Update: Modified Intercoolers Well, finally found someone to modify my SMICs that was confident and knew what they were doing, didn't charge an arm and a leg and had a quick turn around. Picked these up a few days ago from Simon. Very happy with the work hes done and after installing them, didn't run into any serious fitting issues. These are what they were before. And now. If anyone else is interested in getting their Intercoolers modified, Simon's details are: Name: Simon Shaw Address: Unit 8/29 Helles Ave, Moorebank NSW 2170 Mobile: 0417 997 908 Email: shawry55@hotmail.com Highly recommend him, nice guy to deal with, work is exceptional and price was quite reasonable. MoulaZX
Update: Big Update - Engine is finally back in! FINALLY! Put in about 30 hours in the last 3 days. Mixture between redressing Wiring Harnesses and re-installing everything else back into the Engine Bay. Ended up redressing not only the EFI Harness but the Alternator / Gearbox Harness & few other wires / cables here and there. Still have to buy some Heat Wrap, the Aluminium type similar to the OEM one used (which I believe is the Reflective type, isn't it Mitch?). If I had more time I would have gone back and bought some more generic replacement connectors, few ones here and there I still am not happy with but they'll still work. Also installed the AMS 2.5" Intake kit and part of the Selin Intake kit. F*ck me dead the 2.5" Intake kit is a headache to install. BARELY a few mm of clearance. Took me hours of fiddling with it to figure out how its all hooked up (kinda hard to think straight after being awake for more then 30 hours heh ). Gearbox was bolted back onto the Engine and just dropped in the Engine back in yesterday afternoon, didn't do anything else. Still the following list to sort out, then I'm done. - Replace Coil Pack, FICD, AAC, CTS & Air Regulator Connectors - Install Alternator & AC Compressor and connect AC hard lines and Electrics - Connect EFI Harness to Engine along with Alternator & Gearbox Harness - Finish installing last few pieces of AMS 2.5" Intake - Repaint both Intake Rocker Covers (they were scratched while we installed the Engine, one of the reasons I cracked the shits yesterday) - Install Upper Plenum and finish connecting all Vacuum hoses - Install Oil Cooler & Power Steering Lines - Install Electronic Boost Controller - Install Engine Belts - Install Radiator then Engine Fan and Fan Shroud - Install HID Ballasts & Headlights - Rebuild and install Brake Callipers and connect all Brake Lines back up - Install Gearbox Mount, Driveshaft and Gear Shifter - Install a few minor things that are too numerous to mention individually but each taking like 3 minutes tops each. - Upload a new Tune to ECU for the Larger Injectors and Dual Intake. - Annnnnd finally, fill up with some Oils and turn the key! =D Ready Engine Bay Shots. 'Zed Bank' about a month ago... Whats left of my 'Zed Bank' now, lol. Mitch, this is the tape I mostly used on the Harness. Love this stuff. Wiring Harness Remains. Random JUN / Impul Wing Shot. I love this thing so much... Getting ready to drop it back in. FINALLY! Won't be able to touch it again till Thursday or Friday next week. Still have about 2-3 days of work so should be done and driving it around by next Saturday or Sunday. MoulaZX
Massive cut back on bits left in the corner. All going together well, and looks great. Those SMICs look good. Better air flow I would say. Hope to hear some sucess with the start up soon. Have really been enjoying reading the updates.
Yea, HICAS was removed. Now that you mention it, I forgot to include 'install P/S Reservoir' on that list, lol. Thats the only thing that will be in that corner. On that note, run into an annoying issue with that. Seems you can't put the TT Reservoir cap into the NA Reservoir. The Filter inserts are different sizes, try using the TT Filter in the NA Reservoir and it hits a rim inside the Reservoir and even using the TT cap without the Filter, the little bauble/foam thing that floats and indicates Fluid level hits the same rim and will never touch the bottom, ergo, can't ever light up saying 'warning your Fluid level is low'!. Wish I had known sooner I would have cut out the plug from the harness! I liked the idea that I could still be 'warned' if my P/S Fluid was getting low for whatever reason... Love the new SMICs, can't wait to try em out! And as for the start up, I think I mentioned it somewhere before. I'll be recording, few minutes before I turn the key. Whether or not it comes about roaring to life, time will tell. I won't edit the footage, if I fail, I'll upload it anyway for laughs, lol. Lastly, I appreciate your comments from time to time. Nice to know the effort taken both in the build itself and documenting the build then uploading it up on here for those curious is appreciated. MoulaZX
Keep it coming Emile. There are a lot of us that don't leave many comments but are seriously enjoying this epic build.
Appreciated?...hell yeah Being out here in the bush we don't get access to tech days or drop in on friends doing major rebuilds. I have been learning and gaining theoretical experience for the past 14 mths from guys like you, and its paid off when I have had to pick up a spanner. BIG THANKS!:thumbup: If our little bit of encouragement keeps things rolling then more power to ya. :zlove:
Thanks, and as a matter of fact I have 4 left over Turbos. 2 Auto Stockies without Actuators & 2 Manual Stockies with Actuators (the ones I was originally using). No one has asked for them, but then again I haven't put up my post-build For Sale thread of all my left over stuff. If you're interested let me know, I'll keep em on the side when I get around to doing that. MoulaZX
Update: Revised finish date Alright, so just got off the phone with my Exhaust Shop and they go on holiday starting this Friday and won't be back till 4th Jan. The reason this is important is because while I can turn the car on for a few seconds hopefully to make sure she can turn on some time on Saturday, I can't actually drive the thing even after everything is put back together because I don't have a complete exhaust system. I have new 3" SS Expansion Dumps and my old 2.5" N-Power Front Pipes obviously don't bolt up to them. I'll be getting the Zed towed to the Exhaust shop to make up some new Stainless Steel 3" Front Pipes to go from Dumps to my 3" Cats, and while its there make up some short 3" Stainless Steel pieces it go from my 3" Resonators after the Cats to bolt up to my Varex Cannons. Yes the ones with the butterfly flap thing for noise control. I love a bit of noise every now and again but I'm over the constant loud crap so hopefully these will cut down on that significantly and as I expect to put on a lot of KMs onto this asap I want it to be rather mild / tame / casual / 'daily-like' to drive sometimes. Then when I want to unleash some 500 ponies under my right foot, open those suckers up and let her loose and howl like a demon out of hell! So January 4th will be the day shes back on the road. :br: :rofl: :zlove: For those curious, these are the ones I've chosen (yea, I love my douchebag cannons, so wut?! ): MoulaZX
not that it matters, but are those mufflers legal over there? in WA, they arent. exhaust is tested at its loudest, so if your too loud on open, then bad luck lol..... in most cases, if they really want to sticker your car they'll find something other than mufflers, but still, nice to stay legal where possible
Well your second paragraph pretty much outlines the reality. If they want to deck me for something, they're gonna find anything to. This way, at least I can minimize how much attention it attracts in the first place lessening the chance to stick out like a sore thumb. (I'm also considering those GFB Deceptor Pro BOVs aswell for the same reason). As for legality issue, I don't believe they're illegal but for noise testing purposes of course they would test with the flap open without a doubt, like I said though, its more about trying to keep a low profile where possible. Can happily say in my entire Zed ownership (almost 4 years now) I have never been harassed by the police so I guess I must be doing something right...? MoulaZX
Might sound odd but I don't mind hearing things like that. There hasn't been much experience from what I've seen within the Aus300ZX community and its stories like that, that frighten most people away from potentially good products that have gotten bad reps because they were installed improperly, maintained poorly or just a few loud mouths had bad luck with them and decided to overly voice their dislike of them. Perfect example... The car we all have and love, the Zed. How much crap do we cop from misinformed people over Zeds? In the end, its a car like any other 20 year old import, some have good experiences with them, some have bad. So I guess we'll see. I'm happy to take the risk and document as I go for others. MoulaZX
