Stutopia

I picked up a guitar for the first time ever during covid and learnt some cool riffs, ignored proper lessons and rubbish like chords and am basically very rubbish, but confidently described myself to the fairer sex as a lead guitarist. That was a cheap Squier Tele, loved it and did some mods (obviously!).

I was having so much fun, I got a bit carried away and bought a Gibson Les Paul Studio...

...but it turns out that much as I have always loved looking at Les Paul's, I've not totally fallen in love with playing one - like I did with the Tele. Which is annoying as it was about ten times the price

Turns out that buying a better guitar when you can't really play, doesn't instantly make you a better player - who would have known? At least it look gorgeous on the wall 😢

2023 Quarter 1 will be the time I figure out if I can love it, or it ends up for sale and I commit to being a Fender man for the rest of time.

Snuck in a final track day of the year at Blyton in the Mazda. Arrived (after a dicey icy B road trip) at track at 7:45am and found the track to be white and temps around -1C, then proceeded to try and put up the tent with icicles for fingers. At this point I decided the whole thing was a folly and I'd have been much happier in bed with the money in my pocket.

However, I was completely wrong. The sighting laps were hilarious, this is my first time setting off the ABS on what is meant to be a gentle familiarisation! But after those, plus a few brave souls heading straight out to tiptoe round, the track thawed and it was never high grip but it was certainly grippy enough to go peddling.

Couple of former Z owners from here were out too. Paddy in his new banana, V6 swapped JDM MR2 - on semi slicks

That worked out exactly as you'd imagine, with some gardening in a couple of areas...

Also Matt was out in a sort of Z, just the wrong kind.

As well as new to this forum (and currently Zed hunting) @PlanGT in his weaponised Mini

Then there was the usual selection of interesting motors.

Lunatics in Caterhams, where wind chill must have been -10C

And the AWD cheats

Then a couple of Santa specials

Cracking day out with Trackday Solutions, the lower than usual grip made for some epic moments, saved about £20 in petrol and probably similar in tyres & brake pads, and I managed my first big spin - glad to have got it out the way! Turns out the traction control on the Mazda is perfectly set up to make you feel both a bit of a hero and safe enough to take outrageous liberties, then point and laugh at you when you switch it off

Good luck with the rehab, hope it goes well.

3 hours ago, davey_83 said:

Dude up the road has a grey one, looks really nice. In my opinion much nicer than the old model.

It's prettier but I can't shake the feeling the brake light clusters came out a vauxhall parts bin!

25 minutes ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

I was half expecting someone to reply with "what do you expect" 😂

 

I signed up to GR Zoo forum there are members on there DMing ppl offering their cars for 35k until a dealer contacts them offering 36k to sell for more. I think only a handful of people have the cash however they sourced it to drop on a car right now with tax bills due etc. Most ppl would prefer finance. Toyota are increasing interest to 9.9% from 4.9% for later buyers on the mystery list. Also I think the Ford Mustang will face increased demand from last time too! Type R is sold out as well. The toyota was a bargain by comparison

 

I mean this in the lightest jovial way possible but.....

 

Where were you that morning when preorders where live for 90 minutes? I got an email after the fact. I knew it would be that day though! Lol

 

My excuse was I hesitated and only just bought the Z assuming deliveries would be just after summer which they werent. So it would have worked out well if it was delivered early 2023! Anyone that wants a car is either on the waiting list with Toyota yet to reveal what position they are. Or ready to drop cash privately or knows the owner of a dealer whilst on a waiting list.

 

Demo cars cant be sold for 12 months. Demo Reg numbers are being compiled on GR Zoo site. That way ppl know which cars have been run through 😂

Crikey, it's harder than buying a new Rolex Submariner.

I was on the website on the morning of the preorders, before it started and didn't get a sniff.

I looked at the new Type R - £46k for a Honda or rent it for three years for £23k - I'm alright thanks. I could buy an FK8 on no miles for £30k, drive it for 3 years and put 40k miles on it and probably only lose £8k in depreciation.

I might be old, but I don't buy toys on finance. 

13 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

People are trying to flip their deliveries at 36-38k 🤣 6-8k over list. 

Saw one on Autotrader for 10k over RRP with delivery miles. I really like these and might have been tempted to buy my first ever brand new car at 30k but at 40k your into a very deep conversation on "what else can I get for £40k?" and there's some lovely motors at that price point.

5 months are currently empty, jump on board gang

Thanks for the flurry of submissions guys, they've been great. Still a few months spare though if anyone wants in.

Saw this lovely, super clean, rare, white unicorn today. Gorgeous motor. Gave you a sign of appreciation 👌🏽 from my Cayman as I passed. Mint motor .

This year's beauties.

It's that time of year again gang, Wham are on the radio, people are elbowing pensioners out the way to get to bottles of Baileys and Santa is being warned about the consequences of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace after 6 billion small glasses of sherry. You know what that means...

...it's calendar time!

If you would like to submit entries for the Calendar, please can you:

• email them over to admin@350z-uk.com including your forum username in the subject line.
• The single most important rule is, please only send high resolution images (typically at least 1MB in size), so they have a chance of looking good when printed out at A4.
• Please send 3 or 4 of your best shots, it's all about the quality, not the quantity.
• No one will be a centrefold for more than 1 month, but if you submit a few, I always try and get every single photo that does not make the big 12, onto the cover.
• Please don't submit professional shots, unless you are the professional, in which case, can I have a job?

Thanks, in advance, for getting involved and supporting the club.

1. Stutopia x2

You may have seen I've started touting for Calendar photos, well this is thread is what it's all about. The opportunity to get your hands on an extremely exclusive, limited production, 2023 Feb to Feb (it's for historic reasons!), world's best Z forum, 350z-uk.com calendar - which may or may not feature your very own pride and joy!

As I don't yet know the volumes, the price is open to minor fluctuation, but is likely to be in the region of £23 for one and £33 for a pair, shipped to a UK address of your choice. The very modest surplus that is generated from this annual extravaganza goes towards paying the bill for public liability insurance for club meets.

Here's this year's to give you an idea what you get. 

33 minutes ago, STmichael said:

I contacted Incartec and they supplied a full list of items required for the install to maintain the steering wheel controls etc. I am now thinking of putting a revering camera on the car at the same time. I do not like the look of the Pioneer camera as it looks too after market. I would prefer something that looks more OEM if you know what I mean. Does anyone have any recommendations and possibly a photo showing the camera installed. 
On yet another note going back to the aerial. If I am running a cable to the rear of the car could I run a coaxial cable directly to the aerial on the rear wing bypassing the amplifier and then fit a splitter so I could use the original aerial for both DAB and FM reception? I would of thought one of you guys would have tried this😁

Do FM aerials do the same job as DAB ones? The aftermarket DAB antenna always look completely different. Assuming you're going for an Android Auto/CarPlay headunit, won't life be easier just using apps/the internet for radio?

A good mate of mine is looking for a 350z HR, manual, relatively unmolested. Anyone know of these two by any chance?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211071442677

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209290219518

It’s like Dan says, it resizes based on real estate available.

I felt pretty smug about my Porsche, until I went to the dealer for some work and found myself in the "budget" end of the car park

 along - show us what ya got!

1 hour ago, GranTurismoEra said:

You guys changing data center? They failed their SLA im sure. What discounts can they give in way of an apology I wonder. 6 months free hosting!! 

 

 

We're a bit limited on options at our budget level, their response time wasn't too bad, it's the damage they did when they responded that was the problem!

Welcome back gang. It’s been a traumatic period behind the scenes, but things seem to have all gone back in the right place.

I’d just like to apologise to the whole forum community, both members and traders, for the disruption. We’re not down often, but it seems when it does go wrong, it goes wrong in horrible and complicated ways. What should have been a fairly routine disk failure and replacement was complicated by a less than helpful data centre staff and very niggly problems bringing everything back online.

We’re very sorry for the outage and fingers crossed we’ll be good now for a while.
 

Thank you very much for your patience, 99% of the posts and messages (there’s always one!) from people have been very understanding and supportive, which is hugely appreciated and is a true measure of the calibre and character of our membership. You’re the best.

Sold - thread locked

Sold - thread locked

The "characterful" transmission is part of the charm. Mine had the change in noise when the clutch was released/depressed - if memory serves, it's the release bearing, but you don't have a problem until the shifting is impacted.

 along, looks a nice clean example, enjoy!

What you using it for? If it's purely for pleasure, I'd go manual every time on the 350 - it's a nice engaging transmission when it's properly lubricated. If you are going daily and planning to sit in traffic frequently, you'll have a left calf that can break walnuts after a month and an auto might be sensible, if a bit less thrilling.