G1en

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.

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Yes, will do. Will get you a couple of pics and message you at weekend to sort.

Definitely for HR, im near Leeds. i could arrange UPS if too far but would be an extra £10 to cover.

If you have a thermostatic sandwich plate i dont think the oil in the lines and cooler will drain anyway so just add the standard amount. This will then mix with the oil held in the oil cooler when next running engine upto temp.

I have a set lying around, cobra hfc’s only a couple of years old but cannot vouch for the “internal” condition. They did get through the last mot (just) yours for £100 if any use.

Yeah, im with msitpro sold mine when i put my polyurethane bumper on, they are an inconvenience at best anyway and most people on here detest using them as they spray washer fluid all over you bonnet as well as the lights, lets face it, if anyone leaves washing their car long enough for the headlights to need assisted washing aids then either they shouldn’t be responsible for a car or are probably driving illegally already as the number plate is lower and will be masked well before the headlights. i did read somewhere on here that it is part of mot that if fitted they should work, but we can take the “if fitted” literally and unfit them.

I’m with you Davey, its catch 22 with the zed exhausts, the flexis are the lowest point and first thing to hit the ground/speed humps but because they have some give they save the shock on the rest of the exhaust. Unfortunately they frey/crack/break after not too much impact so you have to replace the y section. If you went with a stillen y piece you eliminate this but then if you walloped that the shock/impact would travel to the next fixed point, in my case with aftermarket hfc’s that means its the manifolds which would never end well. I have just fitted a milltek y piece and this definitely sits at least an inch higher than my old cobra one did so should last a bit longer whilst still having flexis on as well.

No codes or engine light like you. Only happened when i was tootling along then floored the accelerator, it felt like the ecu didnt know what Fuel/air to use car spluttered for a second or two then the power got fed in, didnt do it when you slowly fed the power in although it did feel lacking on power overall. I started a thread on here recently with video attached. At idle and keeping foot on accelerator at 10/20% the revs slowly climb to 2k then drop before increasing again, you could check to see if yours does this. As i said above though, the remap has sorted mine and my issue was made worse by having tomei cams and new high flow cats. Goods news is Alex can save you a fortune on whichever part you may need if you go down the used replacement option.

Thats good to know Alex, its those round toothed parts at the bottom of the picture i think is my issue and what i was referring to above. Do you have any for a HR? think a HR has one for both intake and exhaust side where as the DE is just intake. not sure which one i need or if i need both?

Just had something similar to what you describe with mine. Took it to horsham and they diagnosed it (i may get this wrong) as a sticking valve? To do with the variable valve timing that connects to the end of the camshafts, they said it was fairly common and when it sticks the revs can drop then the cams are out of timing and the ecu tries to sort everything out resulting in the stuttering and loss of power and what seems like mis-firing. Good news is they mapped 90% of the issue out and my car drives much better now with all the power i had previously plus 2bhp more. bad news is a new replacement vvt bit costs £1000 upwards if i decide to “cure” the issue rather than mask it. I have probably explained that all wrong but like Alex says, one of the traders/tuners on here will be able to tell you the exact issue if you pay them a visit, does sound exactly like my issue though.

To the tuners and knowledgeable folk. After fitting new kinetex high flow cats and milltek y piece, the car has developed a very annoying lumpiness/hesitation when accelerating in certain gears/rpms. its like the ecu doesnt know what air/fuel mixture to use or throttle input is all wrong. It just kind of hangs for a second or two then feeds the power in. Not what i need for either general driving and certainly not on track when i get back to it. Link to video below, this was filmed on the driveway and throttle held steady in nuetral at only about 20%. You can see the revs drop slightly and hesitation just below 2k. My foot never moved on the pedal. Obviously this is magnified when im driving. Am i right in thinking this could be sorted with another re-map or could it be something else less/more expensive? car has been mapped twice but last time to the old hfc’s which horsham had said prob degraded hence me fitting new ones, i havent had the ecu light come on since either, it came on every week previously due to O2 sensors. car also has tomei high lift cams fitted. i have already tried an ecu reset, throttle position reset, idle reset, and cleaned maf sensors just in case but to no avail. thinking outside the box could it be the crossover from closed loop to open loop map and a relatively big difference in afr’s which has been magnifield by the new cats?

For the wheels, i would guess if you swapped them with someone for standard wheels and tyres or even the rays you could easily ask for £100-£150 per wheel your way so an extra £500 or so provided the condition of the wheels/tyres is of a similar ilk. As you say the lgmt’s are a very exclusive sought after wheel so even in need of a refurb they have a good value, if you plan on running the car moving forwards you might be as well sell them and let someone else enjoy them and refurb them to their requirements. if your thinking of selling the car, stick it on ebay with a reserve price, like you say, there may be plenty of punters that will want a “project” car for varying reasons. Ie if the rear arches are rusted, they may plan on cutting them out anyway for a wide body kit. Just be as honest as possible with the description and set the reserve to what your comfortable with. if you decide to keep it, and this is a left field suggestion, near to me (you would have to research colleges near you) there is a college that runs mechanics and bodyshop type courses and apprenticeships and they are always wanting cars to work on. They usually end up with scrap/mot failures that are gifted to them but they would relish a zed to work on, obviously if its your daily that would be an issue but getting your car sorted for free could be an option further down the line?

Found this online, offers “some” explanation https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/planning/other/16-004-729

There you go, as per alex. For the purpose of track days or sprints it will serve the purpose of having a visible toe point for recovery but i wouldnt ever use mine to tow another car or such like, i would always use the correct point, i take it this is more for looks though, yes.

I have my rear tow hoop connected there. Mine is a solid metal bracket with hoop on the end, it fixes with 2 bolts and washers through the hole On your pic and it has been used twice to pull me out of the gravel traps so whether its a legitimate toe point or not it certainly can be used. for what you have there you are gonna need a long bolt and nut with 2 square plate washers either side of the hole.

Horsham did say they thought the cats were degraded/blocking the flow. I may have to swap them over, i need a new y pipe anyway so could renew and see what that does. Thanks for the info

Yeah, in theory it should be fine. Its supposed to have an overcharge/undercharge safety cut off anyway so it wont charge above a certain voltage and cuts off to protect itself when it drops below a set voltage. The bonus is it displays the voltage when you press the button on it so will see how it goes

@msitpro 267 whp think it was, they were dissapointed as usually they are 10-20bhp more but all others dyno,d with cam swap had decats, headers and full cold air intakes, i have to have cats for racing so it restricts the flow obviously but does leave me with option of increasing in future. Forgetting the numbers the torque/power is noticeable above 5k and it sounds great. @Kieran O'Quick as soon as i posted the battery jobby i knew you would be on it. It has slightly more CCA than a standard battery but only half the AH. And im fairly sure you cant jump these off, you have to recharge them with a dedicated charger so thats the risk.

Update 17/05/20 Well what a crazy couple of months its been for the world. As if life isn't stressful enough, its goes and throws a biblical plague in the form of Covid-19 at everyone. I'm sure like most people, the end of March was summed up with one line, What the F-KFC is going on? The company I work for closed all branches the following morning after the "Stay at home Message" and being a branch manager meant my workload went crazy having to do HR and Security things completely out of the normal. Anyway, I am back at work now but its going to be a long time before we see "normal" again. Putting a hold on the wax and shine hobby could have come at just the right time or completely wrong time depending if your glass is half empty or half full. It got me out of all the extra work, uncertainty and financial ties but going by this forum and the wider social media, I reckon I could have shifted a boat load of car cleaning goodies as everyone has been washing their cars 5 times a week. It is as they say history now and luckily for me my employers have paid most staff in full so I am very thankfull for that. My main use for the 350z is enjoying it competing at Hillclimbing as you will have gathered by now but unfortunately, like all other sports, many events have been cancelled. As it stands currently, no motorsport is going to happen before July at the earliest so I will just have to see when and If the Zed can stretch its legs this year. I must say, on the couple of occasions I have took her out for a blast just to keep the juices flowing and battery charged, it felt like a different animal now its got the tomei cams and tune. So, speaking of keeping the battery going, I decided to invest the money I wasn't spending of Mcdonalds and KFC during this lockdown on a Lithium-Ion battery. I saw a post on this forum about someone getting one and couldn't believe the price. I thought they were around 700-800 quid (and they are at demon-tweeks and the like) but this one from Powerlite is only £250 ish and in theory should be fine for the Zed. it says on their website something about upto 4ltr engines I think. So here it is next to the Bosch S4 I took out: So as you might guess, first problem was the size and getting it secured down in the battery bay. The height was too low for the standard clamp so onto bodge 1, how to make it sit higher, after trip to local car parts store and wandering the isles, I came up with this: 4 cork sanding blocks gaffer taped together which would raise the battery to a "standard" height. Cork is fairly dense so shouldn't squash under pressure, its water tight now with the tape over and it doesn't slide when secured down so its a win in my eyes. It now fits: I then proceeded to connect the terminals only for the positive to be too loose and not secure enough, as the copper terminals are tapered it was just sliding off, time for bodge-it number 2, thanks to the forum again, I remember reading about using a bit of thin copper to wrap around the post thus so enlarging the diameter. I nipped down to B&Q to find some. On entering the carpark on a Saturday lunchtime, I was greeted with a queue that stretched for what seemed like 4 and a half miles to get in. with nothing else to do that day, another negative of lockdown, I waited in line, truth be told it was around a hour wait to get in, where I found these bad boys: Just the ticket I assumed, so I cut off the nibs and measured around the copper terminal like so: My delight soon turned to "what a fc*kwit" as the copper sleeve was too big to fit inside the positive terminal and at that point I realised that the terminals were 2 different sizes and I had attached them to the battery the wrong way round, after swapping them over , both were coupled up no hassle and I threw the B&Q purchase at the wall shouting a few obsbletives for good measure. Now please take pity on me as I had wasted 2 hours of my life to learn this valuable lesson that had never dawned on me, you see when you buy a battery, you just connect it up, you never usually have to attached the terminals to it and because they look the same size, I assumed they were, anyway turned out bodge number 2 was not needed and here it is, sat in all its glory and the car sitting 13KGs? lighter so win win. As a side note, it actually served its secondary reason for purchase, it started the car! took it for a quick blast, charged up fine, it has a handy button on the top that you press and it shows you the voltage, apparently anything over 13 is fine. It read 13.9 after a drive, the car has been sat for a week and I tested today and it shows 13.6 so by quick man maths that tells you when its coupled up and powering the alarm etc. it will be good for around 3 weeks before needing to be started/topped up. Will keep an eye on it. Next Quarentine job that you wouldn't normally do but do because your bored and trying to fill time was Gold reflective tape for the intakes. Now this can be a bit marmite, and after looking online its a bit like the whole intake debate, their is no conclusive proof reflective tape actually helps lower intake temps so armed with this "its a waste of time" info I proceeded to start and waste my time. The tape was £20 for 10mt which was enough to do the 2 air boxes (apart from the bottoms) I had a little left over but I have silicone hoses for top part so didn't need it/ use it on those. First things first, air boxes out, found a little surface rust around some bolts so got the small wire brush out, why not hey, while we are in there. Though about hammerite but didn't have a little brush to hand so had a tin of bilt hamber Dynax-s50 left so sprayed some of this over to protect it: Next I thought I would check the intakes just to see if there was any oil/crap build up. Great news, they looked very clean including the throttle body which kind of confirms as well why the car hardly uses any oil. Fingers crossed It looks like I have a good engine. So, onto the arts and crafts. The design of the stupid air boxes meant it took my half a day to tape these thing up. I wanted them to look semi-decent so didn't just wrap he tape all the way around like some Egyptian mummy, instead I cut out bits to sit between the various fins and nobbly bits. It was never gonna be perfect but thanks to my patience we ended up with this: I also noticed the foam was hanging off where the intake connects to the duct behind the bumper. I don't know how functional this is as when I have sorted it and re-fitted, there is still a gap anyway all way round but it gave me another excuse to play - how long is the queue at B&Q? for anyone that's not played this game, get yourself down, you don't know what your missing. I also played the sister game today aswell - How long will I be, at KFC? that was only 30 mins and was well worth it. back to the post, purchase some foam draught excluder and wrapped around like so: Intakes complete, I reinstalled and admired my work, definitely need some more gold now in the bay to complement it, possibly paint the engine cover and strut brace? I reckon they are now good for an extra 0.1hp Can't wait to find out. Keep safe everyone and hopefully we can get doing some normal stuff soon if the small minority of idiots don't ruin it for us.

Just had an epiphany if you call your son ZOSE (pronounced ho-zay) and you use capitals then spin it upside down it would read 350Z thats one for the die hards and in next weeks edition of utter useless and barely valid points we discuss ways of getting bhp into family names, tune in.

But the trustworthy man has left you a mastercard with about 6.5 million dollars on. you know “about” could be more Like 7 million or could be less like 0 dollar. Its a chance you take with good faith from the bottom of his heart.

Cougerstore is closest to you i think for service. Used to take mine there but they cant do “lowered” cars last time i spoke to Mitz. So Horsham developments have done last two and can also do the up-rev tuning.