Valveman

For those offsets you will need to get your arches rolled. How could you drive any of those cars on our roads? I wouldn't be able to get them out of my drive, but I suppose they will be trailored around to shows.

I know this may cause some contention but I reckon 20mm spacers are too wide for the Zed. I bought a set of H&R 20mm spacers for my 2006 model and these pushed the tyres outside the edge of the wheel arch technically making them illegal. I reckon 15mm is about as wide as you can go legally, and even then I am not convinced they won't rub on the inside of the wheel arch.

Don't we all wish that was the case!

What do you do about insurance?

The other thing to bear in mind is the Motordyne exhaust should be a lot lighter than the standard exhaust configuration and this should be noticeable on the track, as the weight of the standard exhaust is right at the back of the car behind the rear wheels. In other words the handling should be better with this exhaust.

I bet you are popular with your neighbours!

Did you consider the MREV2 a worth while improvement? I assume by what you say you get more midrange torque and more power at the top once remapped?

I had my 2006 Zed remapped at Abbey last week. Mark made a bloody superb job and although it made more power and torque (especially more torque) than before you would not believe how much better the car feels to drive. The engine is now incredibly smooth and refined, much more responsive and feels (an sounds) like a planer crank V8. I don't think the dyno plot means a great deal apart from just being a rough guide to what improvements have been made and where in the rev range. The real test is how it drives on the road (or track). Mark can also give you several different maps options to select but you would have to discuss this with him. Just to give you an idea I reckon my 350Z now feels it has about as much power and torque as my E46 M3 (which had 350hp). Also don't forget this M3 engine was originally a race designed motor. Based on my experience (and I am a fussy bugger) I can whole-heartedly recommend Mark and Abbey for their work and services.

OK, the reason that in most cases the dual mass flywheel has to changed when the clutch is replaced is because of the following: like the clutch back plate there are springs or in some cases a compliant material that sits between the flywheel clutch surface and the clutch disc. This wears the same as the clutch back plate, so if you just replace the clutch disc, back plate and thrust bearing you may get clutch slip if the tension between the mating surface in the dual mass flywheel and the flywheel itself has lost tension. When a clutch is replaced, the main agent should check the tension of the Dual mass flywheel (with a special tension measuring tool) and if the tension does not meet the manufacturers spec then the DM flywheel has to be replaced. This is very common in diesel cars where dual mass flywheels are used all the time. The dual mass allows a nice smooth torque delivery and reduces clutch bite or snatching due to the immense torque involved with diesel engined cars. The same would be true for the 350Z as that produces a fair amount or torque and power too. Even a normal non dual mass flywheel may need replacing if the clutch disc has worn and the rivets securing the plate material have scored into the flywheel. Its similar to your brake disc wearing (scoring) if the pad material wears down to the metal.

It sounds like you have already bought your lightweight flywheel but you should be aware of a few things: There will be a lot more gearbox noise coming into the car, plus the take up of the clutch will not be as smooth as with a dual mass flywheel, plus you will need a lot more revs to pull away. Also the engine may run erratic at idle due to the lower mass. Lightweight flywheels are only really for use on race cars where you are constantly revving the nuts off the engine. These types of parts look cool on the adverts or when being talked about in the pub but there are always downsides to using them, and normally the downsides outstrip any potential gains by a fair margin. When the time comes to selling the car you could have a problem as very few will want to buy a car with one of this fitted. Just another view from someone with a lot of experience of such things.

This is a race car not a road car. There is no way a standard road engine will rev like that unless a lot has been done including a light weight flywheel, which you can clearly hear it has. My uprev holds the revs when you change gear so it is almost impossible to get a quick smooth change. Cars like the one in the video normally drive @*!# on everyday roads - probably drive great on the track which is clearly where it belongs.

Maybe lots of people on here run them but that does not mean there are correct for the car. I would use, or recommend using an air filter made from the same material as that supplied in the standard OEM filter, or a dry filter. Regarding 350 tuners: you could ask Mark at Abbey as he seems very knowledgeable about this - there are other too, one up north I seem to recall seeing on another recent thread. I think Mark recommends the HKS panel filter. Apparently the factory system is very good and far better than many of the so called remote filters or (popchargers as they often called). The only way to know if these work is to get the car dyno'ed before and after. Also don't forget the original car will be mapped for a standard inlet and filter. Regarding the MAF: these should last a very long time - maybe the life of the car. I know from the Porsche side using a oil based air filter like the K&N is a no no as it buggers up too many things as well as losing a lot of low end torque.

I would be really careful about fitting a K&N filter, or any oil/paper or oil/foam filter. On most fuel injected cars they use a hot wire metering system (MAF Sensor) for measuring air flow just before the thottle body. As K&N filters are basically paper based with an oil film, the oil from the filter can over a period of time coat the hot wire and over time it stops the air flow metering unit from working properly. Cure - replace the air flow metering unit which is expensive. Personally I wouldn't use any air filter that has an oil/paper or oil/foam element unless recommended by the manufacturer or a proper "trusted" 350Z tuner. Also when I ran Porsche RS's I tried a K&N filer and it definitely gave less torque than the stock filter. This was confirmed by other RS owners who had dyno'ed their cars too.

I agree. I find that above 4500rpm the revup feels a bit rough (I guess that's because the throttle is limited in 1st, 2nd and 3rd so the engine breathing is not as good as it could be), so I generally ride the torque curve and change at peak torque. Compared to my last E46 M3 the Zed engine is a bit of a disappointment. The M3 was super smooth and had great power all the way to 8000rpm. I will be visiting Mark at Abbey very soon so I hope this will sort the engine out.

Shame they don't do them in Black. I have the standard aero wipers on my Boxster S and they appear to work well - certainly no worse than the factory wipers. I'll probably try the ones from PIAA for my 350Z. I am not normally a fan of silicon especially on the windscreen as I have found smearing can occur which makes visibility worse.

Thanks Chris Much appreciated.

I thought this might cause some interesting comments. There are for some cars, removable tow bars where you can remove the ball and nothing is seen. This was what I was thinking of.

Just wanted to ask if anyone knows if there is a towing bracket available for the 350Z. Before you ask it is not for towing a Caravan. It's for towing a small trailer carrying a racing Kart or Motorcycle to and from the race track.

Yes, you are probably right, there is nothing like it - noisy, full of rattles, leaks water, creaks when driving, extremely difficult to get in and out of - just the sort of car everyone wants. Lotus Evora at £60K - are they mad? I test drove several Elise’s of varying power including the Toyota engine version. Still didn’t think they were fast and were extremely poorly made and finished. You are right about driving a "Lotus once". Certainly "once" was enough for me! IMO there is no substitute for power, and for today's road cars you need about 300hp or more. I would say 350hp in a Boxster or Cayman would be perfect. I went through a similar exercise over the last few months - test drove about 30 cars. I already have a Boxster S (which is sublime). Sold my E46 M3 with SMG - nice well made car but a little outdated compared to the latest M3, as the E46 design goes back to the late 1990's. Also the rear axle is a weak point and needs new bushes every 12K miles - even with uprated CSL types fitted it still feels a little loose at the rear. Fantastic engine though! I think the Zed is good value and is well made car. My only criticism of it are: I think the engine mapping is poor especially at low revs, also it could do with a more involving sound track, and of course there is that tire noise, which I am sure could be reduced by fitting better tires and a little strategically placed sound deadening. However I shall be visiting Mark at Abbey soon so hopefully he will be able to sort out the mapping. Maybe when you do find some thing better for the money you could let us all know?

Just for interest one of my customers runs a tyre company as well as a car leasing company for the rich (Ferrari's, Porsche, Lamborgini's etc). His tyre company fits tyres to all these expensive cars and he told me that many of these so called "budget" tyre companies (Toyo, Falken, Kumho etc) are all extremely good and can easily mix it with Michelin, Continental, Pirelli etc, as the tyres are as good (obviously some suit some cars better than others) and the only difference is these tyre companies keep there prices low as they are trying to break in to the high performance tyre market. One question I would ask: what is the quietest tyre for the 350Z?

Yes, that is a brilliant website. I nearly fell off my chair reading the guys comments about each plate. Especially on the home page where he has "C*^t of the Month" Excellent find!

Sorry I don't have any sympathy for this. It is quite clear not to mis-represent your number plate. Plus for some time now (about 3 years) you cannot buy number plates unless you present your V5 and some ID. Garages, motor factors and shops like Halfords have to "by law" print their name on the bottom of the plate, so the plate is legal and meets the required size and spacing. All other plates that don’t meet the required spec will be advertised as "show plates" and are totally illegal for road use. The DVLA do not encourage mis-representation of number plates. They advertise numbers as they should be displayed and if a name or a word number can be made by altering the spacing then this is mis-representing the number and is breaking the law. Check out the DVLA site - it is all on there how to be road legal. This is not new its been going on for a long time especially if you are a biker.

Can I suggest that for future Group Buys a deadline ordering date in clearly given so potential purchasers know when they have to make a decision to purchase by. May be the forum administrator/moderators could encourage this as part of future group buys.

Not so. The 07 engine does produce more power but higher up the rev range which is less accessible than the earlier zeds during normal driving. I was expecting a big dollop of torque from the 07 engine but it didn't happen until you revved it to near max revs. Don't forget if you shift the power up the rev range (and the 07 has an extra 500rpm rev limit) then you will suffer a loss lower down - Both the 2006 and the 07 uprev engines have variable valve timing on both inlet and exhaust, but the 276hp engine only has varible valve timing on the inlet side. The tramlining issue is normally down to worn tyres or at worse worn or perished suspension bushes.

OK thanks