Ekona

It's 8 years old!

Hoax and old.

Ask and ye shall receive As far as comparisons go, I haven't driven the 911 enough yet to make a fair one. I'll have more of an idea in a couple of weeks time once I've done a trackday in her.

You have no idea how right you are! I'm standing outside looking at the car and the salesman goes "Doesn't she look beautiful? Look how clean she is!" and I'm thinking to myself "Good god, has this car ever seen a clay bar?!"

A front end can never be too pointy

Over the course of my ownership period of my 350Z Roadster I spent a good few pounds and hours on modifying it to erase some of the niggles it had as stock, and also to improve it as a drivers' tool. In the following thread I'll talk about what I chose, why I chose it and the actual difference it made to the car. I'll try and be as honest with my opinion as I can, but will try and keep the technical speak to a minimum so that everyone can understand it. I'm only going to focus on the performance side of the mods I did, as the aesthetic stuff is even more down to personal opinion. Again, long thread is long so grab that coffee or Red Bull now Probably a good idea to start with exactly what I didn't like about the car really, which actually wasn't a whole lot. I did my research well when buying it and I knew what I wanted from the car and what I expected from it, which made the modification choice perhaps a bit easier than it might otherwise have been. Whilst the Zed ragtop is no doubt a fun car, it's also stupidly heavy (1780KG with a full tank and driver) and suffers a fair bit from losing the solid roof. The brakes are average at best and very poor when used on track, and the RE040 tyres it comes on just aren't good enough for a keen driver. That said, the balance of the car is wonderful and with the 296bhp engine there's plenty of revs to play with as well as low-down grunt, and that's a great start to work on. BRAKES As said, the stock brakes are a bit poor. They're probably fine for the people that treat their Zed as something to look good in, or as an A to B car for work use, but as mine was purely a weekend car I rely heavily on having a decent setup that I can work with. My budget for brakes certainly didn't cover the thousands needed for a BBK, and tbh unless the car is spending a lot of time on track or is running serious power then a six-pot or bigger brake setup is a little over kill. My use demanded brakes that could cope with 3-4 trackdays a year, and probably 10K miles of fast road driving without squeal or fade. The first thing to do was to add some braided hoses to improve the feel from the pedal as the stock rubber one expands under heat and heavy use, and having used Goodridge lines before that's where my money went. The feel wasn't as noticeable as I'd hoped if I'm honest, however I did this fairly early on in the car's life and so I think that after a few trackdays this would've really shown to be a worthwhile mod. Another key point of heavy brake use is controlling the brake fluid temps, as when it gets too hot you can boil the fluid and be left with absolutely zero stopping power which clearly isn't an option, especially on track. At the same time as changing the brake lines, I changed the fluid to Motul RBF600 which has a far higher boiling point than Nissan OEM stuff. This gave a noticeable difference when under heavy and repeated braking, and yet I still wasn't entirely happy with it. The RBF600 seems to work better on lighter cars (I'd previously used it on my MR2 and VXR220) but the weight of the Zed was working against it, so I searched out the best stuff you can get and ended up with the Endless RF-650. This is about as good as you can get full stop, and is used in both current F1 cars and the 911 Cup race cars, so if it was good enough for them then it was good enough for me! Once I tried this I decided that I'll never use anything else again, it's completely brilliant and practically boil-proof. Then again, at about £150 for the brake system on the 350Z it wanted to be. Once the basics were done, it was time to look at pad and disc upgrades. I started off by using the stock discs but with the Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads all round, which were recommended to me by Big Phil at ESR as the best pads you could get with no exceptions. Again, not a cheap upgrade but even at £400 for the set it proved to be a great addition as both stopping power and fade were greatly reduced, and far more than I'd hoped for truth be told. There was no squealing that you can get with high-spec pads, and initial bite from cold was still very good: One application and you were there. That said, I still wasn't satisfied and went looking for something a bit extra as the pads were starting to eat the discs noticeable, and seeing as how I'd already got the PF pads I went for their front discs as well. Not only were they great to look at, but there was a massive reduction in stopping distance over prolonged track use and it really gives you the confidence to brake as late as possible. Maybe it's a tad overbraked for normal road use, but for any kind of track work these were an absolute godsend. £550 from Zmanalex, and probably as good a brake setup as you'll get without spending the daft money I spoke about at the top. Even friends who were driving 800kg cars with 260bhp were astounded by just how sharply my car would pull up when you jumped on the brakes. CHASSIS/SUSPENSION As much as Nissan tried to engineer it out, if you cut the roof off a car it is going to flex more on the chassis regardless of how much bracing you put on it. You can, however, get a fair bit more out than Nissan did... I'd seen a bracing kit for the Zed when at JAE back in 2008 and was quite taken with it, but no-one could tell me if it fitted the Roadster. Luckily a set came up for a price I couldn't resist and so I took a chance and bought a complete 4-piece Summit Underbody Bracing Kit. You had one bar that connected the two front suspension points, two for the rear to sit fore and aft of the driveshafts, and one massive cross brace for the centre of the car to reduce flex there. I fitted the kit in stages to test what each different bit would do to the car which proved to be a great choice. First to be fitted was the front brace, which essentially mimics what the strut brace in the engine bay does by almost completely removing any movement from the front end at all under cornering. As such, what it gave the car was a massive increase in pointability, and instead of the steering feeling a bit numb I was getting a massive amount of feedback which in turn gives you the confidence to push on a bit more. Understeer was increased but that's to be expected really. The two rear braces went on next, and that soon killed any understeer I had induced from the front brace addition. The best way I can describe the difference the rear braces made is to liken the car to a 911 in that you could get on the power ridiculously early, and it felt like you had a huge lump of weight pressing down on the rear giving you the extra traction. Suddenly I had a car that was both pointy but also neutral with plenty of power oversteer if I wanted it, and far more progressive than stock. Trouble was, the car still flexed in the middle until I fitted that massive cross brace I spoke about earlier... A pain to fit? Yeah, it was, but that's because the forward holes don't have a thread in them in the chassis so you have to use these arms with a nut attached to them (very hard to describe!), however a bit of fiddling and they were in. It was as if someone had given me a brand new car again, but one with a fully welded chassis such was the difference. No more scuttle shake, no more wobbling, and the gains I'd gotten from the front and rear braces were magnified again as they were no longer taking up any of the slack left in the chassis. Even the guys at Abbey commented on how solid the car felt with them on, and they've driven enough Zeds to know what they're talking about. I still can't believe that the Summit kit is such a rare modification for people to do, as really it should be the very first thing to go on the car IMHO. Around mid-way through my ownership I grounded the car quite badly on some country lanes and knocked the alignment out quite badly, way beyond what the OEM suspension adjustment could sort out so I purchased a pair of Cusco front A-arms and a pair of Eibach adjustable camber arms. With stock settings there is no difference between these and the OEM ones, and if anything these add a little weight! However, they do allow you to run some incredibly aggressive settings with regards to toe and camber, and I was able to get a very good setting between fast road and pure track that allowed me to maximise my grip out of corners, albeit at the expense of tyre wear. DMS are the guys to see for a quality alignment in this department, Dixon tailored the car to exactly what I wanted. WHEELS/TYRES I've never seen the point of buying a performance car and then putting rubbish tyres on it, usually accompanied by some power upgrades, as all you do is blunt the performance of the car at the one point where you will get the most from it, which is where rubber meets tarmac. If all you ever do to a car is fit some decent tyres, you'll be massively quicker round a track than someone who's got an extra 10% power increase on his car. It really is that important. When I killed off the RE040s that came with the car, I decided early on to settle for nothing less than the best, regardless of cost. I didn't want to go for trackday specials (like the R888s) quite yet as I felt there was a better compromise to be had, and after speaking to a couple of people on here who had similar budgets for tyres as myself I went for the Michelin Pilot Sport 2s. At over £1000 fitted they were not cheap, and yet within a few hundred miles it was easy to see that they were worth that cost. Dry grip was insane, getting as close to trackday special rubber as you could reasonably expect, but the real difference was in the wet. They simply refused to aquaplane full stop, and even at track speeds in over an inch of standing water they were still giving me grip above and beyond what would be considered sensible! As if that wasn't enough, and sometimes outright grip isn't always enough, they gave me feedback that was as if they were sat next to me in the car telling me what the road conditions were like. "Careful Dan, this corner's got a hidden dip in it" or "The inside line is a bit slippy, go wider by six inches" I could almost hear them whisper to me. Slightly weird hallucinations aside, there simply is no better tyre for the Zed as far as I'm concerned. The RE050As do come very close, and might have a bit more grip, but they don't have the feedback the Michelins do. With track use comes track tyres, and also track wheels. I kept my eyes out for a set of 18" OEM wheels which I intended to drop some R888s on and use purely for track. They looked as ugly as sin on the car, but that was irrelevant really as it was only for the track. The one downside is the extra weight the OEMs carry over the Rays wheels, and as much as I thought it wouldn't make that much difference it really did. Acceleration was terribly blunted by the heavy wheels, and the turn in was also numbed and so I sold them on, and purchased a second set of Rays at a higher cost. I quickly sought a set of R888s to go on them (in 225/40 and 245/40 sizes) and set about making mincemeat of other cars. The guy I run a race MR2 with currently owns my old VXR220 and so I know just how good a driver he is, and even in his car with all the ability both he and the Elise chassis have I was leaving him for dead on roundabouts. He was on A039s which aren't crappy tyres either, but they still couldn't match what the Zed was doing. When on these tyres the car became even more of a laugh, as a car weighing that much has no right to corner as fast as it could. It was absolutely hysterically good fun! Interestingly, I had absolutely no issues running on those size tyres at all even with the TCS on: No sudden power kills, or the rear stepping out unexpectedly. Sure, the speedo was out by about 5mph but that's hardly a show stopper. And at that point, I made the decision to sell the car. I did put some Eibach ARBs front and back along with adjustable droplinks which I was hoping would give me much less roll in the corners but without having to change the suspension completely for something more extreme as I liked the way the stock springs and shocks rode. I believe that that's what I got, however they were only on for a few hundred miles and as such I didn't really get a chance to experience them properly so it would be a bit unfair to give them a full comparison. As you can see, I didn't bother ever chasing any power increases at all as chasing NA power gains gets very expensive very quickly with little returns, albeit I probably would've gone to see Abbey at some point for a reflash to smooth the power curve out. I feel that the car has enough power for what it is, and by getting the basics right you can end up with a car that is far quicker than one running big power. The only time I've longed for more power was on the Nurburgring, as that's where you really need it. On UK tracks and roads, 300bhp is ample and your gains come from elsewhere. As always, I'm sure that others will disagree with how I went about things and would argue that power is everything, and yet by following the oft-quoted but rarely-used saying "First make it stop, then make it corner, then make it go!" I ended up with a car that would embarrass cars both bigger and smaller in the corners where it counts. Any fool can build a car for power if you've got enough cash, but I found that putting together the appropriate and complementing parts to make it as nimble as possible was a far more rewarding experience for me.

Fair enough, I'll give it a go writing one this afternoon.

Crazy idea, but how about some work?

^^^ Truth.

Wow, thank you for the positive response guys! I only wrote it as a last minute thing before I went to bed last night as it was more for my own benefit than anything as it's always nice to look back, but I'm just glad that others have enjoyed it too. Oddly enough my first choice of profession when I was still at school 14 years ago was to be a journalist hence me taking A-Level English at college, but things don't always pan out as you'd wish. Writing is still a passion of mine, and although I tend to waffle at times it's always something I enjoy doing. Maybe I should drop Harry Metcalfe a note...! I'm not going to go into too much detail on the Summit bracing and the Popcharger here as they've been covered numerous times in the past, but suffice to say a search or a Google will reveal all. If there's a demand for a more performance-orientated thread on what I did to the car and why I chose certain components, I'm happy to write one.

I can appreciate a man who just buys a car on impulse

So today I finally said good bye to my Zed, and with it two and half years of owning what has been a genuinely brilliant car. As such, I thought it might be nice to look back on my time with the car and the direction I took it, along with the highs and lows of ownership. Probably going to be a long thread, so go grab a hot drink or something to keep you going After I'd finally decided that I could no longer live with my VXR220 any more in late 2007, I started to look for a new car. It had to be a convertible, it had to be RWD, and it had to be fun. My first test was in an S2000 and whilst I loved the drive and the engine, it simply wasn't comfortable for the larger gentleman and besides which I like my torquey engines. Previous to buying the VXR I'd already tried an early 350Z ragtop and enjoyed it, so that was my next stop. Within minutes of dropping the roof (in January!) and hearing the exhaust note, I knew that I was going to get one. I joined here and did a little research, and then found a mint MY06 GT Roadster in Azure Blue that was a Nissan dealership manager's car up for grabs with just 7K miles on the clock, and so in February 2008 I became the proud owner of OX06 JYY for the princely sum of £24000. A relative bargain back then, trust me! The whole package appealed to me really. I've never owned a traditionally good looking car so the awkwardness of the Zed with the roof up appealed to me, although clearly with the roof down it has far more appeal. The engine had the torque I craved and the extra couple of cylinders I needed, and I'd never owned an FR car before either so it was going to be fun to learn something different. The interior was a huge jump from the VXR and so I loved it, with heated seats and cruise control and an impressive stereo. In short, there was no real part of the car I hated. Of course, if you own a car you must mod it, and I carried that rule on here! I'd already purchased a Popcharger before I bought the car, so that was the first thing on and it gave me such a more purposeful engine note that it was worth every penny and possibly the best mod I ever did. Over the course of ownership I spent a good few pounds on other mods, some worthwhile and some not so. The more successful ones were the Summit bracing kit, the Alpine iPod compatible head unit and of course putting some quality rubber on there in the form of Michelin PS2s. Some not so successful ones like the K1 exhaust (too loud for track) and some OEM wheels (too heavy for track) came along as well. If I had to do it all again and could pick just six mods to do (three performance, three aesthetic) then I would choose: - Michelin PS2s - Summit bracing - Performance Friction front discs and their pads all round - Alpine head unit - Gloss black Rays - Redline leather gear gaitor and handbrake cover I did numerous track days in the car at Anglesey, Bedford, Woodbridge and of course my first trip to the 'Ring! One of the highlights was at Anglesey in October '08 when it was torrential rain, which far from being a PITA became a great leveller of performance: A couple of friends of mine brought along their brand-new Exige S shod with 048s, however because they had no front end grip I was able to drive circles round them in the Zed on PS2s, and it's not often you can say that a 350Z is faster on track than an Exige! Of course on dryer tracks the Zed was getting left behind, but what it lacked in track pace was made up for in sheer fun. There was so much feedback from the car that you could put it exactly where you wanted it to be, and although it took a few grand in mods to get it to that point it was worth every penny when it worked. It wasn't always fun though. I had my fair share of issues with the car, although nothing too expensive or disastrous may I add! The first troubles were with the Rays bubbling, however Nissan didn't quibble and replaced them all for me under warranty. It is at this point that I should point out just how brilliant my local dealer was throughout my ownership. Some do get slagged off, but Glyn Hopkin in Bishop's Stortford, Herts were never anything less than amazing. They always fought my corner (like when I stuck a sticker over the rear towing eye cover, pulled the sticker off a day later and it took the paint with it! Covered under warranty!) and were always ready to chat and more importantly listen to what I wanted them to do. Always professional, I would take any of my cars back there to get work done. They were a great help when I had some clutch issues in Le Mans this year, when I believed that my slave cylinder was about to go. I rang them to ask advice, they called me back (in France, don't forget) and booked the car in for when I got home. They listened to my diagnosis and did what I asked them to do, and even when I was wrong they didn't get snotty and worked with me to get the master cylinder changed as well for what was a more than fair price. That kind of service is worth its weight in gold. And then I got the itch. And that's when I bought the 911. Stripping the Zed was a weird experience, and not for the good. After driving it bone stock (minus the brakes which I left on there) I wasn't impressed. The '06 airbox might give you 3 extra ponies, but you'll feel like you've lost 20bhp after the noise of the Popcharger. Without the bracing the car fidgets and jiggles and the steering is heavy and numb, and the Bose might be loud but without iPod control it's like a dinosaur. Despite all that, I know that it's still a great car and in truth it's just proved to me that every mod I made that I thought was great, really was. It made a good car great, and that's what sensible modding should be all about. In the end I got a measly £10500 as trade in on the 911, which is book price for an average condition 350Z Roadster and is still peanuts. I'm sure I could've got £13K all day long for a car that had only done 32K miles, but time wasn't on my side so I took the hit. That's my favourite photo of my car, taken in Le Mans town centre in 2008. That was the first time I'd ever put stickers on a car, and I think it looked awesome. I guess the big question is would I ever buy another one? Well, if we're talking a Roadster then no, I wouldn't. I don't go back to cars and even if I did the Zed is too compromised structurally and dynamically by having the roof lopped off. As a coupe I find them a bit dull to drive as stock as you just can't hear the engine, and yet if I were buying again that's exactly what I'd buy. A nice HR coupe in Temper Orange and then I'd strip it down to nothing and use it as a track car. It might not be that fast, but by god would it be fun and that is exactly what Zed ownership is. It's a fun car that wears its heart on its sleeve, and is all the better for it. Nissan, I salute you for having the balls to make a car that drivers want to drive, and not just look at.

I'm having a year off from the gym

And the obligatory "Look at me!" pic! It's amazing. I've only driven it from the dealers to home in rush hour traffic but I already love it and it's everything I want. Left it in auto mode for most of the way home, and as a long range cruiser it's effortless. The noise (even on the stock exhaust) is so mechanical but brilliant as well, and having the sunroof isn't a bad compromise from owning a ragtop. There's so many little bits to play with on the PCM (touchscreen audio/nav/TV/info thing) that I'm going to be there for days until I set it up right. Only downside is the whole garage issue, as in it only just fits. The Zed was tight enough, but this is a whole different ballache of tightness. It's not the length, it's the width, and I just need to get a bit braver when parking to move it over to the left a bit more to allow myself more room to get out. Skinny I am not Bring on the weekend 8)

If sportiness isn't a requirement, then you really won't do better than a Merc S-Class. I can't stand Mercs myself in any shape or form (unless they've got an SLS badge on the back), but for wafting comfort you'll struggle to do better.

911 is no good for adults in the back at all.

E92 M3. Or is it E90...

I will always, always have protected NCB. No-one is perfect, and I don't want to lose 10+ years of well-earned NCB because I made a mistake and did something stupid. Yes, your insurance will go up if you have a claim anyway, but it won't go up by 60-70% (dependant on insurer and what they give you for full NCB). An absolute must-have, IMHO.

Can't help with your problem, but I wouldn't rag a brand-new clutch on track unless you're going to put a good few hundred miles on in-between fitting and the day itself to bed everything in.

Ever driven a 4WD vehicle at low speeds with full-lock on? It crabs and jumps as the wheels fight each other, so this sounds like it drops to 2WD for low speed stuff. That's only a guess from your quote though, I haven't seen the press release.

RE050s are much better tyres than the VUS, just get a new pair of those for the rear.

The theory is that people are more likely to drive into the sides of their garage and scrape their car when driving in/out of it, hence the higher premium. Personally I'm happy to pay a premium on that knowing that scumbags who might want to steal/vandalise it can't do so at night because she's tucked up safe in the garage.

And another update! A couple of price reductions as well as the addition of the droplinks which I'd forgotten about!

Happy birthday Vik!

Work out what the biggest expenses are (ie engine and gearbox), work out if you can afford to replace them if needs be even if you have to drop the cost on a credit card as a temporary measure, and also work out what the most common issues are and how much it would cost to fix them yourself. Personally I don't think it's worth it on a Zed, but it's a must-have on something like a Porsche where part costs and labour rates are daft money.