nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 I felt my previous breaker & relay setup looked too "busy". This was easily cleaned up by making a new panel for them to mount to. The panel also has extra room for future breakers. Previous setup New Setup Another fuse box was added to the mix. Knowing more devices would inevitably find their way into the build & would need a fused power source. I wanted all my additional fuse boxes to be in the same general area (above passenger foot well). Space was an issue. 1/4 inch ABS plastic was used to create a panel for the additional fuse box & ground distribution block. A stainless steel piano hinge was attached to the panel. Which allowed it swing down from underneath the glove box. The breaker & relay for the fuse box was also be mounted to this panel. A magnet prevented this panel from swinging down unexpectedly. With swing down panel completed, power & ground wires were ran to the rocker switches. Additional LED's were installed for the line lock, 2 step & data log switch. The line lock LED is solid red when active. The 2 step LED flashes red when active. As for the datalog LED it flashes blue when active. To make the leds flash, I used CEC Industries EF32RL Electronic LED Turn Signal Flasher Relays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 While tuning my car one day, I ran out of fuel due to the lack of a fuel gauge. The factory sending unit & gauge cluster in my car were inoperative when I purchased the car. So a Intellitronix LED analog bargraph gauge was added. Intellitronix appealed to me because it's made in the USA, they have good customer service, I liked it's appearance & price point. As for a fuel sending unit a Bosch unit (part# SP0F000013) was chosen. The factory sending unit was stripped down & the Bosch unit was modified to fit it. I even retained the factory plug. A yellow w/red stripe wire was used for the fuel gauge signal wire. This wire can be found on the left(driver) harness near the dead pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 A sensor to monitor fuel pressure was also added to the fpr. I used a Honeywell 150psi transducer part# PX2AN2XX150PAAAX. I tried a budget unit from amazon but it kept giving me sporadic results no matter what I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 Fuel level wasn't the only thing my dash was missing. The factory gauge cluster leaves very much to be desired IMO. I began investigating & pricing out different gauge solutions. Speedhut, Autometer, & Racepak setups would've been a small fortune. My search ended when I stubbled upon Nick Pahls & few others using displays backed with Raspberry Pi 3B's as gauge clusters. Until this moment I had been using a laptop to monitor everything while driving the car. These Pi setups could be built for relatively cheap especially if you code everything yourself. Unfortunately my heavily congested work schedule wouldn't allow me enough time for learning how to code. Luckily Nick Pahls ran a site/group called Raspberry Pi dashboard aka Pidash. Which offered plug & play solution for only 275$. It's a little more expensive than building it yourself but it's convenient & still very affordable honestly. The PiDash uses Tunerstudio so you can view gauges, make changes to your tune, Datalog, & view datalogs. It's touch screen, supports gps speedometer, endlessly configurable, has built in WiFi, has built in Bluetooth so you can wirelessly upload/download files & connect to the internet. This was my solution. He also partnered with Custom Instrument Panels that was offering 3D printed clusters for just 50$(what a deal!) The pidash was accompanied by GlobalSat BU-353-S4-5Hz USB GPS Receiver & back lit Rii i8+ Mini Wireless Keyboard with built in Touchpad Mouse. I recieved the pidash & accessories lightning quick. Then sent my original gauge cluster out to Custom Instrument Panels. While waiting for the 3D cluster, I setup the Pidash. A word of advice, use a desktop when designing your guage cluster for the Pidash. Use a cellphone charger to power the Pidash so you can test your gauges. This would've made things SOOOOO much easier & faster. Apparently I prefer to do things the hard way, aka doing it in the car with my mini keyboard. A 5v power supply was hardwired to supply power to the Pidash. I opted to have it on a switch instead of it powering on with 12v switched. That way I can have it on without the car being on. A spare usb cord was also connected to the Pidash & installed inside my ash tray so thumb drives could easily be connected. I've got to give mad props & thanks to Nick Pahls for badass customer service. This man answered every dumbass question I’ve had & provided tech support at all times of day/night even at 4am sometimes. I couldn't be happier with his product & support! Easy access USB extension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 A few short months later a new Raspberry Pi 3B+ was released. Intrigued with it's added potential & faster boot times, I upgraded from my Raspberry Pi 3B to 3B+. This upgrade granted me much faster boot times. Here's a comparison video that shows how long it takes to go from off to fully booted. https://youtu.be/KzA18WQRo2M Raspberry Pi 3B Raspberry Pi 3B+ As the weeks & months went by I never heard anything about my 3d printed cluster. My order was placed 1/12/18. After 2 months I decided to make a temporary solution with parts from a spare gauge cluster & ABS plastic. The spare cluster donated by my good friend Matt (Thanks!). This temporary solution actually didn't turn out too bad IMO. Unfortunately I've yet to hear anything about my 3D printed cluster to this very day. This shitty experience is by NO means Nick Pahls fault. He's waiting on clusters himself. It's purely Custom Instrument Panels fault. He hasn't responded a single time, not even 1 word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 The Pidash was followed by installing interior. This meant converting to black interior pieces, new carpet & replacing the padless factory seats (field mice ate all the padding). Before the carpet could be installed a couple panels would be needed. One to cover the surge tank & fuel cooler. Another to seal off the factory shifter hole. The foam tool tray was shaved down to level floor above the surge tank & fuel cooler panel. This maintained a flat floor in the hatch area. Then the shifter hole was blocked off by another panel. Tool tray panel Shifter panel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 The brown ebrake made its way into the trash & was replaced with a black unit. When I purchased this car the factory carpet had already been removed. The previous owner "installed" old house carpet in its place. American Custom Carpets Molded Mass backed Essex black carpet was ordered. It's super plush & far more superior when compared to factory carpet. Of course factory carpet has a little better fit especially in the corners & tool tray area. ACC offerings are the only option(s) available for the Z31. Factory carpet is NLA (No Longer Available) good luck finding BNIB (Brand New In Box) carpet now days. A old socket was heated with a torch to create nice clean holes for bolts. This will keep the carpet from fraying while creating a perfect circular hole. I salvaged plastic carpet clips from the junk yard & stapled them onto the new carpet. These clips hold the carpet tight to the door sill area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 With carpet installation complete, the hunt was on for a functional seating solution. I wanted something lightweight & fixed back. Z31's don't really accommodate most aftermarket race seats too well. Shoulder pads of most seats will hit the door panel or window when installed. Some seats even touch the roof. Many of my friends had fading issues with entry level Sparcos & knock off seats. My decision was quickly made after sitting in my friends car equipped with Kirkey Pro Street Drag seats. Little did I know these seats & covers were on back order. Several weeks went by but none of the major suppliers had received their shipment. Summit Racing got me in direct contact with Kirkey. Kirkey drop shipped the seats to me once they were completed. The seats arrived here all the way from Canada to Texas within 48hrs! The same for the seat covers. But those weren't completed for another 11 days. My foamless factory manual seats weighed over 37lbs each! That's without the rails. The Kirkey's only weigh 11.6lbs each. That's over a 25lb weight savings per seat. The Kirkey's were mounted to the factory manual rails using Kirkey side mounts. Factory manual Z31 seat brackets are double locking. It's crazy how similar Sparco & Corbeau rails are to my factory rails. These seats were pretty comfortable even without the padded covers installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 I already owned a couple sets black interior pieces. The center console was trimmed to accommodate my shifter. A Zspeed Z32 shifter plate was installed to give the shifter area a more finished look & completely seal it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 The remaining items required more work than I had perceived. Obviously the Z31 coupe is different from the 2+2 version. I assumed the only difference between the slick top & t-top versions was only headliner & weather stripping. You know what they say happens when you assume. You make an ass out of you and me. The following parts are different between the slick top & t-top versions. A pillar panels, B pillar panels, rear quarter window panels, headliner, weather stripping, & coat hooks. Luckily for me I saved my original slick top panels. Black interior pieces are hard to find, so are slick top pieces, but black slick top pieces are even harder to find. My original Panels were brown but I changed them to black thanks to SEM products. First the panels were all cleaned with hot water & Dawn dish soap. The panels were then scrubbed clean with SEM 39362 Soap. SEM 38353 Plastic Prep was used to clean any oils & contaminants from the panels. Not wanting to chance the color coat flaking off over time SEM 39863 Plastic Adhesion Promoter was applied. Now the SEM 15013 Landau Black Color Coat could be applied. The results are amazing. You can't even tell what is factory black or what's painted. I opted to install rivnuts to secure the door sills instead of using the factory "fastening system". A brain fart came when I went to install my black door panels. I totally forgot the interior door handle is high up 84-85 models vs "centered" on 86-89 models. Everything previously covered was in preparation of attending my 1st car show/event with my Z31. It was just 24hrs away. I was dead set on having the interior as complete as possible. Luckily I was able to score a spare set of doors from my local pick-n-pull. I quickly swapped the doors out. My original door lock cylinders were then swapped into the "new" doors prior to installing the black door panels. New door switch covers were also installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 I also installed a set of exterior mirrors, mirror triangles, & door window seal since mine were demolished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 Reupholstering the badly damaged & faded brown headliner was next. I gently peeled backed the factory material. Which left glue residue & foam behind. That was removed using a soft brass wire wheel attached to a drill. The cardboard backing was repaired & thoroughly cleaned. Then foam backed black suede was attached with 3m headliner adhesive. The headliner install was finished off by the dome light paired & a brand new dome light cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 Moving on a Pioneer DEH-X4900BT head unit was installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 My factory antenna was inoperative. Upon further inspection the "cord" for the mast was broken into several pieces. I picked up a Z32 unit from a friend. Which was sacrificed to rebuild my Z31 unit. The mast & a few other components are interchangeable. Prior to installing the mast I cleaned all the old grease from the Z31 assembly. Then packed it with fresh dielectric grease during assembly. Here's some pics. Z31 Antenna. Z31 VS Z32 Antenna. Z31 Antenna rebuild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 All the factory speakers & speaker wiring was removed. I went to local car audio shops to compare several different speakers. To be "budget" friendly I chose 6.5in Alpine SPR-60C Type-R components for the fronts & Alpine SPR-60 6.5in Coaxial 2-Way Type-R speakers for the rear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 These were powered by a 600w Kenwood 22154656 Compact 4 Channel Digital Amplifier. This thing is tiny & has a foot print almost the size of a dollar bill. It's power output is crazy for it's size. There's several amp dyno videos showing just how capable this amp is. It's connected to the head unit with Rockford Fosgate rca's. 12ga OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) was used to wire all 4 speakers. All wires were labeled with heat shrink using my Dymo label maker. The mounting bracket for factory security system box along with 1/4 inch ABS plastic were used to mount the amp underneath the passenger seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 MDF rings were made to install the 6.5 speakers. I also installed Noico 80 mil sound deadening mat around the speakers on the front doors. The tweeters were installed into the door panels near the components to keep the them from sounding too sharp. Many top tier audio installers say 1 of the most common mistakes made during install is mounting them high. Whether if they're on the A pillar or high up on the door it's a big no no for sound quality. My setup produces very clean mid & highs. The lows are ok but that can be remedied with a installation of a sub. Overall I'm very pleased with the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismo kid Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 The dash was finished off with ABS plastic fillers for the center factory gauge pods. A good friend of mine Andrew(Andre84zx) donated a 87-89 steering wheel (Thanks!) Then I leather wrapped to it to clean it up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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