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

4 years ago I sold my 370Z to Wilde Jaguar-Maserati in Florida. I traded it in for a 2013 Infiniti M56S. I missed the Z shortly after and have long wanted to get back into one. Through Carfax I found out that the car ended up nearby in Winter Park. I had the Infiniti for only 2 years, until I traded it for a 2012 Jaguar XKR, which is an absolutely terrific car. Years went by and I decided I wanted to track the Z down and try to buy it back.

Last year the itch for a 6MT toy became very...itchy. I Googled the VIN to see if it's up for sale anywhere...and instead the owner's info came up (everything's a little too public in FL). Through some quick work, I managed to get a hold of him and ask him if he wanted to sell it. He didn't. But we spoke about the car and I gave him its background.

So instead, I kept searching for a car from Oct-Dec (mostly E46 M3s and 370Zs). And then my wife told me her company was ending Orlando operations. And she had 90 days to find a new job. So the search stopped up until she got a new job. And in late-April, I started looking again. I was about to make a move on an M3 in nearby Winter Garden from an eBay listing, but I was too slow...the listing was gone. Car had sold. It was the 3rd M3 I missed out on.

This was Sunday May 13th. I was a little bummed out, but whatever. Two hours later, I get a text message. It's the owner of my 370Z: he has a second baby on the way, and he hasn't been driving the car much at all. And asked if I was still interested? 48 hours later, May 15th...well...happy 33rd birthday to me.

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But there are issues...and this will basically be a mini-build and restoration thread. The car needs some fixing. There was quite a bit of neglect. But I've already started sorting some of it.

More details to come.

So you essentially bought the same car twice. Why not just get another Z, perhaps newer and with little to no issues?

Welcome back btw.

Wanted my car. My specs. My color, low mileage (I sold it with 17K, bought it back with 40K). Plus I sold it with some mods left on it, including oil cooler, intake tubes, Swift springs, spacers. Plus I know the exact history of the car.

And when shopping for a Z, it was basically impossible to find one with the specs I wanted, mileage, no accidents, and price.

I understand, as I recently went from an ‘09 Z to a ‘13 Z, same color/trim/options, just that the older Z was an auto and the newer Z a manual, and people thought I was crazy, but hey YOLO.

Stay safe with that Alberto storm sh!t looming in the gulf.

Looks like a few body panels will need to be repainted. Too heavily damaged from tree sap, bird poop, and sun damage. Ate into the clear and left markings. Hood has some areas of spider-webbing and paint fade to go along with it. It 100% needs a respray.

I'll post pictures soon.

Will also be cleaning the MAF and TBs too.

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No, those aren't seahorses in my paint. That's the paint damaged from:

1) Constant exposure to sunlight without top coating
2) Shitty car washes ruining clear coat
3) Lack of proper paint care
4) Sap, poop, etc.

This is spider-webbing. The above with heat is what usually causes it in an OEM paint application on a non flexing part like the hood. Eventually, once the clear coat totally thins out it breaks and flakes apart. Nothing can fix this besides paint. The clear coat is so bad and so thin in this area that the hood has a notable discoloration that I thought was a hand print. This is easily the worst part of the car's exterior.

Here's more:
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A lot of that is bird crap that's been etched into the paint and burned into the clear. It's basically unsalvageable and will require a respray. I am 100% certain that I will get the hood and roof resprayed. The bird poop on the front quarter panel shot by the wheel feels smooth to the touch. I have some hope that it can be sanded away, compounded, polished, and then sealed with a glass or ceramic coating. If that works, I will attempt the same on the rear hatch (the pic with the 90-degree scratch by the glass, which has similar bird **** damage).

I've already gotten a quote on the paint. I'm looking at about $1000 to do: bumper, hood, roof.

It’s almost like someone loaned their hot gf to be pimped out and got back a cracked out whore

I rather enjoy the thought of you finding your car and "bringing it home".

Sure, you might have found another one with PERFECT paint. But it wouldn't be the same.

Great story.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Yep. I also wouldn't feel like having to redo all of the critical mods my car already has, which I mentioned. Oil cooler being a major one, with the Swifts, and I forgot I also did camber bolts too. Just the current mods on my car are like $2K in total (parts and labor).

But yeah, getting the actual car back and bringing it back to tip-top shape is where the fun is at.

I think I've figured out why the auto headlights won't work. The driver's side window isn't dropping down and going up every time I open and close the door. So it's possible that the car doesn't know when I've opened the door to shut off the lights. But the auto up/down on the window switch works just fine. It could either need a reset, or a new door sensor. :|

Welp, I can confirm it's the door switch. I opened the door while the car was running, and the warning never displayed on the dash, and the window didn't drop either. Opened the passenger side and the window dropped and warning came on instantly.

Time to figure out how to replace the door switch/sensor.

Annnnnnnnnd I fixed it. The auto headlights now work!

Fortunately, the door switch was simply loose. I tightened the phillips head on the door jamb just a few clicks and the window dropped a 1/4 inch, confirming that the sensor began working. I closed the door, and the window rolled up. I checked the headlights, presto. Back to working order.

congrats on getting your car back...
always nice to have it back in the family...

Congratulations on getting your car back. Are you going to have a professional detail the paint try to fix it?

Yes. Once the body panels are resprayed it'll get a full detail with a glass coating.

We've already done a few test spots. The below is a before/after 30 seconds of compound using a Rupes + glass coating:

https://instagram.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn....53963520_n.jpg

https://instagram.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn....96888832_n.jpg

The actual detail will be compound > polish > seal > coat.

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.

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Annnd thenn...

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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).

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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.

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

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.

And it's back!

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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.