MattG

It sounds to me like a blueflame performance exhaust would be ideal for you. About £450-500 and includes a new Y-pipe too. The sound is very similar to stock, very slightly more bassy below 2000rpm but normal above that. Just make sure you get the version with the silenced mid-pipe if you want it quiet (you have to specify when ordering). Bodyboarder actually has a virtually new one for sale at the moment (see For Sale section) and that has the silenced mid pipe, although he has a spare un-silenced mid pipe too. You buy the exhaust and I'll buy the unsilenced mid-pipe and everyone's happy!

Would you be prepared to sell the unsilenced mid pipe separately? You could get Blueflame to send it direct to me if it hasn't been sent yet. Assuming that it fits the older silenced version of the system that is. If not, have a free bump!

Adam is a busy man. I have been waiting a week for my order confirmation although I was told the exhaust will be with me in 10 days once the order has placed . I was a bit worried as I receive no response from my PM or confirmation for the payment. The PM I sent were still sitting in my outbox until I called them today. :/ So I decided to cancel the order but was told the US system is different than the one in UK, once they placed the order with the supplier, the order would be non-refundable even I am willing to pay for shipping cost from the supplier to their warehouse. I would suggest people to consider carefully before placing an oversea order as the difference between the UK and US system. To be honest whilst I have ordered things like brake disks and pads from the US I wouldn't be looking to order something as expensive and complex as a Nismo exhaust from there. My main concern would be that you aren't covered by the Sales of Goods Act etc so you're entirely dependent on good will if the part develops a fault. I remember someone on here got a Nismo exhaust from Z1 and the y-pipe cracked well under a year after purchase (fairly common on the Nismo it seems) and last I heard he had got nowhere obtaining a replacement. If you search on here you should find the thread. For some things it's worth paying the extra to get it from the UK for the extra insurance in case something goes wrong. If you ordered a Nismo through Sarah and it developed a fault in the first couple of years they'd be legally olbliged to offer refund, repair or replacement as the part would be considered "not fit for purpose".

I couldn't possibly say. Drop him a PM and have word. He has his own section of the forum, "Z1 Auto" under "Professional Traders". It might also be worth PMing ZMANALEX as he sometimes gets used Nismo stuff.

Yeah you need to make sure the vendor puts the right values on the invoice in the box too as they will often check that to try and catch you out.

The gift thing only works if the item worth less than about £35 so that's why you'll have got hit. The only way round it really is to get the seller to state the item is worth less than it is, e.g. put a $100 value on the box or something. The downside with that approach though is that the parcel insurance will only pay out to that amount if it goes missing, so there is a certain amount of risk involved.

Adam is based in the US so you've probably got the right web site.

This is news to me mate! We always balance wheels when we fit tyres, it'd be madness not to! I think the issue might be to do with the adhesion of the wheel weights rather than them not being balanced. I had one of mine fall off when I removed it from the box as the sticky stuff didn't seem to be particularly strong. And then when I was boxing up my old wheels to send back to you I found another long strip of wheel weights in one of the boxes. I'm not sure if they were off my new wheels or had been accidently dropped in there during packaging, although I haven't noticed anything whilst driving (would I if they were off the back wheels? ). I've been meaning to get the wheel balancing checked again to make sure. HTH.

Gear mods are awesome and make a huge difference. I went the other way on my previous car, a 250BHP MX-5 turbo, as first and second gear were pointless! I went from a 4.1 to a 3.6 which is pretty much the exact reverse of the stock 350z ratio to a 4.08. The difference was massive and it made the car much more driveable as I wasn't constantly changing gear. I can only imagine how quick a 350Z would be with a 4.08 but I know from my MX-5 experience it will be a huge difference over stock, probably the best bang for buck non-FI mod I would think. Steve, I've done 06 airbox (with Cosworth panel filter), Blueflame cat back exhaust, Ultimate Racing Ceramic high flow cats and Motordyne Lower plenum and 5/16 plenum spacer. The car has responded very nicely to all the mods and I think adding a 4.08 FD and Abbey remap would finish the car nicely and satisfy my desire for more performance. Let us know what Abbey quote you as I think quite a few people would be interested. Group buy ahoy! One thing to mention about this mod is that is doesn't do anything for drag racing performance. The extra gear change cancels out the effect of the faster acceleration apparently, at least over a 1/4 mile.

Totally agree with that. Alex has been a huge help with my Z. If I need anything for my car now he is always the first person I go to and he never disappoints. I just wished I lived nearer to him so he could work on my car too! Thank heavens for small mercies eh Alex?!

I can highly recommend a mate of mine for the job. He does Auto Electrics, Car Audio and Security. Here's his contact details: Trilogy Unit 1, Peel Street, Stalybridge SK15 1SR 07711079779 His name is Tim and I've been taking my cars to him for years. I sent tons of people there and they've always thanked me afterwards. He put two amps, a sub, a new head unit (single DIN) and some front speakers with door pods in my 350Z and it sounds great! He can supply all the parts if required but you will probably find he can't quite compete with the big online guys when it comes to prices for head units etc. He's happy to fit stuff you've sourced yourself though and his labour charges are very fair. Just don't buy any of those cheap double din head units from ebay, he's seen tons of them fail! You need to be careful about who you let mess around with the electrics in your car as the consequences of getting it wrong can be a real pain. There's a lot of cowboys out there so I'd be wary of playing the Halfords lottery unless you've had a personal recommendation. If you decide to give him a call tell him Matt with the white 350Z sent you. If he's unsure of where to get the connectors for the steering wheel controls (assuming you need them) tell him to give me a ring as I supplied the ones he fitted to mine and can give him the name of the company I used.

I don't think it's an issue of heat as such, they're obviously designed to stand up to everything from Siberia to Saudi as well as the heat from the HIDs. I think the problem with the eyelids/overlays is supposed to be that they interfere with the normal expansion and contraction of the lens when the temperature increases or decreases. In the case of the CinCity lights perhaps they were rushing and just used too much heat too quickly on those when trying to separate them and the plastic shattered internally?

I don't think people use Microwaves for that, a conventional oven or heat gun seems to be the norm. As to the oven being hotter, yes that's true but it depends on if you've got the eyelids fitted when you stick them in the oven doesn't it? The theory is that the lenses try to expand in the heat and the eyelid interferes with the expansion causing the stress cracks. Also several people on My350z who have sent their headlights to be modded have recieved them back with stress cracks in the lenses. I know of at least one person on my350z who (eventually) got a new set of headlights out of CinCity for this reason: http://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-nissa ... omers.html I think CinCity have been banned as a trader on there now due to issues like this.

Here's a recent thread about it but there are others if you search on there: http://my350z.com/forum/exterior-and-in ... ightz.html Seems a bit hit and miss and some people don't find the cracks until the eyelids are removed. Obviously the usual my350z pinch of salt applies too! Personally I wouldn't risk it though, especially if I had the 06+ headlights as they are £700+ second hand and the lenses aren't available separately. EDIT: There is some mention of "overlays" in that thread too, not sure if that is the same as the tinting film though.

Haven't looked into it at all bud, it's just a film that covers the lights, kinda like a very light window tint...... why would this cause my lenses to crack......? I think the reasoning behind the eyelids thing is that they don't allow the plastic headlight lenses to expand properly in the heat of the sun so you eventually get stress fractures all over the lenses. I guess in theory this might occur with the film too but it might be worth a search to see if anyone in the US has the problem. Of course you need a decent amount of hot sun for this to occur so it might not be an issue in the UK!

Just did and ordered some of their subtle headlight tint film...... i'll post up pics when i've done it....... Should be this kinda tinted effect......... Is that safe? There's quite a few people on my350Z that have had issues with their lenses cracking due to eyelids being fitted. Could these not cause a similar problem? Might be worth doing a bit of research on the US forums to be on the safe side (unless you've already looked into it).

It's worth mentioning that Denso do a "Tough" version of their Iridium plug that lasts even longer than normal iridiums. Opie sell these too but they are a little more expensive than normal Iridiums. Sounds like a good option for you if you want the plugs to last as long as possible.

When I added spacers to my Rays the upside was better looks and slightly increased grip. At least I'm assuming grip was increased as I noticed the the TC was less likely to kick when cornering on borken tarmac. The only downside I noticed was a very slight wobbling through the steering wheel on certain motorways, almost like the balancing was out by a tiny amount. I had the wheel balancing checked and it was fine and the effect went away again after removing the spacers. I wouldn't advise against fitting them based on that though, the effect was very small and didn't bother me at all. The upsides definitely outweigh the downsides. Just make sure you put a dab of blue loctite on the spacer nuts and torque them up properly (114lbft I think - but double check!). You don't want anything coming adrift! I did this to mine and they stayed rock solid yet were still easy enough to remove just over 6 months later when I changed my wheels.

Try PMing ZMANALEX. He might have some in stock and be able to send it to arrive by tomorrow (send it to Nurrish's place maybe)?

Ah, I'm pretty sure that's a pearl white then. Nice choice! It's always good to see it in the metal on a whole car first, colour chips aren't that helpful to be honest. That wasn't an issue with Ibis white as there's bloody millions of them! And yeah it is a REALLY bright white. In the sun you can barely look at it! Still not seen a 370Z in the flesh in any colour yet.

I've just had mine done in Audi Ibis White (a non metallic white) with gloss black highlights (wheels, door handles, headlights, mirror holders) and it looks absoloutely stunning. I've had more comments on the car in the past week than I have in the whole year before. Yes, white is pretty overdone at the moment but you won't care when you get the car back. You won't believe how wide and mean it looks! If the weather co-operates this weekend I'm going to give it another wash and wax and get some pics taken. So which car does Storm White normally come on? Is it a metallic or pearl white or a solid white like mine?

Speaking of Talk Audio, I'd recommend lurking on there and keeping an eye on the for sale section. Some really nice kit turns up there at great prices. I bought nearly all of my set up from the classified ads on there and saved an absolute fortune. As they're all audio enthusiasts they're constantly trying out new kit so you often get barely used expensive kit on there at a fraction of the new price. They have a feedback system on their forum too so you can easily see who is trustworthy. I don't think getting a decent pair of component speakers, a 4 channel amp and a sub for less than £500 is unrealistic if you follow that route.

Genny amps - the choice of champions!

Now, now, there's no need for tantrums. The fact is people ARE missing it. Frequently. Despite their best intentions. So why not try to make things better? It'll be far less work in the long run.

That post is bitchin'! I have to say I agree with the OP on this one. I too think it's easy to miss the rules located where they are as after a while you're that used to "stuff" being at the top of the page you just ignore it and scroll down to the threads. I recently sold something on here and totally missed the rules even though I checked for them first. I spotted this this sticky.... viewtopic.php?f=32&t=19660 ..which is titled "Please read this first before posting here..." and thought that was all I needed to know as that's how most forums do it. That sticky either needs to be deleted or have the rules pasted into it IMO (I vote for the latter). The other thing I don't agree with is the sacred view of "dibs". Talk is cheap and as far as I'm concerned the first person to PM me and arrange payment gets the item. I've been messed around in the past by people calling dibs on an item and then changing their mind so it's not for me (that wasn't on this forum I might add). I just don't think the forum should be dictating who I sell my property to. Given this seems to be a sensitive issue I'd just like to say all the above is meant constructively. I'm not trying to have a go and I generally think the mods do a great job of protecting members without being too heavy handed.