Draker's 300ZXTT

[draker]

Well.. I've never had a project thread for this car because.. it's not a project. I bought the car about 8 years ago, swapped the motor due to a dead cylinder and turbo. Been good ever since!

But soon it will be going under the knife again for a 5sp swap. Been planning this for well.. about 7.5 years now. lol.

I found a guy parting a manual TTz in Placerville, CA and have been working with him over the last few months. I finally went and picked everything up last weekend. The swap is tentatively planned for this fall. There are still a few little bits I need to complete the swap.

Also, I'll probably do a bit of "while your in there" stuff which I need to save money for.

[draker]

Anyway, I thought the Z would be out of commission until the swap was completed due to an issue I had over the weekend.

I don't drive the car that often, but I try to take it out about once a month just to keep the fluids flowin. I did that on Saturday and got a little gas then hit a straight stretch next to my house. I got the turbo's spoolin and hit close to triple digits and on my way back, I started to smell burning oil. I pulled into my driveway and I could see smoke from the hood.. I shut it down and popped the hood.. and there was oil all over the turbo and down pipe.

If you've ever seen under the hood of a Z.... It's about 18" under this:




It looked like the turbo oil hardline ruptured.. fml. I was pretty pissed and assumed it was done until I could pull the motor to repair. Well, after some googling, I found there is a process to remove this hardline with the engine in the vehicle. It's not for the faint of heart.





The L shaped heat insulated hard line is what needed to be replaced. With the right combo of wobblies, extensions, and a quality 12mm crows foot, you can turn the flair fitting about 15-20 degrees. After about 3 hours in:



And another 2 hours to install the replacement... It was back up and running.

[draker]

Also pro tip... get a car cover that fits. I had one on this car over the winter that was too long... didn't breath at all.. and corroded and rusted everything under the hood. It used to be spotless under the hood... now it's just embarrassing.

[flatcat19]

Fuck that shit.


Those cars are such a pain to work on.

I have a lube tech at work with one. His car needs tons of work.
Asking me all the time to do work for him. Dude, that car is like double my side work rate. #fml #buyaguide

[draker]

Fuck that shit.


Those cars are such a pain to work on.

I have a lube tech at work with one. His car needs tons of work.
Asking me all the time to do work for him. Dude, that car is like double my side work rate. #fml #buyaguide

They are an absolute nightmare. Finicky as all shit.. and anything other than an oil change is basically a pull the motor or drop the tranny situation. So it seems.

Fun to drive though.

[izzo]

Well. I did want one. Not now lol

[DRIVEN]

The Z32 came out right before I started driving and I wanted one in the worst way. I'm glad 15 year old me didn't have the means to own one. I still think they're really cool but I don't enjoy working on them (or most other Nissans for that matter). Glad you found an easy-ish solution to the leaky pipe. And sorry about the corrosion. It got out of control in a hurry. I think you need a 6 car garage more than a fitted car cover.

[draker]

Yeah... I'm saving my pennies. lol

[Laecaon]

That car was unfortunately made when electronics were getting really cool but still archaic in cars, and when they didnt know how to get away from vacuum lines.

[draker]

The good thing is most of the vacuum stuff can be removed. The electronics are interesting. My biggest complaint is lack of space in the engine bay.

If you've worked on them before, it's not too bad. It will still take a long time to get shit done though. Not flat rate friendly, unless you did it for a living in the 90's.

[DRIVEN]

Ugh, you jinxed me. One got towed in to the shop last week after sitting for an extended period. Pearl yellow and only 60K miles. Running on 5 cyls, smoking like mad, and a bunch of inop electrical components. Also complaint of overheat although we didn't run it long enough to verify. We just parked it in the back corner of the lot for the boss to work on when he gets back from vacation.

[Laecaon]

hahaha, sounds like fun. Hopefully its a obdii one...

[DRIVEN]

Nope. 1991.
It was the last car on the fit-in list and our service writer probably wouldn't have even brought it in. But when he's on vacation (he was a couple weeks ago) the boss fills in and he doesn't say no to anything. That results in a lot packed with cars that no other shop wants. I typically run my ass off to make 10-20 hours less during weeks where he's running the schedule. Anyway, the Z sat there all week and Scott decided to give it a quick check-out before we moved it in the corner. I was just in the general vicinity. After 5 minutes, he decided maybe the boss needed to learn a little lesson.
Sorry for the stupid day job tangent.

[izzo]

dont be sorry. I enjoyed reading it

[draker]

The OBD1 electronics are a good place to start. If it's sat, grounds and connectors are going to be fuuuuuuucked. 5 cylinders.. I'd ohm the bad cylinder's injector. or... just let your boss fix it. lol

[DRIVEN]

or... just let your boss fix it. lol

You been driving yours much?

[draker]

For sale.

$5k

[draker]

Still for sale.. lol

[DRIVEN]

Summer is coming. It'll sell.