mr v6

Hi & welcome! My dilemma was between the S2k & the Z.. Common sense told me the Z, I didn't want to drive everywhere at 8000rpm doing 40mph to overtake someone because 'VTEC yo' . I spend a bit of time in Leeds & pass through Bratford to get there, always on the lookout!

I knew my belts were well past their best when I got the Z. I asked the place to change them, upon collection said they had. What they actually did was just order one belt & leave it in the boot for me . As I had the belts it's a job I've been meaning to do, so armed only with a 12mm ratchet spanner & a 14mm 3/4" socket with extendable ratchet I set about the job. I did it from above & took probably just under half hour. I know I'd have spent longer than that on my back on the ground fighting with rusty bolts & getting crap in my face. Old belts: New belt from the garage is a Continental, the other one I bought is a Gates. I've been out for a quick run & all seems fine, I'll check it tomorrow once the car has cooled overnight & double check the tension.

So are they £69 or £79? Mine is 2005, are these the correct ones for my bumper? I only ask as my Z is due to visit the bodyshop soon, these will be handed to them to fit whilst the front bumper is off..

This.. I took my Z round to my mechanic today with a replacement bush. He was knocking on 10 mins later saying he'll need to drop part of the rear subframe & to have a look with him. I agreed & left him to it. An hour or so later the Z was back & the fee was £35 for the job & I supplied the part. No more knocking. Oddly the previous owner had replaced the o/s arm with a new one, but I'm northern...

I knew this was coming . Why do you people goad me into buying more bling for my Z? :lol: My problem is, when I try to undo them with a socket I can feel the resistance, so back it off in the hope it loosens up. Next, it breaks the tab it's sat in on the bumper, that leaves it with nothing for it to bolt to. So I have an undertray that would normally bolt to the holes on the front bumper, but those are now split due to rust. On another note, I still have the factory front lip.

Thanks Andymac, Would I be right in saying I retain all of the OEM speakers? If so, aren't I double amplifying the signal? Once from the BOSE amp & again from the head unit?

Thanks to a pheasant, that decided the dart out from a bush today, has caused a good 6" crack on the front bumper & caused quite a bit of crazing in the paint. I'll want the bumper, bonnet, front wings & roof doing. I'm looking for a recommended paint shop around the Manchester / Warrington / Cheshire area.

Spotted a blue roadster in the Car Hoods workshop this afternoon, I'm guessing it was having work done on the roof.

I've been using Autosmart Reglaze for years, although now replaced by a newer product. 1L bottle, use 25ml of product to roughly 1L of water, meaning you can get 40L of QD for around £12.

All I want to do is a simple oil change. It seems these 10mm bolts in those silly clips are halting me. Just tonight I've loosened a few, but one decided to spin & break the housing it was in. This us now stopping keeping the front lip up, good job I have cable ties. Not only do I want to do the oil change, at the same time I want to replace both of the drive belts. Am I missing an obvious trick anywhere?

Thanks everyone. As well as mechanics, this is what I also do in my spare time. I've done a number of Pug 406 Coupes (given I'm Club Secretary on the forum), I've also done the odd Audi, a huuuuge Jag XF that belongs to my sisters fella, amongst others. I like to see an improvement on things. This was just a quick job. To the untrained eye it'll look awesome. To the trained eye it's a quickie. Upon closer inspection of my wheels, it's clear at some point recently they were refurbed on the cheap. You can seen sloppy paint on the weights & new paint on the old foam from previous weights. I had 2 plans.. Plan A was to have my Touring (I believe they're called) alloys powder coated in a gunmetal or anthracite finish, or buy a used set of Rays & do the same with those & have my tyres put on them.

My bonnet lifters arrived today as TS said they would. All fitted & working perfectly. I would however prefer extra lift on the bonnet. It doesn't seem any different from the standard bonnet stay. Maybe I was spoiled by the generous 406 Coupe lifters where I could get into the engine bay without hitting my head on the underside of the bonnet each time. Instructions were in broken Chinglish & need a Google to fit them, but after a few tweaks all was well.

I've downloaded NDS II (internet search shows this is the version for the Z), it connects to my ELM327 v1.5 adapter, but I see no flashing lights on the adapter. It sees the adapter name & version, but can't see the ECU type & no. Even with auto connect & auto reconnect ticked it just doesn't want to see my Z. Strange, this very adapter works with Torque on the Z & every other car I've plugged it into.

Well the chassis code is definitely KYO. so I'm saying it's Blade Silver, unless someone tells me KYO isn't Blade Silver .

Thanks Randy, Also for confirming the colour, I thought it was Chrome Silver . During the polish (only a quick hand one) I couldn't help but notice how prominent the metallic flake was on the car, it really does pop in the direct sunlight.

Watching with interest. I too want some paint doing.

Start off with a fine grade good branded clay bar, not a £3 Chinese one. If you find it's not moving it as well as you'd like you'll need to step up to a medium grade. The higher the grade you go the more chance of you inflicting paint marring, then you'll need a 'professional' (not a £65 one) machine polish to get it out & back to the level of correction you'd like. Usually when I do machine polishing for someone I start earlyish & work right through with no breaks to get the job done. It all depends on what level of perfection you want.

Today was the first chance I've had to tart the bodywork up on the Z. It'll get a full correction by machine by myself in the spring next year, so todays job was a quick one. The car needs some specs of road tar removing along with a good claying as you can feel it's not as glassy smooth as I'd usually like it to be. I'll need a full day with no interruptions to get it machined. Wash with Autosmart Duet & dried with an Uber XL towel. Quickly polished with AG SRP then waxed with Fusso Coat Soft99 light wax. Wheels cleaned with Valetpro Bilberry then sealed with Poorboys wheel sealant, finally tyres dressed with Meguiars Endurance gel & the excess wiped off to prevent sling. Windscreen deep cleaned on the outside with Duragloss 755 Nu-glass as it has a lot more bite than finer glass polish, the windscreen had a lot of water marks, which have now pretty much gone. Rear exhaust boxes & tailpipes polished with Mother Mag & aluminium polish. Hope you like!

Cheers guys. So where does everyone else fix / tie or clip the excess wiring to?

Got this fancy piece of kit installed after work, had to do it from above as a few of the bolts on the undertray were pretty rusty. How have you guys (and girls nowadays ) managed with the excess wiring? I managed to cable tie a bit of it around the fan shroud, but the rest I cable tied to the ARB as I didn't want it flapping about & coming in contact with the belts. Also, my Z has always run at normal operating temperature as the needle has been just below the halfway mark. This is still the case, but now I can hear the fans operate whereas before I couldn't. I'm guessing that's because a: one of mine was failing & b: the OEM fans are much quieter in operation. Heaters are all fine & giving loads of heat. I did around 40 miles after work so it's properly bled. The overflow tank, do I have this right, I thought it was to catch any excess coolant that the radiator doesn't need, so I refill via the radiator? Or should I have refilled the overflow tank? If it's the latter, how does the coolant go uphill to the radiator?

Blue in colour with a private plate on S66 something or other, clockwise between J9 & J10, I was in lane 3 sat in a bit of rugby traffic.

I was looking so forward to connecting my phone upto this when I first got my Z. It disconnects after a few seconds. I contacted THB Bury in Germany & they said the Z's device uses stack 3 bluetooth, whereas most new phones now use stack 4, hence why they disconnect after a few seconds. I did reply asking them if they're going to do a firmware update or would be willing to update mine if I sent it to them, they very politely said there won't be any updates. I then removed it all in favour for more storage space.

It's one of those situations where you notice it & accelerate a little to create a reasonable gap, and the driver behind in their pokey 1.6 diesel or VAG Tdi lump immediately do the same as if it's a competition. I can be very hot headed when driving in situations like this & have in the past just stopped in the middle of the road & got out of the car 'to have a word'. In most cases immediately after there's the safe distance gap behind I was hoping to see. It seems a lot of people nowadays don't leave a decent gap in anticipation for a hazard in the road or an emergency stop. Just a little rant I felt the need to get off my chest .

One thing I hate is people that drive right up your hoop. What I've found in the Z is that drivers behind 'appear' to be driving very close, yet in the wing mirrors they don't appear to be as close as they do in the RVM (it still makes me uncomfortable). Is this because you can't see the bootlid through the RVM, or is the glass angled ever so slightly giving the impression I'm being tailgated? This appears to be anything from shonky Vauxhall Astra diesel vans, to these Citroen Cacti with their silly fairy lights? Not forgetting anything Germanic either .

Can I order a pair of black ones please? (I blame these traders for my extra spending.. Please stop.. No don't..)