Aashenfox

Great attitude, hat off to you, sir. (what, no :tipwink: smiley? For shame!!)

The previous owner of mine absolutely FKED (sorry, there's no other way to say it) ALL of the dials in the car. He took them apart, put white dials in but lost the silhouettes and then added bright red led backlighting, it was totally unreadable in the day, and just a mess of bright red light at night, illuminated the whole interior, absolutely insane, not to mention that the dials he bought were wrong and the warning lights were off position, it was a total abortion that defies description. I had no choice but to replace the main gauge cluster, it's 4 bolts and a plug and that's it, ridiculously easy DIY (bought locally I paid 90 quid and it had less miles than the previous one, bonus, though I would never mislead anyone, I'm not selling this car for many years anyway), and the tri-gauge cluster at the top of the center console. which I got WITH a center console for another 100 quid, so wasn't too bad. changing the upper center console is a bit more involved but still not difficult in any way shape or form, I'll happily share with you the DIY guide I used to do mine. I now also have two gauge sets and a center console to play around with modifying.

I think they're cheap... In Greece you pay INSANE taxes for the GINORMOUS (yeh, lol) engine in a Zed, only idiots like me bear the cost to own them (1700 euro a year in tax and insurance alone just to have it in the garage) and they're STILL 15 grand for a mediocre one, 20 for a good one! There are three reasons for this, to be fair...apart from the fact that they are exceptionally rare here (I've seen 1 other since September and maybe 10 in 14 years in Greece, including my own) 1) You cannot import cars to Greece economically, so the market is 100% isolated. 2) Despite the fact it is actually pissing down today, Greek cars from the mainland are virtually rust-free no matter the age. 3) They are left hand drive and useful in many, many countries which can be driven to.

Your comment is totally fair, but this is one of the great benefits of forums, now you really do know a guy who knows a guy. I totally see what you're saying though, just being facetious. A proper job requires engine out and you only want really good people doing that and if it's a good untouched car, it will never be the same again, etc, etc. All true, don't worry I hear ya. I'm gonna wrap mine Arlon Mariana Blue. I don't care if the bay is orange, I won't be driving around with the bonnet up or competing on the concourse, as long as it looks good from every external angle I'll be happy.

The colour can be changed, the past cannot. Definitely worth thinking about if you consider that most Zeds will be asking for a respray by now anyway. I had said I would never get a ginger one, but then the right car for me came up and yes, it was ginger and yes, it needed a respray anyway. I will be wrapping it soon enough, but the colour is actually growing on me daily.

That's a beauty. I like it a lot. I would be jealous if I hadn't just tied myself to smartwatches for the rest of my life.

I did inquire about fully comp and was told it would not be economical on a car this age (though I don't understand why, surely newer car, higher value, higher risk). I may revisit this come renewal time. I had fully comp on the 2008 335xi and it was costing me 1000 euros a year despite 38 years old and 11 years no claims at the time. It was the most expensive quote I got, with the most comprehensive coverage, unfortunately, it turned out to be a huge mistake, they shafted me and I lost 10 grand when that car was nicked.

I agree but when I was younger, so much younger, I had to go cheap. Although I couldn't afford a Zed at 21. I could hardly afford the clapped out Capri I had. Times were different then. Worked my bum off and been saving for a very long time to get my Zed ������ Every penny I have is money I've earned. Will probably go with Admiral, £1500 fully comp. not too bad considering I'm 21. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk That's amazing, I was paying nearly 2 grand a year on a mk2 golf GTi at 20 and that was 20 years ago! I dread to think what that would equate to now. I was the envy of my friends who were all tooling around in 1.1 saxos etc, it was crazy looking back on it, but I've always been happy to pay to have a car I love. Now I'm nearly 40 with no claims in Greece at all except a theft (14 years no claims) and pay about 350 quid a year for TPF&T on the Zed

Happy 40th, I have 3 weeks left. :/ What kind of mechanism does it have?

It's because of electrics. Golfs as well. Between electric windows and coilpack failures (20vt problems), all VAG group cars (including seat and skoda) got a terrible rep between 2000 and 2010. Mechanically, they aren't bad, and the issues that exist aren't outrageous to fix, just the volume and frequency of failures in the last decade got them this rep.

TL;DR This is an anecdote about plates and the way the law sees them in Greece, mildly interesting, but not relevant to anyone in UK... So yeh, over here I'm ahead of the game, we are required to have pressed plates. Not just any pressed plates though, oh no, the very same pressed plates, FOREVER (dramatic music)! Black on white front and rear, in portrait or landscape design. The white is kinda reflective, but not even 10% of a UK acrylic plate. It's best to think about Greek plates as belonging to the state and rented to you (I expect that's the case, but may not be, I don't know). There are no personal registrations in Greece either. When you take a car off the road, in order to avoid paying continued taxes on it (something that happens a lot here, the taxes are so crazy and people so short they can't afford to pay them every year), you have to hand in the plates, the exact ones, naturally. If you get certain types of parking violation the police will remove the plates and hold them back at the station pending payment of the relevant penalty and a mandatory waiting period (often a month or more!), which can often be sidestepped by bribing the local police or having a contact capable of such (everything is who you know over here) so you can get the plates back in a few days. Obviously it's best to use as medium and average sized a philips head screw as you can to facilitate this, as if the police want to but can't remove the plates, because the screwdriver they have in the patrol car doesn't fit the screws you used, they will call for a tow truck, something you really don't want. Interestingly, though, some people play the game on this one; because it's not law to use a philips head screw to secure your number plates (that would be crazy and besides, there are different sizes, it would be unenforceable), some people deliberately use a keyed torx or something else the popo won't have, taking the chance that they can return to the car before the tow truck arrives (would take an hour probably in most cases), and simply take the (usually low) penalty and drive away from the frustrated police who can't do anything cos it's not illegal to use any reasonable fastener you want and they can't hold you for a parking ticket. If the tow truck beats them to it, though, they are really screwed. 300 euros for the tow truck (the scratches will be free of charge), PLUS whatever else. So, long story short, in Greece, look after your plates! I'm envious of you guys having this as a mod option. If I was in the UK I'd have a personalised plate. I don't know why they don't do it here, it would be a great revenue stream they badly need. /shrug

Exhaust is poorly fitted and the tyres look the wrong size (fronts look way too low profile to me, maybe just a trick of the angle, anyone else??). Otherwise nice car. What's it like haggling in the UK nowadays, if I went cash in hand, how much could I reasonably expect to get off that 10 grand starting point, assume I'm pretty good at haggling and the dealer is an average dealer, not too tight, not too loose?Whaddaya reckon? To reciprocate, if anyone's interested (and this was the case before crisis and capital controls as well), in Greece, with cash in hand you could reasonably expect to drive it away for 9, maybe a touch less, assuming as described and if it had say, 1 bargaining point (take your pick from worn tyres to a scratch, that kind of thing) to work with. edit: That's not to give anyone the idea that I could get a car like this in Greece for 9000 euros, or even pounds, no fricking WAY. This car in Greece would be 20k euros, maybe more for the first 6 months of advertising (if it was left hand drive, of course, lol)

If he considers himself a car enthusiast you've got to have a word. Tell him every real car enthusiast he meets will ask him for a short back and sides. Apart from the fact they are numb, overpriced and electrically incompetent, tune them and you just open yourself up to never ending bills (I have three friends heavily into the VAG scene, all have huge horsepower VAG cars which are forever going badly wrong, one is a TT with about 420hp which eats turbos for sh-ts and giggles). At least if he's going to get a VAG numb-mobile, make it a nice scirocco, much better looking imo, despite being almost a hatch. If he' s a competent driver, point him toward a Zed or an S2000, if not, best not bother. lol.

I was a big Race07 player, but haven't raced online for a long old while, keep meaning to start iracing, but think I'll wait til I retire, and build the world's greatest virtual cockpit and win the virtual monaco grand prix. Or something. lol

Correct.

Thanks v much, free stuff is usually mediocre, but I have a big games collection focused on driving games and this wasn't in it until today.

Good to know. Does disabling the yaw sensor not allow you to keep ABS operation too, though?

I've got P Zeros on my 'Stang, they are the most woeful tyres ever to take to the wet, damp, cold I've ever had. The kicker in that test, as in most, it's a front wheel drive car. Perfect in the dry, dangerous in the wet, cold conditions that we have now. They are only rated at 7 deg C, not to be used below that, that's from Pirelli themselves. So they only like Italian summer rain then. lol. Thanks for sharing, like I say, I will have to reevaluate my respect for Evo tests then.

I want to believe that kind of stuff isn't really happening, but hey, I bow to your (and G-Man's) experience in the matter of what the tyres are like, I've never run them. I normally respect Evo, they always seemed kinda blue collar. Oh well... MPSS were indeed just average in the wet though, in my personal experience. Still the best road tyre I ever run, by miles, just saying

Just a suggestion I read from someone else's post on here recently and favourited because I'll be after some soon. Dude said they had a lifetime warranty too, and that's an amazing price. http://www.strongflexuk.co.uk/nissan/350z/full-suspension-bush-kit-286199b.html

And yes, like BMWs (in the sense that there are two systems), it's never truly off as long as the yaw sensor is active (under the center console), drifters install a hard switch on the actual sensor as I understand it. Killing that sensor completely disables all traction aids I believe (sorry for using wishy washy language, this is half remembered stuff from other threads). I don't know if it will change whether or not the light flashes when you are slipping though, I haven't been brave enough with mine yet. lol. edit: Doh, I did it again, answered a 370 post as if it was a 350, now I have no idea if what I wrote is accurate Sorry.

Juddery setting off in first will be the flywheel, do yourself a favour and get a lightweight one, not because you're a boy racer, not because it makes the car faster, just because that's what should have been in there in the first place. The OEM dual mass design is ridiculously heavy and introduces extra points of failure for no benefit. The lightweight fly does make the car more responsive has less potential points of failure and no disadvantages. Naturally, since this job requires dropping the gearbox, change everything you can afford to change at the same time; clutch disk, pressure plate, bearing, etc.

2 weeks late with this, I realise, but hey... MPSS aren't that good in the wet, they're not bad, but they aren't that good either. Pirelli P Zeros are supposed to be the ultimate wet performance summer tyre. I've never used them myself (no need for a good wet weather tyre over here!) http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2016-EVO-Summer-Performance-Tyre-Test.htm

Most of us have a mystery button. Mine was discovered (after 3 months of ownership) to increase the brightness of the gauge lighting! Very bizarre as it wasn't needed in the day and at night made them so bright they were unreadable. Go figure! Glad you got to the bottom of it! As for your wheel, that center piece, are those screws around it? If so, unscrew them. If not, get a spatula under it and see if you can pop it off. These aftermarket wheels are usually simpler than the oem ones. Your Nissan dealer has likely never seen this exact steering wheel before either.

You just skipped all the text and went straight for the pix, didn't you? Busted, my apologies. Funny, doesn't look like it has spacers on the back at least. Oh well, must be a trick of the angles, or the ride height throwing me off.