Looking for a Z (Now found & Built!)

Aaron, don't think you've finished with your suspension ride height yet, until you have given it a good shake down run it will not settle fully. When we fitted @Grumpy suspension at my place it looked as though it hadn't lowered it one bit, but after a good run round some country lanes when he came back into the garage the difference was immense.

Tony.
Wasn't the extra weight of the cow poo caused it to drop!! JIM
 
Sometimes these aftermarket coilovers don't drop the rear of a zed very far at all. Sometimes its due to the rear springs and the shocks .
The kits are E36 front and rear the springs on an E36 are different to the ones that would be on the E30 Zed/compact rear end and the shocks are longer too.
As said it may settle abit but not to the level you thought.
Car looks great and the build thread has been a supurb read:thumbsup:
 
Nothing too interesting today...

Used the dremel to knock of any flakey paint and remove any visible corrosion around the back of the winglets, and followed up with some Kurust treatment.
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Next time out, I'll be painting these areas with Por15 along with the inside edges of the rear arches before refitting the sills.

Getting there....
 
Really enjoying your enthusiasm!! Keep it up, i''m sure Dad will appreciate all your hard work. Looking to adopt another old man?? JIM

Lol... I'm not sure he really understands why I got so excited by the colour code rarity, or why I cleaned every nut, bolt or panel I could see (or not see), or fitted brakes too big to accommodate the wheel weights, or insisted we paint everything that will never be seen in 'this really expensive hammerite-like stuff' ... (referring to Por15), but the smile on his face the first day when all his neighbours came crawling round for a look and the fact I'll know that I've rescued something quite special from a breakers yard and given it a total refresh is more than worth it.

As for adopting more dads, bring it on.
I'll need another car project to fill my garage once this is out on the road, so lets find another tired Z and and let me loose with your credit card. :woot:
 
Oh, last update for the day... ordered some 3mm spacers for the front axle from ECP and some matching extended 30mm bolts from Chris at CMWheels. Should have both items by Thursday and hopefully get the sills and arch liners back on and give the car it's first run at the weekend. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks @Aaron MacQ but my card won't get us far, how about we just keep Dad's card going it's not even smokin' yet!! How're your body skills, come over and weld on my brand new rear fenders for my 58 Mercedes 190sl and clean up the rest of the body for painting. Still looking for a deal for new fronts but the ones on are salvageable. Then just the interior and put new hood on it and finish off the mechanics!! JIM
 
Thanks @Aaron MacQ but my card won't get us far, how about we just keep Dad's card going it's not even smokin' yet!! How're your body skills, come over and weld on my brand new rear fenders for my 58 Mercedes 190sl and clean up the rest of the body for painting. Still looking for a deal for new fronts but the ones on are salvageable. Then just the interior and put new hood on it and finish off the mechanics!! JIM

Lol. Never tried welding, but understand what's involved and it looks easy enough. But then my view is everything's easy when you take the time to figure it out. However, not sure if an old SL is the right place to start. Awesome car. Any pics?
 
It's sitting outside with the HT on it waiting to move down the road to my shop once the snow dries up. By then my brother will have moved back from BC and we can start removing the old fenders and he can set them up for welding them on. We've got a long way to go with it but baby steps are better than no steps and as it's pretty rare to find one these days will be quite a car when finished! But unfortunetly no pics, I''m not into that and only have a couple of pics of my Zed which I probably why @HT is rolling on the floor laughing. He doesn't seem to believe I actually have the car. That's okay because he doesn't even own a Zed but he's a moderator, go figure!! Later JIM
 
New wheel arch liners?
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Nope. After 20 years of muck, stones and tar a clean and rub down with petrol to remove all the nasties (as per the left one), followed by some of my favourite satin black paint has them looking awesome (right one)!

Tomorrow we're refitting these, the sills, the winglets, finishing off the headlights, refitting and aligning the bumper, doing the toe alignment and, weather permitting, taking it for a drive... Looking forward to it! :thumbsup:
 
Good work - you may have to wait until Sunday though for a dry day drive as it has to rain here for the next 2 days!:(
 
Well, as David predicted, the weather was a bit miserable on Friday but I got a bit done.

Firstly, I'd forgotten the top side of the front arches are visible when the bonnets open, so they got painted up...

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Now, time to fit the sills...
Aligned to the rear arch and lower door shut.
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Using the refection to ensure levels are perfect and panel now fixed in position.
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Refitted the winglets... Aligned to the front of the sill and door shut.
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Oh, before the bumper goes on, need to buff these headlights.... had used a DA previously but still left some marking, so this time I used a mini 75mm pad on a drill which should work a bit better.

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Mmm, I've got a new bonnet badge, but the grill looks a bit tired... lets pop that out!
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We'll use some metal polish on the chrome surround and I'll paint the center satin black. (oh, i'm out of paint... need more)

Anyway, lets fit those front wheel arches....

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And clean the grill area....
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I was about to fit the rear arch liners, but realized I'd forgotten to paint the inside of the metal lips, so out came the Por15 and I did that and left it to dry.
 
I returned to the build this morning.
First up, id picked up some supplies, including a replacement indicator off @5harp3y as one of mine had a broken clip at the back.
I also needed a metal strip to mount my induction kit and randomly found one lying on the floor at the door of my local motor factors.
"How much is this", i asked...
"What's that? Where did you get it? No idea, just take it"... lol

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Anyway, out to the car...
Off with the rear lenses to treat the corrosion we found earlier....
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Painted up and drying....

Back to the front grills and some new 30mm wheels bolts (for use with my +3mm spacers).... painted

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On with the rear arch liners...
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Front Wheels On!
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Back to the corrosion spots... Paint dry.
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Getting there, so time for breakfast.

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My dad arrived to help, so we cleaned up the front bumper and fitted a rubber splitter strip.

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Next up was to fit the mirror glass, but I still hadn't cleaned up the OEM back plates, so we started that but i got the old glue all over my hands and didn't take many more photos. Anyway, was fairly straight forward once we started using petrol to melt it off, although it discolored them a bit, so after we drilled new holes for the heater pins, some more black paint was used and the new aspheric glass mounted.

After that, we mounted the front bumper and fired it up.

To be honest it was running smooth, but very tappety. I suspected it was just a bit dry having sat for past 2 months and also when I bought it, the only garage I could find didn't have super, so another thought was it could be a result of the 95 octane fuel, since we've mapped the car for 97+.

So, stuck the rear plate on temporarily and we took it a short drive for a fill of quality fuel. Within about 2 minutes of fill up and the noise disappeared. Perfect.

Anyway, car seemed to be driving well with only a few things I wanted to check later so I handed the keys to my dad and off we went for a 15-20 min drive.
Btw, this was the first time my dad had driven it... I think he liked it.:thumbsup:

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Anyway, still plenty to do, but another day should do it.... :D
 
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Good to hear your Dad has driven the car Aaron, I would say the loss of the tappet noise was likely more down to a run and warming the motor than the fuel. TBH.
I have enjoyed your commentary a lot. Thank you.:)

Tony.
 
TBH.. This is quite inspiring!! I don't have the skills or knowledge to even attempt most of what you are doing but I read this thread from beginning to end and it was like a book I couldn't put down. Awesome in every aspect! :thumbsup:
 
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