Z-Tune #15 - Omori Factory restored MNPIII Z-Tune arrives down under.

[VSpecPerformance]

Introducing Z-Tune #15, Australia's newest resident Z-Tune.

We found and purchased Z-Tune #15 with the intention of doing a simple refresh before shipping it back to Melbourne, Australia - Plans change however. With the uneasy feeling of a modified Z-Tune the car was instead delivered to Nismo Omori Factory in Yokohama, Japan there would be nobody else more suitable for the job we had planned.

A complete certified Z-Tune restoration by Nismo.

Starting off with the vehicle; silver, a little tired where you can expect it but in hindsight still a very good base to begin our project. Though we can't ignore the elephant in the room; the HKS V-CAM & Steering wheel which are addressed at a later stage. Whilst we didn't receive any photos during the process, I'll try to fill you in with as much information and photos as I have on hand.

An introduction to Z-Tune #15; As you may or not know is that the Z-Tune was built to celebrate Nismo's 20 year anniversary in 2003 and of course 19 customers & their R34 GT-R V-Spec's were used as a base with less than 30,000 kilometers to undergo the Z-Tune program.

Here's our car, before our initial inspection (An agent inspected and confirmed the vehicle prior to purchase) and before it was sent to Nismo Omori Factory.

It's new home for the next long months/year ahead, Omori Factory. Our plan; A complete head to toe restoration, no cut corners, all work certified by Nismo Omori Factory and done to their particular high standard of work many of you know so well today. This was a must.

Inside and out, the car was taken apart for it's rebirth. Obviously the car was driven and modified, enjoyed, thoroughly perhaps. That's ok! That's why it's here. Here you can see some photos of the undercarriage which is in wonderful condition despite being driven.

Purist look away; The biggest controversial topic, as some of you may already seen is that we had decided Z-Tune #15 to be resprayed Midnight Purple III. A full respray, engine bay, boot, undercarriage and obviously the body panels were all resprayed by Nismo. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to respray the car a different colour, at a cost of course.

We didn't just stop at the body and surrounding aspects; we did the subframes too! with fresh Nismo arms, suspension and bushings to compliment. As usual high traffic areas covered in protective film to prevent any potential unnecessary scratching.

No stone left un-turned. The Z2 RB28 engine was removed to undergo it's full restoration returning it to OEM specification. This means, the HKS V-CAM is gone! As great as the V-CAM system is, we think it'll be better to return this engine back to original condition. We thought it'd also be fitting to add in the Nismo Carbon Intake Piping Kit to suit even if it wasn't on the original Z-Tune parts list. My only gripe is that the carbon weave found on all Nismo products are not 'visually' consistent.

I would've loved it if Nismo took photos during the process so I could expand a bit more on everything, but unfortunately they did not so I've worked with what I've got. Apologies!

Here are some photos of the completed MNPIII Z-Tune!

As some of you may have already seen, our car is in the latest issue of GT-R Magazine (#147) Here's a behind the scenes photo of the shoot.

On it's way to Melbourne, Australia! (With a quick detour to GT-R Festival 2019 at Sydney Dragway before coming home)

Come see this car at GT-R Festival before it heads back down to Melbourne! 

[Stixbnr32]

Heard about this project on 1320's YT channel.  

Awesome to see it restored.  Nismo doing good work.  Insane.

[r32-25t]

Are you going to put it behind a fence so that no can get within 20m of it?

[VSpecPerformance]

38 minutes ago, Stixbnr32 said:

Heard about this project on 1320's YT channel.  

Awesome to see it restored.  Nismo doing good work.  Insane.

We couldn't have picked anyone better for the job!

5 minutes ago, r32-25t said:

Are you going to put it behind a fence so that no can get within 20m of it?

Nope, you'll be able to come up close and personal.

[kretinburger]

I want one too.

[r32-25t]

Can’t wait to see it 

[VSpecPerformance]

6 minutes ago, r32-25t said:

Can’t wait to see it 

Be sure to come past and say hello!  

[r32-25t]

Definitely will do

[Stixbnr32]

I would hate to see the invoice from Nismo.  But well worth the increase in capital gains on a stock Z-Tune.

[Aus30R]

Wow is all I can say. I'd love a chance to pull it to the side to shoot it!

[VSpecPerformance]

1 minute ago, Aus30R said:

Wow is all I can say. I'd love a chance to pull it to the side to shoot it!

PM me

[profaine]

Amazing! Have been watching the progress via the Omori blog (what there has been anyway) - I am travelling to GTR Festival in Sydney and this is one of the reasons why!

I understand why the V-Cam was taken off but I am impressed someone in Japan was so keen to get the best from the car they fitted it in the 1st place!

+ 1 on loving to shoot it on the side as well!

[VSpecPerformance]

9 minutes ago, profaine said:

Amazing! Have been watching the progress via the Omori blog (what there has been anyway) - I am travelling to GTR Festival in Sydney and this is one of the reasons why!

I understand why the V-Cam was taken off but I am impressed someone in Japan was so keen to get the best from the car they fitted it in the 1st place!

+ 1 on loving to shoot it on the side as well!

Sounds like a good plan! Make sure to pop in and say hello when you're there! 

It's nice to know that the previous owner has enjoyed the car, after all, that's what these cars are for aren't they? But in our circumstances, we'd prefer the car to be in it's original state with a few changes here and there that don't deviate from it's initial OEM spec.

[profaine]

2 minutes ago, VSpecPerformance said:

Sounds like a good plan! Make sure to pop in and say hello when you're there! 

It's nice to know that the previous owner has enjoyed the car, after all, that's what these cars are for aren't they? But in our circumstances, we'd prefer the car to be in it's original state with a few changes here and there that don't deviate from it's initial OEM spec.

Can do, no doubt I will end up purchasing a T anyway!

Definitely, it is good to see! Fully understand the thought process around original state, the new carbon Nismo items help accentuate that.

[No Crust Racing]

I realise it may upset some purists, the colour change etc, but I think it's absolutely exquisite. 

Whilst MNPIII is not my fav colour, I always liked Silver most, what you've done is fantastic. I would have had no issue with the v-cam staying on either. 

You guys were great in supplying some parts and helping me out with my build and I always recommend people conatct you with queries/part requests etc, you guys are my fav GT-R workshop in Aus. 

Love your work and passion. 

 

[alex182]

Awesome car! Credit to all involved; a true no-expense dream build for many!

 

Sidenote: This might be the second(?) MNP Z-tune. I was always aware of a (reported) original LX0 Z-tune which was one of the early customer converted builds (I had been told that #1-#13 were customer cars and #14-#19 were "new" cars, can anyone confirm?)

 

Souce: GT-R Registry

Quote

The original owner of this Z-Tune purchased the car new in 2000. At the time he wanted to purchase a Midnight Purple II V-Spec but when they came out he didn't quite have enough money. Later when the new colour Midnight Purple III was announced, he rushed out and put a deposit on one immediately. This car (BNR34-006493) was delivered in March, 2000.

Later on when the Nismo Z-Tune was announced, the owner (same guy who had purchased it new - btw there's no indication he was a Nissan employee) wanted something really unique. He wanted to have a Z-Tune but leave it the original colour of Midnight Purple III. His fascination comes from the R33 400R which used to be offered in the original LP2 Midnight Purple. At the time he couldn't get his head around the fact that they were using used cars as a base. However it took the owner around 1 year to convince Nismo not to repaint it in the regular KY0 Z-Tune Silver and had to fight to convince them. It paid off and the car was never repainted to KY0 - it stayed Midnight Purple III the entire time.

Around early 2010 the owner parted ways with this extremely special Z-Tune. It was advertised by @Best-R (apparently with 2,800km from new). Many of the photos are from when they had the car in their possession.

 

[VSpecPerformance]

1 hour ago, ActionDan said:

I realise it may upset some purists, the colour change etc, but I think it's absolutely exquisite. 

Whilst MNPIII is not my fav colour, I always liked Silver most, what you've done is fantastic. I would have had no issue with the v-cam staying on either. 

You guys were great in supplying some parts and helping me out with my build and I always recommend people conatct you with queries/part requests etc, you guys are my fav GT-R workshop in Aus. 

Love your work and passion. 

 

The purist were the first thing to come to mind when painting this another colour, but sometimes, you just need to do it for you and only you, at the end of the day you don't need to please anyone else.

Thank you so much for your kind feedback!

[VSpecPerformance]

1 hour ago, alex182 said:

Awesome car! Credit to all involved; a true no-expense dream build for many!

 

Sidenote: This might be the second(?) MNP Z-tune. I was always aware of a (reported) original LX0 Z-tune which was one of the early customer converted builds (I had been told that #1-#13 were customer cars and #14-#19 were "new" cars, can anyone confirm?)

I believe Nismo personally selected cars #1-#13 and the remaining were customer provided cars.

[Vodkashotx]

This is probably my favorite build of all time, It's such a shame there's only so much documented and photographed. 

Not that I could afford it, But I would love to know what's the rough figure thrown to get Omori Factory to do this? Even just their hourly rate? 

[VSpecPerformance]

On 01/08/2019 at 6:09 PM, Vodkashotx said:

This is probably my favorite build of all time, It's such a shame there's only so much documented and photographed. 

Not that I could afford it, But I would love to know what's the rough figure thrown to get Omori Factory to do this? Even just their hourly rate? 

I agree! I would've loved further documentation on the process. Especially with the coin we've spent, which we cannot disclose at this stage..