zcar93na's Rolling Journal

[zcar93na]

Seeing as how much I'm going to do to my car over time, I think it'd be best to start a rolling journal thread so I don't have several threads over a period of the months to come. I don't know how many of you make it to the Technical Forum or who saw my rather slow rebuild of my car, but here it is my-fall-winter-rebuild-t567916.html

Had to do a few things to it less than 1K after i started driving it. My dad always said that if anything is gonna go wrong, it will within the first 500 miles. He was right!
update-on-car-after-build-t582793.html


^I replaced my carrier bearing a week or two ago. I had been waiting for a nice, dry Saturday or Sunday for almost a month, and finally got the chance. I didn't get to the tail shaft seal, I'll probably get that this weekend. But, I did find that my differential bushings need to be replaced.

I ended up selling my relic, a 1984 Isuzu P'up Diesel. I was offered enough to let it go, but I'm missing it because I won't ever find another one. It was an oddity for a rare truck like the diesel P'ups. On the positive side, I bought a few goodies for the car and put some cash back.


^I'm doing some brake upgrades:
-Drilled/slotted rotors w/ceramic pads
-Z1 SS brake lines
-Centric front caliper hardware
-Centric parking brake shoes
-OEM parking brake hardware

I also bought 2 new window rollers, open end lug nuts, and shocker symbol valve stem caps I'm still waiting on my poly differential bushings, and poly tension rods bushings to come in.

That's it for right now, I'm hoping to do everything this weekend at my buddy's shop. I'll post pictures and results hopefully this weekend or early next week

[nexus08]

Subscribed!

[300ZXttZMAN]

This^!

[z32loverboy]

Lookin good keep it up! we like mods and stuff!

[Grant_z32]

Subscribed

[zcar93na]

Got something done today. My poly tension rod bushings came in today, and I installed them because I'm tired of the shimmy when I get on the brakes.


^Before


^Cleaned with bushings installed

I don't have any with them installed on the car, but it was dark by the time I was done. Day and night difference; no more shimmy and vibration while braking, no more wandering on the road, and it cut out the rest of my vibrations in the dash. I'm taking it tomorrow to have the front-end aligned.



^I forgot to post this; I done the flower pot mod for my pop charger and deleted my intake baffles. The flower pot stopped my stumble at 50 and 60, now I can cruise with the pedal barely pressed

That's all for now guys, I still plan on doing my brakes this weekend so I'll update in a couple days

[zcar93na]

Update;

Me and a buddy got my brakes put on, and my calipers painted yesterday. I don't have many pictures because I was too into getting the car done. But, the car stops a lot better and the pedal has a very firm feel to it thanks to the SS lines.



Gave it a very needed bath and took pictures of how it looks with my black wheels


^Front


^Rear

I didn't get to the alignment shop the other day, so I've kept Mileage to minimum. I'll take it by Monday or Tuesday to have it done. That's all for now!

[DCaff300ZX]

Looking good, you've done nice work!

[zcar93na]

Thanks! I'm glad you guys approve of what I'm doin with the car. The car was in rough shape, severely neglected. I'm slowly getting everything straightend out. I'm waiting on a call from Advance Auto Parts about a job, the store manager told me I have the job but the DM has to pull my application. Once I'm back to work, I'm gonna plastidip the car black until I can afford to paint it CRP.

[zcar93na]

So...I got bored and decided to give the car a bath and a nice waxing





And I never take pictures of the passenger side because it's 3 different shades of red and has some type of adhesive on the fender I can't get off, but the wax seemed to help





Think I should hold off on paint and just keep a nice coat of wax on it until I can afford a nice paint job?

[300ZXttZMAN]

Looking good man! IDK about holding off on paint to me its kind of a toss up. But if it were me I would save up for a nice paint job.

[zcar93na]

I'm only gonna hold off long enough to buy what i need to paint it. I was thinking of sanding down the clearcoat, doing some dent filling and spray a few coats of aztec red to freshen everything up. But, a quart of Aztec red is $121

So I found this, Viper red doesn't look like it's too far off and it's enough to do the whole car. All I need to do is buy primer
http://www.paintforcars.com/kits_5star_viperred.html

[z32loverboy]

With paint especially you gotta remember you get what you pay for. If it was me I'd get it sanded and primed and do all the body work myself and then have someone spray it with some high quality paint. That's just me though, prep is the most important though.

[zcar93na]

I plan on spraying the car myself. Like you said, a paint job is only as good as the prep work.

[z32loverboy]

Yeah I helped a guy from church do the prep on a 73 Maserati and it looked awesome after hours and hours of wet sanding the primer and filler

[zcar93na]

Me and a buddy did the prep work on his Dodge, and sprayed the truck. It turned out really good. Plus it was satin black, so a bright red will hide any small imperfectios

[zcar93na]

I finally received my ES diff bushings. Now. I'm just waiting on the weather to clear up so I can get these put in.

[z32loverboy]

Yeah, i'm biased but my favorite color on a Z is the CRP red. Its darker than the aztec red. I've always thought the aztec was too bright of a red. You decided on a color yet?

[zcar93na]

I love CRP, but it's really expensive and I've never painted a pearl, so I'd have to have someone do it for me which would cost even more. My luck it would be tiger striped and look like s***. I'm gonna go with that viper red, I think I can take my time and come out with a nice paint job. Next time around I'll probably go with CRP

[zcar93na]

It's been a while since I updated

I recently got a job as a mechanic at a Kia dealership and I have some cash flow. Still haven't been able to instal my diff bushings due to the weather, but I did order a small few parts. New fog light lenses, Z1 55w conversion plugs, windshield washer check valves and nozzles, and cowl panel clips.


Installed them Thursday because I had an unexpected off day when my alternator burned up sitting in traffic

[DCaff300ZX]

Good news with the job and cashflow, hang in there man!
Your Z will always have her hand in your wallet, but if you stay with it and do the best repairs possible the ride should be worth it. Mine has also been working me over with the 22+ year old parts failing (turbo, clutch, rear main seal), just gotta stay with it...

[zcar93na]

Oh I know, my car is higher maintenance than my girlfriend.lol

I'm basically down to small orders between 100-200 dollars from time to time. I'm about to start doing some maintenance and upgrade work on my girlfriend's Mazda6, so paint and interior on the Z is getting pushed back.