Me and My Zed Thread

[14N]

OK, so my Zed and I are approaching our first anniversary together. When I bought my car, I was extremely happy with it, everything about it was just perfect. I didn’t want to change a thing, I just didn’t need to. I had just bought a 350Z and was in love.

 

Then I started spending more time here on the forum, learning about my car and seeing what you guys were upto with your own Zeds.

 

A few simple DIY jobs were done shortly after I picked her up for my own piece of mind including a new pair of Gates auxiliary belts, an oil and filter change and also a gearbox oil change with added Molyslip.

 

I never started a build thread, as I never thought I’d be changing anything and certainly wouldn’t be doing anything worth documenting. This is also the reason some of the photos aren’t great quality as they were taken on my phone.

 

Then I started to attend meets and took a drive upto the Wales weekender 2012 in my standard car. I’m sure you know where this is heading – I contracted Zeditis and I wanted to start changing things. Only little things, just tweaks to make a standard Zed, MY Zed.

 

Here she is just after I bought her.

 

 

 

 

At the risk of sounding like a total newbie, I asked a question about the way my boot opened (or rather didn’t open). My question was soon answered and my (apparently common) problem was solved by ‘the penny trick’. Well, 4p to be precise… My first ‘mod’ I guess.

 

She was still fitted with the standard skippy BOSE head unit, so this needed to be changed as I was fed up of listening to the same songs on the radio. I did look into the iPod hack, but eventually a trip to Halfords saw me purchasing an Alpine head unit. For the sake of £30 and me not wanting to pull my new car apart, I let Halfords fit it (as it included a BT microphone that I had no idea how to route the cable behind the dash).

 

All fitted it was OK, but not 100%. Spending a bit (OK a LOT) more time on the forum I found this guide from Buster http://www.350z-uk.c...lacing-oe-bose/ and along with another guide on how to remove the HU, I thought I’d get my hands dirty.

 

 

A few hours and several mugs of tea later and it was all back in and sounding good

 

Shortly after picking her up, I reached a significant mileage…..

 

 

My driver’s door pull handle was also a bit scratched, so next job on the list was to tidy these up. Again, with the help of a removal guide found on the forum, I took both handles off and had my first go at wrapping in carbon vinyl. After a bit of practice, a lot of patience and a little swearing, I got a result I was happy with.

 

 

 

 

Next task, feeling creative, was to have a go at making a boot divider/vertical tonneau cover. A fellow forum member kindly posted me a template of his OEM divider and I got to work with a jigsaw and some MDF.

 

 

I have now made a number of the dividers for forum members. If you'd like one for yourself (and your Zed), please get in touch via this thread: http://www.350z-uk.c...r-boot-divider/

 

Next came the mandatory stubby. A carbon ‘Nismo’ one from eBay. Ordered from Hong Kong on a Monday and it was on the car by Friday – Result! Not bad for just over £8

 

 

 

Eventually the Zeditis forced me into looking at making a change to the car’s appearance. Tarmac helped out by sending me a Nismo style front splitter. After a trip to the body shop for some paint, it was fitted. Now my Zed started to look a bit different to stock. J

 

 

 

During this time, my post count on the forum was increasing and once I hit the magic number of 350, I dropped Mike a message and asked him to send me my 350z-uk.com sticker for my window. I also bought one at the same time, so I could have one on each side of the car.

 

 

 

All was quiet on the modification front for a while, but Zeditis only lays dormant for a short period and I soon felt the need to “do something elseâ€. So on a cold wet Sunday afternoon I wrapped my centre console to match the door handles.

 

 

 

Then the snow came,

 

 

Along with a few very nervous (but fortunately uneventful) drives to work

 

 

Next up, and coming very soon after my first success as a For Sale section vulture – A JWT Pop Charger

Edited January 7, 2017 by 14N

[Will370z]

Happy anniversay, looks like you have had a fun year. ive had mine a year next week, hopefully the weather will be better this year to enjoy it some more

[KC350Z]

Great work liking the centre console

[WhackyWill]

Great looking Zed...I'm going to order the aerial as mine is not brilliant reception.

[14N]

Thanks for the comments guys

 

Will, if you're after an aerial to improve reception, I can't recommend the short carbon one. When I first fitted it, I could only really get Radio 1. However, after removing the centre console (and HU) to carbon wrap it, I had to re-tune the radio and it seems much better now! I've got a lot more stations.

It's worth a try for less than a tenner though mate. Certainly looks cool

[WhackyWill]

Thanks 14N, too late just ordered one. gone up a bit in price came to £13 but who worries, will give it a try

[Dave-350]

The honda RDX ariel is spot on for me!

 

Great stuff btw Ian! The splitters transform the look of the Zed for the best imo!

 

Will have to let us know what the Pop charger sounds like!

[KyleR]

Some good tidy wrapping there

[WhackyWill]

Got the Nismo aerial...terrible reception worse than the one I replaced, just bought and

 

fitted the Honda S2000 one and its perfect...so save your moey and get a Honda one first.

[14N]

OK, so not the most exciting picture or mod, but here's what I'll be fitting on Saturday following an MOT failure and advosory.

 

Front lower control arms and bushes (L & R)

Rear anti roll drop link rods (L&R)

 

 

And while the wheels are of, it would be rude not to fit my 20 and 25mm spacers

[KyleR]

Not heard much about the lower arms failing, usually the lower rear (banana bars) that go. I hope they're the right ones?

[Keyser]

Looking good mate

 

Keep us posted

[KC350Z]

Dont forget to move the air freshner blocking you view or it will fail again :lol:

[14N]

Dont forget to move the air freshner blocking you view or it will fail again :lol:

 

Haha. Thanks for the tip Kev. For everyone's reference, I took my car for an MOT last weekend and aswell as (understandably) failing on the bushes below, I received a few advisories, including:

 

- Undertrays fitted obscuring some underside components

- Engine covers fitted obscuring some components in the engine bay

- Items removed from drivers view prior to test - (This was my f****** air freshner)!

 

I also had to take the splitter off the front, as it wouldn't go on the ramp otherwise! My car isn't even lowered!

 

Anyway, I think we can now see why the bushes failed. And the loose one did fall out as we removed the arm

 

 

The job itself was fairly easy, it's just the removal of all the corroded nuts etc caused a lot of cursing and grazed knuckles.

 

But once that was sorted, it was onto the fun stuff - spacers

 

I've seen many 'before and after' pictures, but they really can't represent the difference in appearance the spacers give to a car and how she sits. I am very pleased with the results, so much so I forgot to take any pictures until we'd finished. But here are a couple that gives an idea how she sits now.

 

Before

 

After

Edited March 2, 2013 by 14N

[Keyser]

I think your MOT man was harsh at least another 10 miles in them bushes

 

 

Good work mate when's the retest?

[14N]

Cheers Chris, I think I must've found a real jobs worth MOT-er! The re-test is next Saturday 9th. I'm removing all the engine covers, inc the battery and brake fluid ones AND my Magic Tree!

 

I'll just wait for the "Covers missing from engine bay" advisory....

[KC350Z]

Shes looking good with the spacers are you using them with the new rims as well cant wait to see what she looks like then great job ian

[14N]

Thanks Kev. I'm really pleased with the difference the spacers have made. I'll try the new wheels with the spacers fitted, they will effectively give me ET0 Front and ET 15 rear, so will see how it looks.

 

I'm really looking forward to fitting them. But I'm waiting for a package from Plastidip , so I can make an 'aesthetic change' to them first. Pics will follow....

[KC350Z]

Thanks Kev. I'm really pleased with the difference the spacers have made. I'll try the new wheels with the spacers fitted, they will effectively give me ET0 Front and ET 15 rear, so will see how it looks.

 

I'm really looking forward to fitting them. But I'm waiting for a package from Plastidip , so I can make an 'aesthetic change' to them first. Pics will follow....

 

Let me know how you get on mine need a refurb as fooked but want to change to less heavy rim and go to 19" instead off 20" but looking to sell for a manual so see how i go

[Keyser]

 

I'll just wait for the "Covers missing from engine bay" advisory....

 

 

That will be well funny

 

Good luck on the retest mate - she will fly through I'm sure

[14N]

OK so here's a teaser/sneak peak for those that are interseted

 

Had a parcel arrive today from PlastidipUK and in it were some cans of Gunmetal Plastidip. So I wasted no time when I got home from work in pulling one of my wheels out of the garage, giving it a dust off (it was clean already) and setting up in the dining room, on the promise I wouldn't make a mess and the paint wouldn't smell. I'm such a liar!

 

So, here's how it's looking so far after the final coat of Plastidip. Pretty chuffed with the result, just gotta do the 3 others this weekend. (Doubt I'll be allowed to do 'em in the house though).

 

Edited March 7, 2013 by 14N

[KC350Z]

looking good cant wait to see them on the car

[S1 HNK]

Be interested to see how this works.

 

Can quite figure out how it can peeled off really easily but yet be tough enough to with stand stone chips and general wear, especially on a set of wheels.

[14N]

I'll keep you updated with any feedback. So far it seems really easy to use. Does give a textured matt finish, but there are 'glossifiers' etc from Plastidip that are available. A number of furom members have used it on their front lower lip of the bumper and it seems to hold up to stone chips well.

 

There's a lot of positive material online from people that have used it on their wheels and a considerable number of videos on YouTube showing how to apply it and also how to peel it off. It does seem very durable as a car that has been 'dipped' (body and wheels) is taken through a car wash with no issues.

 

We'll see how well it holds up to UK roads and weather.

Edited March 8, 2013 by 14N

[14N]

OK, plastidip update. I finished painting my wheel and let it dry. It looked amazing - ly AWFUL! The colour in the above photo looks alright, quite nice even, but in the light of day I think the use of 'Gunmetal grey' is far from the truth. It looks more like primer. Think battleship grey. I'd used plenty of coats, so it wasn't the thickness that was the issue, the colour in the above photo is nothing like the finished product.

 

Needless to say, after a test fit to the car, just to see A) how my new wheels looked regarding fitment/offset and; B ) for curiosity to see how awful the primer grey wheels would look on the car I began the 'easy, just peel it off' process, glad that I hadn't actually painted the wheel in 'real' paint.

 

So, can you just peel Plastidip off? Yes and no. If the Plastidip is applied liberally (i.e. thick) to a flat, smooth surface, yes, it just comes straight off. BUT, it the coats aren't really thick (but still thick enough to be the same uniform colour) then you need to pick at it. Also, if the surface isn't flat (for example in my wheel where the Torx bolts are) then it's a real PITA. It can be removed though by rubbing with your thumb/finger - just expect sore thumbs afterwards.

 

Credit where credit is due, it is easy to use and can be removed easily if applied thickly to the right surface. I imagine the black stuff that members use for their front bumper lower lip is brilliant. But please don't buy the gunmetal grey unless you want what ever you're painting to look like it's been prepped in primer awaiting paint.

Edited March 12, 2013 by 14N