Jump to content

Louisa's Gunmetal 350z GT


Louisa911

Recommended Posts

Hi!

 

Thought I'd start my build thread, had my Zed a month now and the itch is starting to grow!

 

I have a 54 plate gunmetal UK GT, 70k on the clock and when I purchased it, totally standard apart from the smoked front indicators which I probably would have chosen anyway :thumbs:

 

Don't have massive ambitions to do anything crazy (yet) but will keep an update on the car as I do various bits and pieces!

 

 

Here she is as I collected her, at the garage I purchased from in Wigan:

 

nissan-350-z-coupe-3-5-v6-3dr-109952329-640x480.jpg

 

 

First job was to get her home on some very dodgy Vredestein Ultracs, had turned up with a car trailer but the side skirts were having none of it, too low! So a nice sedate drive home it was, and got the totally bald rears replaced with some Michelin Super Sports.

 

 

Secondly I spent a day going over with a wash, clay bar, polish and wax.... also replacing the old aerial with a new stubby from Steve (looks great, cheers :) )

 

56166327-ab50-4ffe-82a6-71df4b211fb5.jpg

 

 

So here she is as she stands at the moment:

 

AIMG_7508.jpg

 

Since taking the pics unfortunately I no longer have possession of a nice private reg. which has been replaced with the old 54 plate - the original owner wanted it back and I'd agreed we would sort it out. So a new plate might get added to the list soon. Not too fussed but it definitely looks better with a 5-digit plate on!

 

I received a can of black Plastidip from the lovely David (tinyflier) this week, appreciated! So if we get some decent weather at the weekend I'm going to have a bit of a play- also have a couple of other plans for the front which I may also experiment with at the weekend - will keep you updated if I have some success :D

 

Lou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.....the itch is starting to grow!

 

Bit :offtopic: but you can get creams and other products over the counter apparently. :p

 

Some great pics of your Zed though Lou. Look forward to seeing your progress. :thumbs:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other plans I hope to carry out this year/next year:

 

-Either respray the Rays or buy new alloys (thinking Bronze... or some mad colour?)

-Bose iPod hack (got the bits, just need to arrange the assistance from a kind friend!)

-Cobra system

-Wheel spacers

-Repair slight tear / wear in drivers seat bolster

-Gloss black roof?

-Rear window, slightly darker tint

-Stillen front lip

-few interior scratches on the plastics - just small niggles

 

Hope to achieve at least half of those this year.... but typical i chose to take up expensive hobbies too :dry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just tap your man for money, I thought that was how it worked?

 

Great photos btw.

 

He's pouring all his cash into the VW van conversion :) more of a money pit for finding all sorts of shiny and pretty things than mine will ever be!

 

Seems a little selfish if you ask me :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great - I have a soft spot for largely unfettled Zeds B)

 

Just tap your man for money, I thought that was how it worked?

 

Great photos btw.

 

He's pouring all his cash into the VW van conversion :) more of a money pit for finding all sorts of shiny and pretty things than mine will ever be!

What's he converting?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great - I have a soft spot for largely unfettled Zeds B)

 

Just tap your man for money, I thought that was how it worked?

 

Great photos btw.

 

He's pouring all his cash into the VW van conversion :) more of a money pit for finding all sorts of shiny and pretty things than mine will ever be!

What's he converting?

 

This beastie... Bought as an ex builders van totally standard. Just got the R+R bed and cabinets fitted. Your profile pic looks like a lovely example!

 

94a0168b-f818-4162-b8c2-05ec5ed398c4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This beastie... Bought as an ex builders van totally standard. Just got the R+R bed and cabinets fitted. Your profile pic looks like a lovely example!

Very nice B) Wish we had room for a Zed and the Bus but alas no triple garage and my missus cant afford to run a Zed as a daily driver. Sounds like you've done the same as with have with the van, ours came with a RIB R&R bed, lined and windows. Did the rest of the conversion myself, including fitting unit, gas (with locker), TV, swivel seat, etc. List is endless, I can see how it can be taking all your fella's money :teeth:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This beastie... Bought as an ex builders van totally standard. Just got the R+R bed and cabinets fitted. Your profile pic looks like a lovely example!

Very nice B) Wish we had room for a Zed and the Bus but alas no triple garage and my missus cant afford to run a Zed as a daily driver. Sounds like you've done the same as with have with the van, ours came with a RIB R&R bed, lined and windows. Did the rest of the conversion myself, including fitting unit, gas (with locker), TV, swivel seat, etc. List is endless, I can see how it can be taking all your fella's money :teeth:

 

Just had a quick browse through your bus thread, looks amazing! Nice work! Its crazy.... ours has already claimed about £4k on windows, body colouring, alloys and interior. :scare: In fact I think the only thing still the same as when he bought it are the roof bars which came with it... they quite suit it, and handy for the surfboards :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some interesting mods planned Louisa- looking forward to copying some of them - :D

 

I was thinking of the Stillen front lip but I am not keen on the supporting rods (or turnbuckles as our colonial cousins over the pond refer to them).

 

I asked Stillen if they were optional and was given a categorical NO - they are mandatory for the overall structural integrity of the lip.

 

David

Edited by Tinyflier
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice clean car there! I've recently bought mine but not brave enough to start a project thread.

 

Same colour as yours and already has a black roof and wheels, I'll find the pictures if you need an idea what it might look like on yours?

 

I opted for the Scorpion exhaust as it fills out the bumper better than the Cobra IMO

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice clean car there! I've recently bought mine but not brave enough to start a project thread.

 

Same colour as yours and already has a black roof and wheels, I'll find the pictures if you need an idea what it might look like on yours?

 

I opted for the Scorpion exhaust as it fills out the bumper better than the Cobra IMO

 

Be interesting to see a black roof on a gunmetal, cheers!

 

Regarding the front lip I think I'll go for one of RT's which are hopefully going into production soon, made my mind up this morning! Think they look nice and subtle as I can't afford any big skirts to fill the sides out to match anything like the Nismo ones!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought I'd make the most of the sunshine we had this morning and borrowed a friend's garage!

 

Thanks to David I had a can of plastidip waiting ready for some decent weather, and also some chromey stuff I wanted to have a go with. (will come into that later...)

 

 

First job, thanks to lots of advice from a few lovely members on here, was to mask it off roughly. I had also rubbed the lip down with some degreaser to remove any wax etc. I didn't bother going right up to the edges with the masking as I'd been informed it rubbed off pretty easy if there was any excess overspray, and figured it'd make trimming the edges later on a bit easier.

 

IMG_2529.jpg

 

 

 

All masked off and ready to go. Was 2 degrees outside or something silly so had a mini heater on for a little while to warm it up to room temp first:

 

IMG_2532.jpg

 

 

 

After three mist coats it looked like this:

 

IMG_2533.jpg

 

 

 

And just after spraying the 6th coat. Advice for anyone wanting to do this, some big drips seemed to come out of the can despite shaking for over a minute and then regularly between coats- looks awful after applying but if left to air dry slowly it settles and flattens down nicely and smoothly whilst drying:

 

IMG_2538.jpg

 

 

 

The finished result outside:

 

IMG_2540.jpg

 

 

 

Now moving onto some chrome trim strip, like that stuff you can buy to protect door edges etc. I bought 3m of it off ebay pretty cheap- its horrible to work with as keeps closing up and wants to bend into random shapes (probably be easier on a hot day) and could only find applying a full length strip of number plate foam tape along the front edge of the grill slat and pressing it on and around it would make it stick properly. Again, warm day probably be better! Didn't want to glue it incase all went awfully wrong or I got bored of it.

 

Had seen a couple of cars on here that had all the grill slats chromed with this trim, but wasn't too keen on the amount of bling, I'm not really a chrome fan. But to fill the large black void space I'd just created on the front of my car, I'd wondered if just one central strip would look good. Gave it a go and I think it works well, nice and subtle.

 

What do you reckon?

 

IMG_2543.jpg

 

 

Only got this closeup shot, hadn't quite finished when I took it. Afterwards I trimmed the edges of the chrome trim into an angle rather than having a square edge like you can see here:

 

 

IMG_2544.jpg

 

 

The final result! Gave her a good wash after this and a spray over with detail spray. Managed the 7 mile trip home without getting any chips or marks after 3 hours of drying time. Overall quite happy with todays progress!

 

IMG_2546.jpg

 

 

Thanks

Lou

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...