JetSet

Welcome along. I was lucky enough to get mine within a couple of days of buying it. The problem came the day after I picked it up, 8 inches of snow fell so I didn't get to drive it for a week. Pete

Welcome along . Pete

Hopefully, that damage was done in the car park, I dread to think what sort of owner, with lots of money apparently, would allow a car to get into that sort of state and what a weird place to store your car. Still a bargain though. As far as door handles go I'm not aware of any after market alternatives, but it's fairly common for owners to paint or wrap them. Pete

That colour scheme makes it look like a cut and shut unfortunately .. Pete

The Marina! The beginning of the end for British Leyland....with of course a little help from Red Robbo . Pete

It's 6.5k in the first 2 gears but I'm guessing that 6.5k in any of the other gears will see you exceeding the speed limit . Anyway, I've always found that 4k is ample for everyday driving. Pete

That is actually a Nismo R-Tune of 2004 vintage. The S-Tune has a different Nismo bumper on it. Pete looks the same kit to me note S tune on the door Right, I'm guessing that there were different options then. This was were I got the info from. The Blue one was described as an R-Tune a and the Silver one an S-Tune. http://www.modified.com/roadtests/0405scc_nismo_350z/ The Silver S-Tune in this article has what looks like a standard bumper and no sideskirts and the Nismo rear spoiler is missing too. Pete

I found this picture of the interior of a Nismo 350Z S-Tune. This is the later facelift version which was the S-Tune S2 version. No plaque or Cruise. This was also intended to be sold in The U.K but never was. There's a review and plenty of pics here. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/nissan/350z/16328/nissan-350z Pete

That is actually a Nismo R-Tune of 2004 vintage. The S-Tune has a different Nismo bumper on it. Pete

Yes, easily done . Still, at the end of the day I got a £4k discount and mine is now worth £400 or £500 less than a 2006 uprev . Pete

I once had the gear lever snap off on my Lotus in Chester. Really cheap job was the gear lever, it was bolted on to the linkage, which was the spot where it failed. I got it home quite easily though, removed the gear knob surround and put my hand into the tunnel to change gear . I also had the throttle linkage snap on me, luckily in my driveway and an engine mounting break resulting in the clutch cable falling out and having to drive home from Rhyl with no clutch. It was the poorest build you could imagine with Lotus sourcing the cheapest parts possible, for example the rear bumper was off a Ford Anglia, the interior door handles were off the Morris 1100/1300 series and several of them broke on me. The speedo packed up, the gearbox was making strange noises and it had a host of other problems so when somebody offered me £450 for it I bit their hand off , Pete

When we bought Caroline's Roadster I was in the showroom when I spotted it on the forecourt. I grabbed a salesman and asked him was it a GT? "I don't know" he said "What's the difference?". That was Lookers, Chester, Nissan main dealer. Pete

+ Another one on that. Pete

was that the lotus or renault engine ? cracking story and I know that road It was a Renault engine 1470cc. Mine had an engine conversion by a company from Stoke called Else, added a further 10 bhp. The road is indeed still there although I don't think it serves the now much smaller Steelworks. It was revamped in the 90's and renumbered A548 (I think) although the road is still known as Weighbridge Road. Pete

This is actually a true story. When I was 23 I foolishly bought a Lotus Europa from a garage in Alderley Edge. It was 2 years old 23k on the clock and factory built (most came in kit form back then). From day 1 I had numerous problems that required constant attention but after I'd had it for 4 months the brake pedal started stiffening up and it became so bad that I had to hook my foot underneath it to get the brakes off . I booked it in to Mangoletsi in Chester for a service and for them to fix the stiff brakes. When I got it back they showed me that they'd drilled a hole through the outer sleeve of the pedal and applied a ton of grease to free it up. I should add here that on that car the pedal stems were on the floor and not tucked away under the dashboard, in other words they rotated from the footwell. Anyway, all was well again until a few weeks later. I was on my way into work on nights and a bit late as usual. The road into the steelworks was quite unusual being a private dual carriageway. Near to the steelworks entrance there was a roundabout and the road split with a weighbridge in between the dual carriageway. Anyway, I'm clocking along around 70 and approaching the roundabout but when I applied the brakes....my foot couldn't find them, in desperation I moved my foot around but still no pedal, I slammed it into 3rd and hit the roundabout at about 50 mph. I didn't actually hit the roundabout which is a good job as the kerbs were about a foot high and somehow or other got round it finishing up in the middle of the weighbridge road. When I'd calmed down sufficiently I could see what had happened, the split pin holding the pedal in place had dropped out and the pedal had dropped onto the floor. Fairly obvious that the mechanic who fixed the braked hadn't opened the split pin properly. Without doubt the most frightening moment I've ever had. Pete

Full Spec here http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/media/articles/html/77156_10_5.aspx According to this, white was the only colour, however that was for the U.K market and Japanese and U.S markets are likely to be different. Pete

These were going to cost about 50k in The U.K before Nissan shelved the idea. http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/59747/nismo_350z.html Pete

Just to clear up any confusion, I can tell you that the 296 often known as the 300 was released in The U.K on 1st April 2006. The very small number that were registered before this date were either Nissan publicity cars or cars for the press to test out before the official release date. The numbers are very small, low single figures I would guess. There are also a small number of low tax Facelift imports about as these were available in Japan in October or November 2005. There were an unknown number of earlier 276's left over in showrooms when the higher rate of tax came into force and there are quite a few members on here who have these. There's nothing wrong with the prefacelifts, the engine has more torque and the car is about 75kgs lighter so performance is very close, however, you do miss out on the uprated interior, bi-xenons, rear LED's and a few other goodies. If it was me, I'd be asking for some sort of refund based on the value of each car in todays market place. At one time, say 2008, the 300's had quite a premium on them as much as 1k but I'm guessing this has dropped to around £300-£400 these days so I'd be looking for a refund of that order. Pete

Welcome along . Pete

Believe it or not, ASDA had run out of eggs on Thursday so I had to settle for a bag of smarties . Pete

My estimate would be anything from 6k to 7.5k. Maybe 7.8k if its in exceptional condition with FSH, new tyres and brakes and a GT Model (leather seats, cruise, etc). There's also a bit of a price difference depending on colour, an Azure Blue will fetch as much as £300 more than a Blade Silver for example. Pete

If its been stood for a long while then it'll stick when opening, usually about 3 to 4 inches above the hood lock at the back. We took ours down yesterday for the first time since last September and true to form it stuck. It's very tempting to attempt to push it down but don't, just close the roof back up then attempt to open it again. It may take from 4 to 6 attempts to get it properly opened and a bit of lubrication around the moving parts may help. Once you've got it properly opened then it shouldn't give you any more trouble until next spring. We also had a slight leak on ours, turned out the seals between the doors and the windows just needed pushing back into place. Pete

I'd go for that or possibly Brickyard Red. Pete

Marmite is lovely and so is that . Pete

Welcome along, nice Zed. Pete