Chromatic

Hey guys.. just curious if it's remotely possible my 2008 Base model cluster has Cruise lights in it? The video will explain: Thanks

I agree ,.. a 90 mile drive isn't too bad.. Be about an hour to an hour and a half max.. That I can handle.. (though those drives on the Freeway/Interstate REALLY make me want my cruise control..) -- Which, the bonus will be I'll have cruise control for the way back.. (if all goes well). I'm leaning towards not buying a $250 used cluster.. then spending another $60 getting the mileage adjusted in it.. THEN installing it (I thought install would be super easy, but apparently you have to remove the needles and then it's not easy to get them back to the same place they were before.. which could lead to incorrect RPM, fuel, and so on readings.. ) -- Always something.. sigh. I suppose if I order a cluster that has the "housing" the plastic around it in perfect condition I can just swap that out without what I had in mind .. which was replacing the "guts" from the new/used cluster into my housing. The "best" solution would be to find a cluster that had miles within a few k of my own.. then no mileage change would be necessary,.. I really don't want to get that "mileage change form" from the Dep. of Motor Vehicles.. which then will show on the Title a mileage adjustment.. which is going to seem "fishy" to anyone who buys the car.. I know I'd be a little concerned. Really, really wish the electronic place I'll be sending the cluster to could just solder in LED's to make my already existing cluster that has the Cruise and Set on the board light up.. but people in the "know" say those lights are signaled by the processor on the cluster and aren't just some 'on/off' deal.. Anyone know if ALL cars.. included Base models have the Cruise and Set lights on them? -- I'll ask this in a new thread in appropriate area, but was just curious if anyone knew. I agree.. you never know what it's going to sound like after headers.. but I do know it will be louder by some degree.. Hey don't put the honus on me.. lol,.. I've noticed a lot of people who don't even have the perf. mods I have so far start talking to me about adding other stuff, and telling me what I am doing wrong, etc.. It's like, come on man.. speak about it when you have done it to your 350.. then you can speak with a little more authority. I can and do read the same stuff everyone else does lol.. So unless you have it personally done to your vehicle, there's not much difference. (Not directed at anyone.. just something I notice on various forums ) When I get around to doing the clutch at some point.. I'll look into the labor costs of headers at that point just to see.. but I've talked to multiple mechanics about header installs before on this car.. and they all say the typical.. well I won't know until I'm finished. I've yet to find a mechanic who will give a SET price and if they go over on time,.. they eat it. Instead it's I'm X an hour.. it may take 2 hours it may take 5.. I don't know. Which is fine,.. but I think unless you are doing something you have never done before and is "unique" you should have a fair idea of the time that is "fair".. And give that as a SET price,.. if you go over that time because you can't figure something out.. it's not the customers fault you aren't as fast as another guy would be.. I think mechanics should say.. Ok this should take 2 hours.. I'm $100 an hour.. so it should be about $200.. But, if you want a set price then it's 3 hours.. $300 -- If you want to just see how long it takes me.. then it could be 1.5 Hours, or 2 hours.. being $150-$200 -- (Sort of a gamble of sorts). Depending on what the job was.. I'd take both depending.. IE: The HFC or Header install I'd take a set price.. a catback install.. I'd go with the "Gamble" of the hourly (however long it takes me).. Again though, this is why I've done most everything myself.. and am building my tool arsenal.. I've already saved thousands of dollars in labor by doing things myself. Everyone should who is mechanically inclined. It gives a great sense of accomplishment. Now I wouldn't go rebuilding your engine, or installing a Camshaft using the internet lol for your first time.. but you know what I mean.

I'm thinking about other spots for the external microphone for the exhaust sound.. The best spot so far has been just above the tag below the hatch opening.. the spot below the tag above the exhaust was not as good. I'm wondering if mounting it ON the rear muffler/resonator/baffle itself would be nice? The great thing about this gecko mount is it will mount on any smooth surface. So the sky is the limit and it's just up to your creativity. Hrmm.. ;D

Well my research has led me down a different line of thought.. But besides.. I'm very happy with my sound,.. So I *doubt* I'll do headers. I have a feeling I will do a new clutch, new flywheel, new Slave and Master Cylinders before this one gives out.. at that time I *may* consider headers.. but again, it is more important to me to have the exhaust stay where it is and not get any louder.. I worked pretty hard to get the sound I have and wouldn't want to change it. Good headers will give at best 8-10 hp on an HR motor. The HR headers are considerably better than the DE.. They have better flow, and are equal length (ish).. So as with many things on the HR motor; Nissan improved yet another part of it which causes less net gains from an aftermarket part. Also, the stock Catalytic converters are undebatably the biggest bottleneck on the Zed.. which is why they give the most HP bang for the buck.. I know this from my own butt dyno, other's dyno's, and talking to a few designers at Motordyne, and Berk Technology.. (who were talking to me after I had the product.. and were not salesmen lol).. But, 10hp or so is hard to get on the HR (it's not easy on the DE).. I think I'm pretty much tapped out for bolt ons. I think from here I will focus on the Tune, and Cluster (which will involve swapping it out, sending it off for mileage change (getting official DMV mileage change notice.. *not so crazy about that on resale* as it looks fishy).. etc etc.. I think I will feel quite a large difference from the tune. I've been talking to some other tuners local (within 100 miles) and found one that I feel much more comfortable with than the guy who is 25 miles away (which I didn't feel comfortable with.. (ie: wouldn't let me stay with my car if I needed to.. etc).. this new tuner is contacting uprev now to get all the info on the Cruise Trim switch(file).. and is $600.. It's about a 90 mile drive, but that's fine with me to work with someone that's not egotistical and willing to work with you, and realizes they are a SERVICE and need to do what the customer wants and is paying for.. (as you can tell the first tuner doesn't want to listen to me about my wants for MY car very much lol).

I expect more like 290ish at the wheels.. based on others with similar mods tunes.. we'll see. As for headers.. no thanks. I've done everything but the headers.. The labor is , well, just too much. Power vs. Cost isn't there.. And,.. on a rare occasion you have to pull the engine to do headers on the car.. At the very least you have to lift it up off the mounts. Plus the exhaust is as loud as I ever want it lol. I'm frankly happy with the power it had when I got it.. and the tune will be a bonus,.. I want the tune 50% for just cruise control to be enabled .. no kidding. I've asked this before elsewhere.. But there's nothing else to add to the car bolt on is there? (Besides headers).. I don't do under-drive pulleys,.. I don't like making things less efficient, esp. with the stereo I installed in this car. No putting larger Throttle bodies in.. etc. Seems, it's Intake, Remove Cats, change Exhaust to a good dual system.. and get a tune basically. From there if you really are interested in horsepower.. save your bucks and 10-15 grand later get some turbo's.. unless you want to go Supercharger.. for a bit less.

Yup.. There's not anything left really bolt-on that is going to add power to this HR motor.. Nothing I can think of. Short of going Forced Induction. Am I missing something? Seems a little sad that intakes, cats, and cat-back exhaust is about it lol.. But that's the way it seems. That's ok,.. It's plenty of power for me. But if there is some couple hundred dollar power addition I'm missing some how let me know.

Hehe.. Yeah I'm a perfectionist of sorts.. so still trying to get the best audio I can. That new camera with separate external mic, attached outside the car really made a difference. Like my Slow Mo, Po Po? Hrmm.. I'll agree that a tune is in order and it's planned just like all this other stuff has been planned lol.. It's coming. I've been talking with the Tuner for 1-2 months now.. just had to get to a certain level of modifications before it warranted the $500.. I may go get the tune done without having the new cluster to put in so I can actually see when Cruise is set on.. as it will still work,.. Just hope it doesn't confuse the tuner who has never flashed a Z for "cruise control"... but he's super cocky and protective of his "reputation".. to the point I'd like to use another Tuner but Uprev tuners aren't just on every street corner here lol. hehe.. I've been trying to think of some tunnels.. but can't think of any off hand,.. I know there are plenty around here -- Just need to find one. Bound to sound insane in a good one. I should keep that Mic and Cam in the car at all times just in case I spot something cool lol..

Was just an explanation of the true differences in the DE and HR engines -- and why the readings we see from each on Dyno's are what they are "roughly". Ah.. well I was under the impression that the computer does compensate, but not necessarily to keep it at X horsepower,.. in other words, that I may be getting say 40% of the power from my mods now.. and with the Uprev tune I'm getting done next it will pull out the full power. From all I've read and understand the computer doesn't completely eliminate 100% of horsepower gains .. But I totally agree that without a Tune I'm definitely not getting anything near what I could, should.. and it's definitely time for one. Only reason I haven't got it done yet is because I'm still trying to find an 07, 08, or 09 350Z Cluster so I can have the Cruise control lights .. as I'm getting it flashed to cruise control with the tune.. I've done the rest already.

You are aware that your car isn't running any more power now than the day you bought it, right? No, please explain how my car is exactly the same horsepower as before? I'm not claiming the car is massively more powerful,.. just modest (conservative) gains through the modifications I've done so far, and some additional "speed" through 100 lbs of weight reduction. Next is a tune to maximize everything. The 03-06 DE 350's were Rated utilizing the SAE "net" Horsepower method. 2007+ are rated via SAE "Certified" Horsepower... Thus the VQ35HR makes roughly 20 more wheel horsepower than an equivalently modded non-revup DE. (You running a Rev-up?). So, let's take ~15 percent drivetrain loss = 24 horsepower. Add the 24hp to the 287 rated horsepower for the DE, to estimate the VQ35HR crank horsepower on the "old standard", or subtract 24 horsepower from the 306 (From SAE ratings) of the VQ35HR for a proper estimate of the DE engine on the new Standard for Hosepower rating. So, the VQ35HR on the 03-06 Rating method would result in about 311 Horsepower and the VQ35DE would result in 282hp under the identical (SAE Certified of the 2007+) ratings (again roughly) , instead of the 306 hp the new rating establishes (If identical ratings were used.) But that is really neither here nor there... Not sure if you are being pedantic, doing some wordplay, trying to push some buttons or what? Because it is just not possible for this vehicle to not make a single horsepower gain with Dual high flow intakes (which I rate at next to nothing (zero)),.. Air diversion plate (Which I put at def. zero gain),.. 5 layer silicone air intake Mishimoto tubes (again, zero.. just helps with looks .. which we all know adds horsepower, just not as much as racing stripes ),.. but the true power adders are the Berk Technology High Flow Cats coupled with the True Dual conversion from single exhaust to dual exhaust with the Invidia Gemini system. I can understand some low ratings.. ie: "Don't be surprised if you go dyno at your tune and only get 10 horsepower from that setup".. But I've never heard anyone say, with any legitimacy, that these mods (particularly Berk HFC's + Invidia Gemini Dual Exhaust) will net (zero) Horsepower gain from stock. "Lucy, you've some es'plain'n to do."

I have had this set of Aluminium and JDM RS Pedals for over a month now and never got around to putting them in. Looks much better now, and feels better. Old Stock Pedals on my 2008 Base: New Billet Aluminium + JDM RS Accelerator Pedal(s): If you need any help with installing the JDM Pedal on a Base Model just let me know here, or in a PM.. If you need any information about the pedals, ie: The JDM Accelerator pedal,.. What bushing Part Numbers and so on to order feel free to ask. For those with Base models,.. This is under $100 for all 4 Pedal replacements,.. for those with any other model you can swap you accelerator pedals for about $30 or so. Take care,

New Camera with External Mic - Exhaust (Invidia Gemini + Berk HFC's) I edited this one, because you guys keep ribbing me about my inability to be brief -- So here is your 30 min video cut to 5mins.. I was really, really ampressed with the external microphone's performance. This is by far the truest to life Exhaust video I've made, and has to be one of the best on the net.. It's obviously not 100 percent as it is in person,.. But it's MUCH better than previous videos. Note: I stayed within Speedlimits throughout the video, so while it may sound FAST, I kept a close eye on the speed. There is a reason I haven't had a ticket in 15 Years (Since I was 17 years old).. (Luck, and not driving like a maniac.)

It's all good.. I was referring more to Octet's (unassumingly innocent) remarks.. But thanks! I didn't take your comment in any way but some friendly ribbing/joking. Generalize much? lol.. You don't even tell me I'm a ****, or to F off. (my feelings are hurt!) Annnnnnnywayyyyyy... Back to what matters.. our cars..

Meh.. had to change video..

Meh deleted.. in the interest of no drama.

That must be the smallest post you ever did in your life time! :lol: Nah

Gonna complain about my vid lengths now? rofl -- Hey.. majority of the reason they are long is out of sheer laziness on editing.. I throw it in there.. unedited.. and let it encode and upload... You guys know how to work the slider bar if you want to skip along.. it's for sound anyways.. My ramblings are just that.. ramblings to anyone curious about what they are listening to,.. (Remember this is on youtube..).. With this new external mic and camera with longer life.. I'm probably going to have to do some slicing of the videos.. meh! Not going to upload a 2 hour video (Don't think anyway haha).. Which with the traffic around here wouldn't be very uncommon to take 2 hours to go 20 miles..At least it's cooling off down to below freezing tonight.. which will help the car not get so hot like yesterday when it was 80F.

You have the identical Gemini + Berks.. how does this sound compared to yours? Albeit this is in an area you can't hear really unless you are following you car I guess lol.. I'll have an in cabin one in a bit that may help with that. The pitch sounds a little tiny bit "fart cannish" sometimes.. and it's so far from that, as you know.. though it's really interesting to have a camera facing backwards above your tag between your exhaust.. and then playing it back later having no idea what it's going to sound like. Tbh from what I can tell it does sound very similar if not identical. Look forward to some more videos. Would be good though if you find a good "private road" for putting your foot down a bit more on though. lol.. never happy with it This car is so "fast" or powerful that when you hear me just winding through the gears at 3-4k .. I'm at 75-80mph really fast.. To put your foot down on this car is to go 120+ mph if you want more than 1-2 seconds of audio lol.. And that's not an exaggeration. You should know you have the same car.. Running at least 325hp with the mods so far on this HR. Also, technically, imo.. driving it in the last few videos as I had is considerably more aggressive than most people should be driving normally.. Anything above that is ragging the car,.. of course a point that can be argued but my normal driving is shifting under 3k. (And really more of what people should be aiming to listen to when buying exhaust,.. as that will be 95% of their driving (if they want to keep their license long ). I also don't like to *rag* the car.. every once in a while is ok for a second.. but running cameras and such.. pushing out 40-60minutes of video is quite a bit. I know most would like to hear and see the car being pushed considerably all over town lol.. but I'm fairly sure we'd also have a nice American cop scene as well (great for views,.. not great for my wallet ). Got the new camera,.. so am curious to test it out.. Have a uni-directional mic that came with it,.. So am going to put that on the Gecko mount near the tag area.. and then have the camera itself in the passenger seat on a tripod wedged in (have done that before..) with a 12ft wire running to the mic.. Not sure how I'm going to run the wire to the mic,.. as I don't want to cut the cord with the hatch, and don't want to run it out the window lol.. -- So maybe I can still close that hatch without killing the cord (now I need a wireless mic haha).. And two gecko mounts .. but am not going to spend $80 on another mount for a rinky dink microphone lol.. (not yet anyway).. By the time I get free to do this.. it's traffic time here... But with this new Camera, and the battery it came with I should have considerable more time to record (several hours) if needed, then chop it up. So I'll probably do the Mic mounted outside by tag area.. and then later on pull the mic off.. and let the camera run in the car (maybe with camera's built in mic,.. then with the external mic pulled inside as well just to see what sounds it picks up..) It shouldn't be a drastic difference,.. but may be, it's def. higher quality. I'd like to get my pedal set done tonight as well. After that set, .. I need to cool my spending and get back to more detailing on the car lol.. You'll know in 3-4 hours (or tomorrow for you guys as it 's 10pm there now).

Inside Car Exhaust Sounds (+ Commentary )

Forgot to post this last night..

You have the identical Gemini + Berks.. how does this sound compared to yours? Albeit this is in an area you can't hear really unless you are following you car I guess lol.. I'll have an in cabin one in a bit that may help with that. The pitch sounds a little tiny bit "fart cannish" sometimes.. and it's so far from that, as you know.. though it's really interesting to have a camera facing backwards above your tag between your exhaust.. and then playing it back later having no idea what it's going to sound like.

A bit of it got cutout.. meh. Takes a while to encode those 1920x1080 videos and then UL them.. I have one inside the Cabin with me rambling on about stuffs.. Just got done encoding and uploading.. but it went in as a 3D video.. sigh. So it's re-encoding then will upload. Some people, mostly on youtube I think.. asked for in cabin sounds. So I'm having fun with this new mount. I'm selling this camera (if the store won't take it back without the receipt) -- (They didn't give back my original receipt when I swapped a broken tripod.. shrug..) as I've ordered the camera I wanted to start with which is $100 more.. but has better audio,.. has a Mic input, headphone input, light input,..etc etc I bought the original one March 2nd, from Walmart for $188 .. Walmart is giving me a hassle about it.. so I will likely throw it up on Ebay for $100 or so.. unless someone else needs a brand new JVC HD Everio GZ-HM65 for cheaper than new Anyhow, the new camera is the Cannon Vixia HF R500 -- That I got with the "package" deal of 64GB memory card, tripod (didn't need another one of those).. some case,.. Light (I needed).. a stereo hi-fi microphone to plug in (which I can put a mic outside the car, and have the video coming out of the camera facing forward should be nice.. and more interesting to watch.) -- Plus I want to get into it for more than just "car stuff" but the car stuff has gotten me into video... The Gecko mount is SOOOO awesome... I can't describe how awesome it is.. goes anywhere, and you can be going 70 mph,.. taking turns, it's not going to ever come off.. It sticks to anything.. So I'm gonna play with putting it like on the hood, or side front quarter panel.. with audio from exhaust area.. And find some cool roads, and maybe some neater looking areas for you guys (and youtube peeps) to look at. This would be perfect for Track use. Plus The upgraded Mic will help get the true exhaust sound.. this Camera isn't bad at all, but it's very difficult to pick up audio well,.. so we will see what the new one can do with all that. This exhaust is really hurting my MPG , lol.

Did some video's since the Gecko arrived and had some time. First one is : Gecko Cam Mount - Outside 350Z Above Tag:

Mishimoto Air Diversion Plate - Cut to fit 2008 350Z I'm keeping unedited recordings of installing and fabbing all of these parts,.. If anyone has any questions, or wants the links to see those longer videos just let me know. Mishimoto got back to me and is sending logos for free.. as I hoped, for the Intake system.

Here's just a still shot for the Mishimoto Air Diversion Panel if you don't want to watch the video.

.946 litres so on the refill Chromatic has put in 4.73 litres. on the draining it amounts to very nearly 6 quarts (5.919) Sounds to me like the last refill someone just tipped in 6 x 1 quart bottles. Fair assessment.. Doing some conversions -- The 5quarts I put in of Synthetic equal 4.73 Litres.. (which is just what you came up with.. ) I got all sorts of conflicting information on forums,.. not sure how this is an area of debate it should be the same across the board via the manual.. But my manual says 5 quarts with Filter. Online I get all sorts of numbers for fill. I called a few Nissan Dealerships.. a few local, and some across the country just to see if there were any discrepancies and all were 5 Quarts with Filter. Which is 4.73Litres.. A touch more or less I'm sure is no huge deal.. but a quart more or less is potentially problematic. The confirmation + the levels I'm getting from the dipstick now consistently, and the car driving better and oil pressure being higher than previous (but not overtly high (ie: Pegging out 120).. has me confident 5 Quarts with Filter is just what this engine needs and works best with. So I'm going to stick with it. I *used* to call halfway between L-------------------H on the dipstick as proper.. but have since been reeducated that you want slightly more than Halfway.. no more than 3/4th's , but no less than halfway. Of course everyone is going to have their opinion. I will do an HOA on the next change,.. and is the ONLY reason I may change this oil out at 3-5k one time just to see how healthy the engine is from my first HOA on it. But that still won't be for quite a while. Thanks for your help.