The 2015 Zed Project

I have owned my Z32 for about 10 years. It was purchased in 2005 at 112000km having just had an 80000km motor installed. During its first year I spent (way too much) money tidying and fixing and sorting out deferred maintenance or outright damage caused by previous owners and repairers.

While not perfect it has been reliable and efficient. The paint was terrible (despite having the front half of the car repainted) with maybe 16 shades of maroon evident. Not that appearance bothered me all that much - the uglier it is the less likely our friendly light-fingered neighbours will pay attention.

Since then the car has sat about most of each year (I am in NZ maybe twice a year so it gets driven at most 6 weeks a year). It has had annual oil changes, otherwise minimum maintenance required to keep it legal and pass safety inspections.

You might think just sitting unused would be a good thing, and it is in some ways. However there are always some issues related to being parked up and I finally got to the point of thinkin some lovin' would be a good idea.

In the intervening years one of the Z enthusiasts based in Hamilton (about 1300km and a ferry ride from where I visit) opened a business looking after Nissans specialising in the Z32. His hourly rate is steep, but experience and specialist knowledge make it worthwhile for many people. Seeing the list of work to be done was kinda long and I cannot be bothered doing it all I decided that spending the extra would be worthwhile. I would like to thank Glenn at The Lab Limited (also check facebook) for his experience, advice and work. Excellent! I delivered the car to him in June and collected it in December of 2015.

The car clocked over 150000km on the way back from Hamilton. Yes that is only 38000km in 10 years.

The total budget was 9000 NZD, with 2 grand for tyres paint and super-cap system and 6 grand to mr specialist, and one to get it to and from. Yeah I know. That seems to be a lot of money for a car that will be worth maybe 5000 when done. However the work is done not for profit but for use - I want another 10 years of running with minimal maintenance.
Well as always the budget got blown. However some things did change along the way, as they always do.
The original plan was to remove the engine so that all seals could be replaced. According to Glenn, if you have the engine lifter and stand available most of the work to be done is way easier and the whole job quicker. Unfortunately his engine stand was in use all of the time my old bus was there (custom building a v6 for a jet boat) so he did a plenum pull instead.

The Auxilliary Air Intake Control valve

These gum up with deposits and residues over time, preventing correct operation. The AAIC valve controls idle speed by allowing (or not) extra air into the plenum. For example, if you turn on the AC the extra load would cause the idle speed to drop, or under high load it may be necessary to alter air mixture. If the solenoid plunger gets stuck then air values get mixed up, the ecu attempts to compensate, and there is a problem with revs randomly going up or down (surging) or at idle there will be a slight 'misfire' or hesitation. In the Z32 the AAIC sits between the plenum and firewall and is difficult to remove without removing the plenum or engine first.
Cleaning is pretty straight forward once removed. Disassemble, carby clean and a toothbrush to scrub with, then reassemble once dry and clean.

Throttle-body warming hoses

There are a set of hoses (like heater hoses) that run from the bypass fittings at the back of the motor to the throttle bodies at the front of the motor. The idea is that warming the throttle-bodies during start-up will help reduce emissions. In practise the gain is nominal and any other deficiency will have a greater deleterious effect than positive provided. They are prone to failure over time and are usually overlooked when mantenance takes place. Removal saves maybe a kilo of weight. The hoses are removed, blanking caps are installed at the throttle body end, clips ground off the lower side of the plenum, and at the rear end run a bypass hose or pull the whole bypass assembly and install metal blank plates.

EGR Delete

Exhaust Gas Recirculation removal is pretty common with the VG30 and VG33 motors in almost all of their applications. EGR is another exhaust emissions control measure that may be beneficial when a car is in optimal condition, but over time just causes more problems than benefit. (I have a VG33 in a Pathfinder where the EGR was constantly clattering on and off, fuel consumption suffering accordingly. Unplugged the solenoids as a temporary measure and fuel consumption dropped from 20 to 15l/100km). There are a selection of hoses and so on going from the underside of the plenum to the exhaust. Removal results in kilograms of weight savings each side. There are plenty of on-line articles showing how this is done.

Headers

The factory exhaust manifolds are reputed to be pretty good ex-factory, but properly tuned headers provide better flow, cooler running, a crisper exhaust sound and improved accelleration. All of which (with the exception of noise) contribute to improved efficiency and lower fuel consumption. Stillen stainless steel headers were imported. The RHS needed the O2 sensor bung moved to clear steering. These were installed while the plenum was off - just that little bit more space to work. New O2 sensors were installed.

Cam Belt and associated stuff

While the top was off, the cam belt was replaced, along with oil seals down the front of the motor. Water pump was replaced along with thermostat. A lightweight main pulley was installed to help improve throttle response (AMS UD type) but the rest of the set was not in stock so maybe in the next round! That only leaves the rear main seal to be replaced, also in the next round I suspect.
The cam belt et al was all replaced when I got the car in 2005. Probably not required to do this but preventative maintenance is a good thing. Temp and oil senders were replaced.
Glenn had fun with the cooling system. Sitting around is not so good for these motors with lots of gunk settling over time. The drive North dislodged most of this so the coolant looked like the mud monsters had been in there ;) The last time the coolant was flushed was toward the end of 2013 when the heater core was replaced removing a slow leak. Lots of water flushing later (he reckoned the hose was in there and left to run for nearly 2 hours) the block was clear of muck and fresh coolant put in. The original plan called for new silicon hoses but only the heater ones arrived grrr. As it happened the top hose gave up on the way south and the replacement cost 170$ at Repco in Christchurch. Not over happy since a full set of silicon hoses cost about half that. Will replace the lower hose later in the year just to be sure.
By the time he had got that far the budget was looking pretty sad, so he decided to refit the viscous clutch and cooling fan since they are in good nick.

Annoying suspension issue

During the first year the whole suspension was given a good thorough looking at. Most all bushes were replaced with nolathane and offset pins installed (so that there is at least some adjustment available for wheel alignment). The struts and coils seemed lower than standard and were all working fine so left alone.
Despite numerous visits to the tyre shop there was one thing that bugged me. When coming to a stop, especially when done gently, there would be a forward/backward rocking motion. Not a front dip and settle like you get with soggy sprung cars, definitely forward backward motion. Weird.
Turns out it was the front caster arm bushes giving up! Someone prior to my ownership had installed blue rubber bushes (not red or orange nolathane as usually fitted for me) and these had just fallen apart inside. Nasty.
Glenn commented that the suspension was a lot more firm than he was expecting. Lots more firm...
At about the same time as this was coming to light I scored an amazing deal on some fully adjustable coilover sets. One came to where I live in Aus for another zed project and one sent to Glen to be installed. Once they were in and set to their maximum height the car is even lower! The spring rates are a bit softer than before so the ride is somewhat nicer on the open road. After adjusting the dampers so they were coping with the springs it was clear that there is simply not enough adjustment in the factory arms to get a decent alignment, even with eccentric bolts at both ends. So, after some rummaging about, I will order and install fully adjustable suspension arms right through. That's 14 arms in total!
I got the car back south and went in to the tyre place to sort what needed sorting (tyres etc) and lo and behold they had a used set of amazing 19x8.5 and 19x9.5 inch alloys. They are paid for now and will be installed when the suspension gear goes in. That way everything is done at once and I expect it will be pretty speccy :)
While I had not really expected to get new alloys, in a way it is a great thing. One of the things I had wanted to acheive is a greater rolling diameter especially for the rears. This will drop rev for speed (the same revs will be a higher actual speed) hopefully so the speedo reads correctly. At the moment it is almost 8% out - the speed alarm goes off at an actual 101km! Some will say that some power will be lost but the car was already putting out in excess of 170rwkw on its last dyno run (ages ago) and with more than 400rwNM of torque that really is not an issue.
The old suspension turned out to be KYB heavy duty struts with some beefy coils, explaining why it rode so firmly. I suspect that someone had wanted to play drifter. Explains how bad so many things were when I got the car!

Stuff you may normally do...

Tidying up

After all that was done, (oil etc as well of course) the front bar was installed and the new under-trays fitted. They are seriously cool in alloy :) The support is appreciated for the new bar cos it does not flex like the other did, hopefully we are in for a longer life there.
The spoiler was replaced after I arrived to collect the car in December. The original came off after removing 4 nuts and applying some persuasion. The new one weighs maybe 2kg, the old one closer to 20. At the same time the rear wiper was removed and the counterweight, about 7 kg there. And of course the unused electric aerial was removed. After some hole filling, sanding, priming the whole area is a lot more tidy. Special thanks to Ammon who made a closed-cell foam sanding pad that is flat on one side and nicely curved on the other. This made dealing with all the curves a breeze. Thanks Ammon :) The new spoiler required very little sanding and fettling to sit nicely, a credit to the people who made it. Was stuck down using poly-urethane adhesive. Once the first lot was cured off I added a bead across the front of the spoiler to ensure no leaks.
Glenn was going to build some tail lights but simply did not get time to do that with all his other work and projects. As it happened I had scored some really tidy used ones for the Aussy zed, so I brought those over and fitted them after painting the car. Much better but a little disappointing not to have something a bit custom on there.

Not done

There is a video on youtube showing the new wheels and suspension stuff. The arms have yet to be certified but that is coming along. Nice!