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Flyz
Posts: 3
Location: Otaki

New Old Fart on the Forum

Post by Flyz » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:11 pm

Hi All

I have been meaning to change from "Lurker" to participant for some time but I have a bunch of 350Z bits I would like to sell so I thought it might be worth members knowing the background, me and the car.

I'm an old fart living in Otaki , north of Wellington. I bought a brand new 2003 Nissan 350z Track model about a week after they were released in wellington in the days when life was great in the financial world. A mate told me about this new car from Nissan and after one drive I had to have it.

I absolutely loved the car, black with tan leather seats and 6 speed manual. It soon sported a set of 20" mags with massive rubber bands for tyres and that improved the look of the car. It went to a few track days and soon the bug for playing faster got me and i got some track tyres fitted to the original factory rims for play days. That made about 5 sec a lap improvement at manfield ....very worthwhile.

My service guys at Maclennans said there was a supercharger kit available from the states. Nec minute The car had grown a bunch of new stuff:

Engine rebuilt with Stillen pistons and rods
Procharger side mount supercharger
Rebuilt heavy duty clutch
Stillen radiator
After market roll bars
German progressive rate springs....50mm lower
Rhemus rear muffler
Koni variable rate shocks

They were pretty chuffed with the outcome...400hp at the rear wheels on the dyno but in a pretty basic tune package as the electronics involved with the procharger are crude to say the least. It looked way cooler too with a lower stance.

During the set up process after the engine was dropped back in i had a serious engine problem ,it would randomly drop into limp mode..usually during hard acceleration or in corners...after buying another ecu, throttle body and spending a lot of hours hunting the problem a mate got hold of Nissan specialists in japan who let us in on the confidential problem (which they weren't keen to acknowledge). The output wires from the ecu go through a box on the firewall, The loom was slightly strained at manufacture and the box would get stressed under acceleration and cornering, one wire would drop its 5v output and the engine would go into limp mode. I have heard of this problem on overseas forums too. So the problem had nothing to do with the engine being moved in and out, it was just bad timing. 10 min work by an auto electrician to reroute the wires and the problem vanished.

I have had the car for 15 years now , its an awesome little rocket but i probably overdid the suspension mods as its a bit stiff on our crappy roads.

Its done 60,000km, 30,000 in the supercharged set up and totally reliable as a daily driver. I have had the supercharger stripped and rebearinged once (locally) as the procharger doesn't have any venting so the oil eventually heats up under pressure and blows out the rear bearing. Solved that with a $50 vent package someone dreamed up in the USA to cure that problem.

I don't do track days anymore so Im selling off the track tyres and also all of the original factory bits that i replaced as they wont go back on the car. See the classified ad im putting up shortly.

I'll stay up to date with activities and try to come on any events that are held in the wellington/manawatu area.

Regards

Pete

BRONZEE
Z Club Member
Posts: 7200
Location: Auckland

Post by BRONZEE » Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:20 pm

Hi Pete, sounds like you've had your 350 about as long as I've had mine!!! Ages.

Interesting about the problems you've had. Knew about some of them. There have certainly been a few, some scooted away. Had my fair share in the early days, lots of $$ spent to fix the issues.

Even if you'r selling your race bits, you should come along to track day weekend in Taupo in March. It's a whole weekend of catching up with Z mates from other regions, meeting newbies and Zedding of course. We usually have bbq's two nights.

Even if you don't intend tracking, it's a lot of fun to be there for the event. If you're retaining your helmet and race overalls then you could go for rides in the some of the caged Z race cars too (once you've signed your life away).

All in all, awesome event each year.

Also try posting your for sale items on the club FB page too with prices for items, same as here.
www.facebook.com/ZClubNZ/
Next - Z Club events:
= Check out events page here or our Z Club NZ Facebook page.

Flyz
Posts: 3
Location: Otaki

Post by Flyz » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:01 pm

Thanks Andy

Ive diarised the Taupo event, that could be a lot of fun. I'll check in after xmas on that one.

Cheers Pete

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