Zalas

Hi guys, After changing the pads (thanks, cougar!) on the Zed the brakes are back to sticking again. I cleaned and red greased as best I could before pushing the piston in but it seems to no avail. One hard brake and *squeel*, *smoke*, *smell*. Think the disk is now warped as well as needing to replace the (now cooked) brand new pads. The other side has started to bind on the way from Hampshire to Cambridge last night, queue an hour of squeak squeak squeak. Sigh. Still, camping this weekend near Wells should go along way to help me at any rate. From the motorbike I'm more than happy to strip them down and redo the seals and dust boot -- is this worth it or is it delaying the inevitable? Been struggling to find a seal/rebuild kit - should I be looking for XTrail ones (I believe they share the same caliper?) If it's a "delaying inevitable" I think I'll either do a big-build kit or upgrade to the Brembos and take the hit now. Cheers, as always. Al.

Hi all, I installed a set of yellow stuff pads (thanks, CS!) onto the car at the weekend (only managed one side due to the rain) and had to wrestle with our old friend the siezed slider pin. I managed to remove both (thanks to a blowtorch on the lower slider) and duely greased them up using the EBC grease -- on re-insertion and re-attachment they're positively springing apart! If I compress the pin so that it's touching the thread on the caliper body and then take my finger off it springs back out until its over an inch proud. Can anyone confirm whether this is normal? I noticed that the top slide pin has a rubber bung at the bottom - could this be causing an "air cushion" within the slide chamber? Cheers, Al.

Hi, coming late to the party... Is the black bit of plastic that goes on top of the rear strut next to the silver Z panel, passenger side section, front facing, still available? A.

Bump! Likewise.

Just seen these - checking with t' missus whether she likes them (yes, yes, I know... under the thumb) but v v interested - presume too late to take down from ebay? A.

And if they're not snapped up by the other two stick me on third!

Hi guys, Well with the Stag sporting a newly rebuilt front-end my attention turns to the 'Zed and trying to repair the damage from my curb inspection. Reckon it's the ARB and sway bar, rear spring mount my concern is around the hub carrier and its "explosion" - grease from the angle it's at or is it busted? CV Joint / hub carrier Roll / sway bar (lower) Roll / sway bar (upper) Spring mount/carrier Sigh. Thanks, Al.

Cool thanks for all the responses guys! Nice welcome to a forum. Good weekend this weekend just gone - engine bolted back together on the Stag and she lives! Now a front-suspension rebuild and we're (touch wood) good to go :-)

Are these still for sale??

I sympathise with what you mean around paranoia - try driving a Stag as your other car! Any single twitch, clunk, smell (of which they're are lots) and strange noise has me on edge. Google "Stag paranoia" and you'll see what I mean. I suppose when it comes to the Z though I've been spoiled - mine was similar (just over £6k for a vgc JDM on 58k miles) but coming from a '01 Fiesta that I've had for 8 years and that has done over 215k miles (200k in my ownership) I have a fairly healthy respect for modern cars and their engines. I think for me bodywork is the main thing. If you're even vaguely handy with a spanner most bits can be replaced cheaply, as long as your own time is cheap and it's all right to be off the road. Engine transplants are my limit though :-) It's the bodywork that I think is most important as although it doesn't alter how the car runs if left untreated it very quickly escalates from below a hundred for a 10-pence patch to a fair few hundred for a much bigger patch and, unless you have a proper booth and skill, spraying to get a decent match is hard. Not to mention welding patch panels (at least there's no lead loading, mind). My last thought is that actually 8 years isn't an old car at all - up until the scrappage scheme and the finance schemes kicked in this last year or so 8 years would have been a fairly young second hand car!

Ho hum. I think for the cost of an import and spraying the wheel I'm probably a fair chunk of the way to a new set of rims, as galling as it is. Wonder how much I could sell my fronts and single rear that are in good nick for... A.

Just had a look at my Axis Pentas which are off the car at the moment. They also have Axis EXE on one of the spokes. Have yours been refurbed and resprayed at any time? They look identical to my wheels but a slightly different colour. Pete Hi Pete, thanks for that - strange, eh? Yeah mine have been resprayed - I was going to get them fully refurbed soon and stripped back. Looking at the current Axis Pentas I can't actually find whether they're still available or whether they've been replaced by the hyper-black and matt-black wheels (although the main page image shows 'em as silver on the yellow 350). Did you get your Penta's in the UK? Where from if I can ask? Cheers, A.

OK so I've heard back from Axis, it doesn't look like good news. They say, and I quote, Not sure what the best course of action is to take: half tempted to get an Axis Penta and see how it looks but then I suspect I'll just be disappointed - I'm leaning with the possibility it'll be better to change the shoes to something else - maybe looking at 18"/19" without the massive curb-friendly lip. Thanks so far, Cheers, Al.

Where did you find that? Searched high and low - may give them a call. Fired an email to Axis this morning with a copy of the picture to check. Thanks so far! A.

Hi guys, I'd like to engage the forum's knowledge if I may? Coming back from an excellent Silverstone classic on Sunday I had a slight incident exiting a wet roundabout with kickdown coming in at just the wrong time. Despite being able to hold it the back wheel to a big thwack and, as well as bending two of the suspension arms has also killed the rim. Trying to identify them (PO put them on) - the center cap says Ascari and I think they were Penta's but on checking the back of the "Y" spoke they say 'Axis EXE' - however they are nothing like the EXE wheels! From checking the posts and other images on here I think that Axis Penta's are a pretty close match and tie in with he Axis on the back - does anyone know if they're the same? Hoping they are otherwise there will be 3 vgc Penta's along for sale very soon! As an aside, does anyone know of a parts fiche where you can buy bits on-line to replace the suspension sections? The only place I can find is in America. Cheers, A.

Hi, new member (well, lurking member) here. Name's Al, from Andover. Taken ownership of a lovely oriental lady in June with a little under 63k miles. Already covered a couple of thousand miles - so great to drive. Other vehicle under the cover is my current restoration project, a '74 Stag, that's hopefully coming on a jaunt around Spain and France later in the year. Cheers, A.