Novaz

Kibzors, did North Shore Towbars have to do any work on the car to get your towbar up to the 1500kg rating? The guys at Best Bars fitted mine, but after testing only rated to 1000kg braked and 250kg unbraked. Their comment was that I would 'get away' with 1200kg loads from time to time, but not day to day. They said that they could easily make a bar that would handle 1500kg, but in order to use it, the rear end of the car would need reinforcing. They feel that it is quite 'soft' with little underfloor/chassis strength.

Andy, what does your bar look like underneath? Mine is bolted up behind the bumper and has an arm extending part way down the spare wheel well. I'm wondering if I can get away with towing my S13 (1100kg + trailer, ~1500kg?) The trailer is a tandem axle, braked so can be nicely balanced with minimal draw bar weight.

On mine, the indicator ticking sound stops when reversing - so if you cut a wire it's likely you'll lose the indicator sounds also.

The match to the A-pillar should be good, since the V35 and M35 share the same windscreen.

Does anyone know if Nissan has specified a towing capacity for the M35? I have seen various numbers posted from 450kg up to 1900kg, but would like to get some solid info. I ask because I had the opportunity to score a cheap towbar, for being the first person to have one made and fitted by Best Bars in Auckland. They tested the bar using their test rig shown in the video (note, not my car or the bar I got) -> ( )I asked them to test the bar up to 1500kg, hoping that I could tow an S13 on a trailer. In the end they only tested it to 1200kg, and weren't comfortable rating the bar any higher 250kg unbraked, 1000kg braked. Their comment was that I would 'get away' with 1200kg loads from time to time, but not day to day. They said that they could easily make a bar that would handle 1500kg, but in order to use it, the rear end of the car would need reinforcing. They feel that it is quite 'soft' with little underfloor/chassis strength. I'm a little bit disappointed, but glad I didn't just get one made up locally only to rip the arse off the car....

For those interested, the factory radar cruise can apply the brakes HARD if it feels the need (it has activated the ABS in mine before), and can slow the car down to around 5km/h or so. It might be able to stop completely, though I haven't been game enough to let it try. If while driving you catch another car and the speed difference is too great, it will beep to indicate that another car is within the range of the radar, and either roll off the throttle or brake gently to maintain the safety gap distance you have set. If the speed difference isn't too high, it will just match speeds with the car in front without a beep. The safety gaps are "far, very far, and stupid far" It will only apply the brakes to maintain the set cruise speed if you are following another car, so on a steep downhill it will basically free roll. At 120km/h the cruise beeps and disengages. Occasionally it will have a fit at some odd-angled road signs, when driving into morning/evening sunstrike, and it will sometimes 'see' oncoming traffic as being in your lane. Most of the time these events just produce a beep, as the object passes by and the radar clears. In some cases it will stamp on the brakes, though again only for a brief moment (though this is annoying for people following) Fortunately in all cases it beeps which gives you time to react. Once you know what to look out for, you can predict it's behavior. The brakes are activated by an actuator which actually pushes the brake pedal, it's creepy to feel it moving. The cruise won't engage below 45km/h, or if the gearbox is in manual mode or snow mode, or if the windscreen wipers are on normal or fast. It also won't engage if the radar unit is obscured/disconnected. It will disengage if the front wipers are turned on for more than 10 seconds or so (though it is happy to operate if the wipers are only on the intermittent setting). It will also disengage if the rear wheels slip, if the sensor becomes too dirty (following cattle trucks etc), if you corner too hard, or if the car aquaplanes. The cornering one I discovered playing on a track - you'd have to be *really* pushing on the road. It must have a G or steering angle sensor somewhere also, as it will often allow the speed to drop while cornering, and then accelerate back to the set speed once the wheel is straight again. I guess this avoids ending up with a heap more power being applied mid-corner. It's not without it's problems, but it's a damn clever system. Just a shame it can't be set over 110km/h - my speedo reads 10km/h low at 100km/h.

Let me know how you get on with a Jaycar kit if you go that route, I'm keen to recalibrate my speedo also. It seems to read 6-7km/h under at 100km/h. It wouldn't be too bad, but the factory cruise control only goes up to 110km/h, which means 103km/h real, and that sucks VQ25DD,RWD, RX, cruise, navi, HID, but only 16" wheels (wacky size too - 205-65-16)

FIXED That was a tense 2 hours! During the radio/air-con removal/install I had dislodged a small ribbon connector from it's home. The ribbon sits in a small connector at the very bottom right of the unit, underneath the lower right stereo buttons (navi/radar thingy/scan) Putting that connector back in fired up the stereo and air-con controls again. On a side note, the rear window defog button worked fine with the connector in/out.

I have a 2002 M35 250RX, with cruise, navi and the factory in-dash 6CD stacker (non-Bose). Today, I followed the instructions at the link below to pull apart the lower dash, remove the stereo, and fit a band expander. http://g35ipod.com/installHW.php?skin=1&src=forum The removal and installation went smoothly, but now that it is all back together again I am having troubles. When I switch on the ignition, the navi DVD unit whirrs for maybe 3 seconds like it is trying to eject a disc (there isn't one in there, and it did not used to do this). After it stops whirring, there is a loud beep from all of the car speakers. The navi screen + buttons still work, and all of the center console buttons are illuminated. The air-con is stuck on auto 18, but neither the buttons for the air-con or stereo controls work. It feels like something is disconnected, but I don't know what! What have I done, and what can I look for?