SteveW

Right I've been trying to get the Bose mp3 mod to work with my 3G iPhone with no success. Basic issue is same as everyone else the phone won't detect it is connected so won't play through the speakers. I've been doing some investigation and not being an electronics guy I have no idea what my results mean so I hope someone can help all us iPhone 3G users out! Right first up I've checked the unit with another mp3 player and my ghetto mod and all is good. The iPhone won't work. So first up I disconnected the earth thinking it might be a bad earth, instantly the phone recognised it was connected to a headphone socket and sound came through the car, very bad quality because of no earth. I then touched the earth wire onto the earth music continued to play with v good quality for about ten seconds then phone stopped recognising it was connected and stopped playing. Ad soon as earth wire is removed from earth point it recognises it is connected to a headphone line again. Next step I tried a different non stereo earth, got the same problem. So I then connected my multimeter between the earth wire and stereo body, there is a voltage of 4.5volts here and if I check current flow 2.5 mili amps. If I do the same when music is playing I get 4.5volts again but 18.4 mili amps. This happens with any earth point I try. It appears the iPhone does not like something to do with theatth cable. Can any electronics gurus help? I'm a mechanical engineer and electronics are as alien as women to me.....

My K1 with bungs in and with popcharger was only 94.2Db, you will have absolutely no problems.

Clean bill of health it was about a 3mph impact. Repair bill is 317 pounds which she is more than happy to pay and meeting me on Monday to give me the cash. The place I went to, who have a really good rep round here, said it doesn't need a new bumper even though i tried pushing him down that path. The assessor said it will be an easy fix, strip off all the paint, put the bumper in a forming oven, reshape to original profile and repaint. There ill be no issues, he checked out all the structural pieces, crash bar, boot floor etc and all are ok the aluminium shows no evidence of stress marks so I'm happy, it will be fixed and in better condition than it was before she hit me. Unless I now put the money to an aftermarket bumper . . . . . . agh decision decisions

Yeah I can see what all are saying about pursuing the insurance route but i will give her a chance, she does genuinly seem like a trustworthy person. I have reported it to my insurance just for information at this stage but should it need pursuing and it looks like I'm getting messed about I will be pursuing it. Yes I have the reg I will check it out. Thanks green monkey!!

Well today I was driving home from work in a queue minding my own business when bang, a Clio went into the back of me. Nevermind accidents do happen at the end of the day. Here is the damage Basically it has put a number plate sized indentation in the paint / bumper and cracked all the paint like in a mosaic. The lady who hit me has asked if its OK for it not to go through the insurance but i will be calling them tomorrow just to inform them should it all kick off when I start to get quotes for having it fixed. I'm happy for it not to, I would want the same if it was the other way round. Do we think its gonna be a new bumper required? And if so anyone know the price? Cheers Steve

PM Sent

Schift, star man!!! Right Find. Thank you. 3FiddyZ I had a look on manufacturers sites and did some seraches, all I could find were axle loads and no rates. Thanks for the information, regarding the coilovers I will check those out. I'm just reluctant because I've had coilovers fail before on UK roads and it costs nearly as much to repair them as buying new ones which then fail pretty quickly. Maybe its just the roads I drive on.... its pretty bad round west yorkshire! Cheers Steve

Does anyone know the spring rates for the Tein, Eibach and OEM springs? After doing a couple of trackdays I'm looking to upgrade to something a bit stiffer and stiffer anti roll bars will follow shortly after but can't decide between Eibach and Tein, hoping spring rates can win it out for me. I'm just a bit concerned of scraping on everything with the Eibachs (ie them stupid half speed humps loads around my area) and when I get my carbon body kit I'm palnning I would be well and truly angry if it got damaged by a speed bump! Also I;m likely to need other bits and pieces to sort out the camber issues with Eibach. I don't want coilovers because UK roads will kill them in no time and I don't do enough trackdays to justify them. Cheers Steve

I run yellowstuffs and turbogrooves and have absolutely no issues with yellowstuffs on the road or a yellowstuff and grooved disk combo. They do fade on track but they clearly state on the EBC site that the coefficient of friction drops from 0.51 at cold to 0.21 at high temps hence the fade - usually takes 10 - 15 hard mins to fade. on track. If you plan to go on track get some DS2500's coefficient of friction is 0.42 up to 800 degrees IIRC. The DS2500's are about £60 more expensive but worth it if going on track. If you do change the discs make sure you check runouts or 3 - 4k miles down the line you may have to go get the discs skimmed on the car (about £60 per axle)

Bloody well managed to clip the wing on the car when I was going into the garage last night. I was going in at the wrong angle and was too busy watching the rear corner from missing my other car when I heard a 'Twang' when I got out I discovered the lock bracket for the garage door has caught the flat section of the wheel arch (flat section) just above where the bumper joins and removed some of the paint as well as putting a crease in the flat bit. Pretty mad with myself right now!!!!

Stone stuck in the tyre treads?

If its only £300 for new locks and keys I'll be amazed sorry if this is a bit negative and not what you wanna hear but a guy I work with lost his Volvo keys (I think its a C30) and he was quoted for new locks and new keys............£1175 +VAT!!!!! Hope they turn up mate!

Mine has been adjusted by myself, its also been adjusted by Nissan and at the end of the day its still a @*!# handbrake. I'm a pretty strong lad and on steep hills it takes a proper hard tug to get it to stop the car. Whilst the car is excellent the handbrake is shite whether its adjusted or not - thats my opinion anyway. I seem to recall way to adjust it is to: Jack up all the back end with the wheels off the floor 1) take rear wheels off and release handbrake 2) remove rubber plugs in rear brake disks, 1 per disk 3) rotate hole which had the rubber plug in to 12 o'clock(cog is at 12 o'clock position) IIRC )if not its at 6 o'clcok) 4) roate cog with a flat baded screwdriver one click at a time until the wheels start to lock up (I think on the drivers side you rotate the top of the cog towards the passenger side and on the passenger side the bottom of the cog to the drivers side, if after 10 clicks of the cog the wheels are still free to rotate try the other way 20 clicks) 5) when cogs have been rotated to point where wheels lock up rotate cogs 5-7 clicks in other direction, ensure wheels are free to rotate and don't rub. 6) Get in car and pull up handbrake counting clicks, you wanna aim for 6 - 7. If less clicks loosen the nut on the handbrake with the extended 10mm socket if more than tighten it abit. 7) release handbrake and repeat until you have 6-7 clicks. 8) release handbrake jump out of car and check wheels are free to rotate 9) reapply handbrake, check wheels are locked. 10)put wheels back on 11)bish bash bosh brew time 6)

Prettt sure the zed has a towing capacity of zero and it states in the manual towing should not be done in a zed. Probably be ok for a MTB rack but I wouldn't tow anything!!!

I'm on my second set of these now. First set with no trackdays lasted 17 - 18K miles at the rear and 23-25 k at the front but would have gone longer only replaced them due to a misalignment issue causing a bald strip. The second set have done a trackday at Mallory and still have loads of tread.

Hey mate When I did mine I noticed the brushes weren't particularly worn just things springs that keep them in contact with the shaft are a bit pony so was losing contact every so often. I found that sometimes I would wind my window down say half way. Stop then it wouldn't move unless I manually pushed the glass down, it would move about an inch and then start moving again. If it stopped working right at the bottom it was a right PITA to get back up! Since resetting the brush position I've not had any problems. I'm sure it will come back at some stage tho which will result in it needing doing again or new brushes. This might also have been what was up with your original motor? Cheers Steve

The brushes will be losing contact with the motor shaft more than likely. Check the guide I've written in the guides section. Good luck

What an awful story! Feel sorry for people when stuff like this happens. However, just to add my two cents. I don't see anything wrong with people writing about good and bad experiences and naming places on a forum. At the end of the day we all come on here for advice and to say (within reason) our personal opinions. That is what praising or slating is - someones personal opinion and as such is not a reflection on the forum itself. Any companies who feel there is something wrong with this should also be named, why would any good, reputable company have any issues with someones personal opinion? I can come on here and say England are the worst football team in the world - at the end of the day that is just my opinion or I could say Gordon Brown was a really good Prime Minister, both opinions are quite clearly wrong. We all have opinions and by definition what I have just stated is not an opinion of the forum. Maybe some kind of disclaimer is required to automatically add to the start of all threads stating any views contained here within are the soul personal opinion of the author and not the view of the forum/site etc etc. If someone has had a good experience of a company and writes about it no one has issues with naming the company. Conversly if someone has had a bad experience there are issues around companies and people being named which I feel is wrong. In the marketplace today only the best companies survive and by not allowing naming of companies or persons involved in bad experiences does not drive companies to operate at higher standards and provide quality service meaning a better experience for all. Just my opinion

LOL do those come with free red noses and white beards? If so I'm bagging me some.

Sorry mate I don't know the brush sizes, I never needed to go that far. Unfortunately to get to the brushes you still need to strip the motor which involves a bit of soldering and unsoldering wires (2 or 3) but looks easy from when I looked. Cheers Steve

I have the exact same set up and don't get any grinding noises but do get a sort of clicking sound, kind of like a train noise clickety click etc etc - can only hear it with windows down. Its all to do with the air going down the grooves between the pads and disc. I'd suggest you jack the car up and spin the wheels by hand. If the disk is rubbing on the pad in some places and not others, I would say have your runouts checked on all disks, you might need the discs skimming on the car to get them to run true to the hubs. Checking runout is a must when changing brake discs. All the best Steve

When you say it is totally dead what do you mean? Has it set on fire or similar? Its likely the brushes just need replacing unless the copper contacts on the motor shaft have totally worn away which is unlikely the brushes are designed to be the wear point. New brushes will only cost a few quid there are places on net that make them to measure as well. Also have you treid my window repair guide? http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=30870 It does fix a lot of problems and extends the life of your motor. Good luck Steve

Thanks guys thats good to know everyones feels like mine! Its been that long since I drove anything else I couldn't remember how they felt and when I jumped in the Clio it set the bells ringing. I've already got the 'fancy fluid' but I will be getting some braided lines when money allows.Hopefully before the next trackday I've got booked at Cadwell Park. Thanks Steve

After having a bit of a play today in a mates Clio Sport I was quite surprised how completely different his brake pedal feels to mine which got me wondering is this how the brake pedal should be in the Zed. Basically with the engine running I can press the pedal a long way and would say it feels quite soft until near the end of the travel, I don't need to apply much pressure to stop and only a few mm of movement when driving normally. If the engine is off the first time the brake pedal is pressed it is fairly hard at the end of its travel (it doesn't go anywhere near as far as it does when the engine is running - obviously this is to do with the servo assistance). If I press the brake pedal a few times it pumps up to being rock solid and hardly moves - this is how the brake pedal felt in my mates clio with the engine running which to be honest I preffered. So how should the Zeds brakes feel? Cheers Steve

To be honest if your tyres have a decent amount of tread on them or are snow tyres driving the zed in snow is easy. I struggled with traction last winter when its snowed froze then snowed on top of it but th eyear before no issues but I only had 2.5mm of tread left on the rears. Chuck 3 or 4 bags of gravel/grit salt in your boot over the driven wheels and it makes it even easier.