300zx Drift Car Update

I just thought I would give you an update on our progress.

We are on target for next years Drift Australia competition.

I just got the car back after being tuned and we still have a few problems to sort out.

The car had a few dramas:
High oil pressure from the new oil pump as the relief valve was stuck. After the workshop gave up on it, we got it back, drained the oil and put thin oil in it. Gave it a few revs which cleared it, and back to the workshop again.

Electric Water pump split and had to be replaced

BOV's from the Forum's Group Buy were crap, so one was removed and the hole welded up. Looking for 2 "Good Quality" BOV's now.

The Mechanic who used to work for me didn't fill the gearbox with oil, connected wiring plugs in the wrong places and chopped one off and left the wire hiding, and may not have lipped the turbo pipes (I have to check them) as they kept blowing when being tuned. A bit of saboutage before he left I think.

Fuel system is airating (apparently).

I am not really happy with the workshop as there are a lot of discrepencies, charging me to do the same job multiple times and replacing new parts and doing other work without authorisation.

ie replaced the new genuine timing belt with a new aftermarket timing belt, replaced NGK Iridium spark plugs with NGK Copper spark plugs, heavy duty T bolt clamps replaced with standard worm drive clamps etc.

The sprocket on the end of the crankshaft took 0.5 hours to remove and they found the shaft was mushroomed. They spent 1.5 hours filing it, and then it took 2.5 hours to put a brand new sprocket onto a newly machined shaft.

The electric water pump took 1 hour to remove, yet the replacement (exactly the same) took 2.5 hours to re-fit.

They charged me to clean and test the AFM's the first visit and they tested OK. On the second visit I got charged for 1.5 hours on the dyno plus another 0.5 hour to fit reco AFM's.

On the first visit they charged me to remove the spark plugs, rotate the motor by hand and tell me it was tight. On the second visit (all that had changed was the oil), they charged me to do it again.

I don't mind paying for things once, and I don't mind paying a reasonable rate for a quality job, but when I asked for an explanation he said that my car was a piece of crap (this is from a 300zx specialist), I asked him to re-check the times on the jobsheet and the discrepencies with the time. When I asked him why it took a lot longer to re-fit the water pump and the sprocket, he said "it just did, are you calling me a liar?" In the end I just paid his bill and put it down to experience. I couldn't be bothered arguing the point.

When I went to pick up my car as I was told it was ready to go, the fuel system was disconnected, the hinge bolts that hold the bonnet on were missing, the bolts that hold the coil packs onto the spark plugs were missing and the cable to the water temp gauge was broken. We had to fix all of this ourselves before we could drive the car on the trailer.

After getting the car back to our workshop we found there was a chip in the paint on the front guard. The turbo pipes that kept blowing off, one of the clamps was finger tight. Also, the thermo fan wires were unplugged.

We spent $2800 on the first instance to fit the Apexi Computer (which had to be re-pinned as it's a Skyline one) which we supplied, they supplied and fitted an e-boost, fixed up all of the connections, and give the car a once over before it was started the first time, plus a lot of other testing, etc.

It then went back to be tuned and guide plates put on the crank sprocket which I thought would cost me another $1000 - $1500 but it turned into $4315. Some of the extras were unavoidable, but others were doubled up, rubbery hours charged, and unauthorised work.

So after more than $7100 and 2 months at the workshop it made 234rwkw with forged pistons, h beam rods, balanced, bigger turbos GT28r, 800cc Sard injectors, high performance valve springs, running an Apexi computer, eboost, front mount intercooler, adjustable cam gears, great exhaust system with no cats, etc etc etc.

I have seen standard cars run this power with an aftermarket computer.

I drove the car down to the gearbox place - 1km away and it puffed out a great plume of black smoke. He asked me when I was going to get it tuned.

So, do you think I am a little disappointed?

I could have put a turboed Gen 3 engine in a lot cheaper than this and had more power and torque to boot.

I won't name the workshop, so don't ask.

Hopefully when the turbo pipes are put back in properly and new BOV's fitted we might be able to extract some more power from it.

Cheers
Greg

 

I was just thinking about your car today, looking at the Whiteline box sitting here.

Im really sorry to hear about your string of bad experiences. Not suprised, but dissapointed none the less.

I can help you with some of the things you need, I'll drop by Friday.

Hang in there Greg, she's an awesome creation and Im looking forward to seeing Matt out there first round of next seasons Drift Australia Championships.

Caz..

 

Pm sent

Some bad luck there Greg cant wait as Caz said to see the zed out there showing them how its done awesome.

It is very hard to find great people to service/modify your car in Sydney these days. The days of good old fashioned service is long gone, peopel dont seem to care to much about repeat business anymore its just hook in hard and see ya. Real shame.

Maybe a few of us should open our own Zed garage. mmmmmm Caz racing developments or something he he he

 

Have any pics mate? I haven't seen a Z32 Drift

 

my god .. what a history of rip-offs, bloopers and

whatever .. unbelievable from a so-called workshop ... sounds like a case for MZM recovery services ...???? .. sad to hear of your misfortune ...

 

Dont, worry mate

Anyone of these workshops who are wrongly scamming you, will get what comming to them - Karma. Its sad that they will charge you for things they would probably have a fit about if they were in your shoes.

Nonetheless Well Done! and hope to see it going well soon.

 

I know you don't want to name the work shop but maybe you should to protect others?

 

the best of luck to you man....i was actually at the workshop where it was at admiring your car on saturday. Its definately unique and stands out. Cant wait to see the beast in action. By the way, love the way your roll cage is set up....solid as anything!!

i know it takes time, but hang in ther it will be well worth it!!!!

pete

 

Pic's, the car isnt complete here, it was promo for Drift Australia at MotoX earlier in the year.






Caz..

QUOTE=WA300Z]Have any pics mate? I haven't seen a Z32 Drift [/QUOTE]

 

Thats the Animal i saw at UAS a week ago - very NICE!!

Purple and orange go so well together...cant wait till its finished :zlove:

 

OMFG

name the workshop so that everyone else will know what to expect from it

i don't even know which point to begin on when expressing my surprise at their incompetence

 

hahahha
so it was UAS? for real?

they can't get more than 234rwkw with all those mods? that's strange?

 

man that is bollocks, theres no way u shouldnt name the so called "workshop" that did all the work.. seriously mate why would u even hand over a dollar those dodgy bastard.. call me cynical but theres no way id take even a 1/4 of the shite you have mate... go back there and demand reparations dude or threaten legal action.

NAME THE WORKSHOP......... THEY CAN HAVE THERE FAIR SAY IF THEY WANT BUT WARN ALL THE OTHER ZEDDERS OUT THERE

 

Really? I thought that at this time, the Escort Z32 from Japan was very known...Here's the video of his run:

300ZX Drifting in Japan



Also, you have Franz who is a great driver and do some nice drifting.

 

TheTwinZ (Peru)!!!

First time I have seen you post here!

Welcome to Down Under

I'll get thoes photos you wanted and then some put into a zip and upload it some where, then you can do as you please with them

-Scottie

 

That's great, man. Thanks

I come here and check from time to time to see what's going in the Australian scene...I'm usually following the proggress on the slot car and Franz crazy driving...And your beast of course

 

BAD EXPERIENCES GETTING WORSE

Whats the definition of URGENT in your books? Would you believe 3 weeks?

How about after calling direct and asking for an update... was told urgent meant, sometime before x-mas. on top of that, was then asked to send an email asking for an update. So I did. 3 days it took to reply to an URGENT situation and all the reply said was... " I'll look into it"

If thats urgent, I can't wait to see what overnight express post means.

How about when speaking to the same workshop trying to arrange payment, and being spoken to like shit. was told directly that someone had tried to shortcut one of the purchases and that person would now have to wait til after x-mas and they intend to make it difficult for that person as well. Same phone call with c/card details in my hand was then told "I don't care, Fax it down on an order form"

Gets better, So you shrug that one off as it was a first call, everyone has bad days right?... I call back after the weekend to find out how much they would like for freight for the part (which cost me only $13.20) the "MAN IN CHARGE" turns around and asked one of his staff, the staff memeber CLEARLY stated $20.00 "MAN IN CHARGE" turns around to me on the phone and blatantly says $30.00 Hows that for a slap in the face.

Will be calling this afternoon and arranging the return of my parts IMMEDIATELY and full credit if I have not received an email or anything else.

At which point I will also be calling FAIR TRADING!


Sorry to hear bout all your problems you've been having... But i'm glad i'm not the "UNIQUE" on this one.


FATE!!!!

 

yeah i agree, forewarned is forearmed, when we hand over so much dinero to get work done on our Z's having a little confidence in the shop that is going to do the work is a comforting thing

 

overnight express post usually means 7 working days where i live fate, lmao

 

Shit mate, sorry to hear about ya problems... id be getting hold of consumer protection see if anything can be done. besides that mate thats an awesome car, you be running it over here (perth) in feb?