Old Zed

There was an article in the paper yesterday regarding the new bands for the taxation on cars, l did not read all of it but it sounds as though Z owners could be in for a nice 'shock'. Basically apart from pure electric vehicles, all other vehicles will pay road tax even those currently rated at '0' now. An example given showed a 5.3 litre Mustang currently paying £480 a year road tax being reduced to £140 a year.!!! Surely this must mean that Zeds will be similarly reduced and down to £140 per year. Fingers crossed, something good may be coming our way.

The original owner lived in Bristol and his wife Sasha had a long wheelbase TT reg. No. L300LWB which was also black which l subsequently bought from her when they split up.

Im surprised how many are on UK plates, most countries give you six months to register them in the country you are living and then they will sieze them. Spain used to be easy about this but not any more, you get one warning and then if not converted/imported legally it is taken from you. Does Portugal not bother about road tax ?

Ah, the deadly breakfast stick, did you manage to finish it, its a hell of a feast and needs washing down with one of Jimmers Yorkshire teas. Superb.

its in the shops now and will certainly enhance the ownership value, standby for hopefully a rise in prices.

I suppose not Simon, but he did do a cracking conversion job and on a Sunday too. What a son, what a star.

Im glad you included 'was' Si as he got pi55ed off with Z1 poor service and now goes elsewhere, he showed me a parts order a couple of weeks ago for £6800 what he had just sent off to a competitor who values his custom.

No you were not Si, l was. I bought my first Zed off Mark Luney and collected it from his home in Belfast in 2002. Jimmer came with me to give it the once over and declared two things. He would never fly again (December Easyjet flight was rough), and the car was good. We caught the ferry from Larne to Stranraer and caused mayhem as the turning circle on the Zed didnt match the turns needed to get on the exit ramp and l had to shuffle backwards ands a couple of times to finally get off the boat. We shared the driving home to Bristol with Jim putting the car through it paces with some record breaking periods of speed. When he pulled up outside my house after a very speedy drive from Carlisle to Bristol he declared "its a good one". The following week he did a auto to manual conversion which made the car even better and that also tells you how long he has been involved with Zeds. Definitely knows his Zeds and takes very high pride in his work.

Not possible without an original Nissan head jig to ensure correct alignment of boring tool. Once cam bearings are damaged, the heads are totally useless and will need to be replaced.

Blimey Jeff, thats a blast from the past, the old grey matter is still obviously working well. Wasnt it taken over by someone called Chris xxxxxxxx, l cant recall his surname, but did not last long as its reputation was truly sullied by Baggins, who l believe was originally a chef before venturing into Zeds.

Spot on !!!

Theres is a couple of things you can check/try before going to the expense of changing the clutch. Firstly l would bleed the hydraulic system and then with someone in the car pressing the pedal up and down, from under the car check the movement of the clutch lever arm (its comes out of the bell housing on the drivers side) to ensure it is returning properly. If not it may well be lack of lubrication on either the spigot shaft that the thrust bearing slides on or the ball pivot of the clutch arm. The latter could probably lubricated as is but the spigot shaft will need the box removed. Its a tricky problem and really the clutch condition can only be determined by a physical inspection once removed. Sometimes when left standing for long periods the linings de-laminate, not immediately but after being used for a short period, sadly this may be the case which once again can only be identified by removal.

A quick check for the injectors is to use a long fine screwdriver placed on the injector cap (engine running) and put your ear to the handle end, you should hear the injector ticking if it is working correctly, no tick signifies non working. You can then check to see if power is getting to it via the connector.

I am not an expert with Conzult but from previous experience the bigger the rev drop when carryout a power test means the cylinder is working well, thats why when its cut the revs drop so much, so a very little effect, a small drop in revs means it is not working so well. This can be caused by poor compression sol would do a compression test to eliminate that aspect from the problem.