Raja93

They used a cheap Jago brand seal which Jim said he wouldn't fit to a lawn mower... so not surprised it leaked. They had the car 2 days so they probs had it in stock or got it on next day delivery.

No worries, I remembered our chat 👍. Will be in touch nearer the time.

Yep that's right, the Southbend clutch I had was in fine condition but the flywheel had loads of black heat marks over it (forgot to take a pic). The clutch was difficult to use on hill starts and stop/start traffic. Having spoken to Jim, think it was user error i.e. me riding it too much on hills. The JWT HD set up is like stock feel and can handle this level of power so hopefully it will last.

After I get the car back, I’ll be able to drive it maybe once or twice when we may get some half decent weather but then it will be going off for the retrim. I usually have it parked up in the garage from mid October to next April for the winter hibernation. The retrim will be the last of the big jobs for this Z. The torn drivers seat and worn rear seats have been making me cringe for years so I cannot wait until it’s completed. Next years plan will be to buy the Works VSXX wheels as my current ones are a bit too tight clearance for the Akebonos. Other than that, I may be buying a set of RobZ throttle bodies off another owner and fitting but that’ll be it for a while. Other than that, plan is to drive it a lot and hopefully not as much bad luck…

Collection day from Anils was a beautiful sunny Friday, I had work in London then got the train down in the afternoon. The drive back was brilliant until I got to the M25 with standstill traffic which isn’t surprising for Friday early evening. I could hear the exhaust was blowing badly which was causing difficulty in revving the car. The flywheel also felt rough. I was then panicking with visions of breaking down in the fast lane of the M25 in the traffic eeek! 😧. Thankfully I made it home but was cheesed off at this point as I just wanted to get out and drive it before the weather turned for winter. The clutch and flywheel has never been as easy to use as the OEM flywheel and Exedy clutch my car came with. I took the opportunity to fit the JWT HD set up after hearing of glowing reviews. These bits were ordered and within 2 weeks were fitted. As the car wasn’t drivable for long distances, I couldn’t drive to Jim’s and I decided to take it to this Jap performance garage only 20 mins from me. My thoughts were surely a garage that has built various 90’s jap cars, Skylines, Supras and Scoobies could do a simple job like this. And this is where this years bad luck continues… Although they did the clutch/flywheel job perfectly and welded the front pipe brackets back on where they’d snapped off causing the exhaust blow, they noticed the rear main seal was starting to weep so they replaced it. They didn’t ask me during the job, they just did it and told me when I went to collect. Drove it home and felt great with the new clutch n flywheel. Few days later did a 150 mile round trip and felt great also. Before I left for that trip I saw a tiny amount of oil under where the transmission meets the engine/sump but assumed and hoped it was just a bit of residue after the rear main seal job. I then left it in the garage during week and went to drive it the following Friday and saw quite a lot of oil under the sump. Turned it on, drove around the block, parked up and it was dripping. Seriously cheesed off at this point and wondering why the Z gods are punishing me 😭. I was on the verge of calling the garage to get them to sort it but then thought, well if they’ve cocked it up once, what’s to say then won’t do it again. Rather than waste my time and risk it with such an important aspect of the engine, I did what I should have done in the first place and got it trailered to PowerZed this Thursday just gone. Thankfully Jim took it in at such short notice after hearing of my issues. Don’t be foolish like me people and assume any other garage can do simple jobs, just take it to uncle Jim!

And a few photos after completion;

The front end was too low before and caused the wheels to catch on the arches over the years. This burnt through the paint on the passenger side and the bare metal areas had started to rust a little. Jimmer raised the suspension height nicely earlier this year. I took it down to Jim’s MOT place and then dropped at Anil at Dreambodyworks in early September. He worked his magic and sorted it all out alongside sorting out a tiny area of surface rust on the rear passenger side arch, applying a coat of chassis wax over the repaired areas and replaced the bolts/washers which hold the arches in place in the engine bay. Sadly the day I drove it down, we had biblical amounts of rain, had to slow at 40mph on the M4!! Probably the worst weather I’ve ever driven the Z in 😫. Anil did what he does best, cleaned the car for me, completed repairs and took some great pictures after.

Now onto establishing the cause of the pump failure, starting and alarm issues. Having researched a lot, I found my phone that I left in the centre compartment with the wifi hotspot on (for the head unit) can cause interference with this model of alarm and cause it to go off. The issue almost reoccurred when I was at a petrol station with my phones hotspot on but thankfully started up. About a month later, I found my battery wouldn’t hold charge so had to put on trickle charger a lot - ended up replacing it whilst it was at the bodyshop. The battery can also be a cause of the alarm issues. I was still confused as to why the 2 year old Walbro fuel pump died but have put it down to a combination of the above points. Since changing the battery, no further issues have occurred so touch wood, all ok.

Had a few friends come down whilst we were waiting for the transporter and we found no fuel pressure. This therefore pointed to the fuel system. I took the fuel pump ECU out to test it and all came back clear. Next was to test the fuel pump and found power was reaching the pump plug so concluded the fuel pump had died. A replacement was ordered straight away and replaced by a mate. Had almost 2 weeks downtime which was annoying as the weather was good but not the end of the world. I got to inspect the inside of the fuel tank which is absolutely mint, not any signs of any corrosion or dirt, so that’s a bonus. Just need to strip the outside and repaint it next year.

Been a while since the last update. Only been able to drive the Z a few thousand miles so not as much as I planned this year, due to a few unexpected reasons. After I had the sound system and alarm replaced, a month later I had gone to see a friend and popped to the supermarket car park, which wasn’t in the nicest of areas. When I went to lock the car, the alarm kept going off. Not wanting to leave it unlocked, I stayed in the car and tried to start it, which is where the evening went pear shaped! It wouldn’t fire up, then would start but only at 400 rpm or so then die. Tried to fire back up and the dash lights were flickering like they do when your battery is dying. 5 hours later a low loader turned up and took us home.

The amount of money and time you’ll waste with other mechanics, you’re 100% better off just taking it to PowerZed. Speak to his recommended transporter Duane at DWM Transport on 07717 840906 who’s very reasonable on pricing. He’s about £70-£80 cheaper than another transporter I used once.

That space is a dream! Looks a solid base to start off with, very nice and clean. Good luck getting it all together.

So very very clean! Curious to see what the market will pay for that Z in the end.

I’m with you, Z parts shopping is very addictive when you see all these items available 😍 - you think while I’m there, makes perfect sense to order this, that the other! Dewla Design is great quality, I bought the red plenum cover V6 3000 piece from them and very impressed.

Haha, he’s quite vocal about it, so not a secret! Might well be the choice of pads but as you say, who knows?

Yep Jim says he’s had nothing but bad experiences with customers using those discs, although Tom seems to be getting the good batches!

What brand discs did you have on that warped? Shocking they only lasted that short amount of time.

They look absolutely stunning in gold!😍. Really really suits the paintwork, the red bbs badge and brakes look 👌🏾 and oh so period correct. I’m a big fan of the thick sidewall look as well, stretched tyre days are long gone me thinks. Impressed with the Carcoon company conduct on this, really glad they sorted you out. A great alternative to a garage if you have the driveway space.

Welcome back, clean looking car 😃. Good luck with the import and keep us updated.

I’ve seen consistently good reviews of the Specialty Z chips, from UK owners. From what I read, they appear to be the best of the bunch, as SZ have so much experience in tuning Z’s, they’re usually all you need for your level of tune/power.

Happy Birthday mate, hope you have a great day 🥳😃🎁

Mine were custom made by my audio shop. If you look up AndrewG’s profile, or search tweeter housings, you’ll find his how to guide which is very thorough. I showed this guide to my audio shop and they said it’s a well known old school method they’ve been using for 30+ years. If you find a good audio shop who do fabrication, they should be able to make them. Will need your car on site to measure it up though, so make sure they’re local enough.

My favourite bits of the install are the tweeter housings, reverse camera which has relieved my parking paranoia and the google maps on screen 😃.

Saw a YouTube review of 370’s yesterday and they said the post 2017 or 2018 cars have the cheaper tax bracket around £190 I think. Downside is those newer ones are in the £20k + region. Shocking that most of them are £700+ tax!!

No it sits a little higher. With the other added work (wiring mess sorting and additional security than planned) and overrunning time, I left it as wasn't that bothered by it being a little higher. I only ever use the boot to store targas - probably will add some legs to rest of the boot floor panels in future so is more level. Let me know if you come up with a good way to raise it.