bezza1121

http://s1208.photobucket.com/user/bezza1121/library/?sort=3&page=1 - This link should work. Original photos of the car it's a bit of a heap at the moment... but thats good . Current Bits; -New Throttle Cable -New bonnet -Interior valeted and cleaned (images to follow in next album) So next bits are; Next 2 weeks - New timing belt kit, all new filters, oils, new wing to be replaced, front wheels removed and primed to trial different styles (not sure on colour to go for yet), mirror covers and calipers coming off for respray girlfriend doing the callipers for me trained her well . I am still so temped to go candy vinyl on the mirror covers as an experiment although this does not fit with the steampunk theme. Next Month - Outlines of car to be printed , girlfriend is making a start on custom decals she's very good at arts and crafts!!!! and trailing overlays, will hopefully get some vinyls ordered up too and upload more progress pics, she will hopefully be addressing any upholstery issues and renewing old leather if possible and will be working on a custom carpet not sure how this will turn out atm :s. Engine bay cleanup, respray and rust treatment got so much free time next month hope weather holds out. Will post high res photos on engine by needs a revamp!!! the chassis is rust free otherwise. June/July - Thinking of custom steampunk style handbrake lever and shift knob and possibly steering wheel change.Hopefully have all paintwork buffed out and prepped. Am definitely going to replace old wiring for new high quality under bonnet wiring and replace hoses, nuts and bolts Anticipating more work until September time and some performance modifications in the near future. Really am thinking of retrofitting 350z brembos and deep dish alloys in the future :S not sure whether overkill though. Then some planned mods on the Zed

Update: I've had a look at the remaps. Think I will go for stage one eventually. Thank you for this - New bonnet fitted interior is now looking good. Unfortunately the crank pulley catastrophically failed a couple of days ago luckily when I pulled into my drive. So the car is still ok, the worst rattling sound ever though. phew I turned it off right away the pulley was all over the place !! Removed all pulleys and drive belt. The timing belt looks worn consistent with age. New timing belt kit and water pump going on end of next week. and prep work starting on the alloys. Currently the car is on axel stands and the engine up in the air so I can put new timing belt and tensioners on. Original photos, dent in the front wing, bonnet vandalised and some damage on the drivers side, and alloys in bad condition: Crank pulley prior to removal. Left metal shavings everywhere.

Been driving the 306 around quite a bit over the almost past 2 weeks of owning.. It's really economical and surprisingly nice to drive. The turbo kicks in fine and has burnt no oil or used water and started fine everytime brilliant little car!!!! A quick update. After a busy bank holiday weekend after returning from a couple of days away, had a further look at the more meticulous details on the car. Now got a full list of bits which need to be done in order to ensure everything is mechanically 100% found a few other bits which need doing, never brought a car and been so excited about fixing things on it haha. Also now have a project Idea, Girlfriend and I have been thinking to make the car a 'tidy steampunk style' as there doesn't seem to be many about she has given me no choice she wants to help . She wants to learn more about cars (I did teach her how to do brakes on a peugeot 206 and a 350z haha) she will be helping with the artwork on the car all by hand and mechanical bits. Will try and post current pictures again tonight (realised my previous photos did not display) Mechanical work commencing in 2 weeks, new timing belt, aux belt, tensioners plus oils and some other minor bits to start , gonna be a busy couple of weeks Leeds castle car show and mot for the zed on Friday. Got the new bonnet now and wing coming Friday . I have looked at the above I saw remapping for £160 on ebay not sure if this is the best route Haven't done a lot of research into this yet if there is anywhere good around the Kent / Surrey area?

Managed to get a bonnet and wing for £35 same colour too!!! . going to be a tidy little car. Time for some mods next Ive decided I'm going to do something with the engine bay..... Hoses , spray the bay interior a funky colour hmmm ideas.

Haven't got around to posting good photos yet. Literally photos taken from the original sellers advert. Gonna try get some more detailed photos over next few days. Trialled a small area of polishing on the drivers side door and it comes up perfect . It will need some cosmetics doing but quite excited about getting started on it now might try some fine sanding on the bonnet tomorrow and t cut and investigate what it's like underneath :s suspect it will nee a new bonnet. I'm so tempted to try a bit of vinyl wrap.... All excited now!! New timing belt kit on order to be fitted hopefully bank holiday . Really pleased with it so far , what common bits usually go on the 306 cars from experience ?

Does anyone on here know much about the 306 2.0 HDI?

I kept toying with the idea of getting a little diesel runaround as the roads around here are filthy and my commute to work has a lot of lorries etc and lets face it who wants to wear out their pride and joy just going to work and back and doing the DIY Dump runs etc. So I thought it's time to have a little look at some diesels.... Ended up looking at one which certainly has some character and have decided it will be a project car now ... Anyway turned up and saw a 2001 plate peugeot 306 in the driveway, not the best of cosmetic condition with a dent and some sign that somebody had vandalised the drivers door mildly and the bonnet is a bit worse for wear with a slight ding on the front wing. knocked them down to £200 !!! the guy i brought it off was a change the oil and nothing else and keep driving it type. Said the timing belt was done 40k ago...with receipt. and new front suspension 9 months Mot seems ok though. Anyway asked all the questions checked was all legit, but v cheap for a diesel brought knowing it had some niggles..... Anyway long story short I have covered about 200 miles since buying it, driven it hard not smoked used any oil or water... gotta be good so far So I did a more through checkover earlier..... Timing belt could do with changing soon small cracks on the rubber looks more like 80k on the belt bit I can't believe there is .... Speedo sensor needs changing, the wire looks melted a bit and is intermittent...... the gearbox has what looks like new drain plugs on it :s and clutch is very good. so new timing belt kit cheepo one , secondhand wing off eBay, driver side electric window clips (£15) , speedo sensor, speedo sensor , new oil and filters and a good polish and she will be a tidy little car albeit 240,000 miles plus on the clock. Excited to make custom now . Gonna post some before during and after photos. Still want a classic Zed though Work commences on it next weekend )))

Nice work there. Always liked the 260z, wish I had the space to do a restoration project would be so good. How much can one be picked up for these days which would need a medium amount of restoration?

Bleeding mine tomorrow with RBF 600, thinking the fluid is due a change. Hoping this will solve my recent inconsistent clutch feel and slight squeak noise when pressing down clutch.

Realised had the Zed now for about 9 months already! almost 20,000 miles later she works a treat. But as with anything needs a service and MOT Soon. The only minor issues I have had is the boot strut loosing pressure. Car gets used a lot as a runaround as well as commuting and for fun partner refuses to drive in the evenings as she does loads of driving for her job so the poor zed is relied upon quite heavily Apart from this pretty much everything on it has always been maintained on time with previous owners looking at records and with my self I make sure I do the work required and my friend will do a check up on the car before MOT. But one thing I'm not sure about is the clutch fluid it actually looks quite clear... Looking at the reservoir the fluid has always been over the max mark by a couple of mm I'm guessing this is acceptable. The bite on the clutch is very good and it has never crunched gears one little bit. But the reason I am questioning the fluid is because (not sure whether temperature related) I don't know If I'm going bonkers but I could swear the clutch pedal is sometimes a bit inconsistent in it's feel as in sometimes it's a lot softer and sometimes a lot harder, can't quite put my finger on it reading the forums sounds like possible fluid, slave or master cylinder you know that gut feeling when you think something is on it's way out. Has anyone else had this similar issue with their clutch.

Not been on here for a few days, yeah looked it up last time I looked it was around 4,000 confirmed people!!! , theres also a Paul Walker Re-Union in Ashford, Kent on Saturday, location to be confirmed at 5pm apparently.

Hi All, Was wondering if there are any good meets in the Surrey / Kent area in the next couple of months. Been meaning to go to a car meet for a while trying to find an excuse since getting the zed.

Ended up getting the correct filter socket as suggested above worked a treat!!! anyone who reads this buy the cup wrench as suggested above. She's running even better from just a simple oil change . driveway got a bit covered though... I misjudged where my drip tray was for a moment. Next for the trans and diff fluid!!.

It wasn't too bad getting under, took a bit longer than expected though as some screws were rusted on the belly pan. (so will have to replace these). I had a bit of a semi panic moment as so much driving to do in the next couple of weeks, family commitments etc so no time. So went to Halfrauds and picked up esp formula 5w30, filter and washer from Nissan, must admit Opie prices are a lot better, cost a bit more but cold weather and that you know peace of mind, luckily have a couple of hours in the day on Friday so will get it done hopefully . Really appreciate the advice. just noticed click and collect at Argos ++ looks a steal at £20 for the filter adapters. The screwdriver method .. I was thinking about it then my superstitious mind kicked in and decided against as being Sunday afternoon. I'm ordering up some tranny + Diff fluid from a place called Horsham Developments in the next few days hopefully. I hear they are supposed to be pretty good. I believe the Trans + diff fluid were done a couple of years ago since looking at the service record.. Is that quite a common thing for the transmission nuts to be tight on the 350?

So Friday I thought, Right My Oil needs doing, have managed to put about 9k miles on the car since I have got it, Really needs doing as I will need to be using it a lot etc. So went out brought the correct filter, crush washer and oil thinking I'll do it Saturday morn should't be too bad. Never got around to doing it yesterday so decided to simply change my oil and filter today... I wish I had done it earlier..... Ended up trying marigolds, getting my GF to try , and almost destroyed the oil filter trying to remove with a chain wrench rounded the filter a bit :s usually easy to remove right?. Long story short... So glad I always remove the filter before the drain plug.... 50 quids worth of mobil 1 fully synth wasted otherwise . Phew!! Now I have to try finding a cup wrench or something similar. Halfords only seem to do a larger sized one looking online :s you'd never think it...... Now I'm paranoid that my filter may fail with a leak. although I tested and there were no leaks at all. Next thing will be the Trans and Diff fluid. I am anticipating this will be a lot easier the nuts and bolts are better placed for limited space underneath. Anyone had this before?

Always done most things myself, fortunately one of my closest friends is a mechanic who is also extremely meticulous and will show and explain 100%, so I can get him to help if I get really stuck or if I'm being lazy. My favourite thing though is the sense of achievement and satisfaction afterwards . But having moved recently and being further away It was my luck today 1st time servicing my Zed I had realised the oil filter was too tight and my chain wrench was only good at rounding the edge on my filter and marigolds but had no success (I even tried to get my GF to remove it hahahaha) otherwise everything was fine and a nice car to work on , so have to go out and buy a decent cup wrench tomorrow to remove the filter (If I can find one small enough) before causing further damage rendering the filter unusable for my 40 mile daily trip which would not be good . It's gonna be the tans and diff fluid week after next, I actually think it will be easier, it's almost as if it was designed to be changed frequently. Has made me realise though long term investment a lot of initial frustration always pays off as no inconvenience of having to book things in etc and knowing all the checks have been done 100%. I also learnt recently that large blocks of wood can be your best friend if underneath the car.

Spotted another Zed not seen before going from Woking towards Ripley and Send . Got the wave it was a convertible gunmetal silver, older guy driving it late 40s early 50s. I was in a gunmetal siver 55 plate zed gt non convertible.

You're not the only one then , 3 months of owning mine now, 5,000 miles later , getting roughly 400 miles per tank think I put about £65 ish in last week premium 99 octane stuff and gauge was right on the red getting over 30mpg on motorways. 41mpg thats petty good going , gonna try it out tomorrow evening got a 80 mile journey to do. One of the main comments I get is it must drink fuel.... and I'm like no it's costing me less .. My Audi A6 1.8T was worse on the MPG I was on average putting an extra £15 - £20 in a week plus it's burnt hardly any oil (a couple of hundred ml max) compared to the 5 litres of oil my a6 would have burnt . Bare in mind mainly motorway driving in the not so busy times and country road driving, Mixed driving style, mainly chilled and the occasional blast to 5 1/2 k rpm or thereabouts once warmed up dry and straight.

Hi guys, Thank you for this information I do roughly 15,000 - 20,000 a year . I've had a good look on Opie Oils will order some up for the next service. Prices look very reasonable, it had the diff and gearbox oil done recently too. Mainly motorway miles and nsl and the occasional blast so thinking every 9,000 miles (or before the oil gets dark), I'll be checking the car over myself thoroughly every 6 months and have it looked at professionally yearly with the MOT. I've done over 1,000 miles since owning and she has not burned a drop of oil which I guess is a good thing. From what I read not a lot seems to go wrong with these engines if I'm correct in saying.

Hi Had my Zed now for a few weeks, confused about one thing and it will sound a ridiculous question. now I'm not sure what oil I can use to top up my 350z with if needed has been serviced every year regardless by previous owner. So in the last 10,000 miles technically it has had 4 oil changes (it had a courtesy one when the dealer sold me the car) engine is 1000% spot on and I want to keep it that way, I would hate to ruin it with the wrong oil. I know a 5 30 fully synthetic is the one to use. I used to use quantum and castrol edge in my a6 1.8t. as a result I still have 2 litres of castrol left. would the vw spec stuff be ok to top me up to full?. hate having my oil level below top. Or do I just go buy another bottle with the nissan approval? (I'm assuming the vw spec for turboed engines is superior to non turboed?)

350Z .... Had mine for a couple of weeks now ... Have not regretted one moment it certainly for me was one of those just gotta do it moments was reluctant about changing my trustworthy Bulletproof Audi A6 but now so glad I did enough said . rx8's are nice looking though.

thank you for all the welcome messages becoming familiar with this 'terrier' of a car now , put 500 miles on her now, and I must admit ride quality is very good for a sports car still completely satisfied, took her for a nice trip down to Herne Bay over the weekend and cleaned and hoovered her. She even has a nickname now . I did only see one other Zed the entire weekend though which was around Canterbury, gunmetal grey convertible with two older owners, late 50s possibly smiled though when they went past I'm guessing that was the Zed look of approval ;p.

Took her for a nice drive this evening decided to go have a picnic and stroll with the missus after work then a trip to the pub to have .... coffee (sad I know). 1st nighttime drive since I got her, feeling extremely pleased with my purchase. Have put some photos up. Will do some better ones at the weekend with my proper camera.

Thank you for all the welcomes a cobham member, so not too far away. gonna try get some pics uploaded in the next few days.

Hi All, Ben From Surrey, Wanna check out all the fuss , picked my 350 up a few days ago and loving it!!! My favourite car yet!!! Even better my partner persuaded me to buy it!!! So glad I took the plunge she actually told me to get it. I truly believe this is an enthusiasts car.