Project wife's birthday present: Sketchy's Z32 TT

Just quietly, **** that

If this was my only project then sure I'd be all over it but with several other projects on the go and this being the wife's car I am getting heat for it to be a driveable concern, so that's my current aim. Not cutting corners obviously as I have no intention of pulling this motor out again, ever if possible.

 

Got the blow off valves stubs cut off and plates welded over the top. Flutter for lyf. I know I'll cop some hate for this but frankly anything I can do to reduce the sheer amount of shit going on in the front end of this makes me happier. For future reference the metal is *super* thin and a prick to weld, really a tig only job.



Bit more gloss black to prevent the welds and plates rusting, pointless bling otherwise as you'll never see it hidden in the front under the headlights.



Sump off, again. Prick of a job. Nearly had to remove one entire turbo manifold and bracing to do it but managed to massage a few bits out of the way to extract the last single bolt holding it in.



Sump has lots of wings, baffles and guides inside. Interesting, not seen another factory sump as intricate.



Also pretty sure I discovered what killed and seized the previous engine in the car when I purchased it. This was hiding under a section of rubber water hose feeding the passenger side turbo.



I ran out of RTV silicone to get the sump back on last night so will pick some up today along with a few meters of water/fuel line and filters to replace anything not already done. Have roped in a mate to assist with getting the engine back in the car on Saturday and then just button up everything around it over the weekend. Hoping to pump the tank dry tonight as well and fill everything with fresh fluid Sunday for a lap around my private race track*

Next step will be some basic tuna from my mate Jason at Broadtune via Nistune and ECUtalk module I bought a while back to suit the 555cc Nismo injectors. It can go for rego and then log some miles to check everything is sweet before cranking up the llamathrusts. The end is in sight. Almost.



*not blockies with exactly 8 inches of exhaust officer, I promise.

 

Why weld the pipes? Just cap em

 

The wife part should be the motivating purpose, happy wife, happy life you know any lil rattle, squeak,grind, she'll have to strip the car down until it's all perfect. lol

 

Bit of a break between updates thanks to a month long holiday in the USA but solid update from the week before I left

Big weekend, lots of progress.

Got the last of the little nickel and dime parts hanging off the motor sorted, new water lines and hose clamps rerouted to provide more engine bay room and away from hot exhaust parts.



Motor on the crane and ready to swing in



Extra motivation to get the jobe done from the wife



Last chance to check everything over, clean the gunge from inside the gearbox from a dud rear main seal and eyeball anything that could be a potential hold up when swinging the motor in





Super excited to be nearing the end of this build. Several thousand beers and half a bottle of scotch helped to this point.



Up



Down



Lots of wiggling and spotting to clear ten thousand things while trying to fit 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag



In




Fits like a finger in the bum



Next job is to cut off the existing haggard injector plugs and fit new items to suit the 555cc Nismo items going in. Whoever did the work previously was a complete hack, almost every solder was massive, the joins taped poorly using shit tape which had cooked and gone hard and somehow almost every one of the new wires was cut/hacked/exposed.



Was busy thrashing on the spanners after this point so didn't get a chance to take any more photos but got the loom laid in and connected, all the important electrical items connected to attempt cranking before fitting the rest of the ancillaries. The car refused to crank and after swapping starter motors plus a heap of head scratching figured out that the car has an alarm/immobiliser that needed to be activated. More investigating and jimmying around with alarm looms, fuses, keyfobs yielded nothing then all of a sudden it sprang to life and we could crank the car over.

Tonight's work will be refitting the exhaust, intercooler and pipework, radiator and cooling then drop it down, fire up and cut a few blockies to check for leaks.

So close

 

https://youtu.be/6rzNFWWPsrM

Mission success.

 

So that was early October and I managed to get back into it last night.

Bolted the exhaust on from the dumps but missing a few bolts so will have to get some new ones and new gaskets before roadworthy.

Got to the bolt on the filter tree that I thought was causing the leak and tightened it up, cranked the car over and.... oil still pissing out everywhere under the car. Worryingly the oil now seems quite milky like its mixing with water somewhere. No idea what that's about, hopefully just some old oil sitting in a gallery somewhere that was inaccessible during the motor swap?

Hopefully I'll have a spare pair of hands tonight to assist with some further investigation to the cause. Really hope the engine doesn't have to come out again

 

**** this thing. **** it with a rusty pineapple covered in chilli.

Spent a few hours underneath last night trying to pinpoint the source of the leak and stop it. It looks as though the gasket the oil filter and cooler tree sits on has shat.



This bit on the block



That this bolts onto

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Which sits under all of this malarky.

Which means motor back out for access. You ****ing ****.

 

bad luck man,, motor back out

 

Probably, trying to avoid it at the moment.

Do you have one of these gaskets in stock to save me having to make one up?

 

So your 'Project Wife' knows all about this birthday present and thread, or is it going to be a big surprise when she finds out the reason why you dissappear for many hours every other night?

 

She's fully aware of the amount of effort that's gone into it and very happy that it's nearing completion. It's a little hard to hide when I started it sans exhaust in the garage right under the bedroom a few weeks back in the video

I'm taking a short break from this thing mechanically while I complete a few other jobs/cars to let the ragequit subside but I do plan to get back into it over the weekend if the heatwave doesn't murder me.

 

Minor non mechanical update, got sweaty yesterday in Brisbane's typical 35 degree plus summer and ripped out the horrid old tweed interior to replace with a late model suede setup I purchased a while back. Got a pleasant surprise that most of the interior has been dynamatted and fitted with some very nice Hertz splits behind the door cards.

I want to dye the velour/suede black before I reinstall it and I remember another forum member had done it with great success but can't remember the brand of dye they used. I don't want it to have the typical crusty feeling that cheap coloured fabric usually has, any recommendations?

 

I used this on a tweed interior and it came out a dark charcoal and looked quite nice

VHT Vinyl Dye

 

Left the car alone for a few weeks thanks to some home renovation schedules being moved forward but back into it again.

Figured out a way to get the oil filter tree out without removing the motor (remove steering uni, pull block side water feed for turbo, undo 10mm bolts holding wastegate actuator, pull starter, enough room to get a spanner to the top two bolts, drops straight out)!

Turns out the gasket had separated and bolts weren't the issue. Made up a new gasket and looking to reinstall tonight with an aim of having the rest of the car bolted together and driving this weekend. Have some photos that I'll put up when I remember.

Undecided about painting the suede just yet, don't want to ruin it. Might just paint the stock tweed black so it ties in better and leave the suede seats as is to ensure the car is back on the road sooner rather than later.

 

Figuring out to fix the oil filter tree gasket was a bit of a head scratcher as access to the two top bolts is near impossible due to the actuator bar for the wastegate sitting almost on top of the bolt heads. Even if you could get onto the bolts properly you'd never get them out or the tree arrangement.

Had a light bulb moment that dropping the steering shaft and dump pipe to see if I can maybe get to the exhaust housing flange bolts and drop the compressor off but by the time I ****ed around doing that and losing all the skin from my elbow to finger tips I'd spend the same amount of time pulling the motor again.

Decided to crack on anyway and see where I got. Pleased to advise it is possible in the car and with the turbo intact

My theory of pulling the uni joint gave me heaps more room to play with to get at the leaking oil filter tree.



The top right bolt is where the leak has been coming from but the rod for the wastegate actuator runs directly across both top bolts.



So what I needed to do was get the wastegate actuator mount off the housing. Steering uni out, oil filter off, block side turbo water banjo bolt out (prick of a job), two 10mm actuator mount bolts, starter motor off and then you have access to the top two filter tree bolts.

Dropped it out and the gasket had separated around the offending bolt. No chance of getting a factory gasket around New Years so bashed one out of some gasket paper and hoping to reinstall tonight with a view of having the car back together for first test drive this weekend.

Fingers crossed!

 

Because the fans (on another forum) asked....



The finger returns! That little bit of gasket was the cause of the problem all along.



Lying under the car peeling off all the shit while sucking down a good Pinot makes the fiddlyness bearable.

 

With the oil filter mount fiasco behind us (fingers crossed) tonight's agenda moves inside the car, or more to the point what's going into the car.

The series 2 z32's got a change from the tweed to a much nicer velour trim. These are kind of hard to come by so I've been piecing a full one together over the last year or so.

The velour is a typical 90's Nissan silvery blue colour and I had planned on dyeing it black but most of the examples I'd seen online apparently go all hard and shit once dyed or painted so just going to throw it in as is.

Kicking back on the deck giving the interior a good scrub and letting it dry overnight. With a cheep and cheerful Pinot Grigio of course. (Rumours Pinot Grigio if anyone gives a shit, $34 a carton at your mate Dan's)



Surprising amount of filth coming off everything. Probably typical of used Japanese car that's been smoked in for 100 thousand kays before having the odometer wound back and shipped to Australia.



Annoyingly I discovered after pulling the old interior out that I'm short one piece between the glovebox and passenger door card. I can buy the part new from a number of US suppliers but at roughly $150 including shipping I'm happy to wait until one pops up.

This bit for those playing at home:



While I had the old tweed bits out and a can of vinyl dye spare I decided to give it a hit and see how it turned out.

.

Pretty good actually. Should have cleaned it first to make the final finish nicer but I've got three sets of the tweed so no great loss.

Also discovered I'd jagged full leccy driver and passenger front seats as part of the haul.



Mint. More weight to carry but this is only meant to be a faster than normal driver for the wife to get a feel for driving a zed again so no real drama.

 

Looking good man the tweed came out nice

 

Got stuck into this over the weekend just passed with the intent of having at least driveable so I can get some garage space back for a bit. Cranked the car over after fitting the new filter tree gasket, not a drop. Success!

Continued on with bolting all the other bits back onto the drivers side turbo (wastegate mount, rod and water banjo feed) and then rest of the exhaust and most of the front end ancilliaries with their respective belts.

Fired it up again to check belt tension and after about 30 seconds of idling the car developed a nasty rattle. Shut it off quick smart, cranked it again with igniter disconnected, no noise. Plugged igniter back in and started it up, death rattle still there.

At a loss as to what it could be right now, other than some kind of issue with the starter motor possible catching on the flywheel. The engine has been run at least three times chasing oil leaks without issue previously and is still full of oil. Nothing has been loosened or changed internally other than the sump coming off while it was out of the car on the stand.

Other than the starter theory I'm out of ideas. Maybe a dead oil pump that has starved the motor of oil and spun a big end? I'm certain I'd hear that when cranking it over.

I'm so damn close to having this thing on the road (literally fill it with coolant, connect the intercooler and pipework, attach front bar) it is going to be a major **** around to have to pull the motor again