ChrisB

We took a visit to our new friends at Japex today. I was allowed to watch and even interfere a bit (much appreciated). In a very interesting (and reasonably priced) 4 hours, Ross had fitted the Competition Clutch kit (including alignment tool, CRB and spigot bush), lightweight flywheel, chromoly pivot pin, slave cylinder, braided line, Fast Intentions HFCs, Stillen Y, changed diff and gear box oils, added molyslip and bled the clutch!! I could be converted to the easy life of letting a pro do the work Certainly attempting to change a clutch on my sloping drive on axle stands would have been a huge no-no now that I have seen first hand what is involved! Anyway, they set to work Attention to detail - always a plus How it was, still working, but getting on a bit We reached the holy grail... heavenly music "aaaaahhhhhh" To be temporarily stuck with a very good condition old spigot to get out (apparently old knackard ones just fall out - mine was tight as a very tight thing). I elected that we proceed with putting the new one in anyway, because I'm awkward like that, which meant a hunt for the right tool However, when the spigot was replaced, a shiny new flywheel was popped on The chromoly pivot was screwed in place - 52mm as it is a JDM (correctly advised by Ewan at Clarkmotorsport ) And before I knew it, back in one piece, with pipes so shiny, they come out black in the camera flash burst A new clutch slave and braided line were added, and vacuum pumped to get the air out (all installed and bled in about 10mins) Followed by a pumping device to fill the gearbox and diff oils. The old stuff which came out was clean as a whistle at 57k miles, but a refresh (and molyslip) can't hurt with new demands on the horizon.. So, a lightweight fly and grippy clutch combo is a bit of an eyeopener to drive. Stall-tastic, with a side dish of kangaroo juice for the first set of traffic light Lightening and upgrading certainly changes the nature of the car from slow (and smooth) to quick (and currently snappy) gear changing. Definitely more care is required in rev matching in both up and downshifts and moving out of junctions to avoid embarrassment Mine's only the conservative stage 2 with ST fly - I'd hate to think what one of those 'race' type stage 4 and ultralight setups must be like to drive It's also surprisingly noisy with any kind of load at under 2k RPM too, although no different sitting at idle, so I am very glad that I have decided to sequence the upgrades to allow a bedding in and familiarisation period before tuning in the near future. The new exhaust has a nice warm hum to it though. Jobs a good-un Oh and a friendly flash and wave to/from the black zed I passed on the way back home too

Shameless pic whoring here, but you get the mother of all spacers built in on the Fast Intentions HFC

Mine has a smooth rump. I always thought that was best. HOWEVER.... I am going through a phase and thinking mahoosive Nismo V2 spoiler to complement the new front bumper I bought... I understand your dilemma

Lol - no hard feelings If you have some animal pics to post up, feel free, just (I'd prefer) not data

Boys, I don't want to be a kiljoy, and it's interesting and all, but possibly a tad confusing having results from other cars in my individual build thread, no? There is a dyno results thread for just this purpose http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/23450-dyno-results-info-thread/

He sounds nice Young is good, and you've already made contact with a few strokes and food. I bet he'll come in when it's cold - tincture of time and all that. Yes the testicles will have to come off though Our current pair were RSPCA stray abandoned/rescues (so captured, snipped and vaccinated) - one (Spartacus) was bold and over friendly, the other (Crixus) scared of his own shadow when we picked them up. Crixus literally hid behind the water tank for a couple of days - and was hyperventilating so badly in the car on the way home, we wondered if he'd last the trip! (My wife is a vet - so he would have been fine if he had collapsed). Both are absolutely fine and perky now Cats are great (like dogs). As it happens we also have a rescue Glis Glis. Yup.

Cats sometimes adopt owners - you have been deemed suitable and he wants to move in with you

Lol 275/19 yep that would be expensive. I kept my old OEMs for winter and clad them in Khumo KW27. The car does look a little sad when they go back on ..kind of, oh it's winter again then.. sigh.. 4-5 miles walking to work in a blizzard... errm... rather you than me though Just to stay on topic, finish the s/c. Many small and large jobs involved there.

Gareth - have you tried winter tyres yet? They work minor wonders on low Chiltern hills around me - not exactly epic Welsh mountains, but they do help ...not wishing to open up *that* old chestnut here, but....

I could probably get a stiffy over a diff-y (did I just write that?) I am rather fiscally deficit at the moment though, so maybe something cheaper like comp arm bushes or something?

Must admit the dipped beam hids fitted to my JDM are fine. Focus and brightness is perfectly adequate to my eyes. If I had a complaint it would be the halogen highbeams, which only help slightly. Twin hids must be a good upgrade. Bose? that is the car-stereo with the cassette right? To Bose fans

Come on you two, fingers out and get some build threads up (or at least photos of garage work)

It's face is Darth Vader.. It is awesome! A bit too much at first look maybe, but definitely awesome

Dogs are great Here he is with his big girlfriend..

On the clutch front, via Tarmac, a Competition Clutch 6072-2100 (kit with CRB, pilot bush, plates and alignment tool), Competition Clutch ST flywheel plus a Technafit braided line and via Clark Motorsport, an upgraded (chromoly) pivot ball pin and for good measure new slave. I will be using a spare bottle of Motul 660 left over from brake meddling. My OEM clutch system currently works, but at 57k miles it is starting to feel quite squidgy (worse when hot) and slightly/fairly juddery (especially when cold) at times. So in for a (million) pennies,...

Congrats Jeff - so you are finished then I am still chugging away, doing a bit at a time and testing by myself. I will however be having my clutch/fly/exhaust upgrades fitted for me next week - I baulk at doing those on low axle stands on a sloping drive chocked with bricks (I am in it for fun - not *that* hardcore). Then after a big list of small bits I hope to be blessed at Abbey too (see what I did there). I will be sticking to 3.33 to start with, so 400ish is the target. Glad to say that everything is working fine on my car too so far. No harm done

This should look awesome when prep'd, painted and fitted I reckon.. I won the recent Tarmac bumper dibs for the replica V2 Nismo with carbon canards and mesh... it came in a huge cardboard box, very promptly via Paisley/TNT. I only hope there is room for the oil cooler, as significant plastic nibbling was required to fit the old bumper back on. This has a wider gob on it though (so more options), so I might move the oil cooler anyway if it doesn't fit as the cooler's position is slightly sub-optimal due to warm air from it coupling with the intercooler flow (slightly). Not today though. If only I could fit the rest of my car in my lounge

pmsl har har har..

..except blue and metal

Oh no.. crumbling already.. Controversially the V2 is talking to me at the moment.. Plenty of big gob face for the coolers... assuming I stick with a DE bonnet (and it's creases) though.. Wallet is flapping at me again.. down boy, wallet down!

Dear Tarmac. More nice things for me to resist then give in to temptation. I used to think of you as Santa Now I am starting to see you as a Columbian drug baron peddling car-caine instead. Fortunately, for the moment, I can't decide which one I want And I should never have told you that I want to 'build/have built' my engine as part of phase 2 boosting. Yours, as ever Addicted client