CHASE300 Restore and Rebuild thread ***

[Chase300]

Hi guys will be doing lots of work to the Z in the following month hopefully thats all it will take. Doing lots of cosmetic and full engine rebuild. Hope u enjoy pictures.

The car. 1990 TT LHD 132000KM. Found her in British columbia. Auto. Leather. Power everything. Fairly mint.


Getting ready for engine pull


The bad

The start of the fix

Parts Table

Junk pile



Til next time.

[JaredM]

very cool. what are the plans for it specifically ? show car, track car, clean DD, etc?

[robomatic12]

Looks good, where in BC are you?

[A Paratroopers 300zx]

Looks good so far man! I'm excited to see this project. I see that you decided to completely scrap the AC system. Why did you? I ask because I am contemplating doing it too and need more convincing for or against. Is it actually needed for the defrost function?

[Chase300]

New wiseco piston 87.5mm eagle rods. acl rod and main bearings. Arp main and headbolts. New wiring harness. Wiseco piston thingy for peace of mind ring installation



I scrapped my AC to simplify the engine bay and help the engine run cooler. I NEVER use the AC so why not? small hp gain not runnin extra belt on crank, and all the crap wieghs like 75 lbs? The A/C exchanger blocks so much air from running in and cooling things off. + This is strictly a summer car. Yes it is required for defrost but i wont be having that issue ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Plans for it will be summer DD/Show car i dont know how many shows i will take it too but the engine bay is going to be clean as F*** and lots of polished aluminum as u can see i polish my plenum (it was a DYI job turned out pretty good)

I also plan on pumping out a fair amount of hp out of her. My heads are at the machine shop getting redone with ampco bronze valve guides. Stock valves reground and valves seats redone bla bla bla also ported them out myself( will show pictures after i get them back)

[Chase300]

Well not much done today, finished stripping everything out of the engine bay.. very greasy and dirty.. will grinding with a cup brush tomorrow and cleaning all the sh** out of there and priming. post pictures then.

Girls like men with clean nuts

[Ace2cool]

Sweet. I love a good clean engine bay. Too bad both of mine are filthy, haha.

[Chase300]

Heads dropped off today, block getting bored today.. pictures to come.

As of todays progress just taking care of the engine bay with side grinder brush cup. Sadly dont have the patience for sandblasting ect.



First coat of primer after a quick sand and clean

[Ace2cool]

Wow, getting right down to business. I like it.

[Chase300]

lil bit more work done today. Just sanding up and polishing the intercooler intake pipings.

after sanding with 120 240 then 1200 grit


lil polish action


A close up

[Chase300]

2nd coat of primer after some sanding and smoothin out the imperfections.. ( i know its just a freakin engine bay who cares?)

[Ace2cool]

Are you doing any deletes/relocations? I'd shave the brackets and fill the holes if you are...

[canadian booster]

wow! right down to business, i like it, i was expecting a week to go by, engine it out, another week, some primer, etc..
love the pics so far

[Chase300]

Ya lucky me i only work 4 days a week so i get lots of time to work on it.

Ace - i didnt consider shaving the brackets but now that you mention it i believe i will. As for the holes i was gonna just fill them all in with those circular plastic plugs. Might fill them in with the mig, not sure yet.

Deletions include - Entire A/C system. Entire Hicas system including all the hardlines. AIV system has been removed as i have aftermarket testpipes for her. All the coolant lines for the plenum have been removed. EGR system byebye. Carbon canister removed and vacuum lines being rerouted. All i can think of so far. I should have my block back on friday and i will put the bottom end together so ill put pics up then. Old EFI harness has been scrapped. New snap on injector connecters/harness. Keepin the heater core for those brisk days.

Any other considerations you have for me Ace ??

Booster - I plan on being finished mid - end of june roughly. All the new parts are hard on the wallet lol. ill have lots done each weekend though thursday through sunday. Keep watching

[Ace2cool]

Just basic relocations, like battery and fuse block. Other than that, you pretty much nailed all of what I would recommend. Since you already have the battery tray out, the battery relocation should be pretty simple.

[canadian booster]

Just basic relocations, like battery and fuse block. Other than that, you pretty much nailed all of what I would recommend. Since you already have the battery tray out, the battery relocation should be pretty simple.

where's a better spot for it?

[BigTDogg (MA)]

Just basic relocations, like battery and fuse block. Other than that, you pretty much nailed all of what I would recommend. Since you already have the battery tray out, the battery relocation should be pretty simple.

where's a better spot for it?

Battery = Trunk. Fuse block can go in the center panel between the headlights, but I didn't bother with that.

lil polish action


A close up

Hate to break it to you, but unless you are coating those with ZoopSeal or something similar, they will corrode fairly quickly, as the OEM pipes are steel and not aluminum. Powdercoating them would be a better option.

Nice work on your restoration, I look forward to seeing the progress.

[Chase300]

BigTdogg - didnt know that they were steel actually.. maybe ill just repaint them black.. hrmm.

New lifters


Got rid of the brackets Ace weld them in tomorow and sand/reprime.. show u then

[Ace2cool]

All new lifters??? Cha-Ching! Don't those run like 35 bucks apiece?

And Good looking on the bracket deletes! Can't wait to see this engine bay all cleaned up! with a pretty engine installed!

[Chase300]

Ya Ace thats right chaching 670$ for the set of lifters *ouch*
Im replacing and building everything up so that i dont have to take my engine apart for the next 100K miles.

Got the block back today overbored to fit my 87.5 wisecos. Looks pretty, and got her painted right now

[SarahLovesHer300zx]

Exciting build thread! I read the first post and thought "a month? yea right, thats what they all say.. two years later...."

Good Luck with the build!

[vulcanrush]

All new lifters??? Cha-Ching! Don't those run like 35 bucks apiece?

And Good looking on the bracket deletes! Can't wait to see this engine bay all cleaned up! with a pretty engine installed!

about 25 apiece, Ace.
the cheapest i could find was at a nissan dealership in california, west covina nissan.

[canadian booster]

Got the block back today overbored to fit my 87.5 wisecos. Looks pretty, and got her painted right now

*whistle*

[Chase300]

Little more work done today. Been damn busy working 6 days a week for a shutdown right now so didnt near as much as i wanted to this weekend.

Heres the patch i did.. my first time welding ever lol so have a good laugh.. at least it grinds out nice and we'll never really know except for this ugly a** picture


Sanded down the brake fuel and vent lines, removed the hicas hardlines from the bunch.


Decided to change the block color.. found this nice paint called Iron engine enamel.. its charcoal looking, picture does it no justice.. This is actually the same color im gonna paint the engine bay now when its ready.

[DCaff300ZX]

Hmmm, kinda like the engine color...interested to see how it looks for the entire bay.
You look really dedicated, nice work so far!

[NolimitZ32]

Lookin good man, looking real good.

[BigTDogg (MA)]

Lookin good, makin nice progress!

[300ZXttZMAN]

Coming along fast. Looks good, that engine color is interesting i like it!

[Chase300]

Workin this week but managed to get the block surfaces all prepped and mounted on the stand. Will be doing internals this weekend. more to come.

[BigTDogg (MA)]

Where do you live? Just saw you were deleting the AC, might want to reconsider that.

Are you getting a new EFI harness? That's pretty much a no brainer with the engine out.

Don't forget, OEM water pump only, right Biggs

Nice work man!