PAYCOS NISMO BUILD

Payco · June 7, 2019

Upon request, I have put together a retrospective build thread for my 2016 Nismo 370z.

Here’s me.

52 years old but still feel 18. I am proud to be the South REO for the forum and will kick off by saying I have made some great friends during my time on here and what a fantastic place this is.

I joined the forum in 2011 having purchased a stock 2006 Gunmetal 350z DE. Having attended my first meet, chatted to Wasso and Chippychip the modding bug took hold. I was at Wasso’s a week later in Birmingham for a polished plenum and strut brace and that was that. Over the following 5 years I modded the 350z to the stage where I wanted it to be. Photo below of how she looked finished.

I never really liked the 370z in comparison, however having test driven a 370z Nismo I decided it was the car for me. I was seriously debating and ready to go the R35 GTR route but to be honest I did not think it was that practical and I doubted how often I would be able to unlock the capabilities of the car for the use it was going to get under my ownership.

In May 2016, I sourced a white Nismo 370z from RS Direct in Bristol. 600 miles on the clock, one owner - £27k. It was a great deal and I had to go for it. A month later and a train ride to Bristol here she was on collection day.

Having told the wife the Nismo was already modded and there was nothing to do to it I soon found the need to retract the statement.

I changed the gear knob to a Mopedmark custom jobby before it left Bristol.

On arrival home to GTR starter button was fitted in to replace the stock starter.

The PA04YCO number plate was proudly transferred and mounted as soon as the docs were with me.

Next up was the Ark Dual Grip exhaust which I had sitting in my garage waiting to go on. I had one on my 350z and loved the look and sound so had to have one again. The stock Nismo exhaust is just not up to the job.

Next up was a trip to Abbey Motorsport to fit my Stillen Injen 3 intakes followed by the must do job of lowering her on Tein S springs.

Ok, now she was looking good. At the Ace meet in June 2018 Mopedmark offered to make me up some canards which he did a month later at his house in the Midlands. It was a long day – 3.5 hours there, 7 hours with Mark and then back home. The canards have had mixed reviews but I like them.

A few months passed and a few shows and meets came and went. I was thinking about tweaking her looks so came up with the idea of a part wrap. A month later and several reiterations I went for a rear quarter panel and roof wrap in 3M Deep Space flip and wrapped all the Nismo trim to match.

My good friend and forum member – Steve (Zippypooz) who is a wrapper by trade ordered the wrap and carried out the job. I was very happy with the result.

A few shows later, I had convinced myself that to finish the look I really needed to change the rims. After a deep dive into my wallet I ordered some custom Work Emotion T7R2Ps via Driftworks from Japan in Asterism black which matched my wrap - perfect. Same spec as the Nismo rims.The 18-week wait soon passed and when they arrived, they looked awesome.

Having carefully selected a garage that would fit these treating them like crystal, they were fitted. I was pleased but something was not right. A quick call to my friend Ady at Torqen and a set of 15mm spacer’s front and back were on their way.

Once I fitted them and the rims looked spot on and sat nicely in the arches.

Two months later Zippy convinced me I needed to wrap the bonnet to finish the look, he was right.

So now, we are almost up to date, although I may have missed a couple of mods !!.

Having sourced a pair of standard fit side blades from E-Bay for £20 delivered I decided to strengthen them with some fibreglass and filler, have Steve wrap them and then fit.

They were fitted last night (7^th June) ready for Ace on Saturday.

The car is not going to be to everyones liking but isn’t that the great thing about personalising cars, its each to their own. All I will say is she looks much better in the flesh as the wrap looks flat in photos. Best view is if you enlarge the shot taken at the Leeds castle show last month. I hope you get to see her in person. I am always happy to receive feedback, good or bad.

Couple more bits to do but then I am finished modding, honest…