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Project Zeto - The Z-Ject


Beefy

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So I've had my Z for 3 years now. Enjoyed the car loads, so I thought it was about time I made a build thread.

I've been a JDM enthusiast for a pretty long time, starting with my S14a when I was 19 (Not a suitable car for 19 year-olds by any standard for future reference).

It was pretty modified, but all the mods made it unreliable and as you can imagine with S-Bodies, rust was the main factor for me getting rid.

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I was sick of all the turbo issues, and with all my time dedicated to university, I really needed something reliable, didn't give me a headache on long journeys, but was still fun.
I managed to pick up an 02 JDM Z DE, GT spec for 5.5K @85K in 2015 with FSH.
It already had Tein -30mm springs.
20mm Eibach spacers all round.
Map @ Abbey motorsports.
Full Miltek system.
Berks HFC's.
Decent pioneer double-din.
D1 spec throttle controller.
Standard GT stuff.

Pic from the advert:
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I've done mainly servicing ever 7K miles, some minor mods over the three year period as well though.

First minor mod/ repair that worth mentioning are probably the Splitfire coilpacks.
I was getting a missfire/failure in one of the cylinders. Running very lumpy, sounded good though. Happened during spouts of heat, so i guessed coilpacks failing. Ended up being spot on.
Can't state how much smoother splitfires are compared to OE coil packs. Car picks up a lot more smoothly throughout the rev range.

 

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The skirts were looking a bit bare, so I installed some G.R.A.M.S side steps in gloss black. Lovely cheap mod, looks much better.
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Edited by Beefy
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I had a bit of an issue with warping front discs, (and I still do to an extent), I needed new pads/discs, pretty easy, I swapped the fronts and rears.

DS2500 Pads Front/Redstuff Pads Rear setup I've always gone with, please don't judge me too heavily.
Black Diamond discs all round. All done at 90K miles.

Only issue was the Eibach spacers managed to weld themselves to the hub. Most likely some very intelligent hero tightened them with a gun or used some kind of locking agent. Either way, grinder had to come out.

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'When in doubt, grinder out.'


Next on the list was suspension. It was the OE shocks, they were getting a bit worse for wear, leaking oil was an advisory on the MOT, so I thought I would invest in some brand new suspension.
I was looking around at the Bilstein B12 kit, as I had it on my Astra GSi, which worked wonders, but was expensive.
I have a thing against HSD's after my S14 not a huge fan of coilovers either to be honest, so they were out. However I ended up turning to MeisterR's (Zeta CRD's), after hearing good things from some of my friends in the Teggy scene.
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Manky old suspention

 

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Shiny new suspension.

 

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Arm came out without a problem. I've had a lot of luck with bolts on my Z. None have been any real challenge to remove. But I've got the gun and the "****-off-big" breaker bar if I ever need it just in case.

 

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Fronts in.

 

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Rears in.

Much better.

 

 

 

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Oh, I almost forgot the rear adjustment extension, I drilled through the plastic for the rear strut cover, and connected the extension through there, but it turned out to knock slightly against the glass. Bad for NVH, so I in the end I placed them facing inwards the boot. I'll grab a photo another day, but it does look nice and clean now.

 

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Moving to Louveres, a mod I wanted to do for a long time. I was looking at the Zakustech ones for a long time, but the shipping price was insane. I saw G.R.A.M.S ( I also installed their side steps, which I was very impressed by) started selling. So I though I would grab a set. I ended up deleting the rear wiper and the boot weight, couple of rubber bungs from those thieving bastards at Halfords, easiest mod to do.

I was let say, unimpressed with the G.R.A.M.S louvres, so they went back in the end. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

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I had a Nismo V2 bumper from Chris on order for a while, when it arrived I send it to someone I knew for painting.
 
Turns out he was about as useful as a wet lettuce at a barbecue. The work took near on 10 Months to do and I wasn't happy with the paint quality really, but he will barely reply to me. I'm pretty autistic, but not enough to follow him up on it. Lesson learned. Silver is hard to match in all fairness, and the majority of people probably wouldn't notice.
I ended up going with a Nissan gloss black grille surround. To match the skirts. As well as a square plate "because JDM, YO".

Regardless, it still looks better to me. Although I have an issue, as it's a full PU bumper, there are some dips where the paint was cured, and required fettling to fit properly, seems to have warped a little. Apparently you're meant to fit PU bumpers before painting... You live and you learn. Still a good fitment for an after market bumper.

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On 31/07/2018 at 09:36, Beefy said:

The skirts were looking a bit bare, so I installed some G.R.A.M.S side steps in gloss black. Lovely cheap mod, looks much better.

I've got some of these too waiting to be fitted. Were they easy enough to fit? Any tips?

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On 31/07/2018 at 15:38, reeceybeaney said:

Some good mods going already! Looks like you're enjoying it, I'll definitely be after some side steps soon they look spot on ;)

Thanks very much. I agree, they're clean, really easy and cheap mod that make a lot of visual improvement to the car.

 

 

On 01/08/2018 at 16:10, CGR said:

I've got some of these too waiting to be fitted. Were they easy enough to fit? Any tips?

Really easy to fit.

They don't come with any pre-drilled holes, and are designed use your existing bolt holes for your skirts.

What I did is:

Unbolt current skirts (6 bolts/side IIRC)
Take skirts off.
Line up skirts with sidesteps.
(Optional: Use masking tape on top surface of sidesteps to mark holes, as well as make drilling a bit easier).
Secure with tape/whatever.
Drill holes in sidesteps through your factory skirt boltholes.
Fit sidesteps with skirts.

Easy install, maybe 45 mins.

Skirts are quite flexible as well, so if you have to use the jacking point on the side of your Z, they don't crack easily. At least in my experience, I've always had to push up against the skirts a tad when using my jack and they've been fine.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/08/2018 at 19:31, timb2010 said:

Just fitted my Tarmac Sports side skirts which I think are the same as the Grams, I'm lowered and I don't see how anyone will ever get a jack under there now!!!! Might have to carry around a small ramp!! Like a plastic caravan level.

I'm still able to use the jacking points, they do rub up against the steps slightly, but no cracks as of yet luckily, they seem pretty sturdy to me.

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