Ben–350Z

As in the actual CS rear bumper, not the Bottom line pieces? Yea.. that might look a bit odd.

Turns out, I have a terrible memory... It's Tarmac Sportz's old one with the matched Bottom Line skirts:

Then this super-low beast had them in black

23 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

hmm. My z cost around £3500 (fuel, tax, insurance, monthly payments) for a year.

That's sort of what I think mine probably costs. Rough guesstimate for a Focus ST (mk3) would save about £1500/year. But that's still, 3-4 years before it pays for itself. I did go and look at one, and it's annoyingly nice. So I'm once again slightly confused what I want to do 

+1 for CS Bottom line. Saw one with those at Japanese Performance Show earlier this year, matched to the body colour. Looked amazing. I'll see if I can find the photo later.

Thanks to everyone who has posted - reading these has certainly killed off my immediate desire to just get rid of it 

21 minutes ago, coldel said:

I bought a VX220 Turbo, 35mpg+ and would make for an epic commute, but wouldn't recommend it 

Haha - one of the cheaper options IS an MR2... positively luxurious compared to a VX220 

Well, I'm doing near Ely to Milton - time of day doesn't seem to make much difference at the moment. If you're on the A10, it sucks. A14 also broken. And a silly long way around.

It just seems to keep getting worse, though

1 hour ago, MDMetal said:

Well Cambridge's roads are just awful atm so I feel for you, my morning commute is 45min to an hour to travel 6 miles! It's definitely nicer with an auto, I've taken the BMW to work most days to give my left foot a rest from the clutch in the 350

Oh, wow. Suddenly my 45min for 17 miles doesn't seem so bad! I have tried to convince my Dad to lend me his PDK Boxster for a bit, for exactly those reasons. He didn't seem too impressed...

48 minutes ago, MDMetal said:

I've long shaken my head at people who stump up a fortune for an economical car when a less economical one costs less even with the running costs thrown in.

That's the sticking point really... To get anything I've thought of so far that would be a reasonable replacement is around £9-10k. So say it manages to save around £1.5k / year (a reasonable guess for my usage, I think) that's still like 5-6 years before it pays for itself.

But I am getting annoyed with 350 miles to £90 of fuel, and £570 / year for the honour of sitting in traffic on Cambridge's delightfully rubbish roads. Or stuck behind some **** doing 45 in a national for literally no reason. Suppose on that basis, I should hunt down my old ZX 1.9 diesel...

2 hours ago, Umster said:

Be interested to hear what you decide to do next! 

I'll be interested to hear what I'll do next  Just so confused right now

14 hours ago, Umster said:

Running 2 cars is the way forward and in my case is cheaper than just running the Z (initial outlay aside)

Unfortunately, 2 cars does require space to store 2... Which isn't especially practical right now. Unless I can leave one at work - but that probably has horrible insurance implications. @formatzeroraises an interesting point about an electric daily...

24 minutes ago, Kryptek49 said:

Get a motorbike!

Probably can find space for one of those  ... and it solves the constantly stuck in traffic... And whilst it's not Manchester to Warrington, it does take about as long!

For context, I reset the trip computers before my drive into work this morning: it used ~£4.20 just in fuel!

Been having this thing recently where - however much I love my Zed - any time I'm not driving it on a clear road, I just get increasingly frustrated with how much it costs to run... To the point I'm considering replacing it - probably with a tiny turbo snot-box.

Just wondering if anyone else has had that feeling, and what they did about it?

23 hours ago, davidv10 said:

Lets postpone this one then, maybe for a few weeks time?

Wroks for me - I've been held up a bit today so getting over for this evening will be a pain.

7 hours ago, TimC said:

It looks like I will be off the road now for at least 5-6 weeks.

Rubbish! Though at least that sounds like getting it fixed is all sorted?

Oh no! Just when I was about to add myself to the list

Gutted for you, but as @davidv10 says, the important bit is you're both OK.

Sorry I missed your post. That's almost exactly what mine did a couple of months back, although I did get an error code. As with yours, new coil seems to have sorted everything.

Glad you got it fixed

Hey, no problem. How're you getting on - found what sounds right yet?

Now I've got my car back together, I've been able to check and my crossovers are actually at 80Hz. But that will depend entirely on the speakers & sub you're using.

As for gains, my HU has a sub level, which is the first option on its 'audio' menu - I set that to about half, then used the gain on the amp in the sub to set what seemed reasonable. Then if whatever I'm listening to needs more or less bass, I have an easily accessible way to adjust that.

Holy crap, I didn't even realise that was yours at JPS! That wrap is amazing 

For me, the biggest issue with it is the GT86 is a thing... And about half the price. That's a fair lump for aftermarket parts. 

They're all digital. Only mechanical cable around there is the bonnet release - a right pain if you manage to accidentally unhook it from the lever bit.

Not a vacuum leak somewhere around the brake booster? That's the the speedo sort of area.

...Though would be audible when stationary, too.

15 hours ago, Ian said:

I’ve got a Makita one and it’s useless on anything other than lightly tightened bolts

Interesting.... If I go for it, I'll get the bigger one 

16 hours ago, ZMANALEX said:

Keep in mind that Ryobi is the domestic branch of Milwaukee

I did not know that. Guess that explains why they seem to be the only ones who make those power rachet things Mighty Car Mods etc. use

The crossover will make a difference - I forgot to set mine properly at first, and it sounded rubbish. It's because you have different speakers trying to make the same sound, which can sometimes cancel out resulting in less punch than expected.

You'll probably have to experiment a bit to find what sounds right for your system, but for mine I have the crossover set at 63Hz, with quite an aggressive slope -12dB I think. (Entire dashboard is in pieces in the garage atm, so can't check). Sounds much better after doing that. I also have a low pass filter on my rear speakers, which is somewhere around 220Hz.

Hopefully that gives you some idea where to start. But  like I said, it's mostly experimenting...

I've got my eye on one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-DTW285Z-Impact-Wrench-Black/dp/B01NBA6GZT, but then I have a Makita drill and 1/4" hex driver already, so batteries and chargers aren't an issue.

I also know a few people who build theatre sets for a living, and they have Makita everything (drills, drivers, various saws, routers...) used all day every day. I guess that says something about their reliability.

That's beautiful. Wish I could play well enough to justify a real one rather than my Japanese knock-off...

Hey no problem! Good hear you're happy with it.

1 hour ago, TimC said:

So looks like 22nd might be a good idea and maybe we may still get the tail end of the summer for it.

22nd is good for me!

What is the natural prey of a 350Z? Civic?