DTA (UK)

Thanks Stuart - that is what I thought too but I've actually just put it into a conversion program (online) and it comes back with a figure of roughly 60psi!!! That does not seem right to me - would be like driving around with a timebomb in the boot! Surely it can't be that high - anyone know the answer to this? Danny

Hallo Bram! Leuk - nog een Nederlander op deze forum en uit Den Haag nog wel - net als ik hoewel ik nu in Engeland woon! Als ik jou was zou ik een kijkje nemen op http://www.300zx-twinturbo.com en contact maken met Eric (Lymon op deze forum en ook Nederlands). Hij beheert de Nederlandse 300zx club als het ware. Als je vragen hebt kun je mij natuurlijk ook e-mailen (danny@zaat.com). Groetjes, Danny For all you English speaking folk on here, I promise this won't happen again - it is just nice to be able to speak my own language for the first time in a very long while. All I said was that he should check out Eric's website and get in touch with him as they are both in Holland. Cheers!

Hi Bagins - don't want to hijack your thread but would like to add the following: What is the correct pressure for the space-saver tyre in the boot? My J-spec one says something like 44kg/cm2 (if memory serves me). What is that in good old blighty petrol station english? As for the correct tyre pressure for your car - haven't a clue as I run standard UK size 16". Danny

Hi Monzee, Before spending a lot of your cash on an expensive HICAS eliminator, check for the followin possible causes first: Rear subframe and HICAS bushes need replacing Rear suspension needs replacing I have come across several ZXs in this country which experienced similar symptoms to what you are describing. In most cases it were the bushes that were worn out and replacing them with poly's cured the problem. On others one of the suspension needed changing (note: always best to change both sides at the same time). As for checking whether the HICAS bushes need replacing, jack the rear of the car up and while facing the rear wheel grab it with both hands at the 9 and 3 o'clock position and push/pull. There should only be minimal play if any more is detected then you may want to change the bushes. Not sure if the above is any help to you really but if it means you having to spend less money to solve the problem then I'm all for it! Take care, Danny

Fairlight - just a word of caution: seatbelts are NOT a reliable source. I have seen K-reg cars with seatbelts indicating '90 production date and even worse I have seen a car with a pair of non-matching seatbelt dates (i.e., left and right belts showed different production dates)! So, best place to look would be on the bulkhead - which contrary to what has been written before is not that difficult to read - well, it wasn't in my case. HTH Danny

Points well taken Andy & Warren. My speedo & odometer are both reading miles so besides the obvious calibration error (+- 10%) they are as accurate as one can hope for. I've just checked with multimap.co.uk and shellgeostar.com and the door-to-door mileage (B23 -> TQ1) in both cases is 196 miles. I may have driven a slightly longer route (only about 3 miles though) at the very end due to roadworks but other than that the routes are identical to the one I drove. Given the above value the round trip would be 392 miles and I drove about 15-20 miles while in Torquay (Torbay to Paignton Zoo and around town) so 410 miles is fairly accurate. Unfortunately I have since pumped petrol and zero'd the odometer otherwise I would have posted a pic of the actual reading. In any case, I don't think any two Zeds are ever going to get identical mileage - which was not my initial point anyways. Regardless of the mpg I achieved I was well chuffed to find that I could do this round trip on one tank of Optimax! Like I said before... I love my Zed! Peace Folks! Danny

Ed - does the actual frequency of the noise rise with rpms or does the loudness increase? Not sure why I'm asking but I've got a rattle that isn't detting, it's not the tappets (as Warren pointed out) but it sounds more like valve flutter like when a manual transmission is in too high a gear for the speed the car is going at and you press the accellerator. Mine's an auto though and tends to do it only in the top 2 gears. Having said all this, it does only happen when the engine is warmed up. Just a thought, could it be the PCV valves riccocheing because they are knackered? This message is of absolutely no use - sorry ... Dan

Hmmmmm, I've just had a look at my petrol receipt again from Friday afternoon and I've definitely pumped 63 litres (~ 14 UK gallons) - perhaps I've got a non-standard fuel tank on my ZED? As for Gordon Brown - I think he'll be happy to know I pay my fair share of taxes on Optimax LOL! Lawyer32 - were you by any chance parked outside the Theatre on the boulevard in Torbay last Friday evening around 6.30 pm? There was a red J-spec zed parked which I followed out up to a little roundabout where he turned back on himself and I went on towards the harbour area (he had a stunning blond on the passenger side ;-) Cheers! Danny '90 Silver Twin Turbo "stock-ish"

Hey guys! Just to prove that our cars don't necessarily have to be the petrol guzzling monsters we all know them to be: Drove down to Torquay on Friday afternoon to spend a weekend with the godchildren. It was a 198mile door-to-door trip which took us about three and a half hours (including a half hour break at Wimpy's for a much needed burger). Drove the car around there on Saturday and Sunday and then back up to Birmingham. I filled the tank up with Optimax before setting off on Friday and have managed to make the complete round trip on it! That is a good 410 miles driven on about 12 gallons of juice (the empty tank indicator has not come on yet so I reckon I still have 2-3 gallons left - total capacity of petrol tank = 15 gallons). If my maths is correct, that is a whopping 34MPG!!! Because of the volume of traffic I drove a steady 75-80 mph - not exactly spirited driving but not grandma-esque either. Whilst down there - what a lovely place it is! I know it is called the English Riviera and that the population is mostly 70+ but the weather was beautiful, seaside fabulous and even took the targa's out! I saw two other Zeds parked along the boulevard as well as a couple of seemingly brand new Skylines R34 GTR's (51 reg). The cream of the crop was a Lambo Murcialago - fantastic looking car with an even better sounding exhaust note than it's looks but unfortunately this one was a horrible green colour - what were they thinking. I'm quite amazed by the amount of wealth that's concentrated in that small area. All in all, had a fabulous weekend (absolutely knackered from all the activities with the three godchildren - all under the age of 10) and a smashing MGP to boot! I love my ZED! It's by far the best GT car I've ever driven. Just thought I'd share this good news with you guys as it is mostly doom and gloom with our cars! (LOL) Take it easy! Danny

6x9's is not a problem - you need to be creative though ... I had to bash down the metal cover below the speaker so as to make it fit (Alpine 6x9's are notoriously deep) and drill some new fixing holes. Took me longer to take all the trim bits off than to fit the speakers though. Danny

Hi ya! For all your spare part needs contact AndyZ (his contact details are in his own special section of the forum) The tailgate struts are needlessly expensive from Nissan but ask AndyZ or have a look at your local breaker's who might have a pair. Not sure about anyone in the Devon area but I will be in Torquay this weekend to visit my god children ... and yes, I'll be in my Zed! Hope the above has pointed you in the right direction. Cheers, Dan

Paul, Upgrading the ECU (JWT, MINES, VEILSIDE, etc) does NOT increase your boost. What it does is remap the air/fuel ratios, shift points, etc. which, when coupled to either boostjets or preferably a boostcontroller, will allow you to safely run higher boost levels. Best way to go from here is like what James300 said: upgrade ECU, boost controller, upgraded turbo's & intercoolers, upgraded injectors (which will require another ECU upgrade). All of this can get very expensive and I always suggest that the stock car has to run perfectly before starting the upgrade path. That way you are far less likely to do serious damage to the engine's internals. Hope this helps mate! Dan

No Andy, just info that is not anybody elses business. ;) Dan PS - I wouldn't engage in arse licking, he's not my type!

Henri, Just sent you an e-mail via the forum ref Zedworld - please check your account. Regards, Dan

There was one from a Finish guy who visited this forum once in a while. I believe he went back to Finland and sold the Zed so it should still be around somewhere - just don't know where. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful .. Cheers, Dan

Guys, Finally got around to purchasing a headunit and some component speakers this past weekend. I'm really looking forward to installing it as I've now plodded around for the last year and a half listening to Terry Wogan's lame jokes on Radio 2 on my Jap-spec radio. Anyway, I am not the most proficient lad when it comes to audio install so I thought I'd first ask a few questions before ripping the car apart! I bought an Alpine CDA-7893R headunit which is powered directly from the car battery (20-amp wire required). I understand that I can utilize the bonnet cable hole to pass the wire through the bulkhead but is there any other location to pass it through? I also bought Alpine SPR-176A component speakers for the front door (6.5" round ones with separate 1" tweeters). Has anyone else installed these speakers into their Zed? If so, how much modification was required to the door card and subsequent metal speaker bracket. I'm a bit worried because these speakers are not as tapered at the back as a lot of other speakers I've seen and require quite a large opening. Also, they are about 70mm deep which should "just" fit without the magnet getting in the way of the window when lowered. These speakers come with their own cross-over boxes that need to be wired in. What the heck is a cross-over and why do I need them? How are they wired up if I'm connecting the speakers to the headunit? It is my intention to buy an Alpine MRV-T320 amp in the future to power these components but at the moment all funds are gobbled up by the "wedding fund" ... Anyway, the headunit has 4x60W MOSFET amplification so should be more than happy to deal with these speakers. Also, the separate 1" tweeters will need to be installed somewhere. I'm thinking of the little horizontal space next to where the mirrors are mounted. Now, not too sure this is a good place as I do get the occassional raindrop falling there. Has anyone fitted these kind of tweeters elsewhere and if so did you flush-mount them or just wack them onto of the mounting surface? Hmmm ... long story but I think that is all the info I'm after for the moment. Many thanks for any and all feedback. Cheers! Danny

Not wanting to throw a spanner in the works here but I seem to remember that the NA brakes are a different size to the Twin Turbo ones. As far as I can remember, from an experience with an NA about a year and a half ago, the disc diameter is different which makes the pads a different size as well. It may be difficult to get the correct size pads/discs due to the fact that the NA was never sold in this country and therefore a lot of companies will not have the correct size listing in their books/catalogues. Best to check with a specialist like MJP or Zedworld. Hope this helps. Danny

Hi Alex! It's been a long time since we last spoke - how've you been mate? In regard to your question - the answer really lies with how much money you have available to spend and what your goal is performance wise. The most obvious path to take is uprated turbo's intercoolers, injectors, etc. But beware that if you are upgrading these you're better off having a performance chip installed to cope with the increased boost and fuel situation. Whilest the engine is out, I would personally recommend changing all water & vacuum hoses, detonation sensor, O2 sensors, PCV valves, electrical loom, fuel lines, fuel pressure regulator and dampener, etc. Not that there may be a heck of a lot wrong with them but with cars this old and the high temps it all gets exposed to it might be worth your while to change them while access is easy. Part wise I would suggest getting the lot from Courtesy in the USA - they're relatively cheap and quick, just beware that you'll end up paying import duty and VAT - but it is probably still cheaper than buying parts from Nissan UK. Alex, I recently sent you an e-mail requesting the s/n of the ConZult you bought - can you e-mail that to me please on sales@zaat.com. Cheers mate, although not too descriptive , I hope the above has given you some ideas. Danny

Hi Jaz, I'll save you the trouble: I'm the "guy" who sells the ConZults. Drop me a mail on sales@zaat.com and I'll send you the commercials, etc. It won't be today as I don't have access to my home PC but possibly tonight or tomorrow. Looking forward to hearing from you. Regards, Danny

John - contact Luke at the ZCentre (http://www.zcentre.co.uk) and purchase a set of poly urethane tie-rod bushes - if memory serves me they are about £65. It's a fairly straight forward replacement procedure, and yes you need to do them as a pair, i.e., both sides of the front axle, and it helps if you have a press or know of a garage that has one. Should tidy up the front end nicely performance wise. Cheers, Dan

Morning! I've been hearing a lot of speak lately on this forum about soft rebuilds/SE fast-road rebuilds/AT services. I've tried to contact SE but can't get an answer so I'm going to ask the obvious here. What exactly is done to the A/T as SE and what is a soft rebuild? Also, I've spoken to a few Zed owners who had their A/T serviced, i.e., new fluids etc, and they have had horrendous problems a couple of weeks down the line. 9 times out of 10 the cause of the problem was gunk dislodged by the fluid change. I've been contemplating getting my A/T serviced but am a bit hessitant to do so given the potential problems. Anyway, any insight into the above is greatly appreciated. Cheers, Dan

Hi guys, Just a quicky - I know it is on the wrong part of the forum but I haven't got posting rights to the for sale section - does anyone know where I can obtain a cheap PCMCIA 56k modem. I don't want one that incorporates an ethernet connection, just a simple modem. Have been looking around but can't seem to find them for under £50. Any feedback appreciated. Cheers, Danny

Hi ya - just pulled this off the Takakaira (http://www.takakaira.co.jp) site: Nissan Fairlady ('89 ~) Wheel Size: (F) 8.5"x18" / ® 9.5"x18" Offset: (F) 35 / ® 42 PCD: 114.3 (i.e., distance between studs) H: 5 (i.e., amount of studs) Hub: 66 (no clue what this means) Tyre Size: (F) 235/40-18 / ® 265/35-18 I know it is not exactly what you were looking for but perhaps it helps. Regards, Danny

Thanks for the reply guys! Keith: thanks for the offer but the F407 is a 4-channel amp and I'm looking for a 2-channel. Reason being I want to have a separate amp for my sub (hence the mono MRD-M300 mono amp) and a separate amp to drive my front components (which only needs to be a 2-channel amp). The F407 would be a bit overkill at the moment plus the two I'm after look identical and are of identical dimensions. Thanks anyways. Robtor: many thanks for that explanation - I was sure there was a good reason for Alpine offering two versions of the same sub. That really cleared it up. Still, if anyone knows where I can get this stuff at a reasonable price then I'd be much obliged. I've already gone the route of MaxPower adverts, etc. and am just looking to get the best deal possible. Good night! Danny

Hi all, I'm after sourcing Alpine ICE for my Zed at a reasonable price. I've already fired off an e-mail to Bob at Safe-n-Sound but thought I'd air the question here as well because some of you have either got industry contacts or know websites where you can get this stuff cheap-ish. I'm after the following kit: SPR-176A 6.5" speakers w/ separate tweeters and X-overs SWR-1021 subwoofer CDA-7893R CD/MP3/DAB Head unit MRD-M300 amp for subwoofer MRV-T320 amp for front speakers Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Cheers, Danny PS - to satisfy my own curiosity, what is the difference between running a 2 Ohm subwoofer versus a 4 Ohm subwoofer? Are there any advantages, i.e, better signal delivery, etc?