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This would probably work better if people interested ticked (x) then against the biggest "ticked item" Z1auto can them give an idea of costs , shipping etc... after that people can decide if they go ahead or not... how about this for a start... (use this to pick tick against it...) Exhaust NISMO Exhaust GReddy Exhaust HKS Exhaust Borla Exhaust Invidia test pipes Turbo XS test pipes Invidia Rear Limited Slips (Cusco ) "Swaybars" Hotchkis "Swaybars" Cusco Coilovers Tein Coilovers JIC Coilovers Bilstein High Flow Cats , Ultimate Racing Wheels Nismo Wheel Rays K&N Typhoon If anyone has got any other items they can proceed to add them, and maybe this can work better for all of us.

I've bought the touch up kit and the spray can kit (colour and lacquer) for GM. The touch up kit is great, but i never used the brush provided, i was recommended to get some masking tape, make a "finger cone" dip the tip lightly and gently fill the chip... tiny amounts fill a large amount... works a treat! The spray cans have been used to cover a minor indiscretion on the front bumper ( until I can get it professionally done...) and though about colour coding my mobile fone fascia...

95% is not good enough... they should be operating a minimum 3 sigma process capability (99.73%) , the plant here can achieve it... i don't see why they cannot achieve this in Japan... and I am not saying the 100microns is the average...but more the lower limit of production, I do not have factual information but it is "well" informed guess Anyway... as I said, it is my opinion, I would be very dissapointed with Nissan. And just to prove this I will measure my car... I'll let you know honestly... If it is 80 microns I will sell the car and get myself a Beemer.

There will be a design standard which the factory have to adhere to. They will then design a process which can achieve the required standards. The process will be trialled during the development of the vehicle. The capability assesed and the go ahead given when the processed is tuned to the required spec. Also not every single one but there will be regular checks, to ensure the process 'within the limits' I am not sure of the exact paint process in Tochigi Factory but I am pretty sure it will be extremely capable (Japan customers are well known to have much less tolerance for paint defects on cars than Europeans), and they manufacture other high end models in the same factory. It will be highly robotised, so the consistency from one car to the next will be very good.

SPC is to understand where the manufactruing process is in relation to the nominal condition. With SPC you have an upper control limit and a lower control limit ... If the process is below the lower control limit ( for paint thickness in this case) the parts are not to design intent. The part etc... is defective, and as such it would be reworked at the end of the line or the the vehicle scrapped and start again. As far as I know the lower control limit for Nissan would be the sum of the nominal thickness - tolerance ... and this I am pretty sure will be 100microns or greater...I am not exactly sure of the dimensions. So my point is Nissan will not manufacture anything that goes below the lower control limit , and definetely not 20% less than LCL. I am not even considering the fact of measuring "x" amount of cars and finding, finding a mean and deciding if on average the cars are "in process" Will Nissan try to manufacture close to the Lower control limit(but still above on average)? yes, because that will save paint etc... will they manufacture an 80 micron paint system... I don't think so.

I am not talking about SPC ... As I said I am pretty sure the Z will not have 80 microns paint thickness on the main surfaces, Every dimension on a car has a +/- tolerance from nominal. If you picked the minimum thickness specified by Nissan for all the paint coats applied it will all add to more that 100microns... Now if you want to argue that Nissan build to the lower control limit I will probably agree with you, but if you tell me that Nissan are building cars outside of tolerance, by such a large amount I will continue to be dubious about this fact.

VW obtained a legendary reliability name thanks to the Mk1 and Mk2 Golf and they ride on that history, very good marketing... but I will say they are good well engineered cars ... Apart from that the driver sits in the centre of the car and has no boot and the biggest dash panel i have ever seen ... but always worth checking for any major items such as recalls http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recall ... search.asp VW had a bit of an issue with O2 sensors and even issued a recal in the US I cannot remember if they did it in Europe (they don't necessarily need to ... different laws..) 1999, 2000 and 2001 model year Volkswagen Golf, Jetta and New Beetle. Engines Involved: 4 cylinder 2.0L gasoline Total Number of US Vehicles: 324,000 (85,000 from State of California) Description of Problem: Vehicles may have a malfunctioning Heated Exhaust Gas Oxygen Sensor (O2 sensor) which causes higher levels of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide than Federal emission standards allow.

As far as I know the paint standards of Nissan are comparable to other makers , namely Toyota, and other models... I know this does not resolve the above issue, but i have measured paint thickness and i know these machines are extremely sensitive and can give miss-readings and go out of calibrations very easily... I will accept that potentially you could get close to 100microns, if the worst case thickness occurred for ED coat surfacer base coat (colour) and clear coat, but the potential of getting 4 different process at bottom end of tolerance in one single car I find statistically very difficult to accept but definetely I doubt very much the 80 microns figure...

Think also when Nissan develop a car they establish not only power outputs... They have to balance the whole performance aspects . Extra power will/can reduce the consumption figures , this then has an effect in homologation issues, other effects are engine noise , ESP tuning, ABS tuning, and even down to cabin noise, booming noise, air intake noise, transmission durability, heat damaqe to surrounding parts etc... etc... a whole host of performance index...which may or maynot be directly related to engine performance The engine ECU will be design to achieve a power output which has been deemed suitable to be competitve against other models out there... but also and more importantly it will be designed to assure the reliability of the engine and components to say some stupid figure such as 500 thou miles ... and to ensure other vehicle targets are not affected ( mainly things like noise, vibration, harnsness...) From this perspective if your focus is power , then it is possible to sacrifice other performance aspects ( noise, comfort etc..) and get some modest gains.... but again Nissan will optimise the best performance from the engine, so generating more power will generate more heat and stress which inherently will decrese the long term durability of the engine... (1000bhp R34 requires a lot more love and care than a std R34... right?) So a remap professionally done aiming to achieve small power output should be ok... so long as the guys KNOW what they are doing. "Rawhide re-maps" would not be my choise of places to go and tamper with ECU settings...

Sl114 since you already ask... tell him you have a friend who lives in Cascais near Lisbon and that he's willing to go and check the car in portugal on you behalf... Ask him for the address of the transport company depot, and also if he's willing to accept a moneygram in Euros from your cousin who lives in Nigeria but would like to drive one of these even if the steering is on the right... , and instead of transporting to UK if he would transport to Nigeria... GO ON ...

FORD heated screens have very very thin filament type wire in the glass in front of you... allegedly they are so thin that during normal driving you are not meant to see them or obstruct your vision. However you can see them if you look closely and once you spot them, you cannot ovoid noticing them and then they become a nuisance. I never knew Nissan had this technology... in fact I am a bit sceptical about this... (as I have seen a few Nissans (JDM included and Infiniti's) and I am pretty sure Nissan do not apply this technology), unless a heated screen actually means a screen with a electric heated element in the base near the winscreen vents, which can be activated in advance of the heater system being fully operational, and this heated element heats the the area near to the wiper baldes and air going out to the windscreen, from the start of the vehicle running.

I used to ride MTB quite a lot... but 4 years ago I got this job and suddenly i lost any concept of social life... Also in the last two bikes I bulti them myself from scratch speccing' every single component. I have a great ride in the garage, gathering dust... and in the last 4 years I have gone from: Being designed for speed... to being designed for Comfort...

your mates are Tw@ts a couple of my mates reckon they look like truck door handles...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I think you get marginal improvement in fuel consumption... in theory... 70 litre tank 95pence for 95 RON = 66.5 pounds 99pence for 98 RON = 68.6 pounds 4 p difference x 70, 280pence... = 3litres extra of fuel...of 95RON 3 litres at 19mpg 95RON gives 12.6 miles extra but ...if you improve the fuel consumption with 98 RON by 1mpg... 95 RON and 19mpg and 70 litres = 19x(70/4.5)= 294 miles 98 RON and 20mpg and 70 litres = 310 miles If you can get 1mpg more with the better fuel you could get an extra 16miles per tank... The difference (12.5 extra miles running on 95 or 16 miles extra running on better fuel...) is minimal... and that's if you can get 1 mpg extra performance ... Captain geek has now put the calculator down...

The Zed engine can adjust the ignition timing forward and backwards to compensate for the fuel type, as such it will try and optimise the performance , hence you will not really notice any difference in performance . Advancing the ignition timing ( higher RON) i think will make the combustion process more efficient and maybe provide some improvement in power or fuel economy... Ferrari's (well italian cars ) i think you will find are designed to run on 95 ... as I remember from my old times in Honda... old Accord type R and integras suffered as they needed to run on 98 RON but italy had only 95 RON...(this is going back 4 years or so...) and the ignition timing could not compensate very well for the lower end of 95 RON fuels... ( no problems or anything but not running as H wanted it...) In summary ... everyday running will have no difference running 95 and 98 RON... engine can tolerate perfectly well 95 RON... if you want to guarantee absolute optimum performance ( track day etc... ) refuel a couple of times in advance of the track day with top stuff ... and perhaps reset the ECU.

I think differences between one an the other are purely down to personal choices... the difference in performance not that bigger issue I think... unbiased tiptronic information http://www.carbibles.com/transmission_bible.html The tiptronic system may duplicate the shift lever motion of a sequential gearbox. However, because a tiptronic transmission is an automatic transmission at its core, it still has the torque converter and usually does not shift as quickly. But in the car park that are the UK roads... an A/T makes sense...

P1 9000 120 quid aprox. P2 18000 150 quid aprox. P1 27000 120 quid aprox. P3 36000 280 quid aprox. P1 45000 ... P2 54000 ... P1 63000 ... P3 72000280-300 quid specialised nissan garage will be cheaper... and since you are out of warranty ( me thinks...) it is not worth going to a nissan stealer ... but as people say here get the big service in... select your own oils etc...and then you have a clean sheet to start from... worth it

+1 michelin Pilot Sports tyres where my first mod after a couple of weeks using the Zed, and the bridgestones still had more than 4mm.!!! best mod yet...

These guys will do pretty much what you ask for - createmyplates.com TGH is one of my options for personalised plates (my initials!)... very cool...

34, WHY can't you sound your horn at horses when approaching the roundabout!!!!???

yeah i know.... Don't worry you can all have a first pick when I stack mine...

Now that it has been decided to scrap this vehicle...the scavengers start to appear.... Am i right in thinking there is a "donor" vehicle in some scrapyard near the M11, if someone needed a few interior trim parts? If so do you know where the insurance people would put this vehicle...?

when I get some dosh I will get bilsteins...but they will be the same spec as GT-S ... not the std off the shelf bilsteins... No spring change, no lowering... simply better handling on UK roads... That's what I heard anyway... If you ask bilstein direct and say you want the same spec as the Nissan GT-S version... I think they will make a custom set for you. But if you are after a stiffer ride "race feel" they will probably not be for you...