Chesterfield

pah you 05 coupe owners hav all the fun. No bluetooth in an 05 roadster, well not the UK spec ones anyway.

The new tax band "G" only affected cars registered "after" the budget, therefor was not retrospective. Rumours are that this one may be - and indeed may go back to April 06 vehicles. If it does, then many 06 Z's will be caught up in it. Actually, that could be bad and good news for residuals - those with 06 models and beyond will suffer, while those with 05 models will be able to advetise their cars as NOT falling under the new tax levels. Until tomorrow we cant tell though. Ill check when ours runs out...

You are thinking of Prescot I think.. This "green" issue is just pathetic. My Z does about 5k per annum - its an 05 (or 55 cant remember) and its got just under 9k on it now. Yet I can expect to be hit for this gas guzzler tax even though a diesel ford mondeo tramming up and down the motorway will be spewing out more CO2 in a year than my "gas guzzler". Brilliant. The logic behind this is just bonkers. As Ill bet most "gas guzzlers" are in a similar situation to my own, they will do less miles, as they will be sunday cars, show cars, weekend runabouts etc. So badging it as a "green" measure is just daft. Ive a good mind to buy a car engine, stick it on a workbench and run the bloody thing 24 hours a day just to off set the emissions that Im being charged for and not pumping out with the Z. Two fingers up to Gordon.

Because you attached it last time so I saved a bit of bandwidth and put it on photobucket when I used it!

Thanks D. I think Ill write a few when I have time, and explain the various methods etc including this one. But its one way of having thumbnail images without using up your attachment allowance

In short, if you use photobucket, just copy this code and replace the links with links to your own files: Remember to put the "th_" in front of the picture second time round as this denotes the tumbnail image in photobucket. Give it a try....

MINI GUIDE..... hope it helps people You get small thumbnails when you "attach" an image. An attached image is actually stored on the forum, which means you dont need to use photobucket etc, but there is a limit to how many items you can attach - otherwise we would soon fill our server with attached files. If you wanted a thumbnail pic, that when clicked presents a larger image, and without using attach, you can do it, but it involves getting a bit adventurous with code in your post. you can use photobuckets own thumbnails as link to the main photo. The small thumbnails are stored in your photobucket account with the prefix "th_" in front of the file name. for example if I post this code (and replace the { } with [ ]: {img}http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j225/chesterfield350z/th_Image002.jpg{/img} I get this image: Which is actually a thumbnail of a larger image I have in my photobucket account. If I then use that thumbnail image (the one with "th_" in front) as a link to the proper image, then I can effectively post a thumbnail image here that links to the full image. So just like people link to pages an put the word "Clicky" or something similar for people to click on instead of the full http link, you can use an image instead. This is the code (again replace the { } with [ ]): {url=http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j225/chesterfield350z/Image002.jpg}{img}http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j225/chesterfield350z/th_Image002.jpg{/img}{/url} ^This first bit is a url link to the full size Image^............................... ..^The second bit is the bit people click on, here we put the thumbnail image....^the last bit closes the url link. and you get this... - you can click it to open the large picture.

I would echo the sentiments about air guns used on these wheels - thats a big no no I think. Using hand tools and a socket generously wrapped in tape of some form is the way to go. Also, DO NOT USE AN AIR TOOL ON THE LOCKING WHEEL NUT. If you do, you run the risk of not only damaging the nut, but also the tool that removes them. Which could then leave you with 4 locking wheel nuts, and no tool to remove them - which I have personaly experienced. The locking wheel nuts on the Z are McGuards. They also have the rotating colars, so reverse threaded sockets will not work most of the time - and will simply damage the inside of the wheel (a LOT more severely than in your pics). So, again - if you want to avoid a MASSIVE headache, DO NOT use air tools on your Locking wheel nuts, and to avoid damage like in the pictures posted, avoid them at all times. Most garages will only want to use air tools - its quicker. Slip them some extra beer tokens and ask them to go the extra mile with a covered socket and hand tools.

Yes - the new "Band G" for vehicles over 225g/km applies to vehicles registered After 23rd March 2006. The DVLA/Government tables detailing this ar here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... G_10012524 So for taxing a Z the costs are: 05 model = £190 per year 06 model = £190 or £210 (depending on the date registered) Any Z on a 56 plate or newer will be subject to £210. It looks as though this time they are squaring up to raise it for all vehicles registered after 1st March 06 which means any Z on an 06 plate or newer could fall under this. We will have to wait and see what good ol' Gordon has in store for us.

Although changes have NOT been retrospective to date - reports suggest that this may not be the case for this change - th Sky News website for example quotes: "His move would affect owners of the 225,000 least fuel-efficient vehicles bought new since last April."

Last time they changed the rules, the Z did fall into the higher bracket - however, it was changed for vehicles registered AFTER 1st March 06. Which means the 06 Z's and onward were subject to the new cost, pre 06 models were not. If they change it again, I can imagine it will apply to vehicles registered after a certain future date, meaning only new Z's ould be affected. We will have to wait and see. Road tax based on emissions really really makes my blood boil. Our Z is used almost as a weekend car and just 1.5 miles to work and back each day by the missus. It does about 5000 miles per annum or there abouts. My Golf TDI does about 12000, and my new Seat (When it bloody arrives) will do the same, and with well over half the emissions level of the Z and doing more than double the milage, I actually pump more emissionsout of that than the Z. If the Government continue raising road tax and using emissions as the yardstick, then they need to combine this with annual mileage checks. As its simply not fair. Besides which, if anyone watched a recent documentary entitled "The great global warming swindle" - you may have seen that Human CO2 contribution is absolutely tiny compared with every other source of CO2 on the planet, its all just a con for governments to have new and wonderful ways of imposing taxes, whilst simultaneously preventing other countries like Africa from developing (an bringing in competition) on the basis that they are causing global warming. How very convenient. Anyway - rant over. Lets see what the budget brings, but good old Gordon is hardly likely to give us anything we havent seen before from this Government. Higher taxes, more ineffective spending. Oh and the self employed and small business owners are no doubt going to be shafted again.

The look on peoples faces when they stop in the street and stare at a dozen or more Z's going by makes this trip worth it on its own. Ive only been on the first one, sadly missed out on the second one, but it was quite simply the best days driving out I have had in the Z, or any car for that matter. Im really looking forward to this.

Any volunteers going to be doing the same round the ring on our outing to Europe?

Something like this in June.... http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3792

What a farce our legal system is. The force must be so proud. How to instill public support and confidence in the law, let an appeal get another speeding bobby off the hook. What a complete and utter joke.

Nah - I say keep the 650 badges. Taking off the 650 badges and adding the M6 wheels, will just make people think you wish you had the M6 and are trying to hide the fact its a 650 or less. The wheels are excellent, Ive seen them on a few M6's and they really do look nice.

Or this one: OAPs make for some of the best ones:

I like this one.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHWGJBLEahk

More than I would like to. Officially 9-5 Mon to Fri. But its never as simple as that.

So because you, one person that originaly said you could make the 15th, now cant come on the 15th, we should change the date. What about Digsy? He cant make the 29th - so should we change it to suit you and upset Digsy? (who incidentaly was one of the two people that got the ball rolling on this in the first place) The date is the 15th. Its been aded to the calendar by Mike, and its been decided.

Its got to be a setting somewhere in the ecu. For the golf switching on auto lock, and changing the number of presses for total unlock of the car etc was a simple change of one number from a 1 to a 2, or 0 to a 1 etc. The software was almost foolproof (as long as you stayed away from airbag settings etc), very user friendly - simply plug the cable into the car and laptop, start the program, start the car, and hey presto use the graphical interface to roam around the ecu settings in an easy to understand manner, and make the changes you wanted. It was brilliant. Just a shame that there isnt such software readily available for the Z. There are pieces of software to read the ecu and show you any error codes etc - which was also a helpful feature of the VAG software, as you could diagnose your own faults, and state exactly what the issue was when taking the car to a dealership, or if you have no warranty, you dont have to spend a fortune on abour costs to diagnose the errors. I am truly shocked that no technical wizard in Japan or the US has come up with the same thing for the 350z. Mind you, who has the bottle to beta test such software with their Z?

Actually Im guessing this folding of the mirros when locking the car etc is a simple tweak in the ecu settings. I have a serial to ODBII cable that I used with VAG-COM on the golf. Using that people were able to tweak the alarm, central locking (i.e one click for one door two for all doors) auto lock at a certain speed and auto unlock when key removed. However, without the right software, which can ammend the necessary codes in the ecu, I wouldn't advise connecting such a cable to your laptop and having a poke around. I would have thought the japanese or americans would have developed some sort of ODBII software for the 350z by now. I would think that altering the mirrors to do various things like fold in on park and tip down when in reverse would be a simple setting somewhere in the ecu.

Pingu - what screen did you go for? Im guessing thats going to be the most crucial piece of kit so as to make it look a professional job.

Chris

The in car PC idea is something ive always wanted to do for ages, but never really found the time or resources to make a go of it. I think there are many (myself included) that although we are fairly technicaly able, would love to do this but just havent quite got the skills to that level. A "how to" guide for this would be excellent. I can volunteer my assistance to anyone who wants to get such a guide up on this site, Id love to get one in my car so would be willing to put the guide together with the technical assistance of anyone who has done this or wants to do this. Hopefully we can end up with a specific parts list, installation and setup guide for members.