1990 n/a z teardown and rebuild and turbo swap.

[supertopsecret]

Hello all.
Over the last 6 months i've been getting parts together and i'm finally ready to start working on a new project.
My hopes are to build and race an N/A in my local autocross while i get used to the chassis and then start the tt swap when i feel comfy.
I have two n/a z's to start with but one is rusty as hell and i'm not sure it can be saved. It does however have a whole lot of parts for me to use.
I'm in my 30's but this is my first real "sporty" car and i'm just learning how to drive with rwd so the N/A is plenty of power for now but just like everything it won't be soon enough.
I did build a rally car in the past and raced it with a local chapter of SCCA but it was a subaru legacy and i wouldn't really call it a sports car.

So here we go.
The car i'm building is the gold z and the blue z i'm going to make run with all of the spare parts that i'm no longer using as i build/swap it. What will i do with ol blue when i'm done? who knows?
I'm super cheap so i will document prices as i go so everyone can see what being such a cheap a** will get you.

The blue z : 500.00 not running
the gold z : 1000.00 pissing water everywhere
new water pump and hardpipes: 100.00 on cl. great find.
AMS underdrive pulley : 75.00
Stillen Headers : 150.00
s*** aftermarket radiator : 50.00
Twin Turbo long block incl. exhaust manifold and turbos : 500.00

So Original Bill of 2,375.00 not including tags or emissions

First things first i wanted to see how bad the blue z was. I started tinkering and the only problem i found was a starter that had been incorrectly shimmed. It wasn't catching the flywheel. After a little wrenching it ran and drove fine. This was unexpected with the condition of this car (and considering the previous owner stated it didn't run). Since i now had 2 z's and 3 motors 1 had to go. I pulled the blue z's vg30de and it sold on craigslist in 4 days for 500$
So i'm back down to 1875.00

Now to the gold z. I replaced the water pump and hard pipes and put the underdrive pulley on and slapped it back together to see how it runs. It's pretty quick and loses the back end nice and fast. All of you tt owners can make fun of me all you want, but it seems like a lot of power compared to my ej22. The only parts i used during this process were already documented above and a minimal amount of gasket maker. we'll call it zero dollars.

Additional work that the gold z has
egr delete
aiv delete
The little throttle stop pin delete
ebay intake with the little bug looking foam like air filters
HKS hi power exhaust
shotty looking short shifter

All of this was done by the previous owner(s) so zero dollars.

I pulled the ECU and it looks like it's been out before but i dont see any sort of markings on it implying that it's been chipped and i don't visibly see any difference from stock.

So now that it's running well and not leaking i went off to emissions.
And i failed miserably!!!
High HC's and really High CO, i will post a pic of the test results.
That's where i'm at now, figure this would be a good time to start documenting the build and ask my first questions.

I seem to be getting a whole lot of unburned fuel to my 02 sensors.
Any of you experienced with having to get emissions on an engine with the aiv and egr delete?
Is it even possible to get this little monster to pass without reassembling those tedious little systems?
The charts posted seem to point to a lazy o2 sensor to me but i'm sure there is someone out there that is better at debugging these 5 gas analyzer results

I'm going to start with a tune up because who knows what the last owner did with this thing. I'm going to start with an oil change, plug change, and new 02 sensors. The timing belt is coming i just did the water pump so i could play with it a bit before i do any big work.
I left all of the timing covers off for now.
I think that's it, a bit long winded, but details make the story; right?
So. pics.

[supertopsecret]

i didn't get to post my 5 gas analyzer results
here they are

It looks to me like after accelerating it's sticking rich for a second before 02 sees it and pulls back the fuel trim. Probably lazy 02 signal? Any words of wisdom?

[grayman_TT]

Nice project. Should be lots of fun in the autocross.

Just an FYI, but it seems as though the fuel filter on your gold Z may be backwards. It should be labeled to indicate the direction.

[RubyRed300ZX]

WOW! Good eye on the fuel filter. It is in backwards. Don't think I'd want to risk disconnecting it and turning it around. Should buy a new one. I'm impressed that you spotted that.

[NolimitZ32]

Shame that Azure blue Z has so much cancer, you got yourself 2 rare Zs. GL on the work.

[supertopsecret]

I went and looked at the fuel filter. It might be some knockoff brand and just look backwards because it is labeled as "in" on the side coming from the firewall. Here are some pics. unless you were talking about something else? maybe the canister? i can't seem to see anything backwards.

[supertopsecret]

so my brake lights weren't working. my running lights were. i swapped out the relay from near the taillight and it did nothing. so i look underneath the dash and i find aluminum foil and plastic taped together on my pedals ???? pretty funny.
The Problem:
My Solution:
I have yet to check ol blue for the parts for that so i don't know what stock looks like.
I also put ol blue's bose fascia into goldie. I didn't install the center speaker just the grill to cover things up holy crap it looks so much better without the huge hole thats been there since i bought it.
I need to get rid of those little rust spots

[supertopsecret]

and even more progress.
i kind of jumped the gun on this one. Put me back another 80.00. so 1955.00 total.

and here is the updated engine after the water pump job.
Looking at that picture i realized i forgot about the hoses. I spent 12 dollars on the little hoses that go from the hard water pipes to the block. They are nice gates hoses. So 1967.00. The upper and lower radiator hose were purchased with the aftermarket radiator i figured in above (yes i'm using them because they look newish) They'll have to be replaced with something nicer when i get it running better.

And here is the AMS UD pulley. Only the alternator / waterpump belt is on right now. Still testing things out.

[DCaff300ZX]

Wow, as mentioned two rare colors and both pretty rough- glad you are bringing the gold one back at least! VERY too bad about the Azure one, but it does look very badly rusted.
Seems like you are on the right track, although I myself would look to perhaps upgrade your budget a little in the 120K maintenance area and overall as cheapness and Z32 success have not been known to co-exist for very long...take that from long experience with both an NA and TT.

[supertopsecret]

Yeah i'm going to go ahead and do a real 120k when i pull the engine to swap o2 sensors and put the headers on. I think i'm gonna get that sweet kevlar t belt too. Right now i'm just getting it running / driving and trying to identify problem areas.
Speaking of rust you should have seen the gold hatch lid once i had it off. I should've taken pics. The window seal had gone and water had just been sitting in the hatch i guess. Once you removed the plastic interior panels the metal was just flakes of rust and as i would grab it, it was disintegrating in my hands. Other than that though goldie seems to be pretty rust free.

So now onto my last discoveries before i take tomorrow off.
The Oil pressure gauge on the dash isn't working. I pulled the Oil pressure sender from the tree and replaced it with a known working one from ol' blue. I had just assumed this was the problem so i was getting around to it last. It wasn't the problem. Still doesn't work. I pulled the gauge cluster and the harness looks intact in that part of the dash. I wasn't sure which wire was the signal for that gauge so i left it at that. The oil pressure doesn't seem to be an issue with the engine. It sounds really great and has no ticking or any other evidence of oil starvation to the heads. I've also read about an inner o-ring on the tree that can cause the sender to not work. I guess i have something additional to look at with the engine out.
Also the little electronic temp gauge on my climate controls (next to the steering wheel) isn't coming on. I have no heat or defrost action. I already knew the ac was disabled/removed but will that prevent the whole system from working?
I noticed all of this because it snowed here today. hot damn. On a related side note apparently goldie hates driving in the snow unless it's sideways.
Oh yeah. and my clock doesn't work. I've tried both clocks from both z's. I wasn't at the shop today so i only tried them in goldie (she's home with me). Not sure if it's wiring or both clocks are busted. I'm leaning towards wiring because i'm finding lots of little wiring nightmares involving more aluminum foil and electrical tape.
I found a jumper wire in my tail light tying a wire from my brake lamp to 2 separate wires feeding the relay. After removing it i see no difference. Anyone heard of something like this with an actual legitimate purpose? Not sure if they were trying to bypass the relay somehow.
I also found out that my aftermarket stereo is wired through my brake lights?? While in the dash i grounded out an aluminum foil wire contraption and blew the fuse. wtf was this genius thinking? Anyone have a wiring diagram to the stereo? Any suggestions on an alternate place to tap for power? Seems like it should have it's own tap for power seeing as there was a radio there originally. Maybe this radio is the cause of the climate controls, the clocks, and the OP gauge. That would be nice if all of the problems were conveniently in one spot.
I'll let you all know what i find in there monday.

[DCaff300ZX]

Oh boy, looks like you have a real fight on your hands with the wiring...I NEVER have understood why people will do things such as you described, and worse. Sounds like that mess is the cause of the non-functioning stuff, have you checked the online service manual for wiring diagrams and such? MAJOR source for that kind of stuff, be sure to save the link as it will help you in many areas with diagnosis and tests.

[supertopsecret]

I didn't even know that they had the manual online. A quick search and i found it through the z32 wiki page.
Thanks a bunch!!
That'll make things much faster than tracing wires.
As for the wiring mess it's interesting because a lot of the work that has been done was done well (i.e. the exhaust, intake, system deletes). And then there are other things like this stereo that look like a 5 year old with no tools and a pack of gum fixed them.
I'm guessing i'm looking at different previous owners work.
Oh well, i guess that's what you can expect from a 25 year old used car.

[grayman_TT]

Good to see the filter is oriented the proper way. That one pic gave me the impression that it wasn't.