stubzie83

My car was still on re040s when I bought it and they are not great in winter especially in cold wet conditions. I had a few scares the first winter I drove it do I got a cheap set of standard 18s from a member on here and put some Kumho Izen KW27 winter tyres on. These are much better at cold temps and are a much softer quieter ride than the bridgestones. However the softness does affect the cornering ability and the car does feel like it rolls around on them a bit more in the corners. However, I was able to drive in the snow and ice in them with confidence and even made it up snow covered hills where others failed miserably. I think they were a good investment as I only have the one car and our can be difficult to get out of my road in the winter.

I had mine changed for OEM fluid and Molyslip at about 36K and the box was much smoother. However, my 6th gear synchro has packed in since so I'm getting a new box

Could be a bush has fallen out/become torn on one of the suspension arms and so they are moving about against each other. This tends to happen on the front banana bar and causes rattling and clunking . I guess the the same thing could happen with the rear suspension arms. I think I also saw something on one of the American forums that said that the lower mounting point bolt holes for the rear shocks can sometimes elongate due to them being a bit on the loose side from the factory causing movement of the shock. I believe someone found this and fixed it by putting some washers in. I recall that this problem seemed to occur more on later 07+ cars though.

Best of luck getting the bolts off. I had my exhaust replaced last week and the fitters had to take a welding torch to the bolts between the Y pipe and the cats to get them off. They didn't bother doing the rest of the bolts they just dropped the exhaust off in one piece after taking off the W brace. I kept the old exhaust but as it's a bit big in one piece, I tried to undo the bolts between the Y pipe and the mid pipe. I soaked the bolts in penetrating oil and got a big breaker bar on them and all I succeeded in doing was rounding one of the nuts off. It wouldn't budge at all and this was doing it off the car in my garage I think you will definitely need some heat on them if you're going DIY

Needs lowering and spacers! Lol

Where I work in Crawley, I quite often see two Apache gunships come over. I have no idea why as I'm fairly certain Gatwick airport isn't a military base just yet!

Yeah, they have 3 or 4 plastic poppers holding them on. Just pull them off carefully from one end :thumbs

In a word, No. The xenon HIDs run on 85 volts rather than 12volts using a ballast and high voltage starter and also have a completely different fitting. They also use a projector and reflector system to project the light, whereas halogen bulbs use just reflectors. If it's the cost you're worried about Xenon bulbs can be found much cheaper than the dealer prices and you can fit them yourself quite easily

I also use the Halfords ratchet stands. I find they work best if you use them lengthways next to the pinch weld rather than across the weld as the upturned ends fit around the strengthened plate where the jacking points are on the sill

Check the slave cylinder for leaks. They tend to leak around the rubber boot at the end. I went to change my clutch fluid as my clutch felt dodgy and the fluid was a bit dark and when I got underneath to bleed the fluid through I found the slave cylinder was leaking. Got it replaced with a new one, new fluid and braided clutch line and it's much better.

Thats pretty impressive going! Thanks! I have to admit I was a bit worried when I turned up to collect the bumper as they look a lot bigger off the car than they do on The bumper I bought was in need of a respray as it was very badly painted, so I wasn't too bothered about flexing it a bit to get it in the car. Having said that once in it wasn't being flexed or bent at all. I guess the OEM bumpers are better for this as they are probably a lot more flexible than some aftermarket fibre glass ones. I guess if the bumper is in good condition and it is not intended for a respray then you might not consider putting it inthe zed as there is the potential for damage.

OEM front bumper will fit as I've done it. You need to take out the passenger seat headrest and you can then put the bumper over the top of the passenger seat so that one half is in the passenger footwell and the other into the boot. Bring plenty of packing material or blankets to cover up the seat and boot plastics as they could get scuffed getting the bumper in and out as it's a bit tight PS, it's easier to get in than out I found. Went in quite easily after a little bit of faffing around (5mins) but was a bit more difficult to get out again.

I saw the cycling monument the other day and wasn't that impressed with it. I'm also not loving that the whole stretch of road now has a 50mph limit on it. My girlfriend lives in Ashtead and she's pretty unhappy as she won't really be able to get out of Ashstead until the evening as all of the routes out from her are blocked, even junction 9 on the M25 will be shut as the race goes across both junction roundabouts and on the A245 link road between them

Pop chargers sound great. They're a good 2-3 times the volume of the standard intake and growl and resonate throughout the rev range. Obviously sounds epic when ripping through the gears at high rpm and tends to drown out my exhaust although that is still stock at the mo. Very easy to fit as it bolts on to the standard MAF housing and then has a bracket to attach it to the chassis to stop it moving around. There is also a heat shield that clamps on to the frame rail and you have to make two small holes in the plastic intake snorkel so that it can screw on to it. That is the most fiddly bit to be honest. I think Tarmac is selling these for about £125, but they can be had second hand. Check out the for sale section of the forum or ebay as there are usually a few about. I got mine second hand on the from a forum member for £50. I cleaned and re-oiled it with a K&N cleaning kit and the filter is as good as new

Seeing your other post about the ABS it's likely that the steering problem is related. From experience I would say that if you've had an alignment and it's not right that there is one of two issues; either the people that aligned it didn't do a great job and the thrust angle is too large, or something at the front end is bent. I had an accident in a previous car where the nearside front wheel took a clout from someone hitting me. The tie rod on that side got bent and I had to drive with the steering wheel partly turned to the right to go in a straight line until I got home. It could be that something like the tie rod is slightly bent but I would have thought this would have been spotted during the alignment. You can check easily yourself though. Centre the steering wheel and then look at the wheels. They should both point straight ahead. If one is pointing straight ahead and the other looks slightly turned to the left then something will be bent at the front. It's possible that if it is bent then the wheels will be turning at slightly different speeds due to the problem and this might be firing off the traction/stability control which uses the ABS to brake the wheels independently to try and even up the wheel speeds.

I get something similar on mine. It seems to come from the clear plastic alarm LED housing on the drivers side of the dash. On mine it seems to rattle and cause a ticking sound at about 3.5k - 4k onwards. Might be worth taping it down to see if it goes away

Item is now sold. Mods, could you lock this thread please?

FOR SALE: Almost new 350z Torque Solutions gearbox mount made of 6061-T6 billet aluminium with a 75A durometer bushing. For more info on it see here: http://www.torquesolution.com/product-p/ts-tm-350.htm This was fitted to my car yesterday whilst at Abbey M/S, but after a test drive I found that the added noise and vibration level inside the car was unacceptable to me, as my car is a daily driver. It was removed from the car straight away so has only spent around 20mins on the car! Please note: Due to the added noise and vibration I would recommend this more towards those who track their car or have a 350z as a weekend car as I feel that the noise is a bit too much for a daily driver. Due to the virtually new condition I would be looking for £70 + P&P. Postage for UK mainland should be around £6 or alternatively it can be collected from Horsham, West Sussex. Thanks for looking.

I got a very good deal I'm very impressed with the job I think I will be getting the rear done too... They also might be able to do my seats Dave, who did the respray? I only ask as I need to get my front bumper repsrayed and am trying to find a reputable company not too far away from me in West Sussex.

That will be the earth strap that goes between the exhaust and the chassis. It's normally connected where the OEM backbox meets the mid pipe at the flange.

PM sent : thumbs:

1371 Kg

Just as an update. I got under the car today to change the clutch fluid and possibly grease the clutch pivot. When I went to attach a tube to the bleeder valve I noticed brake fluid oozing from the slave cylinder around the rubber boot. I guess the slave has gone and is causing the issues. I also found the fluid in the reservoir was very cloudy and full of bits so it needs changing as well. Guess its time to get a new slave put in.

I believe coldel has one so you might want to pm him

Yeah, it's a 350z It is a UK GT model. I have read about clutch pivots breaking and bendy clutch forks, but these apparently were on the 2003 model and were redesigned for the 2004 model to be a bit stronger so hopefully I have the uprated ones on mine.