G1en

**WARNING** The following scenes contain a chronic case of Zeditus, this infection has no known cure. If you find yourself spending money you can't justify and lying to the other half, the chances are its also too late for you. Right, with seemingly 1000's spent over the last 14 months I thought I best put up a build thread to document it all, I bought my 350z HR in Feb 2016. I had 10k to spend on a second "weekend" car and after looking at various options I came to the conclusion that this was the best bang for buck. I also love the look of the 350, much more than the 370. I borrowed 6k for upgrades at the same time which is when I got in touch with Mitz at the cougar store. The smart side of my head says I should have bought a newer 370 with the 16k but after reading all the build threads and upgrade threads on here I decided to stick with the car I like more and make it better, a 370 beater in fact. I had been looking since December and after being beaten to 4 previous 350's I couldn't wait around for ever so bought what was a very average example of an 08 plate. No mods, what sealed the deal was the leather seats were in very good condition and it had a full dealer service history meaning that the previous 3 owners probably didn't abuse it. After seeing a few with bolsters caved in, my whole decision on this car was sold on the seats, that probably sums me up. I always forget to take pics at the right time so only pick I have when I collected it is below showing that I got the approval of my daughter to boot. Anyway, onto the mods, I will try and do this in some kind of order. So as I said, Cougar store was the very first port of call and Mitz and Andy have now had the pleasure of my company at least 6 times, prob more. The first thing was a full P3 service inc new belts, plugs, and all oils. Mitz also showed me the condition of the belts and plugs which had never been changed to date, just shows even a fully stamped service book doesn't show the whole picture. Then it was booked in for the start of what would be a never ending wish list emptying my bank account faster than my Nigerian Prince Uncle who just needed some funds to initiate my inheritance. First on the list was a cat back Cobra exhaust system, new DBA T2 discs, Hawk Pads, Braided brake lines and Eibach Pro street S coilover suspension. The coilovers are a mid budget offering but are stainless steel bodied so should in theory withstand what the british roads throw at them, they are adjustable in height, I have them set at maximum height which is still around a 25mm drop, but they are fixed damping so it doesn't give me any chance to f+*k up the handing. After driving on them a year now I can recommend them to anyone thinking of going coilovers. The exhaust transformed the sound of the car as anyone will tell you, the brakes didn't give me any noticable improvement over OEM but at least I wasn't planning to track the car.....yet After the work above, it was best to get the geo sorted and this is where I realised the limitations (almost none) of oem alignment. As the car had dropped the camber was more negative. I decided to buy adjustable rear arms and toe bolts (again eibach) but couldn't justify the 450 quid or so of front adjustable arms so left them, it may be something I do in future but after years of playing forza and Gran Turismo in my head some negative front camber is always good. The shots below show the first alignment check, after the coilovers then after the rear adj arms. It is running around -1.3 all round now which seems to suit me and I am happy with. At some point in same period I also got the eibach front and rear anti-roll bars installed with whiteline drop links, again at the cougar store. Its at this point, my recollection of what was done when goes a little hazy, in a whirlwind of sex, drugs and blowing money on the zed. (minus the sex and drugs, well there might have been some sex, my wife is expecting our second child, unless its something to do that personal trainer that comes round every day when I leave for work or the window cleaner I pay every month but never have clean windows...hmmm.) anyway I had ordered as part of my original 6k upgrade budget a set of new wheels from Adrian at Torqen which had to be ordered in from Japan. They were SSR GTV02 in phantom silver. I had a month of back and forth e-mails with Adrian as the colour wasn't available, then the size, then the width, anyway I think in the end they made a set for us, the colour has since been superceeded meaning that these could be the only set in the uk! they are flow formed so fairly light, not as light as the rays but only a kg heavier I think and they are 18x8.5 22off fronts and 18x9.5 22off rear which is what I wanted for the oem+ look. a more visually appealing look but without compromising ride and handling. This is when they arrived. Before I had these fitted I have forgot to mention, the car came with the GT4 wheels on but with these being too heavy for my liking I bought a set of rays from Rickdon on forum to use in the 3 months or so before getting the ssr wheels. My original intention was to keep them as a second set but with little room in garage and funds running low I sold them onto another forum member. I only have one pic with them on the car and its below when me and the brother climbed the Yorkshire peaks on a glorious day. When I pulled into the carpark, the attendant said, wow, stunning car mate. Makes you love the zed even more. Just remembered I fitted a zunsport front grill which I think transforms the front end look of the car. Back to the wheels, when funds allowed I kitted them out with what's commonly known as Ekona approved rubber. After reading enough threads to realise I didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of Dan's verbal bashings, (no offence intended) I got the MPSS booted up and on the car. I also had the skirts resprayed and the rear arches rolled and resprayed, there was the start of a little arch rust on lips so needed doing anyway. turns out I probably could have got away without rolling the arches even with 275/40 tyres but its all done in case I go wider or more aggressive wheels in future. 245/40 on fronts for info. I don't know how long a post needs to be before computer says no, so I will continue this on next post, If you are still reading, please take a good look at yourself, even the Cats looking at me in disgust as I type this, but seriously, thanks for reading, part 2 to follow shortly. ps. Thanks to Dan for helping me figure out why the pics would not load and helping me out

Right will try that. I am only on part 1 of 3 as well.

I know thats what you do for mobile. Thats how i post normally but i tried that first on laptop and it said same error, cant use image extension so i deleted them all read the guide that said use direct link. Still no joy. I can see the pics on screen either way, just wont let me post it...

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z376/g1en23/Mobile%20Uploads/2062F1B2-7EE1-41C3-BF18-78E40D99BBD9_zps2bruintc.jpg That is one of the direct links in full above

Its the direct link Starts http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums............ I have added them via the image button on toolbar as per guide, its put the pictures on the screen in the post and i can see them but when i preview post or try to post it comes up with thr warning and it just displays the filename/web address above They are all jpegs i think

Trying to start my build thread. Thought i best do it on laptop as only ever used phone for posts but it wont let me post the picss. I have done everything correct embedded via photobucket, all showing fine on the screen but whenni go to post it says, You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community Any ideas people. Just spent 2 hrs typing and downloading pics?

Just got home at 8:30 pm. I hit every bit of traffic in the uk so made my own route home and still hit it. I did call at cougar store for an hour on way back but still. Over 7hrs back to West Yorkshire! Anyway. Great to meet everyone who was there when i turned up. My HR is now kicking out 313hp which ironically enough is how it came out of the nissan fillopean tubes. An increase of 10hp though from base run and much smoother torque now. I couldnt realy experience the new map crawling in traffic at 10mph, so i think a country blast is order this weekend.

Love the giant bottle top on the roof mod as well

I got the buddyclub sliding rails with my seats (same rails as the m2 I believe) they are very stiff to slide as the mount holes in the floor seem to not be parallel. It may just be my car but i realy had to force the rails over some holes when i had already attached to seats and measured that everything was nice and square. Anyway the only side movement you have is the brackets that attach to the seats but these only move around 15mm either side and they are mainly for accomodating different width seats. I sit around the same height as oem seats and thats on the lowest mounting holes. The seats have about 10mm clearence from door cards and they are fairly narrow. I was told a lot of bucket seats wont fit the 350. Obviously if you get custom brackets you can overcome this.

Just to add my experience. Went through and picked a seat that fit spot on, the buddyclub racing seats. Phoned them a couple of weeks later when i had the money and asked them for the price with rails and availability. Never rung me back, left it 2 days rung again saying i wanted to order them, all i needed was the price and to make sure i could get them within 4 weeks, never rung back again, left it 2 more days and rung them a third time, the guy even remembered speaking to me and didnt even apologise for not ringing back. I asked yet again for the price and stressed i wanted to order, he said he would ring me back that day and guess what, no phone call to this day. So i went on buddyclub uk website, ordered and they were with me the following day. Would never use GSM again So it seems they realy are a mixed bag.

Yes. Stick me down for option 1 please. Its my birthday this weekend so have just convinced the family to all put towards. midweek or weekend is fine. The only caviat i have is my wife is due to give birth to our baby boy on 28th July so obviously i may be forced with a late problem if it coincides. On mobile so would be grateful if someone could add me to the list.

Apologies for bringing this thread back up but today i eventually found the reason my passenger headlight washer didnt work and left a pool of screenwash under car. I was checking car over and thought i would clean and lubricate the jets/covers. Drivers side pulled out fine. No dramas as it works fine. Passenger side shut solid, could not even get my nail under, then it dawned on me, the garage resprayed the bumper to get rid of the usual chips when i bought the car last year, the paint had got in behind the cover and set solid and i mean solid. I have had to go round with a stanley knife to free it but free now it is. Hurray I can now cover both sides of my bonnet with screenwash at nightime!

They look like they belong together. Great cars and pics

Treated the zed to a full day of upgrades yesterday. Unfortunately its all under the skin but the drive is transformed. New xtreme SMF clutch kit, braided line, new fluids and bleed. New kaaz 2-way diff with whiteline bush kit and kaaz diff oil. New carbone loraine 6 pads all round with brake fluid change and a service to boot. Heres some of the goodies:

So ben, that means your new wheels will give a 1.3mm bigger arch gap. Your a better man than me if you can see that by eye. Also new tyres have 7mm ish tread, if your old tyres were worn down to say 3mm that more than cancels it out anyway plus tyre pressures will effect it Anyway what i am trying to say is theres hardly any difference but if you want it lowered, just do it

Just had that exact kit Alex recommended fitted today. Big improvement on stock setup as i am sure others will testify. Biting point is much lower now as i like it. The high biting point takes getting used to with the 350 and many dont like it. Throttle response is better and there is a weight saving. Only negative is noise but this is minimal and i cant hear anything over my exhaust anyway One thing the guys at cougarstore did point out is the tee piece line used to bleed the clutch, the bleed part is in the wrong place (higher/lower than it should be, not sure which way round is right) so we had to improvise and it took about 30mins If your zed has never had a clutch/fly replacement and tbe csc has gone theres a good chance it needs doing anyway. Mines done 65k and the old clutch didnt have long left when it was removed. Of course thats all relative to how its been driven but if you dont know assume the worst

All depends on the profile of your tyre but if they are the same ie 245/45 then in effect you have a 1" bigger diameter so that means a half inch more ground clearence and half inch less arch gap. But normally when you go bigger wheels the profile of the tyre reduces to give a similer total diameter to original oe spec which means there will be little difference.

I guess the research and development over the last 5-10 years then has been aimed at EVs to a point where they have overtaken the "stats" of fuel cell cars rendering them kind of an also ran. Bit like VHS and Betamax, Blue-ray and HD-DVD etc..

So basically things are exactly the same now as 9 years ago when the clarity was released? You can lease one in California because that is the only place that has hydrogen filling stations. So back to the point. Fuel cell cars are cheaper than EVs. Have very similar power, range and MPG as petrol/deisel cars and zero emissions. So is the main thing holding them back the cost of infrastructure and the oil companies and governments not willing to fund it or is there other issues?

On a sidenote. Whatever happened to hydrogen fuel cell cars they were trialling in California i think. Was on a topgear episode several years back. They were billed as the future. Only emission being water and powered by the most abundant element on the planet. I know they said the infrastructure would cost billions. Has money spoken or was there some other issue?

Because they give you the closest overall diameter to OEM spec. You could do 40 profile but i think the tyres would look too chuncky and you then *may* have issues with traction control and your speedo reading incorrect. Below is a pic of my rears with 40 profile on 18" rims

Yep. Having new clutch and 2-way diff fitted in 2 weeks so will be a good run in.

I have 245/275 combo at 40 profile on my 18's (same width wheels as you) You would have to be 35 profile on 19's but the width is spot on, prob more straight tyre at 265 on rears but its splitting hairs

Pretty sure it would be "stretching" it putting 18" tyres on 19" rims

I have booked 12:00 Looking forward to it and meeting everyone