Samy888 Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Hi All, Hoping to be a 350 owner within the next few days..... it's a lovely example finished in azure blue, 2004 UK GT model with 50,000 miles on the clock. I have no experience with these cars, my last being a Honda integra DC5. Would anyone be able to let me know of the things I need to look out for when going to view it? I know the gearbox could be an issue? Thanks! Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoebury-Z Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Hi Sam, I'm just reaching my two years anniversary of owning my Z and its been a superb couple of years driving her, 41k miles / immaculate condition no mods. I"m probably one of the least experienced members of this forum but a couple of things which have cropped up for me over this time were pretty straight forward but still required attention. 1 - Rad fans. despite my low miles my rad fans died a little over a year ago stuck in traffic on a very hot day, which i replaced with the excellent Mishimoto fans found on ebay. Total cost was approx £250 for fans and installation. You can easily test these when viewing by switching on the air con and ensuring that both fans are running but as you will see from a thread within this forum the fans are a classic problem on Z's. If they havent been replaced just keep an eye on the temp but thats an obvious point. 2 - Stereo. What a nightmare the stereo replacement was. I initially used Halfords who cocked up the entire new stereo replacement blowing my lights and a number of other fuses in the car. After a complaint to Halfords directly i used a very reputable company locally to install the Applecar play Pioneer head unit which looks and sounds fantastic costing £600 inc installation and fuse issue correction. 3 - Minor issue but stil an issue - boot struts. As i was grabbing something out of the boot the entire bloody boot decided to drop down on me which was bloody painful, however the replacement was easy self installation through eBay. Simple to find and replace but well worth the money. £60. 4 - Rear tires. Nothing much to talk about here but Avon produce an excellent Z tire which has the letter Z embedded around the sidewall. Its a minor touch but looks pretty good. That's pretty much it apart from I'm currently looking to replace my rear lights with led or similar which is the reason i'm on the forum today but I'm struggling to find a reputable company here in the UK or Europe. The reason for the replacement is that one of the lights is allowing condensation to build which is minor but annoying. Apart from that the drive and experience over these two years has been superb, just dont switch off the traction control especially in the wet unless you're a seasoned expert in rear wheel drifting which i'm not. Bloody excellent car, sounds fantastic. Happy Z motoring. Ryan - Shoebury - Essex - Uk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MITZ@CougarStore Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Welcome to the forum... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev T Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Hello and welcome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 4 - Rear tires. Nothing much to talk about here but Avon produce an excellent Z tire which has the letter Z embedded around the sidewall. Its a minor touch but looks pretty good. TYRES And please don't anyone ever buy a tyre based on what sodding letter it has on the side of it, that's just ridiculous :lol: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 to the forum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuggerz Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Welcome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samy888 Posted April 16, 2017 Author Share Posted April 16, 2017 Hi Sam, I'm just reaching my two years anniversary of owning my Z and its been a superb couple of years driving her, 41k miles / immaculate condition no mods. I"m probably one of the least experienced members of this forum but a couple of things which have cropped up for me over this time were pretty straight forward but still required attention. 1 - Rad fans. despite my low miles my rad fans died a little over a year ago stuck in traffic on a very hot day, which i replaced with the excellent Mishimoto fans found on ebay. Total cost was approx £250 for fans and installation. You can easily test these when viewing by switching on the air con and ensuring that both fans are running but as you will see from a thread within this forum the fans are a classic problem on Z's. If they havent been replaced just keep an eye on the temp but thats an obvious point. 2 - Stereo. What a nightmare the stereo replacement was. I initially used Halfords who cocked up the entire new stereo replacement blowing my lights and a number of other fuses in the car. After a complaint to Halfords directly i used a very reputable company locally to install the Applecar play Pioneer head unit which looks and sounds fantastic costing £600 inc installation and fuse issue correction. 3 - Minor issue but stil an issue - boot struts. As i was grabbing something out of the boot the entire bloody boot decided to drop down on me which was bloody painful, however the replacement was easy self installation through eBay. Simple to find and replace but well worth the money. £60. 4 - Rear tires. Nothing much to talk about here but Avon produce an excellent Z tire which has the letter Z embedded around the sidewall. Its a minor touch but looks pretty good. That's pretty much it apart from I'm currently looking to replace my rear lights with led or similar which is the reason i'm on the forum today but I'm struggling to find a reputable company here in the UK or Europe. The reason for the replacement is that one of the lights is allowing condensation to build which is minor but annoying. Apart from that the drive and experience over these two years has been superb, just dont switch off the traction control especially in the wet unless you're a seasoned expert in rear wheel drifting which i'm not. Bloody excellent car, sounds fantastic. Happy Z motoring. Ryan - Shoebury - Essex - Uk Awesome write-up, and thanks for the advice, yes this 350 is totally standard too apart from the pioneer apple CarPlay installed! I don't see any downsides so far to ownership which is good, just a couple of niggly in-expensive but to be honest which I'm not overly bothered with. Thanks again, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samy888 Posted April 16, 2017 Author Share Posted April 16, 2017 Thanks for the warm welcome guys, always great to see when starting out on a new forum. However is there Any major bills that I might unexpectedly come across? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATTAK Z Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Welcome Plugs required at 54000 miles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMballistic Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Welcome aboard Sam. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Welcome to the forum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbad Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Hello and welcome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopedmark Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 along 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndzzz Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Hi and along Good luck with the purchase, you're buying the fastest colour 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay84 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 along 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoebury-Z Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 4 - Rear tires. Nothing much to talk about here but Avon produce an excellent Z tire which has the letter Z embedded around the sidewall. Its a minor touch but looks pretty good. TYRES And please don't anyone ever buy a tyre based on what sodding letter it has on the side of it, that's just ridiculous :lol: Ahhh haa...actually i didnt, this was just something which happened by chance. Superb tyres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Muxlow Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Hi and welcome along 🙂 Sent from my iPhone using a hammer and chisel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatonm90 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samy888 Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Thanks guys, anything more I should look out for? Gearbox etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay84 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Knocking from the front arms, commonly referred to as banana arms on here. Also be worth finding out what fuel has been used, they have issues on standard octane. Ideally a diet of 97+. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irn Bru Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 HAS TO be fueled on super unleaded petrol, uk models are mapped for super unleaded, although our Irish members struggle to get super unleaded and run on 95 octane, but not sure if Irish cars are mapped differently, gear boxes on early models generally have weak syncros and crunch if your too quick changing gears. From what I've gathered it can be any of the gears, not just specific ones. Mines is 5th gear but as long as I slow down the change to a couple of seconds it's fine. There's lots a wee issues with the car (like all cars) but there pretty much all covered here on the forum with the fixes too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel Lynx Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 Welcome to the forum Sam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choptop Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 Welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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