388 replies to this topic

[Keyser]

Welcome to - "Project Zee Business" as named by Buster



Hi some of you know me from the other forum for those that don't a quick bit of background.

Bought my first Zed beginning of 2011 with the idea of turning it into a weekend and track toy - Love the car love the looks, decided on the FI route along with suspension and other supporting Mods - came across steadyzeddy's FI Zed and quickly sold mine and got that as a cheaper alternative to buying the parts and fitting them from scratch.

Over the summer I started collecting parts and researching the winter build project, I took mine of the road at the beginning of October and started the rebuild.

This is a cut and paste so sorry if anything doesn't make sense!

Parts so far -

The Zed


The new heart of Project Zee Business - (Built by Carlswift)








Engine Specification -

• Tomei pro cams
• Brian crower valve springs and valve caps
• 3 angle valve seats
• Ported cylinder heads
• Skimmed heads (0.5mm)
• OEM full gasket set
• Shortblock balanced
• Eagle h-beam rods
• ARP rod bolts
• CP 95.5mm 11.0:1cr forged pistons
• ACL race main bearings
• ACL race big end bearings
• ACL race thrust washers
• rev-up oil pump

A few supporting mods



Altered Atmosphere Stage 1 Fuel Return System and Walbro 255 fuel pump.



Koyo Ally racing radiator, Mishimoto Ally surround and fans and some new pipes.




Stillen ceramic coated headers with a pair of Berks HFC's




A nice set of Tein Flex suspension.



New Head Unit with Sat Nav so I can find Castle Combe along with 2 new AEM wideband gauges a fuel pressure gauge and some mounting plates.




Some replacement bits as mine are damaged/missing






New S/C filters, SC Pulleys and belts, Setrab oil cooler, thermostatic sandwich plate, Nismo Oil Cap, Nismo low temp thermostat along with an assortment of gaskets and hiding at the back is a set of AMS lightweight pulleys.




Wing liner, AEM water/meth injection kit, front mesh and ZSpeed under tray,





Top Secret diffuser (in need of repair), Hel braided brake and clutch lines, Ferodo 2500 front pads and a KSport rear BBK with 330mm disks and 6 pot calipers.




A pair of genuine Bride BRIX II seats.

I'm still awaiting the arrival of a quick shifter and a spare set of Alloys so I can have a set of road tyres and a set of track tyres.

Still on the shopping list -

Bride seat rails (On route from Japan)

New clutch probably a Carbonetic Twin Clutch (On iys way)

After market ECU - Not sure which yet

and the obligatory tune and Dyno run.


Then that's it jobs a good un!

Stand by for a long winter build blog

[djtimodj]

QUALITY!

[djtimodj]

Oh and carl swifts motor back on here too!

[Keyser]

Dam that was quick djtimodj - still copying lol

Quick one on the Head unit nothing very interesting really I swapped my older double din for a newer one with BT and SatNav.

I'm not overly worried by ICE on this project but I need the phone and SatNav is handy.

I wasn't overly impressed with the wiring behind the existing HU but I suppose it was working.










So I cut out the usless bits and soldered in a new connectors -







Finished loom looked like this



Will be doing some more work on the dash later when I sort the new gauges so .......

That's all for now folks

[Keyser]

Something a bit more interesting this weekend -

Installed and tested the AAM Competition 350Z Stage 1 Fuel Return Kit.

The reason this is being installed before the engine swap is that so many parts will be changed in one go I thought, if I install, test and prove some parts working they are less likely to be an issue when the new engine goes in should any problems arise.

It started of looking like this



The workshop foreman immediately took up position



Stripped the plenum etc out -



Then out with the stock fuel rails






Removed the injectors and got all the new bits together



New fuel rails installed



Installed the new fuel regulator and test gauge.





On Sunday Bob popped round to play - Be warned keep clear of Bob and a pair of pliers

I'm not sure if he was planning on lowering the car at this point





Fuel pump assembly removed -



Modified and installed - nice neat job



New return fuel line mounted next to existing fuel feed line -



Pressure test -



We had 2 leaks to deal with when tested to 90psi One was a missing rubber washer the other is where the new braided fuel feed line connects to the original metal fuel line - this is due to the kit re-using the OEM connector - which I don't have - must have been removed at some point in the past. We have done a temporary fix at the moment with jubilee clips (that's when bob tried to remove my finger ) I will be replacing this with a proper aftermarket connector later.

So the senior mechanic put her back together -



Back to this



The only sign we were ever here -



.................. That's all folks

[Keyser]

Another quick update -

Mrs Soze (Keyser Soze's wife) did this mod but thought I should post any way

My Bride seats -



Came with a piece of Bride material in one of the boxes - maybe they all do?

So my good lady wife popped to the material shop got the sewing machine out - I'm not qualified to explain what came next







But then this happened



and by Sunday night I had custom made seat covers



.............. That's all folks

[Keyser]

Started the Oil Cooler install this weekend but broke my oil pressure sender while sorting out the pipe routes so I can't hook it up until the new one arrives around Wednesday.

First attempt at a mock up location - Fail!! as the FMIC pipe means it to far forwards



So onto location 2



This works as the FMIC pipe is smaller on this side and I can get the rad back far enough

So made up some mounts with the assistance of my Daughter and Bob and we fitted it in.









Had to trim the bumper a bit so it doesn't rub.



All in place -





Will hook the pipes up and update soon.......

That's all folks ...........

[Keyser]

Oil Cooler Part 2

Evening all

So still waiting for my new oil pressure sender but my oil pressure tester arrived today so I thought I'd get the oil cooler moved on a step.

It actually went quite well even though I got covered in the stuff when I dropped the pipe
So started off with this -



Quick oil pressure test (cold)



Unfortunately when I lined the sandwich plate up I could see a slight problem with the location of the Oil Pressure sender





Added some elbows to move that round -



Bolted it all in place



Test run time

Assisted by my daughter as always - her job was to scream if the oil pressure went below 20 psi



Oil warmed pressure holding -



Did discover that my 80 degree sandwich plate opens at 70 degrees!!??? :shrug:

Input temp -



Output (not bad for stationary)



Think these will hold the pressure



All plumbed in -



Hopefully get my oil pressure sender tomorrow or Thursday - hook that up and a test drive.

That's all folks .....................

[Keyser]

Hello Everybody - or the 2 members that still read this thread and the poor sod that stumbled in from a Google search!

So I thought I'd bite the bullet today (Oct 23rd) and retire the Zed from use until next year's sunny weather (maybe longer)

Bob as usual was at the Zedshed but as soon as I got his out we pulled mine in and started the strip down a few pic's of the progress so far -





This was noted for improvement I don't rate Zip ties as a good way of keeping the pipes in place



This (power steering rad) will also be looked at, firstly it's zip tied and secondly its not getting much air there!



Something else to repair/replace!









Lots of cleaning going to be needed as well!



Progress for today



Will keep you updated

"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." ~Thomas Edison

That's all folks .........................

[Keyser]

Forgot to mention - Saturday I installed the BM short shifter (Thanks Andlid) and took her for one last run ... sweet

Not the world's most interesting mod to write up but I said I'd try and document everything -

remove the trim undo 3 bolts and the 1 bolt for the linkage - file out a notch (apparently for reverse)
put in the new stick and bolt back together -

Side by side -



As is -



Notch filed out -



The all important
Before and after shots





That's all folks..................

[Keyser]

Evening all,
Well I had a very pleasant evening in the Zedshed tonight.
The rain just adds a beat to the radio (Anders and Ian )

Continued striping down my baby, I'm learning a lot about how these are put together and what goes where overall a very satisfying experience

So the pics it seems you like looking at pics of my girl slowly stripping O Err.













Main Wiring loom out - that was fun - also the lower intake RFS etc.



Anyone know how this lot goes together ???




Or where this lot plugs in??



That's all folks ................

[Keyser]

Morning all - got a bit more done last night thanks to Bob who swung by and gave an assist on the Decat removal and left my fingers intact this time.....

Quote of the night

Buster "Let go of your ring Chris"

BTW - You left ya gloves here mate

So started by getting all 4 wheels up in the air



Few more bits out -



Then -







So now she looks like this -



Not bad considering its my first time (on a 350 anyway) started Sunday afternoon about 2pm Monday and Tuesday night 2 or 3 hours each engine is out - ready for the next bit.

That's all folks.....................

[Keyser]

Found a few bits that needed sorting out this week and started the strip down on the engine.

Had a few bolts sheer on the way out - to be expected on a 2003 car really,



A Vice and a lot of swearing later



Gotta find someone that can repair this - See what happens when you lower your car!!



Have done as much as I can on the car until next week as the Zedshed has a visitor on Sunday and mine will need to be pushed out.



Onto the engine then - gearbox first





I did think the clutch may just be starting to go





More to follow,

That's all folks.......................

[Keyser]

Made a little more progress this weekend, We only did Saturday afternoon as waltzinblack was down Sunday and another slight delay .... read on.

So around Saturday lunchtime this character made an appearance!!!



Who assisted in the pushing out of my somewhat naked Zed



After that things got better Buster grabbed a brush ..... not saying he did anything except grab a brush



As soon as the Zedshed was clean I went to make the coffee and this happened -



He just can't keep the Ginger Ninja out of this place

Then some fun - we got to play with the engines, moved most parts from the old engine to the new-







Buster snapping more bolts







I did some of it honest!!



I'll leave you with this nothing to do with the build it's just a good representation of my garden at a weekend



That's all folks .............

(Need coffee then Ill carry on - unlucky you havent caught up yet )

[Keyser]

Evening all,

So got her back up in the air -



Took some more bits out





Getting close now





Couple of replacement parts have arrived





Thought I'd start cleaning up some bits in the evenings -

Before -



After -



APS Sump before -



After



ARB Mounts





Still a lot of cleaning to do and the rear suspension will be dropped out this weekend with Busters help.

That's all folks ..............................

[Keyser]

I'm back

Sorry for the lack of updates this week folks been doing the same thing most evenings - cleaning, degreasing, sanding more cleaning - you get the idea.

So after completing the strip out of the front end I was left with a dirty engine bay and a few patches of rust. Nothing to bad but a few patches of surface rust here and there ....









Masked her up so no nasty stuff got on the nice bits





Started the clean up















OK sorry bit of a jump now I neglected to take any photos between the clean up above and the next stage.

I cleaned up and treated any rust cleaned all the panels and then gave all the front a coat of primer.

[Keyser]

I'll put the pics up first..... I think it came out OK. Possibly not the best shape to remember how to spray again with, I haven't picked up a spray gun in the best part of 20 years and I had to get under wings around brackets etc. It comes back quite quickly and it was great fun (that may just have been my mask leaking that made me laugh while working ). I'm happy with it so far, fingers crossed I won't have any reaction with the paint will find out in the morning. Ordered a few more bits this week Been saving the rear suspension for Buster who is due to drop by tomorrow afternoon. That's all folks ....................

Edited by Keyser, 14 November 2011 - 10:22 PM.

[Keyser]

Well what a day!

Buster came over around midday and we started to take the rear suspension of.

We found a slight problem with one of the rear shock absorbers,





What got Buster was he is going to put them on the Ginger Ninja he wasn't a happy camper..





It's low enough already!!! Hope they are OK.

So then .......



Karatechimp shows up to assist in the heave lifting - rear sub-frame removal after we had fun with the exhaust which we took out with mid-pipes as the bolts are just rust



We set about the big bits - I went and made a coffee they broke my car ...........



Yes that is a rear hanger bolt - yes it is part of the body shell - and yes it has sheared of

I have already contacted ZMANALEX who has a shell that I may need a section of the box frame out of, However as it has snapped below the wide point which is the bit that actually takes all the pressure, I am going to attempt a repair. (Thanks for the idea Alex )

The idea is to cut the existing stump back to the thread line and weld a suitable sized bolt onto the remaining piece, if this works then I don't have to replace a piece of the box section if it doesn't I do.
Will let you all know how that goes soon.

So anyway other than that the sub-frame is out



along with the other bits from under the car



And she now looks like this



Stay tuned for the next exciting? episode in project Zee business.

Remember boys and girls all the stunts we pull are done by un-professional and un-trained Zed enthusiasts, with no experience in this field!

"Don't try this at home"

That's all folks ........................

[Keyser]

More pics

New bits today





I thought I'd take this apart tonight



Hell of a job getting the bolts loose!!!





Stripped ready for cleaning -



and after a first clean with some other bits I did



More soon

That's all folks .......................

[Keyser]

If you've been following the strip out you may remember that Buster and Karatechimp broke my car

I will admit I knew it was going to break I just got them to confirm it so I could pass the buck.

Anyway it left me with a broken (sheared) rear sub frame mounting pin/bolt which is welded into the car during assembly making it a pain to repair/replace.

I originally considered getting a replacement section from a breakers yard and welding that in but that meant cutting into the box section of the car!
Buster and I did try cutting a new thread into the remaining bolt but it was just to short to be a good safe fix.

Zmanalex made the (now) obvious suggestion that I weld the broken piece back on, although this was a no go as the snapped bit was too short, rusty and bent to be used, however it did point me in the direction for the next attempt at a fix I decided on.

So while out and about today I picked up an M14 bolt from a local supplier cut the head of it and ground a step in the top to allow a good weld pool.





I then cut the broken stud down and prepared that with a similar grove -





My daughter held the new piece in place and I tack welded them together.

Confirmed correct alignment and then welded it together properly. I cleaned of any excess weld and gave it a quick sand down.

The end result was -







The next pics are for Buster who was worried about welding a new bit in and keeping it square to the car

Front to rear alignment



Left to right alignment





lastly with the bush insert (the washers are to pack it to it's true location as there is a cross member that sits below the bush.)



I am in all honesty well chuffed with the result.
That's all folks ...................