2004 Nissan 350z

[sainz92]

So after a couple of sensible years of motoring (1.6 honda civic sport & then a 1.6 Ford focus tdci) I thought that it was about time that I got my hands on something a little sportier. So it was between a 350z, abarth 500, focus st or a z4 (I know, that's quite a mixed selection haha!). To be honest though, I always knew that it had to be a Z, ever since I first saw one I knew that one day I had to own one. So the journey began, nights consisted of trawling classifieds and ebay, but there was nothing too local to me and in my budget. This went on for about 3 months, until my mum tagged me in a facebook post, a 350z with the exact spec that I'd been looking for (GT pack with the black leather interior). It wasn't exactly local (75 miles away) but it was too good a deal to pass up. So safe to say within 5 minutes of arriving, I knew that she was coming home with me. The drive home was a special one, like a dream come true, made better by the roads that the journey home took us on (through the Brecon Beacons). The plans are to get the car back up to a respectable standard, she's not too bad, but just a tad rough around the edges.

Here she is (after a quick clean)


First job was to raise the rear as it's on HSD adjustable coilovers and was slammed when I picked it up. Unfortunately I don't have any decent pictures of after the raise, in the picture I uploaded above is the original height. It's now sitting about 1 inch higher at the rear. Unfortunately I had a brain fart after alot of faffing about making sure that the car was level, I left the locking wheel key on the nut and went for a test drive.. Safe to say that I won't be seeing that anytime soon. I've already tried the 12 point socket method, but I've had no luck unfortunately, so it looks like I'll be making a trip to get those removed soon (at £12 per wheel!!). The tracking needs doing anyway so I'll just have to kill 2 birds with one stone.. So that's next on the list, followed by rear brakes as I'm getting brake judder. The only other job that I've done is the windscreen washer fix as the return valve had failed. Future plans are a paint correction, possible de badge, new driver seat (as this one has bolster wear, interior spruce up, possibly covering some panels in alcantara (after seeing the amazing job Geraint done on boxster), new android head unit (as it's still got the original stereo) and then possibly some performance mods.

So far though it's safe to say that I'm in my element!!

[sainz92]

I thought about taking it to a nissan dealer, but there arent any close to me, I think I'll call the nearest one to make sure that they can help me before making the trip. with regards to the 350z forum, I've signed up for an account, but I never received the validation email, I've checked all of the folders on my email, but I never received it. I've just requested a new one, so hopefully I'll get one this time so i can get posting on there. A plenum spacer is probably going to be the first performance mod I get, you'll have to let me know how yoi get on with yours.

[sainz92]

Strudul said:

Don't suppose you use AOL for your email? They are notorious for having issues.

Unfortunately it's a microsoft account. I manage to get all of the emails that I don't need, but when it comes to the important ones, or looking for a previous one it draws a blank

[sainz92]

Strudul said:

I'd just make a new email, but you can always contact the admin team and they should sort you out.

I think I'll try and change it to one of my other emails. Thanks man

[sainz92]

sainz92 said:

Strudul said:

I'd just make a new email, but you can always contact the admin team and they should sort you out.

I think I'll try and change it to one of my other emails. Thanks man

that worked straight away haha!!

[sainz92]

GrantD5 said:

sainz92 said:

I thought about taking it to a nissan dealer, but there arent any close to me, I think I'll call the nearest one to make sure that they can help me before making the trip. with regards to the 350z forum, I've signed up for an account, but I never received the validation email, I've checked all of the folders on my email, but I never received it. I've just requested a new one, so hopefully I'll get one this time so i can get posting on there. A plenum spacer is probably going to be the first performance mod I get, you'll have to let me know how yoi get on with yours.

Hello mate I work at a Nissan dealers in Parts.

All you will need to do is pop in, speak to service or parts and get them to match your key up with the master set and buy a new locking key, no big issue.

Quite frankly I'm sick of doing it we do it that much ha.

Enjoy!

Hi mate

funnily enough I spoke to someone who also works in a nissan parts centre this afternoon, I'm popping down tomorrow so that they can match up the key and order one in for me. Only problem is that they said that it could take a month to come in.. is that usually the case? if so I might ask them to remove the lockers and fit the spare nuts for the time being as knowing my luck ill get a puncture whilst out on a drive haha!!

[sainz92]

familyguy1 said:

anything stuck in the handbook that could be the locking key code ? or anything stamped on the locking bolt ? perhaps take a clear close up photo so you can email it to the spares person at the nearest Nissan dealer.

Edited by familyguy1 on Friday 28th July 15:12

Hi mate

I've looked everywhere for the card that comes with the locking wheel nut key, but had no luck unfortunately. Hopefully the local Nissan dealer will sort me out tomorrow

cheers

[sainz92]

GrantD5 said:

I highly doubt the part would take a month to come in unless its coming from Japan which it wont.

Ask for the part number we usually hold a fair few in stock. PM if they don't have it or they think it will be a month and I'm sure I can sort it ASAP. They will probably charge you for taking the old ones off, then the can supply a new set if needed.

Edit - I'm in work until 12.30 today

That's exactly what happened mate, they took the old ones of with one of the master keys and supplied me with a new set of lockers

[sainz92]

Strudul said:

A lot of people like to get rid of locking nuts anyway as they often cause more trouble than they are worth.

I'm in 2 minds whether to remove the new ones or not to stop it from happening again, do people steal alloys nowadays?

[sainz92]

Not too much of an update, but I felt like posting so here it goes.

Since I last posted I was getting some brake judder when braking at around 60-70mph. A quick inspection of the rear brakes revealed a tragically worn disk.. Albeit the pads still had about half of the friction material left on, but to be safe a new set of brembo rear disks and pads were ordered. The only problem I encountered whilst changing the brakes was a seized caliper bolt, which I could have cracked off but the breaker bar was hitting the floor before i could get enough leverage on it . It was no biggie though, a quick trip to the local garage and they cracked the remaining bolts off for a fiver and 2 packs of chocolate digestives. With those cracked it was plain sailing.



Then I done a few cosmetic bits, starting with the wiper arms. They were heavily corroded and looked awful, so I whipped them off and gave them a fresh lick of paint so now they look like brand new!

Before



After



And then the final job was a rear wiper delete, I also removed the weight from the boot lid as I felt it was pretty pointless and weight saving... haha

[sainz92]

kaveney said:

I ran one for a few years and did / spent a fair bit of £ and time on it .

Great car and one im happy I owned .

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...

Unfortunately I can't see any pictures due to photobucket I will definitely have a read though!

[sainz92]

Strudul said:

The stock RAYS are fantastic, but looks like you need some spacers

They should be going on soon, not sure what setup i'm going to go with yet though.. Maybe 20mm on the back and 10mm on the front..

[sainz92]

Strudul said:

25/30mm

That setup looks good!

[sainz92]

So today hasn't got off to the greatest of starts.. I dropped the car off for an MOT and within an hour I had a phone call to say that the car had failed and asked me to go back to the garage so that they could show me the reason for the failure. Obviously I knew that it wouldn't be good news, I knew that the car needed new front tyres and that the handbrake was a bit high, but I definitely wasn't expecting anything like what they were about to show me. When I arrived the car was still on the pit and the mechanics invited me down to show me the problem.





So as you can see (please excuse the poor quality pictures, it was pretty tight down there) the rear subframe bed is completely corroded through. Everything past the diff (which isn't aluminium) is shot, including the exhaust. I know that I have myself to blame as this is something that I should have checked, but in my defence, when I viewed the car it was sitting so low that I wouldn't have been able to see it anyway and both the advert and the guy I bought it off stated that the car had a visual inspection before it was posted for sale and that it had no rust underneath. Safe to say that I'm never going to trust anyones word and in future I will always organise my own inspections. The car wasn't bought locally either (2 hours each way) so I can't see the previous owner doing anything about it.

So now I'm stuck as to what to do.. Do I cut losses and sell it for half of what I bought it for? Or do I buy a complete rear section (if I can find one) and pay the labour to get it fitted?

Not the greatest start to the weekend eh?

[sainz92]

_Neal_ said:

Sorry to see that OP, and think you are saying it is rusted through, right?

Surprised it's not had advisories on any recent MOT (can see it hasn't from MOT history check). Subframes can be replaced, and it may not be as expensive as you think, and at least you'd have peace of mind. Phone up some breakers maybe?

Thanks mate, yeah unfortunately its completely rotted . I'm going to have a look around on the weekend to see if any breakers have the parts, but failing that I've found a US breaker that has all of the parts I need that should be around the £300 mark (As long as I don't get a hefty import tax bill). I'll be sure to change all of the bushings etc while i'm at it too, as well as a few upgrades. Looks like this thread may be getting a little busier in the coming months haha.

[sainz92]

SuperVM said:

I think you should get a second hand subframe and refurbish it, i.e. new bushes, diff mounts, braklines etc. throughout. I doubt it would cost all that much if you did the work yourself.

That's the plan now mate. While i'm down there I'll be sealing everything too!! I'm not leaving anything to chance now haha!

[sainz92]

Apologies for the lack of updates.

After many cold evenings and a bit of blood, sweat and a busted thumb (5lb lump hammer vs thumb) I managed to sort the rust issue and got the car through the MOT and back on the road in December. Luckily all of the rusted components were bolt on parts which were pretty easy to replace (apart from one rounded nut which caused havoc and had to be split, but was in the worst possible place with literally no access).

before

after

When the car was on stands I took the time to Kurust any signs of developing rust and then undersealed the under body of the car the prevent another ball ache.

The exhaust was also looking a bit worse for wear, so I ordered a replacement off of ebay, nothing special or too loud. The hangers need adjusting as the left side is looking a little low, but apart from that I'm happy with it... Although, it will probable end up getting replaced by something a tad louder.. Or I may have to space the back box and the mid pipe a bit to get some braps every now and then.



Not the best photo as it was a quick one, but i've since removed the diff rock guard too as the exhaust was burning through it.

Since some bright spark removed the previous W brace (or it rotted away) I ordered an ultra racing replacement and fitted it which made a great difference, although my exhaust is now rattling against the brace, so that will need to be spaced at some point.. Probably when I'm adjusting the exhaust hangers. Does anyone know if a culinary blow torch would heat the hangers up enough to bend them?



Next on the "mechanical" list is a full service, gearbox oil change, ARB drop links and Track rods (inner and ends). But, before that I'm going to breathe some new life into the interior over the weekend with a bit of a detail and repaint the scratched panels.

I will upload pictures of my progress next week and will try not to leave it so long in future.

[sainz92]

Alias218 said:

Of course. Before:



After:





I went for black printed leather, a bit thicker padding with orange stitching to accentuate the other orange detailing on the car. Jack (of RSW) offers a plethora of options mind you.

£140 delivered if you send in your own wheel, although he does an exchange option and a drive in service if you're close. Lead time was around 2 weeks and communication was spot on. I couldn't stop smiling when I opened the box! I was dead chuffed.

Suspension work hasn't been done yet, neither has the under seal although I expect both will be done by summer's end. I'm opting for Bilstein B8 dampers and probably Tein S-Tech springs. Under seal will be clear Dinitrol by a Dinitrol centre close by. I'm putting an OE exhaust on to replace the failed rear silencer - I'm not a fan of the third party offerings.

Anyway, sorry for the thread hijack!

No need to apologise! that wheel looks amazing! I'm definitely going to consider getting that done.

[sainz92]

Well, I had a go at respraying the drivers side switch panel over the weekend and I think it turned out OK. The only part that lets is down is the recess for the window switches as they were extremely difficult to wet sand to a smooth finish.

Here's the before



And the result



So all in all, not bad, but could be better.

I used Halfords enamel primer and Halfords Enamel Rubberised black.

The rest of the interior bits will get finished throughout the week and then I have to tackle a faulty boot latch which has just decided to stop working.

[sainz92]

Alias218 said:

Looks good - makes such a difference doing small bits like this.

However...

I did exactly what you have done a few years back. Halfords rubberised paint and a proper sand back and prime. Unfortunately, it didn't last. It's more durable than the Nissan rubbish, but it deforms under heavy use, much like Clio steering wheels if you know what I mean; looks melted. Plus, on the passenger side it reacted with the grab handle on the reverse side. Handle was fine, but made a mess of the painted panel.

I recently sent my bits off to be professionally painted (I also have photos of these!) and the finish is great. Before you go ahead and paint more, I'd suggest waiting to see how the bits you have done fairs.

As I say, looks really good but for me at least it didn't last.

I agree mate, I got in it earlier and as I closed the door I had my key in my hand and put a tiny nick in it already. I'm thinking about repainting it using plastidip since that's alot more durable and hard wearing, as well as easier to apply.