Pezhead

So, I suppose it is no surprise that every hose in the fuel tank ventilation and return system is borked! 40 year old hoses don't like the gasoline any more. And of course it is every size from 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" and small 3/8" sizes! Oh well. Now to drop the tank and replace all 'dem hoses.

So after having a play with the new parts and familiarizing with where I left off I came up with the punch list. Project Z Part Two: [_]Change Rear End Oil [_]Mount Battery [_]Vent Battery [_]Mount Coil [_]Wire Alternator (opposite side of engine bay) [_]Re-wire master kill switch in cabin [_]Troubleshoot Headlights and Dash Light Problem [_]General wiring clean up [_]Re-route wiring from engine bay into cabin [_]Mount ECU [_]Wire Fuel Pump Relay and Fuse Block [_]Fix Fuel Leak (near rear fuel tank) [_]Find and fix brake fluid leak (front reservoir was empty) [_]Have custom exhaust done (have to tow to zorst shop) [_]Wrap exhaust with heat wrap in engine bay [_]Mount Radiator overflow can [_]Mount Air Dam [_]Make diffuser/reinforcement for air dam [_]Mount Fender Flairs and of course... [_]Figure out why the ECU isn't getting powered up and get engine fired up and running Set the clock for EXACTLY one week!

Guess what time it is?... I'm back to visit my long distance Love Affair for a week. Arrived back in Seattle at 2:36 AM this morning. Had a small sleep at my Sister's house and then up to my Mom's where I store the Z. The parts I've ordered have arrived. So have just done a bit of unpacking and inventory the new arrivals. The flares aren't the best fit, but I can adjust them and will give them final finish touch up when I get it to Sydney. Am pretty impress with how the Urethane air dam looks. Very nice finish and thick urethane. And some Thermal Heat Wrap for when I get the Zorst done.

Pretty darn expesive but ZCarParts lists them. http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SFC05

The small one is a low pressure "lift" pump and larger is full pressure Bosch 044 FI pump. I run an 044 in my GTR (R33 v-spec) that produces about 500hp. So that's plenty of fuel. The glass filter is on the "in" side so doesn't see pressure is only a pass through. I will put a surge tank in later.

Back to the story.... One day to go and I fly out the day after. I was so excited I woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. How much can I really get done in one day? Coffee shop wasn't even open at that hour so out the the shed to tinker until things open. I spent a couple of hours tracing wires with the voltmeter, labeling them and marking them in my notes. Today I had to get the alternator/water pump belt sized and fitted and finish a bit of wiring for the fuel pumps and see where the wiring was left all those years ago. I used some string to measure the size of the belt I needed. I must really suck at it cause it took three trips to get the right size but the new belt fits perfectly and has plenty of travel for wear. When my brother and I owned it I did the mechanical work and he did the electrics to get things working. Well, we'll just say that he definitely wasn't an electrician. And remember, this car was originally gutted as a full race car. The wiring looms were taken out and only the bare essentials were left in. It's a bit of a nightmare of wiring. Cut off leads to nowhere, spices that are just wound together and taped. I'm going to have to go through it eventually and do a lot of re-wiring. I made sure the ground straps were put on the motor then decided to "go for broke" and connect up the battery. First up doing a quick touch of the positive to see if it was going to arc showing that I had a short somewhere. It only made the smallest spark so things seem ok. Gave it a quick second to see if I could smell anything burning..... ok. Now, no power to anything. Everything is dead. Being a race car it had a master cut off on the cowl but we bypassed that. I found one master 75A breaker switch installed near the fuse box. That did it and the electrics came to life... well sort of. Headlights didn't work but tail lights did, no dash lights either. Now to try the starter (crossed fingers). Yup kicked up. Yay! Also power going into the fuse box so at least we're in business. Brother and I then decided before we get into that we should get the clutch and brake fluids sorted. They've sat for 20 years and I don't want to let them sit clogged/dry for another year. This ended up being a real ordeal! We first tried a vacuum pump and it just sat there at about 15-20 psi of vacuum not drawing anything. The old fashioned pump the pedal method was only a little better. Since the whole system was full of air and clogged, we could only generate very minute amounts of fluid movement initially. When we did get the fluid out it was horrible brown sludge! We were able to get the entire system done by doing every line twice until new clean fluid was flowing. I started at 5 am. Guess what time it is now? 10 pm! I fly out tomorrow and we haven't tried to wire up and start it yet! I figure I'll give it one good attempt for an hour. I'm exhausted at this point but determined to at least try to start it. The next hour I'm wiring and patching into the loom based on some wiring diagrams I've found from the service manual and Hybridz forum. Last step is to wire in the new fuel system and the power to the ECU. That done we give it our first attempt... or try to. As soon as the key hits "on" the fuel pumps kick to life and a spray of fuel comes bursting from the old SS braided lines. At least being in the spare tyre well, the fuel didn't get in the rest of the car. But we aren't going to replace those lines tonight. So I figure unplug the fuel pump relay and at least see if we're getting any spark. Then I know I'm close. We then lose another 1/2 hour fiddling trying to get the ECU to kick to life and spark. No go.... It's now 11:30 pm and I have to drive back to my sister's place (where I'm staying) and then fly out in the morning. Sadly I concede victory. But while disappointed, I look at how far the car has come in the last two weeks. All of the necessary systems are fitted and plumbed and I can actually visualize myself driving it now. It doesn't look like an abandoned project anymore (at least to me it doesn't). So we put the hood back on and put away the tools. This is where I've left it for now. So, you're wondering where this story goes now? Well, I plan to be back in Seattle July 2014. I plan to ship the car back then. I would prefer if it were running. I also have a small side story. The interviewing I did in Seattle was with a company based there but for a Sydney based position. They are working on securing a Sydney client. If that goes forward and they hire me then one of the first things would be to come back to Seattle for training. Let's hope! A year is a long time. So there I warned you about the cliff hanger. I miss the Z already!

ABS is temporary just to get it up and running and until I ship it to Aus. When I get it here I will do a front mount IC and then hard pipe in mild steel, stainless or alum. I'm planning a trip back to the US in a year. I'll ship it back then.

To me that's cheap compared to a used item that would be 20 years old with countless miles.

Check AutoZone. I thought Mine was missing so ordered it from them. It wasn't very expensive. I ended up returning mine as it was still on the front of the motor.

Congrats! Great to see you got it running.

I think you are looking at the Turbo the other way. I've turned it 180 degrees just to make clearance cause the other way wouldn't really clear the exhaust. The turbo is connected correctly.

Good luck with the VG30dett! Love those motors! My brother has a Z32 that goes hard! Ok, so at this point time is getting down to the wire. But I'm starting to feel really good because systems are getting done one by one. It's time to mount the turbo, connect the oil lines and start the intake piping. Long term I plan to enclose the intake as a custom box and redo the piping for a front mount intercooler. Found a rubber 90 degree bend at the hardware shop for the join to the AFM. Also found a 90 for the turbo outlet. I checked with a muffler shop if they could do a custom bit of pipe, but came up with a bit of a "Plastic Steampunk" idea. I found that plumbing PVC came in 2.5 inch and was really cheap at Lowes Hardware. There was also ample selection of bends and joiners. So, I know this looks like hell but is just temporary until I redo the system with the intercooler in metal pipe. Picked up some LONG universal radiator hoses and replaced the ancient heater hoses. That was honestly a bit of a hack together as the tight bends in the heater connections were a PITA! I just used some copper bends for now. I didn't think about them until just a few days before I fly out so no time to order some replacement heater hoses. A quick fill of coolant and it seems ok for now. Now, I've only got two day's left before I get on a plane back for Sydney. I'm actually going to loose one of those days because of a job interview. So I've only got one day left to sort things out... one day!

Looking forward to this build. Sounds like you were lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Great buy there. Just work the changes into your build plan and transform it into your vision. Good luck with the VG30DETT. Those twin turbos might be tight. My VG30ET conversion doesn't have the twin cam heads or twins that gives lots of working space around the motor. A really nice change from modern cars with no space at all.

Next up was modifying the throttle linkage to cable. Had a quick check on prices for an '84 300zx throttle cable and couldn't be bothered for the $40-80. So down to the local bike shop to pick up a front hand brake cable - $5. (Yes, I'm cheap!) A little bit of fab on Dad's mill with some billet and alum angle yielded a couple of gem mounts! Love doing stuff like this. I ended up having to modify one when I discovered that the throttle butterfly would hit on the mount. I had to move it back just a bit. I think they turned up ok. At this point I've used up most of my time. Only a couple of days left and still have 1/3 of the items on my punch list left. Feeling a bit like this little guy (I found under the car when a socket rolled next to him).

Wow! Impressive stuff!