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My zed build.. going to keep it stock-ish... honest!


gg2040uk

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ok so I bought my zed in october 2018 as a weekend fun car; so I have had it coming up to 9 months now... As far as I could tell with my limited knowledge the car was fairly OEM-ish.. which is what I was looking for. Plus this was the colour I wanted along with good condition, full-ish service history and not bad mileage etc for the age (67k). I am zed noob, but keen to learn and this forum has been invaluable in that! so thanks :D

 

The original plan not to do much to it.....then I came to this forum and starting meeting you lovely peeps.... haha! So I have already done some little bits to tidy her up, but have some other bits now planned...

 

I know my zed is not mind blowing or unique; but it's mine (and I adore it!) and I wanted to put up what little bits I have done, the bits others have helped me with or done for me. The post mainly for me to see what has changed in my months of owning it.

 

Pic of when I got the car - 2007 rev up GT gunmetal :teeth: (with the old plates on)

zed_initial.jpg.47c4eded08ce025d89e2ea702b501023.jpg

 

The first thing was my plates..

I have a car reg which I popped on there; you know so if I forget my name or something...

 

Alloy Scuffs Sorted

2 days into my zed ownership I a managed to scuff my front left alloy while parking... gutted was an understatment! Luckily it was a mark on the edge if the rim.... so took it to a local company who have managed to sort for me. I don't have any before/after pics... too devastated... but my rays look pretty sweet again! :D 

 

Next up was battery..

The connections looked a bit corroded also upon testing the power seemed low. I was also finding that the zed if left for a day or two was sluggish to start up...Long story short, I ordered a Bosh S4 005 from RAC...ended up with RAC performance battery instead (left the fitting guy to it and came out to find he installed the RAC battery as the guy couldn't be bothered to go get the one I ordered. I even made him coffee!). anyway the guy refused to swap it back or take it out and left as he was too busy to deal with me. A phone call to RAC to have a 'small' whinge meant I got a free battery so yay... The battery seems decent tho! Car starts like a beaut each time now.

 

Double Din Goodness...

Next up! tunes.... so I had the standard tape deck (lol) and CD player when I bought the car... that had to go and be updated to this century...  I bought this from amazon along with a DAB aerial. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07B5DY2K6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I don't mind admitting I made a right hash up of it trying to do it myself... so then called a chum of a chum to sort it for me... I can happily pull the centre console bits off and searching the forum had some great advice ofc! It was more I am a bit of a noob and in this case needed some assistance! :surrender:


Air Filter

Something I can do! For now keeping the OEM box, I grabbed a HKS super Hybrid (oo green!). I had a very dirty OEM one sat in there previously. :yahoo:

 

Next up....Brakes... (kind of important!)

I knew when I bought it I would have to sort out the brake discs/pads as it had some judder when stopping at higher speeds. The ever helpful zed shed @Keyser was gracious enough to sort me out here. I posted about my zed shed adventure previously (see below link) with the long and short of it being I bought new mtec brake discs and cogsworth streetmaster pads all round; so judder gone and she stops properly! :teeth:

 

 

 

Small Refurb of 'cr4ppy scratchy plastic' door panel bits

So had to tidy up the scratches of the door panels... my ocd was kicking off... before and after picture. is it perfect? No... is it better? I think so! :mellow:

doorpanel.jpg.13589b580947ca950a74b3a403636b52.jpg

 

Windscreen Wipers Arms Refurb

I ended up grabbing some new ones off Ebay as I thought the seemingly both my corroded arms were a bit bleh. Thank you forum for the how to guides on getting the arms off... the pumping action was spot on! lol So I sanded them down, primer, a few matte black coats and lacquer. I did the same for the rear wiper altho not as bad as the front ones! So again not perfect but better! :drive1

wiper.jpg.a3e7fa2dde32fbc0df3f09be38cdcb23.jpg

 

 

Engine Bay Bolts tidy Up

Lots of my bolts are looking a bit corroded, so decided to go with some new titanium black dress up ones... I test fitted some and I think  they look great (I know I need to sort the cr4ppy plastic out too! ;) all in good time!) I still have these to finish along with replacement strut brace bolts. The titanium  cost pennies so doing this as and when...lol.

bolts-before.jpg.d3a4b08fcbc62c14062f96a67dda7893.jpg

 

 

Done! - Front Bumper Respray

Taken it to a local company to fix the stone chips and small chunk missing from the front right... should get it back tomorrow!! will try and post before/after pics :wiggle:

 

Done! - P3/Major Service Plus!

P3/Major service plus Spark plug change, Coolant change & Gearbox and diff oil change - I don't have any more detailed history on the zed about when things like the spark plus, coolant and diff oil etc was changed. So figured let's just get it done so I know it has been! hoping she will run like a dream when I get her back! tho!!

 

Coming Soon...

Clutch Slave Cylinder replaced... will see when shes comes back from service how shes going.. but noticed on longer journeys when shes hot a little bit of sticking... most of the time its ok.

New ZORST.....squeeeeee so excited for this.... will post what it is with pics later when 'it' arrives! ;) 

New HFCs ... cant wait to hear it....!

Tarmac Sports W brace... the other one is rusted to fook!

I have badgered @Keyser for the work on these bits! :D Don't worry many, many cakes/biscuits will be bought :starwars:

 

Coming less soon

Nissan bonnet and boot badges changed for Z badges (bought via the forum. they look great!)

Clear reflectors for front bumper... I know little things....

Carbon fibre battery/reservoir covers

Z gear knob (mtec engineering one)

 

Planned (maybe!).... at some point...

Remove the 'brick' plate holder on the front bumper

Carbon fibre slam panel

Carbon fibre engine cover

Carbon fibre hood dampers

do 'something' with plenum itself.. paint/ polish? not sure yet...

bonnet re-spray

wheel spacers...

 

 

so yeah! fun times! I will chuck some more pics/updates when I have em! :)

 

Thanks for staying awake peeps... if you haven't...then hope you had a nice nap!

 

Sorry for my terrible english and dodgy sentences!! 

 

Maz

x

Edited by gg2040uk
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Well I was going to get the ark hfc's to go with the ark grip cat back zorst I have coming from the guys at Tarmac.. but I believe there are some issues with sourcing the said part and ark may not be making em anymore... So I opted instead for the Tarmac ones. I will try and do a before and after video of the sound. My setup is currently standard apart from I have a Toyo sports back box.

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1 hour ago, gg2040uk said:

Well I was going to get the ark hfc's to go with the ark grip cat back zorst I have coming from the guys at Tarmac.. but I believe there are some issues with sourcing the said part and ark may not be making em anymore... So I opted instead for the Tarmac ones. I will try and do a before and after video of the sound. My setup is currently standard apart from I have a Toyo sports back box.

@cob1980

 

Cheers for the reply

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10 hours ago, davey_83 said:

@cob1980

 

Cheers for the reply

Probably a lucky escape, as I have ARK hfc's and one isn't going to fit without some work from an angle grinder and welder. Interesting you say that about stock, you can still order them from Torqen? I'd have expected a pair of £700 odd pair of HFC's to bolt straight on though.

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4 hours ago, cob1980 said:

Probably a lucky escape, as I have ARK hfc's and one isn't going to fit without some work from an angle grinder and welder. Interesting you say that about stock, you can still order them from Torqen? I'd have expected a pair of £700 odd pair of HFC's to bolt straight on though.

Oo that's interesting. Yeah for £700 I was expecting them to make me a cuppa in the morning too! ;) Are you pleased with them generally after fitting fun?

 

I spoke to Bob at Tarmac who explained issues getting them from Ark. I figured I would give the Tarmac ones a go and see. They come in at about £400 I think on their own.

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11 hours ago, gg2040uk said:

Oo that's interesting. Yeah for £700 I was expecting them to make me a cuppa in the morning too! ;) Are you pleased with them generally after fitting fun?

 

I spoke to Bob at Tarmac who explained issues getting them from Ark. I figured I would give the Tarmac ones a go and see. They come in at about £400 I think on their own.

Haha yep, well sadly for me I left them in the box for ages as I wanted to put them on at the point of being ready for a remap which meant the warranty had expired. No cup of tea but I did expect them to fit with no issues!

 

So at this point in time I can't answer your question, I couldn't give the Z any beans as the one HFC flange was rattling like crazy against the shell. Currently it's sat sat in my garage, useless, whilst I wait for ARK to decide if they are willing to swap out their not fit for purpose part out of warranty. Very disappointing! 

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On 25/07/2019 at 15:27, gg2040uk said:

Remove the 'brick' plate holder on the front bumper

What are you planning to do number plate wise after removing it? 

 

If you're respraying the bumper have you not taken it off already?

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On 27/07/2019 at 14:04, zelda said:

What are you planning to do number plate wise after removing it? 

 

If you're respraying the bumper have you not taken it off already?

Now that would have been sensible wouldn't it?! haha

 

To be honest I haven't decided 100% on it, I may chat to some more members for ideas and try and see a few more in the flesh. I will be getting some more paint work done in a few months.. bonnet needs doing so may re-visit then.

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ok few more bits done!

 

Tyres!

How did I forget my awesome new tyres! I had some Sailun (not a brand I was familiar with!) tyres on it when I purchased her. It wasn't like they were really old, worn ordesperately needed replacing...... In case you haven't guessed already I am a sucker for new and shiny! I was originally going to go for the Toyo T1 proxies as I used to run those on my S14a, but after reading reviews and looking at forums I went for the Michelin Pilot Sport 4's all round. I am running 18 inch rays so cant do those lovely MPS4S bad boys, but figured 'non super' ones were really decent. I paid about £550 in total for the 4 fitted with alignment  sorted etc....which I thought wasn't too bad price wise. They have been on for a couple of months and I love them, really noticed the grip difference.

 

Front bumper

All sprayed! I had a lot of stone chips and a small chunk missing from the front drivers side by the reflector, so felt it really needed doing. I know stone chips are inevitable... I have to drive the damn thing! ;) But figure a tidy up was warranted!

 

Before - chunk! That was there when I bought the car so knew I would have to get it sorted.

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Before - lovely stone chips section (oh and a cobweb.. apparently I had a house guest!)

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After - I picked her up on Friday. I also had the front gill bits painted in the same colour as the rest of her. she looks so tidy now! Really chuffed :) The only down side is, that it really now highlights the bonnet stone chips; so will maybe look at getting that done at a later date.

after1.jpg.ce6d6623d5b1a2b99a2aba56f13db680.jpg

 

oh... I know what some of you are thinking looking at my arches.....wheel spacers... After seeing some zeds in the flesh I think the aesthetics are really bought up with the wheels poking out a wee bit...! So adding that to the to do list... 

 

 

Post P3/Major Service Plus!

Maybe it was because I didn't have her for 4/5 days while she was having the work done (my courtesy car was a kia picanto. Not knocking the kia... it just wasn't the zed!) She feels fan-bloomin-tastic to drive! Well she did before but now.. gears and acceleration just feel ace! :yahoo:

 

Edited by gg2040uk
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