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I took some time this past Week/Weekend to get some much needed Maintenance done on the Z33 and put some new parts on.
-Mishimoto Oil Cooler and Sandwich Plate with -10 AN lines
-Mishimoto Intake and Charge Pipe
-Plenum Spacer and Associated Gaskets
-Valve Covers and Associated Gaskets
-Spark Plugs
-Oil Change
-Coolant Flush
-Z1 Plenum Dress-up Kit
-Z1 Lightweight Crank, Alternator Pulleys and Idler Delete Kit
-Catch Can Cleanup
I've been accumulating parts since COVID started trying to get this thing ready for the track. I Finally had the time to get started and had a good place to put the car while we worked on it. Since the Oil Cooler needed to be mounted to the core support we removed the front Bumper to make things a little easier. As everyone knows, it all came apart pretty easy. We pulled back the wiring harness and marked every connector with the associated Sensor. Since the Black wire wrap was pretty beaten up we took some time to wrap it with Red 3M Electrical tape to dress it up. Once the valve covers were off we got a look inside and it was surprisingly clean. I drained the oil and didn't see and metal bits in my pan or on my magnetic plug so I was feeling pretty good.
After prepping the heads for the new gaskets we got started trying to replace just the Spark Plug O-rings on the existing valve covers. I had watched a few videos on it and was confident I could get them out with a little effort. My optimism shortly turned into dread as I broke not only one, but both valve covers while trying to get them out. I quickly got on Amazon and ordered new ones trying not to beat myself up about it. Little did I know the worst was yet to come.
Now that our main task was suspended, we went ahead and mounted the sandwich plate and the Oil cooler. I had already made 2 of the -10 AN fittings so we measured out the hose and cut to length. We were done for now so I finished the AN lines at my apartment in the AC.
I finally got the new valve covers and was super excited to get them on. After an stressful day at work, I was free to finish the car. We prepped the valve covers and gaskets and got the driver side on just fine. I went around the valve cover torquing the bolts down with my good ol' Harbor Freight Torque Wrench when either the wrench failed or my stupidity prevailed and I snapped a screw off in the head. Pure terror filled me as yet again I had caused myself another setback. With no time left to jack with it that Night, I pushed it off to the weekend and lost sleep every night. Since I had some extra time now, I also decided to paint the Plenum and the Strut tower brace.
Friday evening came and I planned to drill out the screw and run a new bolt all the way through the head. I got some stainless hardware to use and set it up with the longer bolt, 2 Washers, a Lock Washer and a Nut. I was actually able to drill it out pretty easy but messed up the threads as expected. I drilled it out a little bigger to allow for my bolt to easily slide through and got it all set up. I was able to torque them all down in the correct order as documented and kept going to the passenger side. After that was done, things started to fall into place. I pulled the spark plugs after using compressed air to blow out a little debris. The plugs were drenched in Oil which is what I had found when I replaced them originally right after getting the car. We drained the Coolant and got the plenum put together with the plenum spacer installed after finishing up with the Spark plugs, Cannon Coils and Wiring Harness. The Mishimoto Intake went in like a dream but caused me to move my Catch Can closer to the fan shroud. The Z1 Crank Pulley and Alternator Pulley are going to have to wait for the Radiator to come out/get replaced. I didn't have the confidence level to get those on but I did delete the Idler pulley and went to shorter belts.
I've been driving the car for about a week now and haven't found any leaks from the valve covers or the Oil Cooler lines. I can tell that the car has picked up on the low end, smoothing out acceleration leading up to VVTI advancing. It is staying a tick cooler it seems as well with the new coolant and Oil Cooler. I didn't really see myself owning this car for too long. The more I have done to it the more I have fallen in love with it. Time for a few track days and improvements to my Driver Mod before we start getting any crazier.
Z1 Plenum Dress-up Kit really does set it off Plus a little Mishimoto Silicon Just a small 10 Row. I plan to upgrade to a 19 Row and use this for the power steering cooler. If you look close enough you can see my Golf Ball Aero
Motivation is real low this year, but.finally got the car inspected, and swapping over to the summer wheels for a few months...
I finally got my car inspected too after a 3 month delay because of Covid-19 closures. Used the new emission kiosk which was cool and took all of 5 minutes. Finally got my inspection date moved from winter to spring for now on. Just beat the cutoff date of 2005 or later vehicles.
Insurance is turned on, and I put about 120 miles on her today. I really like the feel of the Nismo shocks/springs that I installed, although there is still some sort of suspension clunk in the front (the swaybar endlinks were replaced, so it's not from those). I hear the noise on some bumps, and also when braking at really low speeds...like something is shifting. I'll have a look...it's probably a worn bushing.
I'll have to check the rear calipers and pads, as they're definitely noisy (and not just from clearing off the flash-rust on the rotors). I'm also really leaning towards the idea that the wheel.bearimgs are needing to be replaced.
But, all-in-all, for an initial purchase price of $500 (it had 124k miles then) and with 129k miles on it now, I'm still happy as can be with this Z.
wow, thats pretty clean. not a fan of ZR's but This is it!
whats the little splitter thing under ur bumper? custom or company?
Thanks! I made the two pieces on the corners of the front bumper out of carbon fiber when I was trying my hand at some wet lay up. I wanted something to protect the bumper from speed bumps and inclined driveways.
Originally Posted by DarkZ03
Heel, do you have the Stillen spoiler too?
No, my spoiler looks similar to the Stillen, though. I got it from SpoilerFactory back in 2014. It was called the "Aggressive-style spoiler" for the roadster since the trunk lines are different from the coupe. It doesn't look like it's available there anymore, but you can find it at other places.
I replaced the "open" diff in my base '07 350Z with a Quaife LSD. I thank this website for guidance
in accomplishing this task - by myself. But what a bi*$h of a job. I estimate I spent over 20 hours working
(and got a good workout, too). I had to order a couple sets of custom shims (and yank the Quaife out at least a half dozen times)
to the get the backlash within specs. Car now has great traction, especially coming out of corners.
The Quaife is as quiet as a church mouse and has no excessive heating.
Only took me 9 years to decide to tuck the rear bumper. Picked up a used Vortech V3 kit and decided to grab a made to order Fast Intentions 2.5" TD. Love it!
Prolly gonna get the 2.87" pulley and get retuned. Still need to get my CF ChargeSpeed sideskirts sprayed and installed.
Took about 45 minutes if you include chatting w my neighbor. Thanks to Ace Hardware for stainless steel screws and fender washers. Out the door at $7 for this project.
Not really putting many miles on atm. Had an open dif and upgraded to a used VLSD w 3.5 FD gears for a buck twenty. Motul 90 wt IIRC. Back end slides a bit now shifting to 2nd gear, running damm good at 108K.
Absolutely nothing but miss her! She's been in the shop for so long, I'm gonna have to readjust from driving a 2002 Sierra back to my Zeddy WHEN I ever get her back.
Curse these first world problems (needing AC)
07-02-2020, 11:28 AM
Mishimoto FTW
