Project Bankrupt/chopshop (Azurez33)

[Azurez33]

So I’ve been meaning to start my build thread for ages and ages and ages….. I’ve basically just been using my welcoming thread instead (what a rap artist). 
 

This must finally happen and so how’s the time, I will hopefully over the weeks shift over the media and build thread to here. 
 

Info on me- I am currently a mechanic in the West Midlands- been working on old jap stuff for a long time whilst pursuing other careers to finally land on being a mechanic after a 2 and a half year apprenticeship, now being qualified for a year and bit now. 
 

I’ve owned WMD now for over 2 years and here’s a before and after pic to show the current progress- I’ve spent a huge amount of money on it now and that’s not going to stop any time soon hence the name. 
 

Majority of the work and effort have gone into housekeeping, and uprating things known to fail, I preferred to address all the issues unseen first to get it to a point where it wasn’t going to be an issue driving it as my daily, so both these pictures probably don’t look dreadfully different but I can assure you they are. As you will see if you’ve not seen my other thread which I’ve lazily added to because I barely seem to get much down time through the garage and work life as I’m sure you’ll all know. 
 

Cheers for reading the initial initiation to my build I will keep relocating the media over with a bit more depth than other the post 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Azurez33

[Azurez33]

First things first…. Lots of research and checking bank accounts later, I made my way through various sites comparing coilovers, springs and bags to make my way to HSD, the current coilovers when I bought it were Hsd and the price was definitely middle of the road/ on the higher side plus I really like the look of them. 
I did look towards yellow speed, meister r or bc, I had heard mixed reviews about bc and the price was above that of the meister and yellow speed and in the end I was drawn to the hsds.
What I wanted was Ohlins however my bank account said no! 

I opted for the softer spring rate as I was to be using this as my daily so 9kg front 6kg rear, with the 16 point adjustment I felt the point wasn’t lost by going for softer springs 

2 years later I can say I’m still impressed with them. 
 

The original set up definitely took a while to make sure everything was right, checking the preload was just right so not too much tension on the spring but at the same time it wasn’t loose, I started by adjusting them to exactly on the middle and kept tweaking them from there! Eventually reaching a point where I felt my awkward drive wouldn’t catch anything important! 

[Azurez33]

Continuing with the update, 

After having the Z for a couple of months I decided that as much as I loved my cobra sports back box and how symmetry is very pleasing, I also love a good wrench in the works. 
This wrench being an AAM competition single exit y section back, bought it off a very helpful chap on eBay and it meant I could just replace the cobra box and it payed for itself, obviously I made sure I polished it up with elbow grease and some autosol accompanied by some steel wool. Do love a shiny tip 😂, also replaced all the associated gaskets whilst doing this. 
 
I hadn’t really heard of AAM and tbh there wasn’t really much in the way of single exits for sale that I had the money for that didn’t require importing. So I did some research and found out that it was Defintely the exhaust for me. Here’s a snipped from their info on the exhaust:

”

The AAM Spec 3" MaxFlow Single Exhaust is specifically designed for those with extreme volume and velocity requirements. The AAM Spec 3" MaxFlow Single exhaust is the highest flowing single exhaust available for the 350Z and is a perfect match for Turbocharged street/strip 350Z's or naturally aspirated/supercharged racing setups that require maximum flow.”

My next issues, brakes and my y section that’s gone awol

[davey_83]

Looking good pal. 

 

Why did you buy coilovers when you already had coilovers? 

[Azurez33]

16 hours ago, davey_83 said:

Looking good pal. 

 

Why did you buy coilovers when you already had coilovers? 

 Cheers mate, only moving over the pics and compiling more info atm got lots of new stuff I’ve done that needs writing up! 

 

basically it had been left adjusted to on the floor which wasn’t suitable for me, corrosion had seized the bottom two locks. I’m also a big fan of knowing how old something is so I can service and clean regularly and not deal with someone else’s neglect. Also the monopros were true coilover on the rear as opposed to the latter on the dualtecs. 

I then cleaned them and managed to free them off and sell them to @Monkey1983

[Azurez33]

Another day, another story. 
 

Commonly on these beautiful cars at the age and mileage they love to destroy the lower control arm bushes, thankfully they can’t go anywhere but they make a hell of a noise. 
So I did a fair bit of researching and keeping in mind costs, I was weighing up removing my standard arms and polybushing them both, cost effective yes however I wanted to try a give the suspension a new lease of life and a different look! 

 So I found these  on eBay, granted it was a bit out of my comfort zone as they were from China and quality was something I was worrying about, however everything is made there these days and it’s only metal and rubber tbh so I though I’d risk it! 
FairPlay I was quite chuffed tbh because the quality was actually really good! a few cnc errors however- due to a recess where the nut for the bottom balljoint is- the bottom of the arm is lower than the bottom of the nut- at 8pm at night this was an absolute nightmare so I had to use a boron washer from a crank bolt- I lathed out the Center to raise the height of where the nut seats and finally it tightened up without any play! wohoo! 
 

FYI: the arm with the mock-up washer is silver because that’s what I fitted to @Monkey1983

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by Azurez33

[da.murf]

Keen to hear the exhaust. Thinking of moving to a single exit myself 

[Monkey1983]

Looking good Deano , stop with the mechanics and show us the flashy bits 🤣  ( you know I’m a flashy bits whore ) 

[Andy_Muxlow]

Looking good buddy. I am also thinking of moving over to a single exit exhaust.

[Azurez33]

14 hours ago, da.murf said:

Keen to hear the exhaust. Thinking of moving to a single exit myself 

Well, not going to lie it’s such a deep deep tone it sounds awesome with just the box even my mate with a Subaru said god that’s a real deep tone, I’ve now got a cobra y section and cobra sports cats and it’s such an individual sound not really heard anyone else’s sound similar! I would kill for a tomei but think that would just be too loud! 😂 I’ll be at jdm castle Combe if you want to have a listen! 

 

4 hours ago, Monkey1983 said:

Looking good Deano , stop with the mechanics and show us the flashy bits 🤣  ( you know I’m a flashy bits whore ) 

Sorry Sam got to do the write ups properly, if I didn’t do the mechanics mate that wouldn’t help you very much would it 😂 I’ll get there mate got so much to add! 
 

2 hours ago, Andy_Muxlow said:

Looking good buddy. I am also thinking of moving over to a single exit exhaust.

 Thanks mate, it won’t disappoint dependant on what you get, I see tarmac have made their own now- problem with the single exits is there’s not overly much of them over here they’re all imported pretty much! 

[Azurez33]

So continuing on, I’ve always felt that the back end needed something to set it off as the base lip just Wasn’t enough and I needed something a bit more, but at the same time something that flowed right with the body as I felt that a big wing just wasn’t for me- so I did look into ducktails however I felt they were just a bit too common for me! 

 
I do like ducktails but needed to be a bit different, so I started looking though and found a few eBay specials but was worried about fitment issues! I then found that tarmac sportz did replica Nismo spoilers- not that I want to make mine a fismo but I just genuinely liked the sleek look that move and blend with the body but also give the back end a big talking point. Funnily enough they had just had an offer in the v3 for a lower price as a preorder so I just knew this was a sign! 

 

Ordered and test fitted! was absolutely over the moon with the look! I got my boss to do me a fair job of painting it (god azure blue isn’t cheap) the worst pain in the ass was trying to fit the thing with all the 10 mounting bolts - an old tipex truck did save me a fair bit of time marking where the holes needed to be. Following this attacking the bootlid with a parking sensor hole saw to which I then checked the holes lined up to which thank god they did! silicones round the ends as they were open and didn’t want the bolts corroding and to make sure the water doesn’t get in the boot! also made sure I siliconed up the third brake light also siliconed round where it seats as an extra layer of protection (which hasn’t worked and now it’s bossed - current edit) feeding the wire through the boot was a challenge on its own! long grabby tool to the rescue! 

 

Also attached are some shots from my first three stage polish the week before the spoiler arrived! god they do shine up well! 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Azurez33

[Azurez33]

It makes a hell of a difference 

[HEADPHONES]

That certainly gives the rear end some attitude

[Azurez33]

On 15/10/2021 at 22:11, HEADPHONES said:

That certainly gives the rear end some attitude

It certainly does haha! 

[Azurez33]

Next step, tackling the rear brakes and handbrake!  Unfortunately I didn’t take any pics of adjusting the cleaning up the handbrake as didn’t think it was interesting enough!

 

I had replaced the fronts with brembo aftermarket (shyte) for the mot as that was what the salesman agreed to go for (not going to lie they squeak and creak and fade really badly) so I decided an upgrade on the rear - ebc grooved and dimpled coupled will yellow stuff pads as I felt that was the best rating to go for as it was my daily mixed with potential track use- I did look at red stuff but seemed a bit too much.  

So on removal I decided to check over the calipers as the fronts were slightly sticking, so wanted to try and save premature brake failure, especially on £££ brakes!  So after pulling the calipers off I noticed the that where the paint chips or comes off the salt/corrosion lifts up the shims causing the pads to stick/seize! so had to remove them best I could (however two of  the torque bits were seized so I had to use a very sharp/ thin knife to remove as much of the corrosion a possible  so the pads could move freely, once scrapped out they were okay but I really need to get a refurb)

Shock horror once removing the discs I actually had shoes left which made me a bit happy as seemed it might not have been used for drifting!  Cleaned up the backing plate, lubed up the T piece and checked the cables were free, stripped and cleaned the adjuster and refitted it back together, with the new discs on I adjusted the  h/brake. They look awesome! (Now in the future- they are still really good and had no issues with them at all) please excuse the dreadful wheel nuts they will be going! At the same time I replaced brake fluid with motul rbf600 and the clutch fluid as I know the z suffers with brake fade! 

In the future I’m lookin to replace the dreadful brembo fronts discs and pads to stoptech rotors and Ferrodo pads 

 

think the look is really moving forwards! 

[Stutopia]

love a good build, in for the updates

[davey_83]

Juicy updates, keep em coming towards the latest additions 

[Azurez33]

9 hours ago, Stutopia said:

love a good build, in for the updates

Thanks mate, they’ll be coming! Trying to find the time! 

 

7 hours ago, davey_83 said:

Juicy updates, keep em coming towards the latest additions 

Cheers bud, I know you want the good stuff it’s coming! especially now I’m waiting for parts from torqen which I’ve been told need to come from overseas 😂

[Azurez33]

Finally sat down after a long day…. So story time! 
 

Cleaning- decided at this point to do some more intrusive cleaning, removed all the wheels so I could get stuck into the arches and clean out where those horrible “arch liners” on the rear keep all the soil so Alan titchmarsh can do a show about it. Every wash I have to pull them back and remove whatever’s hiding in there! 

 

anyway moving on, I adopted a new kit “I’ve had in the garage for a while but didn’t feel my civic was the right canvas” got the poor boys deluxe kit with all the bits and bobs including the nicest smelling wheel sealant, so upon removal and stripping and cleaning of the wheels I decided to give them a little protection for the daily crud I drive through, not going to lie the xxrs are dreadful for this sort of application as there’s so many grooves and crevasses which you an miss! and then buffing it off afterwards doesn’t always get all of it, next set of wheels I hope will be more achievable! 

 

after treating and cleaning the wheels, I cleaned up and serviced the coilovers and re applied protection on the threads. I like being a bit of a wash white so got the pressure washer out snowfoamed it to start with using autoglym polar blast which I think is pretty dreadful as it doesn’t really foam just more or less is soapy water, doesn’t seem to be any hang time so will be using it up then getting some better stuff! Follow on from that a hand wash using autofinesse lather ph neutral shampoo, after that decided to polish it for the hell of it only by hand as didn’t want to bring the big guns out till I had the time to strip it all off! Used the auto finesse triple 3 polish which is a bit of a cheat but hey ho then topped it with whatever the auto finesse sealant is called think it’s glisten ( being a spray wax wasn’t really hopeful it would last too long) 

 

My favourite part was Defintely polishing the exhaust with a bit of autosol and wire wool! Defintely cleans up well! 
 

Next up some exciting sheet 

[da.murf]

Any video clips of the exhaust? Here in ireland so chances of seeing it at a meet are slim lol

[zelda]

Looking good.

 

I found the autoglym polar disappointing as well for the same reasons. Just about used mine up now..

[Azurez33]

4 minutes ago, da.murf said:

Any video clips of the exhaust? Here in ireland so chances of seeing it at a meet are slim lol

I’ll send you a video at some point tomorrow, If you pm me it’ll be easier 

[Azurez33]

3 minutes ago, zelda said:

Looking good.

 

I found the autoglym polar disappointing as well for the same reasons. Just about used mine up now..

Yeah it doesn’t mix well or spread well,  I’ve moved into ez artic meltdown in the current day and it’s bloody good! 

[Azurez33]

The unscheduled continuation…. 
sorry guys I have so much extra bits to add but constantly having a million things to do, I blame @Monkey1983 for getting me to go car shows most weeks 😂 either that or continuing with the restoration of my prelude but anyway- back for a few! 

Working in a garage I see so many nice ads which from the outside look well defined and moulded and then inside you can tell the money ran out or it just wasn’t important- unfortunately the z Definitely fell into this category, with the fact there was only a few models available in the uk you would have though some more effort would have gone into the seats from oem even a logo would have been nice and the interior was just meh, I like the accents here and there but the steering wheels not even very special, I usually like to do everything in order but this was a cheaper alternative to new wheels so out comes the paint! 

 

The Bose system has been doing it’s famous “I don’t want to listen to this bit” skipping every so often and tbh it looked dated anyway so decided I was going to bin it replace with my nice double din JVC out the prelude which wasn’t been used. After doing copius amounts of research and failed information from halfrauds iso harness I order a very expensive harness “thanks Bose” from the Internet! trying to also keep function of steering wheel controls! after following the blokes instructions of what I needed and which wires I need to join and solder, admittedly I did join the wrong wire once so the skip button turned the volume up so had a quick switcheroo! but compared to my old Ep3 removing the stereo in the z was way easier and slightly enjoyable! must admit the HVAC unit and all the wires were Defintely a squeeze behind but made it sort of fit! 

 

I then wanted to address the orange peel facia and boring gear knob surround that had its fair share of wear, ideally in the future I will sand it all down because I think the textured look is pretty naff but it’ll do for now! cleaned it all up using some spirits then dried it all up with some sort of old t shirt, primed the bugger then hit it with some bmw sparkle graphite which is pretty subtle but Defintely gives it a new lease of life! 

 

I then saw the gauge surround and though, I might aswell as some colour here too along with the gear knob surround! so after cutting the Melt joins on the pod gauges I removed them cleaned them up primed and sprayed with what Honda like to call “sparkle yellow” also known as gold 😂

 after a few coats and some swearing later due to the cat knocking them off where they were sat i lacquered it all waited for it to dry then reinstalled it with some dots of super glue where the old melt joins were! Much better look I’d say for a bit of paint and some swearing! 

Next: wheels if I remember rightly! If I can afford them, if not I’ll just have to go on X factor with some really catchy hook 

[Azurez33]

Following on. 
tyres were getting pretty low on the rear so had to replace them, not before a good spirited drive! had to do the research on what tyres were currently rated in the 18” category, I used tyrereviews.com- at the time 275/40/r18 falken azenis 510s were rated 7th I believe so I decided to go for them as mps4s were too much money for me at the time and I’m a firm believer to go for the best tyres you can afford! couldn’t resist painting the logos on them either!  always sets them off a bit!