Ekona

Brake fluid level okay?

That's fantastic. If they can make it drive well, and be available in something other than grey, silver or black (yellow would be nice), then I think I may have found my next car after the Zed.

It is nice, but I'd rather have the N400 behind it

But you don't get a chance to adjust to the feeling, as the different compounds will shrink and expand at very different rates, and as such you always have an element of uncertainty with those small patches of rubber keeping you on the road. Yes, you can work round it to some extent, but it's not something I'd ever be willing to risk my car and life on. I'd rather put a set of ditchfinders on all round and know that they're crap and adjust my driving style to suit than risk the unknown. The point isn't getting used to a differing grip level, it's the uncertainty you add in to the equation.

There was a case a few years ago now about the gy who was waving at drivers to warn them of a speed trap, and they tried to do him for perverting the course of justice. He got off though as they couldn't prove that the people he was waving to had any intention of breaking the law in the first place. So basically, as long as you're not doing anything dangerous you can warn how you like.

If you can live with the lack of MMS (which I've learnt to) and the basic camera (again, quite easy to do) the the iPhone is by far the best phone I've ever used. Everything is so simple to operate on it, and the introduction of the App Store has simply put it another level above anything I can find out there. I'm on the £35 plan which, even as a business + personal phone, does me fine and the free minutes and texts are more than enough. Try before you buy in case you really don't like it, but I can almost guarantee that you will.

So what happens when the road gets really hot and you're really going for it and then suddenly you get a brief summer downpour? That sense of balance you're used to will disappear as the two axles will have varying rates of grip depending on temperature and surface conditions. In short, you'll lose all sense of progressiveness and consistency between the front and back ends, and that's only ever going to end in tears at some point. You may drive like a granny for all I know in which case this may apply less to you, but what happens when some idiot pulls out in front of you and you need to make an emergency manoeuvre? You simply won't know how the car is going to react on different compounds, and having 1.5tons of metal, plastic and rubber not under control is very scary. Not particularly having a go at you mate, just more stating the reasoning why mixed tyres front and back is a bad idea waiting to happen.

Really not worth the risk IMHO, as that little bit of rubber is the only thing keeping you in contact with the road and that's not something I'd personally be willing to muck around with. I'm in much the same situation as you myself Stan, so I can appreciate how you feel.

That for me is the best bit: Screw all the H&S bollocks we've had stuffed down our throats for the last few years and let people decide for themselves what's safe and what's not. Watching Lewis light the rears on the hill no more than 10m away from me whilst everyone cheered him on was a proper spine-tingler for me. Bit disappointing how the supercars never gave it full whack going up the hill, you had to wait for them to come back down if you really wanted the fun as that's when they started playing silly buggers... The C63 AMG must've easy lost 3mm off it's tyres! Really good weekend, but I get the feeling it's something to do every other year rather than every year. That said, I could drool over the 8C convertible for hours...

3 golden rules of modifying for performance... First make it STOP Then make it HANDLE Then make it GO!

That, basically. The MOT says you have to have the push type, but as long as you haven't got the world's strictest MOT'er then you'll pass. Same principle as with aftermarket HID conversions.

Unless you get the push to open style (as opposed to the twist to open style) you'll have to leave the seatbelts in anyway, else you won't pass an MOT.

I used to use one in my MR2, but got proper harnesses for the VXR220. After experiencing just what a proper harness can do, I wouldn't go back to a CG Lock as there's simply not that much difference over a normal seatbelt. Plus (as lotuscc meantions) the sharp edges soon screw up your interior and seats when you take the belt off and it pings out of your hand. How I never broke the glass in my MR2 I'll never know!

It's the equivalent of a Nismo bumper or a Nismo-copy bumper. Mods done good

My brother had the exact same symptoms in his MY07, turned out it was the dodgy clutch slave cylinder problem that Nissan have done the recall for. He's had his done, and had no issues since.

Wouldn't bother, as soon as LPG starts getting popular the Government will throw so much tax on it that it'll be cheaper to stick with unleaded

I'd be amazed if ti didn't, it's by how much. Elephant took me for an extra £80, which is very reasonable considering it includes the inital 'OMFG your car is modded!!!11' premium increase. Everything else I've added hasn't touched the premium at all.

Why bother changing the exhaust manifolds at all? You'll only have to ditch them when you do the turbo conversion in a few months. Be wary about Youtube videos when choosing exhausts, as they never tell you the whole story. They can tell you tone, but never the actual volume of the exhaust: My own vid of the ESR exhaust will back that up. Any monkey with a spanner can fit an exhaust, so I would simply find the nearest garage you trust to do it. I certainly wouldn't bother going to an exhaust specialist for it.

Ring them and ask them? Each insurer will be different: Some won't care and add nothing, some will hate you and add £200, and some will rape your face and refuse to insure you at all.

Nothing to do with the MOT at all, as there's no noise test involved. At least, not for cars.

I have to say that I'm really not a fan of those touring car-style shift knobs in the Zed. I know they're the official items and all, but they just seem so odd when you look at them fitted. They can't be anywhere near as comfortable as the rounded stock item either.

No. No no no no no. Not in a million years. Even 5th @ 30mph will rumble more enough to make people turn and look. And that's why I love it.

You sure? I know you can reset the CEL, but have yet to meet an OBDII car where you can reset the ECU as well from the diagnostics port. I've had my Gendan reader + laptop connected to my brother's MY07 Zed and didn't see anything remotely like an ECU reset button/option.

Just say you've never had it on a dyno so you don't know if it improves or not

Basically (and even EBC themselves have admitted as much lately, hence them giving out a load of freebies to various different car club members across all performance marques) they've chronically mis-sold what the various pads are. The EBC line-up should look like this: Greenstuff: Cheap and worse than OEM. Redstuff: The equivalent to OEM. Yellowstuff: Fast road (not track) pads. This is why a lot of people are very happy with the Red and Yellow pads, as they actually will try and stop you, but the Green is simply a very budget pad that should never have been sold with a performance tag on at all. Personally I'm using the Performance Friction pads on mine as I wanted a pad that will funtion well on track, yet not squeal like a pig on the road (as sadly the excellent RS14s do). So far they've hit the nail on the head perfectly.