIT, VACUMM HOSES & HARDWARE SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

Next up is the carbon canister unit from SEC-173 as well as the 3 vacuum hose's located in SEC-223 that connect from the 3 upper hose ports on the top of the carbon canister and then connect to individual hardlines mounted to the LH side frame rail, these hose lines connect the carbon canister to the fuel tank.

The carbon canister was restored like all of the other plastic parts I've removed during this rebuild project and the unit did come out looking pretty good after its restoration process.

I also replaced all of the old and rusty OEM spring tension clamps where needed with brand new aftermarket cadmium plated spring tension clamps.

I also upgraded the 3 factory rubber vacuum hoses for the carbon canister with brand new SAAS silicone vacuum hoses. Each hose was cut to length to match the factory hose it was replacing.

Once everything had been collected, I then pre-assembled the carbon canister with all 3 of the new silicone vacuum hoses and accompanying hose clamps installed into place which completes my preparations for these 2 sections for the next stage of the rebuild project.

Carbon Canister Unit

Vacuum Hoses & Clamps

NISSAN MURANO SPORTS HORN & HORN COVERS SEPTEMBER UPDATE

After the success of the test fitting for the new Nissan Murano sports horns and the OEM 300ZX horn covers onto the Z last month, I am hoping that this will be the final update for this section (SEC-253). I am eager to see the final setup and sound these new horns will make once the Z has been put back together again hopefully in the next few weeks.

Nissan Sports Horns Kit

Horn & Horn Cover Layout LH

Horn & Horn Cover Layout RH

Removing post

Edited December 20, 2024Dec 20 by bird
Removing post

2000 MODEL FRONT SIDE INDICATOR ASSEMBLIES PRE-ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

Time to switch things up a little bit and look at some lighting components now and first up we have the 2000 model front side indicator assemblies from SEC-261. These are of course brand new units which I purchased in 2022 as my original assemblies were unfortunately damaged in the accident. Along with the new indicator assemblies I also went about finding a set of replacement LED globes for the new assemblies to update and modernise this part of the lighting system on my Z.

With all of the parts now sourced, I began the process of pre assembling the indicator assemblies with the new LED globes before they can finally be installed back onto the car.

The first step in the process was to replace the factory halogen indicator globes with a brand new set of Canbus style LED replacements (18272BL) that I picked up from my work. The new LED globes were inserted into each globe socket and locked into place.

You will also notice in the above photo, that I have also installed onto each of the globe sockets, my hand made custom wiring harness adapter which I made back in 2011 to allow for me to connect the later model indicator assemblies onto my early model body wiring harness on the car, making the install all plug and play.

All that was left to do now was to insert and lock in place the now assembled globe sockets into each of the front side indicator assemblies.

All in all a pretty straight forward install. But what I am most excited about for this section specifically is to do with these new Canbus style LED indicator globes which I hope will produce the correct resistance value through the indicator wiring circuit so that the OEM flasher relay located inside the car will function exactly like it does when a set of halogen globes are installed inside the light assemblies. 

I have been wanting to solve this issue for several years now and is why I haven't installed any LED indicator globes into my car up till this point in time.

Unfortunately I wont know for sure if the new LED globes will cause any negative affects  until I put the Z back together again and turn the indicator switch on and hopefully everything works as intended.

2000 Model Front Side Indicator Assembly Layout LH

2000 Model Front Side Indicator Assembly Layout RH

FRONT JDM FOG LIGHT ASSEMBLIES PRE-ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

Following the progress made in SEC-261 on the front side indicators, now its time to focus on the process of assembling the brand new JDM fog light assemblies from SEC-263 which I also purchased in early 2022 so that I could replace the absolutely destroyed original fog lights after the events of the accident.

So the plan is to obliviously assemble the 2 halves of the fog light assemblies into a completed light assembly but while I am it I also took the additional step of upgrading the factory parker and H3 fog light halogen globes with brand new LED versions further modernising the lighting scheme on the Z.

Installing Fog Light Rear Housing Rubber Seals (26153-30P00)

Starting off the process is the installation of the main rubber mating seal that inserts into a channel along the outer edge of the inside on the rear housings casing. The seal are designed so that they can only go in one orientation into the outer channel and without it, moisture would most likely be able to enter inside the fog lights and burn out the globes inside the light assemblies prematurely.

Once in place the seals fit nice and snug along the channel.

Narva LED Parker Wedge Globe Installation (18240BL)

Next is the installation of the new Narva branded LED T10 wedge globes which will replace the original halogen globes for the parkers inside the fog lights.

Stedi H3 LED Fog Light Globe Installation (LEDCONV-H3-SOLID)

Now onto the installation of the new Stedi H3 LED conversion globes which will require the use of an connector adapter which I purchased from CZP and made converting from the factory H3 globes to the new LED H3 globes a plug and play affair.

Finishing Off The Assembly Of Both Fog Light Assemblies

With all of the new globes now inserted into their respectful globe sockets, I then carefully installed each globe socket into their factory locations inside the front lens housing.

Marrying the 2 halves of the fog lights was the next step in the process and it wasn't without its challenges, as getting the internal wiring harness all tucked in and out of the way, proved to be more difficult then I was expecting and it took me a few tries before I eventually succeeded in getting the 2 halves together for the first time.

The final step in the process was to lock the 2 halves of the fog lights housings together which required 4 mounting fasteners located at each outer corner on the rear housing to be hand tightened down to secure everything in place. I also loosely installed the 3 rear mounting nuts onto the mounting studs which be necessary to install the fog lights onto the reo bar during the final reassembly stage of the rebuild.

All in all the assembly of both of my new fog lights was a fun experience and not too difficult for me to complete. I am happy with how they turned out and I am excited to see how the new LED globes with look when illuminated at night.

Fog Light Assembly LH Layout

Fog Light Assembly LH Layout

TOW HOOK & HARDWARE RESTORATION SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

My original factory front tow hooks have finally finished their 8 month restoration process which has been something I have been wanting to do for years now. The hooks now have a beautiful gloss black paint finish to them and should blend well with the all black lower splash guards under the front of the car.

Like all of the other parts, I started the process back in March of 2024 where I first had to strip down all of the old factory silver paint off of both tow hooks. I first attempted a chemical paint stripping method which was only able to remove half of the paint off of the hardened steel metal surface of the tow hooks.

Not wanting to waste anymore time after the failure with the chemical method, I then went to town on the tow hooks using an abrasive method which finally gave me the result I was chasing.

Finally after 5 months of prepping myself for paint, I then coated the exposed metal surface of both tow hooks first using KBS Rust Seal and then KBS blacktop chassis coater making the look you see now. The end result was a high glossy black paint finish that is extremely durable and long lasting which i hope doesn't chip off if i ever get my car towed again in the future. Knock on wood

Overall I was very happy with how they turned out in the end.

Tow Hook & Fasteners LH

Tow Hook & Fasteners RH

INTERCOOLER DUCTING, UKDM OIL COOLER MOUNTING & CARBON CANISTER HARDWARE SEPTEMBER UPDATE

Moving onto something a but bigger and a little more complex is SEC-640 which contains several different components for 3 key setups located in the front of the car underneath the front bumper bar. They include the 2000 model NA intercooler ducting setup as well as the remaining components for the rest of the carbon canister setup. The last set of components listed in this section is related to the mounting setup for the UKDM oil cooler which I plan to install as part of my automatic transmission cooler upgrade sometime in the future one day. 

Carbon Canister Mounting Bracket Restoration & Lower Vacuum Hoses Preassembly

Having already preassembled the upper part of the carbon canister in SEC-173, I can now finish off the assembly of the lower vacuum hose setup as well as go over the restoration process I went through with the carbon canister's mounting bracket.

Like the upgrades I mentioned in SEC-173 where the 3 upper rubber vacuum hoses were replaced with cut to length silicone vacuum hoses, the lower hoses also got the same treatment but only for the smaller 6mm sized diameter hose, as there are no silicone replacement hoses, that I know of for the special Y hose piece  that connects to the lower hose port on the bottom of the carbon canister.

All of the original spring style hose clamps for these hoses were also replaced with new aftermarket hose clamps to complete the upgrades for the carbon canister.

Then there is the restoration process I went through with the carbon canister's mounting bracket which like the several other metal parts mentioned eariler, required months of work to strip down a prepare the metal surface of the bracket so a new more durable paint coating could be applied to not just restore the look of the bracket but to also protect it from degrading in the future.

Due to the mounting brackets size, chemically stripping the old factory paint turned out to be quiet difficult to get any kind of results, so an abrasive method was used to finally get the bracket down to bare metal.

The mounting bracket was coated in KBS Rust Seal before a second coat of KBS chassis topcoater was applied to complete the restoration of the mounting bracket.

Pretty happy with the results overall.

Carbon Canister Parts Layout

2000 Model Intercooler Ducting NA Model Setup Final Update

Next we have the final update on the very rare 2000 model NA intercooler ducting setup which I am going to be installing onto my Z to further follow the factory setup of the 2000 NA models cars as much as I can. I was lucky to have been able to source 95% of the components for this setup brand new from Nissan when I did and I only had to fabricate one of the outer brackets as they are now discontinued new from Nissan in Japan.

The fabricated bracket that we had to make, was cut out of a flat sheet of steel, which we hand bent it into shape using the original bracket I was able to source as a template along with installing a pair of nut rivets into the lower section of the bracket which will hold one side of the plastic intercooler ducting.

The bracket was painted using a Raptor gloss black roll bar & chassis spray paint (RRBGB/AL) to protect the metal from corrosion and renew the gloss black paint finish to be better then brand new. Overall I am wrapped with the new bracket my Dad and I were able to make.

Intercooler Ducting Complete Part Layout

UKDM Oil Cooler Mounting Bracket Restoration September Update

Last but not least is the update on the restoration process for the UKDM oil cooler bracket that I will be using to install not just the UKDM oil cooler onto but to also install the Sonny power steering cooler onto as well one day in the future allowing me to complete the factory setup for both of those items.

Anyways, the process like all the others required me to strip away all of the old factory paint off of the metal surface and I tried several difference methods, including chemically trying to strip the paint away, then I tried soda blasting which didn't end up going so well for me and I barely removed anything off of the bracket but that ended up being my air compressor not being setup correctly for me to blast properly.

Anyways like I have discovered during this rebuild project, nothing beats a good old wire wheel abrasive paint stripping and once I figured that out it was a breeze getting the mounting bracket back to bare metal.

The next step in the process was to paint the entire mounting bracket using KBS Rust seal and KBS chassis topcoater to make this part look a million bucks once again and I am wrapped with how this mounting bracket turned out.

Unfortunately I will not be installing this oil cooler bracket setup onto my Z just yet as I am fast tracking the re-assembly process for the front end of the car and the extra time it would take for me to complete the restoration of several other parts for this setup to be functional on the car would just drag this rebuild project out longer then it already has gone on for, so I will be skipping the installation of the oil cooler bracket setup for another date in the future.

UKDM Oil Cooler Mounting & Support Bracket Part Layout

AIR INTAKE DUCTING SEPTEMBER FINAL UPDATE

For the final section I'll be covering this month, will be SEC-747 which has all of the components related to the lower engine splash guards or under shrouds. It also contains the part codes for the front upper air guide panel and a pair of lower frame rail brackets which I was able to restore back to brand new again.

Upper Air Guide Restoration Completed

The upper air guide panel went through a quick and easy restoration process way back in February.

BEFORE

AFTER

One of the exciting discoveries I made with this part during the rebuild project, was figuring out the original mounting location and setup for this air guide panel which mounts onto both the reinforcement bar and the air filter housing.

Lower Frame Rail Brackets Restoration Process Completed

Located underneath the front 2 frame rails these mounting brackets went through a lengthy restoration process which included stripping the brackets down and then repainting them using the KBS coating system. 

BEFORE STRIPPING

AFTER STRIPPING

Once stripped down, I used a wire wheel to scuff up the metal surface before paint was applied

Then the brackets were coated in KBS rust Seal and KBS Black Top topcoater to achieve the desired look I was going for.

Overall I am pretty happy with the end result of the restoration of these brackets.

Front Air Guide & Frame Rail Brackets Layout

Z1 All Aluminum Front Lower Splash Guards or Under Shrouds (Z1 Motorsports P/N: 21033)

One of the new and exciting upgraded parts that I purchased early on in the rebuild project was the new 2022 Z1 all alloy set of front and rear lower engine splash guards which have been designed to replace the original plastic versions of the 2 front and rear engine splash guards that over time get covered in oil, sag, discolour and eventually fall apart.

I replaced my original pair of OEM lower engine splash guards back in 2011 with a brand new set and I was hopeful that these brand new splash guards would last at least 20+ years before they would start to deteriorate but what have I found is that even after only 10+ years of regular use while on my Z, the new OEM plastic guards have already began to show their age and for a long time now I have been looking into buying a replacement set of metal splash guards and it just so happened that Z1 released their new set of all alloy under shrouds soon after I had my car accident.

The new Z1 under shrouds as they call them, will be able to hold up against all of above issues with no problems as each splash guard's metal surface has been professionally coated in an stain black anodized finish and on top of that the new guards come included with additional air vents to help increase airflow through the front of the car to help direct outside cooler air into the engine bay from under the rear splash guard which could assist in keeping engine temperatures down for my Z in the future.

The kit also came with a full set of anodized mounting fasteners to replace the old factory units with and I was very happy with the overall quality of the new splash guards when they arrived.

I did a quick comparison between the Z1 guards and the OEM variants and the only main difference I found that wasn't included in the new Z1 under shrouds was the mounting points for the factory lower support foam panel for the lower lip of the front bumper bar. The new z1 design had removed the 3 mounting points from the guard and there was no way to retrofit it to the new front splash guard either which was a bummer but not a deal breaker for me.

I am very excited to install these onto my Z in the coming weeks.

Z1 Aluminum Front Lower Splash Guard & Hardware Layout

Z1 Aluminum Rear Lower Splash Guard & Hardware Layout

At long last everyone, I have finally finished writing up my 2024 October monthly blog update for my Z's rebuild project and I know I have been struggling lately to maintain a constant update schedule for the rebuild project as of late with the last several monthly blog updates taking me longer and longer to finalise and then post up online and I hate the fact that you all are the ones really missing out of all of the developments I have made behind the scenes and are now months behind where I'm at with the rebuild project right now. That is why I have really slowed down making further content progress on the car after the events of this month in an attempt to try and reduce the amount of work I will need to do to hopefully smash through posting up the next 7 - 8 blog update posts on the project to try and bring everyone back up to speed as fast possible to where we are now as I post this blog in June 2025.

So moving past all of that, let me give you a brief description of what has been going with the project and more importantly what has happened to the car after the events of October 2024. Well I have some big news to tell you all and it relates to the fact that my beautiful silver metallic pride and joy Nissan 300ZX is finally all back together again as you probably would have already noticed from the above thumbnail picture and boy what a ride it has all been for me over the last 3 years or so getting from the massive set back I had with crashing the car in 2021 to now having my Z fully reassembled back into a car once again and I am very proud of myself for what I was able to achieve during the course of this 3 year rebuild project.

So continuing on from last months efforts i finalised all of the remaining part sections I still needed to complete for the front end of the car and once that had became a reality, I then prepared myself to reassemble phase of putting the car back together again over a 3 day long weekend at the end of the month. The plan I devised was to first get the car mechanically all back together again before my Dad and I would then start the car and get it running as functionally as possibly. The next step was to then spend the next 2 days slowly putting the rest of the front end of the car back together again installing all of the new, used and restored parts back onto the car during the process and as you can imagine there were plenty of ups and downs along the way but ultimately I succeeded in completing the primary goal I had put on myself to get my car back together again and if I was lucky I would then get to drive the car home for the first ever.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ADAMZX Instagram: instagram.com/adamzx_z32[/center]

COOLING SYSTEM OCTOBER FINAL UPDATE

After last months huge update on several sections, this month I will be starting off with SEC-214 which has all of the components related to the radiator as well as the auxiliary fan which are going to be necessary for me to install if I intend to drive the car home once it has all be put back together.

OEM Radiator Foam Seal Installation (P/N: 21496-30P10)

A part most people forget to install when replacing or changing over the radiator in the 300zx, is the upper foam seal for the top tank of the radiator. It's purpose I think is to prevent airflow from escaping from the gap between the radiator core support and the top of the radiator.

https://i.postimg.cc/RFmf0R4z/Radiator-Seal-Before-Assembly.jpg

To install it, you just peel off the adhesive backing of the double sided tape on the seal and then stick it onto the top tank of the radiator like so.

https://i.postimg.cc/SKCCq50r/Radiator-Seal-After-Assembly.jpg

NA Radiator Mounts Assembly

The last item to finish off for the cooling system, is the assembly of the newly restored upper NA radiator mounts which I painted nearly 4 months ago.

https://i.postimg.cc/4yN96xYL/Radiator-Mounts-Before-Assembly.jpg

I inserted the rubber bushing into the center of each of the 2 radiator mounts like so.

https://i.postimg.cc/FH23Mv6z/Radiator-Mounts-After-Assembly.jpg

The rest of the cooling system was checked over thoroughly and everything has been accounted for and I am now ready to install this system back onto the car.

NA Radiator Cap & Hardware Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/SsL6LPDs/NA-Radiator-Cap-Hardware-Part-Codes.jpg

Radiator Fan & Fasteners Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/fR3YqyB1/Radiator-Fan-Fasteners-Part-Codes.jpg

Radiator Hoses & Mounts Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/65bdhnLd/Radiator-Hoses-Mounts-Parts-Code.jpg

NA Transmission Cooler Hoses & Clamps Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/5yxwsmRm/NA-Transmission-Cooler-Hoses-Clamps-Part-Codes.jpg

Overflow Coolant Bottle & Hardware Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/vHZr939Y/Overflow-Coolant-Bottle-Hardware-Part-Codes.jpg

Aux Fan And Hardware Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/yNZXxxR0/Aux-Fan-And-Hardware-Part-Codes.jpg

BATTERY & BATTERY MOUNTING FINAL UPDATE

Next up is all for the components for the battery section (SEC-244), which included the main 12V battery, insulation cover, plastic drip tray and mounting hardware. The battery I had needed some recharging after sitting for 3 years and was dead flat when I tested it several months ago. As you all know I replaced one of the corroded battery mounting arms and I added rubber grommets to prevent a electrical current running through the battery hold-down and everything else in this section was cleaned up to look as good as new again.

Battery, Box and Hold-Down Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/C1H6Fqc6/Battery-Box-and-Holddown-Part-Codes.jpg

2000 MODEL XENON HEADLIGHTS OCTOBER UPDATE

Now here's a section I haven't talked about much during the rebuild and now that we are at the tail end of the project I can finally talk about what's been happening with regards to my repaired factory xenon headlights.

So as you all know my beautiful and expensive pair of factory 2000 model xenon headlights were crushed in the accident and a lot of the plastic housing on the back of the lights were damaged.

https://i.postimg.cc/K8GwG08g/Damaged-Headlight-1.jpg

I managed to find a workshop early on in the rebuild who offered to help me to repair the damaged headlight housings using a plastic welding technique to get them all back together again and I gave them no specific timeframe to get job done as I had plenty of other things to worry about at that stage of the rebuild.

In late February of 2022, the workshop contacted me saying that they had finished off the plastic welding repairs on both of the headlights housings which I was able to inspect and though they didn't look pretty on inside but they were at least tnow fully intact and all in one piece again.

https://i.postimg.cc/gkDtT3Hc/Xenon-Headlight-repair-progress-March-2023.png

Now while the headlights were in this dismantled state, I wanted to look into restoring the internal chrome trim bezel found inside the headlights as I had noticed that on both of my factory xenon headlights, the factory chrome effect on the bezels had began to delaminate after years of sun exposure. I had seen on YouTube a special and expensive chrome paint that was easy to apply and would give me a mirror like chrome finish that would be perfect at replacing the factory chrome effect and being a paint finish if covered in a 2k clear coat would be able to withstand the effects of prolonged sun exposure when compared to the factory chrome finish.

So I asked the guys at the workshop if they could restore the bezels for me and they stated that they had a paint company that had a chrome paint they were wanting to test out for future projects and would be willing to use it to restore my bezels with.

After a few weeks of waiting I got an update from the workshop who sent me this photo of the newly painted trim bezels and though they did look really good, they were no even close to a mirror like chrome finish and instead looked more like a basic silver paint coating to me.

https://i.postimg.cc/CKtQ4YHj/Headlight-Bezel-1st-Painting-result-in-silver-2.jpg

Wanting to go that extra mile for the project, I looked into purchasing the chrome paint I had seen on YouTube which turns out is called Ezi Chrome, a new reflective mirror like chrome paint product on the market that would give me the mirror like chrome effect that I wanted to replicate on the bezels. So I purchased a small quantity of the chrome paint from a paint company in Queensland and then give that to the guys at the workshop and had them redo the painting job on the bezels which they were more than happy to do for me. The results with the new chrome paint product were amazing to say the least, and I was extremely happy with the new look of the restored trim bezels.

https://i.postimg.cc/K80VRt1p/Chrome-Painted-xenon-headlight-bezels.jpg

Shortly after the bezels had been painted, I managed to find a listing for the sale of a used LH side xenon headlight on yahoo auctions in pretty average condition which was going for around $800. As expensive as that is for a used average condition xenon headlight the chance to replace one of my damaged headlights with an undamaged headlight housing was to hard of an offer to pass up, so I purchased the headlight off of yahoo auctions and once it arrived here in Australia I gave it to the workshop to use as a replacement to the damaged LH headlight.

https://i.postimg.cc/ry5P5Bdr/Used-LH-Xenon-Headlight-from-yahoo-auctions.jpg

It would be another couple months of waiting before the workshop finally contacted me stating that they had finished the restoration work on both of the headlights and I was going to be able to pick them up later that week which was a huge relief for me because this restoration process had now taken nearly 10 months to get to this point and I was now at a point in the project where I needed the headlights back to be able to continue progress with the repairs to the car.

When I finally saw the now restored pair of 2000 model xenon headlights, I was over the moon with excitement with the quality of the workmanship done on the repairs and modifications by the guys at the workshop and the headlights themselves looked amazing with the new paint job on the bezels and I couldn't be happier with the final product I got in the end.

https://i.postimg.cc/hPg3s2x3/Restored-Headlights.jpg

Unfortunately here is where the story took a turn for the worst for me. You see when it came time for the payment side of things, the once friendly and supportive workshop began to show its true natural and I had one person giving me one figure to pay and the other giving me double that amount which I couldn't afford to pay at the time.

Basically when I spoke with the owner of the business who I original organised getting this repair job done with 10 months ago, the plan was for them to do the job off the books so to speak, do it after hours and they would give me a fair honest price for the restoration of the lights. I did not signed or agreed to any specific per hour pricing and I gave them no timeframe to meet, hoping that this would help them not have to fast track the job as I didn't need the headlights during the early stages of the rebuild.

When I spoke with owner of the business the week I was picking up the headlights from his shop, he apologised to me for how long it took for them to get the job finished and to compensate me, he offered me a verbal $800 AUD price for the cost of the entire repair/modification process the workshop did for me. I was surprised but happy with that price as I was expecting the work to cost me over a thousand dollars initially.

But when I went to the workshop in person to pickup the headlights, I was dealing with a different person at the shop, the actual person who did the work on the headlights. When I offered the $800 payment to him he said to me "no its $1800 for the job." I was obliviously confused at this point and I had told this other guy that his boss and I had agreed on $800. He said no its $1800. So I called the owner of the business via phone to confirm with him the price for the job and at first he said yes $800 was fine before quickly changing the price to that of the workers price of $1800, like I had heard him wrong the other day and that I was now $1000 short of the payment.

At this point in time I just wanted my headlights back and me not wanting to make fuss about it, I asked them if I could pay the rest later on, as I didn't have the extra $1000 on me at the time and the owner said yes that will be fine. So I took my headlights and drove home knowing my wife would absolutely flip it at me as we didn't have a spare $1000 to pay the workshop at that time having overspent on the budget for the rebuild project by then.

The next day while discussing the situation I was in with my work colleagues at work, I was told that in their opinion I was being taking advantage of and that because they had let me take the headlights from them the day before, that any further costings for the repair job that they wanted from me were no null and void. Taking this advice I decided to ghost the workshop as I hoped that they would forget about me, as it took me 10 months of constantly messaging them for them to get the work done and maybe they would be so busy doing other things to not care about chasing me for the remaining funds that I apparently owed them.

Funny enough I ended up seeing the owner and the worker from the workshop a month later on separate visits at my workplace who while chatting with about stuff, never mentioned anything to me about the money I owed them from the headlights and so I figured, maybe I was off the hook but then I got a message from the owner about 2 weeks later asking me about fixing up the money I owed them for the headlight repairs.

Sticking to my guns, I blocked the owners phone number so I wouldn't be able to receive any more messages from him regarding the money owing and I hoped that if I didn't respond for a certain amount of time, he might just forget about me and not be bothered to come down to my workplace to chase me for the money.

However another month goes by and then all of a sudden the owner of the workshop turns up to my workplace and after a quick chat with him, he asks me about when I'm going to pay the rest of the money that I owe them.

Prepared for a verbal fight with this person, I tried to discuss with him calmly about how I felt like I was being taken advantage of and that his initial offer he gave me verbally of $800 was all I was willing to pay him for the job and that I will not be paying them anymore money. He insisted to me that he never offered me $800 and was additament that he said $1800 was the total cost of the job. I stuck to my guns and told him that the during the whole time the repairs were being done, I had to constantly contact the worker to get updates on the repairs and the fact it took 10 months to complete meant that for me $1800 was way to much for them to charge me considering this was suppose to be off the books so to speak. Not to mention that no price per hour costing had ever been consulted with me so what was I paying for with this job and before I could go any further with my complaints and say I wanted a receipt to know exactly what the costings breakdown for the work done was, he abruptly said to me "If your not happy then don't worry about it" and he stormed off. As I was at work, I managed to walk away and into the back storeroom of the shop away from any customers to kind of hide from having to deal with him any further before he eventually left store.

I couldn't believe I actually managed to talk my way out of this very scary situation I found myself in and I was lucky that I didn't get taken advantage by someone who I thought was on my side and wanting to help me, like i see on YouTube channels all the time.

Thankfully it has been almost a year now and I still haven't had any contact from the workshop at all and so I think I managed to pulled it off and save myself from having to pay the extra $1000 they wanted from me. Though I wont mention the workshops name ever again, they did do an amazing restoration job on the headlights and if things hadn't gone down the way they did, I would have been promoting their workmanship to the hills and back but it was not meant to be i guess.

Lamborghini Diablo Carbon Fiber Trim Cover Upgrades

Moving on from the headlight repairs now and I'd like to talk about a modification that I have been wanting to do on my headlights for over a decade now and its a modification that I'm pretty sure no one in the Z community has even considered doing and or installed on their Z ever. That is to install the Lamborghini diablo carbon fiber trim covers that are famously known around the internet and most likely the world as the way Lamborghini was able to use the Nissan 300zx headlights on the diablo and be able to hide that fact by covering over the Nissan logo moulded into the glass lens of the 300zx's headlights.

https://i.postimg.cc/c4NPjxqh/99spec-Diablo-Healdight-trim-piece-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Vst3DSh5/99spec-Diablo-Healdight-trim-piece-2.jpg

Before the accident this idea was just a pipe dream for me to implement onto my Z, as to buy a pair of these carbon fiber trim covers directly from Lamborghini was going to cost me around $1200 for a set of 2 which is crazy lambo tax stuff right there. However after the accident I obliviously had a bit of spare cash to spend on the project and so what I ended up doing was buying a cheaper aftermarket replicated carbon fiber trim covers which only set me back around $800 for the set off of eBay which was still expensive but more affordable for me to buy at the time.

https://i.postimg.cc/X7ct6R4b/Aftermarket-CF-Lambo-headlight-trim-covers.jpg

When the trim covers arrived the excitement for me was extreme and I can't believe these 2 little trim covers cost me $800 and the biggest issue I still have yet to really figure out is how I'm going to install these onto the headlight lens themselves as I don't want either of them to come off in the future while driving the car.

https://i.postimg.cc/7h1tDzvV/Kit-3.jpg

My current thoughts are to use either 3M branded double sided tape or maybe an adhesive silicone to stick the covers down onto the glass which I believe is how Lamborghini did it from the factory for the Diablo's headlights. Still I want to do more fitment testing to see how the covers will sit on the headlights first and slowly figure out which is going to be the best method of gluing the covers down so that these very expensive pieces never go missing once they are on the headlights.

Headlamp & Fasteners Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/nzDwR50N/Headlamp-Fasteners-Part-Codes.jpg

2000 MODEL FRONT BUMPER BAR COMPONENTS & REO BAR OCTOBER UPDATE

Another big section that I needed to go through this month was for SEC-620 which is the section where all of the components are located for the front bumper bar and the front reinforcement bar. Now considering that this is the part of the car that took the brunt of the impact in the accident, you would probably expect that I would of had to replace a lot of parts in this section, but in actual fact there was only 3 major parts that needed to be replaced after the accident and those parts were of course the front bumper bar, the bumper bars upper mounting bracket and the front reinforcement bar.

2000 Model Front Bumper Bar Rebuild Process

Starting off I'll go over all of the developments i went through with getting my new front bumper bar and the rebuild process it went through over the course of the last 3 years. First off here is a photo of how bad the damaged was to the 2000 model OEM front bumper bar after the accident and I knew straight away that I would need to replacing the front bumper bar as part of the my early project goals in the early stages of the rebuild.

https://i.postimg.cc/0QyFcN1m/Front-Bumper-Bar-Damage-After-The-Accident-2022.png

Having made the decision to replace the damaged front bumper bar, I first toyed with the idea of changing from the OEM 2000 bumper bar design I've been running for the last 12 years and possibly going with an Escort front bumper bar which looks just like the OEM 2000 model front bumper bar but it comes included with a moulded front lip in the design which i thought looked pretty nice.

https://i.postimg.cc/yx5MJC5R/Escort-Front-Bumper-Bar.jpg

Unfortunately after thinking about it, there were several issues I found with me going with an Escort bump bar and the big one for me was the fact that the escort bumper bar was made out of fiberglass instead of polyurethane which I'm sure will eventually form cracks in the fiberglass from all of the little impacts I'll unavoidably make on the bar with the hitting the ground while I'm driving over things like speed bumps and going up driveways overtime in the future.

Also the costs involved in not just buying this bumper bar but the cost in also shipping the bar from Japan to me here in Australia was going to be way more coin then I was willing to spend and when compared to the price of a locally sourced OEM 2000 model bumper bar including shipping from RGS Performance to me, it was a no brainer to just stick with the OEM bar and so i went ahead and purchased a new 2000 model OEM bar and within a week I had my new front bumper bar in my hands.

https://i.postimg.cc/Fswvz056/2kspec-front-bumper-bar-arrival.jpg

Next I needed to figure out how I was going to get the bumper bar painted so that it could be colour matched to the body colour of my car and long story short but my initial plans to use the services of either a mobile spray painter and or a body shop to get the paint job done by a professional was something that I frustratingly found out was never going to happened and no matter what I did, I just couldn't find anyone willing to help me out and paint not just the front bumper bar but the rest of the body panels that needed painting as well and so the only option I had to go with was to just paint the parts myself.

So after sourcing all of the required acrylic paint products and tools to do the job, my Dad took it upon himself to prepare all of the body panels for paint and he started off by sanding down the surfaces of the panels using various grits of sand paper and scuffing pads to get a adequate rough surface for the primer to be able to bond to each of the panels we will be painting.

https://i.postimg.cc/FFB5C0RK/Dad-Prepping-panels-for-paint.png

After a couple of days of hard work my Dad had finished all of the preparation work on the front bumper bar and so the next step was for him to spray down some primer and so we assembled a basic spray painting setup at home as best we could and then my dad began spraying down several coats of Valspar's AP33 acrylic primer that I was recommended to use by the owner of Spray Shop Supplies, who was the person who encouraged me to use his paint products to do the painting job at home myself. Anyways after my Dad had finished laying down the required 3 coats of the acrylic primer onto the surface of the bumper bar, the results were looking very promising.

https://i.postimg.cc/N04Z6HSB/Front-Bumper-Bar-Primer-Coat-1.jpg

From there we gave the acrylic primer several days to fully cure on all of the panels, before my Dad then began the sanding down and scuffing process of the new primer paint layer on the surfaces of the front bumper bar and several other parts to aid in the base coat having its best chance to bond to the surface of the part as much as possible.

The panels were then painted in 3 coats of acrylic basecoat matching my factory silver metallic body colour (673) and following the basecoat, we sprayed down 3 coats of acrylic clear coat and after several days of curing the results were very good and for a novice painter, my Dad sure did a bloody good job for his first try at spray painting and I am very grateful he was able to paint the car when no one else would for me.

https://i.postimg.cc/BnWW4s29/Front-Bumper-Bar-After-Paint-2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/K8t6YV5K/DSC-0109.jpg

As part of my buildup to the eventual reassembly of the front end of the Z, we test fitted the newly painted front bumper bar onto the car several months later to not just check the fitment and alignment of the bar against the headlights, nose panel and fenders but to also compare the colour match of the new paint job against the existing paint on the fenders and as you can see the new paint is very close to a perfect colour match and I couldn't be happier with the end result my Dad was able to achieve.

https://i.postimg.cc/q7k5v7RY/Front-Bumper-Bar-Test-Fitting-After-Paint-1.jpg

Upper Mounting Bracket Replacement for Front Bumper Bar

Though the front bumper bar was relatively easy to source and replace, finding a replacement part for the front bumper bars upper mounting bracket was going to be a little bit more difficult as according to Concept Z Performance, this part is now discontinued. So a used unit would have to be purchased to replace my original one which was bent out of shape and beyond repair.

Luckily for me I managed to source an undamaged used replacement mounting bracket off of a guy who had a backyard full of wrecked cars including 8 wrecked 300zx's where I was able to grab one of these for a very cheap price.

https://i.postimg.cc/1Xfx53WP/Before-Cleaning-Paint-Stripping-4.jpg

Not wanting to put a dirty old part back onto the car, I decided to try and restore the used mounting bracket as best as I could which required me to disassemble the bracket and then strip down the various metal parts attached to the bracket back to bare metal. The mounting arms for the bracket I left unpainted in their raw aluminum state which actually matches the OEM setup these parts on all 94+ models.

https://i.postimg.cc/wBpdcHBc/After-Wire-Wheel-Cleaning-1-02-03-24.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Y9XKHWzb/After-Wire-Wheel-Cleaning-5-02-03-24.jpg

A steel bracket that i removed off of the mounting bracket was repainted using a spray on chassis paint before I then reassembled everything back together completing the restoration process for this part.

USDM Reinforcement Bar (Reo Bar) Replacement Story

The last item that I needed to replace was of course the reinforcement bar or reo bar for short. My original fiberglass reo bar had been completely destroyed in the accident and finding a replacement reo bar was going to be like the front bumper bar, a definite purchase for the rebuild project.

Though I could have easily have gone with and purchased a brand new replacement reo bar from Nissan in Japan, I was more interested at trying to sorta upgrade the reo bar setup on my car this time around. And so I have always wanted to look into the possibility of running the very unique USDM reo bar which differs from the JDM, UKDM and even ADM models standard one piece fiberglass reo bar you all should be running outside of the US.

So what is so special about the USDM reo bar your probably wondering by now. Well instead of being a one piece all fiberglass panel, the USDM reo bar is instead a multi piece designed reo bar with an aluminum center bar which provides the main reinforcement protection of the car as you would expect. Then there are 2 opposing sided fiberglass fog light bucket panels which are attached to either end of the aluminum center bar piece and obliviously allows for the typical mounting of the OEM fog light assemblies onto the reo bar. The last unique feature of this reo bar design is how it mounts up onto the car and instead of bolting the reo bar directly to 2 front frame rails, the USDM reo bar uses a pair of shock absorber mounts which not just mount to the frames but also partially inside them as well.

https://i.postimg.cc/pd64cHW6/USDM-Reo-Bar-2.jpg

This different type of reo bar design was made so that all of the USDM 300ZX models sold in the US, could meet a restrict government road law called the "5mph Bumper Law" introduced in 1974 in the USA. The law required that all auto markers at the time selling cars in the US had to design a front bumper bar so "that no damage to the car's lights, safety equipment and engine would occur in the event of an angled 5mph impact". Also the fact that there are a lot of 300zx cars still driving around over there and with a larger supply of spare parts If i ever need to replace any parts from this new reo bar I should be able to source used items them from either Z1 motorsports and or eBay.

The last reason as to why I wanted to go with this reo bar setup was the simple fact that no one here in Australia has even done this conversion before, that I know of anyways. Because of this having this setup on my Z would make that little bit more unique and different to all the 300ZX's cars out there on the roads over here in Australia, even though I know you wouldn't be able to see this unique part on the car without having to remove the front bumper bar off.

So with my mind made up, I sourced a used USDM reo bar from the US off of eBay and it ended up costing me around $400 including freight to me here in Australia.

https://i.postimg.cc/CxYgbS5C/USDM-Reo-Bar-Ebay-Photo-1.jpg

After the reo bar had arrived to me in Australia, it was disassembled into its individual components and cleaned thoroughly.

https://i.postimg.cc/yNd2TdHR/USDM-Reo-Bar-After-Cleaning-1-25-02-24.jpg

USDM Reinforcement Bar (Reo Bar) Modifications

There was one thing that I needed to modify on the new reo bar just so that I would able to install a specific OEM support bracket onto the reo bar to allow for a complete installation of the 2000 model front bumper bar onto the car just like how it was done from the factory.

The bracket in question mounts onto the underside of the front center section of the reo bar and up against a lower tab on the 2000 model front bumper bar with 3 mounting holes in it hidden under the licence plate location.

https://i.postimg.cc/cHCkf5fB/Reo-Bar-and-Mounting-Bracket-Feb-Update.jpg

The later model JDM fiberglass reo bar I found out back in 2010, included the required 3 mounting rivnuts for the bracket to be installed onto and I would need to recreate those same 3 mounting holes on the USDM reo bar which would have been easy if we hadn't through the now destroyed JDM reo bar away weeks earlier.

Top (Early Model Reo Bar) Bottom (Late 2000 model Reo Bar)

https://i.postimg.cc/C1rttVw2/JDM-Reo-Bar-Differences.jpg

With no other option to go with we decided to roughly guess the location of the 3 mounting holes using the 2000 model front bumper bar as a guide to hopefully get the location of each mounting hole correct.

We marked the holes and then drilled them out before my Dad tapped a thread into the aluminum so that the screws could be installed straight into the reo bar instead of using rivnuts like from the factory.

Once the modifications were complete the OEM support bracket could now be installed onto the reo bar as per the factory setup on the 2000 models.

https://i.postimg.cc/g0dfLDMg/Bracket-attached-to-reo-bar-2.jpg

We also test fitted the USDM reo bar onto my JDM model 300ZX just to see if the bar would for one bolt up the frame rails as expected which it did. And second see if with 2000 model front bumper bar would fit to the car and everything line up as it was suppose to and thankfully it all worked out in the end and the installation of the USDM reo bar was a big success for the project.

https://i.postimg.cc/9MX5KpZD/2-Reo-Bar-Fitted.jpg

Reinforcement Bar & Hardware Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/V6hGgBRQ/Reinforcement-Bar-Hardware-Parts-Codes.jpg

RADIATOR CORE SUPPORT OCTOBER UPDATE

Moving onto section SEC-625 which is for the radiator core support and surprisingly there are a few interesting parts I purchased for this section which you may all find neat to learn about and though I'm really excited to put these parts on the car when the time comes, they are all just cosmetic and there isn't anything in this section that is going to improve or upgrade the radiator core support at this point in time.

CZP Headlight Foam Seal Set (CZP Part Number: CZP-62568-40P00)

https://i.postimg.cc/d1qRtQkv/CZP-Foam-Seals-for-headlights.jpg

First up I purchased a set of reproductions of the OEM headlight rear foam seals made by Concept Z Performance. These replacement foam seals adhere to the rear section of the headlight buckets panels on the core support and they help to seal the rear of the headlight housing to prevent any kind of debris from entering into the engine bay while the car is moving.

Funny enough I didn't realise at the time but back in 2011 when I removed both of my original headlight assemblies from my car for the very first time ever, there was no signs of these foam seals being present on my car at all.

https://i.postimg.cc/4dB6KCVc/First-time-pulling-my-old-headlights-2011.jpg

Now I'm not sure what that means exactly but its possible that the previous owner may have removed the headlights on my car in the past and removed the degraded seals then and not replaced them, or my specific December built 1989 model didn't come with these foam seals from the factory, who knows really and I guess ill never find out why but it doesn't really matter anyways.

Still with all that being said, I would like to bring the car back to a factory setup for all of these little things that are missing as much as possible and though it doesn't state it in CZP's listing on their website, but I hope there wont be any issues installing this seals along with the 2000 model headlights when the time comes.

Powertrix Carbon Fiber Air Guide Set (Powertrix Part Number: CF3PRAGNISZ32)

Continuing with my recent desires lately of adding more and more super car carbon fiber parts to my Z, I recently purchased a complete set of the Powertrix's carbon fiber air guide panels which not just look super cool on the car, but will also serve a purpose at covering over the now repaired and crinkled looking metal radiator core support which I know would eventually drive me crazy with it not looking as it did from the factory.

https://i.postimg.cc/k5NFmR5f/Powertrix-cf-Air-Guide-Set.jpg

Some of the exciting plans I have for these new air guide panels is that I'm going to be installing all of the factory engine warning labels that are normally located on the core support like say the aircon label & spark plug warning label etc onto the Powertrix air guide panels in their factory locations as best I can replicate. I'm doing this so that instead of the information on those labels being hidden under the panels like what I've seen most people do with these panels online. Instead they will all be clearly visible for me, other z owners and any future mechanic to see note the important information on those labels in the future which I think is good to have incase a mechanic 50+ years from now needs to note that information down and perform the required servicing correctly in the future. I also want to install my VIN Chassis plate panel onto the center air guide panel as well, that way all of my car's original factory information is listed and visible to see when opening the bonnet.

But as excited as I am for installing these new carbon fiber parts, they all will require some modifications to be able for me to make them mount onto the core support which is not an ideal situation I think for such an expensive part but it is what it is and so before I can stick on any labels or what not, I will need to figure out an effective mounting setup for each of these panels so they would fall off and possibly get damaged.

VIN Plate & Headlight Seals Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/7hhg0BnW/VIN-Plate-Headlight-Seals-Part-Codes.jpg

FENDER & ACCESSORIES OCTOBER UPDATE

For Section 630 (Front Fenders), not much needed to be done in terms of replacement parts or upgrades. But what I was able to do in this section was develop an effective and efficient cleaning and coating process which I used on several parts making them look like brand new parts again. Other than that the only other item worth mentioning was to do with me finally purchasing and eventually plan on installing an OEM part that for the last 10+ years or so has been missing from my car all because of the first ever accident that I had in the Z from back in 2007.

Air Duct Cover RH Side Replacement Part (P/N: 62830-40P00)

For those of you who don't know about the story of my first every car accident in the Z, basically while I was on my way to pickup my partner from her parents place. I was hit by a car while travelling at about 80 kmph, where the other driver made a blind U-turn right as I was about to approach him and though I tried to avoid the impact of the car hitting me, as you can see I was unable to avoid the hit to my drivers side front fender and I was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time when the accident occurred.

https://i.postimg.cc/tTBxQNDy/first-accident-in-2007.jpg

For the full story: https://aus300zx.com/index.php?threads/my-poor-zed-was-in-an-accident-yesterday.257664/

Anyways after getting my Z back from the repairers, I was obliviously happy to finally have my Z back and it was fully repaired and looking better then it did before the accident. I assumed that the repair shop was able to and replaced all of the broken parts on the car during the repair process but as I would find out a few years later, they didn't replace all of the parts. As it turned out they seemed to have left out one small part because its located under the front fender panel and because you wouldn't be able to see it, they obliviously didn't care to replace the part I'm referring to. However that is all about to change and after all of these years later I will finally be able to fix that mistake and finish off what the repair shop didn't do back in 2007.

The part that referring to is a small plastic piece that is mounted up inside the front of the fender above where the front bumper bar mounts up to the fender. Though its not an essential part for the car to run and drive, I'm sure it suits a purpose and being listed as an air duct by Nissan, I assume it must help to channel air flow down into the intake air ducting mounted under the headlight bucket panels.

https://i.postimg.cc/4ynhJHFc/62830-M-Air-Duct-Cover.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/7P912rsH/62830-M-Air-Duct-Cover-2.jpg

Luckily for me this small part isn't discontinued by Nissan as of 2024 and is still available to purchase which I did from Nissan in Japan and it has been patiently waiting for me to install it onto the car when the final assembly of the Z back together again eventually happens.

Front Side Splash Guards Hardware Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/brMSdYKB/Front-Side-Splash-Guards-Hardware-1-Part-Codes.jpg

BONNET & NOSE PANEL OCTOBER UPDATE

So here we are at section 650, and this is one of the big ones for me as it was the section that saw one of my biggest scores ever when it comes to finding and buying rare 300ZX parts and thanks to me being in the right place at the right time, I managed to win an auction for an original fiberglass SMZ nose panel. Another big ticket item that was worth mentioning in this section was the process I went through with replacing and restoring the new replacement factory aluminum bonnet for the car which along with the nose panel are the two last items needed to finish off the rest of the front end body work for the project.

Stillen SMZ Nose Panel Restoration Process (Stillen P/N: 10882)

Probably one of the biggest purchases I made during this rebuild project so far was with me finding and buying an extremely rare and valuable original Stillen SMZ louvered nose panel. Many years ago while researching information on the Stillen SMZ 25th Anniversary models, I discovered a set of photos of one of these rare nose panels which was being sold off online and in these photos I was able to see the 3 unique identifying markers that these panels have when compared to an original polyurethane Stillen louvered nose panels which you can find online and are readily available to purchase even today.

So there are 3 specific things you need to look for to know if a Stillen louvered style nose panel is an real SMZ nose panel or just a regular polyurethane nose panel. First of all and most oblivious is the fact that all of the Stillen SMZ nose panels were made out of fiberglass when compared to the more common place polyurethane versions you can buy nowadays. Also all of the SMZ nose panels have a Stillen business card glued into the resin on the underside of the panel as well as a hand written Stillen part number of '10882' present next to the business card also on the underside of the panel. The polyurethane nose panels only unique identifying marker is that the 10882 part number is embossed on the underside of the panel and that's about it.

https://i.postimg.cc/tgDLMBRR/Stillen-SMZ-Nose-Panel-Red-1.webp

https://i.postimg.cc/9MnsWzqv/Stillen-SMZ-Nose-Panel-Red-2.webp

So one random day while looking through yahoo auctions which I do frequently, I found an listing for an auction which showcased the sale of a Stillen style louvered nose panel and contained within the auction were several photos of the item being sold and what I found was evidence of both the Stillen business card and the hand written Stillen part number '10882' which identified that this nose panel was a real and original SMZ nose panel. I of course immediately emailed my Japanese contact in Japan and organised with him to make a bid on the item for me and after several days of waiting I was lucky enough to end up winning the auction and as you would expect I was over the moon with excitement at winning this item and I couldn't wait to get it in my hands.

https://i.postimg.cc/x8NhqYvq/Stillen-SMZ-Nose-Panel-White-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/pyN7F7CC/Stillen-SMZ-Nose-Panel-White-2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/RC3ZwHGJ/Stillen-SMZ-Nose-Panel-White-3.jpg

When the panel arrived to me here in Australia, I quickly got to work and removed all of the factory hardware off of the panel as the intention was to repaint the panel to match the same paint colour as my car as I will be installing and running with this nose panel when the car is finally back on the road.

https://i.postimg.cc/T3j8rRZD/SMZ-Nose-Panel-Stripped-Down-08-10-22.jpg

From there the nose panel was sanded down and painted in an acrylic primer and left to cure for several days.

https://i.postimg.cc/sDhCgPmK/SMZ-Nose-Panel-Paint-Prep-2-12-02-23.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/d1NcL4gN/SMZ-Nose-Panel-Paint-Acrylic-Primer-19-02-23.jpg

A factory 673 Silver Metallic acrylic basecoat and clearcoat was then applied to the nose panel.

https://i.postimg.cc/9QH5R4N2/Stillen-SMZ-Nose-Panel-Painted-Silver.jpg

In August of 2024, I went about removing a small section of the aftermarket wire mesh screen which had been bonded to the underside of the panel by the previous owner and is covering over and making it hard to see the two identifying markers that prove this nose panel was made by Stillen and would have come off of an SMZ 25th anniversary model.

After a bit of cutting of and pulling, I was able to remove the wire mesh screen directly above the center section of the underside of the nose panel and with its removal you can now clearly see the presences of the Stillen business card and hand written Stillen part number, confirming the panels authenticity as being real and genuine.

https://i.postimg.cc/jjKb9Wzc/Nose-Panel-During-Removal-of-Wire-Mesh-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/59kf02V9/Nose-Panel-After-Removing-Wire-Mesh-1.jpg

The last modification I wanted to make on this panel before I could install it onto the car, was to paint the exposed wire mesh screens on each of the 6 cutout louver's on the topside of the panel. I first masked off the areas around the louvers with masking tape to prevent the new KBS paint I was applying to the wire mesh from getting onto the rest of the body of the panel which i wanted to keep in my factory silver metallic paint colour.

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/76HqCChh/After-Paint-Rust-Seal-6.jpg

I then painted the wire mesh sections using KBS rust seal and chassis topcoater to achieve the look I was going for and I was very happy with the end result.

https://i.postimg.cc/0QVP78Kf/After-Paint-Chassis-Topcoat-2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/0Nd82G8h/After-Paint-Chassis-Topcoat-1.jpg

Replacement Bonnet Restoration Process

One of the few parts that were damaged beyond repair during the accident was of course my original factory aluminum bonnet which had suffered a slight bend in it that would be near impossible to massage out and so the decision was made to replace the bonnet with a good condition used bonnet which I managed to source from a local 300zx parts guy for $200 AUD.

The replacement bonnet was painted in a black and so the first step in the restoration process was for the old paint to be chemically removed using paint stripper.

This process didn't go to well generally speaking and required my Dad to put in a lot of man hours to strip the bonnet down enough so that it could be primed and repainted to during the painting process.

https://i.postimg.cc/MKvKbjDj/Bonnet-Paint-Stripping.jpg

Once the bonnet was ready for paint, my Dad sprayed down 3 coats of Valspar's acrylic primer to both the top and underside of the bonnet surfaces.

https://i.postimg.cc/x1mfBDBf/Bonnet-Primer-Painting-Stage.jpg

Once the primer had cured over the course of several days, my Dad then painted the bonnet in a factory silver metallic acrylic basecoat and clearcoat paint and with very promising results once the bonnet had finally cured a week later.

https://i.postimg.cc/DyHfCyjp/Bonnet-Painted-Silver-Metallic.jpg

Bonnet Seals & Hardware Layout

https://i.postimg.cc/wMPzb0VR/Bonnet-Seals-Hardware-Part-Codes.jpg