DannyBoy

Well maintained UK GT for 6k is really pushing it, especially from a dealer. Not saying it's impossible but you could be looking for a looooong time. A lot of cars will have had front end resprays because they collect stonechips like nothing on earth due to the shape and the terrifyingly thin paint. Colour matching can be a bit of an issue with zed paint, but there's no excuse for it all to be peeling off. DB

+1 on the aftermarket. The stock head unit is pretty crap even when it's all there. DB

you might want to look again it doesnt look like a stock hatch How did I miss that, lol. Actually makes perfect sense to do that to the window, as even plastic windows aren't light, or cheap. DB

Just a word of warning: replica 'carbon' parts are very often a single layer of carbon with tons of fibreglass reinforcement instead of more carbon. This makes them not much lighter than the standard body parts, and as you were going to paint it anyway, you'd potentially be spending a lot of money to save like 10kg and have it look exactly like the stock hatch. I'm not saying you need to spend $5000 to get a real carbon one, but the really cheap ones are cheap for a reason DB

LOL!!!! i LIKE that vid!! NSFW version: http://www.clubcarisma.com/viewthread.php?tid=35409 DB

In terms of fitment, I believe all 350z seats fit in any 350z. However you'll only have the functionality of the original seats, so even if you buy heated electric seats you won't get the heated function if your original seats didn't have it. Have you thought about a re-trim instead of replacing? Getting two seats done isn't that expensive and gives you the chance to go for something a bit more interesting than the stock black-on-black look. DB

In theory yes it would work, but you're adding another link into the chain which would reduce efficiency. Normally the SC gets spun by the engine, which causes parasitic power losses. If the SC was spun by the electrical system, you'd have the engine spinning an alternator which was charging a battery which was spinning the SC. Alternators aren't that efficient so you'd introduce something else that wastes engine power as well as the SC which still needs the same amount of power to run it but through a more wasteful power-train. The bigger problem however, is that compressing air to any reasonable level requires far more juice than the standard 12v system in your average car could ever provide, so you'd need a dedicated high-spec electrical system powered by the engine to run the SC, and now we're getting silly. DB

If you still have a stock Y-pipe then you can't have a cat-back. A cat-back will change the whole exhaust behind the cats, so y-pipe, midpipe and back-box. I can vouch for the Milltek as I have it on mine, a very good pairing with the HFCs. DB

The usual HFC noise is the one that you seem to be describing as new and strange; the rasp at about 3k rpm. The hiss when you let off the throttle I have never heard of before, and my HFCs certainly don't do it. You sure you don't have a turbo? You definitely want to get rid of the stock Y-pipe, because it sounds like the flexis are knackered, and even if they aren't it's the most restrictive part of the stock exhaust after the cats. Personally I'd say avoid Japspeed and go for a decent stainless cat-back system like a Cobra or Scorpion DB

Redline Goods (not to be confused with Redline Styling) offer fit-it-yourself steering wheel covers which look to be pretty good quality. They have a thread or two on here showing their work so have a look. DB

Was thinking exactly that. An exhaust note that raw as standard would be rather un-Jaguar, no matter how absolutely godly it sounds. Although to look at it another way; what better way to shake off the last vestiges of 'pipe and slippers' that to come out with something that'll wake the neighbours? DB

All spacers will do is increase your front wheel scrub radius (the pivot point of the wheel is no longer in the centre of the wheel so it 'scrubs' across the road), which might numb the handling very slightly, but I can't see how 20mm spacers could totally trash the handling on their own. Did you fit them yourself? because it sounds more like massive geometry issues than just spacers. DB

No cat-back exhaust will notably increase performance on a Zed without a remap, so just get a Cobra stainless exhaust and be done with it DB

'53 plate with 57K If you look at contamporary engines of the same type and build quality I think we could be seeing even more miles than some seem to expect out of the engines at least. The Toyota V8s in the Lexus LS barges have gone beyond 400k without a rebuild or anything DB

Oh god It, ok, Squee is a lady, she's allowed to say that I totally get where you're coming from on this one. The two women who I see drive regularly are my mum, who is an excellent driver and can drive the zed whenever she likes (not that often, she has a TT that is all nice and quiet and comfy) and my sister, who I'm reluctant to even let in the passenger seat because she treats cars as consumables. Nothing to do with the female-ness, her attitude towards cars means she's never getting anywhere near it. DB

Not actually a bad attempt, the nose looks a bit too long but I've seen worse. Of course still an epic fail for being a replica. This made me laugh though: 'carbon fibre glass body' well which is it? DB

I blame the last party for the debt we're now paying off, and their fake green policy which was just away to cream more taxes. To be fair I don't like any of the politicians. Everything they do is for the short term as they are always promoting for the next term in office. They all just tamper with things than actually fix them. Can't trust politicians. They're only in it for themselves. It's all very well blaming the politicians, but let's not forget who put them there. We've created huge incentive for short term problem-patching by the majority voting only for what will get THEM the best deal in the short term, not the country but them individually. This has lead to Party manifestos being adorned with unrealistic and unsustainable vote-winning policies that get watered down before being put into action and then scrapped completely half way through when the next Government takes over. How can we expect anything lasting to happen when this is the case? I think this sort of thread is a good example of that natural (and understandable) 'me first' mentality. I mean no offence to anyone on here when I say this (we're all entitled to our opinions and the odd rant) but it does seem a rather short-sighted argument. So the goverment reduces fuel tax, then what? well they either have to do without that (rather substantial) source of revenue in a global recession/budget deficit, or they have to recoup the loss by taxing something else instead. It sucks that we all have to pay so much to run our nice sports cars, but the country is still in massive budgetary deficit, and regardless of who's fault it is don't you think that's a bit more serious than annoyingly high petrol costs? I totally understand the anger here, and I'm not condemning anyone at all, just saying that maybe taken in perspective, it aint such a bad thing. DB

I think you can relax, I remember from when I was reading up on headers some aussie guy had Megans on, so assuming he didn't have a USDM import or something wierd, that would suggest that they'll fit RHD cars. DB

Could be the result of a blow-over paintjob flaking off That's a strange one, almost looks like grit damage but it's september and the car is garaged DB

Tricky one that. He could very well be telling the truth, PTSD does crazy stuff. On the other hand he could just be one of the thousands of squadies that do this for kicks on a routine basis, although bikes seem to be the main culprit. Wouldn't have wanted to have to preside over that one DB

There you go DB Edit, browser fail, didn't realise someone had already done it, lol.

Seriously, it seems to be the case that how the car has been looked after is so much more important than mileage with these. As an example SpursMadDave bought his with relatively high mileage and it is now over 100k with no problems whatsoever. I on the other hand bought mine at 45K and pretty much everything on it broke within a month (except the engine, they seem to be pretty bullet-proof unless run on low-grade fuel). The moral of the story being that Jim's car is a crazy amount of car for the money, and you can have as much confidence as you ever could that it's been looked after properly. If I could do it again I'd have bought a car off here rather than my 'well looked after low mileage' off autotrader. Oh and DB

Or with the pessimist's hat on it could be someone who decided to have a read up on here to know all the right things to say. Still if everything in the ad is true, that is a brilliantly sorted car for a very good price. It's gutting to think that if I had waited a year to buy my Zed I could have got something like this for barely more than I have into my '04 DB

Another long shot, but when I got mine there was some rattling coming from the rear (definitely more rattling than clunking), and it turned out to be that a trim clip from the trim at the back edge of the boot had somehow broken and fallen inside the metal frame that it was attached to and was just rattling around. I found it by accident when doing some soundproofing as it really didn't sound like it was coming from inside the car, but that's definitely what was doing it. There was also a screwdriver kicking around in the spare wheel well and making noise but that was pretty obviously inside the car and quickly sorted. DB

4 minutes, wasn't even close... DB