🔧 BUILD Single Turbo 300ZX Build

[NOMIEZVR4]

Thanks for the support fellas. It really helps with the motivation!! You guys are going to really like what I have planned out for this car when it's all going to be said and done.

 

[SleeperLS]

Very excited to see this. Love you vehicle choices.

 

[IDAFC21]

definitely love the progress so far

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

Day 2 of wrenching, today's goal was to take the entire powertrain out. I got half done, was able to drop the trans and all associated hardware. Got a good look at the OS Giken Triple that was stuffed in there too. All that's really left for the engine to come out is the motor mounts, im going to try to do that first thing in the morning.

Here is the donor motor that will be going in. Its got Wisecos/Eagles. I plan to drop it off at the machine shop tomorrow. I need to completely strip it prior to taking it. I've already taken the topend apart and sold bits and pieces of it. Plan is to just clean everything up, check clearances to ensure all is within spec and assemble it back together with OEM headgaskets.

Trans is out!

1 piece exhaust system with borla muffler. Its light and functional but looks horrible(tip) and sounds meh from what I've heard so far....which is just idling and a couple revs. This will be getting replaced with a modified Labree catback exhaust. Note the 1 piece driveshaft as well.

Thank goodness for southern cars. only major item that needs attention are the front pinch welds they are completely bent, otherwise its not bad at all for a 1990!

1000hp worth of clutch here. Way overkill for my goals, this will be getting replaced with an RPS MAX 6 puck clutch. Only thing that I've found so far that's made me say WTF is that wiring harness which I assume is for the knock sensor just hanging out back there. (red wire on right side+black wire hard to see)Looks to me like it was never hooked up..possibly a reason why the engine wasn't so happy.

Expect to see some engine out pictures tomorrow! Once its out I will immediately focus my attention on stripping the engine bay and scuffing to prep for paint....i will reveal the color of my choice to everyone once I have the engine out

 

[IDAFC21]

This is all fantastic.

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

So before I yank the motor out of the car, I wanted to get the donor engine stripped down and dropped off to the machine shop. So here she is stripped and then sitting in the back of my workhorse Prius I went ahead and dropped it off at the machine shop for a quick refresh.

Once that was out of the way, I finished what I started with the powertrain currently in the car.

motor is out. No time to waste, got lots of work ahead of me! Got it on an engine stand and ready for disassembly

I need to do something about that wrap. its not going back in the bay. too fugly and the fiberglass itches like crazy when working with it. Also gotta do something about that plenum and VC's....they are an eye sore.

Plan is to have the heads off by mid week and have the machine shop pick them up. I took the front covers off today, fuel rail, manifolds and a few odds and ends. More updates tomorrow.

Once the heads are off and out of my possession, I will start tearing this bay up to scuff it. I feel like once I get past that point the disassembly portion of this build will be behind me...After spraying the bay I can finally relax a bit...i hope. Will update over the next couple days when I make some more progress.

 

[Mook]

Keep the updates coming!

 

[10sec]

Dry fiberglass header wrap is the worst shit ever. Phatride taught me a long time ago to dip the wrap in water whilst installing so you don't cover yourself in fiberglass shards and keeps everything tight, but it doesn't help when you have to take everything back apart. Ceramic coating is the best option if possible though.

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

Dry fiberglass header wrap is the worst shit ever. Phatride taught me a long time ago to dip the wrap in water whilst installing so you don't cover yourself in fiberglass shards and keeps everything tight, but it doesn't help when you have to take everything back apart. Ceramic coating is the best option if possible though.

you are speaking to the choir

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

I'm actually sending this stuff off to get coated at a local place. We'll see how it turns out. Doing it more for heat management than looks.

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

oh yea..i guess I'll give you guys an idea of where I'm going with this car. Since the powertrain is out, ill be painting the engine bay so that it matches the rest of the car. I've picked the color San Marino Blue. Here is a picture. Shooting to get some black chrome wheels on it as well...or something polished. Size wise im thinking either 18's again or 19's. With some skirts I think the z32 can pull off 19's. Probably 10.5's out back and 9.5's out front. Going to keep stock fenders and I think I'll get a 94+ wing. JDM front. Maybeee a twinZ rear diffuser if I can get it for a good price. My other car has a winfactory CS-L wing and I don't like much else other than the OEM 94+ wing which has some height to it.

 

[greasy]

oh yea..i guess I'll give you guys an idea of where I'm going with this car. Since the powertrain is out, ill be painting the engine bay so that it matches the rest of the car. I've picked the color San Marino Blue. Here is a picture. Shooting to get some black chrome wheels on it as well...or something polished. Size wise im thinking either 18's again or 19's. With some skirts I think the z32 can pull off 19's. Probably 10.5's out back and 9.5's out front. Going to keep stock fenders and I think I'll get a 94+ wing. JDM front. Maybeee a twinZ rear diffuser if I can get it for a good price. My other car has a winfactory CS-L wing and I don't like much else other than the OEM 94+ wing which has some height to it.

That should look sick!

 

[Mook]

oh yea..i guess I'll give you guys an idea of where I'm going with this car. Since the powertrain is out, ill be painting the engine bay so that it matches the rest of the car. I've picked the color San Marino Blue. Here is a picture. Shooting to get some black chrome wheels on it as well...or something polished. Size wise im thinking either 18's again or 19's. With some skirts I think the z32 can pull off 19's. Probably 10.5's out back and 9.5's out front. Going to keep stock fenders and I think I'll get a 94+ wing. JDM front. Maybeee a twinZ rear diffuser if I can get it for a good price. My other car has a winfactory CS-L wing and I don't like much else other than the OEM 94+ wing which has some height to it.

That's gonna look fantastic.

 

[SleeperLS]

Great color choice

 

[IDAFC21]

Fantastic.

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

off topic, but a picture from the other nite with my buddies gt350

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

day 3 or 4 whatever it is, I'm starting to lose track but lots of progress today. The motor that I yanked out, I completely tore it down. Plenum is off, heads are off, coolant lines, accessories, etc.....AND I found the culprit of the faint knocking sound.

ARP hardware all underneath as well

Here is the culprit. Rod bearing no.6. Hadn't quite spun yet, but was on the verge...was definitely moving around in there.

The journal on the crank is damaged, but not beyond repair. I'm going to sell this shortblock for a good price on facebook and someone with a bit of skill can easily get a na crank, 1 new rod and have themselves a nice built shortblock.

Now that the heads are off this one, they will be getting sent to the machine shop for hot tanking. Shortblock got dropped off already. While the entire engine is at the machine shop, ill begin the ardous task of disassembly of the engine bay to prep for paint...really looking forward to that...

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

Busy the last couple days with other stuffs but got a chance to attack the car today. Undid a bunch of stuff from the firewall and engine bay in general.

Even with the engine out of the car it just looks so damn messy. Even though the bay will get painted, I have no intentions of making it pretty. I just want it to be clean and functional.

After giving it a good wash and taking off a bunch of stuff and rerouting the wire harness so its not in the way. I still need to take those stickers off the front.

Finally I got to scuffing. I did my first round with a pad on the passenger side of the engine bay. Plan is to do the driver side tomorrow and everything else. I'm hoping by Thursday I can have the bay all painted and start to put things back together again. At that point ill just be waiting for the engine parts to come back.

 

[IDAFC21]

Amazing how cluttered it still looks even with the engine out. This is why my OCD will never allow me to own one of these cars. It's an engineering marvel that they were able to put the engine they did inside of that bay.

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

yeah, it really is a marvel how they got everything to fit inside the engine bay. Believe it or not, this single setup is worlds easier to work on than a twin setup and it still looks bad...but honestly the picture makes it look worse than it really is. undoing the wire harness was a cinch...once everything starts to get put back together I don't think it will look so bad.

 

[Mook]

I remember going to look at an NA version when I was younger. I was all excited and then I popped the hood and that was the end of my desire to own one

 

[IDAFC21]

I remember going to look at an NA version when I was younger. I was all excited and then I popped the hood and that was the end of my desire to own one

I remember that moment fondly

 

[Mook]

Intel

 

[Intel]

oh I have been watching. I used to have huge dreams of big power. Now I just want reliable and for it to stop costing me money

Takes a lot of work to make these engine bays look nice. Mine was covered in cosmoline and so it really needs a respray for the engine bay to be truly white/nice. I probably spent 5-10 hrs with WD40, rags and a heat gun to get all of it off.

I am like 90 percent done with our Kitchen renovations and then I can figure out what is wrong with mine, finally. I also need to rewire everything I did on the car since I am 100x better at doing that stuff than when I did those mods in 2009-2010.

Nomie,
Did you switch yours to a manual rack? Or electric power steering pump?

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

Yoo...thanks for chiming in.

The car currently has no power steering. The rack is still there, just all the other components are missing. I'm planning on installing a P/S pump and reservoir from a newer Mr2 spyder. Haven't thought out all the details yet, but once I get these pile of parts together as a car again, I'll fight that battle when I get there.