About a month ago I ended up becoming a new owner of this one: https://aus300zx.com/index.php?posts/1419789/ It's had two owners since that for sale post. Judging by the receipts, the car was floating between Coffs Harbour and Brisbane between 2014 and 2019, and the owner, who originally bought it, did lots of mods in that time. It's now a manual, has LinkECU, upgraded fuel system, radiator, exhaust, intake, suspension, body kit, 600HP T28 turbos, retrimmed interior, brembo front brakes, Kenwood audio system with huge speakers in the boot (that don't currently work) and bunch of other small stuff. He has sold it in 2019, and since then it lived in Coffs Harbour and doesn't look like it had any work done, with the exception of maybe service. It also wasn't driven much, going by the odometer readings from NSW. The car made it in one piece from Coffs Harbour back to Brisbane, and is now at JDM Motorsports getting all the overdue maintenance done (doing a full 100k service), as well as fixing little gremlins with wiring, getting the steering rack rebuilt and some other small stuff. The first goal is to get it to a sound mechanical state so it can pass RWC and get it registered in QLD. From then on I plan to work on completing the interior restoration as there are a few worn plastic bits, restoring the aircon functionality, and fixing up the audio system. As the engine compression and leak down tests came a bit low for my liking (132-142, with 22% in one of the cylinders) there might be an engine rebuild on the cards down the track.
Bit of an update on the car. Finally got it back from JDM Motorsports couple of weeks ago so it's my turn to play with it now. The car is now registered and has a mod plate fitted for the gearbox conversion, suspension and the upgraded brakes. They ended up having to replace a diff and fix/balance the single piece drive shaft, as someone fitted the CV joint wrong way around somehow, so the drivetrain was making grinding noises on low throttle. The list of major things done to it so far: - 100k service with all the belts and pulleys replaced (it was leaking from the front crank seal) - steering rack rebuilt - driveshaft rebuilt - diff replaced with one in a better condition (old one had a bit too much corrosion) - all fluids replaced - some perished bushes replaced, and the old HICAS lockout bar removed in favour of the lockout kit as the bushes on it needed replacing. - removed the old boost controller and rewired the boost control solenoid to be driven by LinkECU and dyno tuned it. The car is currently making 370hp @16PSI I've got a bunch of various spare parts sitting in the cupboard that i'm going to start putting on now that I've got the car back. The current plan for it is: - replace hatch struts and install the front strut kit instead of the rod - install a decent oil pressure gauge - troubleshoot the clunking noise the engine makes when the car hasn't been driven for a while. it seems to be coming from the passenger side top of the engine and goes away if i drive the car for 10-20 minutes (lifters?) - start looking at the various electric issues and removing/tidying up the wiring done by previous owner(s) - fix up rattling windows - fix up the t-tops (seals, replace the finisher bolts, mouldings, garnish etc) - fix up the stereo missing sound - update interior bulbs to LEDs - replace the broken control pods along with some controls - get to the bottom of the wipers not turning off issue Once my savings account recovers a bit from the initial investment: - fix up the aircon (apparently compressor is dead, along with condenser leaking). - add the various sensors like oil pressure/temp, wideband lambdas etc so that the LinkECU can manage the engine better - add Link/MXT 10" Strada digital dash so I can see all the info - acquiring second engine to start a slow rebuild - fix up the body imperfections and a respray
