Big Slappy Z

I've waited a long time to post a build thread on here because I've been working nonstop on this car. I've had it for about a month and changed out nearly everything: air, fuel, ignition, belts, stereo, clutch, etc. either in the parking lot in san antonio or my garage in houston.

My Celica broke down for a bit (turned out I had loose flywheel bolts) and I got antsy for a new ride....
In the "Shop"


so I bought this piece of work for 1750$. I've really wanted a project car for a while, I was doing an internship at the Toyota plant in San antonio for a while and got some money so I decided to go for it. Hopefully it will be something I can be proud of pretty soon, it is a 1986 slicktop turbo z31, but the entire drivetrain/powertrain is from an 87-89 z31 (W series I guess, I called it gen II eh)

I guess I'll start from the top -This is the picture from craigslist haha:
The car has 210,000 miles on the chassis, and supposedly 60k miles on the rebuilt engine swap.


Hate this color, painting it black next month (maaco ftw)


Pretty comfortable 'racing seats', and decent interior, gonna need a new rear carpet soon too(80$ not bad)


Original Engine bay pic when I bought it, 87-89 motor swapped in by previous owner. I'm not sure how to know which year this engine is, all I know is that the pressure plate for the 1986 z31 clutch I ordered didn't fit, and I had to order the 87-89 one.

It also has a FS5R30A trans and clutch type LSD (lucky me). I grabbed a brand new looking TPS and MAF sensor from a junkyard z31. Fixed my running lean problem, but now the car's running rich (10-11 average, but no considerable bogging). Saw that a hole had been drilled in the MAF for adjusting that variable resistor, so I'm gonna mess around tuning it tomorrow most likely.

Didn't have a power steering pump when I bought it. Got one for 20$ from the junkyard and immediately replaced it.


Tokico Blue shocks and eibach springs


Massive HKS BOV (or maybe some knock off, can't really tell) It does work though, all I care about


Badass aftermarket exhaust....


Came with the muffler, but the clip is bent or something


AEM UEGO wideband and digital AFR gauge, digital boost gauge, and EGT gauge (no temp probe to hook it up though)


Now to start with the work:

So when I bought it here is where the clutch pedal was:


Here's where it should be:


So I replaced the clutch slave cylinder and bypass the damper with a 280zx brake hose....


Still didn't fix the problem, helped a little bit, but I had to pump the clutch to get it up (is that what she said? )

Replaced clutch master and it was all good


The dash was pretty cracked and ugly:


So I pulled this dash at the local junkyard (in the rain) for about 35 bucks and installed it:

Big Slappy Z

Swapping em on the ping pong table


Broke the F*king gauge pod plexiglass, I was so pissed. No worries though, bought some plexiglass for 1.45 at the store and fashioned a replacement



New dash back in the car, looks much better

No plastic vents though, old ones cracked like crazy, if anyone has some extras I'll take em off your hands



Started wiring up one of my old stereo head units to see if the speakers still worked:




Annnnnnnd the speakers work! I don't know how those OEM speakers are still making noise...But it doesn't sound too bad


Drove to buffalo wild wings and the car shorted out and died for a second. Melted a piece of wire that hit the battery, I dodged a bullet there. So I decided it was time I make a battery tiedown.




So the owner before me drove the car around with the clutch pedal almost to the floor (as I showed earlier), so naturally the throwout bearing was making all kinds of noise. I decided it was time to get a new clutch.





Southbend Stage 2 Endurance clutch kit. Bought it for a 1986 turbo only to find out it didn't fit the flywheel because of the Gen II motor swap.

Big Slappy Z

Here's the old clutch on the car:



Doesn't look too worn


I had to wait an extra two weeks with the transmission on my garage floor and the car on stands to get the clutch back in. Luckily the guys at southbend (DXDracing whatever) are very helpful and swapped em out for me at no extra cost but return shipping.

So I decided to do a little bit of work while it was up on stands just sitting there. The car was running rich like I said, and I heard z31s have common problems with the CHTS, so I got a new one from rockauto. My god what a pain in the *** it is to replace, so I decided to get a new timing belt, tensioner, stud, and thermostat while I was at it.

Had some small issues with overheating, so I got the 170F thermostat. No problems anymore so far.





Oh and I also bought a windshield wiper motor from a junkyard and ordered some new wiper linkage and a 300zx rear light bar online (from 300zxpartsforyou). Old motor was burned out and the linkage was shot. I can finally drive in the rain now




Finally got the clutch mounted on Saturday morning:



Got it back together and she drives great. Trying to get the clutch broken in right now. I screwed in the speedometer cable wrong, because the analog speedo doesn't work now. I noticed that the part on the transmission would spin when I spun in the cable, is that supposed to happen? I gotta take a look at it when I have time.



On to the future (not necessarily in this order):
1. Pretty much all the suspension bushings need to be replaced, including the mounts on the top of the front struts. The car clicks like crazy and it annoys the **** out of me (and the entire neighborhood.)

2. There's a leak coming from one of the power steering hoses

3. I need to fix some tuning issues, I'm gonna mess with the variable resistor in the MAF soon and see where that takes me.

4. Gonna take 2 minutes and hook this baby up and push maybe ~8 psi

5. Hook up the muffler...

6. Paint job - Looking at going all black. That way I don't have to worry about the trim or anything being restored. Just black it out....

7. The Front wheels are barely hitting the front strut holder (that what it's called?), I'm not sure why but it may be a reason for some of the clicking I keep hearing.

8. New wheels and tires (maybe 350z 5 spoke, not sure yet)

9. Air conditioning. My friend has an entire AC system from when he had a z31 he is going to send me. Hopefully it's not too much trouble to get working (Im 99% sure it will be).

10. Intercooler kit

11. Nistune!

12 and beyond - Turbo upgrade, engine build....who knows...

I'm sure I've left out a lot of stuff I've gone through with this car but this is a lot of information for me to get through my head to try and put in one thread all at once.

Any comments, questions, concerns, criticisms, etc. are greatly appreciated! I'm very excited about this build so any advice that may help me would be awesome.

Big Slappy Z

Just ordered master bushing kit and subframe bushing kit from motorsport auto!

Checked the speedo cable, where it goes into the transmission it looks like the ring on the transmission is chipped just a little. It spins with the cable when I try and tighten it up a bit. Anyone have experience with how this thing works? I haven't pulled the other end out of the combi-meter again but I don't know why that end would be messed up

Also sounds like the timing belt is a little tight. Making a bit of a whirring noise. I tensioned it while hanging 20 pound weight off the belt and having it at about .4in deflection.....It's a gatorback, anyone know if these stretch just a little or the whirring might go away? I don't really want to risk snapping the belt early, but I could wait a couple days if it's a relatively common thing

SwarthyOne

very enjoyable thread. looking forward to more updates. i'll be following. i've had my '86 turbo for a year and love it to death.

Big Slappy Z

Thanks man. A lot more activity on z31performance forums, so my updates with be posted here most likely:

Z31Performance