RyanT

Hi all, This is a very soft launch, but I’m thinking I probably should sell this, as with life being as busy as it is - I don’t get chance to enjoy it as it deserves, and it’s about to get much busier. Will write a comprehensive ad when I have time of all the spec, and any flaws, but everything is here in the thread. And in the previous owners build thread linked. In short, I bought the car - Which was already pretty trick, I then spent easily the same amount of cash again getting it to my standard, sorting rust, protecting, fitting more trick bits; RPF1s, Akebono big brake kit and so much more. All to do 2 wet track days and 4k miles in 3-4 years! I know I know. I don’t really want, or need to sell it. But I should. So someone come with a hassle free, grown up sell and buy probably the most complete, capable, reliable package available for the money. All sorted and ready to enjoy - Drive it around Europe, a weekend at the Nurburgring. £7.5k, or less if you wanted to bring your own wheels.

Hi - Does anyone have any experience with the SW motorsports half roll bar? I don’t want a full cage as it’s still used on the road, but spending more time on track and a half cage, like a GT3 has to be better than nothing. https://www.swmotorsports.uk/product/350z-bolt-in-half-roll-cage/ I can see they do very high quality work, and the fitment in other cars looks good, but they’ve no images for 350Z. Does anyone have any experience?

I spend more time brushing cobwebs off this thing than driving it lately. But, managed to sneak in a few little jobs! Not exciting, but made a handy extension for my trickle charger maintainer that just stays tucked up in the bumper and makes plugging he car in so easy. But, more interestingly. Oil Cooler Shroud I’d had the Mishimoto oil cooler for a while but the fact it isn’t shrouded is leaving a lot of cooling efficiency on the table. So I had a spare morning and got to work. Really pleased with how it came out and just from some spirited drives there is a significant difference in the oil cooling efficiency. Generally keeps it much lower, and cools down from peak temps much faster. Looking forward to getting out on track and it enabling me to turn even more laps / make the car even more robust.

While you’re in there I’d say do both. But, the oil cooler is the more required upgrade in my experience.

Thanks mate much appreciated! Yeah of course, so it was on the back end in two places - The first is the classic front inside of the rear arches, through to the internal cill section. All caused by that plastic guard which from what I can tell only serves to hold dirt & moisture against the body of the car. The second was around the rear strut mounting points. The front of the car was completely solid with zero attention needed, which is fairly common for these cars. Perhaps the undercoat body protection on the rear was lacking from factory as the underside is really good - Just specific areas on the rear were bad. Anyway, all sorted now. Underside fully treated and coated with a lanolin fluid film coating, which with maintence reapplications will keep it good for another 20 years, and won’t crack and hold moisture like rubberised undercoat. oh in other updates I’d also fitted a GKtech master cylinder brace. I’ve had these on previous cars and it’s made hell of a difference. The impact on the 350Z is not as immediate, but you still notice an improvement in the firmness of the pedal in sharp braking. Suprisingly fiddly to install though as there’s lots of odd angles going on.

Oh and the massive groundbreaking news is that I’ve bought another new gearknob

Ah only 18months since the last update! Life is busy and I don’t get much of a chance to use the 350, but we’ve had a few adventures. First up, I spent a small fortune (thousands) on getting some rust on the rear of the car cut out and repaired, and the underside treated. Let’s not dwell on this too much. In prep for some trackdays. I booked into Horsham developments for a remap / health check, spanner check & alignment. Some healthy gains, and 20/30bhp in the midrange and a bit up top. Nothing groundbreaking but everything is healthy and working as it should be. As part of this the seized old Driftworks arms were replaced with bushed items from SPC to give a bit more compliance. I also found out the issues with NVH in an aftermarket gearbox mount. But when I went to replace with OEM, I found the threads had been stripped and it was loose. Honesty everything this previous owner had his hands on was a disaster. Repaired with an helicoil. OEM, new bolts. Sorted. I also made an impulsive eBay purchase with this Land Cruiser, idea is it’ll be a great tow car to take the 350Z on trackdays all across U.K. & EU, and sleep in the back while also enabling some off-road adventures. Made a fold out sleeping platform. And while we’re on the topic of other cars, this lovely little 205 Rallye has entered the fold. It’s so much fun, perfect summer car. You can blast everywhere without breaking any speed limits, and it has such compliant suspension & high profile tyres you can just roll over any potholes, such a great little thing. Back to 350Z things. Booked in to a (very wet) Castle Combe Car was fantastic fun and performed perfectly. Between the brakes, all the cooling - It’ll happily stay out for as long as you want, really great for getting as much seat time as possible during the day. From the strength of that trackday, and after a full fluid change - We booked onto Cadwell. As I’ve not gotten around to buying a car trailer yet - Loaded the 350 up with tools, luggage, spares - Off we go for a 250 mile drive to Lincolnshire. Sod’s Law it was another wet one. Again, a faultless do it all display from the 350Z. 250 miles there, a day on track and 250 miles back - Fully loaded, cruise control on, Bose stereo going, heated seat. What more can you ask for, from an almost 20 year old car. Unreal. Oh, my neighbour showing me up as always. Still, considering you could buy a 350 for every day of the week vs. his GTS, it holds up well doesn’t it? Anyway, I’ve probably missed out 80% of what’s happened. But at least we’re somewhat up to date!

I can argue it both ways - On one hand there is no reason not too, especially while you’re in there. But on the other, it’s not like the stock fans are lacking, my water temp is rock solid regardless of what I’m doing. I’d probably not worry, unless you have money to burn and like shiny things. I try generally try keep as much OEM as possible for reliability reasons.

Neither are a hard job, there are excellent videos on YouTube which cover both. Just be mindful not to over torque your oil cooler fittings (especially the sandwich plate adaptor ones), perhaps think about fitting an oil temperature sensor in the adaptor plate at the same time while you’re there and an oil temperate gauge (if you want to do track stuff it’s good to know). Worth replacing radiator hoses while you’re there as if they’re original they’ll be tired. The oil cooler lines are finicky to route well, I found zip ties, foam tape and conduit essential to make sure they’re secure, routed well and aren’t going to rub through on anything.

That’s where I’ve put my button to intercept the yaw sensor (that may / may not be the right thing exactly) which essentially fully disables the traction / stability control which I use for track. When you flick it on, do a couple of dash lights appear?

Awesome car. Wonder how number plates are chosen, as my old imported 240Z was given similar ‘WWU 390J’.

Painful to see, but what a testimony to the car that it drove home!

350Z are very common enthusiast cars, most things you would ever want to do are covered either through guides on the forum, or YouTube videos. Get yourself a halfords advanced socket set on sale, and away you go.

Awesome. Is the best place to follow along in progress & your development on your Instagram?