Care: What other things should/could be done to the car ?

Note that some of these changes may have consequences so beware. Details on what some of these things do can be found in the service manual. Some of them are done to improve reliability or to enhance handling. Checkout zhome.com Remove the AIV and EGR systems ­ simplifies the mechanics and removes things which have been known to fail. All the extra cooling bits that the European car has can be fitted. If the engine is out of the car consider replacing some of the oil tubes going to the turbos.

Later vehicles had additional insulation attached to prevent heat soak into the tubes from the hot turbos and exhaust after the vehicle had stopped causing oil to coke onto the tube insides. Fit a brake stopper ­ firms up the brake pedal by removing the effect of firewall flex. Fit Stainless Steel (with Teflon inners) brake lines to front and rear. Later vehicles added a deflector system attached to the tension rods to force extra air over the brakes. It can be retrofitted. Check and consider replacing the shocks and springs ­ over time most standard springs will have sagged. Replace the tension rod bushes ­ these are fluid filled and they leak over time. Use a polyurethane replacement.

Consider an adjustable replacement. The front suspension doesn't allow camber or castor adjustments to be made so this mod would allow castor adjustments. The center bearing on the driveshaft often breaks down and requires replacement. Consider getting the driveshaft rebalanced while it is out. Some cars from the factory have had driveshafts which appear not to have been balanced. The upper link bushes on the front suspension wear out. There are replacement kits available or consider fitting an adjustable link to allow camber changes. Consider replacing most if not all of the rubber suspension bushes with polyurethane to firm up the ride.

Replace the tyres that came on the car with new ones. Often the car will have come with mismatched tyres or even the wrong sizes fitted. I cannot emphasize enough just how important tyres are to a car like this. There is a huge range of cosmetic changes that could be made. Most of them are done to enhance ( ? ) the looks of the car. You can fit an aluminium or stainless steel lower radiator tube to replace the rubber one which has been known to collapse under hard usuage (see www.uniqueautosports.com.au). Also available from them is a low water level sensor for adding to the upper radiator tube. The point above about the performance limits on the standard car can be fixed as follows ­ speed limited to 180km/h ­ requires ECU chip change which will also usually swap the 7200rpm limit for one of 7500rpm. 105km/h limit on cruise control ­ either buy a US or European cruise control or experiment with some of the internal settings of the cruise control computer. I have left mine where it was so that if I am on cruise control I can't get a ticket on the open road. 105km/h ding ­ there is a little beeper under the instrument panel which can be disabled (you might also loose the headlights on warning).

speedo displaying maximum of 180km/h ­ four choices here ­ get lucky and pick up one from a wreck (usually 300km/h), buy a new one but they are about NZD 600 (300km/h), get the existing one recalibrated (mine reads 180km/h or 180mph at the flick of a switch), or finally see if you can pick up a European one (the US one does have a sub scale in kms for the Canadian market. The Euro and USA speedos have a reading of 160mph). The speedo produces the speed signal by cleaning up the output from the gearbox pickup and feeding it to all other parts of the car that requires it as well as using this signal for its own indication. Before you get really excited about possible sources don't forget that the NA doesn't have the boost gauge hole. There is a huge range of products available ex Japan for the 300zx (like about 20 times what you see in the US or NZ). However you will have a hard job finding them and if you do the new components cost megabucks. There is a market of used parts there and you can sometimes get them here plus a limited range of new parts. An example is a 6 speed gearbox from Mission but expect to have little change left from NZD 10k for a new one.

How to maintain your cars appearance.

This isn't a discussion of specialist things like complete car repaints etc. version and polishing. There will be as many views on this as there are readers. I use a variant of Meguiars 3 step system but Mothers system could also be used. (Look at www.meguiars etc). Both products are available at Repcos and most other suppliers. I wash the wheels and dirty parts of the car seperately before doing the body. Chamois are out and terrycloths are in. Get good terrycloths because some of them are pretty useless. I tend to buy some of my car care products in bulk from Pacer and I use their products for vinyl care (which contains a UV shield) , Protectall for tyres and mudflaps, glass cleaner and deodorizer, (also found AmbiPur's are great). I do all of these about every 2nd or 3rd wash. Once a year I use Claybar from Meguairs to get rid of embedded shit. You won't believe how smooth the paint feels until after you have done this. The really anal would use this every wash.

I have just used Selleys black RTV to rejuvenate the black door trim (not the door sealing strips) and the strips which run over the top. Wipe it on, leave for 5 minutes and then wipe off. The black seems to sink into the trim and colour it. Previously I used Mothers Back to Black but it didn't last. The Selleys seems to have about 4 times the staying power so far. I repainted the scuttle trim (2 panels just in front of the windscreen) and they look like new. I can tell you where the paint came from and the code if you are serious. Took about 2 cans of paint. Semigloss black spray can paint does wonders for wiper arms. Once every 18 months I shampoo the entire interior including the seats with a wet vacuum cleaner. Also wash the interior mats.

Silicone spray should be applied to the door seals and around the seals of the targa tops. Also make sure that the drain holes from the water channels around the targa tops aren't blocked. Cleaning the engine bay is a little tricky because the water can get into the electrical plugs and cause corrosion. The engine looks great when I clean it and then spray it with the Protectall mentioned above but I do this infrequently. I do use engine degreaser and then rinse it off but I try to do it in sections at a time to minimse the indiscriminate spraying of water. Then take the car for a long hot run to try and make sure there is no water lying in the plugs.