GT-Four

[coldel]

Engine bay bits and bobs polished, now onto leather care routine for the seats

 

[Stutopia]

That's cleaner engine bay than on my 2013 motor! I wish my PO was as fastidious as yours.

[coldel]

Just put in titanium bolts all around the edges of the engine bay too - plain but nice

[Stutopia]

Nice touch and insanely light too, just don't drop them, telescopic magnets won't save you!

 

Just spotted the blog link in your dig for the first time. I always thought it was fairly OEM but you've done quite a lot of subtle work. It's a classic motor.

[Strudul]

Back in my day we didn't have telescopic magnets, you just swore a lot and found someone with small arms.

 

Or there was these if you were super fancy:

[Stutopia]

The claw is fine, if you can see what you're after.

[coldel]

Aye plenty of small changes out of sight which help, just working on getting the interior as comfortable as possible now with a few mod cons don't think I will be doing any big changes for a while. I have been toying with the idea of an EBC which apparently you can wind safely up to around 1.1bar which gives about 310-320bhp but wondering if I actually need to take that risk or not, its a 22 year old engine after all.

 

Oh and it passed its MoT last weekend

[coldel]

Well I ditched the plastidip interior and braved wrapping it in brushed alu. Decided to fork out nigh on £20 for an 80x30cm proper 3M stuff and god was it easier! I had some cheap and cheerful Chinese vinyl tried with that but the intricacies of the dash parts meant it didnt stretch or adhesive well enough. This 3M stuff just stuck, shaped, stretched and got rid of bubbles so much better. Well worth the investment.

 

Anyway, hard to see from the photo but its brushed aluminium all the way and matches the gear knob and handbrake.

 

 

Also got some new extended wheel nuts in neo chrome and got some new Rota stickers for the wheels in black as the previous red ones were peeling and looking a bit worse for wear.

 

[Strudul]

Gotta say, I think that looks a lot better.

[coldel]

Yes definitely better - I will most likely hydrodip it brushed aluminium eventually, wanted to try a few different looks first

[coldel]

Actually, got some offcuts left, might do the ashtray too!

[Strudul]

Should go around the button panels on the doors too:

[coldel]

Babysteps...

[coldel]

Friday clean done, had to wait for the shadow to come across the house before doing it (nothing worse than washing/cleaning in the sun!) but looking pretty damn fine for an old girl 22 years old this year! Will give it a machine polish next week

 

[Aashenfox]

Looking great inside and out mate, well done. Is that the original paint (I realise you changed bumper, but the main panels)?

[coldel]

It came into the country in 2009 with that paint, it may or may not have been painted prior to that in Japan. Its had two owners prior to me, 1995 to 2009 1 owner in Japan (I have his name and address!) and one owner in the UK 2009 to 2015 (who kept the car stored indoors for the 6 years of ownership). So its possible its original but I would say more likely its had work done. Either way its was the overall condition of the car that made me buy it in the first instance when I was desperately looking for a 300zx!

[Aashenfox]

She sure is a beauty. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, reminds me of guilty pleasures taking my mum's one out when I was a nipper. I'll always have a lot of love for that car. How long you reckon you'll keep it?

[coldel]

Probably another couple of years, maybe more who knows! It ticks many boxes, its quick, 4WD, four seats, great handling, etc. There are already a small but growing waiting list of potential owners in the US joining FB pages etc which could drive up values when it hits 25 years old in 2019.

[Aashenfox]

Any other classic 90s fast Japanese cars on the waiting list apart from the 300ZX? Going back a bit further, I've made another automotive life goal recently, shortly after picking up the Zed actually... I really fancy a 2 door Datsun 510. I'm not fussy which, any model will do, cos I'll RB18DET it anyway.

 

I sit back and look at the ceiling and stroke my imaginary beard every time I think about it, all I need a is a pipe. lol

 

 

While I love the car above, it does need an Xzibit meme saying 'Yo dawg, we heard you like front valances, so we put a front valance on your front valance!'

Edited April 7, 2017 by Aashenfox

[coldel]

Clean, clay, machine polish, victorias concours wax and bingo...

 

[GMballistic]

Looks like glass col.

[coldel]

Interior really getting there now, some nice treatment on the leather seats, aluminium plastidip on the interior centre binnacle area to match the sides and the subtle chrome rings on the dials - such a nicer place to be compared to when I first got it I think:

 

Before

 

After:

[sipar69]

Very nice finish on the paint.

Edited May 7, 2017 by sipar69

[GMballistic]

Looks much better col.

Surprising how much better the dials look with those chrome rings. A bit "Audi" esq maybe but that's not necessarily a bad thing as it looks like good quality imho.

[coldel]

Yeah it just looks that little bit more modern - it's just nicer to get in and not be overwhelmed with black plastic.

 

That little black cubby hole below the A/C controls though is screaming at me to put an EBC in there...must resist!