G1en

I have a lightweight lithium battery so don't know if this will be any help but voltage when engine off normally reads between 13.4 and 13.9 (it has a digital display on battery so you can check anytime which is useful) in the car on the pod gauge with engine running today it read exactly 14v

Yeah, the atom was a different beast, very go kart like and rapid. The lack of power steering is very noticeable having never driven a car (although in the atom thats a loose term) without it. And the generic mid range tyres means the instructor was flapping as soon as he realised i wasn't going to tootle along. The sound advice from him though was drive it smooth. When i spun it was because i turned in too quickly, back end let go and unlike the other cars you have zero aids to save you from looking like A- a hooligan or B- an amateur you cant really save it either as the steering is too heavy and unlike in a go kart your going 70mph not 20mph i would love to have a proper go though with track tyres on a track with run off to see exactly what the limits are. You will enjoy it Stu even if the others will leave you a bit underwhelmed.

Lets have a little update.... Not much happeened for the first few months of the year during another lockdown but April arrived and so did my 40th birthday. Could not do much as restrictions were in full force but i did get this cake! Then a few days later it was the first hillclimb of the year at Harewood, no spectators or catering but it was still good to get out, stretch the Zed and chat to other petroheads. It was nice weather but bitterly cold as you can see from the picture below, there had been a snow flurry through the night (you can make out the snow topped hills in background) and during the day we had all weathers, rain, snow, sun and cloud. Don't think it got above 5 degrees all day so the tyres were never working at optimum but luckily it was the same for everyone. I was ready to take up battle with Terry once more in his rapid Talbot Sunbeam but unfortunately for him, he could only manage one timed run as he had misfire issues so that put pay to his chances leaving me to take the win in a mediocre 65.63 As mentioned, the track/tyre temp was too low to maximize the Zed and my starts were as usual horrific. I did manage to get a PB in the last sector, steepest part of the track so obviously the cold air did help the intakes and raw power. 1st 350z 65.63 2nd Porsche Cayman S 66.22 3rd Mini JCWorks 66.56 4th Talbot Sunbeam 67.02 Then came the May double header weekend and as many of you will know, much of May has been a washout, It had been P***ing it down all week and was forcast >95% rain for Saturday so friday night I stuck the rays wheels back on with the PS4 tyres, I decided to take the SSR wheels with the Semi slicks on just in case the iphone had got it wrong (and it wouldn't be the first time) Unfortunately the Greater than 95% chance resulted in it absolutely hammering it down all day. I opened the curtains in the morning saying thank god i had put the road tyres on. Forgot to say, what a job getting 4 wheels in the Zed along with all my other gear for a race day but it just squeezed in, 2 tyres on passenger seat leaves about half an inch of room to select first gear, wheel in boot, normal position then another balancing on speakers housing and resting against back of seats and everything else crammed in around them. This was the scene at Harewood for all of Saturday: The picture doesn't really show just how awful it was for everyone, especially the marshalls who were heros on the day. There were actually less "incidents" (crashes) than normal as i think everyone was more intent on trying to stay dry and keeping the car in one piece than actually racing. So with all that and my abysmal history in the wet, I was bricking it. Most people including me were over 80 secs or worse for practice, some were struggling to register a time as it was over the 99.99 on display. But the Michellin PS4 tyres gave me an unexpected confidence in the wet and sure enough i got faster and braver with each run culminating in the last 2 runs registering in 71 secs. I finished feeling that was the best i could do on the day and I think my previous best full wet time (with wet track) was 78 secs with semi slicks so can vouch for what many of you guys may already know that a premium road tyre is better in the wet than a semi slick, and also having driven them in the dry, confirm that the PS4 are a great all rounder. My best time also meant i sneaked the win by just a tenth second and continued my good start to the season. 1st 350z 71.04 2nd BMW M3 71.15 3rd Polo GTI 72.52 4th Mini JCWorks 74.09 Onto the Sunday (9th May) and conditions were forecast to be much better, it was damp to start the day but gradually warmed up and dried out meaning the afternoon runs were approaching optimal if never quite getting there. I did the first run on the PS4s but like everyone else, realising the track was drying rapidly, I put the extreme tyres/wheels on for the timed runs. Terry was back in the fold after fixing his mis-firing engine and we were joined in battle by no less than 7 Porsches' (don't ask me which models, they all look the same..... lame old joke) no but even the drivers (some in the owners club) were asking each other what year/model they were as they had no idea, one thing i did know is that the GT3 that showed up looked mega quick, with its carbon brakes and calipers (a very expensive option, as quoted by the owner) that only just squeezed into the 20" rims it was reassuring to find out he would not be gunning it (or so he told us) It turned out that battle for the win was once again between me and Terry and it went right to the wire, my second run beating his 4th run by just 8 hundreths of a second, its getting like F1 now, they made need to upgrade to thousands second timing! As i held my breath in anticipation of what Terrys last time was, he looked down at the floor and told me I had just pipped him (or held on as i saw it) so a 3rd win on the spin, just. It will be neck and neck every time and Terry won most of the battles last year so i will take this while i can. Luckily @Kieran O'Quick is not competing this year of it would have been another load of second places. Unfortunately with covid restrictions there are no trophies presented but i'm not really fussed. Whats more important is trying to finish in the top 10 at year end (this is out of all competitors, all classes) something which Terry and I have been trying to do for last few years, its going to be very hard but i am currently lying 8th at this early stage so will just keep on giving it everything. 1st 350z 64.77 2nd Talbot Sunbeam 64.85 3rd Porsche GT3 67.95 4th Porsche 911 68.82 On that subject, my starts are always one of the slowest so I thought i would try the ARC launch control feature and see if that offers any help moving forward. Now only one problem with this, and it was a significant one, in that I don't have any cruise control buttons anymore after putting the aftermarket steering wheel and hub on, so I looked online at possible solutions, it turns out that every option requires you to use the cruise module and most people use a braket to go on the boss and then mount the cruise button/module to that. In my opinion it looks gash and i am concerned that in the heat of the moment you could whack them with your knee as i have the wheel in the lowest position. So i searched some more and found that some people have re-wired and routed the module to somewhere else in the cabin, be it cutting a hole in the dash or using the centre console or replacing the heated seat controls. It was all too involved/barbaric for me so I decided to mount it in the blank off panel i had installed recently just below the other blank off for the sat nav. This meant i was not butchering any OEM panels and i had easy access to it as it just meant unscrewing 2 screws rather than half the interior. I could do a full post on just how you re-wire the cruise buttons somewhere else but thats for another day, let me just say i had lots of conflicting info online but I did find one useful post online somewhere which explained which connector the cruise is behind the steering wheel and which colour wire runs to the ecu (or wherever they go) and how they corolate to the colours on the wires od the cruise buttons, as the wires are all different colours, makes it very cofusing, then throw into the mix 4 core wire to use to run to new point in the car and you have for example- pink wire from connector, soldered to blue wire on 4core cable soldered to green/yellow wire on cruise module (and you have 4 to do) so what i would say to anybody trying to do this, triple check everything and write it all down on some paper before you start soldering/heat shrinking. regardless to all that I did it and it worked, i took the car out for a spin and cruise works again and map changing works, all ready to get the ARC features loaded on are Horsham next week. And on that subject, the 2-step launch control works by setting the lower rev limit while stationary then reverts to the normal rev limit when you release the clutch but i read somewhere that you can keep the artificial (launch) limiter stay on upto a certain speed? Jez did not know about this and every video online shows the revs shoot up as soon as moving, but i found this online for arc setting and it does state under the launch control bit a vehicle speed which defaults to 0.5mph I am hoping this can be adjusted to say 10mph which i think would massively help my launches as we start on concrete at Harewood with very little grip so if the car can hold the revs at say 2.5k or 3k until 10mph when your rolling i think it would work better. Like i said, not sure if this is possible but will mention again to horsham next week and update you guys. Final thing to update was as part of my Birthday presents i got a supercar expierence day which I did today. I selected a Porsche 911 (don't you dare ask me which one! lol) a Lamberghini (LP640? or something) a Nissan GTR (as its the Zeds big brother) and the only one i wwas actually excited about, the Arial Atom. Well my expectations (or lack of ) were met by all 4 cars. The lambo, as in previous supercar days i have done, was the most in tune with my driving style, felt the most connection between my buttocks, hands and the road and confirmed to me if i ever win the lottery that I would definately visit their showroom. The Porsche was too numb, and the GTR far too heavy/wallowy for the track at Blyton. incidently as you may know, in order to cater for all abilities and weather they run the cars with all assists on and crappy avon all weather tyres which severly limit the fun for a proper drive, indeed I had it said to me numerous times throughout the day, watch your speed, this is not a track day, its an "experience" day. All 3 of those cars left me feeling like in their current trim/tyres my zed would be faster round Blyton. The Atom on the other hand was a different beast, even with crappy tyres it was like a go-kart on steroids. The acceleration and pick up in any gear was supreme, instructor told me to leave it in 5th and concentrate on driving smooth but i couldn't help but change down, even with that though 4th was fine for even tight corners, the lack of any computer aided assistance, no abs, no power steering is just up my street and i was getting right in the groove until i went out wide to take a corner at full speed, turned in and the back end went round spinning me out. I had found either the flaws of the crappy tires or the limit of my ability. needless to say the instuctor, who was no spring chicken, was breathing very heavily and asked me to return to the pits, Job done. So would i recommend the day, yes and no, for true racers its a waste of time, for someone looking to buy one of the cars its a good way to explore the car much more than you could on a test drive, for Jo Public, its great as they were only driving at 5 tengths and they get their picture taken and feel great. Its put me off ever getting a GTR as they just don't suit my driving style and what i want from a car, think an elise would be be much better for me for the road or an atom as a track day toy, I don't get a thrill from planting my foot and having my eyeballs go to the back of my head only then to have to slam on the brakes and return my eyeballs to the the correct sockets as i can only take the corner at 40mph. would rather sacrifice some out and out speed/power for more nimble cornering and apex speed but each to their own as they say. anyway some pics of the cars at Blyton: So next up will be visiting Horsham Developments as previously mentioned to get some new poly bushings and tie rods, Brake fluid flush and the ARC features added (flat foot shifting, launch control) FFS, no not that FFS, flat floot shifting! will take some serious muscle memory refigeration i expect. And then another round of Harewood at start of June. Ah, also got car aligned before season and got them to check weight, corner balancing. I was pleasently suprised. The car weighed in at 1503kg (with me sat in but very little fuel) 50.7% cross weight again close enough for me that no tweaking was worth the while but also confirmed the front weight bias, didn't take a picture but should have done, i can remember the front axle being over 400kg each side, maybe 430 and the rear 300 and something each side, 330? which again doesn't help with traction off the line but i suppose from factory with the spare wheel and tools, plus standard back box it would have been a bit closer to the perfect 50/50.

Lets have a little update.... Not much happeened for the first few months of the year during another lockdown but April arrived and so did my 40th birthday. Could not do much as restrictions were in full force but i did get this cake! Then a few days later it was the first hillclimb of the year at Harewood, no spectators or catering but it was still good to get out, stretch the Zed and chat to other petroheads. It was nice weather but bitterly cold as you can see from the picture below, there had been a snow flurry through the night (you can make out the snow topped hills in background) and during the day we had all weathers, rain, snow, sun and cloud. Don't think it got above 5 degrees all day so the tyres were never working at optimum but luckily it was the same for everyone. I was ready to take up battle with Terry once more in his rapid Talbot Sunbeam but unfortunately for him, he could only manage one timed run as he had misfire issues so that put pay to his chances leaving me to take the win in a mediocre 65.63 As mentioned, the track/tyre temp was too low to maximize the Zed and my starts were as usual horrific. I did manage to get a PB in the last sector, steepest part of the track so obviously the cold air did help the intakes and raw power. 1st 350z 65.63 2nd Porsche Cayman S 66.22 3rd Mini JCWorks 66.56 4th Talbot Sunbeam 67.02 Then came the May double header weekend and as many of you will know, much of May has been a washout, It had been P***ing it down all week and was forcast >95% rain for Saturday so friday night I stuck the rays wheels back on with the PS4 tyres, I decided to take the SSR wheels with the Semi slicks on just in case the iphone had got it wrong (and it wouldn't be the first time) Unfortunately the Greater than 95% chance resulted in it absolutely hammering it down all day. I opened the curtains in the morning saying thank god i had put the road tyres on. Forgot to say, what a job getting 4 wheels in the Zed along with all my other gear for a race day but it just squeezed in, 2 tyres on passenger seat leaves about half an inch of room to select first gear, wheel in boot, normal position then another balancing on speakers housing and resting against back of seats and everything else crammed in around them. This was the scene at Harewood for all of Saturday: The picture doesn't really show just how awful it was for everyone, especially the marshalls who were heros on the day. There were actually less "incidents" (crashes) than normal as i think everyone was more intent on trying to stay dry and keeping the car in one piece than actually racing. So with all that and my abysmal history in the wet, I was bricking it. Most people including me were over 80 secs or worse for practice, some were struggling to register a time as it was over the 99.99 on display. But the Michellin PS4 tyres gave me an unexpected confidence in the wet and sure enough i got faster and braver with each run culminating in the last 2 runs registering in 71 secs. I finished feeling that was the best i could do on the day and I think my previous best full wet time (with wet track) was 78 secs with semi slicks so can vouch for what many of you guys may already know that a premium road tyre is better in the wet than a semi slick, and also having driven them in the dry, confirm that the PS4 are a great all rounder. My best time also meant i sneaked the win by just a tenth second and continued my good start to the season. 1st 350z 71.04 2nd BMW M3 71.15 3rd Polo GTI 72.52 4th Mini JCWorks 74.09 Onto the Sunday (9th May) and conditions were forecast to be much better, it was damp to start the day but gradually warmed up and dried out meaning the afternoon runs were approaching optimal if never quite getting there. I did the first run on the PS4s but like everyone else, realising the track was drying rapidly, I put the extreme tyres/wheels on for the timed runs. Terry was back in the fold after fixing his mis-firing engine and we were joined in battle by no less than 7 Porsches' (don't ask me which models, they all look the same..... lame old joke) no but even the drivers (some in the owners club) were asking each other what year/model they were as they had no idea, one thing i did know is that the GT3 that showed up looked mega quick, with its carbon brakes and calipers (a very expensive option, as quoted by the owner) that only just squeezed into the 20" rims it was reassuring to find out he would not be gunning it (or so he told us) It turned out that battle for the win was once again between me and Terry and it went right to the wire, my second run beating his 4th run by just 8 hundreths of a second, its getting like F1 now, they made need to upgrade to thousands second timing! As i held my breath in anticipation of what Terrys last time was, he looked down at the floor and told me I had just pipped him (or held on as i saw it) so a 3rd win on the spin, just. It will be neck and neck every time and Terry won most of the battles last year so i will take this while i can. Luckily @Kieran O'Quick is not competing this year of it would have been another load of second places. Unfortunately with covid restrictions there are no trophies presented but i'm not really fussed. Whats more important is trying to finish in the top 10 at year end (this is out of all competitors, all classes) something which Terry and I have been trying to do for last few years, its going to be very hard but i am currently lying 8th at this early stage so will just keep on giving it everything. 1st 350z 64.77 2nd Talbot Sunbeam 64.85 3rd Porsche GT3 67.95 4th Porsche 911 68.82 On that subject, my starts are always one of the slowest so I thought i would try the ARC launch control feature and see if that offers any help moving forward. Now only one problem with this, and it was a significant one, in that I don't have any cruise control buttons anymore after putting the aftermarket steering wheel and hub on, so I looked online at possible solutions, it turns out that every option requires you to use the cruise module and most people use a braket to go on the boss and then mount the cruise button/module to that. In my opinion it looks gash and i am concerned that in the heat of the moment you could whack them with your knee as i have the wheel in the lowest position. So i searched some more and found that some people have re-wired and routed the module to somewhere else in the cabin, be it cutting a hole in the dash or using the centre console or replacing the heated seat controls. It was all too involved/barbaric for me so I decided to mount it in the blank off panel i had installed recently just below the other blank off for the sat nav. This meant i was not butchering any OEM panels and i had easy access to it as it just meant unscrewing 2 screws rather than half the interior. I could do a full post on just how you re-wire the cruise buttons somewhere else but thats for another day, let me just say i had lots of conflicting info online but I did find one useful post online somewhere which explained which connector the cruise is behind the steering wheel and which colour wire runs to the ecu (or wherever they go) and how they corolate to the colours on the wires od the cruise buttons, as the wires are all different colours, makes it very cofusing, then throw into the mix 4 core wire to use to run to new point in the car and you have for example- pink wire from connector, soldered to blue wire on 4core cable soldered to green/yellow wire on cruise module (and you have 4 to do) so what i would say to anybody trying to do this, triple check everything and write it all down on some paper before you start soldering/heat shrinking. regardless to all that I did it and it worked, i took the car out for a spin and cruise works again and map changing works, all ready to get the ARC features loaded on are Horsham next week. And on that subject, the 2-step launch control works by setting the lower rev limit while stationary then reverts to the normal rev limit when you release the clutch but i read somewhere that you can keep the artificial (launch) limiter stay on upto a certain speed? Jez did know about this and every video online shows the revs shoot up as soon as moving, but i found this online for arc setting and it does state under the launch control bit a vehicle speed which defaults to 0.5mph I am hoping this can be adjusted to say 10mph which i think would massively help my launches as we start on concrete at Harewood with very little grip so if the car can hold the revs at say 2.5k or 3k until 10mph when your rolling i think it would work better. Like i said, not sure if this is possible but will mention again to horsham next week and update you guys. Final thing to update was as part of my Birthday presents i got a supercar expierence day which I did today. I selected a Porsche 911 (don't you dare ask me which one! lol) a Lamberghini (LP640? or something) a Nissan GTR (as its the Zeds big brother) and the only one i wwas actually excited about, the Arial Atom. Well my expectations (or lack of ) were met by all 4 cars. The lambo, as in previous supercar days i have done, was the most in tune with my driving style, felt the most connection between my buttocks, hands and the road and confirmed to me if i ever win the lottery that I would definately visit their showroom. The Porsche was too numb, and the GTR far too heavy/wallowy for the track at Blyton. incidently as you may know, in order to cater for all abilities and weather they run the cars with all assists on and crappy avon all weather tyres which severly limit the fun for a proper drive, indeed I had it said to me numerous times throughout the day, watch your speed, this is not a track day, its an "experience" day. All 3 of those cars left me feeling like in their current trim/tyres my zed would be faster round Blyton. The Atom on the other hand was a different beast, even with crappy tyres it was like a go-kart on steroids. The acceleration and pick up in any gear was supreme, instructor told me to leave it in 5th and concentrate on driving smooth but i couldn't help but change down, even with that though 4th was fine for even tight corners, the lack of any computer aided assistance, no abs, no power steering is just up my street and i was getting right in the groove until i went out wide to take a corner at full speed, turned in and the back end went round spinning me out. I had found either the flaws of the crappy tires or the limit of my ability. needless to say the instuctor, who was no spring chicken, was breathing very heavily and asked me to return to the pits, Job done. So would i recommend the day, yes and no, for true racers its a waste of time, for someone looking to buy one of the cars its a good way to explore the car much more than you could on a test drive, for Jo Public, its great as they were only driving at 5 tengths and they get their picture taken and feel great. Its put me off ever getting a GTR as they just don't suit my driving style and what i want from a car, think an elise would be be much better for me for the road or an atom as a track day toy, I don't get a thrill from planting my foot and having my eyeballs go to the back of my head only then to have to slam on the brakes and return my eyeballs to the the correct sockets as i can only take the corner at 40mph. would rather sacrifice some out and out speed/power for more nimble cornering and apex speed but each to their own as they say. anyway some pics of the cars at Blyton: So next up will be visiting Horsham Developments as previously mentioned to get some new poly bushings and tie rods, Brake fluid flush and the ARC features added (flat foot shifting, launch control) FFS, no not that FFS, flat floot shifting! will take some serious muscle memory refigeration i expect. And then another round of Harewood at start of June. Ah, also got car aligned before season and got them to check weight, corner balancing. I was pleasently suprised. The car weighed in at 1503kg (with me sat in but very little fuel) 50.7% cross weight again close enough for me that no tweaking was worth the while but also confirmed the front weight bias, didn't take a picture but should have done, i can remember the front axle being over 400kg each side, maybe 430 and the rear 300 and something each side, 330? which again doesn't help with traction off the line but i suppose from factory with the spare wheel and tools, plus standard back box it would have been a bit closer to the perfect 50/50.

Cheap set of 370 rays for someone, less than 24hr to go

Are you wanting oem stuff or aftermarket? I have just about everything except the wiring pulled out of my 350. oem stereo, sat nav, bluetooth unit, sub, amp, speakers.

This is another of those pointless “green” initiatives in my eyes. If changing to E10 saves 750k co2 emissions per year (equ to 350k cars so roughly each car produces 2tonnes of co2) but as stated has less energy so reduces mpg meaning more fuel burnt then a quick google search told me the uk has 18.8m petrol cars on road (2019) if each of those drove the same miles on E10 at just 2% worse mpg the extra 40kg of co2 produced by each car to make up for the shortfall in mpg equates to 752k more co2 for the year negating the entire reduction. Or am i missing something? Anyway, rant aside, i had a vauxhall corsa courtesy car last week and inside the petrol cap it stated to use E5 or E10 fuel so think all modern cars will be fine, and as stated the E5 stuff will hopefully still be available for our Zs in 99 octane form all be it even more expensive.

Great spot. Ordered a 500ml and 1ltr kit which then qualifies for free delivery as well. Having previously sold and used lots of their products i can say most will not disappoint and at that quite frankly ridiculous price its a steel.

The lithium grease is supposed to be the ticket for things like this, wd40 do a version you can pick up from halfords/toolstation etc. I may be wrong but think silicone spray is better used for rubber/plastic.

Mine made a similar noise after i replaced the power steering rad and refilled the fluid. It was just a case that when i turned the steering lock to lock and rechecked level it was way below minimum. Topped up and then it was fine. so what i would suggest first (and cheapest option) is replaced the fluid. I squeezed any hoses i could get my hands on to get air out, ran engine for a couple of minutes, did the lock to lock turns then topped up. it may be your fluid is past its sell by date so to speak especially with the weird bubbles and if the level is fine. Then next stop would be pump but obviously more expensive. see what other more knowledgeable forumers suggest.

The rays alloys that are on are in need of a refurb so when i refit the ssr wheels i may have a go at refurbing them. Could also pick a colour of choice which would be cool. Always liked the light bronze look.

Latest update Jan 2021 With the Zed in hibernation over winter i decided to eventually do what many folk do and replace the archaic stereo whilst at the same time removing the sat-nav and bose amps and anything else i found related with the view of modernising the system whilst saving any weight i could which would be an added bonus. So i set about removing trim and screws and clips to see how many i could lose over time as this took a few weeks doing a couple of hours after work a couple of nights a week. First thing i took advantage of when removing the centre console was that 6th gear has always been a crunch if not slowly guided in. I think i read somewhere that adjusting the shifter plate can somewhat alleviate this so i slacken off the bolts and reset the plate in the best position i could so (when stationary) all the gears engage smoothly. Whether this equates to no crunch in 6th i will have to wait and see. Worth noting though that i initially moved the plate to the furthest right i could but then i could not get 5th or 6th as it sets the stop point past the channel to engage 5th/6th so i had to apply a little trial and error. I then carried on taking all the trim pieces out from behind the seats and in the boot area to see what i could find. Now to my surprise there is a fair amount of wiring, amps, nav, audio stuff lurking in the orifices of the Zed. So without thinking too much about it i think i removed: main head unit radio/tape/cd changer sat nav screen and control panel sub and amp and mount behind drivers seat tray and some module behind passenger seat bluetooth unit in centre console sat nav cd unit behind seats speakers behind seats speakers in doors amp unit plus sat nav aerial plus metal cage in boot. This left loads of wires and connectors unplugged so was unsure how this would impact the new head unit. I decided for ease of install plus weight saving i would just fit new speakers behind the seats and run new speaker wire straight from new stereo. So i bought this basic setup from halfords, again as sad as this may seem, i bought a lightweight non cd unit so its a single din but also only half the size of a normal single din, who has a load of cds in their car anyway now? Because of the diminutive nature of the unit this created its own challenge in securing it into the 350z centre console. I had bought the fascia adaptor so that was fine but i had to use a little fabrication to secure the head unit to the fascia. Fortunately for me, as i already have an aftermarket steering wheel i don’t require or have use of steering wheel controls so just purchased the basic non bose iso connector hoping this would be ok. I soldered the new speaker cable into the harness for the relevant rear left and right speaker wires and run them past the gear stick and handbrake and into the housing behind the seats. There are plenty of holes and voids for this making it very easy. In the pic below the new cable is the orangey wire, you can see the new stereo in the hole where the bose sub was to see how compact it is. Fitted the new speakers which again went straight into the existing holes using the same bolts. Very straight forward when you do a bit of research first and get the correct size. 6.5” for anyone wanting to do this. So with the stereo fitted, speakers in and coupled up. I was left with 2 holes in the dash where the sat nav screen and control panel used to be. I bought a sheet of 3mm black plastic that i cut down to blank these off. The screen part was easy as its just a rectangle so i just put a small bolt/nut either side. The plan for this area moving forward is to house a GPS lap timer/analytics unit so i can make best use of info to improve lap times when i start doing track days in earnest. I have been looking at the Aim solo 2 DL which seems a good bit of kit, you can program the leds for multiple things such as shift lights and the gps timing is accurate to just 2/100th sec. anyway, with it being a nice flat surface i could use it for lots of future options. The slanted section was a bit more tricky to sort. I have blanked off with plastic best i can but as its sloped and curved it isnt flush. I did manage to use existing fixing points though by tapering some more plastic and screwing through into them. Finally added a few stickers to make it look less plain. The little microphone on the rhs is part of the bluetooth stereo and sticks nicely to the side for hands free calling. So at this point I reconnected the battery and fired the stereo up. Now i must admit just having 2 speakers means the sound isn't great but its good enough for my use. The main thing is i have bluetooth calls, apple link up for music and radio. I then realised i had no radio.... or at least no reception anyway. I did a little googling that said the powered aerial needs a turn in signal from the car so battery back off and some more soldering. To try and help others, if you remove the bose amp in the boot, you just about lose all the sound system as everything seems to run through it. I had to connect the remote amp wire (blue) that was on the iso harness to the power wire for the aerial (brown or green) cant exactly remember but the aerial has its own little connector behind the standard head unit. I then figured out that the aerial power or signal runs through the amp so had to cut the connectors off and re-solder together. This was the hardest part of all as aerial wire has an inner and outer copper wire separated by a plastic sleeve. The inner copper strands are so thin they just break when you try and cut through the plastic sleeving so i had to slowly wittle the plastic away to expose the few strands then use plenty of solder and electrical tape to hold together. If you zoom in on pic below you will see what i mean. Anyway, result, this sorted the reception and i now have radio again. With that sorted and all the plastic trim off i decided to “bed liner” the boot area. This would get it neatened up, looking better and protect it as well as giving it a little anti slip property. So i bought some bed liner spray cans from local automotive shop. I used a little sandpaper to rough it up first, masked off and sheeted off as much as i could then firstly used the half can of grey primer i had lying in the garage before 2 coats of the black bed liner. 3 pics below of before, after then after with plastic trim back in. Looks half decent. Also managed to relocate the alarm siron box to the rhs onto a bracket. Finally, purchased a new gear gaiter, black suede with red stitching as the original oem one was looking tired. Unfortunately i destroyed my knob extension (insert innuendo) removing the gear knob at the start of this so may have to purchase another if i don't get on with the short shift look and feel of this. Next up, touch up handbrake paint as the orange is beginning to come back through. A good blast out as its been a couple of months and a good wash and wax as its filthy. Keep Safe, Keep sane everyone.

Forgot to add, i have an aftermarket steering wheel so dont have steering wheel controls anymore so wont be needing that adaptor either. in my head i just buy a universal adaptor for new unit. Find the existing live and solder that into it, connect ground then fit 2 new speakers in door cards and run new wiring to new connector, solder that together, plug in arial connection and bobs your uncle?

Thinking of swapping the oem head unit for a upto date one but as its more a track car i am doing things differently to most so can anybody help with the following. I have already removed the bose sub and amp from behind the drivers seat as it had stopped working anyway, i am wanting to remove the amp in the boot to create more boot space but as i understand it this powers the front and rear speakers? So is there a way of bypassing this amp with a new head unit or will i need to either buy new amp/run new wiring/something else. I would have thought all new stereo units would have a built in amplifier capable of powering either 2 or 4 speakers. I may remove the rear speakers and just have the door speakers as its only for a little music/sound with an upto date system. I may buy new door speakers also but dont know if they need to be a certain size/profile to fit without having to bodge it. I am not bothered about a little work or soldering but have no knowledge of car audio systems so asking on here before i end up balls deep with no sound apart from my shouting.

All depends how “competitive” you want to track it. The zed will understeer a fair amount at the limit with factory spec camber/toe. You can dial a lot of this out with adjustable arms, you will want adjustable anti roll bars as well then you can really taylor the setup to understeer/nuetral/oversteer bias to suit your style, at that point you will want uprated suspension/bushes so it goes on...tyre/wheel sizes and widths etc. basically have a go as it is now and see if its good enough for you and your natural driving style/speed/risk. If you decide to start tinkering you may well keep buying more parts and altering setups to get that perfect feeling.

Bringing the ban forward to 2030 is crazy. Whats the plan for those millions of households parking on the street? Literally half (and then rising) the parking spots at motorway services are gonna need a charge point etc etc There is gonna have to be some monumental investment in infrastructure to make this work at a time when the country is borrowing at record levels already.

Wheel nuts? plenty of colour options and styles to suit your taste/scheme

Mid September saw the last 2 events at Harewood in a condensed covid hit year. I must say the weather has been great for the few events we have had. This was a full weekend Saturday and Sunday to finish with. Saturday was near perfect conditions for the zed, cool enough at around 20 deg to get some cooler air into the engine and not worry about heal soak but sunny enough to warm the tyres and track up. Sunday started very drizzly then gradually dried up and warmed up as the day progressed to finish with similar conditions to Saturday meaning times just got faster and faster on the day. pic below of the weekends backdrop: timing wise, this resulted in me breaking my personal best several times, The car was feeling great and i even managed some quick getaways at around the 2.5 sec mark. Now this is a little misleading as we were starting about 500mm behind the start beam European style so this got everyone a tenth or so but even still, I will take consistent 2.6 sec 64ft times all day and the key to this new launch? Starting as if on the road, i know, it peed me off as well. ignore the rev level and clutch point and just pull away as normal (kind of what you do instinctively) then feed in the power over a second or two. Anyhow, this helped me achieve a PB of 64.09 on the Saturday and 64.17 on the Sunday. getting very close to a 63 now which i think would be incredible for a NA heavy Zed. Must admit i felt a few of the runs were near on perfect and very little (if any) room for improvement. I mean three years of flying up a 64 second hill leaves me chasing hundredths now, not tenths and much depends on the conditions. Really pleased with how the car is now though, there was just a small annoyance in that it was pulling/steering slightly left, not massive but noticeable on the motorway when nice flat road with no camber so after reading up online, i realise this can be dangerous i decided to attempt a diy alignment fix whilst putting on the standard rays for the winter. There were 2 reasons for the car pulling left. First, the camber was maxed out both sides at the front on the adjustable arms, this was done to keep things simple, max camber, max attack, if it gets knocked, easy to put back, but this resulted in the drivers side being around 15 minutes more than the passenger side, also the castor was around the same 15 minutes more. (Toe was identical from prev alignment) so although only minor and on a standard car you may not ever notice, on a race prepped machine with poly bushes, stiff springs, anti roll bars etc it accentuates the tiniest of variants. So armed with my impact gun and torque wrench i decided to have a go safe in the knowledge i would not be driving it in earnest for a while. I started by measuring out the adjustability on the camber plates which was around 3.5 deg then trying to work out how little gap was 15 minutes, basically its a small one, around 3mm, so adjusted that back, then tried to find online the castor specs along with my last printout. The passenger side was right on the upper limit (8.55mins) drivers side was just over 9 deg (out of spec) luckily the eibach camber arms also have adjustable caster plates that can adjust the castor either .5 .75 or 1 deg plus or minus so taking .5 off the passenger and .75 off the drivers side meant they were almost identical number wise and bang in the middle of tolerance oem spec wise, win win. This left me with one last issue, when you change camber it affects toe so i needed to tweak the toe on the drivers side to compensate for the 15minutes less camber. back to the tinterwebs and the zed American forum had someone do some self alignment and worked out (rightly or wrongly) i may never know that 1/8th turn on the tie rods resulted in 15 mins toe which is what i needed so thats what i did. wheels back on, jumped in and took the girl out for a quick spin and to my amazement she handled superb, 100% straight on the flat and following the camber of the road both left and right as applicable. Now i don’t condone everyone to self align as in my defence i was only tweaking the front, i dare say if the camber/toe was way off i would have probably screwed it up even further but nevertheless i was chuffed to bits with this. Fresh from above i decided to do a yearly service myself ready for the winter and mot next month, so i purchased these along with some new copper and alloy washers in various sizes as i wasn't sure which size i would need for the oil sump plug and diff plugs. I decided to soak the differential drain and fill plugs in wd40 to be working away whilst i jacked up the front and took off the undertray. Then off with the oil sump plug and drain the oil filling up my oil pan to the brim (which was significant) I then looked at the oil filter and thought, this could be awkward. It was! As i have an oil cooler, the lines run to the sandwich plate attached to the filter meaning there is next to no room, enough to get your hand in but i couldn’t get any grip/leverage to twist the oil filter off so I had to resort to the smack a screwdriver through and turn. Problem was i only had space for the screwdriver to turn less than an inch and it was bending as well as tearing the metal case of the filter as well as not budging as well as covering my arm and the floor in oil. Many expletives later i came to the conclusion i would have to take off the oil cooler lines, cue even more oil pouring over my arms and the floor! Then whacked a long allen key through the filter and just about managed to twist it off, boy was that thing on tight! Not wanting to be in the same predicament next time i made sure the new filter went on hand tight only! on a plus note, the magnetic plug and oil was in good nick with only minimal metal particles, pic below: new washer and cleaned plug back in, refilled with the fuchs oil and after about 3 hours finally that was done, spin car around and jack the rear end up now. Now the upside (and downside) of having a plated diff like my Kaaz is that you have to change the oil yearly as it uses mineral oil rather than synthetic which doesn't have the same longevity but this means that the plugs get removed regularly so came out easy as pie. Again like the engine oil, the gear oil seemed in very good condition with the magnetic plug again only having a small amount of metal particles stuck to it (around 4 or 5 but actual metal bits 1mm rather than shavings) not bad for a diff that takes a fair amount of abuse. Then i got to use my new oil transfer pump and filled with fresh dedicated kaaz gear oil, halfway through i was pumping away not paying attention when the plastic tube popped out of the fill hole and topped up the pool of oil that was now soaking into the tarmac. I used an 18mm internal diameter copper washer for the plugs if anyone wants to know, you could also use a 17.5mm Plugs back in, quick drive out and all was fine, put back away in garage with no leaks or oil drops on garage floor so a productive Sunday afternoon. I finished off by parking the wifes car over the 2ft wide oil stained tarmac and waited to see if she would ring me at work the next day to say her car might have an oil leak. Still waiting... Just the MOT to do in November, will see how the kinetix high flow cats get on, not had any engine light come on since installing so fingers crossed then I like everyone am looking forward to next year when we “may” have some car shows and a full season of racing.

Just looking at the pic and my 3 year old boy looks over my shoulder and says, “look dad, it’s broken, let’s get it fixed.”

Yes def different for DE @JAllen28 you can have it fella but collection from Pontefract or Ripon (work) All i was asking for was a small donation to the forum.

I have one for free but its a HR model type.

Gotta get me one of those shifters. looking good

Yes mate, yours looks much neater and more like a pro job. I suppose its easier when you stick to the same size pipe. With the cats and flexis i was going over and with no room to move under the car along with starting at the wrong end which i didnt realise was an issue until after it was never gonna be great. I guess at some point i may end up pulling it all off and doing again (bit like the bumper) do it once, screw it up, leave it a bit then do it right next time round. what i would say is it does seem to have given me a few extra bhp as at last event i was hitting rev limiter in places a good few metres before i ever have previously so definitely think it helps with both temps and getting the gases out quicker, just need to find out how long the bodge will last...

Update 06/09/2020 Just a small update as like for most people, Covid has ruined this year but at least we have our Zeds to put a smile on our faces. After last update and being bored with the standard engine cover I decided to buy some gold spray cans and give a touch of colour to the bay and try and make the shiney air boxes blend in a little more. It turned out ok and certainly captures the eye when i open the hood now. Is it ok to say hood, watching all this youtube content in lockdown has me fully americanised. I then had my first hillclimb event of the year at the beginning of August (finally) and while i was a little rusty it just about stayed dry all day and it was refreshing to stretch the cars legs, although i had taken it out for some spirited drives over the summer, its not the same as actually flooring it on a track. My times were a little off but very consistent, in the 65's all day with best being 65.64 and good enough for second in class (out of 13) During August I decided to have another go and painting the front bumper. I had rushed it far too quickly last time resulting in a shower of s6!t finish and it may be no show car anymore, it still needs to be presentable in the paddock. So bumper spray job part duex ensued and this time putting the base colour down as a mist, 3 light coats followed by one light clear coat, then 2 heavy coats of clear. left overnight to dry/cure. then wet sanded back with P800 and P1200 resulting in this: Then hand polished with a gtechniq hand polishing sponge, course side (white) with some scholl S3 compound i had left then the soft side (black) with some S40 for the finish. I opted to do by hand with plenty of elbow grease as the DA polisher was just not cutting it. It was taking 3 times as long to get the same results. Just confirming that DA machines may be great for finishing they are too "safe" for heavy cutting if required. Anyway final result was this, which for a diy job in the garage i was happy with, overall 6/10 rather than the 2/10 i had before. I did finish with my right bicep a good 1" bigger than my left counterpart: What I will add is that if like me, you decide to do this inside, cover everything. I masked up the floor in front and the engine bay and wheels behind but the overspray from the base coat and clear goes f-ing everywhere! literally, it gets where water can't. Luckily as the car is ceramic coated, the layer of whatever it is was sat on top of the paintwork so a quick snowfoam and wash afterwards cleared the mess, not sure how lucky i would have been if either the car paint was "bare" or i'd left it several days/weeks before cleaning. Next up was installing some bits i'd had lying around for months. If you have read this build from the beginning then apart from being in solitary confinement with only this to look at, you will know that I have had issues with the clutch fluid boiling. I put some heat sleeve on all the lines I could see running close to the cats (obviously the heat issue is made worse by the high flow cats not having heat shields like the OEM ones. I also wrapped the main clutch line in some gold tape i had left over from the air boxes and then (after this photo) cable tied where i needed to make sure everything stayed in placed. Then I had been umming and arring for a while on whether to put some heat wrap on the exhaust so just bit the bullet and went for it. I had 10mt of volcano wrap bought on E-bay. It doesn't state what volcano it comes from but i suspect its one in China!! This was only enough to do the CATS so i had to purchase some more from a local car shop. This was the standard fibreglass stuff which is all they had so i used that for the y-pipe and finished it off there, I think there is little point doing any further along, there may be little point doing any of the exhaust reading the internet but what the hell. I started the car and left it running for 15-20 mins to cure the wrap as per instructions. It does smoke a bit and stinks and you certainly have to open the hood if your stationary to let the smoke/fumes out. The next day i sprayed some high temp silicone spray over the wrap purchased from Demon-Tweeks which supposidly helps seal the exterior preventing moisture and dirt getting engrained into the wrap and causing corrosion. The problem I have is that i was doing this in the garage with car on axle stands, I barely had enough room to scratch my ar5e let alone install the wrap so it wasn't anywhere near as tight as it should be and I struggled to get it taught around the cats which chamfer out and in, I just had to do best i could and use lots of jubilee clips but there are still small gaps here and there so crap can get in. Worth noting i used white silicone spray so finish isn't the most aesthetically pleasing but it was the only colour in stock, you can get black and others if you prefer. While under the car i chose to put some underseal around the kidney brackets as like many, they were starting to rust even though i'd protected them previously, so out with the wire brush to scrape off the loose rust and brush on a heavy coat of underseal: I have just remembered, I paid another visit to Horsham sometime in the last few months to try and sort out an issue I had with the revs dropping and car spluttering around 2k revs. I also needed to get the car mapped again as i had also replaced the high flow cats and y-pipe courtesy of @buster in order to try and free up a few more ponies. It was after this install the car developed the problem with the revs (nothing to do with the exhaust) As usual for me I didn't take any photos at Tarmac HQ or Horsham but it was great to see Bob again and the guys at Tarmac for the first time, you don't need me to tell you, pay them a visit if you need anything for your Zed, likewise the guys at Horsham. Jez did manage to replicate the stuttering and put it down to the VVT controllers sticking which is a semi-common fault. He has managed to map most of it out and get me 2 extra BHP so its only evident in nuetral now but to fix it for good i am gonna need some used VVT bits from Zmanalex at £200 or new from Nissan at £2k I know which way i will be going. Fast forward to last week and it was the second event at Harewood, weather was the same as previous, dry but very cold for August (about 14 degrees) and very windy on the hill so it was never going to be a record setting day but nether the less on Run 2 I put in a flawless run to net a 64.61 Think this is third best ever so given the conditions and the fact the grip was just not there, i was chuffed, every corner on the run hooked up and i even managed to get the car launched semi-reasonable. I have just come to the conclusion that starting "normally" and feeding the throttle in over 2-3 seconds is quicker than any other method at Harewood. Overall I was second in class again (out of 12) missing out on win by 0.15 secs Car was looking good, just noticed I have also fitted some quick release bolts for front bumper as i was fed up cutting my hands getting into the wheel wells every month. Another quick mod although I cringed when i was drilling the wings (fenders if you like) I have actually done a fair bit looking back. Photo below of some of the class, including a fully stripped out GT4 Aston (that if it was a regular championship event I don't think would be in this class) And Finally last week, the family and I had a much needed break in Wales. I will leave you with the view from the top of our hill:

I know you can get a standard clear coat and then a 2k clearcoat which i used for my bumper. The 2k stuff is twice the price but supposed to be resistant to petrol/oil etc. (Well, as much as your oem stuff is) so it may be just crappy clear you have used, also i think you need to give clear a good day or so to cure before exposing it to the elements (Temp and humidity dependant) so possibly if you put it straight onto car that may have been an issue? just clutching at straws for you.