Kevin.pk Posted September 26, 2009 Author Share Posted September 26, 2009 I just realized the car has offically been on the road for a year and happy to report there have been few mishaps. Other than a couple small things, the car/motor/drivetrain has held up great. My r/t style diff mount did end up needing repair a week ago, but that was a result of crappy welding with no gas when I first made it. So roughly 8,000 miles after the swap the car is still doing great!!!! I couldn't be happier with its performance. ok... on to the small updates. Finally hooked up the heater hoses. I'm not content with how they look but if it'll keep my butt warm, I'm happy. The heater control valve was rusted heavily, so for the time being I replaced the vacuum controlled valve with a couple brass fittings. The other cable controlled valve is still in place and works fine. And yes, I am still running that ridiculously tiny sized filter a year later Here is my quick attempt at cleaning up the under dash wiring. It still needs a little work and I need to get some proper sound deadening/heat barrier on the firewall. I'm also missing hte plastic peices that fit below the dash and on the firewall. Little bit ofsurface rust needs some attention too. Wiper motor wiring hooked back up and cleaned up. I was originally going to try and run the wiring through the cowl piece under the dash but didn't feel like messing with it, so I simply ziptied it up and made it look as best I could. A few weeks ago I moved the coolant temperature probe for the gauge to the top of the intake. I ziptied the wire to the throttle bracket to keep it looking clean. The probe wire, throttle cable and TV cable are all ziptied together and then split before the firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 Apparently I don't know my own strength... or rather the 30+ year old window crank fatigued enough to break off in my hand. lol The rest of these pics are just clarify a few things about my car that I get asked on occasion. I have a 14"Lx8"Wx5"H oval muffler mounted under my driveshaft. The resulting ground clearance is ~2 1/2".... yes, speed bumps suck and yes I have a large piece of scrap carpet on my garage floor. haha This info is obviously useless if you don't know the ride height of the car.... This is with stock style suspension with Tokico 1" Lowering Springs. Tires are ~25.5" tall. Wheels: 99-04 17x8 Mustang Bullitt wheels 5.72" backspace (3/8" spacer in rear) Tires(F):245/45/17 Sumitumo HTR Z III Tires®:245/45/17 Kumho Ecsta ASX Height at rear rocker.... Height at Front fender... Clearance from FRONT strut perch to wheel... (stock perch grinded down) Clearance between tire and REAR strut perch with 3/8" spacer....(~1/4" clearance) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Well, I had a mishap that was explained in the following thread...... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=155380 Basically my heater hose exploded..... Burned my foot and soaked my interior. As a result I tossed out my old interior bits, which consisted of some headliner scrap for "carpet" and scrap vinyl over the transmission tunnel. I'm still somewhat unsure of the route I plan on taking as far as carpet goes. Not sure where I want carpet, where I want vinyl, wait and save up for leather... etc... The possibilities are endless. In the interim, foam headliner material is a cheap substitute for carpet. ...and that's exactly what I did. For a grand total of $14, I picked up a couple yards of medium grey headliner and began cutting and gluing away. The result...... It at least gives the apperance of a complete interior while I mull over the details, and it is slightly quieter than with just sound deadening. And this shows the under dash lighting I installed. They come on when a door is opened and can be controlled by a seperate switch as well. The picture makes it look almost red but its actually orange and not as bright in person. More of the same material cut and glued to the inner center console... And I know it probably seems like I have taken a lot of pictures of the same wiring but I promise this is the last time... lol I rerouted the main battery wire to come out just above the frame rail next to the firewall and ziptied it to the main power wire that goes to the starter. I also re routed the fan wire out of site (smaller gauge red wire in previous pics). I think I am finally done with the wiring in this area ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 I'm finally doing some little things to make the car more comfortable and easier to live with. I have an old panasonic head unit that came out before every head unit had an "Ipod" input standard. It just has the two RCA cables coming out of the back for an auxilary input. I've been using a wire that converts the two RCA cables into a 3.5mm jack. The wire just came up through the back of the shifter hole. It was functional but not very aesthetically pleasing. So...... I took a trip up to the local Radio shack and got a 3.5mm stereo jack or more commonly known as an "iPhone" input and proceeded to wire it to the RCA wire I already had. The result: I have an aux input on my center console that I can connect and disconnect to hide the wire. I put the jack right behind the shifter because the ashtray has proven to be an excellent iPhone holder. If I didn't skip so many songs on my play list I would have hidden it all in the center console's glovebox. I like having it in plain sight for easy access. Iphone plugged in with 1 foot wire..... and with everything stowed away..... I think it looks pretty good, except for the cracked center console. The install is really easy, just had to solder three wires and drill a hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 I recently recovered some pics off of my old computer and found a bunch of random pics that I had thought I had lost. Some more pics of when I first saw the car at the junk yard circa 2003. Some old "in progress" pictures Sound deadener removal and POR-15 Before I butchered the Spare tire well lol Once upon a time this was the reason this thread was titled "280zt" haha Miata Seat and sound deadening And now.... Current pics taken at a photo studio a couple weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 Lower dash panel installed. got it from member Aziza z the other day. Received full set center caps shipped from member The240zProject today. I had one installed previously but finally got a matching set. They are for the Iron Cross style wheels but with some minor tweaking they fit snugly in the center of my bullitt wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted December 25, 2009 Author Share Posted December 25, 2009 I bought some new tires that were on closeout through Tirerack.com. The pair cost $165 after shipping. original price would have been $135each + shipping. I found out that Yokohoma Es100 tires run WIDE. My old Kumho tires are roughly 9.5inches wide and these new Yokohamas are a little over 10" wide. They are the same tire size,(245/45/17), they just run wider than the Kumhos. Here's a pic of the meaty new tires...... So I need to do a little bit of clearancing. I'm cutting a little bit of the fender lip off and I stll might need Coilovers to get these things to fit without rubbing.... an upgrade I was planning anyways, so not too big of a deal. I cut off nearly 3/16" of the lip without touching the welded portion of the lip. I tried not to cut too far and mess up the integrity of the panel by cutting a piece of welded area. Well here's a pic of the uncut lip..... and the cut lip. (I still need to do some grinding to smooth out the jagged edges.) Merry Christmas!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 I regret not sanding and buffing my car sooner. But here I am 5+ years after painting the car and it looks awesome. I've got about a third of the car done so far. Front fender Untouched... lots of orange peel. Driver's door sanded and buffed. In other news, I just ordered up some coilover sleeves and perches from A-1 Racing Products and looking for springs either through summit or ebay. Price wise it should come out a little bit cheaper than buying the ground control kit if i buy new springs and considerably cheaper if I can score some used ones. Either way my current Tokico Lowering springs should be up for sale shortly. I have a spare set of front struts, so I already started chopping off the stock perches. The other day I finished up grinding the rear fender lips, and in the process of tightening the lug nuts, the suspension still in the air, I managed to rip apart the strut isolator with a minimal amount of torque. Luckily I had a spare pair of isolators, so it was quickly remedied. pics of carnage.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted February 6, 2010 Author Share Posted February 6, 2010 Well, I got my coilovers installed. I sectioned my rear struts already and need to order the mr2 struts for the front so that I can do them as well. I realize now why shops like johnc at beta charge so much for this modification. Its a bitch. lol Its worth every bit of labor that he would charge. With that said, on with the pics. Here are at least a pair of the springs i got off ebay and two of the coilover sleeves and perches i received from A1. A front strut with perch removed and some some grinding done. I found this kind of interesting. There are two different type of top mounts for the springs. I used the one on the right because it had a flatter surface for my spring to seat on. I welded 2.5" exhaust piping into the center of it to hold the top of the new springs in place.( I'll take some pics of them when i tear the front back down for the mr2 struts. Here's what i had previously. Tokico 1" lowering springs Front strut mocked up. Not final ride height or anything. My stack of wheels/tires while I had the car up on stands. My new yokohama es100 tires on the top. They are 245/45/17 but are little wider than the other two brands of tires I previously had. And here are some shots of the car after the install. It's not too much lower.(about an 1") Low enough that I need to get my exahust redone and tuck it up a little bit higher. My driveway is sloped and I scrap at the lip of the garage threshold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 I'm selling a bunch of random stuff in the classifieds. check it out here.... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=159580 Small update: I painted the taillight bezels a Nissan color called smoke. Paint code is k11. It is on newer nissan models like the titan. Thinking about smoking out the taillights... not sure yet. [url=http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=159580][/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightman1234 Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Love It man!! your hard work is paying off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted March 16, 2010 Author Share Posted March 16, 2010 (edited) Thanks for the kudos, tightman1234. Here is an updated pic of my rear sectioned strut with the adjustable coilover installed. I'm actually using a 225lb 9" spring because I bought the springs second hand off of ebay. I don't believe I have experienced any coil bind as of yet but I don't know if I would know it, if I was. But The price was right for the time being. My total cost for the coilovers were as follows: Coilover sleeves and perches $135 Ebay Springs $60 so total costs were $195 but I sold my old tokico springs for $120 so my net cost was only $75. and a pic of my rear quarter panel fully grinded down. no more of those jagged edges like pictured earlier. I've been driving on the coilovers for a little over a month now and love it. There is no way I would have been able to fit these yokohama's other wise. I still need to section the front struts and put in mr2 inserts when funds allow it though and then my suspension mods will be done ..... for now. Edited March 16, 2010 by 280zcar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 (edited) My alternator was on its way out so I ordered a new one off ebay for $75 shipped. The old one was only rated for 40 amp and the new one is rated at 105amp and its chrome lol. I was going to buy the non-chrome one but the chrome one from the same company was a few bucks cheaper for some reason. old alternator out of the car.... New Alternator installed. I also bought some interior vinyl off a member on here and just kind of rough installed it. I still need to get some padding and glue them in but until I get around to it they look decent enough just sitting there. And another random pic of the rear panel that I painted not too long ago. Here's a few shots that someone took at the Dallas Cars and Coffee Event at Classic BMW in Plano. If you are local to DFW and haven't made it out to cars and coffee definitely look it up. Awesome event with damn near every car make and model you could want to see. It's the first saturday of every month from 8am-12. and I sneaked my way into this one lol.... Edited April 7, 2010 by 280zcar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted April 24, 2010 Author Share Posted April 24, 2010 Engine has been burning oil on cylinder 8 so it got a little tear down.... and changing a little something while I'm at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
74 260z Posted April 25, 2010 Share Posted April 25, 2010 looks sick man, how you liking those coilovers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted April 25, 2010 Author Share Posted April 25, 2010 Thanks. I love the coilovers if for no other reason than they let me fit a little wider tire,lol. In all honesty they don't feel much different than the tokico springs I had before. The fact that my front struts are pretty much blown might have something to do with that though. That's one of the many things on the neverending to-do list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 (edited) Well, I managed to get the car all back together. Sorry for crappy iphone pics. I ran into a couple snags but got every thing sorted out. When I went to put my harmonic balancer back into place I realized the center section was slightly loose, so a new balancer was purchased. I had also planned to sell my cam/lifters to a buddy, but I ended up discovering I had wiped a lobe... so that's trash. The gist of what was done was just checking out the valve guides/seals, Clean any carbon off the valves and replaced the cam with a hydraulic roller. I also found that Cylinder 8 was burning a little oil through the intake gasket. Here's the new "covcave" lifter.. and corresponding lobe... one of the heads after some clean-up... heads installed... New lifters, pushrods, the old balancer ,and my "barney edition" rockers lol: Intake ready for install... top end all together.... Alternator, water pump installed. Still needed new balancer at this point... went ahead and got everything else together though and then installed new balancer today. I'll post a quick video clip in a minute. I'm waiting for it to upload. Edited April 30, 2010 by 280zcar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 beautiful car!! keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin.pk Posted May 6, 2010 Author Share Posted May 6, 2010 the car ran great until tuesday......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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