Fixing the Hybrid Z31

[attworth]

Started a new project today. Before I begin, let me give some background information.

 

Bought my first Z31 back in October of 2006. It was a white turbo 5speed car in EXCELLENT shape. I intended to make a daily screamer. About a month after I bought the car, it was totaled by an S10 pickup. I was understandably upset. Sometime in November, I decided to find a cheap NA car to swap the good parts to. I found one, a black 5spd car.

 

I began swapping all of the parts, starting from the back and working my way forward. I put in the Z31T rear end, the BW tranny, and finally the motor. I swapped all of the necessary parts to make the Turbo work, i.e., ECU, AFM, fuel pump, etc.

 

Before I got the motor in, I decided I better get the t-belt replaced. I took it to Nissan since I didn't wanna screw it up. I also put in a Jim Wolf light-weight flywheel and a stage 2 Centerforce clutch. Turns out they installed the belt wrong. First start-up resulted in some weird noises and overall crappy running. I'm assuming the valves are bent and carnage is within.

 

To top it off, the passenger side valve cover was bent upon impact, along with the passenger side exhaust manifold (unknown to me at the time, being younger and dumber.)

 

Thoroughly discouraged by this situation, roughly 6 months after the initial purchase of the white car, I decided it was time to sell it. I bought myself an 06 F150 for transportation and started trying to sell the car, sort of. I didn't advertise it anywhere, but those who knew me, knew it was for sale.

 

I ended up selling it to my brother for around 2800$. (Lots less than I had in it.)

 

He drove it as it was for a while, with it's crappy performance and fuel economy. Finally, the alternator wiring decided to burn itself up some how. At this point, he parked it. That was roughly a year ago. The car has sat ever since.

 

My wife and I currently share one car. She's started a new job where she needs to be there about an hour earlier than I have to be at work. It's become slightly inconvenient to carpool. With this in mind, I decided it was a good time to talk to my brother about fixing that car of his and talk him into letting me drive it for a few months.

 

So, today I began another long trek to get a car on the road. With my project sitting idly until I get some money, I have plenty of time to get this thing going.

 

A local guy has a few turbo motors that he'd sell for 350 a piece. The car is nearly perfect in every other way, as I replaced nearly everything the last go around. This should be a pretty cheap project. *crosses fingers*

 

Pulled the motor today in about 3 hours (I'm getting good at this...)

 

More to come!