Got my Zed back!!! :)

[Tommo560]

well its been 4 weeks (with a quote of 1) and i havnt even seen my car

but the good news is that i got it back on tuesday :)

its been in at SST Automotives because of some vibration from the engine (L28). turns out that this guy used to specialise in zeds until very recently (has now expanded his operation to facilitate all nissan/datsuns) and he reckons that these engines are very rough. so maybe it didnt need to go in, but it hadnt been balanced since the new harmonic balancer was put on..... so what the hell, might aswell. Thank christ that we did!!!! this car has a history of throwing balancers + flywheels (previous owner was to stingy to do it right the first time and car threw a flywheel, then didnt balance it, threw a balancer, reconditoned it instead of buying a new one, then did the balncer again, bought a bmw solid gold one) and in the mean time it turns out that the flywheel has loosed itself :eek: so its time to set things right and make sure this doesnt occur again.

To cut a long story short we (dad and i) had allready decided to get the bottom balanced to make sure it wouldnt happen again since now it has a brand new balancer (solid gold bmw balancer) and now a new skyline gtr flywheel. got it back on tuesday and the car is a LOT nicer to drive. it was also nice to learn that the internals of the car are in brand new condition and no unusual wear or tear. in any case we did decide to change all rings, bearings, and gaskets so its almost a brand new engine and still in run in stage with a 4000 rpm cap (a reasonable limit for a rebiult motor run in), but its so nice to have it back!!! when we finish break in its in again for a dyno tune that should sort out the flat spot in the carbies and then its back to fun time!!!!

Cant wait till next year, theres going to be 5 zed drivers (including me and the old man) around the scene competing against each other in the local ENJO Sprint Series So it looks like its all smooth sailing from here on in, which is very graciously accepted after this episode considering we have only had it for about 3 months.

Tom.

[Fun_in_my_z]

Thats good to here. Just dont wipe it out next year!

[Tommo560]

Advice taken aboard.

Tom.

[Zpeed]

sounds great.... its harsh when you got those cheap past owners who did the main things the cheaper way.. or backyard mecahnic style that you couldn't tell before buying the car etc... good you got that sorted, you'll find it will rev alot better now that it is balanced as well, but im sure you know what as you said it drives better etc

[MickieB]

Yeah, the last owner of my car was D-O-D-G-Y. I mean, talk about mistreated. Oh some of you may know him as dattozed. Haha just kidding.

[240Zdragon72]

Tommo560,

Did your Z have a bad vibration at highway speed? My Z (Jennie) has the L28 engine also, I thought the vibration was from the suspension in the front. You think that my engine might be the same way as yours was? I have to pull that engine (for the turbo I am installing), but anyway, do you think I should look into that?

BTW, what year of BMW did you get the harmonic balancer from?

[Mr Camouflage]

Hey Tommo. Hope to see your car at the next WA Z register meeting. (or do you not drive it on the road?).

[Tommo560]

yeah its on the road. wheels went in to the powder coaters not an hour ago and then its in for some wheels and then ANOTHER hot dog muffler and that should be enough for a while. definately try to make the meet next yeat, tried to get to the one just past but was at meelup with my dad, the davies and somebody or other with the purple/blue 2+2 with the chev v8 were there to.

dragon, it didnt viabrate on the highway as such, more that it was occuring at about 4000RPM up, it just got worse further up the range. and as for the balancer i have absolutely no idea, the previouse owner put it on not long before we bought it, but according to the people at SST it is one of the options available for fixing it.

Tom.

[240Zdragon72]

Thanks Tommo, hopefully it is only the front end needing new bushings!

[Tommo560]

no problem.

[halz]

Tommo,

Just so I have this straight... Did you have SST pull out your motor, strip it, balance the bottom end, reassemble and refit?

I would be interested to know what you think of SST and (if possible) how much that sort of work costs..? (send me a PM if you like)

Thanks,

Hayden.