Salieri

It's been a very long time since I posted here, and it seems that the forum has become somewhat less busy than when I first arrived back in 2008! My JDM 350Z is still going although is getting a bit long in the tooth, and it's this reason that I'm now asking for advice, especially since the eyewatering Vehicle Tax increases are coming up fast for my car. For various reasons I'm thinking of saying goodbye to the old girl and need to invite some opinions. My car is a Ebisu Black JDM Import 07 ST version with tan leather interior (there might still be pictures around that I've posted in the past, including damage that was fully repaired), bought at auction back in 2008, and is from the earliest editions on the HR model. Up until the ULEZ changes in London it was used as a very occasional car, but ultimately lived on the street in London. Since ULEZ it has seen more use as a daily driver as bizzarely it is ULEZ compliant. As a result it has only 39000 miles on the clock, of which about 11000 are actually km racked up in Japan (about 7000 miles). It's largely stock, and all things that aren't are those that came with the car at purchase. With ST versions being a bit more based on optional extra's in Japan, it has no cruise control or steering wheel controls, side airbags or rear bonnet 'wing'. On the plus side it might be the only 350z in the UK with a Bose MiniDisc player 😋! Other options that deviate from the norm in the UK are the rear headlights which are clear not the standard UK red, and what I think has been identified as the highly sought after Amuse R1 Titan exhaust. I have no spares to return it to 'factory' spec which some people say is best for sale. It needs some work, probably a repaint or touch up on both front and rear bumpers and the drivers side front wing and door. Due to London driving (and 18 years of my mistakes) the stock GT alloys are not in a great condition. It's always passed it's MOTs with exception of times when the wipers needed replacing, but nothing mechanical or structural as of yet. Now onto my questions, if I am looking to sell, would it be worth getting it properly spruced up before sale or just see if I can get it sold in it's current state, as the cost of work done on it will likely not be recouped. I'm not sure of the state of the market for 350z's as used car sale websites prices seem to be all over the place. And as it's a somewhat low mileage end of the market would it achieve better likelihood of a sale spruced up? All and any opinions would be warmly welcomed!

I've suffered the ulitmate combination of annoyances. Drivers door handle has broken and the battery has died in the cold weather! No way of getting into the car to pop the hood to replace the battery, so I think I'm left with the only option being to remove the drivers side wheel arch liner and find the hood cable (any advice as to the ease of this also would be helpful, maybe to the point of it being easier to just get locksmith to pop the offside door open instead). But before I do all this, I'm going to need a replacement door handle for the driver's side with the key hole. Infuriating that ebay is full of LHD options but zero RHD ones. Any breakers able to help out?

Thanks for your help, all sorted in the end with the help of Clark Motorsport. Big thumbs up for Ewen there.

I know this is a bit of a stretch as it's more likely a part from a breakers, but apparently exterior door shells are now a discontinued part from Nissan, and I need one! Minor cosmetic damage is fine. Ideally in black. Many thanks in advance.

Bit placcy, in that all the fitments are plastic. Not sure how this compares to Bosch Aero Flats. But the fact that they are less than half the price (of the Bosch's from the same vendor) should make them worth it, even if they don't last very long! Fit in less than a five mins though and look nice and discreet. Now we just need rain, shouldn't be too long.

Neither R35Lee nor ZMANAlex seem to be responding to PMs, if I were to try and source parts whats the best alternative when trying to find someone reputable if I cant get hold of either of these two? Any suggestions?

So looking at probable insurance quotes for next year, seems excess + extra in premium, will mean I'm around £700 - 800 down, as well as starting afresh with NCB and a claim on my record for 3 years.

Yeah my first thought was the recycling van that comes on a Wednesday... but sure council workers would leave a note no? Builders were on the house in the corner and are well gone, left early this week, Monday I think. Lots of lorries come and go though so its not really gonna narrow down anything, especially without a witness... even if I did suspect something it would only be guilt that makes them own up.

Been all round the local neighbours, best they can give me is times when they saw it. I've been away from Wednesday. No CCTV unfortunately, there is a local neighbourhood noticeboard (its a strange oasis-like community in the heart of a shitty bit of London) so I've posted up a message, not really expecting anyone to have seen anything though. My worry about Ebisu, is that people are always saying how hard it is to get a hold of. Can imagine any fix taking months while the dealer waits for it to arrive from Japan, above and beyond their usual lackadaisical attitudes.

Its on the outside of a bend of a cul-de-sac square... so its got to be front left wing, but by the way the bodywork is pulled away it looks like something got caught and pulled it open, bull-bars maybe... other than that it could have been a car coming from (in the pic) right to left that met a car coming left to right on the bend, and tried to reverse out of the way. The square is near a load of all night clubs, so we get a load of private taxi traffic, so its likely it happened overnight and some uninsured or Private Hire London cab is worried about losing business. Unfortunately its G41 which I think is Ebisu Black and they are moderately rare, regardless I think this is going to have to be an insurance call. Added to the stress its and import so insurance is moderately hard to find anyway. A bit peeved that my alarm didn't go off, as it was parked right outside my house.

Never having made a claim, having only been a named driver on other's policies, how long will insurers look at claims history regardless of NCB and adjust accordingly? 5 years? More? Look at the damage, I was wondering what would get under the bodywork and pull it open like that, I cant imagine a cars front wing would do that unless they did some fairly serious damage to their own car. Is a tow bar (as suggested) the most likely culprit?

Yes I would, I only have 1 year NCB, but my premium is already £800 with that, and I'm 30+, but living in London. Insurers aren't gonna want to touch me for less that £1000 with a claim now on my record.

So how much would this cost me to get this fixed without going via my insurance? As far as I can tell, it's 2 panels, but the door dent is so deep it might have screwed that up too. Not going to vent more on people who don't leave details as it would make me too angry. Oh yeah, dont mention the filthy state of my car... builders brick cutting in the street, not had time to get it washed.

Is yours the Zed that parks in Kennington/Oval in the Business Square? looks suspiciously like it... well before you took the decals off. Looks better without imo.

I've wondered that too. From my investigation it switches your radio to the frequency used for traffic alerts in Japan. I think! I was hoping it was some sort of Bluetooth thingy too, but it always just dumped me to an AM frequency whenever pressed.