Well as some of you will have no doubt seen we now have had the car back for the last couple of weeks and I’ve managed to put about 350-400 miles on her since then.
Where to start, well she drives nothing like she used to at all, that’s for sure. Sadly we had some unforeseen complications just before the LMC which meant it wasn’t going to work out taking the car however the wait has been worth it in the end. As you’ll see from the photos below the engine bay is starting to look very tidy now and really is a great centre piece to show off, sadly the more you replace the more you notice the few tatty items, there’s a few pieces that I’d like re-plated long term and I also need to find a way to clean up the screen washer bottle which is looking its age as I refuse to spend a couple of hundred dollars on a new one!
I think it’s fair to say the new centre piece of the engine is the OS Giken Lightweight Flywheel which now allows the engine to rev like a motorbike engine! Considering that I had never intended to even swap this item out until I looked at clutches and was talked into it by you all, I’m amazed at the throttle response now. She really picks up revs fast and drops off very quickly, solid rev matching is more essential (albeit you need to be careful not to over rev either). I really cannot believe how sharp the throttle response now is. The clutch itself is somewhat a point of contention as in traffic though as it is heavier than desired and really seems to either be on or off. Due to how robust it is though, burnouts, launches or general hooligan behaviour will be very easy even with the limited power we are running. On the move it makes shifting very precise and is perfect for a fast road style car. For now I’ve tried to behave myself more as its bedding in but wheels have been spun and tyres chirped.
The quality of the ZTherapy setup is very impressive and they have been restored to a very high standard, the only disappointment was that they did require a fair bit of setup and balancing out of the box so to speak. Now they are in though, they perform very slickly and with the recent engine adjustments have made the engine a complete peach. It’s all about revs and seems to go to a bit over 5k rpm fairly happily, however real world driving its being exercised to around the 4.5k range for road driving. This car certainly now promotes carrying speed given the engines more standard nature. Cooling has been massively improved with the installation of the mishimoto rad and has been kitted out with a low temp thermostat and electric spall fan kit. The whole system has been flushed and temperatures have been dramatically reduced. I had previously thought the temp gauges position of just over half was normal however it now resides at just under the half way mark leaving me thinking that the engine had been running warmer than it should have been with the tired cooling system in place. We’ve got a nicely hidden and trick manual override switch for the fan in traffic and after being stuck at Goodwood I have decided an extra fan will be added for peace of mind and with Europe in mind in the future.
Moving back to the drivetrain all of the necessary modifications have been made for the S14 gearbox to be dropped in, new propshaft courtesy of Richie and Subaru LSD. The gearbox seems to work fine however I have noticed that the synco on 4th gear is quite worn and there is an occasional wine which is making it very tempting me to drop the box out and rebuild this one with new syncros and bearings. Anyone know if these are still available from Nissan? The short shifter kit is like operating a rifle bolt when compared to the ridiculously long throws of the original 4 speed! In that respect we are very happy. The speedo is also still very wavy and of questionable accuracy despite the correct white 19 tooth replacement speedo cog for the 3.9 diff, another long term item to investigate as the speedo needle has never been very stable.
The LSD has certainly made things very entertaining, with sideways action very easy if you so desire. There seems to be a bit of slack/lash when engaging on moving off with makes a slight clunk and it doesn’t seem to like reversing slowly and chatters a bit however it all other respects it performs faultlessly and is very quiet on the move. A couple of you will be pleased to note the rear left is running 4 wheels nuts with a couple of lugs having also been replaced.
Where to start, well she drives nothing like she used to at all, that’s for sure. Sadly we had some unforeseen complications just before the LMC which meant it wasn’t going to work out taking the car however the wait has been worth it in the end. As you’ll see from the photos below the engine bay is starting to look very tidy now and really is a great centre piece to show off, sadly the more you replace the more you notice the few tatty items, there’s a few pieces that I’d like re-plated long term and I also need to find a way to clean up the screen washer bottle which is looking its age as I refuse to spend a couple of hundred dollars on a new one!
I think it’s fair to say the new centre piece of the engine is the OS Giken Lightweight Flywheel which now allows the engine to rev like a motorbike engine! Considering that I had never intended to even swap this item out until I looked at clutches and was talked into it by you all, I’m amazed at the throttle response now. She really picks up revs fast and drops off very quickly, solid rev matching is more essential (albeit you need to be careful not to over rev either). I really cannot believe how sharp the throttle response now is. The clutch itself is somewhat a point of contention as in traffic though as it is heavier than desired and really seems to either be on or off. Due to how robust it is though, burnouts, launches or general hooligan behaviour will be very easy even with the limited power we are running. On the move it makes shifting very precise and is perfect for a fast road style car. For now I’ve tried to behave myself more as its bedding in but wheels have been spun and tyres chirped.
The quality of the ZTherapy setup is very impressive and they have been restored to a very high standard, the only disappointment was that they did require a fair bit of setup and balancing out of the box so to speak. Now they are in though, they perform very slickly and with the recent engine adjustments have made the engine a complete peach. It’s all about revs and seems to go to a bit over 5k rpm fairly happily, however real world driving its being exercised to around the 4.5k range for road driving. This car certainly now promotes carrying speed given the engines more standard nature. Cooling has been massively improved with the installation of the mishimoto rad and has been kitted out with a low temp thermostat and electric spall fan kit. The whole system has been flushed and temperatures have been dramatically reduced. I had previously thought the temp gauges position of just over half was normal however it now resides at just under the half way mark leaving me thinking that the engine had been running warmer than it should have been with the tired cooling system in place. We’ve got a nicely hidden and trick manual override switch for the fan in traffic and after being stuck at Goodwood I have decided an extra fan will be added for peace of mind and with Europe in mind in the future.
Moving back to the drivetrain all of the necessary modifications have been made for the S14 gearbox to be dropped in, new propshaft courtesy of Richie and Subaru LSD. The gearbox seems to work fine however I have noticed that the synco on 4th gear is quite worn and there is an occasional wine which is making it very tempting me to drop the box out and rebuild this one with new syncros and bearings. Anyone know if these are still available from Nissan? The short shifter kit is like operating a rifle bolt when compared to the ridiculously long throws of the original 4 speed! In that respect we are very happy. The speedo is also still very wavy and of questionable accuracy despite the correct white 19 tooth replacement speedo cog for the 3.9 diff, another long term item to investigate as the speedo needle has never been very stable.
The LSD has certainly made things very entertaining, with sideways action very easy if you so desire. There seems to be a bit of slack/lash when engaging on moving off with makes a slight clunk and it doesn’t seem to like reversing slowly and chatters a bit however it all other respects it performs faultlessly and is very quiet on the move. A couple of you will be pleased to note the rear left is running 4 wheels nuts with a couple of lugs having also been replaced.
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It's a good job its just stuff really 
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You'll be pleased to hear that the car won JAE's show and shine competition for the best car in the retro category. Still a lot to do but we're making good progress, hopefully you'll see it in the flesh sometime soon.