Metalheads Slice of Piazza

[Metalhead96]

Had this for a while now,  toyed with selling but finally acquired a place with a garage so thought fuck it. Let's do it

Considering the cost of rwd manual jap sleds is getting more and more towards the sale of organs I know I won't be able to find something for as cheap as I got this for a couple years ago

First job was to tackle the rust, extra crispy but still palatable. 

[Metalhead96]

Pic of when it was last driveable

[Metalhead96]

https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/84914-metalheads-slice-of-piazza-discussion/#comment-2501592

[Metalhead96]

Cut down a factory r31 skyline muffler, need to tuck it up a wee bit but looks the part I reckon

[Metalhead96]

Realised I've got a fair bit of cleaning up of parts to be done. Not going over board as the snowball effect will definitely be at play

Pulled the intake manifold apart, found the engine mounts and brackets to the gearbox so will give em a quick parts clean and smash with the water blaster

Injectors have me worried, want to replace the hose tails but only one came off as I was different and had 2 clamps as opposed to the other 3. Cut em off carefully? 

Also keen to give em an ultra sonic clean if anyone local has one and wants to swap some sharns 

[Metalhead96]

Got side tracked so started fitting up the stereo and had to modify the slots as they are not typical din size. Also has cup holders now! Top slot has 2 cup holder pop out and a tray to hide your... "smokes" 

Need to make some brackets to hold it all but does the job. Door speakers in with crossover and tweeters too. Next will be the amp and tube sub

[Metalhead96]

Acquired some Autosport Bucket seats for this whip, also ditching rears and will make a flat floor for the rear with some storage spots

Also got a horn button for the old wood wheel

 

[Metalhead96]

Almost forgot. My mate came round and we mocked up how some r31 Ti aero wheels would look. 

Only issue is it requires 4x100 to 4x114 adapters. Rear would have to be 25mm atleast but the front would need 50mm to match the fitment for the rear and I dunno if I can justify running a big spacer/adaptor

Does look good though 

[Metalhead96]

Update time

Not too much hasn't happened lately. After sorting out a parts car I'd been gather bits n pieces I needed. Got the dash cluster tidy with unbroken plastics and a couple things that were missing, but now I've got something even better for this. Twincam g200w and digi dash! 

So the plan was my mate had bought the parts car and was taking the motor etc and said anything I need to just take what I need. Grabbed misc parts, trims and also all the rust cuts I need which I now have. 

Since he's going overseas next year he won't have the time anymore to complete the swap and is tossing up selling his piazza to help fund the trip but only if he can get what he would like for the car. 

Chatting with him we made a deal and I've now acquired everything to make the swap happen. All engine accessories, wiring, control boxes etc plus the rear garnish and badging to turn mine from a XL spec car to a XE. Stoked!!! 

The only thing I need to find now is the right size bellhousing/front section of the gearbox. My single cam box will work except the starter is on the drivers side and there is no room for how the block is shaped to fit it. Isuzu used the same box architecture across a multitude of vehicles (box in question being a MSG). Trolling through old forum posts and Facebook pages I've narrowed down that either a 4ZD1 2.3l from a tf rodeo shares the same gearbox but with the starter on the side I need, apparently c190 and c223 non turbo diesels are the same but no concrete info to back this up. 

Local pick a part has what looks like a 4zd1 tf rodeo atm so will try get down and drop the gearbox out for a look. 150 bucks there for a 2wd rwd box so I could just pick the whole thing up and cut my losses if its wrong. 

If I'm jammy I may be able to use my current loom to make it work for now and do the digi dash swap later. Will see how it all looks later on as the garage is choka full and can barely work on anything with all the crap around

 

[Metalhead96]

Twin cam time 

[Metalhead96]

Well hit a snag in the road but its not all bad news.

After not being able to attend nats the next closest deadline was to have this going for my mates wedding, plan being to get the g200z back together and atleast running, needing a couple of things on the head tidied up so drop it off at the machine shop.

2 days late the phone rings

"yeah mate, heads fucked, bent by about 1mm"

faaaaaaark, no more wedding cruising.

So now the twincam swap can commence

Knowing what i needed to clean up the motor I set about making a list and getting some pricing together, found all the bits im needing aside from needing a MSG 5 speed bellhousing with the starter on the passenger side, plenty of options there so no dramas.

Then comes the fun bit... Wiring

With the G200W I also snagged the entire loom except for what runs to the back of the car plus the ECU, digi dash and the control box for it. Needed to take the dash out anyway so whipped it out and somewhat laid the new loom in place closely to the old loom in the car. Man If looking at one loom is daunting two is even worse.

Going through I found a few things that didnt match up. One being that the plugs to connect the front half of the loom to the rear doesnt match what in the car, the pods either side of the dash cluster have a couple of different plugs too but this could be from the donor vehicle having cruise control which I wont be needing, wiper motor mounted differently so will need to extend that part to reach.

Have started pulling the old loom out and labeling as I go, once out i can play the fun game of matching up what is correct and what needs changing, fingers crossed I can de-pin the plugs I need to change and swap them over. I managed to get myself an early workshop manual complete with full diagrams to help with some of the problems.

Other than the the rust has been put on hold as the goal is to atleast drive this to my new place then worry about the rust once there.

 

[Metalhead96]

 

[Metalhead96]

[Metalhead96]

Picked up some waffles too

[Metalhead96]

Update time

Dug into the twincam donk and all is looking... okay? Car it came out of had been parked up for about 20 years and going off the head gasket I pulled off I can see why. Completely blew out number 1 and number 2 and 4 were not far behind. Checking over the block, head and pistons etc it doesnt look like its done any damage which is good. Cliff bond has a gasket kit on shelf (un-bloody-believable) and various seals etc, coolant galleries need a serious clean out though as they are full of shmutz. Seems alright though so onwards we go.

Loom is in place too and as far as I can tell I may not need to do any surgery to make it work.

Have confirmed that i need a diesel rodeo/bighorn bellhousing from a c190 or c223 to work with my gearbox.

Picked up a random panhard bar today to make fit as mine was bent like a banana and to be honest pretty skinny.

Latest goal is I want this on the road by my birthday. At this stage its pretty obtainable if all goes to plan.

chairs

 

 

 

 

[Metalhead96]

Piazza Planet round here atm

Mate of mine has a sister car at mine while he's overseas

[Metalhead96]

New digs, same shit

Getting a bit fatigued of the old girl. Being putting off certain jobs due to time constraints and possible skill issue. Decided best course of action is screw the rust, I need to drive this

Acquired a second g200w off @CUL8R in much better condition. Need to spin some broken bolts out and give it a good clean down, after I'll buy the needed gaskets and assemble then drop in the hole. Can atleast start the motor in the car before sorting the gearbox.

Speaking of gearbox have one lined up ready to be pulled just outside of Amberley, just waiting on the right time to go out and grab it plus find some pocket change in the couch cushions.

Anyway here's some photos for the thread