m0n1xX3r

All right. I'm not familiar with the mechanical side of things particularly, but let me put it this way: £7k for a car that might have a turbo problem? Or some other "less sinister" problem that causes a rough idle and white smoke? It's a lot of wonga and I really think you can do better if you're willing to shell out that much.

Forgot to say: it's a '94 TT manual with 60k miles on it.

... if you really do want to spend £7k on a Z then how about this one. It's some distance away from you I'd imagine: autotrader reports it as 215 miles from me and I'm in Cambridge. That said, tart that I am if it had been available a few weeks ago I would definitely have gone for a look.... 'course if you don't like blue.

Yeah, I think that one was around when I was looking. £7k is a pile of cash for one that old. I'd phone up and see what the list of mods is like. On the plus side it does look like it's been looked after well. The reason I never looked at it (I think it's the same one) is because I wanted one in either black or pearl white (and if the latter then with full bodykit + decent high level spoiler). No harm in going for a look though.

Yeah, well if you were drinking Scrumpy Jack at the time as well it's hardly surprising -- that stuff is bad news. ;)

Just saw you zip in front of me across the roundabout along Coldhams lane heading in the direction of Newmarket Road as I was on my bike coming out of the Beehive Centre going towards Homebase.

I am today reminded of my shortcomings. Asked a slightly technical question of Simon regarding flashpoints since the observant among you will notice that the temperature in some parts of the 300ZX TT engine can exceed quite considerably the flashpoint of oils such as Silkolene PRO-S 10w50 (which from memory is somewhere around 220 C I think, although I may be mistaken). Anyway Simon spoke to a chemist for me and came back with the following response which I promised to post on the forum: QUOTE The problem here is the very common confusion of Flash point and Spontaneous Ignition Temperature. In the Penske-Martens or 'Closed' F.Pt. test, the vapour pocket above a heated oil sample in a closed vessel is suddenly exposed to a naked flame; if the vapour ignites (this does not mean a continuous fire) this is the Closed F.Pt. The 'open' version is similar, except that the test vessel is open. Obviously, this allows the vapour to escape, so a higher temperature is needed for the vapour to flash; this is why 'open' F.Pts. are always 20 to 40C higher than the 'closed' type. (A closed F.Pt. of 210C is very good. Average mineral blends give figures of 170-190C). The Americans prefer the 'open' method, which tends to look more impressive, especially when quoted in Farenheit. So, an oil can be working at or above its flash point, but to actually burn it will need a flame and some oxygen. Even in very average engines there are situations where the oil is above its F.Pt., but this is not a problem. On the other hand, if the Spontaneous Ignition Temperature is exceeded, this can mean trouble. The various S.I.T. tests involve spraying or dripping oil onto a very hot surface exposed to the air. The S.I.T. is the ignition temp. without exposure to a flame. For most oils it is between 400-450C. A practical example of a spontaneous ignition fire would be an oil leak onto a red hot exhaust manifold or turbo casing. UNQUOTE Some of you may find this useful. I certainly did. Cheers, Bart

Hey thanks mate, that's fantastic. I really appreciate it. You're a lifesaver. If you ever come to a meet and I'm there remind me to buy you a beer. Cheers, Bart

Hi All, Does anybody know where you can source First Super-Weapon wheels from? Took my Z back to the dealer the other day and one of the front wheels has a crack all the way through one of the spokes. Fortunately it's a warranty job. Thought it might be possible to weld it but he's spoken to various people and it doesn't seem like it's such a good idea because it could go again at high speed. I'm pretty gutted because I really like the wheels on it (a really nice set of split rims)... actually it was one of the main reasons I got the car. He's suggesting fitting either a completely new set of alloys (won't be the same though) that are the same size because it has new typres on it, or giving me £300 towards a set of my choosing. He's going to let me know exactly what sizes the wheels are tomorrow (I think they're 17s but beyond that I don't know any specifics). Anyway, I did a web search the other day for First wheels and drew a bit of a blank so if anybody has any info about these guys I'd be hugely grateful. About the only thing I know about them is that they're Japanese. Also, if anybody has any other suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks, Bart

Ouch! That's bad news. I know we have a traders forum but it might be worth setting up some sort of FAQ which basically contains a list of reputable Z specialists who we don't think are likely to go belly up if ppl think this is a good idea? (Sorry, somewhat off-topic).

Hi everyone. Thanks, I didn't know that about the recirc valves. I'm hoping mine are OK since I've only just bought the thing but I've no idea really not even knowing it had them until a couple of minutes ago. If they're knackered I'll definitely give you a shout Chris. When the turbos do eventually die I'll replace them with something bigger / better though... 'course I might get bored before that in any case. ;-) Cheers, Bart

Anybody fitted dump valves to their Z? Are they worth it? I was considering fitting some to protect the turbos from stalling and hopefully prolong their lives... then of course there's the sound they make but that is (honestly) a secondary consideration. Any suggestions on the best make to go for? Cheers, Bart

Yep, they're definitely wrong.

You have to pay for this but it kicks arse: http://www.amigaforever.com/ Pretty much every processor and OS version supported. Manages to run most of my old Amiga stuff just fine.

Glad I'm not the only tart in here then. ;-) Thanks Mac, I'll check out PPS. I don't mind the clear ones, and did think of getting some for a while, but I think the smoked ones will look better with the black paintwork. In an ideal world I'd have all the windows blacked out too but I believe this is completely illegal so I'll have to live without it. Cheers, Bart

Hi, Does anybody know where I can get smoked rear light clusters please? Zcentre don't seem to keep them. Also, and I'll fully admit to being a bit of a tart for asking this, can you get a rear panel such that the "300 ZX" lights up? (I can almost hear the groans now). Thanks, Bart

Bomex: sweet. Would like one myself (one day, in my dreams, after I've made a million etc).

Thanks everyone. I think for now I'm gonna live with it.... the pain has faded slightly. ;-) Hadn't exactly budgeted for a respray this early in my ownership anyway so want to keep the money by for if something really major goes wrong. Cheers, Bart

Thanks Whelan, I'll definitely get in touch with them about it. I think I'd be more enthusiastic about touch-up paint if it wasn't going right across the bonnet, which is extremely visible if I screw it up. Still, I suppose that's better than rust. I'll look into it. Cheers mate, Bart

OK that's good to know. Thanks.

Hi All, Just picked up my Z about a week ago. Came fitted with a set of First Super Weapon alloys (17s I think but I've not measured them) which are really nice, although a bit of a pain to clean. Haven't managed to find a supplier's site anywhere on the net but they look very much like the alloys on this GTO: http://www.3si.org/rotm/rotm200003.htm. Don't think much of the rest of this particular GTO, but nice wheels. Anyway cleaning them this evening I noticed a crack running right through one of the spokes on the front left wheel. Ouch. I'm thinking expensive, but I'm also thinking it needs to be sorted out because I imagine it will unbalance the load born by the other four spokes whilst driving and I guess possibly cause other problems. Now I KNOW it wasn't like this when I looked it over and picked it up (used checklist linked from FAQ), and I also haven't curbed it, hit anything or driven over anything, but I'm at least going to try to get it sorted under the warranty. I suspect what has happened is that there was a hairline crack in the spoke that hadn't propated all the way through to the surface and water got in there and the recent freezing weather conditions caused it to freeze, expand and force the crack all the way through the spoke. Question is if the warranty doesn't cover it, and I'm fully prepared to accept that it may not, then what do I do? Am I going to need to find a replacement wheel or can this be repaired? Does anybody know anywhere decent that I can get this done? Thanks, Bart

Hi All, Was unfortunate enough to encounter a road gritter coming in the opposite direction around a bend a few days ago. Wasn't going that fast, a smidge under 50, it was around dusk on a fairly wide road but visibility wasn't fantastic and I didn't even realise that it was a gritting lorry until I was a wee bit close to do anything about it. The problem is that when I cleaned the car on Sunday, my nice black paint job has a swath of little white pinpricks running across the bonnet and also on the right wing. You have to be looking, but it annoys me, and I'm now worried about water getting under the paint. I learnt another thing about washing a black car (never had to before) as well: there's no such thing as a quick wash. It shows up every streak so unless you're willing to polish and wax it at the same time don't even bother... course, whinging aside it looks SO good when it's properly done that it's worth the effort. Now I could just get the bonnet and probably the wing resprayed, however there are a few other very minor bits of paintwork that could do with sorting so I'm wondering if it's worth going for a complete respray. Sounds drastic, but I've still got the original spoiler on which is cracked on one side and rapidly getting worse in this weather, so I'll be replacing that with something from zcentre, which of course will need spraying. So all in all it may be worth getting the whole thing done... which would give me an excuse to go pearl black as opposed to the flat black I've got at the moment. So, questions: (i) Any idea what a complete respray costs? (ii) Would I be better off getting 4 litres of the paint myself and asking zcentre or somebody to apply it (definitely don't fancy the job myself -- for starters I don't have anywhere I could do it)? (iii) I was vaguely tempted to try touching up, but it could all go wrong... and then I'd have to get it resprayed anyway. I've never seen anybody who's done a good job with touch-up paint. Anybody else tried using it with good results? (iv) Is there any kind of coating that can be applied to the paintwork to stop this happening again? I don't need to drive the car every day, but I do need to drive it reasonably regularly so there's ultimately no way of avoiding gritting lorries at this time of year, but like I say I really do not want this to happen again. Thanks, Bart

Hi Marcus, Yeah it's a J-Spec conversion to UK, so the boost guage runs from -7 to + 7 x 100. I'm assuming this is the norm, although the fact that oil pressure is measured in kg / m3 is odd -- where's the consistency, eh? Anyway, I think I'll take your advice and get them to check for leaks. Thanks, Bart

OK, from what I can figure out the third division is at 525 mmHg (10.15 psi), whilst 9.95 psi is 514.6 mmHg, which suggests that the boost pressure is probably OK given what I'm seeing. However, I'm just a bit concerned about the noise because I thought you aren't supposed to be able to hear stock turbos unless (pretty much) you've got the windows down and you're driving through a tunnel. BTW: very useful site: http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/pressure. Google didn't know how to do it. Thanks, Bart

Hi, thanks znut. Helpfully my boost guage goes from -700 to +700 mmHg (why?!???) but it is a J-spec so I'll do a quick conversion when I work out what the divisions are. Basically I'm normally getting up to around the 3rd division (generally just a smidge under this). I'm going to google for a conversion and see what I come up with. Cheers, Bart