Boost Creep's 300zx build

[boost creep]

Well I decided to get back in the little car game a few weeks ago.
I picked up a 1990 300zx n/a-5speed-t tops-112k.

absolutely love the car, it handles like its on rails, looks great, moves when you tell it to.
its 90% stock, it has its wear and tear from being 24yrs old and having its previous owner neglect the body/paint/interior/maintenance a bit,
but it has TONS of potential.
When I got it, it already had the audio system replaced(nice kenwood deck/JL door speakers/15"JLw3/JL1800e, aluminum intake piping/cone filter and adapter, cheap ebay rice mufflers(beyond rusted through everywhere).
the shift bushings were nonexistent, one muffler rusted off on the way home, faded tbl bar, couple small dents, shift-ebrake boots/steering wheel/shift knob all tore up, clearcote fade, nasty dirty interior, front lip was held with bailing
wire.

I promptly removed the rice cannonz, swapped the 15"/huge box out for a compact 10"(speakers have bass resistors I believe).
then installed the bronze shift bushings, 8000k hid kit and Borla catback exhausts.
Then I re-painted the rims black(previous owner had attempted to paint match them), washed it 2-3 times and went over the whole car with wax/detailer/vac. I also tinted the tbl bar with nightshade, along with the front turn signals.

it runs well, but has a hesitation often from idle to 2,500-3,000rpms if using marginal throttle. it also may have a gas leak some where, but i cant see it, only faint wiffs of gas here and there.
the interior needs little things here and there and the paint needs wax/buffed like crazy, all ive had a chance to do is the canopy/hood/frontend/tail lights/hatch so far...crap weather.

Now for pics...









planned mods: reflector delete/LED tail lights, ccfl projector shrouds, short throw shifter, duckbill spoiler, jdm front lip, leather interior update, aiv/egr/ac/resonator deletes, rims(thinking 18"svt's).

[Z-owned]

Welcome! Looks like the car found itself in good hands. As for the gas smell if you haven't yet check and tighten all the clamps

http://s95014253.onlinehome.us/63104/155876.html

[DCaff300ZX]

Welcome!
As for the hesitation you might check to be sure the cone filter is installed correctly up high as possible in the bumper area, and with the plastic deflector below it to keep the airflow off the filter and MAF. Often a PO will leave off the plastic piece off installing the filter hanging low so it can be seen, feeling they've improved their airflow, but instead invite the hesitation problem. It's not the only reason for hesitation, but a good start since you said the car has a cone filter.

[boost creep]

I got one coat of wax into the doors and qtrs before it started rain-snowing yesterday, so the whole car has 1 coat of wax now.....5-10 more to go I guess.

Then I took the bulbs/sockets out of my pods, slipped in some 3mm blue wleds then soldered on the resistors and put them back in.
Drastic difference, really makes the digi climate pop!
gauge cluster is next, then tbl/front turns.

going to try and reproduce the 2seater storage tray above the gas tank. does anyone make them in fg or cf by ay chance?
might do testpipes with a x pipe and resonator delete, along with aiv delete this weekend too.

[boost creep]

pics from after the first full wax

[DCaff300ZX]

Looking good!
Now get some good black paint on those trim pieces (or replace if you have the $) and you will have a pretty fine blacked-out Z!

Oh, and BTW you had a question about the cargo tray- haven't seen anything aftermarket for it, but it is a very simple piece and shape and could easily be a DIY project out of any materials you wanted. I made a new plywood blank that mounted in the stock locations and wrapped it with the same material as stock, and it was impossible to tell it from a OEM piece so I assume you or anyone else could do the same. I later re-wrapped it in black to offset the red in my red interior, so really as I said you could do it in anything you wanted or could find to use.

[DiesILL]

Nice car man! Looks to be in great shape... Black cars are the hardest to maintain over the years (had a few). You'll like the xpipe on the exhaust but you may want to get the resonated version on the n/a. I have the resonated 2.5" xpipe and b&b exhaust and it's pretty f'n load as it is. Good luck with the car!

[Ziggy1621]

Lookin good! and welcome!

[boost creep]

a decent interior shot, I need a boot set/shifter/steering wheel really bad.

and the defendant in this case.....prosocution was rough j/k lol.



also as my foglights were cracked/yellowed/broken i decided to remove them, might replace them with 00-04 f250 fogs.

wrapped the ugly center speaker grill in vinyl also. ill, end up redoing all the tweed except the seats. ill get new leathers/foams for the seats.

[DCaff300ZX]

FYI, you can get a DIN pocket to replace the Bose speaker, it adds a small amount of storage for sunglasses and the like.
Also, a nice option for the fog lights it to replace them with brake/IC ducts, it really improves the look of the front bumper IMO (carbon fiber versions would look awesome on a black Z I think) and I have never missed (or used...) the fog lights, so that impact will be minimal if you choose that direction as I did.
Looking good so far, and I agree that the Prosecution was in DEEP doo-doo trying to exact justice from that cute little guy!

[300ZXttZMAN]

Good job on the arm rest! Its nice to see the car coming together. Check out Ziggy's build thread he went with new covers on his seats and they turned out great.

[Ziggy1621]

Thanks Mark, here is the link to the covers in the case you want some Boost Creep: http://interior-innovations.com/index.p ... _detail/40

I got the synthetic ones because I live in Florida and do not plan on tinting my windows. I also got the foam from him: http://interior-innovations.com/index.p ... _detail/69

[boost creep]

thanks guys. this cheap syn leather isn't bad for learning, but I really think id like to see how branded/embossed leather would look.

yeah that's who ill end up buying covers and foams from, ive seen great reviews and installed pics.

I wrapped the glove box yesterday and tried my hand at free sewing a shift boot. I cut the boot skirt about 1/4in too short in the front by accident, also its taller then it needs to be. could benefit from being shorter and instead.

[boost creep]

made a new shift boot 2.0, fits perfect. the rest of the tweed will get redone soon too.

[JesseDM]

Love the leather trim! Ive been looking to do this in a suede color. Glad to find information on how to do it! Think you could do a short write-up with tips and stuff?

[boost creep]

Love the leather trim! Ive been looking to do this in a suede color. Glad to find information on how to do it! Think you could do a short write-up with tips and stuff?

ive done auto upholstery off and on since i was a kid, just never anything with the kind of curves our interior panels have. so far the only things I wont be attempting are the steering wheel and shiftknob, as I have a feeling they are a pita.
im looking into micro suedes, Kevlar weave, along with the perforated leathers also.

quik tips: the better the material/material backing, the more it gives/stretches, making it easier to hug curves and eliminate wrinkles/pleats. so if u can get it done good with cheap stuff, then good stuff will be a breeze.

use your hands to massage wrinkles out in large sections, and instant bond adhesive is fantastic for holding down edges on the back side to ward away wrinkles round panel corners.

your pattern and cut ins are everything.... if the pattern doesn't match the curves, youll get creases. if your cut ins aren't correct youll have wrinkles around the corners/panel edges.

[zswap0429]

Very nicely done. I tried my hands at upholstry too with my old Z. Couldnt get the door though. Let me know if you get that.

You can see how mine turned out near the bottom of this.

zswap-s-z-journal-t576541.html

[z32loverboy]

FYI, you can get a DIN pocket to replace the Bose speaker, it adds a small amount of storage for sunglasses and the like.

I cut the bose grill out and mounted my oil pressure gauge there, it actually doesn't look bad at all.

[boost creep]

Sometimes I really want to punch Nissans engineers in the face, just like the engineers gm had from the lae 80s to early 00s deserve......

so I had a injector fail while I was driving, I did the dremel method to remove/replace the injector. with a used, ohmed with in spec injector. totally forgot to replace the lower oring because I was in a hurry, needless to say it blew while i was driving home, lovely gas smell and smoke of course from a flooding cyl.

I replaced the orings and was all good to go until I realized the grade8-8mm bolts I used for the injector hat had stripped out the fuel rail ear threads as i tightened them down at the same time :x.

ive since done a plenum pull, including a egr bypass/carboncanister delete/tb water bypass/fpr replacement-fuel line simpilify. now just waiting on a plenum gasket/fuel oring kit to put it all back together, ill either tap the fuelrail hole for a slightly larger bolt/screw or use the 8mm bolt in the oem pitch/theread with a lock nu on the bottom side of the ear.

any input guys?

also im really staring to consider the direction im going with the z32....
im at 113k righ now, my timing was serviced at 86k. im just contemplating weather or not to keep the vg30de considering the cost of maint/future issues........ the gates timing kit and top-feed rails/nismo injectors are going to run $1500. that alone is most of the budget id need for a LS1 4.8 swap!

[boost creep]

got it all buttoned up and now cyl#1 isnt firing and the coil got so hot it broke open, also my plugs were a orangish color rather that coffee/cream like it should be.....wtf.

could i have mistaken a white stripe and a canary stripe or blue/green maybe when i hard wired the ptu?

[boost creep]

got it fixed.



yep ive decided im going to redo the taillights lighter and polish the rims out this week if I have time.