Hey guys, ive been chipping away at the to do list on my zed for a fair while now, and I figured it was high time I made a build thread for it Those of you who were here when I first joined the forum will remember I was an arrogant little ricer twerp. I recall something about "thumping stereo, neons, dump it, fully sick" etc when i first spoke about my plans, and thank goodness I grew out of that stage! Plans are a lot less wanky now and Ill go into detail a little further down, but for the time being let me tell you about myself and my zed. Me: Im 22, im the assistant manager at an auto store in Perth. I had a promising schooling which I threw away due to laziness and the probably my biggest regret. I married my wife (Shene) a year ago and we have a beautiful 1yo daughter (Krystal). I have a tendancy to be cocky, and I have difficulty listening to advice but im working on it I swear! My Zed: 1990 N/A 2+2 Import: $5000 Factory colour was Burgundy, manual. I probably paid a bit more than what I should have given the state of the exterior, but mechanically it was actually well looked after. I borrowed the money to pay for it off my dear old grandma. A few months later for my birthday I received a card from her with a photo of my car in it, with a note attached saying "Happy Birthday, dont worry about paying me back". Shes a lovely old chook When i bought the car the outside was in a state of disrepair. Missing wing mirror, cracked tail light, a few small dents from what i can only assume was hail or highway rocks. Interior was the generic gray tweed with even more generic ripped bolster, worn carpet and lifting dash. Pictures of my car as i bought it can be found in my profile. Proposed Mods: Interior: - Complete dash cluster digital conversion - Repair and maybe retrim lifted dash - Retrim in black suede. I already retrimmed to red vinyl aaaaand im over it. - Leather and suede recaros or similar - Double din stereo with OBD display (via conzult) & associated audio goodies - Custom sub box mounted to rear seat. The idea being i can remove it within 60seconds if i wish to reduce weight for track days etc. - Lowered boot floor. The 2+2 has quite a shallow false floor. Im moving that false floor about 70mm lower, partially for more sub box volume and partially because i dont have a space saver and the extra space is handy. Exterior: - Ive painted this car once already. If anything it looks worse, but thats a story for another day. Next paint job will be a high gloss black. Im playing with different ideas and applications, but for the time being plain black. - Body lines will be accented with a single red 4mm electroluminescent strip. Only visible by night, and will be on a switch too. - 25mm oversize fenders for the front, and similar sized ones for the rear - Custom carbon fiber splitters and diffusers - Twin titanium exhaust tips - New wheels, not 100% on style yet, but most likely going to be mazda 'soul red'. Awaiting the hate - Tint, 35% sides and 25% rear Engine: - TT swap down the track - Wiseco/eagle piston & rod combo - GT2860rs - Custom top mount exhaust manifolds - Associated custom pipework (2 1/2 inch) - Selin dual intake - 58/60mm throttle bodies - Atermarket SMICs - Gratuitous port work on all manifolds and heads - Oversize valves - Street cams - Combustion bowl work - 850cc injectors (or thereabouts) mounted in twin fed 300? rails Engine Bay: - Deleted (see: hidden) balance tube - Smoothed plenum - Wiring tuck - Highly Visible turbos (still not sure if im doing this for ease of access or wank factor) - Smoothed bay - Dress up bolts - Custom timing cover - AIV/EGR/PRVR deletes - Relocate fuse box/ptu - Relocate ps reservoir - Smoothed air guide - The colour theme in the bay will be 'Black Chrome' and red. Brakes & Suspension: - 30mm caliper upgrade - Slotted rotors - Adjustable coilovers - Sway bars - All bushes to be replaces - Various body bracing (trans tunnel, fenders, etc) - FUCAs and RUCAs This is a long term project, and i predict several years before im done but this car means a lot to me and i shall continue to soldier on with it at a delicate pace. Ive learnt the hard way that rushing a job ruins the end product (paint), so im more than happy to dawdle along. Also, ive probably missed a whole bunch of stuff, so feel free to ask and or offer guidance. For those who follow my facebook page you will have noticed I have actually checked a few things off this list already, and ill be adding the photos and progress over time to this build thread. Ill post up some pics and highlight what ive finished when i get my computer running well, but in the meantime you can laugh at my poor unfinished zed either through my garage pics or on facebook! Thanks for reading!
Heres a few photos of my progress with the plenum so far. Here is the stock TT plenum as is when i removed it: The first thing i did was remove the twin turbo badge and the throttle linkages. Ive taken off the water lines underneath too: Next on the agenda: blocking off the EGR ports. Ive used core plugs (freeze plug, welsh cup etc) to do it. Just bang them in, they are an interference fit. Ive had a few concerned people ask me if they will blow out under high boost. My only answer is: i dont know. This plenum hasnt been run like this before, however there are two larger core plugs in the plenum from factory, so i highly doubt this is an issue. For anyone who wants to know, the core plugs you will need are 14mm, and are about $1 each at any auto store. Onto deleting the balance rail: Holes all welded up! My welder did a pretty decent job from what i can see. A very minimal amount of slag in the chambers. For a carton beer i couldnt be happier And finally this is about where i am now. Just slowly polishing it up. This project has been on the back burner for a few months now, just while i fiddle around with other thing on my car. Ill post more bits of progress ive made on the car in the next week or two!
This was my car as i bought it. Dont be fooled by the camera angle, the exterior needed a fair bit of tlc this is after i painted the throttle cover red btw, before that it was your generic looking engine bay. And this is my car as it is now. Mostly just cosmetic touch ups have been done, but im moving onto more functional changes as we speak
Progress Update: I have just been gifted some 30mm calipers from a forum member, so they will be being checked over, possibly rebuilt and chucked on the car in a few weeks time! One happy jordan
Haha if it was velour i wouldnt have put them there. Just bog standard tweed unfortunately Sanouske, i made a terrible mistake and painted my impuls, not plastidipped. I only found out recently they can still fetch upwards of $1500 for genuine ones
I know ay! Not making excuses here but the lighting and photography and mess in the car..... Aaannnd the.... Arh stuff it... I had a quick look and thought it was velour then saw the parts sitting on the seat, I was so disgusted I jumped for a msg!
A) My phone cameras not that bodgy B) Not mess, medication and a tube of bulletproof glass No excuses for you cam :rofl:
Bit of a progress update I spent a few hours here and there shaving my fan shroud, just out of curiosity. Turns out its a relatively easy thing to do, and with a lick of paint it looks brand new. I can see why people do it now! I doubt ill keep the shroud when i change radiators/fans, but for the time being it will do just fine. Ill chuck up a couple of pics in the next few days.
That's a bugger. Impuls are one of those brands that linger in the background. I used to run impuls on my old black zed. Super light. Magnesium mixed alloy. Pretty standard 5 spoke design but it was a very 90's design I liked allot. Miss them. Edit, mine looked like this. v which look to have the same drum as yours but different centre. Keep up the good efforts mate. Always gotta start in the beginning and plot through them as you can. :br:
Progress Update Over the last week i have done a little cosmetic shaving to my new 30mm calipers. A few of the cast marks are gone, and the big 'nissan' emblazoned down the middle is gone too. They look just that tiny bit more clean now. Pics to follow once they are painted. On another note, ive been looking into different methods of achieving the black chrome look i desire. A few forum members have had some great advice and suggestions (rob260, gbrezzo and a few others) and ive taken this on board. After following a few different lines of advice ive trialled one finish to see how it looks. Still not sure on this one, but i may be able to get more depth out of it. Its just the coil pack bracket ive done as a test piece, and its hard to photo. What do you guys think?
Yeh its wet. Only decent photo of it i got before i took all my brackets to fiddle with. Naturally i didnt get a decent dry photo
