jep350z

I bought a Sony head unit in the end and it all works fine. The only niggle is I can't turn it off from the steering wheel controls but I can control everything else.

I've read somewhere (I think on this forum) that it only needs 2 pre-outs if you're still using the Bose amp, as the sub gets its input from the front and rears. James

This is a really useful thread, and I'm about to take the plunge and change the original BOSE head unit - which currently won't play CDs or even eject them :-( BUT the one thing I'm still not clear about is the voltage of the pre-outs. There seems to be plenty of different opinions on this and other forums about whether 2v or 4v is better, but what I'd like to know is what is the voltage of the pre-outs on the original head unit - and then I'll buy a new unit that matches that... or if I buy a new HU with different voltage pre-out, is it possible to adjust the gain on the Bose amplifier. Grateful for any help.

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The noise coming out the back of my 350Z recently doubled in volume and I found that the exhaust had broken apart before the backbox. Garage wants to replace the backbox. Can I just use an exhaust clamp on repair pipe to hold the two parts of the exhaust together, or is this cheapskate option a waste of time and not really up to the job? And yes, I know this is a wonderful opportunity to fit some aftermarket exhaust but just thought I'd check out the cheap option first Grateful for any advice, James

> Is it easy to change to clear reflectors (without LEDS) without taking the bumper off? No, the bumper has to come off - which is why I thought I may as well wire up an LED pair to make it worth all the effort. I'm still interested in a recommendation for LED sidelights - worried that the ones I've found won't withstand the heat of the main headlight bulb. Anyone? James

Now with added smoothness... The 350Z badges came off even more easily. And a couple of coats of Mer removed any hint that they'd ever been there.

Removing the badge on a coupe leaves two holes but it's fine on the roadster.

Learning from the advice in this thread, I completed the de-Nissan-ing of my Z this morning. I used a hairdryer to heat up the original badge for a few minutes to soften the glue... ...and then used a piece of fishing line behind the badge to start sawing through the glue. I started at one of the corner bits of the Nissan bar and only brought the line in an inch or so, before I could then just lift and remove the badge with my fingers. Cleaning up most of the remaining glue left it looking like this: The replacement badges I'd chosen were from the same eBay seller in Taiwan I'd bought my LED sidelights from. These use the same design as the side badges, which I really like: They have 3M tape on the reverse covering the entire badge: And fitted look like this close-up... ...and like this from further away: I also planned to replace the rear badge, and marked it up with masking tape so I could get the replacement in exactly the same place. However, the replacement rear badge didn't have the right curvature to fit properly, but fortunately the old badge came off and cleaned up so well (with a bit of white spirit and a couple of coats of Mer) that I decided I preferred the clean look anyway. Undecided as to whether to remove the 350Z badge as well - what do you think? James

@Dblock - I agree. My Z badges just arrived in the post so I'll be fitting them early next week (busy this weekend).

@glrnet: yes please to the wiring diagram. Thanks.

@Wayshot: you were right, they can be safely prised out and pushed in without removing the wire clip - at least I found out before I'd done all four! Original post updated. Thanks for the advice.

Bump. Can anyone confirm this before I buy an import switch set? Thanks.

@Wayshot: the caps felt very tightly held in the wheel, so I thought I'd remove the clip to avoid the risk of snapping off one of the tags. I've still got the left-hand side to do so I'll give your method a try tonight and update my post.

I've decided to make my Nissan a pure Z-car by removing all the Nissan branding. First job was to replace the Nissan-branded centre caps on the Rays alloy wheels. Replacements were purchased from eBay and are a perfect match for colour and finish. Installation means taking the wheels off. Loosen the wheel nuts, jack the car up using the Nissan jack at the correct jacking points (two little indentations mark this roughly underneath the front and back of the car door), and then remove the wheel nuts to take the wheel off. Good opportunity to use some wheel cleaner to thoroughly clean the wheels where it's usually difficult to reach when they are fitted. The centre caps are held in by a broken circle of stiff wire, which you can see in the back of the new one here: Fron the back of the wheel, press inwards a couple of the tabs and you can push the entire cap straight out. To refit, simply line up from the front of the wheel, and press into place. If you're paranoid about breaking a tab off the caps, you can remove the wire (which is how I did the first two wheels until picking up Wayshot's advice - I used the simpler method above for the other two). If you want a more complicated way, then from the back of the wheel, carefully use a flat screwdriver to unclip the wire at one end, and then the other, and lift it out. It clips in three places. The centre cap will then press out from the back. Fit the new centre caps by pushing them in from the front, and then from the back fit the clip back in place. It's tempting to use the old clips because they are already bent in but I decided it's worth persevering with the new firmer clips just to ensure no-one can ever prise them out from the front. Pull the clip in to a tighter circle and ease into the back of the centre cap. Get the bottom bit secure first, and then bend in one side and then the other to catch into the other two places. Wheel with new Z centre cap looks like this:

@Plummerman These look nice - they've got a fair few more LEDs than the ones I've installed - but then they are three times the price. It's the LEDs for the sidelights inside the main headlamps that I'm looking for now. Cheers.

@octet: yes, they're the ones (wasn't sure on the netiquette of providing a link) - looks like you've already got one (on the rear only I take it from your photo...?) @FUG: Too bright is what I'm worried about! Can anyone provide a link to a good value, reliable set of LED sidelights?

@FUG: Good idea - I've found some on eBay for only a few quid - 8 SMD LEDs, four facing forward, two on each side. This is tempting. Are they reliable and legal? And will they be heat resistant enough from the main lights? James

Search eBay for "NISSAN 350Z WHITE LED BUMPER REFLECTOR" and scroll down to find International Sellers. James

@Mikesding - thanks - yes, they point to the side

Thanks for the comments. They are white LEDs but the reflection of the blue body work around the slot gives it a blue tinge in the forward facing photos. James

I haven't had my Azure Blue 350Z Roadster GT very long but one thing I didn't like was the orange reflectors: One of them had come unclipped and I realised I'd have to pretty much remove the front bumper to get to it properly, so thought I may as well replace it something better at the same time. In the UK, a set of clear reflectors was ~£70 and a set with LEDs installed was almost £100 on top of that, so I looked further afiield and ordered a set of LED reflectors for £50 including delivery from Taiwan. I found a couple of How-to guides on the forum but both seemed to have different bits missing, so here's my record of what I did. Tools required for removal: 10mm socket wrench and a flat head screwdriver Additional tools if you're fitting LED reflectors: wire cutters, wire strippers, crimpers 1. Removing the bumper Open the bonnet. There are six plastic clips along the front edge at the top of the bumper. Remove them by using the screwdriver to prise the centre up a short way (not all the way) and then wiggle them out of the hole. Then remove the six screws underneath the front of the car with the 10mm socket wrench. On each side of the car there are a further two bolts underneath where the bumper meets the wheel liner. Take these out and then pull back the wheel liner to remove another two 10mm screws which hold the bumper to the wing. These screws are a few inches apart and facing directly upwards. It is much easier to reach them if you put the steering on full lock i.e. turn the wheels to the left to get to the screws on right hand side, and vice versa. With all of those bolts (10), screws (4) and clips (6) removed, the front bumper comes away from the car pretty easily. I've got light washers installed in my bumper but I left those attached and just rested the bumper down on some cloth in front of the car. It looks like the car has collapsed in the photo. The black piece of high density foam in the foreground sits on a beam under the top of the bumper. 2. Wiring the LED reflectors You could wire these to a separate switch, or into the switched power of the car if you want them as driving lights that are always on. I wanted them as come on with my sidelights. This is pretty straightforward to wire in. I chose the left hand side headlamp and connected onto the power supply to the sidelight. The sidelight has two wires going to it - one black and one green and white. The latter is the switched 12V supply so that's the one you want. The photo below is taken from in front of the passenger wheel with the front of the car to the left. The back of the sidelight is a grey tube and you can see where I clipped in a red wire - the blue piece of plastic is clipped over the existing wire and cuts into to make the connection with the new wire. This is wired up to the red wire on the LHS LED reflector and then I ran more red wire across to the RHS LED reflector. I then connected a black wire between the two black wires on the reflectors and then took the other end into the car and attached the other end to a bolt in the bodywork a little way in front of the battery box. You can see in the photo I put in a bullet connector along this wire so if for any reason I have to disable the lights, I can do that quickly and easily. 3. Installing the LED reflectors There are two screws holding each of the original reflectors in place. Remove these and the reflectors slide out pretty easily. Slide the new ones in and replace the screws. 4. Testing the LED reflectors Pretty obvious but test everything before putting it all back together. Pull all the wires where you've made connections to make sure they are not loose. Use cable ties to tidy away all the loose wire in the bumper - I drilled small holes at the bottom of the grille (in the inside of the bumper) and passed cable ties through them to tie the wire out of sight underneath. Front view: Side view: These LED reflectors have the six LEDs facing sideways so it's very bright from the side of the car, and perhaps 20% of the light also gets reflected forwards because of the shape of the reflector. 5. Fixing the bumper I slid the bumper back into place and put a couple of the plastic clips back to roughly hold it in place. I then did each side - top two screws inside the wheel arch and then the two bolts at the bottom - and then did the six bolts under the bottom lip. Lastly, put the remaining plastic clips back in. 6. Admire your handiwork I reckon this took about an hour to take everything apart, about an hour to do all the wiring and testing, and then about 30-40 minutes to put it back together again. I've only got a couple of pictures of the car on the driveway so far, but here's what it looks like in the dark with sidelights on (note how the LEDs illuminate the wall and fence to the side quite a lot): and here's with the headlights on as well (with quite a bit of reflected light from the fence behind me). For £50 and less than 3 hours work, I'm really pleased with this install. The Taiwanese units seem well-made and arrived in just a few days. Fingers crossed the LEDs prove reliable and long-lasting. Here's a photo of the LED sidelights turned off. Hope this helps anyone considering a similar mod. Let me know if you have any comments or questions. James

One of my orange front bumper reflectors has come partially unclipped. Since it appears I have to take the bumper off (or go through the wheel arches) to get to it, I thought about replacing the orange with clear ones since I'm going to so much trouble. But I can't find them anywhere in the UK. Found them on US sites as part number B61D0-CF50A but want to avoid those shipping fees if I can. Can anyone point me to a UK supplier? Thanks, James '06 350Z Roadster GT

At the recent Midlands Meet I was told that replacing the UK spec switches with import spec will give me the Automatic open/close feature to my passenger door as well as my driver door. I also believe that import cars automatically tuck their wing mirrors in when locked - will the import switch console also provide that feature? James

Hello, I've had my 350Z a few weeks now and have bought a number of items so I can do a basic service. I have the service manual and found a useful guide to replacing the spark plugs. It looks straightforward(ish) but I'm finding the reality very different. The amount of tubing which is tied down in a number of places means that getting the coil packs off is proving impossible. Are there some key areas I can slacken this off, or do I have to remove a whole lot of stuff (including the air intake?). Grateful for any advice. James