James Junior

By the way, what time are people aiming to arrive on Saturday the 23rd to get parked up on stand? I am not camping (going to posh it up and get a hotel locally!) but would like to spend some time with you all one stand and perhaps have a few beers that evening before I grab a cab back to the hotel.

P.S. Thank you 370Ad for organising this, I am sure it has taken quite a bit of time and effort to coordinate everything, much appreciated.

1. 370Ad - Stand Pass + Track Time - PAID 2. MrsNiki - Stand Pass only - PAID 3. Rickdon - Stand Pass - PAID 4. Stuggerz - Stand Pass only PAID 5. Valy - Stand Pass - PAID 6. glrnet -Stand Pass - PAID 7. octet - Stand Pass - PAID 8. Chippychip123- Stand Pass PAID 9. Ozzy225 - Stand Pass + Track time - PAID 10. Shezza - Stand Pass - PAID 11. Roobies8 - Stand Pass only PAID 12. AdamTSmith350 - Stand Pass only 13. Garygranite - Stand Pass 14. Chizzz - Stand Pass - PAID 15. Tea and Wax - Stand pass 16. SherlockH -Stand Pass & Track Time 17. Paul K - Stand Pass - PAID 18. Dean_m Stand Pass PAID 19. SYY - stand pass and track time PAID 20. Wendy - Stand Pass- PAID 21. WINKJ - Stand Pass PAID 22. Lloydshaw - Stand Pass PAID 23. Condor109 - Stand Pass 24. harryjackson - Stand Pass & (maybe) Track Time - PAID 25. Beagle - Stand Pass & (maybe) track time 27. crute/higgins350z - stand - PAID 28. GreenLandy - stand + track - PAID 29. choptop - Stand Pass 30. Rich260- stand pass - PAID 31. Shire350z - stand pass 32. Justthejedi - stand pass PAID 33. AmyZed - stand pass 34. Kraziekatz1 - stand pass PAID 35. Jakeswheelbarrow - stand pass PAID 36. Flex - Stand (Maybe) 37. Bobby D - stand pass - PAID 38. ZeppoJeff - Stand Pass (work depending) 39. zzzeady -stand pass 40. davey83 - Stand Pass & Track Time PAID 41. Mikey Thompson - Stand Pass PAID 42. Aaronc350z - Stand Pass 43. Durk - Stand Pass PAID 44. jhobbs90- Stand Pass PAID 45. mattbrettell- Stand Pass PAID 46. Ryanbatch - stand pass - PAID 47. Smc1992 (Scott) - Stand pass - PAID 48. Jam87ie - stand pass- PAID 49. Longsh07 - Stand pass - PAID 50. Newkid - Stand pass -PAID 51. SUPRAWOOKIE - Stand Pass PAID 52. Rs2oo - Stand Pass PAID 53. Nismoandy - Stand Pass 54. Debsterh - stand pass paid 55. GizmoGold - Stand Pass - PAID 56. Edd20022 - Stand Pass - PAID 57. SYY (R33 GTR)- Stand Pass PAID 58. scottdky - Stand Pass - PAID 59. Spatt - Stand Pass - PAID 60. Mr P - Stand Pass - PAID 61. BOINC UK - Stand Pass - Paid 62. Low IQ - Stand Pass - PAID 63. Curtis - Stand Pass - PAID 64. Macky - Stand Pass - PAID 65. James Junior - Stand Pass - PAID (sorry to be one of the stragglers, been meaning to sort this for ages, hope I can still get a spot on stand!)

01 MrsNiki + 1 - Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 02 Buster and Mrs Buster - Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 03 Andy and Katrina - Hotel booked 04 ATTAK Z - Sunday drive + lunch (Hope I'll be able to keep up in my non-Zed ) 05 Paul K and Mrs K - Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 06 Davedutch and Mrs - no need for hotel 07 Shezza + 1 - Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 08 Jetset + 1 - Hotel booked 3rd June 09 Spoons + 1 - Hotel to be booked tomorrow. (brand new Z owners, looking forward) 10 Mr & Mrs N13gey - Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 11 Stoker 11 + 1 - Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 12 Brummiestormer No hotel needed 13 Gudzy No hotel required (Not in a zed) 14 Spatt No hotel needed (looking forward to both drives and I'll be around on the Saturday night) 15 350zedd + 1 Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 16 Zedd. Hotel booked 3rd/4th June 17 James Junior - will book hotel shortly Niki - will you be dividing the groups into those who are looking for a spirited drive and those who would prefer to take it easy? If so I would prefer to be in the former...

Geeze these still haven't gone? They looked in good condition when I saw them last. Really surprised none of the 350 guys haven't snapped them up. Time for an eBay auction? I'm sure the last set I saw go on eBay with tyres went for over a grand.

Hey guys sorry for being a bad thread-starter by opening up the debate and then not returning! It's been a busy few weeks... So basically I was dissuaded from fitting the exhaust wrap by the guys at a Demon Tweeks who said they had wrapped quite a few HFCs and never known it make them quieter. They only stood to gain from selling it to me and fitting it, so I respected their candour. No disrespect intended to the person who kindly suggested this as it sounds like it worked for you. So basically after some research and a testimonial from Josh I've decided to go down the route of fitting Motordyne ART pipes. If I can find some that is. Does anyone know of a UK supplier?

Hey René, Just thought I'd check in as hadn't looked at your build thread for a while. You're engineering talents never cease to amaze me, especially given you're self taught! That custom boost gauge is incredible. Can't wait to see the twin turbo install come together. It's also reassuring that I'm not the only one with an insanely loud exhaust set up! I'm thinking of going the Motordyne route to replace the Berks as mated to a Cobra exhaust and Stillen G3 they make the car ridiculously noisy and much like yours on cold start. Are you free last Sunday of Feb for a get together at RSV? There's a breakfast meet planned and trying to get a convoy together to meet at Knutsford services and then head down. Would be great to see your latest mods first hand, plus I've made a few changes to my car which you might like.

Evening dudes, Thanks for your further comments. I must remember to bring my dyno graphs to work tomorrow and upload them. My numbers are similar but my lines nothing like as smooth as Rich's. Quite agree with Josh. The first thing I think when I get a new car doesn't tend to be 'lets get my bone stock car on the rollers!' That said, I suppose for those of us with rempant modifying addictions it really should, so we can monitor what performance improvements (if any) our hobby/ affliction/ stupidity nets us.

Hi Asad, Please could I order a set of front and rear emblems? Regards James

I wouldn't fancy doing it myself. The last time I tried messing with an electrical job was on a old MR2 Turbo around 10 years ago. I took the whole dash to pieces and wired in some new clocks. After putting everything back together again I realised I had wired up the sidelights so they were permanently on and had to take it all to pieces again. I got it all working properly but it took hours! From that point onwards I vowed to stick to what I am good at and pay people to do things that aren't my strong suit! At the Ace Cafe meet John introduced me to the chap who did his headlights - his name escapes me though. I have his card pinned to my fridge at home. However I thought the price was a bit steep at £400 (not sure if this was inc or ex VAT) plus the cost of the halos. Also John showed me his headlights recently and one was starting to mist up and it looked like they hadn't been re-sealed very well. Other than that I don't know of anyone in the UK who is doing them. Time for another thread asking around maybe? I am very keen to have mine done. I want black insides with white halos.

Thanks for all your responses guys, much appreciated! Jet Pilot - as it happens my car is going into Demon Tweeks next week for the KW V3s to be fitted, so I have bought some exhaust wrap from them and have asked them to whip the HFCs off and wrap them whilst the car is up on the ramp. I will report back on the outcome! Thanks for the suggestion. If that still doesn't do the trick then Josh I will try your suggestion with the Motordyne ART pipes. My MOT testers are definitely a friendly bunch so I am sure we can come to some arrangement, or at least keep my old cats in their store room for when the time comes... I will keep you all updated, thanks again for all the feedback chaps.

Thank you for taking the time to post all that - very interesting. The dyno used when my car was remapped was a more conventional 'rolling road' type not a hub-mounted one as I have used in the past. Your graph and figures look very similar to mine (thought I suppose it should do!). I will bring my dyno graph into the office with me tomorrow to scan and upload it as a comparator. Like you say, the figures are only really for bragging rights I guess, though it is nice to verify that the money you have spent has at least had some proveable impact! Yes it does drive better for sure - the best way to describe it is that it just feels a bit burlier.

Morning all, Sorry for the long winded post, I just wanted to explain how I have come to this point in the hope of gathering some advice. I have been adding some breathing goodies to my Z over the course of a few months trying to make it sound better and tease out a few extra horses. My intention was to find a set up that gave me stock levels of quietness when cruising and on part throttle, but more drama when pressing on. After much research, firstly I fitted a Cobra exhaust and Y pipe. This made the car sound fantastic and was pretty much everything I wanted in terms of sound - quiet off-load but with a lovely burbly roar on open throttle. However, looking at some sound videos taken by a friend who followed me on some sections of a Euro driving tour I did, the car still sounded a bit subdued. So I added some Cobra HFCs to the mix, having read that HFCs would only make the car marginally louder. WRONG. Holy crap, they were insanely loud! They did definitely make the car feel noticeably quicker to me in the mid and higher rev range though. After coking up they got a bit queiter, but were still too loud for me for daily use. I then fitted a Stillen G3 and this made no difference to the sound at all - it was as if the HFCs were so loud they drowned out any increased induction roar. The problem was that I was now liking the slight increase in power, so I wanted to go quieter without losing the HFCs as they were the single most effective modification in power terms, according to my 'butt-dyno' as the Yanks like to say. So, I tried replacing the Cobra HFCs with a set of Berk HFCs. These were marginally quieter, but if I am honest, they are still too loud for me. It is not just the loudness, but the nature of the sound. Around the mid-range they emit a coarse metallic buzz that is so loud it turns heads. To me it sounds a bit chavvy and completely drowns out the lovely burble of the Cobra exhaust at certain points in the rev range. I had the car remapped via Uprev and it turned out it was overfuelling a touch. With this rectified via the map the noise did actually improve a little, with less trumpety blare. However, I am still not entirely happy. Further adding to my concerns, I was at Oulton Park on Friday and the car only marginally scraped through the static sound test. On track I could barely hear the instructor as he gave me instructions sat next me during my tuition session. (although he did say it sounded awesome!) So for those that haven't dozed off reading my life story, I am looking for any alternatives to try to keep the performance gains of the HFCs as I don't want to go back to stock-cats, but do want to get rid of the blarey sound around the mid range. I have read a bit about Motordyne ART pipes, but don't really understand what these are if I am honest. I have also read something about Motordyne XYZ pipes too, but again am not really sure what these are either! Can anyone give me any advice please? I would really appreciate your input.

Morning ladies and gents, I was hoping to draw upon the knowledge of those with experience of tuning 370Zs... I have been tinkering with mine over the past few months and have fitted: - Cobra cat back exhaust and Y pipe - Berk HFCs - Stillen G3 intake After these were fitted I had the car remapped via Uprev. My final dyno figures at the flywheel were 346 bhp and 300 lb ft of torque. Thats approximately a 5% increase in power and a 10% increase in torque. Whilst I managed my expectations throughout as I am long enough in the tooth to know that NA tuning is a fools errand, I was still a tad disappointed with those figures as I was expecting power nearer the 360bhp mark based on anecdotal evidence from other forum posts (both here and Stateside). That said, I don't have any benchmark figures as to what my car was running as stock. I am curious to know how my dyno figures stack up against other peoples' experiences?

Hi buddy, thanks for reporting back. Sounds promising and love the subtle drop they have given the car. Mine should be going on next week hopefully so will add my own feedback when the time comes. I have seen other pics of that black car you have posted. I love the whole stealth look with just the yellow accents on the wheels. That ING front lip is beautiful! I am adding a Stillen front lip plus some of Tarmac's side and rear diffusers to mine once the drop is sorted and I am confident I won't rip them off on the first speed bump I encounter!

Look forward to hearing your feedback mate. I'm sure some of our more technically minded members will have some input for you. My KWs have arrived at Demon Tweeks so hoping to get in to have them fitted next week. Josh - every bloody banner ad on my browser now seems to want to sell me Ohlins suspension for some reason since our discussions on here the other week! Are yours in yet?

They look great - love receiving boxes of shiny tuning goodies in the post.

Right then, a set of KW V3s have been ordered today from Demon Tweeks - they stuck to their deal at £1,230 inc VAT. (Or thereabouts, I forget the exact pennies and pounds) If anyone else is interested ask to speak to Craig and mention this thread and I'm sure he will accommodate you. For now anyway, not sure how long they'll be able to get pricing support from KW for as it's a result of the euro/ sterling exchange rate at present... I've actually opted to have mine fitted by Demon Tweeks too, as they're nearby in Wrexham and I'm told they have fitted and set up numerous sets before. They quoted a really good price for fitting and geo too. I'll be sure to report back once their fitted and let you all know how it goes.

Sorry, but thats a ridiculous statement - even from the cars mentioned in this thread an M6, Maserati, 911 and a Mustang are all totally different experiences, even my current 4 seater is capable of performance very similar to a GTR but delivers it in a totally different way. You dont have to drive everywhere at 10/10ths either ......... which is where the GTR falls down for me, its doesnt feel special when doing 45 mph like a Maserati does. On paper its thirsty, unreliable, underpowered, poorly built and expensive to run. It looks nice, but does that make it more of a "Gentleman's car" than an XKR which does everything better for half the money, or a Cayman that does everything twice as well for the same money? Maybe Im old fashioned, but if youre spending a big lump of money like this you need to get out and try each option rather then relying on hearsay and conjecture. Im pretty confident if you did that youd end up with the Maserati but discounting a 40K sportscar because its "too fast" is mental. When I was 22 I owned a modified MR2 Turbo. It was rapaciously fast. The acceleration below 100mph was savage and quicker than anything else I have owned to this day. After I sold it I test drove an S2000, RX8 and 350Z and they all felt slow and boring by comparison. Those were quick cars in their day, but having too much power too soon had left me jaded. A change of career then pushed me into diesels for a few years, after which I then vowed to take my time as I began to work my way through more focused cars so I could enjoy every step up in power. I've met a number of GTR owners who've said they've been spoiled by their cars and don't know where to go next as other cars feel slow by comparison. The guy who remapped my Z at RS Tuning had actually gone to a diesel pickup after his GTR to try to cleanse his pallet so as to be able to enjoy other cars again. I'd rather not be put in that position again. So I don't feel it's a ridiculous statement at all - it's my opinion based on my experience. Clearly you have a different opinion, but I'm not sure why that makes you feel the need to trample on mine. As for the Aston I don't know any other marque with such a classy and refined image.

Welcome - hope you enjoy your new car. First up: exhaust!

Interesting thread - I am considering the same choices for my next motor after I am done with the 370Z. I have decided I won't go the GTR route for the simple reason that it is too soon and will spoil my enjoyment of anything else that follows. Once you have tasted that sort of performance I am sure everything sub-hypercar just feels slow. I am delierately taking my time in gradually moving onto incrementally quicker cars so as to enjoy and savour each stage of the journey. I think for me on paper the Aston looks like the winner as it is such a classy thing - a gentleman's car. The Maser is also appealing but to me however the lines look a bit bulbous from certain angles. I think if I were you I would save a little longer to ensure a the budget could stretch to the later 4.7 Aston or Maser as these are reportedly a lot more car for the money and address some of the earlier cars' failings. Either way hopefully redundancy does not impact you and you can make the step when the time comes. Will be interested to see how this unfolds.

Hi Taff, I have these on my Z. They will work fine without the car being remapped and should pass an MOT. However, they may trigger a fault code and cause the EMS light to be displayed on the dashboard as the HFCs confuse some of the sensors assocated with the exhaust system. A remap is not required, but it is a means to disable the fault codes and prevent them reoccuring (removing the EMS light from the display) whilst ensuring the car takes full advantage of the improved air flow they create. This is a great price for a new set. I paid £300 delivered for mine and they were second hand. Of all the breather mods I fitted, the HFCs were the only one that made the car feel noticeably quicker to me.

Morning all, I am about to push the button on a set of KW V3 coilovers. I have read that KW provide recommended settings for the coilovers. Can any existing users confirm this? If they do, are settings specific to the individual vehicle or just general for road and track use? Also could any existing users share some information about the settings you are running and what your experience is with regard to ride height, rubbing, ride quality and handling versus stock please? Hopefully this will help me get mine set up, whilst providing a useful point of reference for others considering going down the same route. Regards James

Ah so you went for Ohlins Josh? Will be interesting to hear what they're like. Nic - are you getting involved with a set of KWs?

I did quite a bit of research into suspension components for my previous Alfa Brera and Z4 Coupe. I believe you may want too look into a set of Koni FSD dampers if you want better handing but with stock ride height and comfort. http://www.koni.com/car-racing/products/performance/ These dampers are designed to be combined with standard springs and might fit the bill. They were very popular with the Alfa Owner crowd. P..S. Just wanted to point out I didn't end up fitting them personally as I went with lowered suspension in both cases. I have heard a lot of good things about them however. Hope this helps.