Not sure where the right place to post this is, so I'll stick it in here and let the mods decide if it gets moved/deleted :).

 

I bought the car in October 2002. It looked very standard. It was infact completely standard.

 

It's come along way in six years and it's been off the road for over half of that time. It was after I had compression problems and had to have the valves reseated that I decided to start making some customised changes to it. £50k+ and 6 years later the car is "almost" exactly how I want it.

 

So what have I spent all the money and time on.....

 

The very first modification I did was traction control. It was my pride and joy and I didn't want to trash it. I decided to fit this myself. Didn't have aclue what I was doing but got there in the end.

 

 

Next I decided to get rid of the orange side repeaters.

 

 

I never liked the tweed and covered it at an early stage, however I used vinyl rather than leather at this stage.

 

before

 

after

 

I had the 60k service done by zedworld and had braided brake lines fitted along with new standard discs and pads.

I then fitted an apexi induction kit.

 

Next on the list was window tints. I got these done in a semi small guy buy at Paul C's Garage in kent. I decided to stay legal at the fronts but go limo on the back.

 

What do all good sports cars have ?. Red calipers (I thought).

so I painted them.

 

 

I played around a little for a few months doing the headlight mod so I can use UK bulbs, meshing the front bumper, fixing little things that were wrong etc.

I then started getting goose honk so fitted some HKS sql bovs in place of the recircs.

 

I'm not sure what possessed me at the time but I decided to go for a UK rear bumper with a lip. Sprayed and delivered by PPS.

 

 

I then got rid of all the orange at the front of my car by removing the orange lenses and replacing the bulbs with silvers.

 

Some more small changes over the next few months like gear stick knob, ali dash trim and some stupid arse boot build that looked ok ish but sounded really terrible.

I wanted to get rid of the road noise inside the car so I sound proffed everything.

 

before

 

during

 

I then added a front and rear strut bar.

 

 

I pretty much encountered all the problems that so many people experience in the time of ownership...

Leaking fuel lines, causing petrol smell in the car, wet passenger footwell due to heater matrix, air leaks, oil leaks, pas leaks, burn out ptu, Problems with temp sensor, tps, maf, Hicas etc etc.

One of the first major problems I had was a burn out piston although at the time it was diagnosed as sticking Valves by Nissan SE as they were called at the time.

 

So while I was getting the heads skimmed, valves reseated and in the end a replacement number 6 piston, I also got a new clutch and a skimmed stock flywheel. I had the plenum and water pipes polished for a bit of bling.

 

June 2003 was the time I changed the look of the car. Booked myself in at PPS in Newcastle (300 miles away), didn't trust anyone else. At this stage I kept the rear bumper but deline and smooth it. I replaced the front with a stillen. I added a bonnet bulge and a high level rear spoiler along with Wings west skirts and delined doors. I also swap out the rear lights for 99 specs.

 

Had to get rid of the stock wheels and came into some R34GTR calipers as well, so new discs and pads to go on with the new wheels.

 

More small mods like new series 2 ptu, pcv vales, new temp sensor and new injecto and coil pack connectors.

I also decided to change the dials and fit chrome rings. I went for the indiglo ones.

 

 

For the next big mod I got James(jaffa) to give me a hand. We upgraded the stock IC's with Greddy's, the rad with a Howe, Viscous fan with an electric, Underdrive pulley with a lightweight, stripped out loads of stuff I didn't need like AIV's etc. Painted the cam covers, changed the belts, added hard pipe boost hoses and rad hoses.

 

Some comparrison shot's...

 

Greddy IC's

 

Oil cooler

 

Howe Rad

 

Underdrive pulley

 

New electric fan

 

This is the pile of old parts and parts no longer needed tat we were left with.

 

This is what the car looked like once we were done

Next up was a replacement exhaust, I originally had a rusty greddy, but decided to get a powerflow made and fitted with decat test pipes.

 

 

This exhaust lasted 2 months before I got bored with the sound of it. I decided to have a custom exhaust by an american company called pipecraft.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of it so you have to wait a little longer.

 

Enjoying the car so much now and thinking what I can do ext to improve it to my taste even more.... but then it happened. I was parked outside a bank anda ford transit pull in to park in front of me and clipped the front of my car.

 

 

So another call to PPS who would give me an insurance quote below the others for sure. While the car was there I not only got a new wing and new stillen front bumper, I also decided to get IC side vents fitted and a new Wings West rear bumper, that was custom made and belnded to fit my new Exhausts. I also got the top pannels of the car (between windscreen and targa's and targa's and rear screen) painted black.

At the time a comapny called Ice works was working with PPS so I decided to get a new custom boot build done as well.

 

 

We are now well into 2004 and wih Billing just around the corner I had to get the interior finsihed.

I ordered a katzkins set in dove grey and black with logo's stiched on the seats. Took me a while to fit this. I also ordered an extra hide of dove grey so I could trim the boot area.

 

before

 

after

Still had to get the gear shift and handbrake gators done. But managed in time for Billing 04.

Billing 04 was great, I managed to get 2 first prize awards from 300zx.co.uk and one from Zclub.

some pics..

 

 

Unfortunately on the way back from billing. there was a little smoke, then a rattle, then no boost past 0. Yup the dreaded turbo's had gone.

I decided as I was driving home, I would go straight to my parent house and leave the car there (35 miles from my house).

I was now confident to swap them out myself. So a week later, I started work with a some help from Mark Hanley, MTL and mike Groves.

Engine out..

 

 

Started stripping..

I stripped it all down to the bare block to check for bore scratch as the passenger turbo wheel had grinded with the housing.

It was at this stage I decided to upgrade a few more bits. Weisco pistons, jwt530bb turbo's, nismo 555 injectors, rps max street clutch, billet flywheel, carbon single piece prop shaft, gred dupree manifolds, greg dupree downpipes and flexi pipes and much more.

I sourced all the parts along with another lot of 60k service items, new water pump, new gaskets, egr blanking kit, plus every thing else I needed for a rebuild, even a set of chromed headlights and clear rear side reflectors. If you are still reading this thread, I'm impressed, prove it and reply with the word stuffybum in you reply.

I used CMS is dagenham to bore the block for the new pistons and at the same time balance the crank, underdrive pulley and clutch/flywheel.

Driving 35 miles each weekend was getting painful, at the time a new garage called Zen opened up. I decided to get a guy called Martyn to finish the job.

Very long story short, it took him 3 year to get the job done, it nearly went to court.

Some pics from the engine build.

 

RPS Max Street/GD Downpipes

in it's case

 

JWT 530bb's with HKS actuators and GD manifolds

 

HKS v Stock

 

Doolz Twin pop

 

Reconditioning the lifters

 

GD Downpipes and flexi pipes

 

Chromed headlight conversion

 

Something to help with Camber.

 

Rebuild almost complete

 

This pretty much brings us up to the present day. I've had a two water leaks so far but found it to be a ceased rad cap. Just ordered a Greddy and have stripped and repolished / painted parts of the engine.

I got a few more bits I would like to do like, custom map from JD, tidy up any interior bits, get the wheels refurbed, then I'm done.

Edited September 16, 200817 yr by SMW1

So, from being completely standard the spec is now as follows:

 

Bodywork

Stillen GTZ-R2 front Bumper

I/C vents

Stillen Headlight Panel

Bonnet Bulge

Wings West Side Skirts

PPS Customised Rear Bumper

Delined Doors

Tailgate Skin

High Level Rear Spoiler

Colour coded wing mirror mounts

Blacked out roof strips

'99 spec rear tail lights

Illuminated centre panel

Clear Front indicators

Clear Side Repeaters

Chromed Headlights

Clear rear side lights

Tinted Windows (30% fronts, limo rears)

 

Wheels and Rubber

Black Chrome MasItaly 18" x 10.0 rears

Black Chrome MasItaly 18" x 8.5 fronts

Eagle F1 GSD2 245/40 x 18 fronts

Eagle F1 GSD2 265/35 x 18 rears

 

Exhaust

Pipecraft 2.5" straight through zorst

Greg Dupree flexi pipes

Chrome Back boxes with Quad 3.5" pipes

Greg Dupree Split Downpipes

 

Brakes & Suspension

R33 GTR Brembo Calipers

Portfield pads

Brembo 330mm discs

Rose jointed adjustable tension rods

SS braided Brake lines

Blitz Springs

Koni Shocks

Midori Front Upper A arms

Front Strut Bar

Rear Strut Bar

 

Transmision

RPS Max Street Clutch

RPS Billet flywheel

Carbon Fibre Prop

Billet Short Shifter

 

Engine

Weisco 88mm Forged pistons

Nismo 555 injectors

Greg Dupree manifold

Balanced Crank

Skimmed Heads & block

HKS SQL BOVS

Doolz Twin Pop with Apexi Cone filters

Unorthodox Underdrive pulley

JWT530BB turbo's

 

Cooling

Howe Rad

Greddy SMIC's

Uprated Oil Cooler

Viscous Fan replaced with Electric Rad fan

 

Electronics

RaceLogic Traction Control with Launch

Clifford AV4 alarm with inteli start & Blackjack

Blitz SBC-Id

Blitz Power-iD

 

Engine Bling

Polished Plenum

Polished Water pipes

Polished Coil Pack Brackets

Polished CAS

Polished Hicas

Custom upper and lower cam belt covers

SS Hare pipe hoses

SS Slam Panel (3 piece)

SS braided Fuel lines

SS Rad Pipes

4mm Blue Silicone hose replacement

6mm Blue Silicone hose replacement

SS braided Hose replacement

Custom Throttle cover

Smithy Chromed Large Fuse box cover

Custom Painted Small Fuse box cover

Custom Painted Balance Bar

Z1 Chrome rad bracket

Insane Oil Cap

Chrome Dip Stick

Chrome Brake Res Cap

Chrome Clutch Res Cap

Chrome Rad Cap

Chrome Rad Overflow Cap

Chrome Battery Tie Down

Polished PAS res

Chrome PAS Res Cap

 

Cockpit mods

Twin A pillar pod - awaiting gauges

Ali pedals

Brushed Ali interior kit

Custom interior Din switch panel

Custom centre pod

Custom Leather Seats

Leather interior trim

Custom Gear and Handbrake grips

Custom Steering Wheel

Indiglow dials

 

ICE

Complete door and rear dynamat soundproofing

Alpine cd head unit 4 x 60w

Kenwood 200w dual mag components

Door mounted illuminated crossovers

2 x 10" 1600w JBL subs

Kenwood 1000W mono sub amp

Kenwood Powerslide Amp

Neon Glow amp rack lights

Custom Boot Build with Leather Trim

 

Credits

Body Work was done by PPS.

Recent Engine build done by Martyn B.

Everything else on the car from Suspension, exhaust, engine mods, interior, bling etc was done by myself.

 

 

See my video on you tube, this tells the story beter than works can describe...

Silver Streak - The Story so far (video link)

Great thread buddy and some excellent work on the zed :D

 

Looking back you must be amazed what you've achieved over the years on it

Looking back I think I would have saved the money :)

lol, sometimes i think how easy it woudl be to just buy a tvr cerbera :rofl:

well done stuffybum!!!!!!

Awsome work 'stuffybum'! I remember all the early stuff, my, haven't you been busy! Lovely car, and best of all ..... Silver:bow::dance::D

Thats a good read, well done stuffybum.

Blimey, I've just relived about 6 years of my (stuffybum) life !

Absolutely incredible! :bow: :bow: :bow: What a fantastic read! You've done good stuffybum :D :rofl:

wow what a stuffybum adventure

congrats bud,awsome job,step back and admire

And I googled 'stuffybum' and stuck it in the search box on the forum... and nada :slap:

 

but wow what a transformation :bow: Bet you are proud Mr Stuffybum :tongue: (after asking someone!!!)

 

Awesome car :bow:

remember seeing the vid on you tube its come a long way from standard thats for sure:dance:

 

and looks well nice !!! (stuffybum):D

 

to think im only on stage 1 of my mod list:cry:

well done stuffybum looks good now rather you than me start on mine for me if you are bored now ha ha lol

Great thread buddy and some excellent work on the zed :D

 

Looking back you must be amazed what you've achieved over the years on it

 

My thoughts too...........

 

....nice one Stuart:D

 

Richard:dance:

Awesome mate

Excellent work mate :bow:

Great post :cool: Still one of my favourite zeds around!

 

Oh and stuffybum lol

Its fantasic looking at old pics and seeing how far you have come :duffer:

excellent write up, has come a long way stuffybum