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My dream come true


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10 hours ago, longsh07 said:

By the way, got any recommendations for decent polishes and waxes? ;)

Been using the Meguiar's polish and Carnauba wax for a while which has given me decent results.

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I also have some Dodo Juice Banana Armour which I tried out last wash but really not a fan. I think it gave worse results than the Meg's stuff and was a pain in the arse to use.

 

There’s loads of good products out there and also a lot of rubbish ones too! Like Glen at Wax and shine suggested Scholl polishers are really really good. In terms of waxes I think Angel Wax produce the best ones on the market and they cater for all budgets. Soft 99’s Fusso is also really good and very cheap. 

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  • 10 months later...

I am currently approaching 1 years ownership of my beloved Z!

 

Really happy with how much I have managed to do in a year, where do I start? Get your popcorn its going to be a long one :lol:

 

When I got the car back from Abbey Motorsports the car felt like a new car, I think I spent just over £1200 but was well worth it as I know where its at mechanically now.

Full P3 service

Aux belts

Spark plugs

Rear diff bushes

Tyre pressure

Battery and Brake Fluid cover and trims as this was missing

General Overall check

 

 

So as I touched on before the previous owner had looked after it but had not loved it so I was keen to refresh/replace parts that were worn. First off the gear knob, this was battered and was just horrible to touch, I looked at aftermarket ones but the OEM knob for me was the best but as anybody knows they are expensive! Anyway I managed to find one for £85 shipped from an American store that stocked OEM parts direct from Japan, result!

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It was then onto the floor mats, the originals had worn badly to the point there was a hole in the drivers side. The original mats quality aren't great so I didn't want to replace them with new OEM. I liked the look of the Nismo ones but decided going down the route of buying Nismo everything on a standard Z. So I found a start up company called Reefined on Instagram and they did custom thick pile car mats. Had a chat and explained I wanted the OEM design and they said no problem and went ahead. Mats came and I was blown away with the quality and how well the 350z logo came out. These cost me £120 but was worth it for the quality especially when the OEM ones are £85!

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Also decided to do the ariel change to a Blox Racing stubby one from Torqen

 

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Finally it was time to get the wheels refurbished, this was one thing that was sending my Mild OCD CRAZY! Everytime I looked at it the shame of how bad the wheels were was just horrible haha

I got a few quotes from local places to me and it was looking like it was going to be quite expensive, this was mainly because I had a chunk out of one wheel!

To cut the cost down I decided to just go for one colour all over keeping the OEM colour but not having the diamond cut centre and polished lip. I managed to find a local guy who did it for me for £280 all in. Overall I was pleased with the result, no more curbed, peeling and corroded wheels, yay!

 

On a side note I had a nightmare with finding the Original Nismo stickers! There is a million places that make Nismo stickers but not specifically for the LMGT4 wheels (have to be a certain size) turned out the previous owner had bought fake ones when they had the wheels re done (absolute bodge job hence the peeling ect.) and they were slightly smaller in size. Anyway after buying 3 sets from all different sources and them all being the wrong colour or size I finally found someone who was selling some genuine ones directly from Japan! Cost me £25 plus shipping to the UK but at this point I was just glad to have the right sized ones and genuine!

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Really lucky to have got the upgraded headlights on mine when I bought it, definitely saved me some money as it was something I planned on doing. Over time they had gone a bit cloudy so was time to restore!

 

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Managed to book a week out of work so I could do a full multi stage correction and ceramic coating on my own car!

 

Set out to take a photo of every stage but as usual I got lost in the process! Still managed to take a few though..

 

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I will do a full post on this with a breakdown of all products used and every step but for this update its just a quick summary. It was by far the best thing I have done on this car, it really bought it back to life. I finally felt how all my customers must feel when I finish their cars haha! Absolutely blown away with the transformation, I do this day in day out but there is something about seeing your own car gleaming with 100% clarity to the paintwork knowing how many hours that has gone into it. Took me 7 days all together with some extremely late nights! Probably about 80 hours of work went into this one  :D

 

 

A trip down to Jack at Royal Steering wheels, extremely good value for money. the quality is great, do not under estimate how good it is to have a freshly trimmed steering wheel, totally changes the feel of the car! There was a thread on the Facebook group of people who had their steering wheels re trimmed and I have to admit I just totally copied a guy who posted his on their, I even messaged him asking for the spec so Jack did the exact same one hahaha

Perforated leather at the sides, smooth at the top and bottom, silver stitching and silver tab, also slightly thickened too.

 

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Driving back from a meet and all of a sudden my exhaust blew :scare: When I bought the car the previous owner had fitted a K2 exhaust system which actually sounded pretty good but clearly didn't have much life left! Turned out to be the flexis had literally dropped off but before I even looked at it I had decided perfect time to get a whole new system. I had been saving up for some lovely Braum Racing seats so unfortunately I had to use those funds to buy my new exhaust system. After endless nights on YouTube watching exhaust videos :lol: I decided to go for the Invidia Gemini catback system with the stainless steel chrome rolled tips. Extremely happy with the look, performance and sound! First drive was incredible, the car felt a lot less restricted and free flowing! Thanks to Adrian at Torqen for suppling and huge thanks to Bob for fitting me in last minute on a weekend to fit!

 

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And I think that is it for Mods, not a bad 2018 if you ask me!

Recently just gave it a P1 service. Currently stored away nice and safe in the dry, Friday I am changing the rear discs (Brembo) and changing the brake fluid all around (Motul 600) Then bring on show season! Ive got a long list of things I want to do this year but as usual we shall see what funds allow :sweat:

 

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Have had a great first year of Z ownership its been everything and more then what I imagined!

 

A few highlights from meets/shows

 

Trax at Silverstone was great, first time I've been on the forum stand, really good to meet everyone.

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Had the chance to go down to Caffeine and the Machine that was a great day out, some lovely roads up that way. Me and @Killick.z have become great friends (all through the love of Z's!), absolute pleasure riding out with him, his Mk1 370Z Nismo is just stunning B) 

 

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Midlands meet! Hands down the best meet I've been too despite the bad weather. We had a great turnout, got to speak to everyone the energy was great! Great location, loads of room and the little drive we took all together was awesome! Cant wait to do that again in April. Thank you to @davey_83 for organising that, legend!

 

Heres me and @SHEZZA great to finally see his car in person after reading his legendary 'a zed time story' long before I even owned my car!

 

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Well thanks for reading if you made it this far haha more updates to come, for now it would be rude not to leave some beauty shots I took a few weeks ago when the sun was out!

 

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What a great loved zed and a cracking read mate, really enjoyed that. Excellent choice of exhaust as well :thumbs: 

honoured that you found my zed time story legendary and an inspiration too ! Cheers for that. 

Looking forward to getting out in the zed in April. 

I’m off to the garage now to spend the next month detailing  :lol:

 

 

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Great read Lewis.

 

By far the cleanest 350z I've seen, though to be fair I'd be disappointed if it wasn't :lol: - nothing quite compares to that sunset orange when the sun is shining. 

 

Looking forward to the summer shows, in particular Waxstock. 

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3 hours ago, SHEZZA said:

What a great loved zed and a cracking read mate, really enjoyed that. Excellent choice of exhaust as well :thumbs: 

honoured that you found my zed time story legendary and an inspiration too ! Cheers for that. 

Looking forward to getting out in the zed in April. 

I’m off to the garage now to spend the next month detailing  :lol:

 

 

Yes, can’t wait!

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  • 11 months later...

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