MattG

Best mod you can do to improve the gearchange in your 350z! And they look great too!

My mate fits car audio for a living and he says exactly the same as you. He's had tons of kids bring him these hong kong specials and there's nearly always a catch. Many of them are DOA or severely faulty from day one! The ones that do work simply don't compare to the more established brands in terms of quality. If it looks to good to be true........

Got it fitted a bit later than originally expected so I've not had a ton of time to play with it yet. First impressions are very good though, tons of features and loads of menus to get lost in! The Garmin sat nav is just the same as what you get in one of their stand alone units and can be updated via the SD Slot on the front. The parrot bluetooth handsfree works a treat, even with my iPhone 3GS. Within 30 seconds my phone was synched with the Kenwood and all my contacts had been downloaded. Also the iPod interface (using the optional cable) works a treat, I can get to all my playlists and music via the touchscreen with no issues at all. The sounds quality is very good too, possibly not quite as good as my previous head unit (Pioneer P88 RSII) but then I haven't had a play with any of the audio settings yet. Plus the P88 is a very SQ focused head unit. Chances are it's more to do with the default equaliser settings than anything else. So overall a big thumbs up from me, I'm very pleased with it!

For the steering wheel controls you'll need the ICT 29-005 cable, along with either the Bose or non-bose loom adapter. It's all in the sticky in at the top of the Ice and Electronics section of this forum. I'm not sure on all the differences with the higher spec models, some trawling of the Kenwood Electronics web site will be in order I think! I know the 9240 has the motorised screen with adjustable positions for better viewing and to avoid glare. I'm pretty sure the cable is only needed if you want to control the iPod or iPhone from the touchscreen, otherwise a USB cable with a hard drive connected to it would do if you don't want to go down the Apple route. I'll know more when I've had a play with my 5260 this weekend.

I'd also be worried about lots of interior rattles developing with a high powered sub in that location. I went for one of those under-strut sub boxes off ebay and I couldn't be happier. Even with a single 10" sub (best size for a box like that IMO), I have access to more than enough bass.

I was looking for the same thing as you and although I've always gone for Pioneer head units in the past, in the end I decided to go for the Kenwood DNX range. My reasoning was as follows: 1) Quick boot up. The Pioneer units can be slow to get going, although are supposed to be better with the later firmware. 2) The Sat Nav and Bluetooth functions have been farmed out to well known specialists (Garmin and Parrot). 3) You get a free lifetime subscription to Garmin TMC (Traffic info) if bought from an official Kenwood UK dealer. 4) The units fit properly in the 350Z dash. The Pioneer units are a poor fit with gaps around them and that would really bug me! In the end I went for the DNX-5260BT just before Xmas as Bassjunkies had it on offer for £620, although that offer has now ended. The cheapest I have seen now is at CAD for £669: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/kenwood-dnx5260bt.html Although if you don't mind going for one of the older models you can get the DNX-5240BT for £499: http://www.justkenwood.co.uk/car-audio. ... navigation I believe the differences between this and the 5260BT are fairly minor, just some buttons moved around and minor improvements to Nav software which may be downloadable anyway. Or if you have more money to spend, JustKenwood also have the top of the range 9240BT on offer which has the bigger 7" screen for £799: http://www.justkenwood.co.uk/car-audio. ... ion-system Don't forget you'll need the optional KCA-iP301V cable if you want to control an iPod/iPhone, this will be around £40 extra and is required for all Kenwood DNX units as far as I know. I'm getting mine fitted this weekend, can't wait.

These guys aren't far from you: http://www.alunox.co.uk/index.htm I don't have any personal experience with them though. There's also JP Exhausts in Macclesfield who have a very good reputation. My car will be going in to them in a couple of weeks so they can use it as a template for their new cat back system, but they are a bit further away from you.

How about a Greddy Spectrum Elite: http://z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?model=35 ... rodid=3497 Blue tips, tasteful sound and not too expensive either. It's only a back box, not even a mid pipe is included, but from what Abbey have said the y-pipe is the main bit to sort out as the rest of the system is good for 400bhp or so. If you decide you want it a bit louder later on you could get a custom exhaust place to knock you up a straight through mid pipe for peanuts. If you don't fancy ordering from the US I'm sure Chilli Red could probably get one of these for you.

Another vote for gloss black. Had them done a year ago and they still look as good as the day they were done.

I've got a white car, albeit Audi Ibis White, with an Alezan interior. It doesn't look too bad actually. I haven't got any good pics that show the colour contrast, these are about the best I have: I'll try to get some better pics when the weather improves, my car is currently a nasty shade of brown so taking them now wouldn't help much! That said, I am looking to replace my interior with black or red or a combination of the two. I've got a White, black and red theme going on with my car though so it makes sense for me to do that.

Are they Dunlop SP9000s? They were fitted to mine when I got it and they were shite in wet conditions! I had the car stepping out on me on roundabouts at sub 30mph speeds in the wet. A mate of mine has them on his BMW 320CI and has experienced exactly the same twichy wet weather behaviour. I swapped them for some Falken FK452s and problem solved.

I used to have a 106 GTI which is basically the same car with a bit more engine. Fantasic fun! Good luck with the sale.

What sort of MPG improvement do you normally see, and how is this achieved? Do you tweak the part throttle fueling as well as WOT? If there's a reasonable improvement then I guess the mod would pay for itself eventually. That makes justifying it easier!

Send a PM to ZMANALEX. Not only can he supply new and used Nissan parts at good prices, he is an encylopedia of Z stuff. I'm sure he'll know the answer.

Cheers mate, thanks for the info. From what I understand the HR exhaust as a whole is pretty good. IIRC Abbey don't even recommend changing the back box, at least not for performance reasons. Must....not...PM...ZMANALEX...regarding....HR....Y-pipe......

To expand on Yokomo's explanation, here's a True dual piccy: Note the fact that each cat gets it's own mid section rather than sharing one via a Y-pipe. To be honest I wouldn't stress to much about the true dual thing. Assuming you're keeping the car NA, the difference in performance between the stock exhaust and the most expensive dogs danglies exhaust isn't that much. I'd just go for one you like the look, sound and cost of, that will be much more noticable day to day than the performance difference.

Evo magazine had the DC Sports system on their long term test 350Z. From what I remember they seemed to be fans of it so I assume it's a pretty tasteful noise. You can probably still read the reports on their web site. I think they might have had the exhaust manifolds too though.

Was that for the Y-pipe, mid pipe, rear section or the whole thing? I don't suppose you remember the measurements do you? Does anyone know if the HR exhaust differs to the DE exhaust in terms of bore diameter?

I looked into candy apple red as it looks fantastic but in the end it seemed to be a VERY expensive way to go. Firstly the initial paint job will be very pricey due to the price of the paint and the number of coats required. Then when you pick up the inveitable scratches and stone chips you may end up having to have the whole car repsrayed to get a good match due to the way the candy is built up in layers. Also from what I remember the pigments in candy apple red are organic so even with the UV protectors mixed in they will fade after a few years in the sun and you'll end up with candy apple pink! That last one might not be a concern with the amount of sun we get in the UK though! So I copped out and went for Audi Ibis White!

Try PMing ZMANALEX. He has a ton of used OEM parts and can source new parts at good prices too.

I got mine from ZMANALEX, £325 delivered. Drop him a PM, he's a good bloke and get any OEM parts at great prices. Here's his sale thread for the bonnets: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=35294

I've wondered what happens to the "spare" O2 sensors too. How many of the original 4 sensors are left? I would guess an uprev remap is essential for this setup so that the resulting CELs can be disabled?

From what I've read the Berks have a better rep than the Kinetix ones. When I looked into HFCs it seemed that more people had experienced problems (i.e. cracking Y pipes) with the Kinetix. Some say it's due to the lack of a support bracket (that the Berks and OEM cats have) and others say it's due to the tolerences on the flanges being slightly out which in turn stresses the Y-pipe. The latter seems like the more plausible explanation to me since the Ultimate Racing cats don't have a support bracket either and people don't seem to have them same issues with them. The Y-pipe in question also seems to be a factor though, with Nismo exhausts fairing particularly badly. If it is just the flanges that are a bit off then there's no reason why Kinetix couldn't have corrected this which might explain there being less problems reported with them lately. The other thing to note with HFCs is that they can give the exhaust note a raspy effect which isn't to everyone's taste. This seems to be more a characteristic of the ones with a metallic substrate (the OEM cats use a ceramic substrate). I didn't want the rasp so I went for some Ultimate Racing cermamic substrate HFCs from Adam at Z1Auto. They only rasp for about a minute or two from cold and then it disappears completely. The CEL issue seems fairly random and whilst more prevalent with decat pipes it can happen with HFCs too. It might be good insurance to get some O2 simulators from ZMANALEX ( viewtopic.php?f=38&t=23979 ) and fit them whilst the cats are going on. That's what I did and they've been fine. Buying a cheap code reader off ebay (£20 ish) might be a good idea as well just in case you do get the odd CEL and then you can check it and clear it. Oh and don't be surprised if one or more of your O2 sensors decide to die on you when you swap the cats! They're pretty fragile and just the act of removing and refitting them can be enough to bugger them. If that happens you'll get a CEL stating which one is broken. ZMANALEX can help you out again here as he can supply preowned and new sensors for good prices. Just bear in mind all 4 sensors are unique so you need to know which one is knackered before ordering.

As said above it doesn't make much of a difference. Go for the one that you like the sound of best, that will be much more noticable day-to-day.

Yeah mine were in Gunmetal too as when I ordered them the car was GM. They did look great in that colour but just before I fitted them I decided to have the car resprayed white and so had the wheels repainted to match the black/white colour scheme. I know Rarerims definitely have some Z2S in stock so drop Ben a PM, I'm sure he'll be happy to help. They supplied them complete with the Falkens at an excellent price and can supply with other tyres too, e.g. Toyo T1-R. Rarerims didn't actually plan on bringing the Z2S in but I begged Ben to get some made in 350Z fitment and he agreed! We did specify 19X9 ET20 front and 19x10 ET20 rear (same as the GTRs) but what turned up was 19x8.5 ET15 for the front. I assume they had to be changed for technical reasons with the wheel design. I was worried that the loss of width would make them look too far in the arches compared to the rears but the extra 5mm of offset made up for that and they look spot on. Regarding the 285 tyres, I've had a play with this utility: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html ...and it would seem that going with 255/35/19 front and 285/35/19 rear provides the same front/rear circumference difference as 245/35/19 front and 275/35/19 rear. This is the key thing to worry about. If the difference between the circumference of the front tyres and rear tyres is too large then the speed they are spinning at will also be too large and the TCS system will think the rear wheels are spinning and will cut in for no apparent reason. 1) 225/45/18F 245/45/18R (Stock Rays): 56.6mm difference front to rear 2) 245/35/19F - 275/35/19R (My setup): 66mm difference front to rear 3) 255/35/19 - 285/35/19 (Your proposed setup): 66mm difference front to rear The only real difference between my setup and the one you want is that my speedo reads slightly too fast and yours will read slightly too slow. You're only talking about 0.5% either way though so definitely nothing to worry about! The costs aren't hugely different for the bigger tyres either, you'll just pay about £30 - £70 a set more for the larger ones depending on what brand you go for.