MidnightRacer

How do you know they are genuine if you buy them from the likes of eBay? I remember some watchdog program about this and how there were counterfeit brake pads being sold which had the stopping power of cheese (may have exaggerated there...). Jim They are Nissan dealers selling on ebay so its a good chance they are genuine!

while I'm on a ramble too...... for the cost I Would always use a genuine Nissan oil filter. if you aren't local to your dealer you can get them on a well known auction website.

Can you reach it through there? i.e. under drivers wheel arch, or do you have to remove the wheel arch? Something for me to know for my next service which is rapidly approaching. it was a while since I did it but as far as I know you can get straight in, its a fiddle but it saved loads of time in the long run. I'm pretty sure I don't have any trim missing either!

I also don't bother removing the undertray to get at the oil filter, just go in under and through the wheel arch.

Generally an oil and filter change are the most important, remembering to change sump plug washer too. I would also check the air filter and replace as necessary (or clean with an airline if on a budget), check coolant and power steering fluid levels. check and grease battery terminals. check brake pads and tyre pressures. check hand brake adjustment etc.

Will keep my eye out for it. Seen a another black one and another grey one in York aswell as the modified blue one.

160kph more like!

have a look at this. it looks like they are proposing to check for missing CATS from next year (article dated may this year). I still believe its not actually part of the test right now, only that you must meet emissions for the year of your car. http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/M ... 202011.pdf

I'll agree its a grey area alright! I've seen this 2001 law banded about several times, I think its around the same time that cars went to OBD2. this was when they began recording emissions too. its also worth reading the MOT manual aswell because it can be interpretted both ways about the requirement to have a CAT fitted. its usually that a car cannot pass the emissions test with no CAT fitted, rather than the physical lack of unit fitted. I'll have to find out about my import too as they usually come under a generic emissions test at MOT and don't require a CAT to pass the rather lapse test requirement unlike their UK counterparts. There is also a funny thing with motorbikes where they are required to meet emissions regulations at time of manufacture but are then not tested for emmisions at MOT and as such there is not check for a fitted CAT.

So if it doesn't pass an MOT its not road legal Not passing an MOT and not being road legal are 2 different things. if your car fails the MOT then its not classed as roadworthy. This doesn't make the decats illegal. There is no law that I know of that requires a road going car to have a cat fitted.

Haha Thanks chaps! Trust me it doesn't happen very often and it only counters some pretty horrendous times too. I actually work with motorcycles so getting to do something car related was a very welcome change. I was actually very impressed with the 370 all in all, Owning a 350 I didnt think it was going to be much of an experience but I was quite wrong, the only problem if anything was getting the power down because of the traction control. My instructor was a total loon and had me really chucking it in which was immense fun. it really was difficult to get one out of shape which I guess is testament to the cars handling ability! I think it was standard but to be honest I didn't ask.. hopefully this didn't come across too much as a "look how great my life is" type thread, I was genuinely just happy to share the experience with you guys.. Kev

Get them done Orange again and stick "winter" decals down one of the spokes. at least that way people will know!

Just thought I'd share this bit of good fortune I had. as part of my job I was required to go to a meeting at the new Silverstone wing and among other things got to do a few laps round the circuit in this 370z. Highlight of the day was driving a Fiesta rally car at their rally school which was soo much fun and also got to do a few laps in a V8 vantage. all in all it was a good day at work.......

Its a similar tale to this one,

absolutely! it contains cyanide among other nasty things.. thats why its generally not used nowadays. It is however great stuff to paint with, I do all my bikes in 2 pack.

I'd expect anything from about £1000 to £3000 as you have pretty much found out. £1000 doesn't mean you will get a poor job and £3000 doesn't mean you will get a good job. Only advice I can give is to go in and look round at what they are doing and if possible look at something they have done and talk to a previous customer. If you are prepared to do some legwork yourself in removal and refitting of parts you can often save yourself some labour too although if you prep the paintwork yourself and its a crap job they will generally blame you! Modern water based paint is actually quite expensive compared to the old stuff although its still not like gold. as has been mentioned, its the labour generally. If you can find a friendly painter who does work in his spare time you might also save yourself a few bob! If you hunt around the car forums there are usually lots of signs of good body shops listed by happy customers also

cheapest I have seen a Z go for recently was about £4250 for one that wasn't written off, it did however need a bit of work in all honesty for your budget I'd sit tight for another 12 months and get it up to the 4 grand mark or try and borrow the difference over 12 months or something to get a half decent one.. I doubt you will ever find a Zed for £2500 and even if you get an RX8 you are going to have to throw some serious notes at it!

Don't be put off by the import thing. I have an import and it cost no more to insure than a UK car. There are loads of specialist insurers these days, getting cover is easy.

Be sure to check your dates and make sure its actually open on the days you want to go!

I have a set of 18's you can have for a ton. Only thing is im in york which is a fair distance away!

Mega's Reply +1

someone not read all the thread then?

To clear up a bit of confusion I wasnt asking how to get the the nurburgring cheap. I was using that as an example of why you might want to do it. I was speculating on the fact that you have a multimap ECU and the ability to run different setups and what was the possibility of improving the fuel economy on one of those maps.. I was kind of thinking along the lines of a restricted motorcycle where the engine is the same but its highly restricted and while preformance is poor the fuel economy can be vastly improved. I guess Abbey are probably the best solution so far to tune for 95 octane rather than fuel economy as such. cheers Kev

Here is one for you. Just supposing you had an ECU with different maps and you wanted to build a map for all out fuel economy over performance... If you need a reason lets just say driving across Europe to get to the nurburgring.... so what would you do to detune the car...... could it all be software based or would you have to introduce restriction to the inlet also to workinline with less fuel? any thoughts welcome!

I'll take the blue one dude.