bizizl

Your wheels should not look like that straight after powdercoating.

They should have taken the pitting away first. I'd be taking them back

You guys!? 4 Seads and a spare whee.. Am I missing something? Great buy!

This Sunday,

tldr: A bunch of enthusiasts met up and went on a drive… The end.

Starting the day just east of sunny (aherm - freezing cold) Belfast, Chris and I made our way in the Z to Banbridge to meet up with the

rest of the ‘The Renegades’. We arrived to what was denoted a disappointing turn-out, given that the last run we did saw hundreds of cars show

for a drive around the country, although we were quick to realise that the 30-something large convoy was more than capable of drawing a great

many stares of excitement and intrigue.

From Banbridge we left to follow a route that would see us to and over the Mournes - first through Newry, then a quick jaunt through Rostrevor

saw us onto the road that would lead us to the infamous Spelga Dam.

Our ascent was made somewhat carefully up the potholed roads with a few of the lower among us striving not to bottom out - inevitably, not all

undercarriages came away unscathed.

We stopped for a chat and a few pics at Spelga, and got the four Nissan’s together for a pic. It was cool to see the 350z, 370z and GTR together,

with a rather cool Nismo Juke thrown in the mix!

The roads open out after Spelga and (thankfully) the surface improved somewhat, leading to a more enjoyable drive down, with the chance to

open the cars up and hear some of that fantastic music.

Many looks were had coming into Newcastle with people stopping and staring - some couldn’t resist giving it a few blips at the lights (possibly -

just maybe including me), and onward!

To Castlewellan, for a late lunch after a guided tour by a lost man through a forest - Well for most, with one Renegade being left strapped to a

bench using only the finest attachments - zip ties! We ended the run here, and headed back towards Belfast. Chris and I had the joy of following

the Maserati on the way up, which sounded absolutely fantastic given any amount of throttle.

The 350z was left feeling dirty on the drive that night, with the Saab taking the garage for the night to sort it’s dirty, useless European self out!

Cheers to those that came out, was great craic! It was good to meet you, @MrMartinPGrant

Would definitely fit with the spare out. You could at least try with the boot mat and the piece of plastic that sits under it out.

Are you sure it's not crazing on the interior of the plastic?

The headlights on 350z's are really soft plastic. They're 'scratchable' by running a microfiber over it with a bit of pressure.

Nice one man. However, interesting choice of category on youtube!

There's loads of info on this all over the web. No point in another thread on the matter.

 

Sorry I asked.. :scare:

Ask google! Hope you got my PM

I was going to point you to a few but not sure on 350z-uk rules on posting external forum links...

There's loads of info on this all over the web. No point in another thread on the matter.

The worse bit......is running lean and engine damage if not mapped

Is there any evidence behind this? Surely it runs rich if it thinks there's more air flowing through the "cats" than there actually is?

What work is carried out from the engine bay/top side?

None

30 minutes is not realistic.

By the time you jack up the car, and actually figure out what you're looking at, it might be close to 10-15 minutes. Aim for two hours for your first time doing something like this.

There are two awkward nuts (one on each cat) where the cats go up and attach to the manifold. I had to use a ratchet with a knuckle attached to tighten these up. Expect the two nuts on the bottom of each cat where the cat attaches to the y-pipe to be rusted to @*!#, and shear. Make sure you soak all of the nuts and bolts in wd40/plusgas/<insert-rust-penetrator> for some time beforehand (a day/overnight would be ideal).

You may need to use a knuckle/extension bars to sufficiently tighten the pipes back on once you have swapped them out.

You can risk it providing you don't have a CEL, but it's up to you to decide whether or not it's worth your time for a potential re-test fee.

Feel free to PM me if you have any issues or questions surrounding this.

p.s. I'd suggest making sure these bolts/nuts are really tight, maybe use some high-temp thread lock.

Not sure if it's the pictures or not, but that looks like a really bad paint job.

Got this sorted on Saturday morning so stock cats are back in!

 

The decats were a little disappointing I thought - I had done a lot of reading about them but didn't realise they were as raspy as there were in real life! Also I had noticed a little torque loss when fitted - but in fairness I had no mapping done. This was confirmed when I took the car for a blast after the oem cats were refitted. Now pulls like a train.

 

Did the pedal dance too and cleared the EML.

It's funny, I thought I noticed more torque with the cats in after I went from decats -> cats, but you don't really notice a loss the other way around, so I'm happy enough. I enjoy the noise too much as it is though, although I'm not sure I could make it a daily with the decats in!

That's from Nissan Parts Direct, ...if you get in contact with them & give them your reg/VIN or paint code they should be able to send you the exact one you need.

 

I got one of those sets from a Nissan Dealer locally to me when I first got my 350. I have to be honest & say that the colour match wasn't 100% imo even though it was from Nissan but that may be down to 10+year old paint versus new paint.

 

If you're touching up small chips don't try to use the brush either or you'll just end up with big unsightly blobs on the paint. Best thing to use is a match stick sharpened to a point and slowly add more paint to the chip a little at a time so that you don't overfill the chip with paint just meeting up to the edges of the chip.

Or, you could use a pre-sharpened matchstick!! (toothpicks). Also, paints4u are well-spoken of on detailing forums, and I believe I've seen them mentioned here. I've had a metallic paint from them before, plus lacquer and it's good. The match was spot on.

You'll need to make sure they're the right size. The holes in the cats are a small diameter.

If you have all the old nuts for the cats, then no more than 2 hours.

I just did this on Saturday on my back in the driveway, so should be a good bit quicker with a lift.

I had my decats in for 2 months, and put the cats back in for MOT.

Edit : I had a tea break half way through

So basically, use your mobile phone whilst driving and don't stop for the majority of police? Sound advice.

Get a Mini Cooper S R53 instead - they start at 1.5k now

They are notoriously unreliable, which is unfortunate as they are incredibly fun!

Interested in this PM Sent

I wouldn't. I thought about it but I've seen them on and they look cheap. I think Tuck had one on at one point and said the fitment was awful. The proper RB Ducktails look good though, and there are some decent replicas around.

Just go round the sills and rear wheel arches with something solid (screwdriver handle or something) and give them a bash, see if any new holes appear. Obviously thats the main thing to go wrong with them and an expensive fix, everything else is cheap and easy to get. As above, check carpets behind seats for wet. There's a guide on checking the drain holes online somewhere, they're rearward of the seats and you need the top down to see them.

I've come to expect more from this forum. But I come on here, you eejits flocking around, painting a bad image of us...

Greg, I haven't received a PM from you, I'll send you one now.

I also sent you another PM, if you didn't get it.