Fisherking

Yeah the front engine one does (number 1 on my pic). Would never contemplate touching this and no need anyway as no probs with this as it seals the underside of the car. The issue is really the back ones either side of the back tyres. I think I will remove them tomorrow tbh

Cheers Keyser, i see your point. Will be interesting to see if there is a change to stone/gravel build up when i get rnd to replacing the tyres

In all seriousness Keyser if I was to remove them would this cause any harm, particularly the back two? I would leave the engine undertray of course. Your second photo shows the left rear ones well by the way. Not sure why this annoying rattling and gravel trap issue seems to be only with some Zeds and not others, weird. Only reason I can think of would be possibly tyres but I'm just guessing tbh

Keyser - only in my dreams :cloud9:

On the pic above I have done a yellow ring on the trays I refer to. The pic was off internet so I'm sure they are on every Z, as I say this seems to be the source of the rattling "marbles in a can" noise ppl hear when the exhaust at a certain rpm (between 1-2000rpm) causes the gravel trapped to resonate.

It's not the engine under tray that's the problem though it's those two plastic trays before the rear wheels and the one after the engine under tray

Hi Peeps I am not sure why but I seem to be picking up more dirt and stones in the undertray areas of the Zed (possible theory being the crappy Autogrip tyres I still have on which means tyres more likely to "spin up" and hence fill the trays?). This seems to be the source of a common "rattling/marbles in a can at 1-2000rpm noise" myself and others have been experienceing (See fix thread here http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/69601-fix-marbles-in-a-can-rattling-noise-when-driving-at-low-rpm-1000-2000/ which does address this issue) Not being keen to add a monthly chore of removing and cleaning of undertrays to my maintenance schedule I am considering removing the two at the back (one on each side, just in a bit above the rear wheels as seen below) and possibly the one sited between the engine undertray (1) and the exhaust as seen below. However they must be there for a reason but how important are they? Any thoughts? Cheers Matt

Unfortunately Dave its prob going to be a few months before i can off load mine. Cant really afford to replace em at the moment with the Mitch's i want. Still, it makes driving in the rain fun

Check the undertrays as if it sounds like gravel it probably is or at least worth checking if it is 1st. There is a Fix pinned to this forum http://www.350z-uk.c...-rpm-1000-2000/ Try it and see how you get on. Be interesting if it is this. Please let us know Matt

Love this thread. Can't help wondering how the lip of the bumper would look wrapped in carbon to match the cannards though. Matt

Just read through this thread after visiting the "Shed" today. It's even better than watching Whealer Dealers on Discovery channel

MASSIVE, MASSIVE thanks to Mr and Mrs Keyser for helping me out in my time of need. Asside from getting my Zed fixed it Was great to meet you both and have a good chat. What a great forum this is to have such nice people on here Lesson learnt and message to others "purchase some hexagonal 6-point sockets" if I had used these rather than the multi-points I probably wouldn't have rounded off the nut so quickly and maybe the ratchet wouldn't have slipped and I wouldn't have fractured my hand Thanks again Matt

Thanks both Yes I did use a multipoint socket set - lesson learnt here I think. Have re-tightened the other belt that I had managed to loosen and car now drivable again so can drive to you Keyser. Will PM you. Saviour! Thanks so much Matt

Hey everyone I bought some belts and plugs from Alex (great service) and luckily he has give me some spare nuts for the idler pulley as I have a major issue here. I have started following the post by Steve 300 about changing them and have undone the alternator/water pump belt idler pulley (this was v stiff but managed it with a mallet and spanner) However the AC belt is a different matter. The nut is completely seized on. I have tried and tried to free this nut but its not having any of it. I have tried from underneath the car and above and have even taken the engine cover off to try and make it easier. All to no avail. The nut is now smoothed at the edges and my ratchet is just slipping. In desperation I have just come back from Halfords, having purchased a pair of mole-grips and some shock-bolt spray. Still nothing. Even the mole-grips are sliding off the nut and the nut just won't budge. I am at a total loss now and can't use the car. Any ideas as to what I can try next. This is incredibly frustrating as what should be a 30min job has taken most of the day and I'm still no better off. I have severely hurt my hand as well when it slipped off the ratchet and collided with the engine (badly swollen already) and the aforementioned shock-bolt spray I have just managed to break the noozzle off. :rant: Incidently I think the root cause of this is Nissan Southampton who serviced the car for the previous owner, I think they are a bit too keen with their tightening. The oil change I did last week took me most of the day (no exageration) to get the filter off it was sooo tightly screwed on. Thanks Matt

Hi everyone I had this issue which has been documented before. It's been very annoying/embarassing when pootling around town or car-parks . I did a few searches on the internet and see it's quite a common thing, a number of solutions have been suggested to fix this but I couldn't find anything conclusive. So what I did this morning was to get under the car with a rubber mallet. I tapped the exhaust and found the problem. It wasn't the exhaust itself but the plastic under trays under the car. I took off the two at the back of the car, one on each side just before the Y exhaust pipe and the one in the middle of the car near the front axle, behind the engine under tray. They were full of gravel - some of the stones were the size of my thumb nail! I cleaned these all out and re-attached and Yey no more noise . In fact now the noise has gone I realise it was a lot louder than I thought at the time! What I think was happening was that when the car hit certain revs the resonance of the exhaust would vibrate the gravel in the undertrays and hence the noise. Now whether my new Zed had a track day in its past, finding a convenient gravel trap or the Zed has just picked this gravelly rubish over time I'm not sure. But before anyone goes mad with the noise or starts spending money chasing a fix it may be best to check your undertrays 1st. Hope this helps Matt

Thanks for all your replies. As some of you who have had these tyres have managed on them for a while i do feel a bit better now. I think i will stick with them for another month or so and then change them for MSS all round. I could always jst trash them doing burnouts for the next mth lol Matt

Hi So had my z for 2wks now and cleaned it for the 1st time this wknd. I am kicking myself a bit here as I didnt check the make of tyre it was wearing when i bought it. I just checked whether they were new (they still had their nobules on so was happy). I now discover they are all Autogrips a make i never heard of. I was shocked when i did an internet search and found not one ok thing about them, all i am hearing is that they are deathtraps in the wet. tbh i have found the z twitchy in the wet and found it fun catching a bit of oversteer but am worried if they are that bad i may be on borrowed time if they suddenly let go when i least expect. I can't really afford to change them all at once. Do you think its ok just changing back ones for Sport Contacts or other high perf ones and do tge fronts next. Or should i change all at the same time next month? Also i am slightly confused as i have a facelift 2006 Z in GT spec. It has Rays alloys but from what I have read in some places tyres on the GT were bigger and should be 19's rather than 18's.Is this right and so is my tyre size wrong as well or was this an option or something? Thanks for any help Matt

As was pointed out to me by some v wise ppl here. If you want noise then get a short ram e.g pop-charger. If you want power then stick with the stock '06 box with a upgraded panel filter. Me, I may loose some power in traffic due to heat soak but hell I figure I'm not going to be missing those ponnies in traffic anyway so where's the loss in the real world. Once the road opens up and I can put my foot down there should be plenty of nice cool air finding its way to the filter...and I'll have a lovely sound to go with it. As they say each to their own, that's why I have a newly purchased pop-charger in the garage from Tarmac ready to fit tomorrow

Just to update you all who posted here. I called the garage and they said i can bring back to them to sort. Got to leave it with them for the afternoon but luckily work owe me half day so not too much of an inconvenience. tbh i just grateful they have agreed to sort. hopefully just re-greasing will work and i think i will print off the fix thread for them. I take it to them fri so will post again when sorted if anyones interested. Matt

Thanks everyone for your advice. From what i have read of the problem the re-greasing seems to work. It has even been suggested the actual fix is the re-torquing of the nuts and that the re-greasing is just "going through the motions". Is it worth therefore getting the kit do you think? Hey Harmlu funny enough thats where I have bought mine from. I'm sure if it was there before i would have heard it as i was driving with windows dwn. i only started hearing it in last cple of miles of the 40 odd mile drive i was on. i did pop into Normans and saw Tony who sold it to me as mechanics had gone hm.He thought was calipers but i wasnt sure so did some more research when got hm and i certain its this from all the info on it and you tube etc. Matt

Hi Picked up my new (to me) 350z today Got home to find my stubby aerial had arrived from Steve at Redline so fitted straight away, looks great Had a very long drive for a few hours and absolutely love my new car, especially with the window down But about 2 miles from home I started hearing the dreaded "clicking" noise , whether it was there all the time but I just didn't hear it I'm not sure. I bought the car from a good local dealer in Bournemouth (My wife and I bought our family car from them a couple of years ago as well) and it has a 3mth warranty. But the garage is not a specialist - So is it okay to......print off the link viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60165&hilit=try+this+first and give it to them and ask their mechanics to fix it. Or is this just going to be insulting I don't have the tools to be able to attempt fix myself or I would Matt

I did post this on a different thread but got no replies so thought maybe it's been missed and I best to set up a seperate thread. I know people probably get fed up of questions about air intakes/filters etc as often newbies find it quicker to ask questions rather than find the answers themselves but to be fair I have spent alot of time researching on this site and on the internet but still have not found any answers to my questions. If anyone would be so kind to help clarify a few things I would really appreciate it: Why does the JWT Pop Charger enhance the sound? I initially thought it was due to the fact that it is sucking the air from a larger area i.e no air box. However I note that the K & N Typhoon also has a similar effect (though from what I've read it's not quite as vocal as the JWT) yet this has an airbox. Relating to the above why then would the '06 airbox with an "upgraded" panel filter not enhance the sound also? Is it mainly due to the fact the JWT and K&N both use cone filters? or is it something else? As my Zed already has the '06 box would it be possible to fit a cone filter into this box or maybe buying one of those Takeda one's Tarmac has on offer and use the existing '06 box with it's velocity stack. Anyone tried this? Thanks Matt

Ok I spent most of yesterday evening using the forum Search facility and reading as much as I could about the various intakes. I have a couple of questions I couldn't find the answer to though so if anyone would be so kind to help clarify a few things I would appreciate it: Why does the JWT Pop Charger enhance the sound? I initially thought it was due to the fact that it is sucking the air from a larger area i.e no air box. However I note that the K & N Typhoon also has a similar effect (though from what I've read it's not quite as vocal as the JWT) yet this has an airbox. Relating to the above why then would the '06 airbox with an "upgraded" panel filter not enhance the sound also? Is it mainly due to the fact the JWT and K&N both use cone filters? or is it something else? As my Zed already has the '06 box would it be possible to fit a cone filter into this box or maybe buying one of those Takeda one's Tarmac has on offer and use the existing '06 box with it's velocity stack. Anyone tried this? I have ordered a stubbly aerial from Redline Steve so I do listen to you guys Thanks Matt

same regarding the pop charger deliberation. I note the pop chargers have heat shield but these don't? Can any members who bought them comment on their experience?

Thanks guys. It was the sound I was after rather than performance. Bearing that in mind would there be much more of an "enhancement" in sound with a pop charger compared to the standard airbox with a different filter? The you tube vids only seem to allow comparison with the pre-facelift model Cheers Matt