bantambunny

I'll try and make this dependent on whether i get this subframe problem sorted in time! 1. Brillo (with shiny new Zed) 2. Cov_Rob (with a rusty old Zed ) 3. Bantambunny

Jesus that would be a total crime! I wish i'd got a house with that much character. Glad you stuck to your guns matey

Good choice Dave, was a great looking car before but looks even better now thanks to that :D I lusted after a 99 spec arse end before i bought the V8 and left at the chance when Keith had his lights up for sale while i was over there. I think i left with £1500 worth of stuff in the end :rofl:

Nope nowhere near me then so i won't have seen it on the road then :D lol Lovely looking car though and once i'm back on the road i'll be hopefully stepping up as regional events organiser and get some decent meets going again.

Every person i knew who had a tubby ended up in a ditch somewhere :rofl: Very skittish in the wet and the turbos were even worse - in the dry though they were amazing cars!

I'm sure i've seen a zed with UFO as a number plate somewhere and i can't think where! Whereabouts in the midlands are you based?

Looks superb but i recognise that number plate from somewhere and can't quite put my finger on it :)

After a couple of days traveling around grabbing bits here there and everywhere i'm ready to kick off work. Plan is tonight i'm only going to get a couple of hours on the car before i have to go out so i'm going to work on getting the speedo calibrated tonight which should take me half an hour. Basically i've connected the wrong wires unfortunately so need to resolder onto the correct feed. The speedo requires you to drive a set distance then stop and stop the calibration setup and it'll calculate the speed based on that. Might take a bit of tweaking but i have a gps distance meter on my iphone so i can use that then tune the number of pulses to get it right. Tomorrow/Thursday/Friday will be spent suspending the engine, etc in situe and swapping sub frames. I didn't want to start until i'd got the track rod ends to go on the stock steering rack to hold the wheels in and drop it on the ramps. Fingers crossed the locking nuts will be the same as the ones rudy used then i'll assemble the rack outside the car, swap the pipes over from one to another (if they fit!), bolt that onto the stock zed mounting then bolt the extra long bolts through the side girders and spacers and reattach the bottom arms and track rod ends then i can finally relax and put the wheels on the ramps and breath a sigh of relief knowing the whole lot won't come crashing down on me :) I'm popping to see pete on saturday with the metal components ready cut out and stuck together temporarily with duct tape to get it all welded up together and they should hopefully just slot into place and then it's only the steering column that rpesents any problem. I had it lengthened to fit the lowered rack but obviously if i'm moving the rack back up an inch this'll affect the length of column so hoping there's a little space as is that will be taken up and i might have to move the mounting of the column inside the car to push through. Other option if there's plenty of splined section free is grind it back to size and put a blob of weld on the end to stop if moving past the bolt. I'll keep you guys and gals updated but it isn't that tricky to do this conversion luckily and it's proven technology as it was run on the other v8 conversion Keith had done.

I loved my old GTi mk2, didn't really want to sell it but i was going back for my final year of uni and i couldn't afford to keep going on the payments so it had to go and made a small profit on it :) Very very tempted to get another as a day to day tbh :headvswal

Congratulations buddy, they do a brilliant job with newborns that age and know alot more these days than they used to so trust in the doctors and nurses and here's hoping you get them both back home soon :)

I'm quite impressed with the black and decker pirahna drill bits, they've got a nibbler on the end to get started then cut through metal like a hot knife through butter. I've owned mine for a year now and used them alot and they're still just as good

Looks fantastic buddy, what a great project to follow and a cracking paint job to boot :)

Firstly thanks to Slick Pete who did an amazing job of my bumper over the past week! :bow: It looks awesome mate, cheers :D Okay onto the problems i was trying to sort out. Firstly the overheating: The dissy has a mechanical advance on it as well as vacuum advance and we'd set it to 12 degrees at idle but was only giving 26 on full throttle when it should be at least 32 so adjusted it up to 32 temporarily which gives 18 degrees at idle which isn't ideal so i'm ordering a weights/spring kit to adapt it today. Started up a little hesitantly but out on the road it's a monster! Took it for a run to my parents and back last night to give it a long run and see what the temp did and found that by the time i'd driven 4-5 miles to mum and dads i'd got it up to 77-78C which is close to ideal temp. As i was leaving my dad followed me out and said "go on give it some welly so i can have a listen" lol So floored it down the road and went through the first 4 gears in 5-6 seconds(!) Jesus it's quick on the primaries now :hyper: By the time i'd got back the car had levelled out at 85 degrees which is a good temperature so i think that's sorted the problem out. OKAY now onto my main problem. That suspension :( Having spoken to Keith5700 and several of my auto engineering mates they all agree that although the rack has dropped 2" the lower arms have stayed the same and that's why i'm getting exagerated bump steer. So having given it a long and hard thought i've decided to drop the subframe off and use keith's subframe and mounts (standard 300zx engine mounts with an adapter plate). It means the engine sits about an inch higher but i'll just chop the filter and it'll give me an extra inch of clearance underneath making it the best option for lowering later on. So tonight i'll be raising the car back up off the ground, slapping the engine and box in a harness and dropping the subframe off the car. before refitting a standard rack with the new pipes and bolting it into position. I'll need to make up some dummy adapters out of wood and get the holes/spacing right then it's just a case of taking it to a fabricator to make up this week and we should be good to go :) More to come as i get there guys and gals!

Cheers guys :D Hi Andy, I haven't jetted the secondaries yet, i've left a bump stop in place until i can get the suspension sorted. At the moment with the damp roads, anything past 1/2 throttle and the car leaps off the ground so i probably won't tune the whole engine till it's bedded in on primaries. I'll fill you in on the timing in the next post.....

Cheers guys, believe me i won't be hitting warp drive until i've got a dry road, mixture right and the suspension sorted out :rofl: Nearly there though, i've got to make some hard decisions about whether to raise the engine and use keith's subframe and mounts to sort out the handling or go with a completely custom suspension setup. Right off to see the other half but back on the car tomorrow guys and gals :)

And as if by magic..... :) [YOUTUBE]O0JYnN2R1-Y[/YOUTUBE]

Haha, i knew you were going to ask that Andy :D Unfortunately we did film a vid but the sound effed up royally (which was the main point - doh! :rofl:) and it was overheating badly plus the prop bolts were working loose :( However - I've done a bit of reading up and found where we could actually be going wrong. The damper is marked with timing marks of which my dad yesterday set it to 10 degrees TDC which is about what it should be setting base timing HOWEVER that means nothing as when you're off idle you should be running 32-39 degrees on mechanical advance when the engine's about 3-4k. Now, what i didn't factor in was turning the dissy clockwise actually advances not retards the timing and it ran better after turning it clockwise to get back and the temp calmed down a bit. So what i need to do is turn clockwise until revved up it's touching 35 degrees i've found recommended for 383s and bugger the idle timing because it means diddly squat. From what i remember when i set it the first time i was only getting 26-28 degrees before TDC so far to retarded which would make it run incredibly hot as you're allowing the flame to be pulled down the water jacket absorbing the heat as it goes. Anyway you're probably not interested in the science of it let's talk about how it drives :rofl: My dad drove it on a long route back from its MOT yesterday and my bro recorded the action so by the time i got my hands on it it was just starting to rain. HIDs worked brilliantly, took it to morrisons down the road to get a battery for the garage remote and gave it a bit of welly coming off the roadabout and whoo-hoo instantly stepped out the back end. Lifted off and grabbed it quickly and came back in line pretty easily, reminded me a bit of my MR2 (remember i've only had LWB zeds till now). The steering feels acres better but the car feels nervous and needs setting up with softer springs on the back to get it to handle right. My impression is i need to fit my ohlin rear shocks from the silver zed temporarily to tune the response as the ones that are fitted are WAY to hard for the SWB so i'll try that tomorrow when i get back from the other halfs. What i really need is the Meister R coilovers to get everything right but with buying the house i can't really do that till after the new year and i've paid off my tax return. Even with the wrong timing and weak jets it hauls like a train. You hardly ever have to go over half throttle or 1500RPM to get anywhere it just pulls instantly :) Floor it 3/4 throttle (and i did try it on the open road yesterday) and it just picks up and flies up to 60 from 30 in a nats crotchet :D lol Bearing in mind i'm only using the first 3000RPM and the first half of the carb and it feels as quick as my tuned NA was so double that and you'll get an idea of what the engine's going to be like when the secondaries open up :hyper: They don't open till the last 10% of the throttle and i've put a bump stop in place to stop me being silly and killing myself till i've got it set up. Right off out to the garage to tighten the prop bolts, drill the thermostat, and tune the engine for a bit. I might take it off to a local garage to see if they'll tighten the diff bolts for me to the correct spec on a ramp because i can't get enough ground clearance to use the breaker bar but i'll get bro out with the cam later and we'll get some video lovelyness for you guys and gals :D

It passed! MOT and TAX but it's overheating and the prop is working its way loose. Will fill you all in more later

Well still waiting on dad but they so "no news" is "good news" - so lets see what happens :D Hopefully it should be alright fingers crossed and that wobble was just the loose track rod end :)

Good news! As of the last phonecall from my dad - apart from the waterleak it's sprung from the top hose of the rad (and i know what that is) - the zed flew through its MOT with only a fail on a loose trackrod end (not enough screw thread in there). However dad asked them to track it properly and that side is a country mile out where it should be so they're adjusting the toe out which should increase the thread and get it through as a pass AND possibly sort out the bump steer i was experiencing! :hyper: Just the taxing to do and we're done and project voldemort/630z/600zx will hit the roads! :D

While i'm getting the V8 bedded in i don't want to do too many long distance journeys (especially seeing as i don't have a fuel gauge! :rofl:) so covs a bit far for me. I'll be having a BBQ at mine some point in the next couple of weeks for the midlands lot so come along lads :D

Cold crisp autumn mornings Finding out your mortgage has been approved and you're weeks away from moving in :hyper: Having a lovely gorgeous girlfriend who's given me nothing but support and love over the past few months and finally Taking your 6.3 Litre V8 Zed for it's first proper run out on an empty road this morning and enjoying every second of being behind the wheel of a zed again for the first time in a year

How the world changes - before it was me with the TT and you with the V8 :rofl: Great to see you're back in the world of Zed buddy, the 600zx is in the mot testing station as we speaking and everything's going fine - phew! Will organise a meet round mine next week all being well if peeps are about for an october BBQ :D It'd be good to see you alan and the regulars back again!

Okay so where was i yesterday then you may ask? Well where i was supposed to be was at the MOT station for 12.30pm - unfortunately i didn't make it. I had to make the filter fit the carb which involved making up several brakets to clamp to the top on and make it fit the carb then i had to wire in the fog light and tidy up the interior. First drive out at 11.30 was awful. The car was sluggish the leaking exhaust gasket was noisy and the steering was scary to say the least. Got it back in and set about getting the wheels to point vaguely the right way! I rang the mot station and moved the appointment back to 4pm to give me some time and phoned my boss and took the rest of the day off to get it done. Each time i took it out i got closer and closer to pulling straight but the worrying thing was the bump steer from the lowered steering rack. Not ideal! :( Rang centre gravity and from what they said it sounds like i need to play around getting the outer arms the right shape to get the car to neutralise so more manufacturing to do but it is drivable :) Got to 3.30pm and finished wiring in the side lights but by that point it was too late to cover the 20 miles to the MOT station i was heading so decided to work into the evening doing all the last bits ready for the morning to take it in again. Initial impressions were at that point that it needed tweaking but the power was definitely there on half throttle without opening the secondaries so with the secondaries opened it'll be devastatingly powerful! :hyper: Spent the evening changing the blown exhaust gasket and put the new bolts in which fitted much better. A quick start up showed no signs of leaks and it ran a little nicer. Woke up at 6am this morning and got the car out the garage about 7am with dad in tow. Problem I found was the car was cutting out and the base idle fuelling was way off now right off the far side of lean so tweaked the tuning until i reached 13.6:1 and it started and ran fine. Got up to temperature reasonably quickly and held it with no leaks for a good 5 miles then suddenly it started to creap up from 88-90 to over 100 degrees C! Stopped and let it cool down but the manifolds were glowing - damn timing was out with no timing light to correct :( So tweaked it slightly clockwise to retard the timing slightly which worked and brought the temp to a reasonable level (94-95) but now the fueling was overly rich so dialed it back but the idle had crept up so completely screwed up the tuning and managed to limp it back home. When i was 12.5:1 on throttle the pickup was immense! I can sit at 50mph in 5th at 1700RPM and even at 1000RPM it hauls you into the back of your seat. The sound is intoxicating and running through ibstock there were a few turned heads and slack jaws as i came passed the school crossing :) I'm at work now but dad's trying to book it in for an MOT today or tomorrow morning but the tunnel run this Saturday night is looking very doubtful but overall i'm pretty happy with the results - with a bit of tweaking here and there i'll get there in the end :D

Hahaha, i thought you were going to say £250,000 then - totally misread that the first time :rofl: