bantambunny

Looks brilliant matey, glad to hear you persevered in the end - after all the hard work it wouldn't be worth giving up at the final hurdle and jimmer and JD know what they're doing :) Dammit, can't watch the vids at work but i'll catch them when i get back :headvswal

Thanks for your support guys, I feel I owe it to you all to finish it now and for all the guys and gals with 300zxs around the UK. Let's hope this is another car that'll put us on the map :)

In some random act of fate I rang the previous owner to tell him what happened and he said "you do know I have a freshly machined 30thou overbore block ready cleaned and it's a four bolt main?" Bloody hell! He only wants £450 for it so I'll pick it up next Friday and build the engine over the weekend. Peeps were back in business! :hyper:

Cheers kurt, oh I know too well these showstopper problems lol they started when I bought the heads from Florida and found the rockers include didn't fit the studs and because Of the springs it dictated which drivetrain I could run. Then the original block was scrap so had to source another, money ran out several times, the sump didn't fit, the headers wouldn't fit, the rad wouldn't fit, the pipework for the tad was a nightmare, the petrol tank pipework was a nightmare then it leaked like hell, the clutch cylinder exploded twice meaning I had to pull the engine 8 times, finally got the car on the road then it overheated badly, bought all the weights and adjustable vacuum canister to find I'd snapped mounting stud so had to buy a whole new distributor package and the subframe was shot and would never work so had to completely redesign the front end of the car.... ...so the block being cracked ain't a problem :lol:

I will matey, you were the one that inspired me in the first place to build it so I'll carry on till I reach the end :) in the meantime I'll be back in my old silver zed at the meets and the shows so catch you soon buddy :)

Cheers guys, I am totally gutted but in the long run it means I can do a better job of the final thing. Got an idea which could work to get it on the road sooner but in the meantime I'll put the silver zed back on the road. Yep, it was the deep freeze. Even in a garage after thinking the block was dry there was enough to split it. Next block will be filled with 50% antifreeze at all times! Better, faster, stronger as they say! :)

And some photos of the crack - just hope it hasn't touched the heads :(

Cheers guys, i'm trying to put a positive slant on it but after ending up sinking £10.5k into a car and god knows how many hours i can't really say it's easy. BUT on the positive side i now have another chance to make this engine even better, upgrade to a 4 bolt main and get it built on a stand then get it dyno tuned before it goes in the car along with powder coating everything and respraying the entire engine bay before it goes back in. Count my words - the 600zx will be back better than ever later this year!

Finished everything, went to fill it up with water ready to run and the punchline is: A CRACKED BLOCK! tada! :headvswal So project is officially cancelled for the foreseeable future RIP 600zx :cry:

Good to see you back buddy, i wondered what had happened to you :) Wishing you a happy new year! :hyper:

lol, no rest for the wicked mate i'm off to see the other half on saturday because she's too ill to come up this weekend so if i don't get it done tonight i won't be able to take it for a spin tomorrow :( There's not much to do really: Reconnect front power steering pipe Replace undertray Replace wheels Reconnect battery Turn engine until TDC on cylinder 1 Fit new alternator and tighten up all spark plugs Align rotor and reconnect all plug leads in order Mount coil on bracket on firewall and connect up tacho wires to negative terminal Test start the engine and try and get a timing reading to get it about right If all that works then drop the car down (remembering to reconnect the tension rods!) and run out the garage hopefully :hyper: I'm guessing i'm going to find all manor of leaks after standing for so long so i'll leave it till i've sorted that and got it up to temp before i put the bumper and lights back on.

Well worked flat out on it last night and finished the steering/suspension, hooked up the starter motor and did all the niggly jobs i'd need to get done before dropping the car down tonight :) All i have to do now is mount and wire in the new coil and dissy, the air filter and reconnect the plugs and leads and we're ready to rock and roll :D Keep your fingers crossed folks! I don't know if i'll get everything done tonight but if not i'll at least get it started up tonight and initially timed before bed :) My new shiny stuff should arrive today :hyper:

Flipping heck, sounds about as lucky as me! :) Well best of luck buddy, hope you get it back on the road soon and see you at the shows this year :D

lol, I thought yours was being rebuilt when i last saw you mate?

lol, no i bloody haven't :rofl: Nearly back on the road though and hopefully this time PERMANENTLY! This uprated dissy should give me more power top end as well so i guess it's worth the money in the long run :)

All ordered for tomorrow: Mallory Magnetic Electronic Distributor Mallory Coil Mallory Resistor New Filter base (smaller dissy so i can have a centred air cleaner), stud and filter £402 *CRIES INTO SLEEVE*

Cheers buddy :) Just priced up 2 options from real steel - a dual point distributor and a magnetic dissy, works out about the same price but the dual points one is supposed to be a pig to get set up correctly. I'll give them a ring in a bit and ask them what their thoughts are. The advantage of running a separate coil is a smaller dissy - so i can then put a centralised air filter on rather than the offset one i'm using at the moment. More expense though, it's looking like a minimum of £240 for the dissy setup and i'm in the middle of buying my house at the mo so money is tight :(

Cheers buddy :) Well a quick update, spent all last night in the garage on the car to push a bit further. Thought i'd start with the easiest manifold to get on - the passenger side and unfortunately it wouldn't fit for love nor money :( Eventually ended up shuffling the engine on its mounts to get it to a point where the manifold cleared the mount and steering rack. Eventually after 40-50 minutes managed ot get it all to fit and the driver's side too. Mounted up the rocker cover with the new cable holders and started work on the drivers side to find i couldn't the £40 stainless exhaust manifold bolts! :headvswal After an hour of looking i eventually found them and got those fitted up. I hadn't got much more time before bed so decided to get on with the distributor before i put the rocker cover back on and stripped it down to fit the new weights and springs only to snap off the mounting stud for one of the springs :( So that's written off the distributor because it's a none replaceable part. I guess it is a 50 year old bit of kit so i'd expect as much! :rant: So i'll have to order a new one but for the price it is for a new hei distributor i might as well pay an extra 200 quid and get a new style dissy and coil. More to come later on but looks like i'll have to make a panic order later this morning to real steel and hope they can get it up for the weekend :(

Oh bloody hell, what a bunch of muppets :( Had mine broken into twice and it's horrible how much it costs to sort these things out. Hope you get it sorted out soon buddy :)

Any news on this buddy? :)

lol, no problem buddy she's already back in the world of the living again now and back at hers till the weekend hence i'm getting loads done on the car while she's not here :D She still hasn't been out for a ride in it yet since i got it on the road the first time so i'm desperately trying to get it done for the weekend so i can take her for a spin when she comes to stay to cheer her up and show her what all this hassle, lack of money, swearing, moodswings etc was for over the last 2 years :rofl: It'll also get everyone off my back who's kept asking me every week for the past 2 months "So when are we going to see this car then?" :)

lol, the girlfriend (not wife - don't give her any ideas! :lol:) is much better now just a kidney infection so had to wait for 3 hours to get some antibiotics :D That's really odd, i went through my posts and couldn't see it! Oh well i'll edit the last one to compensate :) I need to put everything into a book when i've finished and keep it in the car for the shows methinks

Well good news is I did a bit more last night - i'm in the groove now! :) Decided before i went to the pub quiz i'd at least get the steering column adjusted to fit - after a little nip and a tuck it slid straight in and worked perfectly. While that was in place i decided it'd be wise to test the exhaust manifold to check for clearance after the last time when it was a huge problem. Annoyingly it didn't fit, the engine mount top was in the way so i had to grind part of the retainer off at the back but after doing that it fitted perfectly! Starter motor just slid in so tonight i'll get the freeze plug back in, manifold bolted back in position and connect up the driver's side. The passenger side has loads of clearance so that won't be a problem. Aim tonight is to get everything bar the distributor and leads back in so tomorrow all i have to do is rebuild that on my lunchbreak tomorrow at work and then fit it and set it up when i get back and take it for a spin. Fingers crossed the suspension should work! :) More to come with some photos tonight

Well after getting stuck in I managed to replace one of the brass freeze plugs back into the block (just one to go on the easier side), bolted the engine in tight which fitted perfectly and then removed the driver's rocker cover to test fit that the complicated manifold re-fitted without any clearance issues which it did. SO all i need to do now is just replace that final brass plug, insert the steering column into the rack and re-attach the exhaust and we're ready to just wire up the distributor and drop it off the stands again :)