Dynamic Turtle

well if the speakers present a higher overall impedence, have larger driver surface area, and the amps are more efficient, the whole system could draw less current than the OEM one. Could. It depends of a range of factors. As for PMPO I'd imagine most boy racer state this over RMS to boost the perceived power ratings on their amps. again, it might only be able to output that much power for a few seconds. 120db is plenty loud enough - pneumatic drill levels mate! You must be deaf!

Are those Alpine amps class D rather than Class B? Do the replacement drivers have a higher impedance rating that the OEM drivers? Is that 1000 Watts for a 5 milisecond PMPO, or output it can sustain for hours? Also, the bigger the drivers the less power you need to create an equivalent SPL (which is totally unintuitive but completely true) so you might actually need LESS power to hit that magic 120dB DT

I'd say by about 0.3v, but's its an analgoue dial and hard to tell. AFAIK it's the same alternator it's had for the last 55k miles...

Ok well maybe it's something to ask abbey to check at the next service due in oh bugger, next week

Sorry dave not sure if you're being sarcastic or not?! If so, I guess I'll have to be more careful about the current draw which I think explained why the last battery went kaput prematurely (plus the weather prompting the permanent use of wipers, xenons, heating etc) As for amps requiring a lot of power, my stereo amp is probably a worse example of overkill - a musical fidelity kw550 (modified with a couple of extra torroids in the PSU - draws 1.4kW under peak loads). My last leccy bill was...sobering. Thanks for the airflow answer watshot

OEM bose unit

OK it might sound bleeding obvious to some but i noticed that the battery indicator was falling whilst I was stuck in traffic (for about an hour) and listening to a cd at "enthusiastic" levels. I'm just surprised that despite the engine ticking-over and running a brand new battery, the stereo was sucking more juice form the battery than the alternator could provide at 750/1000 idle revs. Is this normal or a sign of a worn alt? Once I'd turned the stereo off, a drove for another 10-15m, the indicator slowly crept back to just under 14v. Also, why do the two airflow indicator lamps flash when you hold the button down? what does it do? Cheers, DT

Hmm, depends what you mean by "tempting". You'll still lose £10k on it over the next 3 years or so (assuming you sell it for something else). Is it so much of a bargain in that context? Perhaps buy a 350z for £7k that will lose £3k over the same period? They're "cheap" because of the nissan badge, thirst, maintenance costs and high road tax.

They replaced the clutch hose with a stronger one and replaced the fluid with a "racing" variant. Definitely feels tighter now

If you could make one for that looks like this: http://jamietuohy.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/paul-d-hairstyle.jpg I'd be interested.

Is an 18hp increase, louder exhaust + a few bits of plastic trim really enough to tempt people away from a 2009 model with 20k on the clock for £17k? Would you pay a £20k premium for the Nismo bits? Not sure I would...

Mine just came down by £300 to £626 (£576 without the girlfriend!), so I'm pretty happy about that. 33, but only held a license for 3 years

Fixed a few issues with the brakes scuffing and the clutch pedal losing pressure when hot. Also had an O2 sensor fault code that cleared itself after a few hundred miles (weird but apparently not uncommon). Good service as usual and car has come away feeling better to drive :-) DT

Really? It's a nice looking (if ever so slightly bland) car, but despite seeing lots pass me over the years I have never once thought "wow what an exhaust note!". The RS4 on the other hand sounds pretty decent to my ears...

Blimey you sold your C63 for the 370? So much hype about those cars and allegedly bulletproof too... The UY looks good but Nissan missed a trick with the solid paint jobs on the 370. I think modifications look naff, but the ones I've seen with black roofs & fangs look better, particularly if the car is red, white or yellow.

I've only had RE050s on my zed, but I've found them more enjoyable in winter conditions. Less grip = more fun at roundabouts I've also heard people say that the falken 452 can be a bit of a false economy, wearing-down after much fewer miles than the BS 050s.

Miss my hifi - had to sell when I was unemployed for eighteen sodding months to raise funds. Used to have a 44kg aluminium turntable from germany, an SME tonearm, Marantz SACD player, Musical fidelity preamp and 40wpc class A solid state power amp feeding Amphion Xenon speakers. Made very sweet sounds indeed. Replaced it with something slightly more domestically acceptable but it obviously lack some of the cavernous bass that the TT and SACD delivered. Now using a Thorens TD309 / Marantz pearl sacd feeding an MF KW550 and Wilson Benesch Square Twos. Money that could've been spent on bits for the Zed of course, but you have to balance these things out DT

Now that is one wife who definitely falls under the "SWMBO" category! Wow!

I've tried lots of stuff over the years: Mono - awful stuff and dirt cheap for a reason - use Kre alkalyn if possible B-Alanine - nasty tingling effect and not sure if it really works that well. Mixed results here. BCAA - never had any gains on this very expensive stuff Omega 3 - take about 5 grams a day on top of a fish and egg-heavy diet. Good for your skin if nothing else! ZMA - take 1-2 grams a day. best taken at night for some freaky dreaming. 5HTP - find this suppresses my appetite somewhat but your body gets used to it and doses need increasing after a few weeks Caffeine - simply don't like this stuff. Not a good idea to take 200g pills in one hit - simply too strong. Fenugreek/Aspartic acid - waste of money, no gains. Casein / Whey - try to get unsweetened stuff if you can. I have moved back to whey after casein proved a bit too bloating on its own. Can take years for your gut to handle the methane issue! NO boosters - never had any decent effect from stuff like AAKG Probiotics - expensive but I might start taking these again. I think you should remember that protein shakes are tools for use in specific circumstances when REAL FOOD isn't available or is inconvenient to obtain. I personally don't believe that something as synthetic and heavy processed as whey is going to be better for me that eating a couple of boiled eggs post-workout. Incidentally, have any of you guys noticed improved NO/vascularity by eating eggs pre-workout? I find they give me a decent NO boost - certainly better than any forumla I've tried. As for the supplements I rate, the most effective one is Kre-Alkalyn without a doubt. Whilst it may seem expensive, you only need to take 1/3rd as much relative to mono or CEE to have the same effect. It's easy on the stomach, doesn't need to be cycled and is less likely to break down into creatinine. That being said, many supps generally have a marginal effect on performance. The best performance boost you can get is eight hours of intense sleep the night before. DT

Brave woman! Looks and sounds just like my girlfriend's mum actually

Heard someone's milltek'd 350 at Abbey a few months ago and it sounded very bloody nice indeed. Tempting package price there. Are the plenum spacer and HFCs optional or essential with this package and what are the MOT implications?

Ouch - not cheap are they? Are we looking at north of £750 fitted?

I'm a bit snobby about aerodynamically questionable bits of plastic being stuck onto a car, but I think they can make a mild improvement to the looks on the pics I've seen - distracts from what some consider to be a slightly messy rear-end on the 370. Are they only available as part of an all-out nismo body kit package?

A financing scheme called Ponzi Car Purchase

Seen some very low mileage 370's going stupidly cheap. I guess this is the effect of many 09 and 10 plates coming off 2/3 year PCP deals and a facelift model due out shortly?