350Z Experience
Discussion
I was reading the "Elise to 350Z" post and thought I'd give my experiences.
I went from a TVR Tamora to the Z and whilst I liked the drive after a year I wanted something quicker, so I paid the £7k and had it supercharged and a sports exgaust fitted. Now we were into TVR perfoamce levels. I must confess I wasn't gentle with it, living in Milton Keynes the temptation with the dual carraigeways is just too much.
Anyway, 5 months and 6k miles later the clutch went. Too much power. Twin plate replacement was sh*te, just about 1/4 inch play so went with a single plate Nismo job ... another £1500 later we're back in business.
In the meantime, due to a short in the supercharger wiring the engine management went up the swanny and new cats had to be fitted after the originals melted.
A year after fitting the supercharger the engine management light came back on and it started stalling and idling very badly and oil consumption went through the roof. Turned out one of the head gaskets had blown which overheated the middle cyclinder which then seized, scoring the bore and f*cking the engine. So now we're another £3.5k down following an engine rebuild and steel head gaskets and half way through running the thing in again.
Okay it went like a rocket while it went, but the problems and costs subsequent to supercharging it far outweigh the pleasure ... and will it ever be reliable again? I'm not sure and not filled with confidence.
Perhaps I should have stuck with the idiosyncrasies of the TVR ... who knows, maybe I've just been unlucky, but I've now got a 350Z that I've spent nearly £40k on. C'est la vie I guess.
I went from a TVR Tamora to the Z and whilst I liked the drive after a year I wanted something quicker, so I paid the £7k and had it supercharged and a sports exgaust fitted. Now we were into TVR perfoamce levels. I must confess I wasn't gentle with it, living in Milton Keynes the temptation with the dual carraigeways is just too much.
Anyway, 5 months and 6k miles later the clutch went. Too much power. Twin plate replacement was sh*te, just about 1/4 inch play so went with a single plate Nismo job ... another £1500 later we're back in business.
In the meantime, due to a short in the supercharger wiring the engine management went up the swanny and new cats had to be fitted after the originals melted.
A year after fitting the supercharger the engine management light came back on and it started stalling and idling very badly and oil consumption went through the roof. Turned out one of the head gaskets had blown which overheated the middle cyclinder which then seized, scoring the bore and f*cking the engine. So now we're another £3.5k down following an engine rebuild and steel head gaskets and half way through running the thing in again.
Okay it went like a rocket while it went, but the problems and costs subsequent to supercharging it far outweigh the pleasure ... and will it ever be reliable again? I'm not sure and not filled with confidence.
Perhaps I should have stuck with the idiosyncrasies of the TVR ... who knows, maybe I've just been unlucky, but I've now got a 350Z that I've spent nearly £40k on. C'est la vie I guess.
Blimey.
When I had mine there were a couple of stories from the states about con rods failing but nothing much else. I don't remember any clutches giving up on specifically FI cars (knew one guy who went through a couple of clutche on an unmolested on here in the UK but I suspect it was his driving style TBH - not suggesting this is the case here)
Just for reference, what was the kit, who installed it and what kind of boost/power was it running at?
Awful bad luck mate.
Edited to say : just looked at your profile and the install info is there, sorry.
When I had mine there were a couple of stories from the states about con rods failing but nothing much else. I don't remember any clutches giving up on specifically FI cars (knew one guy who went through a couple of clutche on an unmolested on here in the UK but I suspect it was his driving style TBH - not suggesting this is the case here)
Just for reference, what was the kit, who installed it and what kind of boost/power was it running at?
Awful bad luck mate.
Edited to say : just looked at your profile and the install info is there, sorry.
Edited by The Dude on Tuesday 5th September 08:36
Actually quite interested to hear about the make and who fitted it?
I know of a couple of TT Z's that have died recently, I also know of a couple more that haven't although serious amounts of money are being spent on them. SC is one thing I have been thinking about especially since NMGB showed the world the Novidem powered GT-S.
I think the general rule of thumb with these engines is keep it simple, if you want to FI it then you are going to have to tinker with the engine, forged internals etc. That starts getting expensive.
I know of a couple of TT Z's that have died recently, I also know of a couple more that haven't although serious amounts of money are being spent on them. SC is one thing I have been thinking about especially since NMGB showed the world the Novidem powered GT-S.
I think the general rule of thumb with these engines is keep it simple, if you want to FI it then you are going to have to tinker with the engine, forged internals etc. That starts getting expensive.
Blimey, that's scary.
I've driven a few recently on track and on the road - I was really impressed with AUTOCAR's longtermer. I got chauffered around Bedford by a certain road test editor - seeing through the blatant showing off - the Nismo suspension revisions that that car has had made an enormous difference. Really, properly sorted.
I've driven a few recently on track and on the road - I was really impressed with AUTOCAR's longtermer. I got chauffered around Bedford by a certain road test editor - seeing through the blatant showing off - the Nismo suspension revisions that that car has had made an enormous difference. Really, properly sorted.
. I bet you wish you had'nt
Actually the standard car does need help with its internals if you're going to be boosting it.
If you look at some of the cars that have failed none of them have had their internals strengthened where as Baptist has gone down the route of sorting his engine out.
One bit of advice that I have had is if you want to TS Charge the car, get the internals reinforced otherwise you run the risk of ruining the engine.
If you look at some of the cars that have failed none of them have had their internals strengthened where as Baptist has gone down the route of sorting his engine out.
One bit of advice that I have had is if you want to TS Charge the car, get the internals reinforced otherwise you run the risk of ruining the engine.
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