ianphampton

My 1st car - still had it when I was 20 was. . . .Morris 1000 Traveller. Of course, when I was 20 it was 1976. . . .so I guess that's a bit before most of you guys time. So - how come an old guy is on the 350Z forum. . . got divorced 18 months ago. Sold the Volvo. BOUGHT THE ZED ! ! Yes, it's a mid-life crisis, but, on balance - no wife, no Volvo, now enjoying the Zed, I think I'm ahead on the deal.

Great, Thanks

Can anyone tell me, please - how does the Fairlady Z label on the left on the rear boot lid come off? Is it just glue, or are there pins or screws I have to get to the inside and undo? If I get it off - are there any holes to fill or will the boot just polish up? Many Thanks -

I had my JDM roadster delimited and then you fitted a Japspeed Y pipe and an UpRev remap in Nov or Dec 2010 She felt so much more responsive - it was as if she'd been released after being held back, and it felt like the engine was enjoying giving the response it had wanted to all along. Very happy with the result. I expect to finish off the rest off the exhaust with a midpipe and backbox very soon (Japspeed K2 as I want to be able to listen to music when on the motorway, sorry to all you K1 purists) You guys at Abbey will fit the plenum spacer once the funds have recovered, and tweak her again - so I'll probably see you later in 2011!

Lockwood & Greenwood in Manchester did my P3 service last week for £211 so your seems a bit expensive. (They do you a 15% discount for 350Z members, which is always a nice recommendation) They didn't do Gearbox or Diff oil changes though

Last November Abbey Motorsport fitted a Japspeed Y pipe and remapped my import roadster, and I must say I loved the way she feels after this. I'm thinking about doing the rest of the exhaust as well (for gains in performance as well as sounding better) Does anyone have experience of the Japspeed exhaust? Or would the Milltek fit on the end of my Japspeed Y pipe - and give a better result?

I reckon my drifting urge has been satisfied, at least until my current tyres need changing. . . Next target is a track day in preparation for the real next ambition which will be Nurburgring - and I sincerely hope not to do too much drifting on The Ring! : Any input on the journey driving to / from and also round Nurburgring would be much appreciated :

No, didn't get that far, I was strictly a novice and the main object of the day was to play as long as my (almost) illegal Bridgestones lasted - and then swap them for new road tyres. Having done donuts and simple circuits for about 45 minutes the tyres were done (and I didn't want to burst them and tear up my wheel arches or paintwork) so that was it

Clutch & Diff Life should be OK - the Z has enough torque to break the traction just with the engine. (Get her moving a bit,then just give her a healthy amount of throttle and - away she goes) There was an MX5 there though who you could see only just had enough grunt to spin the wheels, and he had to drop the clutch to shock the wheels into spinning. No such troubles with a Z!

Found a fun way to get rid of the old Bridgestones. . . . went to a Drift What Ya Brung day at Santa Pod and asked to be taught how to Donut. Pretty good day, satisfactorily removed the 'stones - now put the Goodyear F1 Eagles on and enjoyed the experience, too. http://Link to YouTube: [attachment=1]2011-05-02 JP & Z smoking tyre donut2.jpg[/attachment]

Remap experience - 1st remap was initially just to get rid of the limiter from my JDM import roadster - but also gained major improvement through the low gears as Abbey also removed the 55% max in 1st, 65% max in 2nd and 75% max in 3rd - overtaking suddenly became much safer as well as much quicker. It's not speed that kills, it's being in the overtaking lane too long. . . . .I'm not bothered about the speed off the line at traffic lights, but her response was much better. Since then I've been back to Abbey Motorsport and they've improved the performance another step - changing the exhaust with a new Y pipe and then capitalising on the improved flow to add about 20 bhp and also quite a bit more torque. My girl now feels a whole lot more alert (Abbey describe it as " . . . more perky!" To be honest she now feels like she was meant to be, but they penny-pinched on the clumsy exhaust and the savings compromised the performance. The extra power and torque now mean . . .well, let me describe it. You're stuck behind a Merc on the motorway, doing, well, maybe 85, (In theory, of course, I'd never actually break the speed limit) but the guy just won't move - then he finally shifts into the middle lane and you say "OK, let's go, girl" and with just a minor stroke of the throttle. . . .you end up getting to almost 100 by the time you get to his rear bumper, and then you're by. And, you can tell, she's just lapping it up, it's just so easy. This is how the engine was supposed to feel - To answer you question - one dull trip in heavy traffic where I didn't get over 70 from London to Worcester and I got 28.4 mpg. Normally she's around 24, subject to how heavy the right foot is - since the latest re-map it's probably gone down as she's just so willing and really just wants to go, it seems cruel to hold her back. The day I think more of my mpg than the love of life in a Z is either the day they nail the lid on the box or the day my kids induct me into my old peoples home. I'll worry about mpg in my company Toyota - until then it's just whether it's nice enough to take the top off.

Welcome, remould - Do let us know how your removal of the JAP limiter goes. Since my last post I've been back to Abbey Motorsport and they've improved the performance another step - changing the exhaust with a new Y pipe and then capitalising on the improved flow to add about 20 bhp and also quite a bit more torque. My girl now feels a whole lot more alert (Abbey describe it as " . . . more perky!" To be honest she now feels like she was meant to be, but they penny-pinched on the clumsy exhaust and the savings compromised the performance. The extra power and torque now mean . . .well, let me describe it. You're stuck behind a Merc on the motorway, doing, well, maybe 85, (In theory, of course, I'd never actually break the speed limit) but the guy just won't move - then he finally shifts into the middle lane and you say "OK, let's go, girl" and with just a minor stroke of the throttle. . . .you end up getting to almost 100 by the time you get to his rear bumper, and then you're by. And, you can tell, she's just lapping it up, it's just so easy. This is how the engine was supposed to feel - Anyway - I suggest you overcome the limiter with a re-map rather than just fit an HKS Defenser - it may cost you a little more this time but the opportunities for further improvement repay the investment. Good Luck - do let us know how you proceed.

For those customers who prefer it, I think they gave marmalade as an option, but for those of us of the marmite persuasion - You either love it or hate it!

An Individual experience of de-limiting a JDM import 350Z with special Thanks to BladesGrant and Abbey Motorsport Back in late autumn 2009 I investigated who / how to delimit my JDM import 350Z roadster. Note, I did not really know what was involved, so no doubt some of my questions to the trade were a bit simple, but a few essential points arose. Researching on the net came up with about 20 possibles. I'm afraid I immediately discounted all those without an address or a landline - mobile phone only does not inspire confidence to let them have their hands in my girls innards. I was initially trying to find someone reasonably close to Manchester - but had to throw my net wider in the end. Note - this is not a statistical survey - it's the results I got, and it's the responses I received. (Or not - there were sevaral who never returned my call. . . even after a couple or repeat calls) I called: Abbey Motorsport - good response, obviously knew what they were talking about, gave info freely RS Tuning - left message (3 times) never called me back, obviously didn't want the job or too busy Dyno Demon (on Wirral) I felt I'd been given only half the tale, decided "Not these" as they were vague about whether they'd use HKS defenser or re-map AFR tuning (Crawley) - knowledgeable and helpful about HKS defenser, these guys were on my shortlist Blue Chip performance (York) - left message, said they'd call back. . . . .didn't Solware (Tamworth) Called these guys twice as their website has a couple of names. . . .1st time they said they'd call back (they didn't) and 2ndtime got someone who did NOT know anything. . .about anything . . . . EPRacing (Loughboro) - knew about HKS defenser - but they don't do it. . . Remap Science (Bradford) 1st time - "call again, I'm driving" 2nd time "Don't do a lot of Nissan work" - definitely fills you with confidence, eh! So, none of the folks up north had given me any confidence and I had a shortlist of 2 - both in Surrey / Sussex area. I opted for Abbey Motorsport, mainly because they were so obviously knowledgable, and said that they could de-limit my girl but without using the defenser they would leave me with other tune-up enhancement options for the future. They were polite, efficient, they called back when they said they would. . . .pretty much just what you'd want if you were going to let them take your little girl into their shed and do things to her. On the day I visited, they sorted her out in a couple of hours, explained what they'd done, and explained what other tune-ups were available as next steps. The fact that they also gave me marmite on toast with the coffee while I waited was just an added bonus. As a matter of interest, they were not the most expensive, either - prices quoted across the list above varied between about £150 and £350 - I paid £200 and felt I'd received good service and fair value for money. My girl - well, apart from the de-limiting, they said they'd adjusted the power in the first 3 gears (factory settings only give you 55% of max throttle in 1st, 65% in 2nd, and 75% in 3rd, apparently) so the most obvious difference is much improved low gear performance, especially for overtaking, and although I haven't 'gone all the way' with her yet, we've seen 140 and so the 120 limit is definitely removed! Oh. . . . and - will I go for the next level of tuning. Well, the next step would cost somwhere over £600 - but I'm definitely thinking about it. . . .

I checked on availability of a frequency shifter - available no problems for about £25, but I thought "Do I want to spend £25 - it'll still just be the standard player with a fix - let's spend a bit more and get a new one" For £160 got a Sony CD radio from Halfords, with iPod port, USB port, bluetooth to my phone (so Phone calls mute the radio or CD, you can hear the phone perfectly with no risk of Plod giving you 3 points) and they fitted it - good job with the fitting as you have to take out the whole console around the gear stick. Anyway - spend a bit more money, get a fully UK compatible CD radio, fix the problem by a nice upgrade would be my recommendation

I have an import roadster (she's beautiful) but noticed your comment about the radio You say ". . . .= radio needing a frequency shifter - cheap to fix " How do I get a frequency shifter - or do I just have to go and buy a new CD/radio? Currently I can only get radio 2 as everything else is outside the range of the radio!

I have an import Fairlady 350Z and it's limited to 120mph max. Doew anyoone have any reccommendations for me about who to get to de-limit my girl?