Nick350z

Featuring the worlds slowest Grand Prix. Didn't those twins get into more...adult 'shows' as well? I swear there was a rumour going around about that.

Paperboy? Those graphics remind me of California Games on the Atari Lynx. Does anyone remember a quiz show that had Paperboy on it as a final challenge? I can't remember the name of it but I know a dark haired lady used to present it. Christ I'm getting all emotional here. First Jet, then Desert Strike and now Paperboy. Time to break out the Amiga, load up Xenon 2 Megablast and relive the glory years!

I'm jealous of your friend. A lot.

Jet..... My god she was hot. Didn't another Gladiater (called Hunter maybe?) knock about with her? Lucky git. Last time I saw a picture of her she still looked good.

Just watching a few episodes of this on catch up - saw the Z and rushed here to find I'd been beaten to the spot! Nice little slot on the show - even got the engine noise as it roared up the hill - and a nice over the shoulder bit as it's driving along the highway. It's also at the start of the following episode when the Asgardian girl sends that dude flying into the Z. Seems like Marvel do like a Z, I saw the 370 in Cap 2 the other day, and the one in the 'Marvel' titles as well.

No specialists near(ish) to you? I guess it depends on how much it's worth if it was running properly, how much it's going to cost to repair it and how much you'd get for it in it's current state. Personally I'd try and get some quotes from some of the traders/garages on here and go from there. Thought about a second hand engine as well? I'm sure I've read on here that you can get a good running one fitted all in for around the £1500 mark? May be worth looking into? Obviously I don't know what you'd be prepared to pay for any of the work either way but I'd definitely get all the numbers together first and see which was the most prudent option. How comes you want to sell up anyway (aside from the unexpected engine problems)? Good luck though with whatever you decide is best :-)

As already mentioned - check the rear silencer join - it's where mine split. Perfect time for an upgrade though! If you get a Cobra then go for a non-resonated. It makes rather a pleasing sound :-)

If there's no third party, and you're paying for repairs yourself I personally wouldn't bother telling the insurance company. They'll only use it as an excuse to ramp up your premiums. As for the breakdown telling them I would say that was highly unlikely. As far as I'm aware there is no way of checking if a car has had a minor bump via an HPI check etc. That will only highlight things like cat C/D claims. Of course these are just my thoughts and someone more knowledgable may be able to advise you better but I think I'm reasonably accurate there :-)

No problems Russ. You'll wonder how you put up with it once you get it done!

Sorry guys - I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news! Thing is I had tried to research it a bit but wasn't coming up with a huge amount and thought my experiences may assist someone else as I had taken a bit of a gamble on it being the flywheel that was causing the issues. It's definitely worth getting it done if funds permit as it has transformed the way the car drives, sounds and feels.

As I've recently had both my clutch and DMF changed by the chaps at Japex, I thought I'd do a quick post on the issues I had that led me to getting them changed. I found that when I depressed the clutch pedal (in neutral) a noticeable difference in engine/transmission noise could be heard. Raising the pedal up would result in 'clonk' noise and the car would very slightly move despite not being in gear. Pulling away from a standstill could be quite awkward sometimes with a very apparent judder that would go through the whole car. This could be managed by revving the engine and slipping the clutch slightly - but was getting increasingly irritating. This problem was not so apparent in higher gears but lower gear changes would cause both myself and any passenger to lurch forward if not managed. The clutch would engage almost at the top of the pedal travel. The car was prone to 'kangarooing' from a standstill if I was not very careful with the clutch pedal. This was especially noticeable from cold. Again feathering the throttle and raising the clutch pedal gently would greatly dampen this effect. On inspection by Japex the old DMF was in a very bad state and the clutch was almost at the end of it's life so if you're car is suffering symptoms like mine was I'd get it looked at. Since the change it's like driving a different car - so much smoother now and easier to drive. Hope this helps anyone with similar issues :-)

Thanks a lot guys - great community spirit on this website :-)

Cheers buddy :-)

I'm not normally a fan of that particular model but that one is an absolute cracker. Do you know how much it's worth?

Great film. My favourite robot is the Russian one, but Gypsy Danger's elbow rocket punch to the monsters face makes the movie for me. Every film needs an elbow rocket in it.

Exactly where my exhaust broke - it's apparently very common indeed. You've got 2 options really. You could get a garage to weld a sleeve over it - any garage or exhaust place could do that while you wait if you're worried about leaving it with an unknown, or do what most people do (including me) and take it as an opportunity to fit a nice aftermarket one.

I thought I had an issue with my engine fan a month or so ago - it seemed to be running all the time, even on start up. After posting a question on here about it I was advised that it may have been where my AC was on as this will start the engine fan up regardless of actual engine temperature. I turned off the AC and this resolved the engine fan issue.

Thanks for posting that up - exactly what mine looks like - just slightly more towards the centre.

Well I've had it looked at. They couldn't find any faults so I can only draw the conclusion that something had gotten caught between the pad and disc and scored the disc. Fortunately it's not deep, and doesn't appear to be getting any worse, so will fade as the disc wears through. Anyway - the brakes look and feel good and I recommend them :-)

Shame. That's people for you though. Best just get it booked in for repairs as soon as otherwise it'll just wind you up - it would me.

That's some bad luck right there. Any CCTV in the area? May be a long shot but worth looking into. I try and avoid car parks wherever possible. Actually I try and avoid leaving it anywhere!

I don't know. All the other discs/pads were fine and they had no issues with fitting them. To be honest I've used the garage several times in the past and always come away happy with the work they have done so I had no reason think they had done anything beyond what they needed to do. The chap did say to me that if I experience any problems that I should bring it back and they'll be happy to take a look. Without further investigation it's difficult I know what the problem is. Could be something they've done, could be a manufucturing fault, could be something caught between the pad and disc. I'll take it in on Monday and see what they say.

Once fitted the wheel wouldn't move at all. They had apparently taken it apart several times in an attempt to solve the problem but kept coming across the same issue - the wheel wouldn't move. They then ground/filed off some of the backing paint/material in order to get a better fit. As I say - other than the initial vibration issue I had (which cleared itself) I have had no problem with the brakes in either performance or sound. I'll try and upload a photo this weekend but it essentially looks like something small (stone/piece of metal etc) has gotten caught between the pad and the disc and scored a perfect circle onto it. While you can feel the score mark, it is not deep - certainly not as deep as the grooves that are already on the disc, so im hoping it's nothing too drastic. I have only recently noticed the mark so I don't actually know how long it has been there.

This was done at a Protyre place. All I know is that they couldn't get the wheel to turn on that particular side when the disc and pad were fitted. They removed some of the material from the back of the pad as there was no clearance. They told me that they had taken it apart several times and put it back together but the problem persisted. There thoughts were that sometimes with aftermarket pads/discs etc they are not always a perfect fit and require a bit of fettling to get them to sit right. In my limited experience I've found this to sometimes be true as my old Clio 182 had DS2000 pads that I bought which were also not quite an exact fit, so to me this was a reasonable excuse. As for cleaning the caliper - I'd have thought they would have given the trouble they had with it, but I cannot confirm this to be so. The other 3 discs/pads are fine. The car brakes evenly and I do not experience any tugging or pulling to one side under braking, there is also no noise. When they were first fitted I did experience some vibration under heavy braking - this happened 4 or 5 times then disappeared so I put that down to running in pains and thought no more of it - until I saw the scoring. I'll just have to take it back next week and see what their thoughts are.

Well I had my Black Diamond discs and pads fitted a couple of weeks back. The garage had a problem with the front passenger side as when they put the wheel back on the wheel would not rotate at all. After taking it apart and putting it back on several times they concluded that the outer pad was too thick and was pressing against the disc all the time. This was resolved by grinding some of the rear of the pad off and all was well. However I've noticed this morning that I have a 2mm wide score mark all the way round the centre of the disc that you can feel with your finger, so something isn't quite right. Any thoughts on what this could be? I'm guessing it's still rubbing on it somewhere so I'll have to go back next week and see what they say.