PS13Silvia Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 (edited) Firstly, a very brief background on me & my cars as I'm probably not the average aged owner for one of these. At 17 (2007) I bought a brand new Mitsubishi Colt Blue, nothing special 3 cylinder 1.1 litre engine, 07 plate, kept for 2 years & behaved myself basically. At 19 I traded in for a stock CZ-T (had to do the 'hot-hatch' stage, everyone does it?) Spent a fair amount on this and took from 140bhp to 240bhp (estimated weight of 900kg's) – couple pics before just before I sold it While owning the CZ-T I did buy a S13, tried to do a 1JZ swap (straight 6 twin turbo Supra engine) drift car build however got conned out of £3.5k, lost way too much & gave up with it. After selling the Colt I bought an imported PS13, spent thousands on this, had full Driftworks suspension, multiple alignment set ups, chassis & geometry settings made this epic on UK roads, a very solid & responsive SR20 engine running a reliable & usable 330bhp, 9.5j wheels all round with good rubber, big brakes front & back, loads of JDM parts, genuine Origin bodyparts etc. Few pics of the finished article - this car was sadly broken for parts in the end – long story After breaking I decided to buy my dream car. A 1995 Evo 3 GSR to be exact, I hunted up & down the country for at least 10 months searching. I wanted to build a track focused car as anything above 400bhp is a complete waste on UK roads imo. Found an absolutely immaculate example with impeccable history, bought it instantly & ended up using as a daily for nearly a whole year it was just so good! Last year the balance belt snapped & took out the cambelt & destroyed the engine, so my plan of building a track monster started. Here's a few pictures while I was using it daily: Since these photo's this car has had £30k+ put into it, complete race spec 2.3 stroker engine, full brake system throughout the car, all suspension components, fuel system, intake / cooling etc. Bride seats, cage, Precision Turbo and currently in the middle of a full restoration – strip back to bare metal & treat the whole shell with Rust Bullet – utter ball ache of a job which I will never be doing again! Anyway, time went by in my £500 1 litre daily, working countless hours, days, weekends even on the Evo and not being able to drive it was doing my head in, so went off and bought a cheap S14a skid car to get my kicks again, used a few left over parts from the PS13 and made it into this: So that bring us up to present day, my Evo project took a step back earlier this year & I think the S14a was a mid-life crisis buy. I got it off eBay for gods sake. So yeah, I'm recently 23 with 6 years NCB, got a project car on the go & driving around in a rusty S14a being a hooligan ripping up a set of rear tires every week. It was time to move on & act my age a bit. I wanted a car that is respectable, nice, comfortable but still sporty-ish. I've had enough of driving 20 year old rusty, noisy, rattly, knocking, battered Jap cars. Started a new job a couple months back, settled in nicely and decided to treat myself – I've always loved the 370Z ever since I first saw it, now they're 3 years old low mileage cars being traded in seemed a perfect time to get one. They tick all the boxes for me. Did some research, before I knew it I was on a train for 4 hours heading to the South Coast Dealt with Oliver at Ashtons, fantastic service throughout the sale, very helpful & honest guy, he picked us up from the train station and when I got to the showroom I checked the car over No complaints about anything, sat down & went through the paperwork and signed my life away, 370Z bought, ready for its 220 mile return journey! And got the car home safely First Impressions? Wow the steering is strange, the car felt huge on the road, this rev-match malarkey is fantastic, throttle response lighting sharp, the exhaust note is pathetic. It's brilliantly made, very solid, very posh inside, sat nav, cruise control, air-con, heated seats, steering wheel controls, an actual sound system, 6 disc changer, I've never had any of these before, such a novelty! I took Thursday & Friday off work last week for this car, picked it up Thursday. Detailed & inspected Friday with a couple short spirited drives back on home turf & dropping round friends etc. Only imperfection I found, a bit of curbing on the typical front left wheel: Over the weekend a few of us went on a road trip to Wales, idea was simple, drive awesome roads, drive some more awesome roads, stop off at any nice places to admire views etc. Find a beach that wasn't rammed, go for a swim, get fish & chips, chill out at the beach while sun was setting, take some photos & drive back later in the afternoon. Pleased to report = Mission accomplished! Few snaps along the way I had a great bonding session with the car too, good bits: Really grown to the steering feel now, I can't feel the road & get as much feedback as I'd like but it's definitely grown on me in other aspects, it's very precise & accurate when you drive it properly, feel much more comfortable placing the car where I want on the road now. That 3.7 V6 Engine! You may have spotted but all my previous cars were boosted. This is my first performance car that I've owned which is N/A. But by god it's brilliant, that flat torque line is amazing. Plus the steady & gradual increase in bhp higher & higher & higher up the rev range is so much fun, can really let it rev out without worrying about any turbo's falling off power up top. The car gains momentum so easily and just keeps pulling & pulling, 3rd & 4th gear are great fun, on/off response is sharp as well due to no turbos that need spooling. Syncro rev match thing, we all know about this, works great & so much fun. Great when driving the car hard on A & B roads. Chassis & suspension. This is what amazed me mostly more I think about it. This is by far the heaviest car I've driven, circa 400kg's more in fact, but it doesn't feel or react like it. Throwing the car around and really pushing the limits I thought it was going to be more 'boat-like' than it actually is, the way those 2 rear tires squat down as you pull out of a corner foot hard down in 2nd & 3rd it really is touching the Evo for corner exit traction. That said, only if you drive smooth, nearly all the roads I don't really know at all, I was leading & therefore reading the road as we went along, a few times I misjudged and corrected the car (ESP off the entire time, obviously) which did throw it off a bit – but it was good fun feeling the cars natural behaviour and catching it. The shocks & springs, Nissan have nailed this in my opinion, spot on for our roads I think, constantly planted and ready to go, shocks are great quality too, feeling the damping & rebound working just so, not so harsh, but quick enough to react to the road surface – I've been in too many cars with <£500 coilovers & the characteristics are completely ruined. Spring rates are dead on as well, my main complaint would be the nose dip when up-shifting, but there is no way I'd switch to coilovers now, it would have to be JRZ or fancy Nitrons to better it, even then, for road use, it's not worth it. A better rear ARB would make a nice difference when switching direction at higher speeds though so might consider that in a couple months time. Interior & sound system. Wow that Bose system is insane, miles better than any other sound system I've heard, the clarity is amazing! As for the interior, I love it, such a nice place to be, only complaint would be the cup holder in the middle. Hit my can a few times with my elbow when shifting – not cool. Bad bits: Exhaust! What exhaust?! Does this car have a big V6 or a little 1.2 litre engine under the bonnet? It's dam near silent, full throttle in 1st with windows down can just about hear something, it's pathetic. It's deceptively fast! Cruising down the M54 & A5 at 100 / 120mph feels the same as 60 / 70mph, I'm really going to have to watch the speedo otherwise my clean licence is at risk here! Wheels – personal preference entirely, I really like them indeed but they do need 25mm spacers all round so they fit nicer. Gearbox & shifting, down shifting is fine, but I found when changing up the engine doesn't appreciate fast changes, 7,000 – 7,500 rpm gear changes I've pressed the clutch & got the next gear ready before the revs start dropping. To be nicer to the transmission / engine I'm waiting a split second for the revs to drop before re-engaging the clutch. When it's time to change the clutch I'd like to try a lightweight flywheel at the same time. Might be a problem with the clutch release bearing, pumping the clutch when stationary you can hear it clonking as it engauges, I assume this wouldn't be covered under warranty would it? I've got a 6 month warranty deal thrown in with the car you see. The car's booked into Telford Nissan on Wednesday this week for the recall, I shall ask, but not expecting anything other than 'No'. It was advertised with the rear parking camera, but they're just sensors that beep – annoying. All in all, I'm over the moon with it, it's everything I wanted & more, yes the rear viability is crap but frankly I don't care any more, worked out that I've done just over 800 miles in the first 4 days I've had it so far, all of which have been thoroughly enjoyable, and it's only getting better & better the more I drive it, long may it continue. Oh, and before anyone thinks 'ppfftttt, rich family' – I've worked full time from the age of 17 to afford this hobby myself, next to zero family input in any of my cars. As I posted this in the project section, what's on the cards? Nothing much, keep it simple & basic, I'll update this thread as I go. Exhaust, I'm thinking just the back section or maybe Y-pipe back, reason being I'd like to keep headers & CATs stock, don't want to mess about with it where there's sensors which could cause a problem. Been searching YouTube for ones I like. It can't be too loud, close to stock when driving normally, but nicer, stronger & clearer V6 sound on full throttle & high rpm, a cool idle / start-up would be nice too, there's way too many to choose from though! 25mm spacers all round & geo set up Wear the tires down quickly so I can get some decent rubber on there The bottom bit of the bumpers, fangs at the front & rear diffuser at the back might look good in black, I would have them wrapped so can revert back to stock if needed / wanted. At the same time, getting the wheels a shade darker would complement the above. Sorry for the long winded post, better get back to work now really... Edited September 6, 2013 by PS13Silvia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veilside z Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Lovely car, nice set of photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz350z Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Congrats on the purchase mate and a nice selection of motors you've had.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev T Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I have had mine for 3 years now and still love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PS13Silvia Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Cheers all, this 370z is a keeper for sure. Enjoying it so much at the moment, just adore driving it. If the weathers good we're going back to Wales this weekend, head towards Barmouth and drive south along the A roads down the coast till we get to St Davids is the plan, fingers crossed for another warm & sunny weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Welcome along, great job, you obv love your motors. Great crew here, sure you'll be warmly welcomed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhackyWill Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Welcome to the Land of Zed... Lovely buy, great car , enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 good write up. Impressive history too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will370z Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Great post and what a weekend to test out the car - i bet you loved every minute. Definitely agree about the exhaust - the stock exhaust is a huge let down, the 350z stock exhaust sounds lovely but all you hear on the 370 is the mechanical whine of the engine. Get a decent exhaust and it will make a world of difference. Welcome to the club and look forward to seeing what you do with the car. You should come along to one of the local meets and say hi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Very interesting feedback about the 370 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilscorp Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Nice read, good to get peoples unbiased views and comparisons to other nice cars, PS13 =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 There plenty of 370z bit just come up for sale. Not sure what's left though. Welcome and nice write up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjt Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Enjoyed reading that, some lovely cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humpy Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Welcome to the forum and pleased to hear your loving your Zed. Great write up aswell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sipar69 Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Interesting read. Defo worth upgrading the exhaust and I can definitely recommend fitting a decent reversing camera that displays on the sat nav screen. Happy to advise where to get one if needed. I'm also thinking of spacers next month before I get new tyres and alignment checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PS13Silvia Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Welcome along, great job, you obv love your motors. Great crew here, sure you'll be warmly welcomed Cheers. Yeah, and my neighbours hate me for it! Welcome to the Land of Zed... Lovely buy, great car , enjoy. good write up. Impressive history too Enjoyed reading that, some lovely cars. Cheers very much Great post and what a weekend to test out the car - i bet you loved every minute. Definitely agree about the exhaust - the stock exhaust is a huge let down, the 350z stock exhaust sounds lovely but all you hear on the 370 is the mechanical whine of the engine. Get a decent exhaust and it will make a world of difference. Welcome to the club and look forward to seeing what you do with the car. You should come along to one of the local meets and say hi Apart from the caravans plodding along and the odd maniac on a bike it was fantastic, like I say, if weathers good we're going back there. Been browsing YouTube and threads on here, so many different systems & sounds, the style of the exhaust seems to have an effect on the sound as well, I think 5zigen is my favorite so far, but might be a tad loud in 'normal driving' mode. Their induction kits could match it nicely as well... Are there any meets in the Shropshire area? I'll pop along and introduce myself Very interesting feedback about the 370 Nice read, good to get peoples unbiased views and comparisons to other nice cars, PS13 =) There plenty of 370z bit just come up for sale. Not sure what's left though. Welcome and nice write up! Welcome to the forum and pleased to hear your loving your Zed. Great write up aswell Glad you guys approve, I guess my point of view is different to most reviewers as I'm rarely in new cars, when they said 'loud inside the cabin' I've no idea what they're on about, it's silent to me... As my PS13 was completely stripped & caged, Evo is caged and half stripped, S14 has nothing behind the front 2 seats. Another thing I have noticed though, about the engine (with and without S mode) is that, when using moderate throttle and lifting off completely, theres still a bit of forward momentum, it's like a half second delay from me lifting off the throttle and the engine reacting to it. I'm assuming its a characteristic of the car so that it doesn't jolt forwards, it gradually eases off the power smoothly. Driving normally & driving hard I didn't really notice, it's the bit in the middle this morning I did. Interesting read. Defo worth upgrading the exhaust and I can definitely recommend fitting a decent reversing camera that displays on the sat nav screen. Happy to advise where to get one if needed. I'm also thinking of spacers next month before I get new tyres and alignment checked. From what I've read I don't have the Connect Premium ('59 plate) therefore can't add the reversing camera? It's crossing my mind to add a set of lowering springs as well, but with 25mm spacers I'm worried about rubbing. Might be worth a shot at the same time, if I don't get on with it can always sell the springs on afterwards. Thanks for all the warm welcomes, spent 3 hours cleaning the car after work yesterday as it was a nice evening, it's looking gleaming once more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzee Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 It certainly didn't look out of place with the other two beasties in the dealership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PS13Silvia Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Funnily enough we had a quick joke about that, they had a Q7, S3, RS6, M3, few Porkies, Jags etc and I still preferred the looks of the 370 over all the above, and it was one of their cheapest cars in stock too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suits Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Good post man, I enjoyed reading that. Great Silvia's man, very cool cars. My mate is literally waiting for his to come off the boat, a fresh JDM import OEM S15, looks great. I've only recently got my 370Z, two months maybe, I took mine to Germany a few weeks after getting it and bonded with it there after having a tracked S2000, it took some getting used to. Like you said, fast chnages like I was used to in the S2000 don't work well, but due to the flat torque and general pull throughout the rev range, short shifts or less frantic changes work just as well as fast changes, it just takes some getting used too. Exhaust - lol. I've been looking at the ARK, Fast Intentions and HKS. I too was surprised will the weight behind the wheel, the chassis, wheels and engine really make the car feel lighter than it actually is. I'm still not too happy with the OEM brakes, I tend to get fade quicker than I'd like, but I expect that to go away with GTR lines and some Motol fluid. My only other concern at the moment, is the oil temp, general driving and hard driving I see 110 easy, track driving, do not want OEM. I'm getting an oil cooler fitted to make track days more worth while without going into limp mode every 6 laps as the oil is 130. Even with these little personal points I'd change, I'm still very very happy with the car :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PS13Silvia Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Good post man, I enjoyed reading that. Great Silvia's man, very cool cars. My mate is literally waiting for his to come off the boat, a fresh JDM import OEM S15, looks great. I've only recently got my 370Z, two months maybe, I took mine to Germany a few weeks after getting it and bonded with it there after having a tracked S2000, it took some getting used to. Like you said, fast chnages like I was used to in the S2000 don't work well, but due to the flat torque and general pull throughout the rev range, short shifts or less frantic changes work just as well as fast changes, it just takes some getting used too. Exhaust - lol. I've been looking at the ARK, Fast Intentions and HKS. I too was surprised will the weight behind the wheel, the chassis, wheels and engine really make the car feel lighter than it actually is. I'm still not too happy with the OEM brakes, I tend to get fade quicker than I'd like, but I expect that to go away with GTR lines and some Motol fluid. My only other concern at the moment, is the oil temp, general driving and hard driving I see 110 easy, track driving, do not want OEM. I'm getting an oil cooler fitted to make track days more worth while without going into limp mode every 6 laps as the oil is 130. Even with these little personal points I'd change, I'm still very very happy with the car :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: . Hi! Thanks for the feedback & kind words. Long shot, is your friend getting it from JM Imports? Saw an OEM S15 Spec R they're bringing over on their Facebook. When I'm not admiring the Jun R1 GTR that is... Injen cat back & intake kit is looking a good combo for me so far, but I'm sort of enjoying the silence at the moment, will savour it for a while. I had the same with oil temps, got them up to 110-120 ish, glanced at it and thought, crap, thats high, backed off & slowed down. Do you find it also takes a long time to warm up from a cold start? Might just me, used to turbos warming up faster maybe... Ahhh yes, the brakes, they're good, but not that good, this is where the weight of car is shown. Slotted Stoptech front & back, Carbotech XP8 pads, braided lines & decent fluid is a 100% when they need attention, but will wait, there's no rush with this car. The car came with 6 months warranty so might leave it stock till that's up before messing about with it. I guess Nissan had no hope of impressing me with brakes on this car, my Evo has twice as many pots all round and is about 500kg's lighter with XP8 pads (best pad on the market by far imo) Fronts: Rears (compared to stock): Total of 24 pots: Along with custom -3AN lines throughout the car with 2 Tilton bias valves & XP8 / XP10 pads. Yeah, Nissan didn't stand a chance lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suits Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Lol, that's some stopping power there !!! In the past I've just done DS2500's, fluid and lines and been happy with that, that was on my S2000 though and was enough to last on track and give confidence to push on. Stop quicker - Go faster. Yeah, Andy from JM Imports is sorting it . Intake wise I wanted some Gruppe 'M filters, but no one, or rather people struggle to get any info on them, or if they can its nearly 4 figures to get them too me. Due to that, it's likely to be Stillen Gen 3's for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sipar69 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 http://www.carkitcompany.com/nissan-370z Info on the camera. Sorry to say that it looks more complicated for pre-Connect Premium models. Parking sensors would be a good alternative though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PS13Silvia Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Lol, that's some stopping power there !!! In the past I've just done DS2500's, fluid and lines and been happy with that, that was on my S2000 though and was enough to last on track and give confidence to push on. Stop quicker - Go faster. Yeah, Andy from JM Imports is sorting it . Intake wise I wanted some Gruppe 'M filters, but no one, or rather people struggle to get any info on them, or if they can its nearly 4 figures to get them too me. Due to that, it's likely to be Stillen Gen 3's for me. Hell yeah, can never stop quick enough on track Pads & fluid makes the world of difference, I've got no doubts in the calipers, and the disc size is plenty, pads lines & fluid will vastly improve these 370's Gruppe M stuff is big money, I'd like a set of intakes, but when others are showing good results for half the price I can't justify it. Nothing wrong with the Stillen Gen 3's though. http://www.carkitcom...com/nissan-370z Info on the camera. Sorry to say that it looks more complicated for pre-Connect Premium models. Parking sensors would be a good alternative though Great cheers, I'll have a read in the morning and see whats what, the car does have sensors already but a camera would be a nice thing to have really. Gave the car a good clean yesterday, quick detail after work and nipped up the road for a few photos and a catch up with a friend, few pics for you all, even in pure stock form it looks awesome I think, but there's always room for improvement 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzee Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Looks really good. Think it would look better over this side of the pond though, nice roads and backdrops to play on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suits Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Cool pics man, did you say you were going to get some spacers ?? Regards the Gruppe 'M costs, yeah, silly, however at this point I'm not really worried about power gains, as power gain hunting on NA is a bit of a mugs game anyway, not that I'm not going to do or think about doing that, but it's something I'm not too concerned about. I just fancied something that will sound epic and not many other people would have :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: :teeth: . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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