WillieO

Coulnt find it but did find http://www.fancyplates.com/ Could give them a try? Willie

Hi B16 ROY My mate with the Scooby designed his own number plates on line. I think there is a link on the scooby site. You get to choose characters etc. Put in your address and credit card details and they get mailed to you. Maybe also the fact that you design your own means they arent liable for making illegal plates Willie

225s on the rear must make doing donuts much easier!

I understood that the HICAS control looks at car speed and the speed you rotate the steering wheel so that gentle correction type turns have a different effect to quick turns to miss an Elk standing in the road for instance. The HICAS rack first turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the one you steered just for a very short time. This is similar I guess to a rally driver kicking the rear out before he turns into a bend. Once the HICAS has made the rear move the other way and started rotating the cars axis it then turns the rear wheels in the same direction as the front wheels and this means the car actually crabs slightly. All happens very fast. The whole result is the car should feel very chuckable and turn in sharply. If it feels all vague at the back then you probably have wear in one of the many joints or bushes. I think the Honda system only turns the rears in the opposite direction to the fronts in a fixed ratio whatever speed and never changes phase. The HICAS system tries to be more clever and is commanded from an ecu. The diagnostic in the manual is like a PS2 cheat with turning steering wheel from left to right 5 times tapping the brake pedal 5 times and so on with neutral selected etc. Read it yourself to check it properly! I was surprised to see you can have to bleed the rear power cylinder if you get air in the system - as in letting your fluid level get too low! Bet that would make it steer funny Willie

Check Nissan with the part no. I seem to remember someone claiming the import shocks were really cheap from Nissan UK as in less than £50each whereas the 2 position Europe types are about £130 each. Oh and they are the same either side. Willie

Jeff Presume you mean 24 lifters? I thought one lifter per valve. Maybe he should check the exhaust gaskets to the inlet side of the turbos also and at the manifold to head area. If a gasket is gone it can make a tick tick noise at tickover as it blows slightly. The tell tale is black sooty marks at the joint but this can be hard to see. Just a thought Willie

Just done 750 miles over the weekend from Friday till last night. Took the Z to join some friends on a pilgrimage of driving spirituality with a modded Scooby STI, a stock BMW 330 diesel Sport driven by an ex Scooby driver (and have to forgive me bro for dropping out with his Boxter cos he had to work the weekend.) Forget the Nurburgring if you are in the north half of the country you have to go to the far north west Scottish Highlands. Fabulous roads, loads of sweeping S bends, snow covered mountains and awesome scenery. Nobody about if you go outside the tourist season. Generally only yourself and the odd sheep at any risk. While most of the country was battered by storms it was mostly blue skies and dry up there. We saw a gaggle of Audi Quattros pootling along the opposite direction - otherwise they might have got excited. Also some superbikes but for the most part nobody else for miles and miles and no speed cameras either! We had 400 miles of those deserted roads! The rest was getting there and back. Talk about playing with your toys! The driving experience was so good we were sore smiling after each drive. The STI was simply uncatchable with my Z because a) Its just not fast enough, b) I drive like a woos, c) it was the wrong kind of roads, d) its not 4 wheel drive. - I like to think all 4! However for mpg the Z got a worst of 18mpg and a best of 22, the Scooby an embarrassing 14mpg and you don’t want to hear what the 330 diesel got and it could keep up in almost any real world circumstances. These new big turbo diesels could be the future! This one was "only" 180bhp but the torque and smoothness is incredible. Don’t ever try to race a well driven one - you'll be embarrassed! This was what Jensen Button got collared in at 140 plus in France. I found that locking out the overdrive was best. Enjoying the Z singing at 4000 plus thru the Apexi pipes echoing between the mountains! This was really what enjoying driving a Z is about! Doing something totally immature like this again maybe in May. Sorry to ramble on but still basking in the after effects! So where are other good drives to be found? Willie

I thought that (probably wrongly) that the reason you had higher transmission losses recorded on the hotter but otherwise similar car was because the higher output usually comes at higher rpm and the higher you go in rpm the more the transmission losses pile up. When you declutch after the rpm where the power begins to fall off the rr then measures the rate of deceleration from that rpm and so figures the higher transmission losses. So I reckon you still need to know the rpm the losses are at for comparisons of transmissions.

Whats with all the zombies standing around? They all look like they're on something. The old format was far better. Some decent surround sound music clips combined with good track shots and the wit of different personalities who have now defected to 5. Jumping motor bikes with a bus too is not even funny just lame. The culture and pc freaks at the top of the beeb who caused the others to defect because top gear was to be axed due to being low brow and laddish have now really gone down market with this stuff. The cars are the only stars in this crap.

Seals might be going in your master cylinder and letting pressure off at a certain piston position inside the cylinder. If the pedal loses pressure when you load it up and it sinks then you have a problem. Check it while you can still stop like the man says! Might get away with replacing the master cylinder seals if the bore is good otherwise it could mean a new master cylinder..

and mind the adjustable top links to de-camber it or else you'll be buying new 18" rubber every couple of months as the inside edges disappear

"The rear 'seats' are just a padded parcel shelf with a couple of lap belts on." UK cars have 3 point inertia reels in the back. Ive 3 kids so I was even considering a lap belt in the middle at one point but resorted to sense and use another car if the whole gang needs fitted in ..but I guess you are stuffed for using the back seats if you're a 6 foot plus driver

Two small children would be in the lap of luxury. When I bought my Z my son was 12 and easily fitted in the back. Now 14 and 6'1" amazingly he still fits in the back with his hair just brushing the rear screen. I put it down to the lack of bodyfat at that age and the fact that I'm not tall enough to need the drivers seat al the way back! The problems come if ones rear end does not easily adapt to the rear seats? I've also had rather meatier adults in the back but only for journeys of up to one hour and then I did crunch my seat forward to help make it possible.

Rob ....and UK cars dont have mph stickers over kph - its an import. And before you go for a NA import, even if its a good car, just remember that the insurance for the import NA will probably be as much as for a UK TT. Lots of choices. The holy grail version is probably a low mileage summer use only UK TT 92 onwards, full leather full spec, unmodified, unthrashed, with a manual box. but there probably arent any left like that! Good hunting Willie

Timmy Re noisy with T tops off - tongue in cheek response to lighten the mood! If you are a big lad then mind and use the little joystick thingy on the side of the seat to lower the seat so's your head is back inside. I'm a shortarse myself and my head just brushes the T top blinds when fitted so I know the big guys will be right out there in the sliptream when the tops are off! Much quieter inside! I certainly dont notice mine being noisy with the tops off as long as its below 90! Willie

Also what makes a big dofference is how high or low your front or rear end is. The angle of attack gets changed in a big way with a lowered front end Willie.

Tim Nissan gave me one for about £135 inc VAT - pushed for some discount as they always serviced my cars (until the Z). I thought I would change it myself but chickened out because you really need a ramp to get it up high enough. Garage did it in 3hours labour - needed to drop my big stainless exhaust system. Also the prop nut in the centre joint has a huge torque on it. Good luck Willie

You also need to remember that the Z ecu is so clever that even when aircon is selected it shuts the compressor down for you heavy footed types and keeps it shut down while your welly is on the floor. It comes back into operation when sanity returns and you ease off. Means your max bhp goes into thrust rather than coolness just when you only care about thrust! So leave it be! Maybe if your compressor or condenser is stuffed anyway and all the gas is gone and you decide to save weight by junking it all but not for the drag on the compressor cos that cuts out at full throttle. Good working aircon is worth keeping. Even in winter its great for getting rid of condensation during the pissing rain.

Just had a look at a blokes NSX. £16k import. About 50k miles. J reg black with an unmarked body, 17" wheels and dinner plate sized drilled Brembos on the front. The interior was so Z like apart from no room in the back. Sounded great too. Have to say it looked gorgious up close too. Didnt get to drive it tho. Mind you said bloke was sorely impressed with my Z at less than half the cost. Whats the view from those in the know?

Anyone tell me how to clean out my sidelight lenses. They look a bit dirty and obviously have chlorophyl type organisms growing in there but I dont want to split the moulding. Any ideas? Willie

You really need to look at the one under the fuel pressure regulator. Its hard to see. The pipe runs down to the injector rail. That was the blighter that really pissed fuel on mine when cold and you could not see it only smell it and if you looked under the car you could see it dripping off the back of the sump. It gets that bad. Stops as it warms up. Just watch the frosty mornings are here and there 'll be loads of posts re fuel smells. Willie

Andyduff was dead right. It aint brake pads clonking. Its the pivot bolts in the poly bush inserts. I re checked the pivot bolts on the tension rods and one took a quarter turn and the other where most noise came from took the best part of a full turn. Result no more clonks when you reverse and brake. And I thought I tightened them up properly when I did the poly bushes! Willie

Doh Just read your is an import - Sorry forget my ramblings about oil coolers but check your diff oil seals Willie

Assuming yours is a UK TT you have an oil pump and diff oil cooler - Crawl under the off side rear and take a look up at the pipes. Mine had a leak from one of the oil cooler pipes onto the exhaust. The oil pump and cooler only comes on above a certain speed and temp. However these cars are getting on a bit and rubber hoses age and shrink or go brittle. Could explain oil spots on the rear end. Best to check before you empty your diff. That could be expensive. Mine needed half a litre to fill back up after I fixed the leaky pipe. Just a thought Willie

Andy Hate to say it but prolly the propshaft centre bearing rubber separating from the bearing. It then lets the propshaft waggle around when you take away making a knock as it hits the bearing mount. Worse when on full lock cos slightly more torque is needed to move off. Any Z 8 to 10 years old that has not had it changed will need it soon. Part costs about £135 from Nissan and takes about 3 hours tops of garage labour to change. Done mine a few months back. Anither symptom is slight transmission vibe when cold and from 30-50 mph tends to go as she warms up. You'll find the rubber in the old bearing support harder than a witches t*t and cracked and perishing. It lets the shaft sag a bit too so avoid max power takeoffs meantime or you'll damage your propshaft universal joints. Willie