Stutopia

Just up the road as I'm from the Nortth West- any one thought about tackling the Hardknott Wrynose Pass in a Z??

Only problem is getting the mountain bike in the 'boot'.

That's crazy talk! Although the Zed will eat the pass up for fun, in my previous drives over it's the tourists towing runaway caravans with 1.4 litre petrol Astras that scared me, and I've ridden the Bolivian death road three times!!!

Good luck...

Having been a lot disappointed with the Bose head unit, amp, sub and speakers I decided to get an upgrade. I'm not skilled enough to do this myself, so I had a pro install:

Pioneer AVH-X2500BT head unit

Hertz HDP5 5-channel amp

Hertz HSK 165 Components (front)

Hertz HCX 165 (rear)

Clarion 10" sub

The speakers have been mounted on mdf and the doors and sub enclosure dynamatted.

The install looks solid all round, everything works as it should including the filters, equalizers, crossover, etc and it's properly loud. However, I'm not totally over the moon about the sound, it is good but I was hoping for a little bit more for the price tag. I'm not after massive bass or super loud volumes, just a flat, balanced, great all round frequency response.

My issue is that I'm struggling to get a great midrange, I've reined in the bass and treble as it was a touch boomy at the bottom and bright at the top, but I can't get the middle to really sing. I was wondering if anyone else had come across similar? Maybe it's just the cavernous Zed interior space with no natural baffles, or the shape of the cockpit, or the speakers being quite low down in the doors, but it's just not quite spot on. Any ideas/suggestions at all?

I am concious that I've not given it much time to bed in yet, I'll keep my ears open over the next week or so as it might just be impatience on my behalf, but with all the knowledge on here I thought I'd ask.

A Facebook page?

What an IT boffin...

Nice one, thanks. I see they sell a primer and glossifier too, might not be a bad idea for my dash bits as it's a high traffic area!

Superstu i didn't mean to offend... I was trying to make a point badly. I don't hate IT personel that much. Sorry. All forgiven if you go sideways...

No worries, that comment aside I'd have stayed well out of it and enjoyed my popcorn because I'm a total noob and know nothing, and I've never been fully sideways because the idiot proofing electronics always save me when I get over confident (is anyone else too scared to turn off the traction control in February?). These Zed forum guys basically made me buy a Zed by being so helpful, knowledgable and tolerant of my daft questions, I have nothing but respect for them (although some of the colour choices I've seen do freak me out).

Yeah it will. Like you are thinking now, I recently abandoned my laptop for an iPad and a desktop, albeit an iMac rather than a Mac Mini. Never looked back.

It's a proper "PC" in that you have full connectivity, though they don't ship with a monitor or keyboard as standard, so add those into your budget as needed. It's worth checking the tech spec on the mac store if you have any exotic peripherals, just to make sure they will connect. You can see a picture of the back and details here:

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac-mini/specs.html

Pretty standard really, all the usual, usb, ethernet, hdmi, plus some more stuff like firewire, thunderbolt and a memory card slot (I use this loads on my imac for pulling photos off my camera) in built wifi etc etc.

Things to keep an eye out for are that it has an integrated graphics card (as opposed to dedicated) but this shouldn't make much difference unless you are into graphically intense applications or proper gaming. Also the new fusion drive looks interesting with it's hybrid ssd/hdd (sorry if I've gone mega geek on you) it's basically faster than a regular hard drive, but I'd think the standard model will be quite nippy anyway.

Have a look at this for a relatively impartial review, it's not from total mac fanatics, so it should pick out any stuff that you might need to know:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/379153/apple-mac-mini-2012

I know a couple of people with the previous version of the mac mini so feel free to PM or post here any questions and I'll get back to you.

I can't sign off without giving you a small nudge toward the new iMac, I love my 2011 model and the new one is even better with it's reduced glare screen (the only thing I would criticise on mine). Macs can be a pain to upgrade (except RAM which is easy), so make sure you get the spec you want before you click buy. I had to pay some dude £70 to install my new SSD, which I could've done myself on an easier to modify PC.

Good luck with the decisions.

I'm an IT boffin, I'm sorry MyFL, I didn't plan for it, it just happened over time.

I am ashamed of it though, if that helps.

This looks like the solution to my scratched dash pieces, I thought it would cost me hundreds to solve, Jurassic Park!

Do you need to prep bits before a spray? Other than a good clean?

As a new Zed owner I've been looking to see what's happening up north, was well surprised to see this old thread mentioning Ravenglass. I grew up in the village but been living elsewhere for the last 10 years+ never saw anything as cool as a Zed round them parts, lots of Escorts and Novas were the 'glamma' cars up there when I was a kid. If you ever go back I'd be we'll keen to get up and back on my old roads.

I know I'm a little late on this thread, but I'm up in Blackpool and I've never met another Zed owner, o ly had mine a fortnight. It'd be cool to see other Zeds, and their keepers!

I'm super interested in this. I wanted a blue or black Zed but picked the car I felt was right, in GM, over the colours I felt were right. She's in for some respray action in the next fortnight to bring the original paintwork up to scratch, so to speak, after that I will consider a wrap to protect the new paint and see if I love the colour, then maybe a re-spray somewhere down the line. I'd like to see what you go for.

I got quoted £400 for door and roof respray and repair.

I didn't think I was old but it turns out over 30 is cracking on. Incredible project, not a bad garage space either! Looking forward to photos that come along. Good luck with it, probably the most beautiful car ever built, certainly in my top 3. I'd love to have the space, budget and skills to do something even close to this.

Had the Zed for almost a month now, getting the speakers/amp ripped out and Hertzed this week, got some bodywork repairs and respray action happening the week after, one or two other cosmetic jobs in progress - however the "last" thing I want to do before I have her up to scratch is sort the Ray's. There is some curbing on one and corrosion on all. I've read lots about powder v paint and colours but I'm struggling to find a recommended company to actually do the work around Blackpool & Fylde Coast. Manchester seems like a trek for this job, but I've read a lot of positive comments on forum about the Wheel Specialist and Diamond, so I will consider.

However, can anyone recommend someone local? Good quality is what I'm after, rather than a super low price, but a combination of the two would be ideal!

PS - I like anthoricte/charcoal for my GM (see picture I shamelessly stole, I'll remove if you want) but I'm open to suggestions...

I was in California for a couple of weeks last year, the rental I got was a convertible Chevy Camaro which was amazing, but, every time I saw a Mustang I was engulfed by jealous rage!! Always wanted one, I bet it's the kind of car that puts a smile on your face when you walk up to it and an even bigger one when you fire it up!

Went down today. They're gonna fix the roof and respray it, passenger door and respray it, a small ding in the wing (which I only just noticed) and do the de-badge on the back and swap in my new super black Z badges for the nissan burgers. £450, seems pretty reasonable to me.

Once I get the paint right I might do the vinyl just to protect it from more damage!

I'm on the Fylde Coast, seen lots of good about L & G, is the nearest good place to me, anyone know anywhere recommendable a little closer to Blackpool at all?

Is Blackpool far enough up! I'll keep look around here, thanks again for the info.

Thanks for the info RT, was thinking it would be more like £1500 after the quote, those prices are a bit beyond what I wanted to spend. I guess I'll take the repair for £400 and start researching the vinyl to get the colour change I'd like at a future date.

As for the seagulls, guess ill just have to stick to feeding them dry rice

I noticed some small issues with my Zed's GM paint, couple on the roof and one on passenger door, each no bigger than a minor cigarette burn. I sent some photos off to a body shop and also asked if they would de-badge whilst it was in there and pop on my new shiny black Zed badges. Got a quote of about £400 to paint the 2 full panels and pop the badges off. This got me thinking, what if I get the whole thing resprayed, it would take care of the small stone chips on the front as well and I always wanted blue or black, now's my big chance.

Questions:

1) would a full colour change have a catastrophic effect on the resale value?

2) might a smart repair job on these marks, followed by a vinyl wrap be a better idea?

3) how long does a wrap last if you take care of it?

4) any other suggestions on tackling these that I haven't thought of?

5) is it legal to shoot seagulls if they cr@p on your car?

Please ignore the tatty door handle, they're next on my list.

that looks amazing, the black is so good

washed mine the other day, bird sh!t across the roof inside about 10 minutes, I was so pleased it was just a quick wash and not the full detail - I'd have been screwin'

I wanted a blue or black soooo much, but a combination of only 33k on the clock of a GM grey and me being massively impatient, meant it never happened. Good luck with it, a black popped up days after I bought my grey, fuming! Having said all that, it still looks awesome, drives awesome and I don't really notice the colour when I'm burning off rude boyz at the lights. I do cast envious eyes at other Zeds, but I never start mine up and feel anything but love for her.

Good luck and try to do what I failed to, stay disciplined! Or maybe a vinyl wrap.....

Welcome, the blue is such a great colour. You're not wrong about the pennies!

Hi

I too changed my gaiter today, from black to this red 'un and I also popped on some new valve caps, also in red, but no photo.

Not strictly today, but yesterday had a proper HU installed...

and changed the battered old OEM gear knob for this little fella.

Some really impressive, and severely advanced, mods posted on here. I hope I can reach those kind of skills one day.