RyanT

How does it compare to your old 350Z? Appreciate that’s a big question.

Thanks! Compared with the 240Z everything is so easy to source, fit (and not insanely expensive). It’s most of the enjoyment of building a project car, with less of the downsides. Having an issue and being able to find 10 tutorials immediately on YouTube is the dream too!

Cheers for the response chaps! So in an effort to fill in the gaps above. In short I wanted a simple, reliable, fun car I could drive to the track, use and enjoy all day, staying out for as long as I wanted per session, be fast, while not dreading the drive home. It wasn’t even a day before the car was being taken apart. The lovely BuddyClub seats were mounted really high which made the car really odd to drive and uncomfortable as you sat bolt upright which just isn’t how buckets work. Turns out one of the lower mount inserts had pulled out of the shell, so the higher mounting position was being used, as a work-around. So out the seats came for repair, alongside a massaging with the angle grinder of the rails and bolt lengths to get them as low as possible. This shows just how much lower I was able to get it. Absolutely transformative actually sitting in the car instead of on top of it, and actually comfortable. So much better. Next job was a knocking from the rear, which the previous owner advised as likely drop links. So I had those ordered to fit - Only to be welcomed by: Oh, that’ll be the knocking then. I replaced the drop links anyway as I was in there, gave everything a clean. Next job was a aluminium under-tray, as I noticed the existing one was barely hanging on and was essentially zip-tied in place. Now, this is where things snowballed… “If I’ve got it up on jackstands with the under-tray off - I might as well do a complete fluid change” “if I’m changing the coolant, I might as well replace the radiator while I’m in there with a big Mishimoto one” “If I’m draining the oil, I may as well fit a bigger sump while I’m there, and an oil cooler for good measure”. “if I’m fitting an oil cooler, I should really fit an oil temp sensor and gauge too” So, one of these: Went for the Mishimoto thermostatic oil cooler kit, which quality wise is great. But a frustrating lack of torque settings within the instructions. And one of these: Anyway, much cursing, zip ties, padded tape and braided line wrestling later - It was all neatly fitted. Then on to the larger Stillen sump -It was reassuring to see such clean internals when removing the OEM sump. I was a bit disappointed with the roughness of the casting on the Stillen oil pan, so cleaned it up with a wire cup attachment - Just to make sure nothing was going to shed and end up in the oil. Much better. Then an oil temp gauge neatly fitted into the drivers door panel. So, Mishimoto radiator, thermostatic oil cooler kit, oil temperature gauge & Torqen undertray all fitted. 2-3 litre increase in oil capacity always appreciated! Time to put the thing back on the ground. Or was it? I noticed the rear discs looked oddly small compared with the backing plate. Off came the rear wheels and low and behold someone has fitted non-GT pack, much smaller rear discs to this car and somehow didn’t notice something wasn’t right… Check the lip worn in the pads. So again true to form, I let things snowball. I was planning on fitting braided lines and replacing the brake fluid with fancy Motul 660 stuff, and if I was going through all that effort plus having to replace the rear pads and discs - I may as well upgrade the entire lot, right? So an Akebono (370Z Nismo) brake upgrade was underway… Take some RockAuto (Akebono branded, but raw calipers) Several evenings with some high temp paint, decals and lacquer - Some massive high carbon discs Some trick track pads - And some adaptor brackets - You have yourself a massive 14inch front, 13.8inch rear big brakes kit with OEM reliability for which you can get spare parts from any dealer or motor factors, perfect. However things are never as straight forward as they should be, and things rarely bolt on. The rear brake nuts and pipe were properly fused together, and ended up twisting off. So I had to grind back to good metal and re-flare with a new nut. And it turns out the big brake kit was juuust a bit too big, and made contact with the wheel barrel. So out came the angry side of the grinder - Upon Googling it looks like this isn’t unheard of. In reality it was just removing some mismatch and casting imperfections, to give it enough clearance. I think if you were to buy calipers from Nissan they go through an additional machining / finishing process so you wouldn’t have to do this. Not that it matters either way. Oh and I also switched the wheels out for some OEM rays with sticky AD08R’s. We got there in the end! Hel braided lines and posh Motul 660 brake fluid to finish off. … I quickly got the car back on the ground before I found something else to get carried away with. Car drives amazingly, the brakes feel fantastic. Although I wish the steering wheel was bit closer to me, and the gear stick too. In went a Personal Neo Grinta, and the old gear knob I had custom made and managed to keep from the 240Z sale, alongside a shifter extension. Perfect! Oh and you can also see the 380RS pedal I bought too. I’ve missed out loads I’m sure, it was weeks and weeks of fiddling, and finally got it finished with days to spare before the first track day, to which it performed faultlessly. Kept pace with my mate in his very trick Megane Trophy, during open pits was able to stay out longer than anyone else - Brakes endless, temps rock steady, car felt fantastic. So aside from booking in more track days, what’s the plan? Potentially a square set up would let the chassis shine more on track, perhaps a 265 square, and I want to get the alignment looked over. Oh and also book it in for some welding, I think ‘rust free’ must mean different things to different people as I poked my finger through the rear wheel well cill (you know the place, where that plastic piece catches all the mud). Cheers for reading.

Looking for 2 x rear rays wheels if you’ve got em? Found a thread from a long time ago saying you may!

Hi all - Sold. all the best.

Wow.

Hi, yes still available. Although on eBay now too.

Hi all - I thought forums were dead? Anyway thought I’d do my part to keep this one going! Keeping this short as I’m on my phone and formatting this is a pain, but I’m now in another 350Z after a while out. Rewind 6-7 years ago I had this, as my daily and only car - 60 odd miles a day, which I loved. Did everything well, and was completely reliable, European trips, Nurburgring etc. Although after buying a house with off-road parking I was in a position to have two cars - And while I loved the 350Z it wasn’t special enough to be a dedicated weekend car. So it went and in came this. Elise 111R (Toyota 2ZZ engine) - Essentially an Exige in an Elise body. I did love it. However in the same vein as a sports bike, it was so fantastic when you were on it, anything but a clear road just ended in frustration and feelings of a wasted trip. It was also pretty perfect out the box, and being a development engineer that spends their day behind a spreadsheet - I was getting itchy wanting something to tinker with. So I went in the complete opposite direction and wired a stupid amount of money thousands of miles away to buy this sight-unseen, which after a massively stressful (and expensive) 6 months turned up on the back of a flatbed looking like this. Which after 3-4 years of every spare hour (and what felt like every spare penny at times), ended up like this - Which was (is) a 1971 Datsun 240Z restomod, with a C5 Corvette engine. So 5.7L, 350bhp, 1060kg. Old on the outside, but everything under the surface is as trick as you can get - All adjustable, rose-jointed, massive Wilwood brakes, re-wired, the lot. Long story short, this summer it went to a new home, and despite that cash burning a hole in my pocket and my aspirations as stupid as ever I told myself to wait out until car prices returned to some form of normality. Although perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to get another toy to tide me over? No harm in logging into 350Z-UK surely? I’ll go into more depth on this when I’ve got more time - But long story short I accidentally bought a members car, KuroKid, I think I was on route to collect within 30mins of the (out the blue) message as we’d been generally chatting over Instagram about LS swaps and my 240Z. Thread from his ownership here - He obviously loved the car and took good care of it. Here’s a 1am petrol station return photo, the sign of all good car buying trips! I’ll go into more detail in my next post, but it essentially went up on jackstands immediately after getting home for the next month or so, and after a hundred little fixes, and some posh parts I’ve now got myself a car that can drive to a track day with a boot full of tools in relative comfort, lap all day without breaking a sweat, and drive home. All without the worry of sending a house deposit sized lump of metal sliding into the tyre wall. Perfect. It was genuinely the most fun I’d had in a car in a long time. Delighted to be back in a 350Z, these really do punch much beyond their weight. Anyway keep checking in, will add more detail how we got to this point (the good, and not so good…) Cheers all

That seems very low, unless you mean the bolts actually holding the caliper halves together? If you mean the bolt that holds the caliper to the hub, I’d expect it to be 100-110 ft lb?

Ah that would help! I’m Gloucestershire - GL6 area. All the best.

For sale - Nissan 350Z differential which has been fitted with a Kaaz 2-Way plated LSD, alongside new bearings, seals etc (have invoice for this / fitting that I can provide with diff). Came fitted to a car I’ve bought, stacked at 100% lock, which is quite aggressive and what you would do for a drift car or proper circuit weapon. I’ve took it out to re-order the plates to 50% lock, to make it more daily driver friendly. All clutch plates, gears, everything in fantastic condition, re-sealed ready to fit and fill full of oil. Or quickly whip out again and change back to 100% lock if you’re building a drift / track toy. The eagle eyed among you may notice top half of the diff assembly isn’t assembled correctly in the photo. Don’t worry it was intentional as I was measuring total clutch pack thickness. Obviously a fairy big ticket item, especially factoring in the new bearings and fitting. So a good chance to buy a ‘bolt in’ good to go unit. Pick up only, unless you can arrange a pallet collection / packaging service. Forum price of £600. All the best, Ryan

Full set of Brembo ‘GT Pack’ big brakes. With Brembo high carbon front discs & Hawk HPC pads. All in excellent working order - Has been DIY painted by previous owner blue, if it was me I’d probably give them a wire brush & sand while they’re off the car to do them 100% justice. £500 collected before they go to the vultures of eBay. GL6 area. Many thanks, Ryan

Hello mate. I just looked on the back side of the wheel - I believe the 11J rears are ET8 and the 10J fronts are ET12.

Just fitted this exactly that kit this weekend, what do you want to know? I haven’t driven with it yet. I got one to keep oil temps down on track, plus the increased oil capacity - Just for peace of mind. Go thermostatic, else the oil may not get up to temp during daily driving (especially in cooler weather). No issues with the kit, I mounted mine pipes facing up as I was concerned about trapped air. Big braided lines take some man-handling to route nicely, and lots of zip ties / foam tape to make sure they aren’t coming into contact with anything as they snake into the engine bay. No instructions which was annoying, nor torque specs. I believe (double check this yourself) I did the sandwich plate to 35ftlb with a dab of red loc-tite to ensure it doesn’t unscrew when changing filter.

Set of Rota MXR with Kumho PS91 tyres. Front 10J x 18 255/40/1 Rear 11J x 18 265/40/18 Refurbished in bronze last September before shortly before taken off the road for winter. Fantastic condition, aside from one rear which has a single instance of kerbing on the lip. I’ve began working this with a file with a view to touch it in, but keep not getting around to it. Only selling as they came on a 350Z I’ve purchased and I’ve gone to smaller wheels with smaller tyres for drift days etc. Quick sale at: £750. Pick up ideally from GL6 area. I’m not able to package these up to ship but I recently bought wheels that were unpackaged through Shiply which was great. If you want to do the same I work from home so easy when it comes to collection. Picture dump - See last photo for inclusion of my user name.

Lights, boot net & floor mat sold. Exhaust & midpipe, clocks, airbox & gearknob remain! Many thanks all

Replying to PM's now

No it's from a 2005.

Righto, my beloved 350z is sold and I miss it already - But it's left me with a load of bits and bobs which are no longer of any use to me! DE Clocks / Dials Bought from a low mileage car for a dial fascia project which obviously never went anywhere... Believe they show circa 55-60k. £30 DE Exhaust and Midpipe Removed from my car when fitting an aftermarket exhaust (Currently too dark to add pic, will do it first thing tomorrow). £35 DE Airbox & Filter Great condition, perfect opportunity to get drilling for that lovely induction sound! £25 Gearknob £5 Collection 100% preferred from GL6, Stroud area but might consider posting certain items (i.e. clocks/boot nets) If you come and collect I'll offer a nice discount of you take multiple items. Many thanks, Ryan

Really sorry everyone for some reason I didn't see notifications from this thread and forgot to update that it's sold. Good luck with the search everyone. SOLD.

Hi, To be honest there isn't really anything that'll show up on camera, it's just what you'd expect for a 10 year old car. I just put that line in so someone doesn't arrive and try to beat me down on price expecting it to look like a brand new car... As you can see from the pics, it's very clean. (Click the pictures to see much larger versions). If you want I'm happy to do a video walk-around with plenty of close-ups on every section of the car. Many thanks, Ryan

Pricedrop for 350Z-UK members!

Good point, not really sure how else to word it though and I clarify it in the ad text. Suggestions welcome! 'Clear Headlights'?

It’s with a heavy heart I put my Zed up for sale – Text copied from the PH advert: Extremely clean 2005 GT spec - Heated seats, Rays Alloys, Cruise Control, Bose Audio, Bluetooth. - One previous owner, he owned it for 9 years and had it serviced at Nissan Aldershot throughout his ownership. - Full service history (14 stamps), with last service ~1k miles ago. During my ownership it's been serviced every ~6k miles (inc. gearbox/differential oil, coolant/brake/clutch fluid flush, sparkplugs, aux belts). Wants for nothing. - Recent MOT (19th Sep @ 109,528 miles), has only covered a few hundred miles since, with extremely clean MOT history. Only advisable has been for consumables which were always replaced immediately. - As required by these cars, it has only ever been ran super unleaded - I've kept every single receipt as reassurance of this. - Masses of paperwork. - Enthusiast owned. This has been without doubt the best car I've ever owned, I don't think there's another car which offers such a comprehensive package for the money. I'm only selling as a recent change in circumstances (relocation closer to work & purchase of a 2nd car) mean that I'm in a position to purchase another, even more irresponsible dream car of mine. I spent many, many months finding this car, being a late-production DE engined car, many issues of the earlier cars have been rectified (tyre feathering/gearbox issues), while it doesn't suffer from the oil burning issues / oil gallery issues of the revup/HR engined' cars. Plus it's the last year of production before the £500/year tax hike. This car also looks particularly special compared to others, as it benefits from the following essentials: - Genuine Nissan LED rear brakelights from the 2006+ models (original units can come with the car if desired). - The dated orange strips in the headlights have been replaced with clear to resemble the 2006+ cars (inc silvered indicator bulbs). - Small front lip to rectify the 'Beluga whale'-esque front end as standard. (easily removed if you disagree!) - Scorpion exhaust & mid-pipe, subtle yet lovely. (original unit can come with the car if desired). - 'Bose Aux Input Mod’ - Where an aux cable has been soldered into the rear of the original headunit, allowing you to play your own music without a tacky aftermarket unit. As to be expected it has its share of dinks, dents and marks. But as you can tell from the photos it remains an excellent example. I can provide a link to further in-depth photos/video walk around if required. It's had an easy life with me, commuting up and down the M5 where it'd return an impressive 34/36 MPG. It's been absolutely faultless throughout my ownership and wants for nothing, I'd jump in it tomorrow and drive across Europe without hesitation. Any inspection etc. welcome. Currently in the process of reverting back to the standard number plate. Mileage may increase, I'm trying not to use now it's for sale - But I'm visiting friends across country this weekend and I don't know if I can handle the embarrassment of turning up in a Volvo estate... Any questions feel free to ask, email/text preferred as I live in a fairly rural area and you may struggle to get through as I have no phone signal in my house. Or just message first and I'll venture out to find signal so we can speak. Located in Minchinhampton. £5500 £5300 Many thanks, Ryan EDIT: the private plate is now off, use reg: RN54 TCY if you want to search the MOT history / get an insurance quote.

Shaping up well! Here's my mega thread from back on the day which was fairly popular at the time! http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71593&page=13