Bosch

I've got the Ark Grip with some HFCs and it sounds bloody amazing when you put your foot down - it really screams in a nice deep tone. It can be a bit loud on startup, my neighbour has mentioned she hears me when I set off to play squash at 6:30am (eek). I like the burble when you come off the accelerator and the exhaust itself looks lovely.

Just a quick one to say thanks to Bob and Chris at Tarmac Sportz. Took a day trip up to Derby yesterday to have an Ark Grip fitted to my 350z to replace my blown exhaust which was the 14 year old original with a bit of repair work which was done last year. To say I’m delighted would be an understatement. Having decided to also stick some of their HFC on at the same time, the difference is night and day. I’ve been hooning around for the last 24 hours just to hear that sweet tone of the exhaust with the goofiest grin on my face. Bob as ever is an absolute gent who really loves what he does. thanks guys.

Can confirm it worked! Bike still intact despite fully expecting to see it bouncing down the motorway in my rear view mirror. Surprised at how easy it was to use, but also a little concerned at how easy it was to remove! It’ll definitely take a few trips to fully trust it.

I've just bought a Seasucker Talon for my 350. Will be using it on Sunday and will report back about how I get on - wish me luck!

I use Japex in Kings Langley and happily travel the 50 minutes from Milton Keynes. youll find a number of recommendations for them on the forum.

I got mine from Tarmacsportz. It was about £165 from recollection.

I fitted an Ultra Racing one about 6 months ago. Does the job and costs less. It appears less likely to crumble to rusty powder than the OEM version too.

Thanks! I’ll be taking the speed bump free route to the garage for 8am tomorrow morning. Hopefully ill I’ll be able to enjoy driving the car again without a constant banging from the rear every time I hit an undulation in the road.

Help! So after having my coil overs fitted, the car had been making a horrendous banging noise from the rear, which I mainly put down to the damper adjusters hitting the boot. I finally got around to trimming them down last weekend and the driver side one came out in my hand together with the damper adjuster at the top of the coil over. A busy week week at work followed and so I’ve only just got out to the car this morning to go and address the issue and see if I could cure the banging. Took it for a spin and the banging was still there. I got the car up on the jack, took the wheel off and found a sheared bolt where the coilver meets the frame. I dread to think how long I have driven like this as I’ve put the banging down to something far more trivial!! So two questions (I) is this safe to drive to the local garage to be fixed and (ii) is this likely to have caused any structural damage to the car or suspension?

Have a look at DBA T2 with Hawk HPS pads or Stoptech pads. I think I got mine for around £500, but can't remember the exact price. I'm very happy with them. Limited track use, but plenty off hooning around the streets.

I’ve been having a root around as well. Got 3 points on my licence which don’t come off until August. Was paying £420 with Admiral last year and renewal came in at £520. Got Adrian Flux in for £420 which is pretty good compared to what’s coming in on the price comparison sites. Will give Chris Knott a go to see if they can beat £420. Im 32 with 9 years NCB.

Looks like an exhaust is next on the list of things to do. This one is the original by the looks of it and has had a sleeve repair. The place that did my alignment is a Powerflow exhaust dealer. Anyone had any experience with these? The guy has some stuff on his Instagram (mad_dp) and it looks pretty decent. Quotes come in at roughly the same as an invidia which was probably my preferred option prior to seeing I could get something custom built.

Some pictures of rusty ass braces and droplinks and some replacement parts

A little bit of an update... So after a day at "This is your Garage", which I would like to say is a fantastic little business, I didn't really achieve half as much as I expected I would. Richard was a real help and offered advice along the way which was really valued given this was my first time working on a car in any meaningful manner. It'd be great if there was one a little closer to me as it was a painful 2 hour drive in stop start traffic getting there for me. 13 years worth of rust made getting some of the nuts and bolts off a real challenge. Progress was slow and so we revised down our aim for the day and settled for replacing the W Brace and fitting the front and rear sway bars. A quick tip for anyone doing swaybars (it's probably been covered before), but if your droplinks have never been replaced, make sure you do it. Mine were a dog to get off and without replacements, I had to drive for a week with a horribly loose feel and a loud clunking over bumps in the road as my old droplinks went back on. Fast forward to this week and having determined a 4 hour round trip, plus a full day working on the car to get the Meister R's fitted wasn't going to work for me, a trip to Tarmac Sportz saw my Meister R's fitted together with some new Whiteline droplinks. I know they'll settle over the next few days, but already the feeling is night and day! The service from Chris and Bob was exemplary - Bob even followed up with a call this morning to check in on how they felt on the drive home. Car is currently in for a 4 wheel-alignment and then fingers crossed my drive down to Bournemouth tomorrow should be fun, with everything feeling spot-on.

Just wanted to say a big thanks to Chris and Bob for looking after my Zed today. From supplying me a a wide range of parts, to stepping in and fitting my new coilovers today when I ran out of skills and time to do it myself. I’ll be back once the bank balance recovers!

Just dropped my Zed in with Buster and saw his in the flesh. Sounds great with the short tails on!

What's your budget and how do you use the car? I went for DBA T2 rotors which I'm really pleased with - they're a noticeable improvement on stock (though I also added braided lines at the same time). Got a decent deal from Clark Motorsport who are traders on here. I started with Hawk HPS pads which I really liked and the dust was much less than OEM pads, so my wheels weren't a black mess a couple of days after washing. They started to squeal like pigs after while and so I'm now trying Stoptech pads. Not installed yet, so no feedback but will update as and when.

For anyone who is interested, I've bitten the bullet and placed an order with Tarmac Sportz. I've gone for Meister R Zeta CRD coilovers, H&R anti-roll bars and the Ultra Racing rear lower brace. Now I just need to (i) await delivery of my goodies; and (ii) sort out a place to go and fit them all. I'm hoping it's as straight forward as it looks in the Youtube videos!

There's currently a 15% off sale at eBay for a load of different car parts using the code "PREPCAR" with certain retailers. Not had a proper look yet, but theres a Milltek catback exhaust going amongst a multitude of other items. Might be handy for some...

Thanks. Did you have any particular brand of Arb's?

So to give a bit of background before getting into my question(s), I bought my 2005 Zed back in January last year and fell in love with it the first time I drove it. I took it straight to Japex for a full service and never really considered that “Zeditis” would become a thing for me. Add to that, the fact I’d just bought a house and was saving for my upcoming wedding, it felt like any work done to the car would mainly be routine maintenance and replacement of worn parts etc. However, slowly but surely I’m starting to get bitten by the bug and I’m really determined to (i) learn how to wield a spanner; and (ii) modify my car. As money is a little on the tight side post house and wedding, I’m looking at modifications which (i) add to performance, but also (ii) need doing as a result of the age of the car. When I bought the car, it was on 81k and I’ve taken it up to around 92k and in that time I’ve had a handful of services at Japex, a new set of Eagle F1 tyres before splashing out to deal with some of the items which were flagged by Japex as needing attention soon (as well as just doing some things which felt good to do in a preventative approach to maintenance). I’ve therefore sorted the sticky clutch pedal with high temp fluid, braided line and new slave cylinder. My front rotors were in need of replacement and so I upgraded to DBA discs with Hawk HPS pads and put some Hosetechnik braided lines in whilst I was at it. My compression arm bushes were worn and so I had some Whiteline bushes put in. I also had new spark plugs put in and replaced my leaky lower oil pan. I flexed my car maintenance skills and dropped in an HKS air filter and a new fuel filler cap to replace the one with the broken cord and finally added some bling to the engine bay with a Nismo oil filler cap and rad cap. I’m looking at dealing with some of the next things that have been flagged as needing to be addressed and will hopefully use the opportunity to have a go at doing some work myself (with the help of my brother), renting a bay at Pit Start in Acton (or somewhere nearer if anyone knows of a similar service closer to Milton Keynes). Two items flagged on my last service were as follows: 1) Rusty W Brace - I’m looking at getting the Ultra Racing brace to replace my rusty one. 2) Rocker Cover - Apparently this is leaking a bit of oil. This was discovered when doing my spark plugs and can be repaired with a gasket set. This seems well beyond my abilities and so will let Ross at Japex sort that for me. Now to the point where my questions come in… I’m wanting to upgrade parts of the car, which save for bits mentioned above is completely stock. Given the age and mileage on the car, I’m wanting to undertake the upgrades on a basis which addresses those parts which are probably getting towards the end of their useful life. I think therefore that the suspension is probably up their on my list of things which needs replacing and which I could have a go at doing myself. I have my eye on either the Meister R Zeta and the BC Racing BR coilovers (but am open to suggestions) and wondered if there was any guidance as to the difference between them or which would be more suitable for a car which in all honesty sees some spirited road driving and probably one track day a year. Next - whilst I am buggering about trying to fit the new suspension, is there anything else I should sensibly be replacing/upgrading? Would new ARBs be needed/worth doing? Do I need to replace droplinks? Finally, in anticipation of replacing my suspension, do I need to think about buying nuts, bolts or any other sundries or do new coilovers come with all the bits you need?

Another +1 for Japex. Really good, knowledgeable guys and great customer service.

Just stumbled across this build thread - I saw you parked up in central MK about a month ago and took a cheeky snap of your car. It’s looks fantastic in the flesh!

Enjoyed that! Subscribed and looking forward to watching your progress.

I’d second the Eagle F1s. Moved to them from RE050s a few months ago and the grip is much better. The sidewalls feel noticeably softer and there’s definitely a little more roll in them when cornering, but it feels very progressive. Haven’t tried the Michelin, but very satisfied with the Goodyear’s given the price point.