garry

hey guys sorry to jump on the bandwagon but I am also in the process of adding a Car PC to my existing set-up - details of which can be found elsewhere in this section. I had enquired about getting the nav surround to go in the cubby above the stereo but Nissan quoted me £115 + VAT for the part, paid in advance and non returnable (if it's the wrong part!!!) As such, I'm getting a piece fabricated which will mount the screen exactly as desired. I've built the PC, and am running centrafuse front end with everything major working now (sat-nav, bluetooth phone integration, media playback, email&internet via 3G phone over bluetooth, reverse cam)... now it's just a case of getting it installed and I'm hopeful that will be complete by end of this week... PICS TO FOLLOW!!!

if it's a meet in the glasgow area keep me in the loop and I'll come along... G

3 other zeds regularly outside my gym (as well as mine!!!) - anyone on here?

Yes and No! I agree it won't be the right size out of the box but I think it's better to modify a good fitting OEM part than to start from scratch. Nissan sent me the pic below - so I'm thinking part no 68520M ???

Hi All Apologies - I have searched as I have read the info either on here or on another forum previoiusly but can't find what I'm looking for. I want to replace the lift-up flap in the centre console in my 350z with the surround that goes around the sat-nav screen (so I cna mount my own after-market screen) - does anyone know the part number? I have phoned my local Nissan garage who have told me that it is "an awfully funny request" and that they can't be sure they would be sending me the right thing. They also apparently cannot return parts so aren't prepared to order me one without more info. Fab. So... any help is appreciated!!! Thanks in advance Garry

Great stuff Monsieur A. How does it sound then - are you happy with it? What speakers are you running up front? Is there a cover for the amp rack so prying eyes can't see it in the back window? I reckon all of us with installs need to get together at a meet to have a wee listen to each other's cars...

So finally got the bass drivers in my front 3-way dynaudio system properly mounted into the doors - effecitvely a tube right back from the driver into the door cavity itself. All Dynamatted up too to make a nice sealed box inside the door. The first thing I should say is the difference is absolutely amazing! I knew it would be better but I'm absolutely stunned by the just how much better it is! Definition of the midbass has obviously improved drastically but the improvement on staging and imaging is just as obvious. I was concerned when I had the system installed at first as it sounded nowhere near as good as the same kit in my mk V golf GTI, but now it's even better. No need for use of a sub at all except when the car is moving when the background noisefloor increases significantly. Next job - reduce the noisefloor!

Yes tried mytyres and that's where I got the price match price. I'm in the S.E. Glasgow area... I'm also sceptical about the bad press bridgestones get - althpo apparently when they moved from RE040s to RE050s it totally transformed ride comfort in the car... if you believe the reviews. But anyway - as digsy says, I can't afford to replace all 4 after 1500 miles so better to keep all 4 the same than "upgrade" only 1 IMO!!!

Only done 1500miles and already picked up a screw in one of my rear tyres. Too close to the sidewall to repair and sidewall slightly damaged (as my missus didn't notice it was flat for a while... ) Anyway - enough grumbling - net effect is rqmnt for new tyre on the rear - want to replace like with like so one bridgestone potenza 245/45 R18 RE050A required. Called around a few places and no-where has them in stock so I'm getting one ordered and will be avail in +1 day - not too bad. Had priced online at £149 per tyre but called Kwik Fit (do you have these in England or are they Scotland only?) who have price matched and will include fitting. Is £149 fitted a reasonable price then?

I'd second what H5 says - my doors are not currently sound deadened and I'm losing low-end definition from the bass drivers. Sound deadening being applied next weekend! I'd add genesis, diamond, dls and dynaudio (which I have in my car) to the list of good makes and there are plenty of others too. Advice is stay away from the halfords type brands and always consider the second hand market too as car audio stuff seems to be worth about 50% of purchase price as soon as it's been taken out of the wrapper!!! some 6.5" drivers, dependent on depth, may require a mounting/spacer ring to be made up as the corner of the window can foul on the rear of the speaker when down - but these are easily fabricated out of mdf. It will be tricky to get high-end tweeters to fit behind the oem panels but they are easy to cut a hole and pop through. It should be cheap enough to get replacement panels if selling the car. It might be useful if you could tell us how much you had to spend and what the rest of your system components were (e.g. amps, sub, head unit)

hmmm... looking at the pics again there's definitely a diffeence in shape between the stereo hole in your dash and the one in mine... I reckon they've changed the shape a little with the MY07 cars... or am I just imagining it? Look at the bottom corners - they look much more rounded in my pic (top)... the dash even looks to split in a different place on the two cars. So - a warning to others with MY07 cars before buying a fascia plate? If all else fails I'll get a custom one made up...

H5 - where did you get the american industries fascia from? I can't track one down on-line except from the US. Don't mind ordering from there, just want to know if I can get one closer to home!!

Some additional/better pics... Ill-fitting autoleads stereo fascia: Mid install: Bass Driver install: Amp Rack away: Amp rack out for adjustment if rqd:

Also - with regards the comments on speaker placement - the install is designed to be as low-impact as possible on the interior. At the moment if I want to remove my kit to sell the car the only thing I need to replace are the triangular panels on the inside of the wing mirrors. If I started to mod the a-pillars and dash then that can become quite tricky/expensive to revert. So as you say may be better to place speakers elsewhere but a compromise had to be found! System still not set-up 100% (as sub still running-in) but already sounding quite good. I've had to drop the mids by 2db as they were a little to harsh but it's sounding better now.

Andy - more pics uploading now that are a better view. H5 - what age is your zed? Mine is an 08 plate and I'm wondering if the MY07 cars have a different shaped stereo in them - the bottom of the fascia from autoleads is cut very square whereas the hole in my dash is more rounded at the bottom corners - got a better pic of this on its way up too!

Hi folks A couple of pics of my finished install - not too much to see and will post the more interesting WIP pics when I get round to uploading them. Firstly - front door install of 3-way dynaudio speakers, 8"bass, 3"mid, 1"tweet. 3"mid in custom made panel in front of door handle (yes - I've lost use of those heater vents). The pic doesn't show it that well but it's actually shaped such that your fingers can still get in behind the door handle. Secondly - amp rack which has been built into the cubby behind the passenger seat. The amp rack slides in and out to allow for access to the relevant controls. Cable tidying and hide-away cover to follow which will allow visibility of the amp heatsinks only. Finally and most disappointingly - the fascia for the alpine 9965 headunit. This is an autoleads part and fits very badly as can be seen at the bottom of the headunit. Anyone know of a better fitting part that I can replace this with?

ah yes - 10" but be very careful! you probably wouldn't want to use the stock mounting position for your sub as it's not a very strong baffle and there's no sealed box in behind. If using stock location and putting a box in there you're looking for a 10" sub that will operate well in 0.6cu ft enclosure which would ideally be a custom built box.

Mine does it too... It's great fun the way it hauls you out of the garage in the morning at 2k revs and you're cacking your pants in case you reversed in squinty the night before and are going to scrape a wheel arch

H5 the more I look at the detail in this install the more I like it - great work! A couple of specific questions if I may... 1. which steering wheel control interface did you use and which functions does it control. I ask as I notice you have the alpine bluetooth kit. So is it volume up/down, preset up/down only or can you also control tel mute and the button to activate voice dialing? 2. which areas did you dynamat and why? I notice front doors (assume to give better rigidity for speaker mounting and seal any wee holes - but have you also done areas to the rear of the mid bulk-head between driver cabin and boot? cheers...

pics look like a great install - very nice work with the amp rack. I'll show you mine in a pic but it's not as tidy cabling wise - was going to cover with a top-plate but am worried about over heating as my amps are in same location as yours. with regards the front speakers - it's the dynaudio esotec 362 system. Perhaps a dmx would be better placed to run the fronts rather than the dm but the dmx is £££!! when I'm talking about porting into the doors I didn't mean running a tuned port - just that the back of the speaker would vent into the door cavity to use the space therein as a sealed (or nearly sealed) box - same as you've done basically! pics tomorrow!!

running the dynaudio 3-ways up front passive off a genesis dual mono. these are already run-in as I had them previously installed in my golf gti but I'm not happy with the sound at all - no control due to the surface-mount nature of them at present. dls sub running off a genesis miniblock and head unit is an alpine 9965r. my golf did ok in emma comp last year so hopefully I'll get similar results from the zed. pics tomorrow - I promise! do you have any pics of the dorr sealed up and did you make speaker baffles between door card and inner door seal to port speaker into door cavity? If so any tips?

folks - I have just had an install completed in my 08 zed and will post pics here as soon as I get them from my installer. I used the bose location but a custom box was built and installed in here. space was tight so it's a 0.6cu ft enclosure with a dls sub installed. front set-up is dynaudio 3-way wich some nice custom panels to locate the 3" mid drivers where the air vents once were! So far I am very happy with the sub - excellent musicality - but not so happy with the 8" bass drivers in the 3-way fronts as these are not currently ported into the door properly and are effectively running infinite baffle (or free-air) watch this space for pics...

I see you can get them from... Celsus http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/nissan- ... -5629.html Autoleads http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/produc ... /7881.html ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nissan-350Z-Car-S ... dZViewItem All cost approx £20 - can anyone vouch for the quality of fit and finish on these? Do Nissan do one too? Thanks, G

see the PESWIAKJ item on this website (sorry - won't let me link direct to the right page) http://www.peripheralelectronics.com I've got one of these and although a PITA to install works fine once set up.

Just back from the Geneva motorshow at the weekend and thought I would post a couple of pics considering how long it's been out, it's amazing how much attention these modded zeds were getting and also the standard ones on the nissan stand... but this was just on another planet... got loads more images of other zeds and every other car under the sun too that I'll be punting up to my flickr - will post up a link when they're there. G