200sx

i also get through around a lt of oil every 2k miles. That is a seriously bad oil consumption problem! It sounds like its a good time to change cars before the engine gives up. Running costs aren't too bad on a 350z. They are pretty reliable and petrol would be much worse than a CTR. Besides a 350z has far more class

That looks to me like the kind of thing that happens when its had a respray without the surface being propoerly prepared. are you sure it has not been repaired in the past?

The best thing about the 350z for me is the looks and the noise. I find the driving experience a little disappointing. Its definately more of a GT than a sports car. But as has been said before its hard to beat for the money

I had my bumber reprayed when I bought my car as a condition of the sale. I asked him how much it cost to get it done as I was impressed with the finish. He said it only cost him £90! Body shops vary so much. Only a previous car I had a spot of rust, about the size of a 1p coin, on the bottom of the drivers door. One body shop quoted £500 to sort it. I got it done for £60 cash at another place. Some places have hughly inflated prices because they are used to doing insurance work. If you let them know its a cash sale it may be alot cheaper.

What are the lightweight flywheels like to live with in stop start traffic? Is it a noticable difference? Also are aftermarket clutches less snatchy than OEM?

Mine is on 47k and still on the original clutch. 30k seems abit low for a clutch but I do remember reading that premature clutch wear can be an issue on the zed. I am kind of hoping mine goes soon as a find it snatchy and need an excuse to get a new clutch and flywheel.

That is one nice looking car. Its got to be worth more than £10k surely? Don't suppose you want to swop it for a 54 plate black gt do you

I think I have it sorted now. I have tie-wraped the connection blocks to the under side of the seat. The standard 'holder' was really weak and going round a corner fast was sometimes enought to dislodge it.

Have a search for air bag reset procedure. That should get rid of the flashing light. It doesn't take alot to disturb the wires under the seat, my airbag light comes on occasionally and the reset usually lasts a few months.

Sunderland is a couple of hours away and a I was looking for some where local really. I might give the local nissan stealers a ring to see if the have an approved bodyshop. Cheers

Cool, if I can get a decent job done for £200 a will be happy. Anybody know any decent bodyshops in the Hull area?

Does anybody have a rough idea how much a bonnet respray would be? Mine is peppered with stone chips and thought I might treat it with a respray now the weather is improving.

The red light usual comes on with about 50 DTE. Last time I filled up I had done about 10miles on --DTE and still only got 67 litres in. It is an 80 litre tank isn't it. To be fair its always been like that really, its the full not showing full that has changed

It also means that if a fill up as soon as the petrol warning light comes on, I can only get about 55litres in. Meaning I have about 25litres left in tanks. Just slightly irritating, but it might return back to normal when the weather gets abit warmer.

Since the onset of winter I have notice that my fuel guage reads low i.e. when I have filled it up to the brim the fuel gauge still doesn't show full. This used to be common thing years ago on much older cars and was due to the setting connections being on the underside of the car. When the connector get covered in crap from the road it would read abit lower. Cleaning the connects would sort it out. But looking in the service manual the fuel sender in part of the fuel pump assembly inside the fuel tank. Anybody else experienced this. Waiting for smart comments about the gauge always reading low because it uses so much fuel!

I was expecting some **** take when I posted this. The guys at work take the **** out my parking too. I just find it strange its only in the Zed. I am sure there are plently of other people with the same problem that just daren't admit it

As I say I am not exactly new to reverse parking. It might be the tiny wing mirror, but there is definately something strange about the 350z If only the mirrors tilted down when you put it in reverse

I have been thinking about this for a while. I nearly always reverse park (site rules at work), but since getting my Zed it always ends up crooked in the space. I really can't understand why? I just use my wing mirrors and I think its straight but when I get out its not! Never have a problem with any other car. I think it might be because the car is wider at the back than it at the front. so when the wheels are parellel with the white line on 1 side it isnt on the other (if that makes sense?) Does anybody else have this problem?

I can recommend the red stuff pads, their pretty cheap too. Changing them yourself is a really easy job (15mins per corner). If you can change a wheel you can probably change brake pads. Rear can be a little trickier, but not done them on a z yet so can't comment.

I am a bit confused (or may be others are) about the rev matching. I understand it automatically matches the revs during down shift. the purpose being to reduce driveline shunt. Downshifting whilst under heavy breaking can cause the rear wheels to lock up, but by match engine speed this is significantly reduced. Hence the benefit of heel and toe. I don't see what this has got to do with the way you get back on the throttle on the way out of the bend (unless down are down shifting on the exit??) I think it is a great idea, but I can see how it might make people drive more aggressively in to corners, but I sure for 99% of drivers it will be better than heel and toe.

Fuel economy will be lower when its cold. One of the factors being the air is more dense creating more drag. But also more air mass flow and more fuel so more power

Here's something controverial. If you want to reduce your 'carbon footprint' remove catalytic converters from cars! I don't get why they are jumping on CO2 on not other more harmful emisions They should stop forcing car manufacturers to fit cats and just give them emission targets to meet. this would make car more efficient and result in lower CO2 Sorry, rant over.

You are referring actually to 'detonation' or 'knock' which most engines can deal with mild amounts of and yes modern cars have 'knock sensors' which reduce timing advance; pre-ignition is very different as it is combustion on the upstroke and this will destroy your piston in no time (minutes) Without getting too technical I thought that 'detonation', 'knock', 'pre-ignition', 'pinking' were just different names for the same thing. That being the pre-igition causing detontation of the fuel air mixture on the upstroke of the piston. Usually cause by excessive temperature in the cylinder as a result of a lean mixture. This is only what I have picked up from other forums so I may be wrong, and would be interested to know what the difference between pre-ignition and det. is.

Thats another thing to add to the list then I guess it not a cheap fix either. I don't think I would ever need to use it, but it is annoying when things break on such a new car (54 reg)

I was a bit chilly this morning so I decided to try out my heated seats for the 1st time. I notice the back getting warm but a couldn't feel heat in the base of the heat. Is this normal or is there something wrong with them?