Dipper Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) So bought my Red 350z last july. Always been a dream car of mine since I was a 17yr old kid washing cars at a dealership. So now the car and myself have depreciated enough to afford one. I'm going to start a build thread on bits and pieces I will be doing to it. Based out of Northern Ireland. Originally from the republic. But tax laws have nearly made 350z extinct in the republic. (1800euro a year they want down home .crazy🙈) Anyway here goes... Edited February 8, 2023 by Dipper Spelling 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) A little history, The car itself is a non gt spec. But has clearly had someone love it by its previous owners. By the looks of the old receipts and docs. It looks like it originally came new from the isle of Wight from a lady owner. its had a few little touches added here and there. The w brace underneath has been replaced by the most recent owner. And I can see the remnants of an amp remains behind the passenger seat. There must have been a big sub woofer wired in at some stage, which has now gone. This I believe was the source of a battery drain that kept causing starting issues and the odd immobiliser problem. I removed an extra looking wire from near the battery terminal, and that's improved things greatly. Its got the forged Ray's which have been powder coated black by someone along its life . I'm not one for black wheels usually. But they work well on the red actually. It's also got a GRAMS rear spoiler that's been added too. Which I quite like also. Edited February 8, 2023 by Dipper Spelling 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_83 Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Very nice looking 350z, welkom. Absolutely crazy amount for road tax, just crippling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 And I've just realised I've put this in the wrong thread group. Should be 350z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 Anyway hopefully a friendly admin will fix this thread to the correct location. So one of the things I think makes a car look like new again, is the headlights so I sent the car off to get the headlights polished. And I think the results speak for themselves.. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 Now the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that the rear bumper and front bumper have a slight mismatch on the paint colour. It does look like the front and rear bumpers have been repainted at some stage in its life. It's not recorded as being written off or in a crash however (I checked) but not sure the reason. Will just be one of those mysteries I suppose. Unless someone on here recognises the car from a past life. Who knows. Anyway a simple little mod was updating the chrome badges to black (to match the wheels of course) and adding some led rear number plate bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly350z Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Headlights make or break a car in the age category in my opinion, so good job getting them sent away. The bumpers could just be normal paint age ware, don't forget they're plastic apposed to metal so there will always be a shad difference 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) I actually had convinced myself of this also. Saying that the paint (especially red) tends to oxidize differently on plastic parts vs metal. And also Due to the heat dispersion when drying also. But then I removed the badge on the front bumper and could see that the old adhesive that held on the badge, had paint on top of it. So I'm convinced it's been repainted by someone. Unfortunately Edited February 8, 2023 by Dipper Spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da.murf Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 welcome! ice to see another Northern Irish Zed on the forum. I'm in the middle of deciding what to do with my headlights currently too. Ive a rev up so slightly different headlights, but equally faded and they also have a little plastic piece in the unit itself that yellows too lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Muxlow Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 Hi and welcome along buddy. Lovely looking car you have. Keep up the good work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 On 09/02/2023 at 10:23, da.murf said: welcome! ice to see another Northern Irish Zed on the forum. I'm in the middle of deciding what to do with my headlights currently too. Ive a rev up so slightly different headlights, but equally faded and they also have a little plastic piece in the unit itself that yellows too lol Yeah it's a tough one. I prefer the rev up facelift headlights though. I think they look a little more modern. Perfected Paintwork Ni did mine near Carryduff, a friend who is a car painter recommended him. And I was happy with the results. He did a good job, I have to say. Also another quirk on my 350z i have recently noticed is that although it's a 2004. A previous owner has fitted it with the Led facelift rear lights. I will take that as a win! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted April 15, 2023 Author Share Posted April 15, 2023 Next update was a bit of bad news that needed sorted. I pulled off the side skirt to check for rust at the rear wheel arch where they are prone to corrosion. And at first I thought. Yeah that's not too bad. But once I got the wire wheel to it it quickly became clear it wasnt just surface rust. 😫. Also there was like a 2 inch think pile of mud in the crap catcher that is the lip at the back of the sill in the rear arch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted April 15, 2023 Author Share Posted April 15, 2023 (edited) So as this was beyond my bolt on bolt off remit. I sent her off for some welding in Comber outside of Belfast. The lads at Perfected Paintworks Ni took on the Job. And were great. Sent me literally 97 photos of the job from start to finish. Cutting out the rusty stuff and welding in fresh clean metal. The guy doing the work was quoted as saying. "It was caught just in time" which gave me some comfort. As the area is all hidden under the side skirt and I'm not rich. We chose not to repaint the area red. But to seal it up with primer and a sealer coat too. Here's a few photos of just one side. Both sides were badly rusted. Edited April 15, 2023 by Dipper 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_83 Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Cracking work, very neatly done ✅ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loadmaster Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 Great thread - what's next on the 'to-do' list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 (edited) So now the rusty bits are sorted in the sills. I purchased myself some gloss black side skirt extensions to go onto the car. Tarmac Sportz ones. Also got new bolts to fit them on. Just to freshen them up plus new plastic pops too. Had to remove the oem front mud guards. They were a little tatty. So ordered a new set from Torquen. Still not 100% whether to fit them with the side skirt extension now in place. Looks like they will fit.and are a matching black. Anyway skirts now fitted. Edited May 1, 2023 by Dipper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 (edited) Not sure why those photos coming out sideways/upside down. Can't seem to edit them. Awh well. Forge on. Obviously to try and keep going with the black and red motif. I got the tarmac Sportz mines style front splitter. Definitely gives the front a more aggressive look. A bit of double sided tape and a nut and bolt at each wheel arch and it was on. Was keen to get it sorted as I went to my first ever car show. Was nice to see some people interested in the wagon. I also took it to the dundalk cars and coffee. Thanks for my mate Lee for helping me fit the splitter. Edited May 1, 2023 by Dipper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 Only other updates are a few small cheaper bits. Fitted a pipercross air filter. After seeing some reccemondations on the forum. It was actually tough to fit. It's a little larger than oem filter. Also got myself a nismo oil cap. (Suspect it's fake due to price) and also fixed the boot popping issues that were bugging me the "open top" poppers. They are pricy. But work well. Looks like the manufacturer 3d prints the plastic section and the springs are upgraded. So the boot works well now. I also fitted the stubby antenna from the Honda s2000. All pieces fitted and work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 Bit of an update on the battery issues I had when I first bought it. Had an issue where the car would often go flat. After a week or 2 of sitting undriven. Also occasionally the car would refuse to start even when charged. An intermittent immobiliser issue. So a few things I think combined to solve it. 1st. Disconnected an aftermarket looking wire from the battery, i think it went to an amp behind the passenger seat. 2nd thing i found that the positive terminal was loose. Even when I tightened the bolt as tight as possible. I realised the threads were goosed so I retapped the threads. And tightened everything properly. Now everything was securely fixed. 3rd battery was stone flat. So instead of jumping it again with my vw golf. I got a trickle charger with a battery recovery function, and slowly charged the battery over 2 days with small pulses of charge. No battery drain issues. And no immobiliser issues either. Happy days 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_83 Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Side steps and front splitter are a lovely touch and just right imo. Nice and straight forward to fit, I can recommend getting them both PPF'd as they have a hard life where they're located. *my DIY ppf effort 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 4, 2023 Author Share Posted May 4, 2023 (edited) On 02/05/2023 at 14:44, davey_83 said: Side steps and front splitter are a lovely touch and just right imo. Nice and straight forward to fit, I can recommend getting them both PPF'd as they have a hard life where they're located. *my DIY ppf effort That looks like it takes allot of patience. Might be a job for someone who isn't me when I can afford it. Lol. Edited May 9, 2023 by Dipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 4, 2023 Author Share Posted May 4, 2023 (edited) I do plan to upgrade the exhaust at some stage again once I can afford it. Ideally love a miltek exhaust or at least a milktek rear section. The exhaust that came with the car is a HKS replica, a cheap xo2 exhaust. A bit too in your face for my tastes. But tonight, I took it apart changed out the bolts to non rusted ones. Took the tips off and polished them up to take the corrosion off the tips and clean them up a bit. So at least if I'm going to run an exhaust I don't really like. Its going to be clean on the bits you can see. Edited May 4, 2023 by Dipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 6, 2023 Author Share Posted May 6, 2023 (edited) One thing that I know affects most 350z of a certain age, is the dash cubby door getting scratched up and nasty. My car seems to have had a paint job on the dash before. Unfortunately, it had begun to blister and peel. It's such an eye sore. So anyway took it all apart. Ordered some vynl wrap off amazon. And thought I'd give it a go. Went with a matte. Finish to try and hide my shoddy work. Anyway once I started scraping off the old paint there was no turning back! Wish I had a propper before photo. But anyway it was pretty bad. So figured I couldn't make it much worse. I'm Pretty happy with the end product. In hindsight I'd have sanded it a bit better before wrapping. But yeah happy with the results. Edited May 6, 2023 by Dipper 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dipper Posted May 10, 2023 Author Share Posted May 10, 2023 Small addition today. The silver lug nuts on the black wheels were a little out of place. So picked up some Rays branded black lug nuts. I like that the Rays nuts are on the Rays wheels. It works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey_83 Posted May 11, 2023 Share Posted May 11, 2023 Oh at first I thought you had repainted the dash cubby, nice work on the wrap and should be very durable. New RAYS lug nuts look very at home now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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