trackpig

Cheers.

Pretty similar toe setting as I am aiming for. I am stuck with the front camber settings though

I look forward to the vids

he kept my camber and toe settings which were spot on and overall the handling was just unbelivable . Words still cannot describe how good the zed was on track

 

:

Nice work on the quick ring trip!

What geo settings do you run on the car? I am about to have mine aligned but wondered if there are preferred settings to standard.

How quick did you make it round the ring?

The nut has a fine thread. It's an m14x1.5.

What kind of price are we looking at for a head gasket change?

The nut for the compression arm ball joint is in the dia below, part number 40038D

http://www.courtesyparts.com/350z-parts ... 0_801.html

I had a tricky time of trying to remove the compression arms at the weekend!

I removed the under tray and brace all without a problem. All I had to do was remove the nut from the ball joint on each arm.

I started with the passenger side as I thought that one was the one knocking.

The nut was seriously tight. I obviously was as gentle as possible as I didnt want to damage any thing but had to get more persuasive. I finally removed the nut after using vaious combinations of tools, jacks, heat and wd40. The nut was tight all the way down the balljoint thread and fought all the way. This took around 3 hours to remove!!!

The nut wasnt in the best of condition when I got it off and would not go back on the ball joint. No problem I thought as I have been very clever and bought the nut from Nissan yesterday. Yes, except its not the correct nut

I am now in the situation where I cant put the car back together and my girlfriend is walking to work on monday.

I call Nissan on Saturday morning and tell them we got the wrong nuts. It is indeed £18 per nut for the correct ones and I can have them on Tuesday .

I then try a motorists dicount center to see if they have the M14x1.5 (fine thread) nut I need. I have to buy a whole whole ball joint for a BMW at £9 just for the nut. It works though!

I am now at the point where I know I can put the car together but still have the other side to do. I inspected the compression arm bushes and both look in really good condition (I know at least one of the arms has been replaced by previous owners).

I decide to reassemble the car as I dont think the bushes need changing.

Once complete, I test drive the car and find the knocking has gone. I cant belive it. The car feels great on its knock free suspension.

I think the arm had been replaced in the past by Nissan but the thread of the nut was damaged but done up with a air gun. I reckon there was was very slight play in beween the ball joint cone and hub and this caused the knocking.

Just glad its sorted

What £38 !!! i paid £11 minus VAT each from Nissan worcester and felt iit was too much for a nut

Trackpig you sure is £2 from your local?! I should have words with mine

I was told that price on the phone.

I pick them up in the morning, so i'll report back.

You guys must have too much cash if you can pay £38 or £11 for a nut!

ive just ordered two of these nuts just in case- i am changing the bushes at the weekend.

Around £2 each from nissan. part number is 089116421a i believe.

Fitted mine last week and had it aligned today.

 

I just took it that the rear was factory set also and just counted the number of turns I made to both shock and spring seat.

 

Hope this helps, I had no knocking issues on the drive home and I know the rear springs had some preload.

 

Think I need to play with the shock settings as it was a little jumpy on the front end, going to go a bit softer, other than that the ride was very good, seemed to ride average bumps/potholes better than before.

Thanks. I was thinking of taking the same approach.

Not exactly clear though is it?

Cheers.

Hi all

I am going to fit the bc racing coilovers to the car this weekend. Ive been reading the instruction manual which is fairly poor imo. I have a question and I wonder if anyone can advise me?

Front units-

The spring pre load is set at the factory and should not be adjusted (stated in the manual). Only the ride height and damping can be adjusted- fair enough.

Rear units-

The spring platform can be ajusted for height and the length of the damper unit can be lengthened or shortened.

The instructions say i must adjust the damper and the spring platform together if i want to raise or lower the car.

How do I know what damper length to set to suit the height of the spring platform? Getting this wrong will result in bad spring preload or the damper extending too much/ bottoming out!

Any ideas or suggestions welcome

He is currently trying the wet and dry process but the lenses seem to have many micro cracks in them.

He has had problems in the past where it looked like the top coating was peeling off in places. After using the tar and glue chemical the cracks appeared. The cracks do not seem to be very deep - only in the surface and do not grow when you flex the plastic of the lense.

I'll see if I can get some pics.

WRT the ebay ad- Are the lights in the ad from a JDM car? Do jdm cars have non xenon lights?

Cheers

Hi All

A fellow 350z driver I know is after a new set of headlights after his have become damaged by heavy duty cleaning products. " Tar and Glue remover" got onto the lights and has "crazed" the plastic lense.

Has anyone bought and fitted a set of these lights from the states?:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/03-05-Nissan-350Z ... 20b7e3844a

Cheers

Monaco is worth a visit (just so you can say you have driven the track every time the monaco gp is on tv)

We didnt bother with the vignette last year, we just hitched a tow with a local driven Z4 and cruised through swizterland at a fair pace

The french autoroutes are pricey but great roads. 100 miles travelled in 1 hour is the goal

Hi Guys

 

Looking for a bit of advice about a possible road trip this summer in the Zed. Me and a mate are thinking about a bit of a tour of Europe. I'm up in Sunny Aberdeen and he lives in Edinburgh, so the logical first step is to drive down and get a ferry/channel tunnel across to France and take it from there.

 

I guess we want the trip to be about a week or so long and I don't want it to be Gumball rally 12 hours a day driving - wouldn't mind seeing some sites and spending time in places along the way. This is the first plan I've come up with....

 

Aberdeen

Edinburgh.... (stay overnight)

Brugge - - (stay overnight) 10hrs 40mins

Eindhoven - - (possible overnight) 2hrs 15mins

Nürburgring - - (possible overnight) 2hrs 25mins

Luxemborg - - (possible overnight) 1hr 55mins

Paris - - (possible overnight) 4hrs 5mins

London- - (possible overnight) 5hrs 30mins

Edinburgh (overnight) 7hrs 20mins

Aberdeen

 

Any comments/suggestions/tips gratefully received.

A read though of my thread my give you some ideas:

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=39640

You are right to limit the amount of miles per day as it can become a pain. We like to have a two night stay along the way as booking into a hotel in the afternoon and having to pack up and check out in the morning is hard work. Two nights in one place gives you a good break.

I would limit the miles driven in this country, we are going to start to use Newcastle to amsterdam in future.

Enjoy!

I meant to send that on a PM.

I have plenty preowned coil packs available @ £20.00 each.

 

PM me if you would like one sent over.

 

Alex.

Hi Alex

Do you have any pre owned coil packs in stock?

I could also do with an injector.

Are the injectors hard to change? I only want them as spares for a nurburging/ spa trip.

Cheers

Kevin.

Try cameralert for the iPhone- gps locations of fixed and mobile sites.

Don't worry about the comments from the BRAKE members and do gooders!

I have used a couple of different tyre choices, tyre pressures are dropped to around 34psi hot.

I find the rear end planted which can make the slightly less front end grip feel more prominent.

I know that coilovers, camber arms and full geo is the best way forward but getting the right tyre size is important.

What size tyres do the regular trackdayers use on the their Z's?

I could go for a new set of tyres but I want to buy the right sizes.

I am happy with 245 on the rear but was thinking of 235 or 245 for the front.

The front geo is not really adjustable unless I purchase A arms. Wider tyres seems a cheap way to increase front grip.

Thanks for any info

p.s I know vredestein ultrac sessanta are rated on here, but has anyone ran them on track?

Hi

I have the standard rays alloys fitted to my car. I want to get rid of the understeer thats present on trackdays, to do this , I am thinking of fitting 245/40/18's all round.

I have checked on the online calc's and it seems the 245's will fit on the 8" and 8.5" rims no problem.

I am aware there my be TC and ESP issues but what about rubbing or poor steering feel??

Any first hand experience of 245's on the front or opinions out there?

Hi

I am wondering if anyone is going to the nissan factory meet on Sunday. I am researching a coilover purchase and would love a passenger run in a z fitted with coilovers.

Thanks for any help on this one.

We did some high average speed driving through france and germany on our euro tour last year. High cruising speeds with a few top speed attempts thrown in for good measure.

It only amounted to around 7 hours driving in one day though.

All 3 350z's loved it. The vx220T loved it but the vx passengers looked a bit tired!

Its similar in power, weight and drivetrain layout yet has very different spring rates and front to back balance recommended by BC.

 

I found my M3 to be a little wallowy untill I changed the suspension. I also find the Z a little soft as standard when used on track.

 

Suspension setup can transform a refined cruiser into a real track piece.

 

It's also german and a 4 seater coupe imho more aimed at comfort and refinement than as a track tool.

 

I can't honestly see most people who would be buying an M3 ask for the kind of ride that harder springs would give? I probably should have changed the suspension on the M3, but brakes were rubbish also, it really wasn't meant to be a track car imho.

 

The proper track coilovers for the m3 and the zed have nearly the same spring rates, so surely it must come down to comfort for daily use?

I didnt pick up on the M3 to have an M3 vs Zed debate. I simply want to tailor my Z into a slighty more track happy car. To do this, I want to understand spring rates and spring balance. The M3 was just used as an example of different spring rates for different cars

All cars like M3's and Zeds are a compromise. The M3 was not designed as a track tool and neither was the Z.

Urm, the M3 isn't really a similar car to the zed, at all. I found mine rather wallowy to be fair, it's more aimed at refinement imho than the zed.

Its similar in power, weight and drivetrain layout yet has very different spring rates and front to back balance recommended by BC.

I found my M3 to be a little wallowy untill I changed the suspension. I also find the Z a little soft as standard when used on track.

Suspension setup can transform a refined cruiser into a real track piece.

Not too sure on spring rates, but I have had BC's fitted (along with front camber kits and rear toe arms) to my Zed, she handles incredibely well. I can chuck it into bends even with the weather as it is now

 

viewtopic.php?f=100&t=37595&hilit=+coilover

Great write up, thanks. When you ordered the coilovers, did you spec your own spring rates? If not, it sounds like you have the 10kg fronts and 8kg rears.

I cant decide if I want 10 and 8kg or spec something like 9kg front and 9kg rear to keep the ride comfortable and to try and dial out some of the understeer that nissan dialed in.