Rook

Hey, thanks for getting involved! Car's an 07 (RevUp) with ninety-something thousand miles. There's definitely no noise on the passenger side, I confirmed this today. Can't tell if front or back. I originally thought front but having actually stuck my head out the window now I can only tell it's under the car. I just struggle to see how a 'tap tap tap' sound that comes when downshifting but not rev matched (so it pulls the revs up) has anything to do with axles. That said there's all sorts of clicks and taps, so I'm gunna do the axle fix anyway and see what other noises I can rule out with that.

Sorry to bump this, there have been some developments - the noise has changed. So now, it's clicking repeatedly under cadence braking in any gear, once or twice per second. It does it while the clutch is biting, when downshifting, leading me to believe the clutch is actually making the noise. In contrast, when under heavy power load; mostly in first, it will also click multiple times and sometimes continuously while accelerating. I'm now pretty sure this isn't an axle grease thing. The clicking comes from under the car, not axle specific as far as I can tell, and can only be heard with the window down. It does now after feel of the car at all (no clutch slippage or anything) but when under heavy load can be really quite loud. Suggestions? Thanks!

Just a note, turns out a good friend of mine's a Nissan tech, he thinks that despite the odd presentation, I could be wrong and it could in fact be *that* clicking, haha. So we'll try the click fix and see if it makes a difference. I'll post back if not.

I've noticed an odd 'tick tick tick' noise that seems to occur in first gear. It's not clicking as you accelerate from a stop, it seems to happen at higher revs when the car is cadence braking, mostly over say 3k rpm. I'm quite used to it and didn't really think much of it until today it made a similar noise but louder, and much more frequently as I was giving it the beans; again above about 3-4k rpm. This time the sound was like a load of gravel being kicked up, against the metalwork, and it made a similar noise, though quieter when slowing again. No, there was no gravel haha. At first I thought there might be something stuck to the wheel or under the brake caliper or something, but it only does it in first gear. It doesn't do it in neutral (so isn't to do with revs or clutch) or in second (which leads me to believe it's neither the diff, driveshaft, or another exhaust rattle, or related to the wheels). Has anyone ever seen this? It runs absolutely perfectly, even in first, and the noise can only be heard with the window down, not inside the car.

Aha, same! Trunk Road?

Gotcha, thanks

Hey, sorry for n00b but I was considering coming to this, I saw it on Bealieu's site, and now have seen you guys are making a thing of it. Cool. Very new to all this, was just gunna casually turn up at 10/11ish. Can I literally wait til Sunday to decide if I'm coming along and still be allowed in (pay £10 each at door etc) and come find you guys, or would you prefer me to formalise somehow? I'd like to come along as I'd love to talk to some other Z owners and see others cars etc, just a matter of whether I (and the other half) can on the day! Sounds like fun though

Saxos and Clios for me. People who could race me generally don't, it's usually noise-box laden 1.4 snot hatches.

Yeah, the z isn't really a car you drive for anything other than the sheer enjoyment of driving it. It doesn't win on efficiency, practicality, acceleration, top speed, or the speed you can carry through corners. What most people who drive them seem to agree on is they're just great 'purist' drives. No nannying electronics, big silly wings and plastic tubs, or hybrid this that or the other, just a big wad of power, mechanical grip, a comfortable, GT weight, and reliability from here to Timbuktu.

Were you redlining it? Shifting hard? As people said, it's not gunna be night and day, but having driven a 125i... You should only have been a few thousand RPM into third at that point, he probably will have had to have shifted again - if nothing else that's where your advantage should be. And the 125i is about 0.5 seconds slower to 60... Should be, anyway... Not a lot in it. Now the 130i on the other hand... I wouldn't take one on unless I was feeling real peppy...

Ah interesting. I'd considered a lighter flywheel when the time comes (92k on original OEM), but if it's gunna make the chatter louder :O

If you're on here, I live just round the corner from you!

Hahaha. That's what I thought. It's not stones in the undertray, the tray's been off and I was digging around under there recently pulling out the bits of rattling heat shield. I love how raw and mechanical the car feels, it's my favourite (sensible) car I've ever driven, but it's raw mechanical-ness is great for sounding just a tad unhealthy and every now and again I crack and have to get things looked at, only to find they're the nature of the beast. God I love this thing.

Hi all, This is hopefully not a repeat of the 'how loud is your clutch' threads there are here, but is possibly the same. Not sure, hence thread. How loud is that slightly grindy, I've head described as 'stones in a bucket' sound when you're moving along? In first and second gear particularly it's really quite noticeable at lower speeds. Is that the noise you guys are talking about? I've only ever heard people showing it while the car's stationary... Thanks!

^That. I bought my car on a 'budget', but still pay £500 a year to tax. When I'm spending £70 a week on fuel, the extra £220 a year in tax is really neither here nor there.

I have two questions: 1) What are those he has in place of his orange reflectors 2) Give it to me

I'm far from the most experienced around here but £5200 for a car that you'll need have worked on, is an import, has already done 100,000 miles and is 12 years old... I paid just over £1000 more than that for an 07 plate UK car that didn't need any work with 88,000 (advertised at 6750, talked him down), and he was advertising at the price autotrader recommended; it was HPI checked, serviced, everything; all checked out. It wasn't a fishy deal. If were two of older/import/higher mileage/needing repair - it'd be decent but I just wouldn't go for it myself. Particularly as your £850 quote is based in an assumption, regardless of how safe. NB for those asking why I count import as a negative; it added £400 to my insurance (normally about £450 on the Z), essentially making this car £5600 up front compared to a UK for me. I think I could do better for £5600! Edit; Like this (not mine or associated in any way!): http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=321784564811&globalID=EBAY-GB £5250, so he'll probably take 5. You could spend that £250 on a p3 service and still be better off long term. It's not blue, but if I were on a budget as it seems you are, I'd be more worried about finding a car I can rely on and won't cost extra on things like insurance for no real gain. Not to say this will be any more reliable than the blue one repaired, but you have a better chance of knowing what you're letting yourself in for.

That's kinda what I said, 'only risk of long term use is buildup' and Jez at H-Dev gave the other point I made; it should have switched. I wasn't condoning the use of regular; I hoped the tone of my post would have made my reluctance to use it clear, but I stand by it being fine for a month. Many people have safely used 95 in the VQ35DE much longer. I'm sure pictures also exist of cars always run on 97 or 99 that have gone catastrophically wrong! Honestly, my main purpose in posting in this thread was my 640 mile range tank!

Edit: oops double post.

RevUp DE

If you're gunna use it, doing so for a slightly extended period is the way to do so, as chopping and changing week-on-week means the system's never quite going to acclimatise, making it more prone to knock. A good friend of mine is a Nissan engineer, it's his opinion (and also mine) that a month of regular should have no long term effects. The only real worries of using regular for long periods of time is build-up, which won't be an issue for just a month. The stations near where I work only sell regular. I was interested to see if I absolutely had to use it what effect it would have on performance and MPG. Aside from 'feeling' a little sluggish, which could be entirely placebo, I consistently measured MPG losses far greater than the difference in price. I ran the test for 3 or 4 weeks (not sure) to make sure the engine had adjusted relevant timings and I wasn't losing efficiency due to 'knock' effects. Don't worry, she's safe.

Interesting reading people's ranges and MPG's. I do a 400 mile weekly commute on £65 of super, avg £1.20 a litre, that's 36.5mpg. 640 miles a tank, I make that. I have to say I was expecting rather less... I can also verify I've consistently gotten about 12-15% extra MPG on Shell V Power Nitro+ over their regular unleaded. Wouldn't have believed you if I hadn't trialled it myself. Used regular for about a month and struggled to go past about 32mpg on the same run. This is a great thread, very interesting read.

Thanks, and it's a RevUp. Might as well change them then! NGK it is, they seem pretty reasonably priced. That was easy!

Evening all. Someone at an indie service centre I won't name told me my Z probably needs new spark plugs if it hasn't had already. It's an 07 DE with 92k on the clock. Do they need new plugs as a matter of course? I haven't pulled one out yet, but my service history doesn't include a receipt for them, I assume they've not been done - should I just do it anyway? What, if any, plugs do people use? Any benefit to HKS/Denso etc? Thanks all.

Hammerited one of mine and sanded it with a very fine grit, the other's just started to chip now. You couldn't tell the difference. Didn't even need to take the arm off - though believe me I tried, have fun with that hahaha.