Nickbee

Hi all

This is going to be vague, as I'm paraphrasing what a mechanic told me.

Last week car my failed its MOT because the parking brake was "inoperative" on the offside.  Took it back into the garage and they had a look and managed to get it working.  However, there are two bolts, which needed to be undone and they have been unable to tighten one of them up again as the bolts are in a bad way and if they put any more pressure on one, it's very likely to break.  I can't be any more detailed than that as I didn't really understand.

It either needs to be removed and re-tapped, which they can get done, or to be replaced with a different caliper which I am at liberty to source.

Money no object I'd just buy new ones, obviously, but it's not so I don't know what the best solution is.  Is it safe to get it re-tapped?  Is it worth buying used, should I get mine refurbished? 

Any opinions welcomed.  Thanks!

Nothing dude, this is the spotted section  😎

Right now, anyone's here? 

(managed to crop the photo whilst blurring the plate 🤦🏻‍♂️) 

Exchanged a wave whilst I was out in my yellow GT4 this morning. Are you on here?

Hello from Chelmsford 😄

On 28/01/2022 at 15:52, alexgv1 said:

She looks lovely. Well done for keeping the car on the road, only 76 UK cars made in this colour! You must be happy with the match to the original colour? I was always skeptical about getting any paint work done on mine.

This was not the car's first respray, and the previous colour was nice but a little paler. This is a richer colour which I think is closer to the original. Matching wasn't an issue as we did the whole thing, but I was assured that pearlescent yellow is about as hard to match as it gets.

Next up are some braided brake lines, which I don't have much of a choice about as mine have started leaking.

I'm also hoping to fit a subtle lip and side extensions at some point and give the wheels a refurb to match the body.

Then a few months ago I got a mock MOT to find out what I needed to address before the big day and found lots - and lots - of rust.

I was on the verge of scrapping it and found a local place who were up for having a go at restoring it.

These things always escalate. 

First everything was stripped down: fuel tank, subframe, the works. All the underseal was removed and any rust cut out and replaced before the whole underside was epoxy sealed. A new-to-me tank was sourced along with replacements for anything rusted - W-brace, brackets, the usual. Rust on the arches was cut out and replaced before the whole car was resprayed in UY, taking the chance to fit some G35 spats and 370Z indicators (my first mods) whilst I was at it.

Hello

I'm starting this thread 11 months after buying my Zed. It had a plethora of issues on delivery, a few of which I asked questions about on here.

It looked good from a distance but up close it was a little scruffy, and I had to make a big investment on day 1 to replace knackered tyres and brakes, a wheel bearing and some other bits.

Hi all

I'm shortly going to throw big handfuls of cash into my z-shaped moneypit and have the underside restored. Everything's coming off, fuel tank, subframe, the works.

When it's reassembled it makes sense to take the opportunity to replace bushes along the way. The subframe bushes are obvious but there are so many options for various kits I don't know where to start. Would you just go for a full kit for the rear suspension?

Also I've really no need for poly bushes but I'm strong to find OEM stuff...

Advice gratefully received!

Thanks. 

Hi

Does anyone have a pair of 370Z repeaters?  

Thanks

Nick

Hi all

Look, I have no side repeaters!

The previous owner thought 370 repeaters were a straight swap so just had the wings resprayed as they were. 

I know a bodyshop just needs to bore a hole to get the 370 units fitted,  but is doing it now going to mess up the fresh paint? If so it might be safer to drill a smaller hole for standard 350 ones. 

Asking a bodyshop is the obvious solution but without an indicator to actually show them I don't suppose they'll be able to say.

Cheers

Nick

Hi all! I thought I'd drop back in with an update, sorry it's been a while. I tried the WD40 thing to no avail so ended up taking it into a local performance car specialist to get it up on ramps.

The squeak was just one of a number of noises but the one far easiest to capture on camera.  When I booked it in I said "it sounds like something's disconnected" and I wasn't far wrong. One of the lower bolts in the suspension hadn't been tightened up properly and everything was moving about. Cut off and replaced, and all the weird noises; the squeaking, the banging, the grinding, have stopped. 

So, my biggest concern with the car was solved very cheaply and yesterday's drive home from the garage, through traffic and in the rain, was by far my happiest since I picked up the car.

I'm feeling much more positive about it now.

8 minutes ago, SHEZZA said:

I think what @ZMANALEX is saying is to spray parts one at a time to diagnose where the problem lies so that then it can be replaced. That’s how I took it anyway 

Reading it again I think you're right. 

1 hour ago, Ogman said:

If I'm honest, sounds shock related...are you running standard suspension still? (It does look quite low already)

It's on HSDs, but no idea how old they are. I have the standard setup too but I don't know if they're decent. 

15 minutes ago, ZMANALEX said:

Get the car on a flat bed ramp and carry out the bounce test and at the same time soak all the underneath moving parts with WD40 or similar.

 

Continue bouncing and spraying until the tone of the squeak changes or disappears.  

Get rid of a squeak by oiling it? Sounds almost too easy 😂  Thanks, I'll give that a go before spending any money.

20 minutes ago, stevezzz said:

just drive the nuts off it! as i said it looks good if you got it cheap good for you  i didnt want one but ending up buying the first i saw but it was nice one and i love it

No, no. I've massively overpaid for it. But that's done, so now I have three choices; move it on for a loss; live with a car with more faults than I'd like; or get to work fixing them. 

Neither of the first two are acceptable so I'll just have to fix it. 

Hi all

Niggle no.1 on my Zed's long list of niggles to address is this squeaky noise:

https://youtu.be/x4PXkoudheg

I'm thinking of changing the droplinks first in the hope it's a cheap fix, but does anyone advise differently?

Thanks

For anyone interested I just reported this to the DVSA who were very interested in what I had to say. Having had the car fixed, I can't present it as evidence but I do have a couple of photos which I am sending over too. 👍

15 minutes ago, davey_83 said:

Which set of tyres did you go for, as Formula 1 garages do some good deals on sets of rubber.

I went for Eagle F1s. It was a toss up between those and PS4s 

I picked up the car today having had the work done. The manager there has a history of Japanese cars (primarily S-bodies) so I asked him his thoughts on the Zed. Condition-wise it's not perfect but "one of the better ones we've seen", he's very comfortable that's it's mechanically sound and general opinion was that it drove very well (I'm not quite sure how many had a go 🤔).

So aside from remaining gentle on the new brakes, I had the confidence to push slightly harder. There are still a few squeaks and groans over bumps that I hadn't expected but a lot of the noise has disappeared with the new wheel bearing.  I'm pleased to report that she's absolutely lovely to drive - super responsive and turns in beautifully. It's never going to win a concours but I'm much happier tonight. 

In terms of the MOT Centre I'm going to call DVSA tomorrow to discuss. I'll let you know.

This is turning into quite a long welcome thread isn't it?

Thanks @Azurez33 and @Mikey_S

The underside is rusty but it's a Japanese sportscar and having come from MX5s, I'm hard to shock with rust but I don't know how bad it is by 350Z standards.  The rear arches do have signs of rust - a few small bubbles and you can see an orange tint to the paintwork on the nearside.  I've been under the car and got pictures when it was being inspected so I'll look at those videos and compare. 

I get very attached to cars and I'd bought this expecting to keep it long-term but I'm gong to have to think carefully about value versus expenditure. I'm in far too deep to back out anytime soon, so for now I think it's just a case of hoping I get a few years of fun with little additional outlay.

Dammit, I didn't need a car - this was supposed to be fun.

7 minutes ago, Loadmaster said:

Did the selling garage not give you any form of warranty?

If only, but it was a private sale so I'd be harassing an MOT centre 400 miles away about an check they performed for the previous owner. I really don't think I'll get far. 

I fully accept I took a bit of a risk, lessons learned and all that...

7 hours ago, ShortPaul said:

How did it get through the mot i would be contacting the garage and quizzing them on how it passed 

I dunno, either it was MOT'd by Stevie Wonder or the tester turned a blind eye for a pint. It's a shame as a clean first-time MOT was a big reassurance when deciding to take a gamble. 

My guys wanted to instigate some sort of formal procedure but we're outside of the two week period. Angry though I am making a call will not get me anywhere and then I'll end up even more annoyed.

The things that need replacing are things that would probably get done eventually anyway. I'm trying to look at it as upfront running costs!

The work's being done tomorrow, so I'll let you know the outcome. 

On 27/02/2021 at 12:20, Mikey_S said:

 Fingers crossed it's just routine maintenance stuff that needs doing 

Well, I visited my local F1 centre over the weekend. It should never have passed its MOT early last month, they were quite angry. Needs 4 new tyres, rear discs and pads, a new wheel bearing and a replacement track rod end. When the car's up in the air you can literally shake ithe wheel about so hopefully the bearing is what's causing the noise.  £1400 in the first week - if it doesn't solve the problem I'm in even deeper. 

On 26/02/2021 at 21:24, Azurez33 said:

Welcome mate she looks nice, was it garaged during its time? if not I’d be checking underneath for the crustyness

I don't think it's been garaged but I won't be able to garage it either (mrs bee won't sacrifice the gym). There's definitely rust underneath, it ain't pretty but I've no idea how it compares to Zeds of a similar age though!

On the positive side, I've never had a car which has got such positive reactions: everyone loves it. Even my wife hates it less than either of us anticipated.

@ShortPaul well, I reckon at some point it's had a cheapo respray, there are points where the paint is peeling to reveal other paint beneath, if it carries on it'll need re-respraying. And then there are the noises. I know these cars make the occasional weird noise but much of the time it honestly sounds like something's falling off, to the point where I was on my hand and knees at the roadside earlier. I think my first proper drive will be to somewhere with a ramp!

I have spent a lot of time staring at it out of the window though.