alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Alright guys, I'm Alistair. this is my first thread so bare with me! Me and the misses bought a house February last year and thought what better than buying one of my dream cars at the same time, unfortunately I couldn't justify a 911 gt3! So imo I bought the next best thing my 2004 azure blue gt 350z, and I absolutely love it. I bought the car down in london with 45000 on the clock and in a good a condition as i could find ( i regret that now, should have bought a cheap s*** one to modify). And I made my way back up to lincolnshire happy as larry. My plans for the car is to make it as clean as possible, yet be good fun for track days starting this year, I'm playing catch up as i have already done a few smaller bits to her but I'll go through what i did and why and what i plan on doing next. Images below were in the showroom when I picked it up. Hope the people of the forum get involved with me as I've been on here awhile and the forum seems abit quieter now, I have spoke to traders via dm's and they seem helpful but not had anything to do with other members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian@TORQEN Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Welcome to the forum! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 So first things first when i got home was a good clean, it needed it after the 250 mile drive home! -seats out and interior clean (second hand cars always need this) - two bucket wash down -clay bar - light hand polish - poor boys blue nattys wax which brings the car out mint!! - machine polished the headlights to bring them back to life The one down fall with this car is there was a knocking on the front drivers side when i bought it, quick check on the forum and some advice from ZMANALEX and I knew this was a compression arm and not a problem, I actually ordered one before I bought the car. I don't have any photos of me installing this but it was an easy job at the father in laws who has a pit. it did give me a chance to look under the car too and everything looked peachy apart from the chassis braces but we will get to that later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay84 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Very nice looks lovely mate. Looks very looked after. Are you having head unit dramas with reading cd's? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHEZZA Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Nice to see the zeds getting some love. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 So the second weekend I had the car I felt I had to do something about the terrible OEM fitment of the wheels... yes everyone does this so it was easy to see 20/25mm spacers were the way to go until more serious parts are ordered. Ill post photo below so anyone who doesn't see the 10 million posts about this can see the difference Also I'm not a big garage fan therefore decided to give her a service while at it, not saying I dont trust car sales garages, I just dont believe them when they say they have done something, so fresh oil, oil filter and HKS panel filter went in. I believe the OEM intakes stay cooler on the 350 so a good panel filter is what i went for. Lastly I prefer a clean white looking bulbs so I ordered for the whole car, the difference is incredible, note the indicator bulb was later changed for a chrome one to finish of the headlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Jay84 said: Very nice looks lovely mate. Looks very looked after. Are you having head unit dramas with reading cd's? hey mate you mean the one were you cant listen too music if you go round a corner to quick? I had the head unit replaced but that will come in a post Edited January 13, 2018 by alistair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) Few weeks later I was feeling a bit unsure of the ride height now the spacers were on (attached a photo of the eibach spacers as i forgot last post) so it was time for springs, eich is what I went for and really happy with how it changes the cars appearance. I will be going to a full coil over set up eventually but I was fully adjustable arms before i do. I also hit up tarmacsportz and bought some 'JDM' badges, not a fan of the whole JDM scene but i do like the badges I took a friend out from work and he loved it so much he bought one two weeks later, attached is a picture at work. His is same spec and again with 45000 on the clock, still think the blue has held up better with again than the orange but still a beautiful colour. which do you prefer??? I'm aware the license plate isn't exactly legal but I ordered the wrong one I'll change it out at some point Edited January 13, 2018 by alistair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay84 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Mine skipped for the 1st half hour of being on, by which point I was at work already. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) Pretty sure some of you guys call it zeditis, that thing were you just cant leave things alone, well its happening to me ! Next on the agenda was the rusted chassis braces under the car that I could not stop thinking about, I got online and started researching.... Holy S*** OEM ones are expensive. So I got on the H-tune and ordered some ultra racing braces to replace them. Pretty happy with the product as a weld inspector I sometimes feel ill looking at aftermarket part welds as the quality is terrible but not this time and the paint quality was great too! Then it came time so sort some other personal issues, the plenum was looking abit shabby so some high temperature paint was applied to give it a new look. Next was the rear strut bar plastics with also got a fresh lick of black paint. ( the Z badge has gone back in) I had an audi previous to this and I always liked the feel of a black roof lining, made it feel safer IMO and just a nicer more modern place to sit, so i ripped it out and got the spray dye out this is such and easy job and it looks amazing when back in. I dont have any photos on me but will take some of the interior when I get chance. Edited January 13, 2018 by alistair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Good work. And good on you for doing some maintenance yourself. I remember on a road trip with some guys off here one member did an oil change with nothing but his scissor jack in a premier inn car park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scobie140 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Looking good, mods are fairly racking up! Quite like the idea of the black roof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 14 minutes ago, coldel said: Good work. And good on you for doing some maintenance yourself. I remember on a road trip with some guys off here one member did an oil change with nothing but his scissor jack in a premier inn car park Thanks pal, Its the first car I've been confident enough to work on by myself rather than taking it to garages or asking mechanic friends for advice and I'm proper enjoying it! we are planning on doing some roads trips this year and looking forward to stories like that 13 minutes ago, scobie140 said: Looking good, mods are fairly racking up! Quite like the idea of the black roof Its made a huge difference and one of the best mods you can do for 13 quid, I'll link what i used... https://www.fabricspray.co.uk/shop/upholstery-spray-paint/midnight-black-fabric-dye/ and i'll get a photo on it as soon as I have daylight when not at work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) So I decided I wanted to upgrade the clutch and while there might as well upgrade the fly wheel too. Turns out it was good timing as the clutch had seen better days! This was the first job I had to take to garage as I didn't fancy attempting it on a pit! luckily for me I have a good friend with a garage and we made light work of changing it over, I went with a stage one action clutch and competition clutch lightweight fly, felt great from the get go. could anyone tell me the serial number of the 2004 350 gearboxz? I believe the 06+ are the CD09? Edited January 13, 2018 by alistair 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay84 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Awesome work, and yeah i love the black roofliner too. Yeah zeditus has no known cure, and just when you think 'yeah awesome', you find something else to do. How far into Lincoln are you? There are a couple of Notts people I met up with last year and organised a meet just outside derby some of the West Midlands people joined us on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 10 minutes ago, Jay84 said: Awesome work, and yeah i love the black roofliner too. Yeah zeditus has no known cure, and just when you think 'yeah awesome', you find something else to do. How far into Lincoln are you? There are a couple of Notts people I met up with last year and organised a meet just outside derby some of the West Midlands people joined us on. cheers pal, I'm from a little village about 30 mins north of lincoln pal always up for car meets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay84 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Me too but my wife doesn't get it lol. You should sign up for japfest in May if you can, we won stand of the year last year and have 30 names down for this year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scobie140 Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 13 hours ago, alistair said: Thanks pal, Its the first car I've been confident enough to work on by myself rather than taking it to garages or asking mechanic friends for advice and I'm proper enjoying it! we are planning on doing some roads trips this year and looking forward to stories like that Its made a huge difference and one of the best mods you can do for 13 quid, I'll link what i used... https://www.fabricspray.co.uk/shop/upholstery-spray-paint/midnight-black-fabric-dye/ and i'll get a photo on it as soon as I have daylight when not at work Looking forward to see how it turns out, and for £13 might be on my to do list before putting the car back on the road 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G1en Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Great work so far. That roof liner looks a great mod. I fancy doing the rising sun on mine, how easy is it to get out and back in? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 Just now, G1en@waxandshine said: Great work so far. That roof liner looks a great mod. I fancy doing the rising sun on mine, how easy is it to get out and back in? pretty easy you just have to be careful not to bend it to much, plastics out the boot, A + B pillars need popping off then you can take out the sun visors and it should come out then - don't forget to disconnect the interior light trim tools always help and only cost a few quid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 So the car came with a japspeed back box and I rather liked it but I felt with decats it would sound great so that was next on the agenda! I opted for the japspeed decats pipes and matching Y pipes so it was a full manifold back system. Not sure this gave me any power but i know it saved me some weight! I waited for a nice sunny day and set too on the driveway ( burnt my back on the tarmac it was that hot!) while doing this I had a motordyne plenum spacer to try which I order from torqen, pretty self explanatory and comes with great instructions. pretty simple jobs, and again as a home diy enthusiast it was nice to do something else for myself. I know some people don't like cheaper brands but I don't have a massive budget so i work with what I can get and IMO it turned out great. (hopefully the videos play ) included a picture of a couple of weeks later when I took exhaust of, very pretty heat affected areas IMG_4960_(1).MOV IMG_2648.MOV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 Right, so we have; hks filter manifold back exhaust system plenum spacer stage one clutch light weight flywheel So i thought it would be time for a Remap, so had a trip down south to horsham developments and they worked their magic and got me from 276 to 298, shame it didn't quite make 300 nut hey that N/A cars i suppose. It felt great on the way home power seemed to kick in faster, for now that's all I'm going to do power wise, these cars are fast enough for tracking. So it's time to focus on weight and handling... On a side not replaced the terrible head unit of something that looks OEM as possible, as i can't stand aftermarket head units. Went for a fairly simple sony one from halfrauds. doesnt look it in the image but the colour matches the OEM back lighting on the other dials which is good Treated myself to a nice weighted gear shifter and it's ace i actually cant believe what a difference it made, I went for blox racing 490 in black. only problem is its cold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valy Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 nice and clean,keep up the good work there is no going back once you catch zeditus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 8 minutes ago, valy said: nice and clean,keep up the good work there is no going back once you catch zeditus Thanks pal, so it seems! probably going to keep this car for a long time so i don't mind spending money on her Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silkygun Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Car's looking really tidy mate good work! Always good to see more people from the Shire! Hopefully see you around Lincoln at some point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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