scathing

I'm not sure I understand you correctly. Are you saying that parts ordered and then sold by a Japanese retailer are less "real" than the same parts bought in by an Australian retailer? Or are you saying that two Japanese parts manufacturers went into receivership because some Japanese retailers manage to sell their products to foreign countries? At any rate, I'm not sure what a product bought by a consumer that avoided a foreign country's duties and taxes has to do with the parent company. It's not like they see a cent from Australian import duty or GST, so you're not exactly taking money out of A'PEXi or Trust's coffers.

The standard 350Z / V35 exhaust manifolds are not fantastic: The biggest restriction is in the catback though. Most people will find 15-25rwkW in the catback, but doing the extractors with the catbank in place won't see more than 5-10rwkW. If you've done the catback already and you're planning on staying NA its a reasonable upgrade, as it frees the breathing up in the top end and makes the engine more willing to rev, but don't expect to see massive gains.

12 Unexpected Examples Of Car Part Prostitution

Kicking the clutch doesn't even need you to get your hands dirty.

I reckon just run a pipe off the cat to side-dump under the driver's door. f**k the cannon, that shit muffles things occasionally. Wind the window down and you'll be sick as.

2/21 Moxon Rd Punchbowl. 0425 207 447

It's "tyre" in Australia. The tyre placard recommendation for the 350Z on 17" rims is 35psi.

The drop in filter you can do yourself. It's a 2 second job to unclip and remove one, and fit the other. Everything else is also quite easy, but I wouldn't trust myself to do it since I'm useless with tools. Try The Engine Whisperer. Andrew's done a bit of work to my Z33 in the past (he fitted the catback exhaust and the Popcharger) and he's very good mechanically. If I remember correctly manda lives down south. If you want a workshop close by, try IS Motor Racing in Rockdale. They used to look after the Auto Salon 350Z, and I know they've got quite a few Z/V customers now. Indy's got a pretty good rep as a mechanic. Otherwise, Pro Concept for sure. Call Joshua - its easier than emailing him.

Tyre placard has 35psi, I am pretty sure. I usually run 40psi, for economy reasons, but if I want more grip I'll let them down.

Yes. Probably.

f**k that off. Tell them to either get it done properly (sanded/blasted back to metal, prepped, painted, clearcoated), or give you a full refund. He's already admitted to not doing the job properly. When Magman did my wheels he charged less than that, and that included bead blasting the original anodize off the wheels. It took time but it came out well. Otherwise, drop Craved a PM and see if he can replicate the finish you want with powdercoating.

Have a read of this. To paraphrase it, for a given wheel width the lower the offset: 1. The further out the wheel sticks 2. The wider the distance between the centres of both wheels The first point gives you a better stance, for appearance. You know how most OEM cars, and sex spec cars, tend to have the wheels deep in the arch? In my opinion, it looks weaksauce and gives the impression that the wheels either don't fit, you stole them off a shitbox that can't run fat wheels, or you can only see in 2 dimensions. The second point, theoretically, improves handling. The wider the car sits, the flatter it should corner. In reality its a lot more complex than that, since your suspension has been engineered around a certain wheel offset generating a certain force in a certain position and throwing that out too much can actually make your car handle worse, but it should still be better than increasing offset. Wheel track is the distance between the centres of both wheels. The law states that you can not decrease your track at all, and you can only increase it by 25mm. This means you cannot legally run a higher offset than stock, but you can lower your offset by up to 12mm. The accepted "maximums" for our cars with stock suspension and unrolled guards is that you can run a 9.5" wide wheel on the front and a 10.5" wide rear wheel, with approximately +20 offset (give or take, most Volks only come with +22 offset in those widths). Roll the guards and get aftermarket camber arms, and you can go to a wider wheel or a lower offset. The thing is, do you want to look like this? Or do you want to look like this? Or maybe even this? If you assume they all have the same width of wheels on the car, the latter two have a lower wheel offset. In a more practical example to illustrate, the 350Z has basically the same wheel arch clearances as a V35 coupe. Here's what my old 17x8.5 +30 & 17x9.5 +30 look like: That's already sticking out almost 1cm more than your selected wheels and, to be quite blunt, it looks shit (even if you ignore the too-small 17" diameter). The narrow tyre from the small rim widths, and the high offsets, look like they're off a lesser car. Compare that to my current setup (which is 18x9.5 +22 / 18x10.5 +22): You can see I'm not running a great deal of camber, and my rear guard is un-rolled. I don't get rubbing issues, no matter how hard I corner. Honestly, if I could drop a few more millimetres out of the offset I probably would. I am getting quite tempted to dial in some negative camber, and fit 5mm spacers. Remember, wheel are like tits - you always want them huge, and sticking out.

No. The offsets are higher than stock (which is +30). That means your track is narrowed, which is illegal. It also decreases handling. It also sits in, which means it'll look ugly. These threads come up all the time, and its always the same response with higher-than-stock offsets. Your V35 coupe comes with massive wheel wells that you can put fat rims into. Why squander it by sticking narrow rims with weak offsets on the car?

If you're driving a car with a torque converter gearbox you shouldn't need to lift. It doesn't matter whether the electronics think its time to change or you do, in the end the mechanical process to select a new gear is the same. I am pretty sure that advice should only apply to gearboxes with clutches. Whether you've got a 3 pedal setup, or you've got a car with an electronically controlled clutch (BMW SMG, Ferrari F1, VAG DSG, etc) its good to lift off the throttle when it changes gear and be gentler on the driveline. The problem is that a lot of people drive the latter like a slusho because its only got 2 pedals, but mechanically it behaves the same as a traditional manual.

Being an import, Nissan Aus may not touch it. It has plenty in common with the Z33, but you know what stealerships are like with greys..... Try Pro Concept otherwise. Josh has a Consult computer that can be plugged in to the OBDII port. If the dash lights up that badly, it'll probably be returning error codes. He's also quite familiar with the platform, and aware that it has electronics issues. He's not cheap, but you get what you pay for. I've never been to Paden so I don't know what gear he has at his disposal, but I know Josh has the equipment and experience to be a good "first bet" for troubleshooting the fault. If Paden can read ECU trouble codes, and you've got previous experience with him, then I'd suggest contacting him first.

Yeah I have a 350Z.

You'd better have the hands of a small child and the finger grip of a chronic masturbator if you don't want to lift the engine out to do even the most minor things.

They'll pull you over all the time for having P plates, and a penis. It doesn't matter what you drive. If you don't want to get defected, don't have a defectable car. The restrictions are there for a reason. If your car looks and sounds stock the cops will generally leave you alone if you're not driving like a tool. Looking generic has its advantages. Cars that look modified will pique the cops' interest, so they'll spend more time looking at it (and you).

It does. You can buy aftermarket modules to have it "remember" your last setting. You can. I do it all the time (well, TCS since I don't have VDC). The VDC is an electronic system that is meant to only work reactively. If you drive normally you should never make it work. It just means that you won't have the "safety net" of the stability control. If the car's perfectly drivable without VDC then take it to a mechanic's. I don't know about Paden, but Pro Concept has a Nissan OBD scanner that works with our cars. As does CRD. Maybe drop them a PM, since they're on SAU? Since the car's drivable with VDC off, you could test the ABS sensors by triggering it. Pump the tyres up to their maximum rated pressure, find somewhere open and deserted, drive it up to a reasonable speed, and jump on the brakes. If the ABS works then their sensors work. You're looking at either a yaw sensor issue, or electronics. If the brakes lock up, then you can go to any mechanic and ask them to check your ABS sensors first. Its common technology that doesn't require V35 specific knowledge to troubleshoot. Just remember to dump the air pressure afterwards, to get a bit more grip back. FYI the VDC module/ABS pump is bullshit expensive new, but I have seen quite a few on eBay USA for not a great deal of cash. You're luckier than me - my car has TCS only and my pumps are impossible to find. eBay / Yahoo! Auctions Japan only have non-TCS units for base model cars, or VDC units for top-spec ones. The port is above the right-side knee on the driver's side. The Lube Mobile guys can be idiots sometimes - a mate of mine had a MR2 and the Lube Mobile guy went to the front of the car to check the engine.

True, but luckily it won't look like one.

VDC relies on the ABS sensors to tell the computer how fast each wheel is spinning. The other input into the VDC computer is a yaw sensor in the middle of the car. That detects accelerative forces on the car, so the computer can work out of the car's acceleration and turning rates line up with what the ABS sensors are telling the ECU as to how fast the wheels are spinning. If that data does not correspond with "normal", it'll cut power to the engine by closing the throttle and it may grab the brakes as well. You can unplug the VDC module. Your dash will light up like a Christmas tree and you'll lose the speedo/odo/ABS but the brakes will still work. If the car drives "normally" then you've found your culprit. Whether its the ABS or yaw sensor will require investigation. Normally when the VDC detects a fault it'll just shut itself off as if you'd unplugged it as above. Its strange that the unit is just working overtime. Josh at Pro Concept has a spare 6 speed manual gearbox. I'm not sure how negotiable on that price he is, but you can give him a call. Find out if its necessary though. If turning off VDC stops it then its not a transmission issue. Tell him that you're after the spare 350Z gearbox that was in Alan's car for a while.

f**k garaging a car for 2 years. The thing needs to be turned over and driven occasionally. Unless one comes up at a stellar price, its just not worth it sitting there gathering dust and depreciating. If you've got your heart set on a turbo car when you get your full license, then just buy the cheapest rotbox you can find that'll last you until then. Don't bother modifying it or any other crap. Just something to commute in, and learn to drive. If you can get the Camry sorted, keep that. If you want to learn manual, get something cheap. I recently bought an old Swift GTi and I love the little thing. It's such a fun car to drive. An EK VTiR would probably be quite fun too. Old SSS Pulsars have a decent engine and corner OK. What about a 30 or a 31? They're still Skylines, they look tough, drive the right set of wheels, have a fair bit of space, and are reasonably priced.

Chasers are sick. Retrim the interior, dumped on big rims with lots of camber, and a 6 speed / light tune 2J conversion, and a reasonable sound system and it'd be perfect.

Yeah, I remember reading an interview with John Bowe talking about running ABS in one of the race cars he drove (Prancing Horse I think?) He actually preferred it since he could trail brake into a corner pretty hard without having to worry about spinning out. Of course, on a motorsport Fazza it'd probably be adjustable and not as sensitive as a street car. Can't you adjust brake bias in a race if you have ABS? My Z33 has ABS and EBD, which means there's no physical reason why its not possible.

240Z