lrh

Having a high grip tyre sounds good but if it lets go at higher speeds without warning... When I had Nankang NS2s on my Almera GTi grip wasn't the highest but they were predictable with a soft limit. On the other hand the Falken 452s on my 200SX let go spectacularly in cold weather without warning.

But I wouldn't recommend putting Nankangs on a 350Z because it's a heavy and powerful car. Vredestein's didn't exactly shine in this test either:

http://www.eurotuner.com/techarticles/eurp_0912_high_performance_tires_buying_guide/final_scores.html

"These slid easily and didn't like to be pushed hard. They never felt planted."

This is a good back to back test of many tyres against Michelin PS2s:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/09q2/tire_test_nine_affordable_summer_tires_take_on_the_michelin_ps2-comparison_tests/hankook_ventus_v12_evo_page_10

For a few quid you can have a hard wire mini usb in your mota.

Seems like a lot of effort when you could buy this from Asda for £4 and use it as is or modify it:

hes broke the curciut so there no interfarence

There's no proven cases of leaving tracks connected causing problems, although it doesn't do any harm and the chances of anyone wanting to play a regular tape in future are tiny. Hooking up to the Nurrish Sat Nav seems to be an issue but cutting the tracks makes no difference.

TV ( MPH ): 101.8

ET ( sec ): 14.208

That is bang on the money! Autocar's figure for 0-100mph in a 2003 coupe is 14.2 seconds

For all you guys that did it without cutting track, you will get the feedback and buzzing.

No such problems for me or at least 5 other people above

Admittedly some people do have problems but it seems to be down to shorting or mixing up the wires, or the routing of the cable. In this case the noise is related to connecting to a Nurrish SatNav.

Good guide and pics

But unless you bolt the strut brace down in exactly the same position as before, lining up the nuts won't apply the correct load to the bar. The manual says tighten the centre bolt 660° or 1.7 turns.

You've clearly missed the point mate.

Not at all, just confirming what others said regarding your "Trade Price".

Sounds like they put your discount on the trade-in price, just in case you sold privately (so you'd end up paying over the odds for the new one if you didn't try to re-negotiate).

Nowhere near trade price! You would struggle to do better privately.

CAP Black Book says:

PRIVATE VALUATION

£14771 if sold privately in showroom condition

TRADE VALUATION

£12848 for showroom condition

£12170 for average condition

£11261 for below average condition

Good stuff, glad to see other people benefiting from ghetto "iPod integration" No more CD skipping or left speaker cut-out!

I'm going to buy the cable from my local electrical store...

Your local pound shop will likely have a suitable cable... 1.5-2m long should be perfect

Hi mate, did you remove the bobbins where the cassette heads fit and turn....? I would have thought with the bobbins still in you would hear the casette player turning all the time?

I used a casette adaptor because I wasn't sure if the reels were driven or not. It was noisy with all the gears turning inside but I opened it up and greased everything, now you can barely hear it.

But now that people mention it, stripping everything out of an old cassette is a better option

A stereo cable with a headphone jack at one end will contain at least 3 wires (L, R, GND) all of which must be connected. If your cable has 2 RCA connectors at one end it'll have 4 wires (L, R, 2xGND). In this case you need to connect both grounds to the single GND on the tape unit (easiest to wind them together). Be careful stripping the wires as you don't want to damage the inner shielding around the L/R wires.

Did you use a dummy cassette, or did you do the spring mod (whatever that entails, no pics) or do you think the external switch idea is a better bet?

I use a dummy cassette as the spring mod seemed a bit hit and miss. As long as you don't break the PCB tracks you can still pop in a normal cassette and it'll play as normal

For reference the spring mod is removing these parts:

I guess GND is earth but what are the others and how do you solder a two wire headphone cable to three points lol?

The Left and Ground are together in one side of the cable, although to be fair it's hard to see in that pic

I've only ever seen it done on the US bose. That's not to say it can't be done on a UK/JDM, but it might be different.

That pic and guide were by a guy in Singapore! It can be done on any UK car or JDM with the double-DIN BOSE. My post on the last page explains an easier way to solder the cable and how you don't need to cut any PCB tracks:

http://my350z.com/forum/7883419-post130.html

It's really easy and works so much better than any FM transmitter or cassette adaptor

That thread is a bit messy now and most pics have disappeared but I have a saved copy that I was planning to repost here soon.

A couple of mixed reviews on UK roads:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Nissan-370Z-3.7-V6-GT/247960/

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/249250/nissan_370z_roadster.html

Discount for pre-06 is supposed to be temporary but if we're lucky they'll extend it.

http://www.whatgreencar.com/roadtax.php

K* 201-225 g/km £245

L 226-255 g/km £425

M Over 255 g/km £435

*Includes cars emitting over 225g/km registered between 1 March 2001 and 23 March 2006.

whereas the black 55 plate 1 year tax is only 215

£245 from 1st April. £435 next year

If it's swapping to "Side 2" and then spitting it out, it thinks the tape isn't moving.

Either the internal gears are too stiff and need a little oil/grease, or the rubber-edged wheel that drives the gears from the capstan is too smooth/greasy. Open it up and give it a service, but be careful as the cogs can go flying and it might take a while to figure out how it goes back together!

I bought a dirt cheap one and it was noisy as hell, so I opened it up and greased up all the gears. Now runs smooth and almost silent.

Have a question regarding rust, have you noticed it starting to rust underneath yet

When I got mine I was shocked Nissan still don't put any plastic lining in their rear arches Plenty of bare unprotected metal in the front arch as well

There was tons of mud stuck in the rear arches! It took a weekend to brush/blast it all off and coat the whole underside with Waxoyl, but prevention is better (i.e. quicker and cheaper) than cure.

Any UKs registered (or JDMs imported) after March 2006 are over £400 per year for road tax and any before that fall into the 200 odd quid band.

The discount for pre-23rd March 2006 is due to end next year so it's not worth worrying about anymore. Really hope they extend it though, otherwise £435+

I think JDMs might remain cheaper because they don't have official CO2 figures do they?

If you've got an iPod Touch you might still be able to do Bluetooth A2DP streaming/control.

Only your owners manual will confirm what you can/can't do as the UK brochures are pants!

Forgot to add...

With oil filter change ...... 4.9 litres

Without oil filter change .. 4.6 litres

Seems to be an attempt to get Americans to use less fuel... Their section says: "NISSAN recommends the use of an energy conserving oil in order to improve fuel economy."

Bizarrely the workshop manual says 10W-30 SL/SM outside the USA, 5W-30 Ester in the USA

Except for North America

Genuine NISSAN engine oil

API grade SL or SM

ILSAC grade GF-2, GF-3 or GF-4

Viscosity SAE 10W-30

10W-30 is preferable.

5W-30 is also preferable and will improve fuel economy.

If 10W-30 or 5W-30 is not available, select the viscosity, from the

chart, that is suitable for the outside temperature range.

For North America

• Engine oil with API Certification (*1, *2)

• Viscosity SAE 5W-30 (*1, *2)

*1: For further details, see “Engine Oil Recommendationâ€.

*2: NISSAN recommends Genuine NISSAN Ester Engine Oil available a NISSAN dealer.

That's a fairly bold statement to make. My Zed was my daily drive and I know of quite a few on this forum alone that also use them every day.

I spend 1-2 hours a day commuting in my 350! But if the first couple of owners used it as much it would have done 60k miles rather than the 32k actual.

Looking at AutoTrader, 75% of 350's still have less than 40k on the clock. For other cars up to 7 years old:

BMW M3 -------- 52%

Audi TT -------- 57%

Mazda RX8 ---- 60%

Impreza ------- 63%

Honda S2000 - 67%

Merc SLK ------ 71%

BMW Z4 ------- 72%

Boxster ------- 73%

911 ----------- 75%

Evo ----------- 76%

Elise ---------- 95%

OK the imports will distort the figure a little, but Z's are as likely to be tucked away in the garage during the week as any Porsche Even if most do go out every day it can't be very far or for very long.

But the US is by far the biggest Z market (at least 2/3rds I think) so they should really have thought more about long distance refinement.

If they're going after the German rivals they better improve the daily-driver refinement pronto!

To be fair most new Z's are second/weekend cars that only do 5-10k miles a year, so I can understand them not worrying too much about ride/noise on the 370. But at the same time they're "bigging up" the automatic and Sat Nav as if it's a daily GT

Surely the G37 is meant to be taking on the Germans, but it's optimistically priced and ridiculously heavy at 1.7 tonnes. I'm waiting to see what the Hyundai Genesis brings... It should be a more practical daily-driver and yet it only weighs a touch more than the 370. Brembo's and a Torsen LSD as well... Take note Nissan

I am only getting my service there to get my book stamped

I wouldn't even trust them with that!

Would recommend Martins in Winchester as an alternative... Recently had good sales and service experience there. Small dealership but part of a large group.

I don't think I could ever go for the obvious German rivals myself (335i, TT, SLK, Boxster, Cayman). Every house in my street has at least one Porsche, BMW, Audi, or Merc

But even after 8 years of Nissan loyalty (Almera GTI, S14a, 350Z) neither the 370Z or GTR appeal... and I'm probably in their #1 target demographic