Me: Ryan, 21, onto z32 #14 I think. Lost count after #10 Model: '90 Aus spec manual (2+2 na) Price: Cheap enough for what I want Build: Skid rig that I can still daily. Something that's mechanically sound that I don't really care about too much. Mileage: 250,000 Colour: KH6 Pearl white Bodykit: Stock with brazillian Engine Type: VG30DE soundtrack to this thread: I guess this is pretty fitting for the project. Arrival modifications: UDP Extractors 1pc. prop shaft HKS super dragon (I think) catback Bad parts on arrival: cam cover leaks plenum coolant hose leaks throwout bearing wheel bearing 20 years of wear and tear Date of purchase: May 2013 stuff to come: Anything to make it go sideways better. And at some point I'll probably give in and drop in a TT Budget: Happier not thinking about it. Hi guys. Been wanting to start this project for a while now, it's been in planning for a fair while so hopefully things should move on fairly quickly. The basic idea was to start off with a base that wasn't anything special, but something that I could see had potential and probably no future. I'd feel bad wrecking a perfectly good zed, but now there's quite a few out there with no real future left, plagued with 20 years worth of problems and owners who can't afford to pay someone to fix them. So they either sit under a tree to rot and die or get sold dirt cheap to some young, dumb kid who goes and thrashes it until something more serious breaks. So I figure, I've saved a few zeds in my time, may as well save one more. I'd like to think that me buying this zed is probably the best possible option for it especially in this neck of the woods. At least I know how to swing a spanner on it. And hey if some young kid's going to thrash it, it may as well be me. So anyway, it's a '90 aus spec with 250 thousand kms on the clock. Bought it from Biloela, a small farming town almost 2 hours west from me. Few photos from the ad. Previous owner bought it off the internet from Bundaberg almost 12 months ago but was never able to get it registered in his name. Cam cover leaks, plenum coolant hose leaks, shagged throw out bearing and a bad wheel bearing meant it went in to the 'too hard' basket so it just sat there. Fast forward to last weekend and I went out with a mate and his dads new $8000 car trailer to pick it up. Has a few nice goodies on it including udp, extractors, 1pc tailshaft and a hks 'super dragon' (I think) exhaust. Having started a new job recently I don't get much time to work on cars during the week any more so spent this weekend in the garage trying to get as much sorted as possible. Got a whole heap of small things fixed, placed an order with coz for more than the car cost, and did a compression test to find I've only got about 80psi variance so got to look in a bit further and see if there's a possible timing problem or something causing this. Still runs and drives quite well and isn't burning oil out the exhaust so worst case scenario I might just end up seeing how much limiter love it's got left in it. So this is basically how it sits now. Got the new wheels on and inspected suspension and wheel bearings. Needs upper control arm bushes and have coilovers to go in after roadworthy. Has koni yellows in the front which was a nice suprise. All the wheel bearings appear fine so got the rear end up in the air. Idling in 4th it's vibrating and shaking enough to be visible so going to shim up my spare one and swap it out. Then 100k service and rego and it should be ready to slide. Still undecided whether 2 z32's is the dream garage or the garage from hell.
I read 'Biloela' small farming town LOL LOL LOL I have met so many people from that country town over the years, who say it is a small town that nobody would ever hear about, it makes me wonder how there can be anyone left there. OK, just read that it is an Auspec pearl white. I didn't know they existed, thought all the auspec whiteys were Arctic white. Anyway, good on ya for saving another Zed. The interior looks ok in the pics except that driver's seat bolster needs a vinyl/ leather elbow patch before it gets worse.
Mod plans, still not quite sure yet. Work that out as I go along. Small update, got my gktech solid steering bush and rack spacers in the mail along with my new key.
Sweet man, I got my solid input shaft bush yesterday. The nylon sleeves that are meant to be put back into the new bush - what's your plan with those? That key is freaking sweet haha
You mean steering shaft bush? As far as I'm aware you have to push the nylon bushes back in to this one. Might give it a crack this weekend.
Yeah that's the problem, they flog out as well. I was thinking maybe some chopped up pipe to replace them, so long as the correct ID and thickness is available.
How do they flog out, the only thing I can see happening to them possibly would be them crumbling or falling to pieces from 20 years of engine bay heat. Never heard of anybody replacing them on skylines or silvias or the like.
Opening your car door or hatch with that - will look so dodgy I had a spare key that flipped out of a swiss army knife. Thought it looked funny until my knife was confiscated by a cop without a sense of humour.
Once this thing is TT, it's going to be sick! Someone should do a 2 seater drift car and give me some inspiration. Cool start nonetheless man, I like it a lot.
Small update, working 5 days a week, leaving first thing in the morning and coming home when it's dark, combined with a 21st each weekend so far this month has really hindered progress. Czp order for myself and a few other guys showed up which basically left me broke. Plenty of parts to go on now but. Battled through the hangover Sunday morning by starting on the 200k service. Ended up spending way longer than I should've trying to get the viscous hub off after it had siezed good and proper on to the water pump. So this is where it sits as of now. Oh, and I also have to tackle this mess too sometime.
So, bought these And bought Chrispy's old 2 way Bit disappointed, can feel a huge amount of backlash in it and needs to come apart to have a new diff seal fitted, so going to buy some shims and tools and have a go setting it all back to within factory tolerances. Should be fun. Keep finding jobs to do in the engine bay, completed the 200k & p/p. Replaced steering bushes & starting to re bush the front end with cheap urethane crap. Ready to put a new alternator in and new power steering hoses along with a full system flush. Swapped out old engine mounts, looked almost new from the outside but glad I did it now, one had completely separated and the other was fairly close behind. Put about 6 cans of degreaser through the bay too. Been doing all this out on the driveway, the other zed in the garage doesn't have a battery and this one doesn't have a drivers seat so contemplating just swapping the box in the driveway this weekend. After that just needs the diff swapped out and interior fixed up and should be ready for me to throw in to a tree backwards. Went out with a few mates last weekend for a skid session. I'm pretty keen to get out there with him and start trying to tandem. Gave me a fair bit of motivation to get back to work on this. Also decided the 350z rims just weren't going to sit flush enough at my desired height, so looking at either some Varrestoen 2.2.2's or fake BBS LM's in black. Oh, this finally turned up the other day after months of waiting, not sure what I'm going to do with it yet...
Nice to see your updates of your rescued Zed. your comment about the tree. Don't touch wood (old person colloquialism) Those 350z wheels look good in your pics.
What happened to the powertrix you bought? Shame about the diff, be good when you sort out the shims, one more thing you can add to your skill set Maybe some 34gtr wheels? Looks baller on a black zed, never seen em on a white one though...
Well it's been almost 6 months on and I was hoping to have made way more progress by this point, but it seems everything with this zed is always one step forwards two steps back. Re bushed the front UCA's, what a nightmare of a job that was. And despite numerous attempts at re sealing it my washer bottle still leaks (I'd say probably half the z32's I've owned have had leaking washer bottles). Also, my replacement alternator has a bad bearing so needs to be swapped out and looks like I'm up for a new battery too. On the upside I've got the 2 way in and am loving it so far. Fake greddy housing isn't leaking and was nice and easy to fit. They aren't made for the z32 specifically, this is for an s14 or s15 (2 bolt r200). I couldn't find any information on anybody running one of these on a 2+2 though so took a bit of a gamble hoping it would fit (rough measurements showed it would be pretty close). Fortunately everything's nice and accessible and it's no harder changing the oil than with the stock rear housing. Solid steering bush along with urethane rack bushes is great as well. Also completed my jdm rear end swap to get rid of those ugly adm foglights. Rear bar came off the donor car for the Z32 mercury and is almost a perfect colour match. For anybody interested I can confirm the sides of the rear bar around the wheel ARE different. JDM mudflaps won't mould to the shape of the ADM bar and the mounting brackets are completely different. Also bought new wheels with my tax return. Should look a lot better once I get adjustable coils in and smack the rear guards out. Fronts won't be completely flush though I fear and looking back now probably should've just gone +12 all around instead of +22, oh well. Also bought a heap of ebay spec adjustable suspension parts to see how long they last. Rego soon hopefully, also got a new key cut in case the rwc guy doesn't have a sense of humor and doesn't like my screwdriver key (which isn't long enough to fit in the boot lock anyway). After everything this zed's put me through so far I'm looking forward to beating on it hard soon.
But its so pretty. Please don't park this into a wall. Looking good so far man. And biloela. Lol. I've been there as a kid. Used to live in emerald. Now that was a small country town. Haha. GL with it all!
