Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

(copied from another forum)

A long story, but a fun one...

Way back in late 2006, I found a very rough 1985 Turbo 300zx, and bought it for $300. Actually, I had found it two years earlier, with a for sale sign, but decided it was too rough, and since it was an automatic, it was of no interest. Then a year after that, an acquaintance (now my best friend) told me about a red turbo 300zx for sale, and again, I said no once he said it was an automatic. After seeing it the third time over the course of two years, I decided I wanted it. Funny, as I didn't know it was the same car until I had owned it for quite a while. Here are some pics of bringing it home:





It didn't run, and needed the entire fuel system to be replaced. The last time it was registered was 1999, and that still stands, as I have never had it running well enough to register either. I did have a mechanic replace the fuel system (Tank and all!) and install a new timing belt. I wasn't mechanically savvy back then.

Anyway, I did some mild modifications to the car back then (As an idiotic teenager, so they are VERY poorly done) but never really got it running well enough to be road worthy. (I even found the original build thread, but all the pics are broken: http://z31performance.com/showthread...f-the-300-z31t" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) Then in 2008 I bought a 1968 Datsun Roadster 1600, lost interest in Zs, and sold all of them but the Turbo. (I had 3 z31s at the age of 18...) The Z then sat in front of the house from 2008 until now, only being started occasionally and driven around the block. In the entire time I've owned it, I have put less than 1k miles on it!

I did buff it and clean it up back then, and got it looking half-way decent:



Well, time is a cruel mistress, and now it is back to looking the way it did when I bought it, if not much worse. Red paint hates the sun, let me tell you!

Maturity has made me slightly smarter than I was then, and it has finally dawned on me that having a car I don't use is kinda silly. Coincidentally, my current daily driver is on it's last legs. It is a '92 Accord with about 260k on the odo, and it needs a lot of work. This gave me a "crazy" idea... Why not use a car I already have to replace my daily instead of buying a new one? Duh. The Z has only 110k on the clock! Now I've began the work of dragging my car out of the grave, and on the path to being roadworthy.

I don't have much to show, but I usually document everything in photos, so look for that, as this is the new build tread! Much to come, even though I tend to move slowly on projects. For now, Here is what it looks like now, sitting in the garage next to my buddies 4wd Civic. (The same buddy that told me about this car way back in the day!)



I replaced the pesky little temp sensor behind the timing belt, rewired my electric fans (I had them wired to a switch before, with no relay. Uhg. Now they are wired to a thermostat, and a relay so they come on when the engine gets to the temp I like, and shut off when the key is turned off. Much better!), fixed two vacuum leaks, and installed a nice Pioneer radio with bluetooth that I had laying around. It runs much better now, although it needs a lot of work before I can safely put it on the road... including re-doing pretty much everything I ever touched on the car before.

I took a look at the broken sway bar mount... This is what I found:



Then I replaced the driver's side speaker, which was blown, and adjusted the door so it closes a little better. It still needs a little adjustment, but it is better than it was. I also rewired the a-pillar gauges (The idiot me from the past did a HORRIBLE job wiring them!) and hooked up my air/fuel gauge for the first time. I soldered sensor wire to pin 24 on the ECU, which is a solid black wire like the instructions on the XenonZ31 show, but it shows I'm running a tiny amount rich all the time. Key on, engine off, it shows all the way rich, then I start the car and it goes one notch above stoich on the rich side and stays there. Heavy acceleration, deceleration, everything. Wrong wire.

Here are some better pictures of the car:

More progress!!! I cleaned the air filter, changed the oil (HOLY COW IT WAS BLACK!!!!), and removed the rusty exhaust. Look at this:





I think it was ready to go... lol! It is in two pieces due to rust, I didn't cut it! I have a "new" pipe from my old parts car waiting to go on. It had a couple pinholes, but we welded them shut. I'm going to paint it black, and get the gaskets for it so I can install it. The cat and everything forward is in great shape somehow, so I will leave it alone. I do need to drill out a broken bolt in the cat to bolt the new exhaust on though. That will probably be next week's project. In the meantime, I am enjoying how loud it is just exiting at the cat. It rumbles the floorboards!!!

NEW EXHAUST!!!!!! It sounds so crisp and clean now. Even with no muffler, it is fairly quiet but sounds nice.





Not too bad considering I only had to buy the exhaust gasket! Parts cars rule. My catalytic converter looks like it is in great shape, too. I'll tell you though, that is a bear to wrestle in there! I had to disconnect the driveshaft just to work it into place!

I also figured out the Air/fuel ratio gauge! The black wire at the ECU was wrong. The black wire at the O2 sensor was wrong. It was the white wire on the O2 sensor! Now it works as it should.

I've also begun replacing ALL of the vacuum lines. Wow, they are bad. Some of them are rock hard, and cracking. I've already replaced almost 14' of line, and still need a LOT more. It is running better, but not perfect. Pretty sure it still has leaks, and that is my rough idle issue. One piece at a time, it is improving!

More progress!!! I received my new poly sway bar bushings!



I also ordered a new steering rack bushing to tighten up the loose steering, and a new CHTS subharness since mine cracked when I replaced the sensor. They aren't fun to find, lol.

I started removing all the old ugly trim and weird chrome strips from the side of the car:



I then bought an '86 wing, and hatch, and only paid $60 for both!

The next week, I finished the poly sway bar mount install, including repairing the broken sway bar mount up front! Boy, does it drive better now... It actually turns! Also, it is running better than ever. Turn the key, and it fires right up, with minimal sputtering and hesitation. Those vacuum lines are making a difference, and I still haven't finished! Next week, I'm shooting to have the windshield replaced, and new tires installed. The current ones look like the Sahara desert. I'm just waiting for one to grenade...

For those curious about the pretty poly stuff:

Lots of completed work! First off, I ordered new tires for the car. 215/60/15 Kumho Ecsta LX Platinums. Not an extravagant tire, but a good one for a daily driver. I also set an appointment for the windshield to be replaced! Doin' work. Then I went about some tinkering. The hatch pop had never worked, and I had to rig the gas door popper to work because it was locked up. This was due the the little arm thingy being rusted nearly solid. So today, I replaced it with a spare! The screws were locked up REALLY tight, but after letting them soak in some PB blaster overnight, and then hitting them with a massive amount of strength, they finally gave up. The quarter windows leak badly, and have caused a lot of rust... Here are some pics, with the old arm in view for comparison.



And the horrible rust:



Then I stripped out the NASTY old carpet in the hatch. It was so sun rotted, it turned to dust when I tried to vacuum it. The dark spots in carpet aren't stains, they are parts where the carpet was sucked into the vacuum, lol:



After that, I decided to address something that had bothered me. The Air/Fuel gauge has a white led backlight, which doesn't match the rest of the gauges. I fixed that with a spare light condom I had laying around! The gauge was not designed to come apart, which made it a massive PITA to get into. In the end I won, though.

Before:



After:



I also had a spare amp kit laying around, so I started wiring that up. 4awg Kicker wiring which will ultimately power a small 4ch amp and a small mono sub amp. None of that is done yet, but I have most of the components laying around, so why not, right? I also removed the spare tire (That thing weighs 37lbs alone!!!) and figured out how I will eventually mount my sub:



With no spare, it is the perfect size for a sub!

Today I started it and pulled it into the garage so I could replace all the tires, but when I did, all of the idiot lights stayed lit while the engine was running. This is new. The car runs the same, just the lights are on. I checked the front and rear lights, they all work, so I don't know why those warning lights are lit. The temp light was on before the engine had even reached operating temp, so that makes no sense. Then I checked my voltage to see if the alternator was charging since the battery light was on, and it was not. 12v with the engine idling. I let it idle for a little while, and all the lights went out except for the battery light. If I re-start the car though, they all stay on again. I'm tempted to say it has a bad alternator, but I'm concerned the problem is deeper than that.

Just so you know what I mean, I took a picture of the condition:



Before that happened, I got a lot more done on the car! I decided to do something about that nasty carpet. I used a plastic scraper, and scrapped all the old rotton carpet off until it wouldn't shed any more. Here is what that looked like, lol:



Then, I coated it in contact adhesive and applied a new layer of carpet. It is what I use at work to cover subwoofer boxes, and should work pretty well as a temporary solution. It certainly looks a lot better than the old stuff, and it only cost $4!



I also had someone come out and replace the windshield:

More progress!!! I think I've determined the cause of the idiot lights... sounds like it is just the alternator, nothing more. I have a new one on order right now, and it should be in tomorrow. Today I also tried to pick up the steering rack bushing for the second time, and it was wrong again. The parts guy and I even checked the numbers, and they match. He is going to order a couple more, with different numbers to find the right one. Looks like a catalog mistake.

After all the craziness, I got to some serious work:



I tore most of the interior out and started wiring this:



It's a nice little 4ch amp, and after some effort, it fits perfectly under the passenger seat! I cut away the carpet underneath it, reorganized the theft system, and put a couple 1/4" spacers on the back of the seat. The seat adjusts like it isn't even there. I'm very excited to hear how it sounds! This is how it fits with the seat in:



I actually do this kind of thing for a living. I got almost all of the components for the audio system for free.

Here is the other big news... I don't have Riken wheels. I have Enkeis!!! They are vintage 2 piece welded EK92s!!! This is exciting to me. Old Enkeis have a cult following for some reason. After some googling, I found out they make t-shirts with my wheels on them. lol. Here is the proof:



And in case you were wondering why all four wheels were off... Here is the reason:



New rubber all the way around, and my girlfriend polished the wheel lips! The centers are still dirty, but it looks loads better. The car is up so high because the suspension hasn't settled yet. My baby is really starting to come along now!

Today I installed 4 newish speakers today. All of them were free. Alpine Type-R components up front, and cheapo Pioneers in the back. Then I installed a 210w MTX amp in the back and hooked it up to a sub. All free. The car sounds fantastic now! To keep the bitching betty, I installed a tiny speaker in the door above the new Alpine. She isn't as loud now, so I may try to fix that later, but at least she works! The car is a totally different car now from where I started, and I'm not even done. New springs are on the way, and I'm saving for a set of shiny new Illuminas. I will also be replacing all the bushings with poly. May be next month though before I can afford it all. Anyway, here is a crappy pic of the new tweeters:



I also discovered the windshield wiper switch has some gremlins. The rear wiper never moves, and the front ones only work in two positions, and one of them runs the sprayers when it isn't supposed to. Must be a bad switch due to sitting. Using it may force it to work it all out, we will see. That's how I got the blinkers working, I just kept using them, and soon they started working all on their own. Corrosion is a powerful thing...

And that brings me up to the current post! I hope you guys enjoy reading this, and sorry if some of the posts don't make sense, like I said, it was copied from another forum. I began this project early last month. All of this has happened in one month! It's moving along much faster than the roadster! Necessity is a huge motivator. My current daily driver is dying, and I don't want to fix it. This has to be 100% soon.

Let me know what you think so far! I will be updating this from now on.

Holy stressful day, batman. My Mom went to the ER (She's mostly okay... 3 bulging discs in her neck. Ouch!) and while she was there, I was plugging away on the Z replacing the alternator. First of all, wow is that a bitch to replace. Some of those bolts are in totally idiotic areas. Anyway, I got it done, and replaced all the drive belts while I was at it. My buddy then re attached the neg post on the battery, and smoke comes up around the battery! I shit a brick, and pull the battery post, and we begin looking for damage. At first, everything looked fine, and I couldn't find the source of the smoke. I check the alternator, and all my connections are fine. We leave the battery disconnected, and I begin poking around for the problem with my multimeter. Very quickly, I discover I have continuity between the charge wire on the alternator and ground. I disconnect the charge wire, and the problem disappears. The alternator wasn't shorted internally, and the wire wasn't shorted anywhere either, meaning the problem happened only when I connected it. I still have no idea how, but it was grounding itself out on the alternator chassis somewhere. All I did to fix it was to space the wire away from the alternator some more. The smoke, we discovered, came from the fusible link. Phew. Easy fix. Everything else is totally fine. Still, scary.

Then we fixed the stupid steering rack problem! New bushing on bottom (They sell them in halves? $47 bucks for only half of one side!) and I re-used the top bushing, but modified the top strap:



Both the old bushing and the new one were too wide for the strap. No idea why. I'm tired of dicking around, so I decided to weld a bead on both sides to fill the gap, and keep it from sliding back and forth. It works just fine, and now I can forget about it! For comparison purposes, here is a pic of the old poly bushing next to the new OEM one. Note the rub marks!



Finally, we jerry-rigged the fusible link for testing purposes (It will be replaced) and installed brand new headlights. The old ones were VERY dim. With them properly adjusted, I can SEE! I never knew z31 lights could be so good. I am very happy!

Successful junkyard run!!! I got almost every part I wanted. Only thing I missed out on was a fuel sending unit. The only z31 there had a digital dash. Bummer. What it did have, though, was a nice set of aluminum louvers! My MSA louvers are plastic, and have warped in the sun. The ones I got look exactly the same, but are riveted together. I will drill them out and use screws so they are easier to service, along with sanding/straightening/repainting them.



I also got a replacement fusible link, and a new wiper/lights controller for the steering column, since mine is in rough shape. I may disassemble them both, and make one really nice one.

Then, since I was there and read about this cool swap, I picked up a PRW-2a ignition control module from a Nissan Quest minivan. I followed the instructions for swapping it and de-pinned the wires, and hooked it up! Some pics:


Old vs new


Installed.

My idle still isn't perfect probably due to vacuum leaks, but this did help noticeably. The throttle response is also much better. Well worth it!!! Cheapest/easiest mod ever. Especially since there is NO drawback!

My arms are tired... My girlfriend and I decided to do some major work to the car today... We worked our butts off!

Before:



After:


Better?

Ok, so feeling bad about my last post I decided to check out what you've been doing to the beast... Wow man, the Roadsters gonna be easy after all that! The paint came out nice, and it's nice that your girl was willing to help out. That's a lot of work I can tell you! Should be a nice ride when you're done. If you ever need a new motor I have a JDM version sitting in my garage... Several hundred miles away but...

Now, once the Z is finished, get back on that Roadster... Summers coming son!