iestyn.lewis

Hi all - thanks for the help you've given me already, figured it was time to post an intro. Here's my ZX, an '83 NA t-top manual coupe. I bought it at the end of August for $2600, I believe I am the 3rd owner. The 2nd owner pretty much bought it and then stored it for a year in his garage under a cover before selling it to me. I don't know if that's a lot to pay for one or not, but looking at some pictures of other people's project cars, it's in pretty good shape, both body and mechanical.

It's a garaged nice weather weekend car for me, I have a civvie to take me back and forth to work.

The 1st owner seems to have taken pretty good care of it. It has 130,700 miles on it as of right now. The only area with (visible) rust is the rear driver's side quarter panel, where the exhaust had been coming out under the car. I added an exhaust tip to vent the exhaust past the bumper and applied mar-hyde rust converter to the rust areas. I'm going to leave it at that until I feel like learning about body work... It also has a little dent in the passenger front fender.

The PO had it recarpeted, and I added a dash cap, so the cracks you see in the picture are gone - also added leather seat covers, so it's all black now.

I have new shocks and struts on order, and will probably replace at least some bushings. Also new brake pads, probably new wheel bearings, etc... My dad's a mechanic, next time he comes down to Atlanta we're going to make up a shopping list.

To save weight, I've removed the spare tire, underhood A/C components, underhood cruise control, injector fan, changed out the air box for a cone filter, removed the back wiper, etc. I also hacked in an iPod input for the factory stereo using the existing tape deck connector in the back. The tape deck belts were black goo, of course.

Adjusted timing and idle speed to spec, changed oil to Mobil 1 synthetic for high mileage, changed the MT and diff oil and fixed a squeaky idler pulley, put in new plugs and fuel filter, and seafoamed it.

Having a great time, even tho my dad's a mechanic I had never even changed the oil in one of my own cars before. Great fun to drive and easy to work on.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_e3lm7TfpO2...0/IMG_0842.jpg


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SportBikeMike

Nice car!!

KasbeKZ

good stuff. you'll find this a good source of info if you get in any tough spots

snwbrderphat540

to bad about the dash, otherwise it seems to be and a very good condition, though, that close to 3 grand is a bit much imho. but its all about local market as well.

njgheewala

That is a real nice car! sweet!!!!

ZBRICK

nICE, i LIKE THE RED COLOR.

z-hag

nice car---keep her pretty and have fun with her---

iestyn.lewis

thanks everyone! The market is funny here in metro ATL - stuff's probably a bit pricier due to low rust and high population - but yeah, the condition plus the red color plus the 6-spoke wheels pretty much sold me. I'm trying to keep it stock or at least not do any permanent damage. I'm psyched to see what it's like after the new shocks/struts.

280zx2by2

WooT another GA Z Driver! Im down here in Valdosta you know Lowndes Vikings and Valdost Wildcats? AKA Title Town... anyway Nice Z, sounds like you have most of the standard tune up and service knowledge and thats a great thing to have here...

and these people dont get how expensive even used cars cost in GA... they laugh at me for paying $2100 for my 2+2 NA with 158k miles....

hermultra

great looking zx... hey dont feel bad I paid a little over twice, for my zxt than you did... this is my 2nd zx, I know what I wanted & went out & found one, that I did not have to do all that restoring to, not that I dont enjoy working on my car but I dont have to time. so now I can drive a compleat classic, not a rolling project that I might not finnish....

dont get me wrong I'll always have to turn a wrench on my zx.
so anyway for less than $3000 you got a nice classic car, if it runs as good as it looks..

iestyn.lewis

hermultra - nice looking car! Mine's not a turbo, but yeah, I wanted something to work on when i felt like it, but something that didn't need a full resto right off the bat.

Here's a random question for whoever - I'd like to take off the little 1/2 inch wide black side trim that's glued to the doors and side panels - is there a solvent I can use, and will it clean up ok, or should I wait until getting it repainted before doing that?

hermultra

mine is held on with two sided tape, on my motorcycle forum they used dental floss or fishing line to saw behind the badges on the gas tank... they have had good results with out damaging the paint.

then do the clean up with (goope) taking your time to solfen it up, using a rag & your finger nail........ (dont use anything hard as a scraper) hope this helps good luck!!!!!!!!

iestyn.lewis

Not too exciting, but there's NOTHING going on around here. Here's what I've done to the car lately:

- replaced all struts/shocks
- replaced all brake pads
- replaced PCV valve
- replaced distributor rotor and cap
- JB Welded the heater coolant tee (don't know what it's called, but it was leaking)
- changed the oil back to dino from synthetic after coolant got into open dipstick hole from fixing the coolant tee (uh huh huh)
- replaced P/S belt (which FINALLY stopped the screeching)
- put a new center console cover on, hiding the last remaining worn interior part
- took all the emblems, pinstriping and molding off (took FOREVER and made me high for a week on adhesive solvent)
- rubbed it down with rubbing compound and waxed it up
- put the emblems back on and ran some trimbrite tape down the side where the moldings used to be (couldn't get all the sticky stuff off and it looked like a$$, kinda dented and paint chips).
- looked into getting a 4 barrel and then decided not to after much sage advice from various forumgoers and looking at actual dyno numbers over at hybridz.

I've got a new alternator coming in today which will hopefully solve the fluctuating voltage problem, and an MSA performance exhaust and bushing set to install.

Not as exciting as building a racecar, but there ya go.

snwbrderphat540

you should go back to dino once fully synthetic... for shame...


also, mind sharing the dyno results of going 4bbl carb from stock?

iestyn.lewis

Yeah, it seemed to start using oil as soon as I put the synthetic in. There seems to be a lot of debate about whether you have to give the synthetic time to swell the old seals, or whether you should just go back to dino. Frankly, once I knew I was going to have to change the oil after only 1000 miles on the expensive synthetic, I decided to go with the cheap(er) dino oil.

The dyno numbers are from this thread:
http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=118803
Post #7.

Basically, it was a dead heat between FI and a Holley on the dyno @ 5500 rpm - but the FI had snappier acceleration based on driving impression.

snwbrderphat540

no synthetic is a finer molecule so it acts almost like a detergent and leaks at old seals, it just means your cars a piece of crap and you need to fix it not the oils fault LOL

280zx2by2

dude did you hear about grayson beating us (lowndes)? **** sucks.... hope you guys have a good game aganist camden, but id prefer grayson gets there ash beat by camden

iestyn.lewis

Maybe forum traffic is low because no one particularly wants to be told their car's a piece of crap. Calm down, ya spikey-haired punk!

Anyway, yeah, it uses oil. Can't really tell how much at this point because I haven't been measuring it, and I've changed the oil twice already in 1500 miles. There's no blue smoke and no spots on the garage floor. Next time I'll probably go for a heavier weight. I'm not up for replacing seals and rings yet. I should do a compression test though.

After I get the exhaust in I'll take a couple of videos so I can get your expert opinion on the areas that need improvement.

2by2 - my nieces are at Norcross HS but I don't follow the games yet... I'm sure when my own kids get there I'll be all over it...

280zx2by2

snw is kind of an A-hole

snwbrderphat540

i never said YOUR car is crap, i said using synthetic and the car starts to leak everywhere is a sign its crap and replace the seals dont mask the problem, cause the problem isnt oil.




EDIT: actually... i did say your car is a piece of crap lol. but whatever semantics is all haha

Ratfink

No, you're a towel!


Meh...

You get used to Snw.. He has some superiority complex or something. But he's alright.

You have a good looking Z. Keep up the good work.
I'll bet your dad told you never to hold a wrench huh?
Hobbyist get their kids into wrenching.
Mechanics try and keep them away. haha

snwbrderphat540

when i edited i meant the way i worded it the first time it SOUNDS like im calling HIS car a piece of crap... which it could be IDK lol but wasnt what i intended. read between the lines

Ratfink

Read between the lines?

iestyn.lewis

Hey snw, it's alright - no harm done. I get what you meant. I'm sure I'll get bored enough at some point to rebuild the engine if I hang on to it long enough.

Ratfink - you nailed it. My dad had no interest in getting me involved in car stuff. I think he was sick of looking at the damned things by the end of the day.

Ratfink

Most are. I was lucky. I was worried that when I started wrenching for a living that it would kill my one hobby. But, because what I worked on had nothing to do with what I was going to drive and own, it didn't.