MasterCookieman

Damn, I think you're right. It was the line "a new chassis or monocoque bodyshell of the same specification as the original (car or light van)" that made me think everything was fine...but it's not new. Even if I got rid of the old VIN somehow, and declared that it was a new bodyshell (whether right or wrong legally) I'd still have to register it and possible have it tested, and so on...and probably end up on a Q plate. This is really stupid, all over a number which no one ever looks at! I'll post the unhelpful email from the DVLA in a minute. they may as well not have responded...

After further digging I found this, it's actually sort of interesting - "Keep a vehicle’s original registration number A rebuilt vehicle can keep its original registration number if you can prove you’ve used: the original unmodified chassis or bodyshell (car or light van) a new chassis or monocoque bodyshell of the same specification as the original (car or light van) the original unmodified frame (motorbike) a new frame of the same specification as the original (motorbike) You must also have 2 other major components from the original vehicle from the following lists. For cars or light vans: suspension (front and back) steering assembly axles (both) transmission engine" So things are looking up, I think I will be able to use my 92 reg from my original Z.

I think it probably was scrapped, V5 wise, by the breaker. If I hadn't found it, it would have been, literally. I see what you mean though, to the DVLA, the car doesn't exist anymore. Hmm, that is a problem. I've emailed the DVLA, I think I probably will have to re-register it, but not sure I can use the current VIN (as it's technically scrapped) which is annoying when the only difference is the shell and the colour. It's the same car really, just in a new body. I'll let you know what they come back with. Hopefully I won't need to go down the test route, as it's looks complicated and annoying. I did find this, so I may be exempt anyway - "You don’t need vehicle approval for: - cars and minibuses with 8 passenger seats or less (not including the driver) over 10 years old" I'll cross that bridge when / if I come to it. Cheers!

Ok, not sure how I do this, but I'm sure someone here must have done it before. I've transplanted my Zed engine etc, into a new shell, as the original body was rotten. The shell didn't come with a V5, as it had came from a breakers, so technically, DVLA wise, not a car, just scrap. My old (donor) Zed, is still registered (SORNed), but is now merely a rotten shell. I was going to ring round, see if any breakers wanted to come for it today, when I realised that technically, to the DVLA, it's still a car, I have a V5. So what do I do? Can I stick my 92 plates from my donor Zed onto my newly build Zed (1990 shell), and change the details (VIN, colour etc) with the DVLA? Is there a way to re-register the new Zed (once it's finished and ready of course)? Just now sure what the correct way of doing this is. Any advice appreciated. :)

I've used a little threading tape on my sump plug, gearbox plug and diff plugs, nothings leaking yet, so an option if you still have a leak after a copper crush washer.

Yep, well, on top of it, under the centre arm rest, the probes go under the seats, through the floor.

Consider it binned! :)

Cheers, so removal is fine then, no weird issues after removal?

I removed this yesterday - It's a box which has two probes attached, which run outside the car, down to the exhaust pipes, I guess for the cats, cats thats I never had, and don't want. Probably temperature probes I think. Anyway, I've removed them, and disconnected the box. Is this ok, or will the ECU be upset, do I need to leave it connected? Cheers! :)

I'm in Byker, so not the worse area in Newcastle, but fairly low down the list. My licence is totally clean and I haven't made a claim in 16 years. I'm am continually amazed by what other people pay. I mean, I paid £400 for TPFT for my 2.0 Galant. I normally just use Comparethemarket.com, and confused.com, then play around with the mileage and cover etc, until I find the best quote. I think the lowest quote I've ever had on any car was £380. I don't live with my parents, haven't in a long long time, though did temporarily when my flat was on the market, and there was about a £200 difference in insurance, but that was moving to Cramlington. When I'm ready I'll ring around properly and try classic cover, hopefully this time next year. At the end of the day; if I have to pay £700, then I guess I'll have to, I just find it insane that I could insure a V8 Merc for significantly less, it's completely insane! I text the Merc seller today, told him I wasn't buying it. I think when I finally get to drive my Zed again, I'll remember just how much fun it was! :)

Thanks for your responses everyone. :) My Zed will be my daily car, not just a weekend warrior, but I do 5000 miles max per year. I haven't looked at classic insurance yet, but I definitely will be now! I do have a drive at home. I'm currenty building my Zed on my dads drive. I was just so shocked by how iittle I could insure the high spec, large engine Mercs, that's when I checked a Zed NA out... I'm not going to bother with the Merc, I'm just going to keep patching up the Galant, hopefully it will hold togehter a few more months, only thing is repairing the Galant takes me away from working on my Zed. My new rear discs have arrived today, so I can finally get the rear calipers back on and then the wheels, assuming all goes as planned! Thanks everyone! :)

Fisrt, off, sorry, this wasn't meant to be so long, but I'm seriously pi**ed off, and de-motivated. So, I've been rebuilding / transplanting my Zed for over two years now, and was on track to finish next year...and was seriously looking forward to it. I've had no major issues being motivated, looking forward to the end result, slowly fixing up and transplanting parts, making sure everything is greased or painted accordingly to avoid any future rust, I've spent a lot of time doing this. New parts, and good used parts have been used accordingly, I was trying to build to last for a very long time, out of the best parts possible. The first link in my signature will show the journey. Now, I've been driving a Galant Estate as my daily car, it's been great, but recently has started to cause some problems, and Mitsibushi parts aren't easy to come by, no good club either, not in the UK anyway. So, I've been looking at cars, and was suprised how cheaply I could get an old Merc. I went to see a local CLK 230, and got the guy down to £1200, for a very nice and tidy petrol manual that had done 102k miles. Yes, I could buy an NA for that, I know...long story. I originally was looking at cars for a few hundred, just to bridge the gap...like my Galant has so far...it just got a little out of control. Anyway, the cost of the car is not the point here, the insurance cost is the point. I don't live in a good area (in fact, somone was murdered at the top of my street a couple years ago, though this probably doesn't affect car crime stats), my V6 Ford Probe was tortured whenI first moved here here, until I give up and sold her, I always knew I'd have to have CCTV before I brougth my finished Zed over, and even that may make no difference. I'm going on and on....so to the point. Insurance quotes for the CLK 230 were slighly more than my Galant, around £460. (I'm 35, no points, a lot of NCB - 14 I think). I thought ok, not bad, it's 2.3 litre Krompressor / supercharged engine, manual, pushing out just under 200hp, and RWD. Then I read on a Merc forum that the CLK 320 has a better engine, so go for that. I found some online and used a reg for an insurance quote, and it came out cheaper than the 230! The 320 is a 3.2 V6 (though seems 99% are automatic), but apparently sounds really great. People were also recommending the S430, a 4.3 V8 I think, so I checked - £543.85. Out of curiousity I looked for insurance for my Zed (NA), expecting it to be around the £500 mark, as it's been over 2 years down the line now, but no, the only mod I entered was non standard alloys (which isn't true) - how much - £713 Third Party, the same sort of money I was paying Adrian Flux over 2 years ago. Selecting a Thatcham approved alarm made no difference. I just don't understand. I can only think it's beacause 80s / 90's cars were more easy to steal, compared to a late 90's / early 00's Merc. Now I know this is about how the car drives, not completely down the size of the engine, and I'm sure the Zed out-handles all of these Mercs and is way more fun to drive, but I can't ignore the difference in insurance, and the difference in the build quality, though I realise there is nearly a 20 year gap. It may just be where I live, but that isn't going to change anytime soon. I just can't justify paying out £712 insurance for a 90's Nissan (again no disrespect, love my Zed), when I can insure a year 2000 V8 Merc for way less! (though realise I actually need to own the Merc first, and fill it with petrol). It's also a principle thing! I now have until Sunday to work on my Zed, totally demotivated. I'm likely never going to drive it now, at least not legally. I just don't know how to take this forward, I'm pretty much rebuilding my Zed to sell I guess. I'm not going to pay around £300 more a year, for no good reason! Sad really, stupid world I guess.

This doesn't help you (sorry) but I'm in a very similar position, I've just started mine after about two and a half years. She turned over no problem, and started second time, but wassn't ideling very well and dropped out eventually. I havent started looking for the cause yet, but I don't think I'm firing on all six cylinders. I'm missing a section of exhaust, so it's very noisy to run and diagnose right now. I hope to fabricate and complete the the exhaust this week. If I come up with anything I'll let you know, but sounds like you've covered the obvious. Like you, I can't actually drive mine yet...very frustrating isn't it! :)

Cheers! I won't get back to the car now until next week, but I'll make it my first job! :)

So, sorry if I'm not understanding, but you're saying I need to do it like this - Brake system wise, it's mostly all turbo stuff, actually, the only thing non turbo, is the clutch, gearbox (think these are the same on the TT and NA anyway?) and the slave cylinder . The plenum doesn't have the extra connection for the brake booster, obviously why I'm doing this, lol. I haven't removed the vacuum tank in the wing, as I didn't want to complicate things, so that's all still there. The clutch cylinder fluid hard line pipe runs directly down to the slave flexi pipe. Oh, I haven't tried the brakes yet, as the rear calipers are currently drying in my kitchen, and the front don't have any pads in.

So, after two years I finally started up my project build, idling was a little rough, but she started, and the rear hubs were turning, so overall things are good. :) However, I've used a TT shell, and put my NA engine in it, so switched from an NA clutch cylinder, to a clutch booster. I was expecting the clutch pedal to firm up when the engine was running, but it requires very little pressure to push it down, there's pretty much no resistance. There doesn't seem to be a loss of fluid, so I was wondering if my vacuum connections may be at fault. There's no difference to the clutch pedal with the engine running, or not, feels the same. I have two non return valves, either side of a T connection. Can anyone see any obvious problems here?

Cheers, swapped it around today, as soon as I did, it was obvious I had it around the wrong way.

Hey, Can anyone tell me if I've connected the clutch cable to the bracket backwards? It now rubs against the down-pipe, which obviously isn't good, and I can't remember it being like that before. I think I have connected it the way it was originally though. Cheers!

Interesting, cheers, though it's not the standard downtime, it's 2.5" bore.

I've recently done this myself, no gaskets, couldn't get any locally, so just used losts of sealant. Haven't tested it yet though...

If you do that would be great Mark, it's the rear off side.

Sorry if this doesn't belong here, but have no idea where I'm meant to ask for this now! Went to place an ad, for wanted, but can't seem to do that either.... Anyway, I'm installing an OEM exhaust cat back, minus the cats, and I'm looking for these brackets, as just found out I'm meant to have them - I also need the 'rods' that the rubbers attach to, that attach to the car, looking at the diagram it may just be a bolt, but one without the other is pointless, as I have neither. Unless someone tells me that no one bothers supporting this section of the exhaust? If these are rare and expensive then I'll do without, or make my own. I imagine most are corroded away and long forgotten. Cheers

Oh well, just as well I didn't buy any, I was almost sure they were the same, figured it was just a different hub. Cheers all! :)

I think the answer is yes, but I need it confirmed by someone. I know the drive shaft is a different size, but have my original NA hub, with dead bearings attached. I recently did my Galant bearings, cut them off and hammered new ones back on, so plan to do the same with my Z bearings / hub. So, can anyone confirm if the bearings are the same on the NA / TT? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHEEL-BEARING-KIT-REAR-NISSAN-300-ZX-1990-1994-FBK595-/310727433460?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3A300+ZX&hash=item4858cc5cf4 Cheers!

I really need to look into this next year when my Zed is back on the road, but about 2 and a half years ago (so I would have been 32 or 33) I was paying around £700 for my NA, through Adrian Flux. My 2.0 Galant estate costs me almost £400 a year now at 35!. I have no points, limited milage, and something like 12 years NCB. I don't live in a great area though...but even so. Anything under £200 I find utterly amazing, even hard to believe.