Hi ,

I've had a bit of a rough ride with my Zed over the last year :

 

-Bought in July 2004

-Gearbox re-conditioned in september 2004

-Blew two pistons in December 2004! mechanical boost valves and dodgey boost gauge not a good combination. Won't mention the turbo rebuild because thats what i thought the black smoke was from and didn't have a compression kit!!

-Re-built over Christmas myself (never touched a car before this!) Didn't have enough money to take it anywhere. Put in new piston set and complete gasket set. Couldn't believe it when it started first time!!

-Drove and enjoyed for 4 months, (only problem was smoke sometimes on idle ,already replaced pcv valves so not that. Any one any ideas?)

-April 2005 - bottom end gone after an over enthusiastic drive. Seemed to be worn in ok, think it might be because I didn't replace the shells on the big ends when I did engine.

 

Anyway, after the sob story, I'm now considering getting a new engine and other bits done professionally ( Love it too much to dump it on ebay for whatever I can get). I just wondered about any suggestions for other things that might be worth doing at the same time. I'm thinking about some after market gauges (oil, water ,etc) and maybe a boost controller. Is it a good idea to carry on pumping money into the old beast when its going to cost nearly the value of the car? (quoted £2800 max for a 6mths warranty fitted, reconditioned engine, + what ever else i want to upgrade).

 

Its already chipped (superchip i think) and nice straight through exhaust.

 

Any comments appreciated :nana2: :mac1:

Meant to ask also!:

Has anyone out there removed the egr bits and bobs, and also the bypass of the coolant in the intake manifold. I was wondering if thats worth doing at the same time.

Cheers

Hi mate, defo get rid of EGR's AIV etc but don't think it's wise to remove coolant in the intake manifold - Don't forget these engines run bloody hot!

Cheers for the reply, are the details on this site or did you use twinturbo.net. Where in cornwall are you. I'm from Hayle and get down that way quite a lot. Dave

Hi Mate

 

Get rid of whatever you can. There is a couple of FAQs and howtoo's dotting about. ERG, AIV and PCV seem to be most problematic and from all acounts the car seems to run better without it.

Get yourself a GOOD bost controller (chris can sort ya there) and a decent boost guage.

Might want to get yourself some decent internals, Moocho extra £'s but youl end up with a bullet proof engine.

The coolant lines are worth removing, they're only there to heat the throttle bodies and stop them icing - unlikely to ever happen in this country, especially on a turbo engine where charge temps are high.

I'd change the wiring loom too, probably the cause of 90% of all Z problems.

I'll get onto chris then re. boost controller and gauges. Don't think I can afford uprated pistons etc, the new reconditioned engine (jap sourced and reconditioned, can't remember where from at the mo) is costing aprox £2500-2800 fitted inc vat with 6mths gaurantee and any other bits that need sorting.

Thinking about the wiring loom for def as mine has plenty of broken connectors from where I've had the engine in and out. they still seem to work ok mind.

I'll get onto chris then re. boost controller and gauges. Don't think I can afford uprated pistons etc, the new reconditioned engine (jap sourced and reconditioned, can't remember where from at the mo) is costing aprox £2500-2800 fitted inc vat with 6mths gaurantee and any other bits that need sorting.

Thinking about the wiring loom for def as mine has plenty of broken connectors from where I've had the engine in and out. they still seem to work ok mind.

 

seems a fair bit mate , especially when u dont know what ur geting or how many miles it REALLY has on it !! Have a word with ryan ( Ztech) he does engine rebuilds and its around the same ball park figure mate !! at least that way u get 12 months warranty and ur lump is as good as new !! He comes recommended by many on here mate.

 

check this link about what he can do :

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=40899

Sounds tempting esp with 12mths guarantee. I'm in Plymouth though and the car would have to be transported. I'm a bit gutted its gone again as I bought new pistons and complete engine gasket set over last christmas. Think I might be better getting one that has only been messed with by someone who has good facilities and does the recondition with experience, instead of me and my spanners! rather than putting even more money into the current block.

ok so far :

New engine!

Maybe new loom (although AP motors say they can look at that as well when they do engine)

Smithy's hard pipes (one of my originals is pretty trashed)

New shiny gauges boost,oil,water

Boost controller (is there a need for a seperate boost gauge with a decent controller?)

 

Anyone would think I'd maxed out on a new loan from the bank (doh!!) :nono:

get rid of the superchip (pronto) and go for a JWT or speak to John Dixon on here

Have there been bad experiences with them? I was suspicious of it before with the problems I had.

Have there been bad experiences with them? I was suspicious of it before with the problems I had.

 

i just dont think owners go for the superchip on here. in fact (and correct me if im wrong anyone) i dont think anyone's actually got one fitted at all (except yourself!). IMHO i dont think european and jap technology mix very well!

JWT chips are safe and good value for money while still being able to take you up to max boost for stock tubbies.

Gonna find out for sure which it is

Sounds tempting esp with 12mths guarantee. I'm in Plymouth though and the car would have to be transported. I'm a bit gutted its gone again as I bought new pistons and complete engine gasket set over last christmas. Think I might be better getting one that has only been messed with by someone who has good facilities and does the recondition with experience, instead of me and my spanners! rather than putting even more money into the current block.

 

worth the money mate even if u have to transport it. I deffo would not get a recon lump out of another car mate . as i did this with my subaru few months back . bloke guarentted it had 20k miles on and it blew up 4 months later!!! but this is just imho

A.P. motor use lumps from a company called Api engines ltd. Api engines get them over and recondition them. Put in new pistons, crank when needed, bearings etc. They've got a 6mth warranty. The garage use them a lot for many different cars, and they have a good rep.........

Just been looking on their web site apiengines.com, looks good. 40,000 or less miles, good guarantee,etc.

Anyone had any experience with them?

Cheers for the reply, are the details on this site or did you use twinturbo.net. Where in cornwall are you. I'm from Hayle and get down that way quite a lot. Dave

 

TwinTurbo.net very useful!! Oh, i'm in Redruth so not to far away when you next pay Hayle a visit!! ;)

Nice one mate. I'll let you know when I'm coming down next. Should be whenever there's some surf! won't be doing any surf trips in Z though. Not very practical!!