The Devil's Zed Rebuild

Discussion in 'Member's Garage' started by ross79, Jul 20, 2010.

  1. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Thought I might as well make a thread to highlight my zed experience.

    Bought a 1989 TT 2+2 manual with blown turbos so I decided to freshen the engine up while it's out.

    Heads were sent off, decked, checked for hardness and pressure tested.
    Pulled pistons out and ensured everything was within specs.

    Installed new valve stem seals, water pump, thermostat, etc. Replaced every single gasket / seal I could find on the engine.
    Did the usual egr delete, etc.

    Around this time we moved house. Not a good thing with zed parts all over the place.

    In the new house the build resumed.

    Installed a new pair of T25/28 hybrids. I think this is where the build took a turn for the worse. Once I got the oil feed lines modified with the correct fittings and got around the problem of the turbine housing hitting the block, I had trouble getting the inlet and outlet pipes to fit.
    At a glance, the turbos looked almost identical to the stock units with the exception of the 5 bolt turbine housing. What I didn't realise is where the intake part bolts on, the two bolt holes aren't in exactly the same position as the original. Also getting the wastegates to fit was a lengthy process.

    Once sorted, I heatwrapped everything as the oem heat shields could no longer be retained. Also chucked on some UAS nolathane engine mounts (heatwrapped also).

    Finally I bolted on a new clutch.

    Dropping the engine revealed a problem with the dumps fouling on the steering rack. So out comes the engine for a bit of hammer time.
    Once I got around that problem there was a lot of cursing trying to get the turbo piping to fit.

    The next time killer was getting the gearbox back in. I lost count of how many times I had to undo the engine mounts to carry out various tasks!

    Finally I'm up to modifying the exhaust to fit. As luck would have it the dump pipe flange on drivers side was fouling against the starter motor! So I cut it off and re-welded it.

    The exhaust was a nightmare to cut and weld but I got there in the end. Unfortunately when I started the car, it wasn't much quieter than when I ran it without the exhaust!

    Next was time to sort out little gremlins. The tacho wasn't working. Mick quickly got to the bottom of that. The previous owner had some strange fetish with connectors, as a result there were a number of there on the tacho wire coming from the ECU! Once re-soldered it worked nicely.

    A driving light kept coming on and off. Closer inspection revealed half a dozen joiners! Once replaced with a single soldered wire all was well.

    There is still an outstanding issue with the engine missing on a cylinder which appears to be a spark problem. After a couple of hours of cleaning connectors and test starting the car, I managed to kill the S1 PTU!! Luckily Mick had a spare.

    Booked the zed in for a rwc last week, but when I picked the car up in the arvo, the guy tells me his testing equipment is busted and he can't do the rwc!!! So the next day I had to ring around to find someone else that can do it. Booked it in for this coming wednesday.

    Monday just gone I dropped the car off at a local exhaust shop. I stopped in to pick it up after work only to be told they didn't have a muffler that fits and had to order some more! So the car stayed there today. After work I rang and was told it won't be ready till tomorrow morning! I explained my unregistered vehicle permit runs out tomorrow and it's also booked in for a rwc that day! In the end they agreed to run the car over to the road worthy place as soon as the exhaust is done.

    Hopefully tomorrow night I can pick it up and book it in for rego.

    Big thanks to Mickw for giving up his weekends to help out. You've been a huge help mate.
    Also thanks to Craig and Sam for helping out.
     
  2. Adamness

    Adamness Active Member

    Nice mate, you're more trusting than me though! I won't be letting anyone touch my car when I finish putting in my rebuilt engine!
     
  3. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Yeah, knowing my luck it will blow up. He is aware it needs to be run in so hopefully he'll go easy.

    Bit of an update. Rang the exhaust place and they're still working on it! Already missed the window for rwc and my permit runs out today. Not having a chance to get the car back, the drivers window doesn't work as the motor is dead, so that will fail on the rwc.

    It's the worst run bad luck I've ever had with a car!
     
  4. ross79

    ross79 Member

    After work I stopped off at the exhaust shop to pick the car up. First thing they said is "You won't believe this, but when we got it off the hoist and drove the car outside, it stalled and won't start! It's as if it has no spark."
    I replied by saying that I would believe it because this car is a f@#king nightmare and loves to challenge me. It's no doubt another dead PTU!! Sorry Mick, I'll get you another one. Now to get it home somehow.
     
  5. MickW

    MickW Carntry member...

    You've had a lot of fun with this car, haven't you Ross.:p
    Are you ready to post pics yet?

    Here's a couple of snaps I took while you were fixing the wiring fault that stopped the tacho from working,
    legacy of a previous owner who hacked into the ECU loom to fit a turbo timer -

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    I admire your patience & persistence, see you on the road soon dude. :)
     
  6. 90TTZ

    90TTZ Back From The Dead

    Two mandatory requirements for successful Z ownership :zlove:
     
  7. beaver

    beaver southern zeds

    patience & persistence

    yes you'll need that Ross, especially when you get nasty surprises that the previous owner/hacker failed to disclose or resolve. Stick with mate, it'll put the smile back on your face. :zlove:
     
  8. ross79

    ross79 Member

    You need to add lateral thinking and ability to laugh when things keep going wrong to the list.

    Bit of an update. Ran extra earthing, installed all new injector connectors, Traced every coil to PTU and 12V coil. Then as I was reading one of your old threads Russel and noticed you had a similar problem. One of the suggestions was to listen to the injectors. So I pulled out the stethoscope and found injector 1 was nearly silent! Pulled it out, replaced with one of my spares and I'm finally running all 6!!

    With that out of the way I pulled the driver's door appart and changed the window motor over twice. Note to anyone else mad enough to work on cars till 3am. Don't do it!
    Somehow when I pulled the motor out, I place it next to the good one. Without realising I mixed them up and installed the bad one! Second time around I was successful and now I have a working driver side window.

    Got up at 6am to take the car to get a rwc and it started on 5 again! F@#k me! Anyway, I set of to take it to the rwc place but couldn't find it! Ended up leaving the car on the side of the road, dropping my wife off at work and driving to work.
    Will try again tonight.
     
  9. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Had the car in for a rwc and must have scored the biggest dickhead around. I was so wrapped with the report that my wife had to pick the car up to avoid a confrontation.
    Wheels are too big, spoiler has a bit of movement, speaker wires in the boot can't be laying there eventhough they're under the boot carpet and disconnected! Also car is too low due to the 3 days of exhaust work I had done! egt wires not connected and something about exhaust not being fixed at the back.
    At least he didn't notice the speedo that works when it feels like it. Will try to sort it out tomorrow. This car is really making me work for it.
     
  10. Adamness

    Adamness Active Member

    Sounds like you should take it to a different place for RWC. Also advise them its just to register it and not to sell, in my experience they go easier on you.

     
  11. ross79

    ross79 Member

    The worst part is this guy was recommended by a friend. I did mention I want to just register it. The guy I usually use still didn't have his license approved for this year.
     
  12. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Did some calculations and the 18" rims that are currently on my soarer will pass the size requirement for this rwc. Problem is rears are badly worn on the inside. So I jumped in the car and drove down to Melbourne to get some new tyres fitted. Got home hid the stereo wiring, removed the egt from the the engine bay, fixed passenger window switch (tabs broken) and got ready to swap the wheels. I start undoing the wheel nuts when I notice one is already undone (where I had new tyres fitted) and my valve caps are missing!@ Get around to the other side of the soarer and the new tyre is flat!! Kind of lost it at this point and went inside to think it over.
    Got back out, switched the compressor on and pumped the tyre up. Didn't get far when I could hear air hissing from the valve. Poked it a few times with the screw driver and it stopped. Continued to undo the rest of the wheel nuts and noticed some are extremely tight. Pushed down hard on the torque wrench only to snap it!
     
  13. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Nearly ready to go back to rwc place to get all this stuff ticked off. Just had the egts welded in and an extra hook put on the exhaust eventhough it didn't need it. Needless to say everyone in the place was shocked when they saw the report. Hopefully I've done my bit and caused him to lose business! Appears he may have a thing against imports which I will confirm once the paperwork is signed off and in my hands.
     
  14. Adamness

    Adamness Active Member

    You're so unlucky mate... :eek:
     
  15. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Up until I got the zed my mates were always surprised how lucky I am with all sorts of situations. Inlcuding buying the zed. After that though my luck went down a very steep hill!

    Took some time off work to get this zed sorted. Spend hours pulling and re-fitting suspension, wacking the exhaust with the hammer, even visiting the exhaust shop. Car looks like a f#@king 4wd it's that high but still won't pass the height!
    Took it back to rwc guy who is a very ignorant prick! Said nup, can't do it today as I'm flat out. He only had 1 car there! Made it pretty clear I'm not leaving so he ended up checking the car. Ticked everything off except for ride height as it's 9.5cm instead of 10cm!! Not far off but not good enough for this SOB.
     
  16. WOKBURNER

    WOKBURNER Bringer of fun and mayhem

    Tell him to shove it! Go get it done somewhere else and tell him he will hear from the complaints ombudsmen if its not sorted!

    Hate these F^%&Wits got no time for them! Half of those things you mentioned are not even roadworthy issues! Wires in the boot WTF has that got to do with roadworthiness?

    MattB
     
  17. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Yeah, pretty pissed about the whole situation, but doubt there's much I can do about it except bad mouth him to local businesses (especially ones associated with hotrod club). Going to another place is a gamble as it will cost me another 100 and possibly still not pass because of height issue.
    Dropped my zed off at the local exhaust shop and getting them to re-do the section that keeps failing the ride height.
     
  18. Stef

    Stef Active Member

    When I did the blue slip for Silver, I took it to a guy who has a reputation like ross79's SOB. (I found out afterwards) He was quite grumpy, but he has a Z31 himself and I did not have any problems. It might have helped that I cleaned up the engine number and even stuck a camera down there for a printout.
     
  19. ross79

    ross79 Member

    I finally have the rwc! Car spent all day yesterday and most of this morning at the exhaust shop. Now it clears even with slightly lowered springs!
    The guy wouldn't even talk to me. Super arrogant prick! I'm very surprised as I've never come across anyone as rude as him that runs a business.
    He either has something against imports or older cars. My mate was there last week with a late model commodore. The guy didn't even look at it and nearly passed it with a busted windscreen!! He said, I hate to make you do this but really can't pass it with that windscreen. Another person I know was there with an old xf falcon and copped pretty much the same deal I did.
    The business in question is P J Organ Motor Repairs.
     
  20. ross79

    ross79 Member

    Went to vicroads today to get it registered. First thing the person says is where's the compliance plate? Spent a bit of time searching but couldn't find it. Mentioned that its already been registered previously. She went inside then came back out. Next we started searching for the engine number. After a few minutes I had to call Mick to find out where it is. This helped us find the location but could not read the number. Eventually we went inside where I got asked whether I want slim line or standard. Finally it is registered!
     

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