Looking for a Z (Now found & Built!)

[Aaron MacQ]

Oh, by the way, my old rear window was really cloudy but, a good rub both sides with clay and lube followed by Meguairs Plast-X has it looking like new!

Very impressed. I didn't think it would come up quite this good. Will grab a photo tomorrow.

 

[Aaron MacQ]

Not much to update other than I took the car on a 300 mile road trip at the start of the week and whilst I was quite paranoid after the rear top mount failures on Sunday, we had no further issues.


Isn't this how all road trips should start?
Just doing some final checks as I couldn't remember if I'd fastened the engine splash guard or not, and needed a washer fluid top up.


This was some old railway station, but thought the car looked at home...


Speed bumps...



I hadn't realised the engine support brace was actually the lowest part of the car. I'd been judging my ride height setup based on clearance to the sills and front bumper. As you can just see, there isn't any clearance between this hump and the brace although it didn't actually touch. Either way, I might lift the car another few mm just to be safe.


Lucky just cruising when I met these guys. Stopped for a photo but not one of them wanted to talk about the car....


Another speed hump situation... nothing to worry about.



Anyway, back home now, but the car was great fun and turned heads everywhere and each time we parked up someone seemed to come over for a bit of a chat.

 

[t-tony]

I've heard that sheep are now naturally wary of people in Z roadsters, especially over here in England ................................ oh, and Wales.

Tony.

ps. Great to see the car out and running Aaron.

 

[Rodney Blair]

Lovely motor love to see it some time I take it you are located in Bangor

 

[Aaron MacQ]

Lovely motor love to see it some time I take it you are located in Bangor

Yep, Bangor, tho my dad will be taking the car for the next few months but it's still here and might take it for a run on Sunday morning to Cars & Coffee at Down Royal if I get the chance and the weathers decent.....

 

[PHILIP BAXTER]

I just want to say a big thank you Aaron for saving such a great car and posting a fantastic thread on the restoration process. I have loved seeing the progress you have made. For people like myself, who don't have the knowledge or talents to tackle the things you have done, it's been a huge eye opener into how things are tackled. Your dad must be thrilled with the end result. Well done.

 

[Aaron MacQ]

I just want to say a big thank you Aaron for saving such a great car and posting a fantastic thread on the restoration process. I have loved seeing the progress you have made. For people like myself, who don't have the knowledge or talents to tackle the things you have done, it's been a huge eye opener into how things are tackled. Your dad must be thrilled with the end result. Well done.

Cheers Philip. I know you've been following the progress and hope it inspires others to get their fingers dirty.
As I said before, when I was trying to understand how and what to do to maintain my cars it was mostly forums like this that I learnt from (well, Pug106 and M3 forums) so I've enjoyed giving something back to the car community.

The stories not over yet though, so aside from the new powerflex top mounts and replacement GM4 controller i'll be fitting next week, we still have the rear end to refresh later in the year and some basic servicing in the nearer future.

 

[oldcarman]

I agree with @PHILIP BAXTER totally!! I love the journey you've take us on and can appreciate all you've done! I've been very fortunate in that the car I bought sight unseen has been even better than I could have ever imagined. It's required so little to be done other than changes I've chosen to do, that being a new tan hood and replacing the beige upholstery with greeen leather I purchased off eBay UK for £50 new. JIM

 

[Ianmc]

Drove the Mount Pleasant to Stanley road at least twice a week as my son weekly boarded there, in a Landover 110. Happy days.

 

[Aaron MacQ]

The replacement GM4 has arrived although I haven't got round to fitting it yet, but here's hoping the window fault is cured.



You can see the three relays on the left hand side. One of those controls the windows and desoldering and replacing would require some soldering skill and the relays seem to cost about £10 anyway. Got the entire unit off ebay for £10 delivered!


Hopefully get it swapped over at lunch time.

 

[Aaron MacQ]

Ok, didn't get round to the window fix until the weekend.

First up was to fit the K&N Apollo. I'd left this for my dad to do for a bit of fun, but he's been busy and I couldn't wait any more. Besides, the Nissan Micra 1.0 Air Filter can't have been flowing too well...lol

I'd ordered a 45 degree silicon hose from ebay and all i had to do was trim the length so i could point the open end of the filter enclosure out past the rear of the headlight and down to the wheel arch where there's plenty of cold air. I also used a plastic M14 bolt to plug the breather hose inlet. Anyway, not much to do here and it's on.



Now on to the window issue... Once the glove box is out, access to the GM4 is great...except... there's a plug on the back and I couldn't figure out how to release it. So, i unbolted the carrier unit for the GM4, EWS and the other controller that's in there.



Anyway, now that it's out, I can see all i had to do was flick the lock away from the cables and it falls out.



Mmm, i've no idea what the replacement GM4 came out of, and here's hoping that it works, and doesn't need coded. Our original was a version 1.5 and the replacement is 1.4.


The middle connector is a different colour too, but the pins seem to line up. I popped the top, but only minor differences to the circuitry, so confident that it'll do something....


Ta da.... The window went down (and up). RESULT


So took the car out for a drive and deliver it back to my dad and was very impressed with the new filter setup. It was a very different sound to before, but the mid range torque was where the biggest difference was. Only got one overtake in on the journey, but it jumped from 50 to 'safe overtake speed' in a flash. A huge improvement over both stock and my interim setup although with a 70mm filter diameter, I'm not sure it would be suitable for use along with a M50 manifold that could make proper use of more airflow... Anyway, good use of some parts I had just lying about!

 

[Aaron MacQ]

Hey Z'ers,

Haven't been on in a bit as my dad's been enjoying the car, using it every dry day that there's been.
Anyway, he's now away on holiday, which means, it's back with me for a while.

Got the car on Friday, and already done a few things.

First up, I've had the powerflex rear top mounts sitting here for a while, and the cars' been rolling on my old M3 mounts for the past month or two, so two bolts up top, and one from underneath and the shocks are out, swapped the top and back in they went.



The powerflex kit comes with an internal reinforcement plate, so the chassis gets sandwiched between the mounting plates.



Whilst, i was poking about underneath, I took a few minutes to drain the diff and gearbox and refill with fresh fluids.

Our gearbox has had the sticky 5th detent issue since we got it, as did my old e46 330 which had the same gearbox. Anyway, i didn't want to remove the box any time soon, so was hoping the fresh oil would get it moving, and very pleased to report that the issue is almost
away, or about 90% reduced. I used Fuchs Sintofluid 75w-80 which has proven to be top notch in my other cars too. It still catches when cold, but after a few miles, it's working perfectly.

As for the diff, I used Castrol LSD 75w-140, but I'm now getting a bit of a knock in the rear. At first I thought I mustn't have torqued the top mounts enough and the sleeve was moving, or that the poly bushes were just transferring more 'shock' noise to the cabin, but i've done a few drives since, and I'm convinced that I'm actually getting increased diff lash as a result of the fresh fluid.
Anyone else ever experienced this?

My only other thought is that after jacking the rear under the diff, that I've damaged the old fragile bushes in the diff, or even the rear axle (both of which will be getting replaced in the winter anyway).

Anyway, i've checked everything and doesn't look like anything's about to fall off any time soon, so car's back on the ground and I'm looking forward to the next sunny day to give it a run.

 

[Antm72]

My 2.8 when test drive was great no clunks etc agreed to buy and left with the owner for a new mot etc.
On picking the car up I too felt it clunking and thought it odd as it had not done it before.
I jacked the rear looking for play but never found anything untoward but on dropping the car down and 're running it found it to have nearly gone ??
It returned after awhile but on rejacking the car up it was obvious that the diff bush had started to allow the diff to sag in it's mount.
Replaced the mount with the powerflex bush and it's been fine since.
I'm not sure if as the car had been jacked at mot if it had caused it as only real difference between test drive and purchase as no real mileage had been added .
I think it might have sat differently the first time I jacked it up helping to remove it but in my case the bush was at fault.

 

[Aaron MacQ]

My 2.8 when test drive was great no clunks etc agreed to buy and left with the owner for a new mot etc.
On picking the car up I too felt it clunking and thought it odd as it had not done it before.
I jacked the rear looking for play but never found anything untoward but on dropping the car down and 're running it found it to have nearly gone ??
It returned after awhile but on rejacking the car up it was obvious that the diff bush had started to allow the diff to sag in it's mount.
Replaced the mount with the powerflex bush and it's been fine since.
I'm not sure if as the car had been jacked at mot if it had caused it as only real difference between test drive and purchase as no real mileage had been added .
I think it might have sat differently the first time I jacked it up helping to remove it but in my case the bush was at fault.

Makes sense. That was the first time it had been jacked under the diff. Was just being lazy. Last time, i used the side points, then put the stands under the axles, so maybe this was the final straw....

Oh well, just a good excuse to pull the back end off and paint it orange whilst swapping the bushes!

 

[FRANKIE]

Hey Z'ers,

Haven't been on in a bit as my dad's been enjoying the car, using it every dry day that there's been.
Anyway, he's now away on holiday, which means, it's back with me for a while.

Got the car on Friday, and already done a few things.

First up, I've had the powerflex rear top mounts sitting here for a while, and the cars' been rolling on my old M3 mounts for the past month or two, so two bolts up top, and one from underneath and the shocks are out, swapped the top and back in they went.

View attachment 58078 View attachment 58079 View attachment 58080 View attachment 58081

The powerflex kit comes with an internal reinforcement plate, so the chassis gets sandwiched between the mounting plates.

View attachment 58082

Whilst, i was poking about underneath, I took a few minutes to drain the diff and gearbox and refill with fresh fluids.

Our gearbox has had the sticky 5th detent issue since we got it, as did my old e46 330 which had the same gearbox. Anyway, i didn't want to remove the box any time soon, so was hoping the fresh oil would get it moving, and very pleased to report that the issue is almost
away, or about 90% reduced. I used Fuchs Sintofluid 75w-80 which has proven to be top notch in my other cars too. It still catches when cold, but after a few miles, it's working perfectly.

As for the diff, I used Castrol LSD 75w-140, but I'm now getting a bit of a knock in the rear. At first I thought I mustn't have torqued the top mounts enough and the sleeve was moving, or that the poly bushes were just transferring more 'shock' noise to the cabin, but i've done a few drives since, and I'm convinced that I'm actually getting increased diff lash as a result of the fresh fluid.
Anyone else ever experienced this?

My only other thought is that after jacking the rear under the diff, that I've damaged the old fragile bushes in the diff, or even the rear axle (both of which will be getting replaced in the winter anyway).

Anyway, i've checked everything and doesn't look like anything's about to fall off any time soon, so car's back on the ground and I'm looking forward to the next sunny day to give it a run.

I had seen this once before and vaguely remembered it and had to look it up again. This may be the reason for your clunking. Watch the entire video. Let me knot it this helps........................Frankie

View: https://youtu.be/Vw7Zbp1rfGI

 

[Wilko58]

Drove the Mount Pleasant to Stanley road at least twice a week as my son weekly boarded there, in a Landover 110. Happy days.

Did that quite a few times when I was stationed there in 1998/99 - I was also double hatted as a customs Inspector so had to keep in touch with the FI Police down in Stanley. Quite a hairy ride that road!

 

[Aaron MacQ]

Cheers Frankie, but the guibo's fine, although will be swapping that over in the winter anyway, along with engine/gearbox mounts, new shaft bearing and the rear axle refresh.

The clunk only started after sunday, so fairly certain it's either lash with the new diff fluid, or the rear diff bush.

 

[oldcarman]

Forgive my ignorance @Aaron MacQ but I''m not understanding how changing the fluid would change the lash in the diff! Could you please clarify, thanks; JIM

 

[Aaron MacQ]

Forgive my ignorance @Aaron MacQ but I''m not understanding how changing the fluid would change the lash in the diff! Could you please clarify, thanks; JIM

I'm not sure myself but my thinking is that if the fluid is thinner than what came out, then the ring gear can move just that little bit more than before increasing 'clunk'. A thicker fluid would certainly reduce lash noise, but then I'm not even sure that's what's going on.
In all likelihood it'll be the rear diff bush slopping about after I jacked the car under it.

 

[FRANKIE]

Cheers Frankie, but the guibo's fine, although will be swapping that over in the winter anyway, along with engine/gearbox mounts, new shaft bearing and the rear axle refresh.

The clunk only started after sunday, so fairly certain it's either lash with the new diff fluid, or the rear diff bush.

Seems I read through your posts too fast and thought you had changed the diff bush.. Hope you get it sorted out as having a clunking sound while you're driving can get on your nerves. My wife's always asking me about new sounds in a car. I just tell her it doesn't happen when I'm driving alone so it must be the added weight of another passenger. Then she stops asking..............................Frankie