My 2004 Z20NET GTS

[Entharion]

There's really no point in changing engine oil but leaving the old filter in there. That's like spending £300 on a new set of clothes but then jumping in a muddy puddle on the way back home from the shop.

Agreed, that's why I always change my filter when I change the oil.

[Entharion]

A lot has happened since my last post.

The car has now done 142K, the following things have been fixed/done to it in the meantime:

• Rain sensor has been mounted and working (still need to re-mount it properly because it doesn't align perfectly)
• Blacktop coilpacks and new PFR6T-10G sparkplugs installed (fixed )
• Stainless 2.5" catback exhaust built and fitted
• Left-front inner CV joint replaced because boot was torn
• Rear left banana arm replaced (todo:right arm)
• Soldered the contacts on my cruise control stalk
• New floor mats

Now we've got the formalities out of the way...

uitlaat1.jpg

Video from the new exhaust


I've still got to go back to the exhaust shop to get it re-aligned, but so far the noise is not as bad as I expected and it's now got a nice rumble going.

The car is due for an MOT within the month, so I'll let them mess about replacing the right side banana arm (this was an absolute ***** to replace) and get it realigned while it's there.

Persistant issues:

• Creaking sound from front-end when going over bumps (I suspect it's the springs?)
• Creaking sound from front-end when pressing brakes hard (brakes work fine, have been cleaned/re-greased too)
• Rear end sits kind of low (worn springs / shocks?)
• Coolant smell when engine is hot (doesn't verheat and loses no coolant, smell seems to come from breather on coolant hose so is this normal?)
• Rattle from front-end on high-load low-rpm acceleration (DMF/clutch?)
• Humming sound at 90km/h coming from front-right side (tyre out of balance?)

I'd like to ask you to give me some feedback on these issues because it's hard for me to pinpoint their exact origins.
The text between () is my guess of what it could be but if you know by experience what it most likely is I'd love to hear from you

[Entharion]

Oooh boy time to update this old page...

I went back to ye olde exhaust shoppe and had it aligned, looks and sounds mint now.
Attachment 123991

But then my water pump o ring started leaking (a lot), so I've replaced the entire water pump since everything had to come off anyway.
I can safely say I never want to change a waterpump on this car again, what a pig!
Attachment 123992

My persistant issue with the battery passively draining is still ongoing, I've had the alarm system removed in the hope that this would fix it, but it didn't


Having abandoned hope of ever fixing the electrical issues, the next problem that was driving me equally crazy were the suspension issues, so I have new old stock shocks fitted all around. The springs were fine so they stayed put.
Together with some new front stabilizer bushes it improved my ride comfort and fixed the creaking noise over bumps. The rust on the old shocks looks terrifying so I'm happy with the results.
front-shocks.jpgrear-shocks.jpg

I've also improved the shifter feel with a replacement kit for the gear selector turret.


Unless something else goes wrong, the next thing I will be doing is upgrading the front brakes to 314mm, I've already got the calipers.
20200323_104337.jpg

[Entharion]

Okay I lied in my previous post, since covid kicked in and the car was collecting dust the whole week I wanted to replace the old front trailing arm bushes on the rear suspension.

Before:
DSC_1098.jpg

After:
20200424_162817.jpg

The brackets were very rusty and I decided to treat them to a good layer of hammerite, but this whole thing didn't go as planned, the left hand side went great with the bush removal/install kit I bought, but the right side went fine up until the point where I had to install the new bush...

20200424_184141.jpg
It just wouldn't line up, and after like 50 tries I thought it went in and kept pressing, realizing too late what had gone wrong.

The M12 rod is bent, the bush is warped so this set me back a new bush (expensive) and getting an 8.8 or higher grade steel M12x1.5 rod is proving to be very difficult right now..

After receiving a new bush I gave it a bunch of tries using a smaller diameter rod, but no way this thing was aligning properly... So I ended up taking it off the car, putting it in my backpack and looking for someone with a press. After visiting 5 shops I got lucky and I found someone who could press it in and they did it for free! So happy I could finish the job.

This was one of the last bushes on the rear suspension I had yet to replace with either rubber or PU, and together with the new shocks this really given the life back to the handling.

Next is the brakes... probably

[Entharion]

Told you next was the brakes...

At least I decided on a color, it's going to be Burnt Copper
20200605_001159.jpg

Front brakes are painted and rebuilt, I'll paint the rear brakes when these go on the car. Still need to order discs and pads.

[Ivandrago]

very nice color - not too flashy

[Entharion]

very nice color - not too flashy

Thanks, that was what I was going for, but hopefully they stand out enough to make it worth the effort

[Entharion]

The aircon compressor has decided to increase the number of noises it produces, aside from a groaning noise when engaged, it also makes a rattling/chattering noise when not engaged now!


Guess I'm replacing the pump in the near future then...

Aside from this issue the car has been pretty good to me for the last few months, even got the parasitic drain issue sorted!!
Turns out when you retrofit an auto headlight switch to a pre-facelift vectra without the sensors it just decides to drain the battery...

Also did some digging after a replacement intermediate shaft bearing, there's a humming sound coming from the right-front side of the car at 90km/h and a heavy vibration at 160km/h. (don't ask me how I know)
At first I suspected the wheel bearing but it seemed fine when tilting and rocking the wheel. Then someone triggered me about the rattling sound on acceleration and turns out the bearing on the intermediate shaft is a likely suspect...

And in other news, I've started to play around with t8suite paired with an OBDLink SX to start tuning the ECU. Still lots to learn so don't expect a lot of updates around this soon, but it's coming...

I almost forgot, I also fitted this bad boy under the hood:
strut-bar.jpg
May just be psychological but it does seem a bit tighter when cornering.

[Entharion]

sorry but iridium plugs can be taken out, cleaned up and re-used as long as the burn pattern on all of the plugs is the same... so i would double the amount to 30k KM... and before you all attack my opinion... I used to use them on a highly tuned mk3 vr6 and a cleanup would make them last twice as long with no problems whatsoever... for the people that want to know how much bhp my vr6 had.. it went from 191bhp to 221.3 bhp and that included having the engine blueprinted, stronger conrod's different pistons etc etc etc... i also used colder burrning NGK iridium spark plugs and like i said i would clean them after the normal change period... and at 60k i would change them. The car went on the rolling road with plugs that did 45k+

so clean if they all have the same burn pattern if they don't that is when you replace. otherwise you are just chucking away money.

30K Seems to be right on the money, I've checked them recently (neglected to clean them this time) and the burn pattern looked good.
They've just done a little over 30K and it just now developed a P1312 misfire so I'm going to replace them soon.

[northpole]

I would give them a clean like i said i actually pushed mine to 60k before i changed them... if you clean them and the misfire is gone it just means you can buy them when it is convenient to do so... (read when money isn't to tight) other than that you've done quite some nice mods to it... the suspension creak you've cured not to long ago, i had the same and i opted for TA-techniks sport shocks not only are they cheap as chips (109 pounds for a complete set, around 120 euro's) they have the same dampening characteristics as the oem sport shocks but are 1cm shorter to accommodate for lowering springs... and i can't praise them enough... most budget stuff is harsh but these are ****** nice...

that all said i will have to get some quotes in to do my rear trailing arm bushes as i'm not willing to lay under the car and end-up with the same problem you had... (although i got the right tools) it is far easier to have a garage battle that them.. and yes i will also replace those for either poly-bushes or go oem... it all depends on the price difference since my car in no way actually puts that much of a strain on the suspension parts... just need to know how much they'll charge me for it and than have it done...