Chesterfield

Well - I took my TomTom back to currys as there was a fault on the screen. They sent it away for repair and gave me a servce docket. They also said it would be about 7-10 days before it came back. Anyway, Ive been on holiday and been back a while, and got thinking that it has been a while... So I get out the paperwork and read the terms and conditions attached to this service docket, looking to see if there are any timescales etc... Well, it states that if they are unable to repair the product under guarantee within 28 days, then I can request a replacement item. Ive just totted it up, and its exactly 28 day today. So Ive phoned them up and told them Ill be in in the morning to pick up a nice shiny new TomTom 700. What do you reckon my chances are of walking out with a new one?

Lack of glovebox, and a key that looks cheap and nasty!

It certainly wont be pulled. I see your point very clearly. The rule of allowing people to advertise after only making a continued contribution to the site was designed to stop people "abusing" the site. Popping on, advertising their wares and dissapearing again. However it may be a little too "black and white". Perhaps the rule could be ammended to allow advertising of Z related material without any posting history, but require posting history for people wishing to advertise "non" Z related items? What are peoples views on this?

Thats it then - only one space left on the show stand now. If you want it, post up quick.

For those placing cars on the stand, I would suggest meeting at donnington services at 7:30am. Last entry to the stands will be 8:30am, so we need to be there in good time to set up. Any last takers for stand position, We have two, though as Patto has proposed one, it is probably best to work on the basis that there is one left. We wouldnt want anyone paying up, only to be dissapointed that there are actually no spaces left. Please post here if you want the last space. Also, please can you post here once you have confirmed you have booked any of the spaces (Patto)..

I can see the difference on my monitor, thats not good. I have seen Vals car in the flesh, and the kit is a perfect match as far as I can tell - and I certainly doubt it would show up like that on pictures. Id get another opinion, as that looks a bit iffy to me.

Welcome fellow roadster owner! Im looing forward to the summer in mine too!

It makes a fair bit of noise, well, a church bell comes to mind, so it would certainly be noticed if someone decided to use it at the dead of night to nick wheels. I have to say I was very impressed with it, and if I were purchasing manager for Kwik Fit or the like, Id be snapping their arm off.. I phoned 8 garages and two dealers, who all said they would have to chisel them off. Not what you want to hear.

Guys and Gals. Have you ever lost the key to your locking wheel nuts? Ever had to drill them off or try and get these things off by some other method? I have recently hadto do this, and let me tell you now, the standard mcgards on the Z are bloody hard. They are immune to hammering on a small socket and wrenching off. They are immune to the hardest drills, as they are made of carbon steel. Try chiseling and you are likely to damage your wheel and only shatter a small piece off. They are also immune to those new reverse threaded hardened steel sockets, as they have rotating tapered collars. I managed to get one of mine off with a good deal of hammering, swearing, drilling, twisting, more swearing and a few knocks to my alloy. And it took about 12 hours in total. Nissan said they would get the others off by more chiseling! Then I found this company: http://www.dynomec.co.uk/ They have a tool, which sells at around £125. Though a call to them resulted in an appointment with one of the owners/inventors who used this tool to remove the nuts in around 5 minutes flat. The tool did not touch the alloys, and more amazingly did not damage the nuts either! The AA have bought 2500 of these, and to be honest I am amazed that every garage on the face of the planet has not got one. If you own a garage and have ever been asked to get off locking wheel nuts, you have to buy one of these. End of. A big thanks to Dave at Dynomec, I can get my Rays on. And to Nissan dealerships. Buy one of these now.

Oh how the mighty fall.

Quite a few sites advertise plates that they do not own. They wait until someone puts an order in and then try to get it for as little as possible. Ive seen plates that I know people own, up for sale on sites before.

Just look for the teeth through the tinted glass.

They will never need that spoiler though. How would they be able to drive that fast while doing their lipstick?

So have we all seen it then? Looks like they started with the back end of a Z, tried to hammer it into the shape of a porshe 911 back end, then welded the whole lot to an A4 front. Not that hot on the looks in my opinion.

Cant the UK just set up a vigilante organisation that police can post details of peole like this to - perhaps an anonymous PO box. Then the matter can be taken care of, no questions asked, and the Police can rest easy knowing that they dont have to deal with folk like this again. It would save millions Im sure. And probably save lives too.

Its been that cold up until now that Ive never really seen anything other than the ruddy temperature! Below 3 (is it?) and it switches to that anyway. At least thats what it does on the UK guage, dont know if the JDM one does this too.

Thats where the spares are all the time. I suppose we could just put the others in there at night too. Im pretty confident that we will not be the first target on the estate, especially with at least three M3's, a couple of S4's and some new mercs on the dirves nearby, with not even a steering wheel lock on them! Ill park a tonne and a half of Golf in front of the garage that the Z is in, disclock them both and put the keys in the safe. Makes me mad that people just cant have decent things in life without some scumbag just taking them. It seems to be getting worse too.

Yes it was a colour we (myself and the missus) were interested in. But have never seen one. The car we sold to make way for the Z was red, and to be honest I think it looks very nice. Just we fancied a change, so Blue it was. I think its more just rare, rather than unpopular.

Looks good. I think there are other imobilisers that have keycodes as well. You type in a four digit code and it lets you drive off. type in the wrong code or "theft" code, and it lets you drive for three minutes or something. I suppose the one saving grace I have is that the Z is a fairly uncommon car, and although highly desireable, theives would have a hard time shifting it without notice, also there are M3's and New Merc SLK AMG's parked on the same road as me, and they leave them on the drive - mines in a garage, which although they can get in with the keys, would just make it that bit more difficult than simply driving the car off the drive. Plus, now I have taken delivery of the "emergency" tool to remove my locking wheel nuts, the car wont have any wheels on after tomorrow night. WHich may add just that little bit more difficulty for any pottential theives.

Ill be setting up my camera and PC stuff again. Its a set up that when it detects motion, starts taking pictures and uploading them to a web server. Even if they nick the camera or smash the computer the images are stored on a web server for retreival later. So much for the government being tough on crime eh? Just think - Im 19 stone, have a baseball bat and a katana, and live just 30 meters from a nice park with lots of wooded areas etc.. Guess where any moron coming upstairs for my keys is ending up.

Just had a tip off from the police that there is a group from the Manor estate (those near sheffield will know about it). Targetting vehicles on our estate in Chesterfield. Whilst we were away an Audi A4 was nicked. Aparently they are the "break the door down and swipe the keys" type of gang. So, looks like the keys are being taken upstairs, and my katana is coming out on standby. Before I got home the other day, the missus took a photo of two dodgy looking geezers who had pulled up at the side of our house and were looking it over.

heres my guess...

We do have a few members from the US, but as the US is fairly large, it would be coincidence to have someone from L.A. here. I was in Vegas a week ago and saw at least half a dozen Z's, so they seem to be popular out there, I would assume that there are a few owners in and around the L.A area. 350z-tech.com may be a good place to start? They are US based and may be able to point you in the direction of any other L.A members they know of. Be sure to post up pictures if you do get a meet organised - it would be great to see pics from our friends on the other side of the pond.

Timber protection is a must from the start, in orderto prevent greying. I swear I spend haf my waking life in B&Q - my other hobby is DIY. Thanks for all the comments folks, its nice to know you enjoy the site, and, as always if theres something you feel could be improved, or even somehing brand new you think would benefit the site - just pipe up, and we will see what can be done.

Good idea!