What did you do to your Z this week?

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Took the ZX for its MoT today, passed no problems no advisories all good. So Ali, never under estimate the power of shiny bright work! ;)


ROFL - Great job Huw, aka Shine Vader!

And cost? Nothing. Good work.


Thanks dude. A very satisfying job. The PO was more into polishing and displaying the car than driving her / the mechanical side. So I'm finding easy wins all the time.
 

Mr Ex Jnr

Club Member
Took the zed for drive up road and also taken some pics
 

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Mr Ex Jnr

Club Member
Cheers I just got out there in the zed at right time looking like gunna rain heavy black sky now. I will email him them doing a different scenery each time
 

SacCyclone

Club Member
Started the interior cleanup of the Zed which has not been on the road since 1998. All in all I was very happy with what I found under the seat covers and carpet. Next week I'm on to the tires and wheels.

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SacCyclone

Club Member
That really is an absolute beauty Mike

Thank you Sir, got lucky on this one for sure.

Taking lots of pictures to use as a reference source for future projects. Link to the pics available if anyone needs to reference them, just PM me.
 

richiep

Club Member
This past week, I got cracking on Project Dixie (so named by my wife based on the registration number):

















It looks extremely ratty but the fundamentals are very straight and solid. Aside from the surface rust where paint has baked off, there is minimal structural rust. I wanted to start by focussing on exactly what rust repairs would be needed though so removed the factory tar mat sound deadening on the floor pans. These clearly have a tendency to lift and are actually applied over bare metal, so floors that look good can actually be much worse than expected. Luckily, the majority of the floors are solid and straight with limited surface rust only. Alas, the tar mats had lifted under the seats though and also sand and muck had accumulated in the under floor rails leading to some holes. However, these are limited in scope - new floors not necessary, although I may replace the under floor rails to eliminate the issue of the aforementioned dirt accumulations. The lesson here is if you buy a car with visible surface rust on the floors around the edges of the insulation, remove it to find out the extent of the problem.









I also managed to open up a couple of small holes under the battery tray after spotting a tiny pinhole there, but again, this will be a limited repair. Anyway, the car is being RHD converted anyway and the battery relocated to behind the passenger seat, so there will be ample opportunity to sort that area once the LHD battery tray is removed.

The seats are comedy gold. Eaten by the same rodents who made a nest behind the RH rear quarter trim panel! Lots of sh1t to shovel - literally! :lol:





I was going to bin the seats, but may keep the structural components as they could be rebuilt with the new foam and vinyl covering kits available. I'm more likely to use the JDM Sports Option style bucket seats in this car in the end though.

Oh, and hot climates bake interior plastics. This is what happened when I tried to remove the trim panels...



Good job I was going to replace them all with new anyway! On the plus side, the transmission tunnel vinyl is in really good condition, so I may actually reuse that to keep something from the original trim in the car.

I'm going to try and strip it down as much as possible this week around other stuff.
 

SacCyclone

Club Member
Had my fair share of Cali baked Zeds and this all looks normal given the outside storage these were relegated to.

What are your plans for this lady??? Stock..Resto-mod...Racer...Combo????
 

richiep

Club Member
It will be RHD-converted, JDM-styled resto-mod. Engine will be 3.1L with ITBs. Colour most likely the original white or 907 green. Something like these (depending on arches or not, no g nose)


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jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
I fitted some new brake pads
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And while the wheels were off I noticed a lot of crud on the mounting faces of the wheels, so cleaned them all
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And then went for a drive, and got an unexpected and pleasant surprise: the little vibration I had over 70 is much reduced. Yay!
 

richiep

Club Member
That's going to be very nice Richie - what sort of time frame for completion?

Realistically, 2-3 years. Maybe more; depends on money, time, family demands, etc. However, immediate goal is stripping to rolling and then bare shell asap. Focus will then be on metal work, i.e. rust repairs, RHD swap, arch chopping (if I go down that route). Somewhere in the mix is likely to be a trip to Ribble Technology or Enviro-Strip to have the shell pyrolysis treated, phosphated, and epoxy coated. Manual stripping isn't going to get at every area I'd like to to satisfaction.

I spent several more hours on it today and removed the rear lights and panels, scuttle and wiper motor and mechanism, and various other bits in and out. I also discovered another weak point in the LH floor that led to a hole developing via screwdriver! So, another floor repair needed; however, still not enough to warrant new floorpans.

I also tried out a poly strip disc to assess a few areas by bare metalling. I confirmed that both doglegs need replacing due to being holed (so common on CA cars). I also found that the very front of the bonnet has been bumped, and has a load of bondo in it. Pity, as the bonnet is very straight and solid otherwise. It should be salvageable though with some proper panel work.

After using the strip disc, I phosphated those areas with Rustbuster Phos-kleen B solution to keep them from flash rusting. Bare steel treated thus can be left for several months unpainted.

I'm having several more sessions this week if possible, and will aim to get to a bare interior and ready for pulling the engine and trans.
 

TimW

Club Member
Started the interior cleanup of the Zed which has not been on the road since 1998. All in all I was very happy with what I found under the seat covers and carpet. Next week I'm on to the tires and wheels.


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Lovely looking, I think this is by far the most original and tidy interior I've seen. Love the patina on the seats. Door cards look perfect.. v nice..



Good luck with the resto-mod Richie. Will you be starting a thread for us to follow?
 

Jake RAH

Well-Known Forum User
Went for a burn up and discovered one of my front bumper side brackets had snapped. Must get it fixed before the weekend :banghead: :(
 
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