Ekona

Got any pics of the y-pipe then? Would be interested to see how close it looks to my ESR one.

Looks like mild steel mid-pipe to me, can't comment on the y-pipe as I can't see it but bet it's mild too. Looks to be a top quality job, although I personally don't like the look of those rear silencers but that's just my taste. You done well there fella!

Tuning really isn't that difficult at all, as all you're doing really is adding/removing fuel where necessary to maintain the correct AFR and then advancing/retarding the timing to make the power you want. Obviously there's more to it when you start playing with cam timing and valve overlap, but that's the basics. I'm not sure what a course like that would really give you other than a chance to get a bit hands-on with an engine that isn't yours and the lack of worry that comes with it, but I know a few people now who have tuned their own car (using either a PFC or an EM) and had great success with it. It's something I'd consider trying in the future if I manage to find the spare time.

S'okay, I think it looks as ugly as sin too. Both the 360 and 430 weren't pretty cars either, but I had expected more from their replacement as the 599 is a very good looking car. I'm holding back my full wrath until I can see the car in the flesh as it's quite possible it will look far better there, as the shape is very similar to an Evora and that's gorgeous in the metal.

I'd say no. We all know that it's an engine with less miles on but there's still that nagging doubt that says if it's had a new engine then what else has/is going to go wrong? You'll lose about £1K off the value of the car I would imagine, and vastly limit the people who will buy the car. Given the choice of two cars, both identical except one has lower mileage but a replacement engine, most people (including me) would go for the one untouched.

I'll wave at anything and everything that's decent. Almost all softtops will get a wave if they have the roof down, anything British and sporty (think TVRs, Caterhams and Lotuses), even a Clio 172/182/197/ will get a wave if the driver looks like he's out for a bit of fun and not a complete chav. Got and gave a decent nod from a Z4M coupe the other day on the A120, made my day that did.

Nope, does nothing for me. On a Murci yes, on a Zed no: The car is simply too fat to suit the satin/matt style finish.

The car is worth what, £15K at least, and you want to be putting on £40 worth of cheap-ass eBay tat on the most important part of it? I can understand saving money where possible, but it's a got a thumping great 3.5L V6 so a couple of hundred quid on intakes pales into insignificance when you think about how much the fuel is going to cost you

Was the demo car white then? If so, I'd never have ordered a car without seeing if they'd got the colour match any closer. That said, I wouldn't have ordered the car full stop without seeing what the colour looked like in the flash anyway. Go with your gut. Red is also a really boring colour, so at least you didn't pick that first (or silver!).

Netgear, Netgear, Netgear. I personally wouldn't touch anything else, although this free black thing from Sky I'm using now isn't actually too bad either to be fair to it. Are you connecting via wires or wirelessly?

Must admit I'm not entirely sure why everyone has jumped on him for shifting at the redline in first either: As long as the car is warm first, then there's no issue at all. I wouldn't do it every single time, but every now and then won't hurt the car. It's a sports car after all, not a people carrier.

Snake oil. Utter garbage, and would do far more harm than good were you to actually ever fit one.

Synthetic leather is horrible, tacky, sweaty, ugly, cheap, nasty, thin and makes it look like you don't love your car at all. Think that covers it.

I loved mine on the VXR220, made me feel far more in touch with the car although it did get a bit frustrating trying to reach for the stereo

Any chance of adding the reg plate of the car and name of the place to the thread title, just to help anyone in case they try and go through the same thing as you?

I could barely manage enough enthusiasm to get halfway through the SP game before I gave up and realised what an utter travesty this was compared to the first one (which wasn't actually that great either, come to think of it), so how you've been brave enough to stomach it for that long is beyond me!

Put it this way, running the Zed without any exhaust in place at all but still with the stock cats on is exactly the same volume as having the K1 fitted, just a different tone. Without any cats at all it would be impossibly loud and you'd get stopped by the police within minutes (and rightly so IMHO). Either get a K2 exhaust and decat or go K1 and leave the stock cats in. I would go for the latter, as otherwise you're going to be swapping your cats/decat pipes over twice a year for the MOT.

Best way to go IMHO. Leave the Rays on all the time unless going to a show, not a bad idea at all that. *steals idea*

Miata.net for the tyre size calculator. Just to add that another downside to big wheels is the blunting of performance due to the huge increase in unsprung weight, but I do appreciate that a lot of people put looks over performance so each to their own and all that.

You can only attach 3 pics per post, but you don't have to start a new thread every time! Just click the 'post reply' button on your original thread, add the contents of the other three threads to that and then a kind Mod can delete the rest of the threads for you.

I'm assuming that the OP went with Kwik Fit as they were miles cheaper for him in the first place, but I'd be interested to know who else he got a quote off of? Btw that £300 they're asking sounds very much like a standard modded car loader, in that they charge you a great big sum (like most non-specialist insurers) because you want to mod but then only charge you an admin fee every time you change something else.

That FCCUK forum is an absolute mess, and has possibly the most disgusting colour scheme I've ever seen.

Take the badges off and wait until your insurance is up before moving though, else you'll waste the year's NCB you're on. Bear in mind that you're also uninsured whilst those badges are on, so best take them off anyway until this is sorted. Which company are we talking about btw?

I've never seen the kit, but it cannot remove the MAF altogether as the engine would simply hate you and refuse to run sensibly, and possibly cause serious damage as well.

The only thing that should cause a CEL with regards to the O2 sensors is not running any cats at all, as the sensors then think there's something wrong as the emissions are miles too high (which, of course, they will be!). The O2 spacers lift the sensors out of the gas flow, so that they don't see as much crap in the exhaust as they would do normally so think that the cats are still there. It's not a perfect science, but for 99% of the time they work very well.