Nick350z

I did mine with the wheel on not really knowing what I was doing - it took about an hour.

An hour?!! Was that with a 50 minute tea break in between changing bulbs? Haven't done my side lights yet but I've had a look & guess that it should take about 5 minutes a side. Hopefully I'm right, don't fancy taking the wheels off just to change a bulb & definitely not the bumper.

Possibly a 15 minute break....

Either way it wasn't what I'd call a 5 minute job personally. I just found it awkward more than anything else and not something I'd look forward to doing again.

I did mine with the wheel on not really knowing what I was doing - it took about an hour.

I'd never seen it before. I think it had dark/smoked alloys as well. I was just happy to see another one!

At about 19:20 this evening. OV54 I think it started with - had a little laugh with the driver - anyone on here? Good to actually see another Zed on the road, first one in absolutely ages now. Have to say they do look good on the road.

The gear box on the 350z is known for being heavy especially from 2nd to 3rd, it gets better once warm

Agreed - although with mine it's 1st to 2nd when cold. Once warmed up though things are smooth. Mechanical, but smooth.

I see your point, but I get bored driving mine at that speed. When I say bored I don't mean 'God this cars boring', I mean more a case of the car wants you to play, and you'll want to play, and it's bye bye mpg! Don't get me wrong - I love mine - but I wouldn't want to plod along at 60 in it 5 days a week - although I do have zero self control so that probably doesn't help.

I'm a bit confused by what you're after. You say you're happy sitting at 60 - which as you say is boring - but 60 is still 60. If you bought a 350, once you'd gotten over the initial excitement, you'd get bored driving that at 60 . The problem with getting a 350 for what you want is that you'll no longer want to travel at 60 as you'll be tempted to give it the beans and then you can wave goodbye to your 30mpg! Also your costs will rise significantly on everything over the Golf you have already. I guess it comes down to how much disposable income you have to play with.

Depending on the condition of the car I couldn't see any reason why a 350z wouldn't be able to eat up that mileage. It's got a big, unstressed engine up front with proven reliability and will happily sit at speeds much higher than 60 all day long.

Why not take your MX5 to work a couple of days a week instead (assuming its road legal of course) to alleviate the boredom?

I'm not a fan of the stubby aerial or the wiper delete either. I get the thinking behind it, but its not for me.

Oh right. Well let's use the above install as a guide as I've really no idea about prices. Circa £1500-£2000 supplied and fitted I'm guessing? I'm just curious so I can do a few sums. Also any thoughts on the standard nav compatability? I've read that an external speaker is required for an aftermarket head unit - is that correct? Thanks.

Just out of interest approximately how much would an install like that cost all in? Also would the factory sat-nav work through the speakers?

Lol!

Cobra exhaust is the connoisseurs choice (thanks to glrnet for pointing out that appalling spelling mistake there. My phone's autocorrect you see. Silly thing.....).

And Azure Blue? Isn't that the same colour as a bottle of Domestos?

I remember when I test drove mine I said out loud, with no one else in the car, 'Oh yes, I like you...'

And GM is the conniseurs choice.

Sounds like balancing to me as well. Bit more food for thought - my old Clio 182 had very similar symptoms to your car - fine up to 60/70 then a slight, but noticeable, vibration could be felt. I had the wheel balanced 2 times and it had loads of weights on it by the time they'd finished - but no matter what they did it wasn't right. Fortunately I had a spare alloy so I got the tyre changed over and bingo - problem solved. Turns out the wheel was very slightly buckled and no amount of balancing was going to cure it. Hopefully yours will be a simple job though but I'd be looking at that next if a wheel balance doesn't fix things.

I was so surprised to see another one I couldn't tell you if it was a UK or import or not, how old it was or anything - I just noticed the spoiler on the back and the little wave I got! I'll keep an eye out for you though as I'm often up there.

At about 13.00 today, didn't catch a reg but it had a different type of spoiler on the back, possibly a Nismo one. Anyway - got a little wave, good to see another Z on the road.

I believe it was a can of tinned apricots (in syrup), but I'm sure that an alternative fruit would suffice.

Here's my guide for bodging your exhaust -

1 Jack up rear of car (remember to use chocks and axle stands kids!)

2 Cut off flange to the mid pipe with an angle grinder, whilst swearing profusely.

3 Open up can of fruit. You can either eat it there and then or keep refrigerated for later on.

4 Remove lid and bottom of can, then cut it top to bottom.

5 Roll can up into a coil, stuff it inbetween rear pipe and mid pipe, smother in GunGum (swearing helps again here, as this stuff is truly the devil's work).

6 Lower car to ground, run exhaust until hot.

7 Admire your ingenuity until you realise a can of fruit is now forming a crucial part of your car, contact CS as fast as possible.

To be fair it did actually hold quite well for a couple of weeks whilst my new exhaust was enroute, but it really was a bodge-up of the highest order!

Mine went in exactly the same spot. I bodged it for a couple of weeks with a tinned can (of fruit if you're interested - minus the fruit of course) and some of that GunGum exhaust repair stuff while I waited for my Cobra from the chaps at Cougar-Store. I'd imagine you could get a garage to weld a sleeve over it, but I took it as an opportunity to upgrade.

I have the non resonated cobra and I absolutely love it! It really is personal preference I was so torn on which exhaust system to go for but I am so glad I went for the non resonated option. Personally for me I don't think it is too loud at all but it sure does make a nice noise when accelerating, it does drone a bit but it is far from ridiculous.

 

Maybe take into consideration your previous car history to help you make a decision for example what your used to, that is basically how I made my final decision.

Same here. Had my Cobra non-resonated and Y pipe for a few weeks now and love the noise it makes - plant your right foot in second gear......sounds epic and far more exotic than it is. It's settled down a bit now that a few miles have passed through it, and while it is a tad droney as Sarah mentions - it's not something I notice too much now that I've adapted to the increased noise levels. I've no experience of the Scorpian system other than viewing videos on here, but I'm glad I purchased the non-resonated system.

Figured it out! A quick guide for anyone wanting to do the same.

1. To remove the piece of tailgate trim that is covering the base of the brake light 'shield' I simply raised it on one side with a plastic scraper thing I have (to avoid damaging the trim piece) so that I could get my fingers around it, then lifted it away. It is attached with four plastic clips and comes away quite easily with a little bit of force.

2. Unscrew the 4 screws that are holding the shield in place then gently pull it away from the glass as it is also attached with a couple of clips.

3. Clean whatever needs cleaning, pop shield back into place, put screws back in and then line up and replace the tailgate trim piece ( I had to smack it a bit with the palm of my hand to get the clips to go back in).

It is literally a 5 minute job and if I'd have known how easy it was I'd have done it ages ago!

Hi gang. I've done a search and couldn't find anything on this. Does anyone know how to remove the said brake light? I ask because I have watermarks/dirt between the brake light and the inside of the rear screen and want to take it off so I can clean it. I can't see any obvious screws holding it in, and don't want to risk snapping it off.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the warm welcome chaps. I must say this really is a decent club/forum with a positive relaxed vibe to it. I'd used a couple of guides on here already as well which were incredibly useful, and regularly read up on forum posts, so I'll do my best to post as often as I can. It would also be good to get to some meets when they are on as I don't know anyone that owns a Z and it's always nice to meet like minded folk.

Yep! It's got the higher tax as well! To be honest when I bought it I didn't realise there was another facelift after this one - it wasn't until I joined here that it became apparent. This was on a short list with a BMW 130i and an R32 golf. What swung me towards it though was the fact it was a 2 seater RWD car (never ticked either of those boxes) one owner, full history with the sat nav and GT pack. I had a Clio 182 before this (a 172 before that and a 5 GT Turbo before that!) so this is a nice step up in terms of power, build quality and road presence. It's nothing like the hot hatches to drive as you'd expect - I find it less excitable/nervous but more refined, planted and much quicker after 60/70. I'm no drift hero though so I've yet to experience power slides etc!

Looks great, Nick, many thanks for the exhaust order too...

 

Must say one thing - it's loud!! When I first drove it I thought 'My god what have I done here?' but it's settled down a touch now and it's reawakened the child in me - sounds brutal when given maximum beans. It is a little droney at times on part throttle (but I knew that when I bought it) but nothing that cannot be 'driven around' and has made me genuinely laugh a few times with the sheer outrageousness of it!

 

I thought the same when I got mine, but the sound is really incredible and I love it. Have you blasted through a tunnel/underground car park yet? I pull this face when I do

Haha! No not yet - but I'm sure it'll happen. I've noticed it gets a lot more attention now though - both from pedestrians and other road users. The other thing is that I'm getting through more petrol than I did because I like listening to it!

Looks great, Nick, many thanks for the exhaust order too...

Must say one thing - it's loud!! When I first drove it I thought 'My god what have I done here?' but it's settled down a touch now and it's reawakened the child in me - sounds brutal when given maximum beans. It is a little droney at times on part throttle (but I knew that when I bought it) but nothing that cannot be 'driven around' and has made me genuinely laugh a few times with the sheer outrageousness of it!