nickz32

Exhaust is now topped and tailed and sitting as good as we can get it. it appears the mistake we initially made was to get the pipes straight and level on the boxes so they measured the same tip to box, tip to tip and parallel to the box itself. However, when they were on the car, they looked to have a droop on the outside tips (as appears to be common with customs quad setups on Z’s). We finalised the welds on the pipework, vbands and hangers and then spent a good few hours getting the tips in the right spot. That’s why on the bottom pic, the tips look wonky

The new blood for the gearbox turned up this morning. I decided to not to go with the MT90 trend and stick with a brand a know and trust in Motul. I’m yet to come across a product they make that doesn’t live up to expectation, and it’s more widely available than Redlines MT90. the cars is still a little way off moving under its own power, but I’ll report back with how I find it..... although my gearbox as always been smooth and quiet, so I’m not expecting to feel anything different.

Isn’t it just! just a little wiring to do and she’s ready to fire up

As I’m now using the internal MAP sensor for on the Haltech ELITE, I’ve been able to repurpose the bracket I made for the external map sensor for the Boost Solenoid. I was never happy with how I had it previously mounted down under the brake master cylinder, now this is more accessible in that left hand corner

I’ve also finished the sound deadening across the rear arches, bench seat and inside the doors. once I topped and tailed that, the replacement early spec carpet and boot carpet went in, as did the seats and trim panels. The dash and centre console are staying out for the time being while I sort the wiring out for the Haltech, map switch and a few other little bits and bobs I want to tidy up under there

I replaced all the T-bolt mikalor clamps, because I bloody HATE them, with genuine High Torque Jubilee clamps. These should clamp more evenly that the t-bolts, and hopefully no more pipes popping off! ive also fitted a WinFactory hood prop kit, which has done away with the rather antiquated hood prop.

Well after 6 weeks and counting, I got bored of waiting for the parts that got missed when returning my engine back to me, I cracked on and sourced the majority of the parts from Jimmer and a few other places. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently

You’re over estimating the capabilities of the ECU to provide that level of accuracy with diagnostic codes..... you gotta remember it’s pre OBD and 1989 computing technology. It’s extremely common for such things like PTU, CAS, MAF, CTS all to fail without the ecu throwing a singls code

While the heads are off, get those intake ports walnut shell blasted and get rid of that horrid carbon build up. otherwise looking good ?

Second job was to mock up all the Haltech bits in the footwell. Took my finest puzzle solving skills to figure out what to put where and have enough room to route wiring etc. It’s a shame the patch harness connector has no provision to hard mount it to a surface, so I’ll have to have a think about some way of securing that. still waiting on a few sensors to turn up, and then need to finalise the wiring, routing etc.... but you get the idea (The forums having a hissy and won’t orientate the pic correctly)

Tick another couple of jobs off the to do list. Fitted the replacement carpet I bought from Banzai Breakers. Considering the mechanical improvement Nissan made on the later cars, always baffled me why they the cheaped out on things like the carpet. Early spec cars carpet is much plusher in comparison

Cheers.... this pic shows the rear stance a bit better

If copying an existing off the shelf design is your thing ?

She’s not quite sitting how I want it, some little tweaks needed on the right hand box, but it gives a good impression of how it’ll look, and I’m really pleased. The 3.5” APR tips give the OEM+ look I was after and fit the recesses in the bumper perfectly

A little glimpse as to what I got up to yesterday

Another little job done. I made up a mounting plate for both the oil cooler and the Improved Racing remote filter mount. This is the “final draft” made with some Ali checker plate, which to be honest, is a bit flimsy (but free). I managed to get hold of a bit of aerospace grade 1.5mm ali sheet that I’ll make the finalised version from.

Potentially up for this... won’t commit before my car is actually running

First stage of the exhaust modification/custom build sorted. converted my expansion down pipes to V band (rest of the system will also be v band) shall be ordering the rest of the pipework needed for my exhaust in the coming weeks

A few more little jobs ticked off today. First up was the steering rack bushes. At a glance they looked ok, but on removal, they were clearly a little worse for wear. Easy job while the engine was out, so replaced with Energy Suspension bushings from Luke Then I should have cracked on with the sound deadening but just wasn’t feeling it, so ended up giving the viscous fan a good clean and removed the melted on black plastic from where the shroud had previously shifted and rubbed against it. Pleased to find no cracks in it and I think it looks virtually new after

Making a bit more progress with the sound deadening.... turns out my Mrs is much better at it than me!

Happy birthday buddy

Yes, 2 pack. Cellulose hasn’t been used since the late 70’s/early 80’s

Always 2pk.

2mm 40 pack. I’ve used 22 sheets so far, so should comfortably have enough to do the drivers side floor under the seat and around the rear wheel wells with what I have left

Road noise is annoying.... exhaust noise is awesome ?