jdm2003 Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Just thought I would document all the things that I've had to repair on my 2003 DE. First issue I had was the running gear. banana arms where knocking so replace those first. after running well for a bit the drop links wore out. on the front and the back. the next thing to go was the ball joints, but the problem there was it had fouled the fixing in the front suspension knuckle. so replace both of those as well as all four rotors, also replace bushings with red Polly bushings. next was the rear drop links. after a month or so the clutch went so upgraded to light weight fly wheel. it drove well for a year. then oil pressure started to play up. so replace the valve covers. plus added a plenum spacer wile I was at it. it had a buddy exhaust on it and the baffles came loose. so replace it with a HKS cat back. She ran well for a bit but developed a clunk on the steering and had to replace the steering rack. oil pressure issues came back and at the same time, the timing chain started to rattle on start up, some where she was loosing oil pressure but had no leaks. any way, this led to big end bearing failure, pulled the engine and rebuilt with forged rods and Cosworth 11:1 pistons, king bearings. arp studs all round sent the whole rotating assembly off to get balanced. modified the block to fit a Gen 3 head gaskets. new timing kit and engine gasket rebuilt kit. added new exhaust manifolds. replace pilot bushing, and upgraded clutch pivot ball as it was squeaking. Both master and slave cylinders also broke so had to replace those. re installed the engine and took it for an MOT. She failed on corroded rear kidney braces. I set about replacing them. but when trying to remove them it became apparent that the chassis its self was corroded badly where the kidney braces (rear stays) are fixed. I had to drop the rear subframe and the tank. Cut all the rot on the chassis and ask @ZMANALEX if he could cut some sections out for me. I welded them in good and proper then coated the bottom with rust restorer and epoxied. Now was time to upgrade the ECU to a link G4X PNP. also added new wideband sensors with aem gauges on both banks. Its been a long road and a lot of hard work as i dont have a garage and do all the work on the road with a jack and axel stands. In my eyes its all been worth it i love how the car looks. Its nothing special when it comes to Z but its mine. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintopete58 Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 God must be like driving a new zed. And kept another zed alive well done sir 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_83 Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Stunning work!! Been a rollercoaster and thankfully you can do so much yourself hence the gamble on buying a car unseen. Looks nice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polaris Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 Great work! Most would give up on the first hurdle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack94 Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 Jheez sounds like you've been very unlucky with all the issues you've had. Fair play to you for spending all the time, effort and money to get it all sorted and keep the car alive. Hope no one reads this and thinks the 350z is an unreliable car, because that's not the case at all! 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm2003 Posted January 5, 2023 Author Share Posted January 5, 2023 Funny enough I still dont believe the car is unreliable, bearing in mind its actually on an 02 plate, i think one of the first few thousand made. She also lived on the coast before i got her and i live right on the sea front. this really hasn't helped, but most of the problems i had are common for an aging car. As nothing last forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KUGT4 Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 Personally avoid non OEM parts that get a lot of hammer ie driveshafts, bearings and ball joints Had some non OEM components last around 10K before wearing out False economy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Muxlow Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 A very nice looking car, nice work on getting it all sorted out and keeping another 1 on the road. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev T Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 great work and well done, lovely looking old girl 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunsetorangezed Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 On 04/01/2023 at 20:27, jdm2003 said: oil pressure issues came back What sort of oil pressure was it running at when you noticed the issues? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm2003 Posted May 3, 2023 Author Share Posted May 3, 2023 10 hours ago, sunsetorangezed said: What sort of oil pressure was it running at when you noticed the issues? It was below 15 at idle, and to be honest I dont think the oil pressure gauge works unless there is an extreme issue. My thoughts are it was a subtle loss of pressure over time. the oil pressure gauge is not 100% accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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