Bough my 370Z back...now it's time to restore it. (Mini-rebuild thread?)

[AlphaSnacks]

Mechanical update (this is lengthy):

Jun 1st: The Z had a stall today...a weird one too. Not 100% sure what caused it, but I suspect throttle bodies, which I've been needing to clean.

I drove the car to Wendy's for all of half a mile. Took a roundabout with some gusto to the left. Drove in to the parking lot, reversed the car into a spot just fine. Came back 3 mins later to start it: it starts and then stalls out. Tried it 2-3 times, same result: starts then stalls 1 second later. So I went the old school route, I hit the throttle as soon as it starts and that worked. The engine revved up, and it ran just fine thereafter settling at idle.

Today, June 2nd, was my appointment with Andrew over at his shop in Sanford, FL to get the axle click fixed on the car. And this weekend on Sunday, I was going to clean the throttle bodies. But we'll be doing all of that in one day instead and then resetting and relearning ECU and all throttle sensors. Gas tank was anywhere between 1/4 or 1/3, and lower...but it was a left turn, and not right. So not sure if it was fuel starved, especially since it didn't cut off right after the turn and I was still able to park it.


So I'm home now, and the axle click is totally fixed. The splines and axle were incredibly dirty and full of rust. The entire axle and spline were completely cleaned up using a spray and wirebrush numerous times until they were bright and silver again, and then a healthy glop of Moly grease was administered on each side.

Then there was an oil leak spotted and traced back to my oil cooler. The bottom hose was rubbing against the front sway bar and it was causing seepage. Andrew re-clocked the positioning of both hoses to give them clearance from all nearby components and then cleaned up the entire undercarriage soaked in oil. The car was low 1.25 qt (though some of that was spillage from when the hoses were taken off). Hopefully, that's all sorted out going forward. But I'll have to keep an eye on it and inspect visually every now and then for signs of oil.

Lastly, the MAF sensor and TBs were cleaned. And while the MAF sensor was pretty clean overall...the throttle body was absolutely gunked up. I mean truly awful. I'll be posting some before and afters of them...but trust me, nasty.

One of the plastic intake mufflers (the ones that connect to the intake tube) broke with a very light touch trying to remove it from the intake tube, which made me wonder if it was in bad shape and had a crack at the elbow the whole time causing a vacuum leak (and thus the stall?). But Andrew had a few spare parts laying around that he was able to use to sort the issue.

The diff bushings are shot and need to be replaced, as well. But that'll be for the next visit. And I'll be deadening the entire rear end + wheel wells with Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro.

As of now, the car drives very well and you can feel a much improved feel of power and response.

[AlphaSnacks]

Annnd thenn...

[AlphaSnacks]

I ordered sound deadener today from Second Skin. I purchased the Luxury Liner Pro, which is a Mass Loaded Vinyl product. It'll be applied all around the rear of the car underneath the trunk's panels, as well as going into the wheel well liners. My goal is to eliminate road noise from the rear as much as possible. The tire roar is unfortunately my biggest gripe with the car, and my goal has always been to make this the perfect sports car/quasi-GT hybrid. If the sound deadener is a success, then the power mods will begin.

I also fixed the window trim and moldings today using GTechniq C4, which is a permanent restoration. It's the only one on the market. All others are basically just variants of tire shine that you apply every 6 months. They mask the issue more than anything. The C4 penetrates into the rubberized plastic and re-infuses the coating permanently (or as long as you maintain the finish of the car).





The window trim looked even more gray and pale at one point, but I had done some work to it earlier on last week trying some stuff out.

[axmea?]

Good story. You know your car that's for sure.

[AlphaSnacks]

Dropped off the car to get it resprayed. Bumper, hood, roof, and rear deck are getting a respray, and front 1/4 panels will be blended in for everything to match. Car should hopefully be ready Thursday or Friday.

After that's done, the rest of the panels (door, rear bumper, rear 1/4s) will be detailed to bring the clarity back to the paint. It will finish the car up aesthetically and allow me to do a mod or two.

[AlphaSnacks]

And it's back!





Front bumper needs some minor wetsanding in 2 spots, and I found some other really minor things (that only I would notice, tbh). But the shop actually encouraged me to inspect the car and bring it back next week, because there will always be little things missed and they offer a 5 year warranty on their work too (excluding bumper damage, obviously).

Anyway, the car looks terrific overall. I'm very happy it finally looks clean.