JeffTT

A quick Google search seems to suggest its a common problem, there even seems to of been a recall for a modified one, be worth checking with your local Ford dealer to see if it missed the recall as it will be done free of charge if it did. Other than that its a case of determining if the cable / handle has broken within the car or at the bonnet end, if in the car removing the under steering wheel trim should give access to the cable and a pair of pliars can be used to pull the cable correctly and open the bonnet, if at the catch end its a case of fiddling a screw driver through the grill in order to trigger the lever the cable normally pulls, and then once open a new cable needs fitting. Good luck Jeff TT

Ok unless the front seal is actually leaking and be leaking a lot leave it! there is a real chance that once you start the removal proceedure you may end up entering a whole world of pain and wish you had not started it. The bottom sprocket in theory should come off as its not on any kind of taper BUT in 99.9% cases it will not and levering and banging or heating up so close to the crank and oil pump is a no, no. The most common and only way to be honest of removing the sprocket is to drill into it along side of the key way which is already a weak point, you do not need to go fully all of the way, in fact I dont in case you catch the oil pump face. Once the hole is done then take a cold bolster chisel and hit only the nearest too valley next to the drilled hole, if all things work out it will split open, and then it can be pulled off. Before fitting the new one back on after changing the seal clean up the crank with some wet and dry and get it super smooth and you will then find the new ( you will need a new one remember ) sprocket will slide on easy. I have only ever done this job with an engine already out, what the access for a drill is like with the engine in the car is debatable and as I said unless you need to do this I would pass!! Jeff TT

Hi matey can you give me a quick call seem to of lost your tel. number. Jeff

Love the idea of that!! well its odd because it was a totally standard non turbo with no other mods ? it ran ok, in fact not particular differently...... sorry no Nano technology here! Jeff TT

Recently a zed was presented to us on a trailor by the tired owner, a long project spanning over over 3 years and although the body work was now mostly complete in his eyes the mechanics needed a special touch and hence we were tasked with the job. The very worn suspension was changed wholesale and the rear tailgate was replaced with a same colour one ( lucky) we had in stock as the owner had made a bad choice of using a crow bar to open the boot when he locked himself out!!! So on to the engine, a water leak was mentioned by the puzzled owner who said it suddenly developed the leak after not been used for over 1 year, it was quickly established to be quite empty of coolant. Here is where it starts going wrong! the water was leaking out as quick as we could put it in both from the front and the rear of the engine at the same time! Based on experience we were sure the issue was in the valley in the middle of the engine under the plenum and the lower ( injectors ) plenum.......not nice So the top end strip down was started, unfortunately the cambelt top pulley and the left hand back plate has to be removed so a front strip down is also required. The strip down did in fact prove us correct that one of the core plugs had come displaced, a clean up and a new one was fitted solving the problem, comparing the new one to the old plug suggests the plug did not rot out but was pushed out and there is only one cause of that ICE!! A warning that any zed not in use can succombe to the evil low temps we had recently if the antifreeze strength is low, even if you have no intention of running the engine for some time and suspect the antifreeze is weak refill with the correct amount or at the very least drain the coolant to prevent this issue. A costly mistake but could have been worse if the core plugs had not popped the block would have cracked! Jeff TT

Here you are a pic from another time... with zeds

Mmm, maybe a bit of bubble gum too !! Yes enough to make a flymo too hard a work, Already ordered and delivery due tomorrow a Samsung W, similar to my Galaxy S just a tad smaller screen, Sim survived ok so saved a load of hassle there. Jeff TT

Following a grass cutting session on the sit on lawn mower last Sunday Lynda ( the missus ) could not find her phone, oddly it also was not responding when it was called, on a hunch I sifted through the grass cuttings and found the phone having been spat out after first passing through twin 12 inch double edge spinning blades......the phone lost big time! Memo to Lynda .... no phone in pocket when driving the mower, Jeff TT

The pipe blanked with the bolt is the vacuum supply to the egr valve, leave as it is, faulty egr valves are a known cause of running issues, having it disabled prevents these issues with no down sides. Jeff TT

**Important** Use super unleaded and get the ignition timing checked asap. When you can also get it on ConZult for settings check, tps, throttle balance, base idle and get a boost leak check done also. Jeff TT

Nice kit but so much cheaper elsewhere, green stuff pads more suitable for road use. Jeff TT

Remove the more square flange from the front half if the TT prop and replace it with the round flange from the front of the n/a prop, easy enough just undo the 27mm nut and then tap it off, and refit accordingly you will end up with two matching round flanges on a sort of hybrid prop, this works because the flanges have the same internal spline count and size where they fit on the shaft. The only issue you may come across is balance issue as they are not a matched pair, you might be lucky and its ok. Jeff

Working on another zed today and when up in the air I noticed the tell tale signs of seat anchor point corrossion again, this is a definate issue we all should be checking, we are seeing nice super clean zeds with this issue so don`t be fooled, this looked early stage corrossion but a simple test with a screwdriver proved the floor pan to be gone in some part at least Jeff

Ok so we had a zed in Saturday for a simple brake pad change, however prior to traveling to us he had a flat battery and had a jump start from a mates van. He noticed on the way to us the abs light was on, the interior light was not working and the radio was acting up as in lighting up when the door was open but not switching on and the power light going out when the door was closed? also the central locking was not working. So after a quick brake pad change we turned our attention to the fuses in the drivers foot well, it was quickly found that the fuse supplying the radio, central locking and interior light was blown replacing this cured the radio, locking and interior light. Sadly the abs light was stiil on, we connected our Nissan ABS diagnostic tester, this is the oringinal one Nissan had when the Z32 was a new car and has a dedicated connector to suit. The system tests failed on two points, low voltage and a missing earth on pin 32 of the ecu, under the bonnet a brand new battery was obvious but when a volt tester was connected it confirmed the low voltage at 11.4 volts, after checking the alternator exciter circuit was functioning the alternator was deemed dead. The owner agreed for us to fit a replacement alternator whilst he waited, once done we started the engine and again performed a volt test and all was good with a healthy 14.4 volts at idle. However the abs light was still glowing strong, the abs diagnostic was again done this time the low volt fault was gone but the missing earth to pin 32 was still there. I checked through the wring diagram and identified pin 32 on the connector and made a temporary connection to earth rather than spend time looking through the loom, however the fault still was present, knowing there was no missing earth it left only one possible fault and that was the ecu, you can see what we found in the pictures below, there is a blown copper track that although not directly connected to pin 32 it was part of a circuit fed from it, a repair to the track could of been made but with some overheat marks elsewhere it seemed better to raid our stores for a good used item, surfice to say a new unit cleared the fault and the abs light. So looking back to the faults, blown fuses, blown alternator, blown abs ecu, the only possible cause was the earlier jump start, polarity mistakes can cause issues like this but the owner was adamant he got the leads the correct way around, but he did mention a big spark when they were connected. Then when we spoke more he revealed the van engine was running when the connection was made! this is a definate no, no, the leads should never be connected whilst the engine is running as the alternator can be in high charge state as it was most likely was in this case, also diesel vans often have much higher output alternator than a car and should be used with the engine switched off. So an expensive mistake, be carefull when using jump leads it can lead to sever wallet damage. Jeff TT ABS ECU BLOWN

As Smithy said try that, most likely the 3 x 10mm bolts have slipped position on the lock and need resetting a nice easy 5 minute job, the hatch needs a little bit of pre-load or pull down on the lock to make it pop up when pulling the lever. Most likely when the paint job was done they were not quite nipped and have moved whilst in transit. Jeff

Yes thats right, the petrol in the sump is from the massive overfueling getting past the rings, but water is getting into number 4 cylinder also, bear in mind we had this running good enough to drive on the road at one point, but the water and fueling issue was so severe that when switched off re-starting was a nightmare. Agreed, if this route had been taken the car would have been fixed months ago. Good luck and keep the faith!! Jeff TT

Sorry to rain on your parade but as I posted when Lorenzo was selling this zed we had looked into repairing the car and I posted the following thread, Lorenzo decided he did not want to go ahead, the best by far option is to fit a replacement engine, swapping over parts you want to retain. Jeff TT http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?156070-SOLD-My-car-for-sale-non-runner-PM-with-offers-SOLD&highlight=lorenzo posted 10th November 2011 "Lorenzo unfortunately had a major issue with coolant mixing with the engine oil, this fills no 4 cylinder with water and also has runined at least one turbo bearing, when drained there was around 3 litres of water in with the oil. We did have it running at one point but the smoke from the passenger exhaust was extream, hell of a lot of zed there. Good luck matey Jeff "

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Ok not to be taken lightly a new corrosion trend has appeared over the last 12 months or so, as we see so many zeds we are in a position to see such trends whether it be tension rod bushes, hicas arms sill corrosion etc., we now have seen in quick succession several zeds with the exact same floor corrosion effecting the drivers and to a small extend the passenger seat floor anchor plate all of these needed welding and quickly to remain safe. The rear fixing on the drivers side closest to the door seems to be the favourite one, Nissan added an extra plate from below to form the seat fixing, this plate has sealant between the main floor and the plate itself. The trouble begins with the floor flexing both when getting in and out of the car and also when driving along and going over bumps and potholes, it has been suggested that the increase event of this may well be due to the disgraceful state of our roads at the moment! So the flexing floor eventually breaks the sealant between itself and the anchor plate and in turn allows water to get in between them and do its worse. The start of this is a slight turn down of the plate at the corner, if caught at this stage it can be stopped by dressing the edge back whilst resealing with a panel bond and over coating with a good quality under seal that has self healing / creeping properties. If you have this problem and it not arrested in the early stages then this will definitely develop into a more serious problem, the seat has to be secured 100% for accident protection and of course is an MOT failure, do check this because the early stages will not be picked up on an MOT. The best way to check it is from underneath but of you can drop the seat out and pull the carpet back you will have a better view, one thing on the more advanced examples is the seat tipping towards the door at the rear when viewed through the windscreen or rear boot when open. Welding will fix this but soooo much nicer to catch it before it gets too bad. Jeff TT fized

Hopefully Steve will not mind, a pic from December and a few on the lorry as it left us, this zed has a massive spec sheet basically big new everything, Steve has done well to keep the faith on such a build, the last pics are how is how it looked when it came to us. Jeff TT

Only collected the car yesterday, after a bit more looking its a retro fit using all of the US parts, quite trick though motorised control eh? Jeff

Not everyday you come across these fitted on a UK zed, low mileage but still got is to be checked over yet but will be for sale, nice to have all the conversion available in one kit as such, 4 wheel damper control at the flick of a switch....nice! Jeff TT Adj suspension

Any good? Jeff TT

Dealing with zeds all day every day we get to see a large amount of ecu maps, mostly they are conservative but on the odd ooccassion an unusual one turns up, the one below is a case in point anyone fancy guessing the spec and type of zed? Jeff TT

Email scams are getting so poor now its almost insulting they think they can con us, but then as the FBI are involved it must be real........right? Jeff TT From: AGENT ROBERT SWAN MUELLER (FBI) Date: 26/02/2012 04:28:34 Subject: 02/25/2012 - CONTACT CENTRAL BANK FOR THE RELEASE OF YOUR FUNDS IMMEDIATELY. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON DC. WASHINGTON D.C ROOM,7367 J. EDGAR HOOVER FBI BUILDING 935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, DC 20535, RE: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION SEEKING TO WIRETAP THE INTERNET Attention We want you to know that we have been notified by the Federal Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to help them monitor the procedures of the transfer of your overdue fund of US$12,500,000.00 which has been approved on your favour as the rightful beneficiary, and we have agreed to this offer to help monitor your fund transfer with the Central Bank of Nigeria to make sure that you are in contact with the right department of the bank who are in charge of your fund transfer. All the documents received from the Federal Ministry of Finance has shown that an overdue contract fund worth US$12.5 Million United States Dollars has been approved for payment to you as the NEXT of KIN to the original contractor which was no where to be found for years and now your name was found on the Payment files and it has been approved for payment to you as the rightful beneficiary to the overdue contract fund. We want you to understand that thorough investigation has been carried out on this transaction by us (FBI) and it has been confirmed to be 100% legitimate and the fund is from a legitimate source. Now you are hereby advised to contact the CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR in charge of the the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mallam Sanusi Lamido for immediate expedition of actions on your payment files. To contact the personal in charge of your payment go through the following NAME:Mallam Sanusi Lamido. EMAIL: centralbnkremitancedptt@gmail.com Telephone : +234-708 780 6373 Be informed that we the FBI of the United States of America are keeping our eye on your transaction with the CBN and we are opportuned to assure you that your overdue fund will be effected to you without further delay,since we are now involved. Note that we will want you to always get us updated on your dealings with the bank so that we can make sure that your overdue contract fund is effected to you without anormalices. Contact the bank as soon as possible and make sure you get back to us upon update. Congratulations in advance. Best Regards, ROBERT SWAN MUELLER III.