Quavey

Understood! I thought it was worth an ask, I wondered if it was possible to perhaps nominate certain threads for preservation etc?

Hi Guys, From the email received today with the free premium membership for a month I thought I would check back on some of my previous content which I had not been able to find for some time. Turns out the Z" or Club Pics/Video/Media" forum is a premium one which is why I was unable to search for the previous content written by me , mainly when I had the slicktop resprayed etc. Its not particularly an issue but I did wonder if it would be possible to change some of the permissions to let previously posted content always visible to non premium members? There are occasions I've tried to look back on some of the content when people have asked me about it. Cheers

Ah I did wonder but thought there must have been a reason. Glad all is well, I do miss that distinctive starter motor from time to time! I'd love on again if truth be told I've just nowhere to keep it. Still rocking a twin turbo nissan though, on my second Navara!

As the other thread is now closed, I thought I'd say thanks for the welcome back. Still a lurker from time to time. I cant believe its been almost 7 years since I had a 300zx! Hope all is well in the world of damp knees, wet mafs and PTU's!

Prices are hugely stronger than what they dropped to at one time or another. When time came to sell my first 300zx, an automatic TT on a 92 plate I had given £4500 for it, converted it to manual upgraded the rear lights and fitted a nice exhaust and I managed to get just £1570 for it at just less than 2 years. I think I sold it towards the end of 2008. I had bought it in January of 2007. Very surprised and sad to hear Si has sold his stunning car. End of an era! Conversely when I bought my TT Slicktop in late 09 I think I paid about £4000 for it and managed to get about £4500 for it at the end of 2012. (Again after massive brake upgrade, wheels painted, full respray, new rear lights and many other things fixed!) Astonished to think I sold it nearly 7 years ago! Where does the time go.

I figured I might as well do a bulk update on this...! 19/2/17 So... 7 Months old today. I wouldn't normally post an update but a couple of minor things. Up to 20,600 miles now. She went for her first service a couple of weeks ago now for the moderate cost of £113inc Vat at a local garage. Checked with the lease company and as long as they are Vat registered and use a Nissan Filter there is no problem. Wear on tyre and brakes are negligible so plenty of life left at this stage after 20k. Other than that, not much to report. Dash economy has dropped to 37.2mpg... real world around 35mpg as normal. Now onto the rest of the fleet... for the first time in many years I am BMW less. The 650i has gone to a new owner tonight, quite a shock after a few months for sale I dropped the price a moderate amount and I've had to fight people of with a stick. Anyway, I've a pile of brass to now buy a supercharged L322 so guess what I'll be doing as soon as I can! As for the P38 well shes still here, although I've got a promise on her having taken a 330ci (not BMW less for long...) and some cash for her. The buyer is due to collect in the next week or so to close the deal. The idea being that the 330ci can be squessed down the drive and brought out for the occasional track day. I have two booked this year, and as yet no bloody car to do them. I would have done them in the 6 had it still been here but I'm glad shes gone really. (Actually gutted and very sad but needs must, rip the plaster and all that!) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 5/3/17 Another little update... NP300 just shy of 22k miles, SatNav did one or two odd things last week, twice it forgot my route when stopping to go and grab a coffee. On returning to the vehicle it had forgotten we were mid navigation - no massive issue but a bit strange. Will monitor. Dash economy still 37.2mpg from new. However the item of most concern recently is the apparent wear on the arm rest! It's looking pretty tired already after just over 7 months! Will monitor and have to see how it fairs and what Nissan would do about it. Now onto more exciting news, last Tuesday after a VERY long day by anyones standards I arrived home with my Range Rover L322 4.2 Supercharged. What a thing... What a thing. I am well impressed apart from one or two minor niggles (mainly regarding tyre noise but it could do with a set anyway). If anyone is interested it managed 23mpg on the way home and has settled around the 21mpg mark after a few days of running about and a 300 mile trip this weekend. Loads of space, looks amazing, goes quite well and has rear seat entertainment which my little boy loves already (18 months) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 19/7/17 So its been a few months. Today deserves a special update, my NP300 is a year old today. 12 months, 33,500 miles, 37.8mpg on the trip from new (average speed of 42mph). She is leased at 35k a year so I have 1500 miles spare which I'm sure I will use in the next 2 years. Its been a very long day today, infact by a quirk of fate the most I've ever driven it in one day. A total of 571 miles today. Another record broken today was the furthest distance traveled on a tank of diesel, 550 miles on 67.4l which is just shy of 37mpg. I normally chicken out much earlier or fill up at a local cheap petrol station. Costs: its had a service, £113 and that's it. Still on the original brakes, tyres etc with no huge wear. Although it appears to have worn the outer edge of the fronts more than the rear so I will swap them from front to back when I get a few minutes. Of course its been through a fair amount of diesel! Mods: SJS Hardtop, the locks look a mess, they have rusted. I did intend to get it done on the warranty but time has run away. To be fair they work OK and that's all that's really important!. The load liner, works as a load liner! The powerlock on the tailgate, whilst fitted I've still not connected to the central locking and probably never will at this rate! Last mod is the Prodiesel chip. I am still in the undecided camp, I think its improved power a bit, it has certainly confused the OBC into reading silly numbers although this has improved, it appears to have self learned? Its still being very generous with the individual trips. However most tanks of fuel come out around 36mpg these days, with the odd 37 now and again. Before the tuning box they were normally 35mpg or so. It appears to have provided a small increase in economy. Wear and tear: The armrest in the middle of the vehicle and on the door card have begun to wear both the padding and the covered material. Other than that she doesnt look so bad, the drivers seat has obviously been used but seems to be holding up OK. The rest of the interior is not bad, although some silver paint has rubbed of the rear left door card. Faults: None, really, it has given a 4wd warning once but resolved its self. FEB goes into fault occasionally in bad weather (seems normal). No apparently oil leaks, or problems with coolant pipes rubbing etc, no key problems either. Annoyances: Lack of, temp sensor, lack of nav/phone integration to the steering wheel controls, inability to program navigation when using bluetooth as a phone, still miles of the claimed 44mpg economy. Issues in winter with inability to clear windscreen. As for the rest of the fleet, 330ci track car has ended up like triggers broom, Battery, Head lights, tail light, top mounts, coil overs, front brakes, front caliper, rear brakes, low ration rear diff, front arms, ARB bushes, brake lines, spare alloys with track day semi slicks (595 rsr). Its done about 1000 miles this year, including 350 going to wales (I decided to give her a run out). It managed 36.6mpg not bad for a 3.0 petrol! Supercharged rangie, shes actually been good as gold, thought I'd treat it to a full service and a gearbox service, it now leaks gearbox oil all over the drive. Wish I hadn't bothered now. More investigation as to why its leaking gear oil. Joys of preventative maintenance. 116i still with us, my OH fancies a change but doesnt know what she wants. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 25/8/17 A little update: Second service today for the Navara, at 37,600 miles or so. I called the local dealer and my usual garage for a price only to be very surprised that the local dealer was CHEAPER than the independent. Normal garage said the cost of filters as astronomical and they could only get genuine rather than pattern parts at this time. Major service consists of: Oil+Filter Pollen filter Air filter Fuel Filter Brake fluid change Which was £284.52 including VAT I was surprised at the brake fluid requiring changing after just 12 months but they said it was necessary. Also interesting to note that you now get 12 months RAC cover included with a main dealer service, that may be something else designed to entice an owner back into the dealer network. They even chucked a bucket of water over it so it came back looking a dam site cleaner than when it went in! I asked them to front to back the wheels as well, its doing quite well with the fronts reading 6.5mm after 37k and the rears reading 4.5mm. I now have the 4.5mm's on the front and would like to think I'll make it to 60k on the tyres - point being I'll replace them once and then they will still be good by the time the lease ends at 105k. Rest of fleet, 116i Still here, required a tyre last month as loosing air, it had split on the inside difficult to see but dangerous! Supercharged, still has a gearbox weep its been back once I just need to find the time to take it back again. Went to Halifax yesterday, 21mpg in perfect climate controlled comfort. I just wish I could use it everyday! 330ci Track car going well, its had all the new bits fitted and did a day at Anglesey last Friday. Car performed brilliantly although the shorter final drive has damaged economy on the drive there to the tune of almost 20%... but then its a 20% lower ratio so its to be expected! A video here from the day if people are interested! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 28/9/17 Big day a couple of weeks ago, 19th September to be exact the NP300 cruised through the 40,000 mile mark. Luckily I had a friend with me to record the momentous occasion! Now on 40,720 or so. Last fill up calculated at 35.5mpg. Not much to report apart from the rear left door card has become quite badly scratched, I'm not quite sure what is befitting of wear and tear on a 100k vehicle when it goes back so I might have to do something about it. Range Rover still needs some attention to the gearbox sump, however the "specialist" thats supposed to be dealing with it is now not returning any calls and looks like he's ignoring the situation so I'll now have to find another garage to fix the problems he has caused - so much for preventative maintenance! 330Ci was out on track again last Friday at Blyton Park - very surprised at how much fun the track was actually. Certainly the facilities/paddock are not brilliant and the briefing was just a joke. An hour to tell everyone the meaning of 3 colours of flags (despite the entire track day having done a track day before!) and that everyone was going to crash on every corner. However the track was entertaining and the 330ci was going well. However I've destroyed the front tyres - which is annoying. For some reason I can't seem to find a way of adding the images into this, now photobucket is hopeless. Possibly as I'm not a subbed member anymore I can't upload images?

Never driven a D-Max to be honest! I was told they were a massive leap forward compared to the old Isuzu and not a bad truck but its pretty old now and its not fair to compare it with the current crop. I'm told its quite agricultural but they are cheap. Power is a bit of a problem. For example its nearly 30bhp and 50nm down on the Navara and even further behind the 3.2l ford and the new Amarok blow's them all out of the water with its 3.0 V6. Weirdly though Toyota have not gone for the power race and the new Hilux is just as slow as the previous generation, just 150bhp!

Interesting regarding the Toyota, I would have expected that to have brilliant build quality, they are generally just very slow and thirsty and expensive. For me the Nissan worked out pretty much the cheapest apart from the L200 but what a rough thing that was to me, I really didn't like it! Further away from a 300zx than I ever have been these days as I sold my P38 Vogue and BMW 650i the other week and bought a Supercharged L322 and a 330Ci to do track days in.

Yeah I don't think its going to win any innovation awards! The pickup comes under PLG here,so just £235 a year but as its leased the lease company pay that anyway! Horrific road tax with you!

Cheers its been good so far and I still think they are the best looking truck on the market. As fora new Pathfinder, I believe its coming! http://www.carscoops.com/2016/05/nissan-spied-testing-new-2018-suv-based.html

So to add a little update to this, mainly for Znut. Truck is now up to about 23,000 miles. All going well, had its first service a couple of months ago for about £115 at a local garage. Tyres still like new, brakes have not needed any attention. Its done a genuine average of about 34mpg I think. Its fairly bad when cold and on short trips as to be expected, tends to reach into the late 30's at a steady 65-70mph motorway cruise. Its only costs so far have been the service, lots of diesel and some screen wash. Essentially its not put a foot wrong apart from a couple of minor quirks, the first is the Inoftainment thing is a bit scatty, its started to occasionally forget a route if I stop to get a coffee etc and the other is the forward emergency braking sensor is extremly vulnerable to any bad weather. So basically, emergency auto braking works when its a nice sunny day, rain/snow etc it fails. So that's really useful. Last thing the automatic lights CANNOT be turned off, and activate at as little as passing a tree on the other side of the village.

Thank you mate! I had a good weekend thanks, currently on with building my massive Lego Technic Bucket wheel... and car hunting!

Thank you guys, big 30 this time how the years have flown!

One of the very first trips in this truck for work was over to a customer in the IOM. Of course its a lovely place so I took the opportunity to extend my stay for a few days and took my other half and little boy. I managed to find a little water splash on the last day. Much to my surprise my OH announced she would like to take some pictures. I'm sure this will make any past or present Z32 owner cringe inside (just think of that air filter and MAF...!) however the truck makes it look pretty cool.

It was a good day for amusement! I'm not sure if you know the A66... but a little earlier I had caught up to a 12 plate Honda Crv thing. its a 60 limit, he was doing 55 but no problem. Anyway there is a steep hill mid way along which goes to two lanes, the CRV and its 1.6 oil burner started to suffer badly on. No such problem for the mighty NP300, clicked resume on the cruise back to 60 and it just roared by in 6th. He looked heart broken.

Deep pockets and short arms! Its up to 8500 miles now, average about 35mpg over all which isnt to bad. Overall its brilliant, the infotainment thing is a bit crap but its standard nissan parts bin. To be fair the window switches are pretty much the same design as a Z32! Typical parts bin vehicle but they are pretty cheap for the amount of metal. Anyway the thing is powerful, surprisingly so and very adept at overtaking for what is a 2 ton pickup truck. I had an old shape Audi TT following me today and we both went to overtake a lorry obviously correct gear choice for me but the Audi just disappeared in the mirror. He came storming by on the next straight looking a little confused! Low gears and 332lbfit produces some interesting pull!

Shes up to 160 miles or so now... how pathetic is that. Either way for a new tight engine, I've only ever driven it around town for the past few days and its managing about 29mpg its doing quite well. Official Nissan figures are 44mpg, other owners seem to be reporting late 30's over mixed driving which for a pickup is unreal. I would say go and drive one and you'll be blown away, I was compared to other trucks on the market! Just make sure its a double cab, as the king cab 2 door ones still have cart springs at the rear.

Thank you mate, managed another 10 miles today... all going well!

I will mate, its superb so far. Its no more of a Renault than any other Navara, it does have a version of the 2.3 dci engine used in the master van, but this one is twin turbo @ 190bhp and unique to the NP300. By far the best selling point for me and why I wouldn't entertain another truck is the coil sprung rear end which is unique amongst proper pickups. What a difference it makes, I drove a brand new L200 in comparison and I thought the wheels had come of it was so rough. Its far from the pinnacle of driving pleasure but for a pickup its hugely impressive. I didn't like the 7 speed autobox, it felt very slow and dim witted and wanted to wait until 2500rpm before changing gear which is just silly when the thing has 332lbft of torque @1500rpm! Having said that, Renault are going to offer a version of the NP300 along with Mercedes apparently both will be badge engineered versions with the Renault using the 2.3 and apparently the the Mercedes will be offering a V6 oil burner. Mine is an N-Connecta which is the second down in the spec list, Tekna being the top, its a leased company vehicle so I had a budget to keep to which is a shame as I would have quite liked the Tekna mainly for its around view monitor. I didnt think much to the quality of the leather but the LED headlights in the Tekna would have been nice. However to be honest the Accenta+ which is just below mine (only difference being the integrated Satnav) is probably as far as you need to go unless you want the navigation which I did. I believe there is a new Hilux due very soon, if its not out already the biggest problem with them is the lack of power. If it were me... I would certainly wait for the new VW Amarok which is due soon to see what that is like the ENTIRE range has a 3.0 V6 in different states of tune which is fantastic. The D40 navara was unique at one time offering a V6 but the NP300 does not offer one as yet.

Haha not far of! Never noticed that!

fantastic news mate really good to hear!

Well its a 1000x better than my astravan! I'll be doing 35-40k a year in it like I have in the astras so its time for a change after two of them and over 260k miles

Thanks guys, its here. I managed to snap a couple of pictures as a virgin vehicle on the DSLR but forgot to take any on the phone. As ever these days, the factory only does half a job so this afternoon I've fitted a tailgate power lock kit, load liner, tailgate liner, tailgate seal and then finally a hardtop. Its been a busy one! Anyway here is the finished article!

Ash I'm stalking again... I can't believe how bad she is! It was immaculate when I had her (although it was a few years ago now) without a mark on it. To be fair when we painted it, it was pretty good apart from the passenger front wing which was full of filler so we swapped it for a spare one! (that wing was black once upon a time!) I'm pretty sure from memory Dean, when she came to you there wasn't event a bubble or sign of rust on it?! I didnt know the heater matrix had gone at some point in fairly recent history but yeah I do wonder how corrosive coolant can be, especially if its had something fancy put in it. This should be a lesson to complacent Zed owners, this particular example being several years newer than most on the road, that they need checking in detail regularly to stop things getting out of hand. Heart breaking to see :( :sad:

Ah ha... you swine got it in one! I was hoping it would have taken a few new guesses. Yeah an NP300 Navara, its even a slicktop!