TheRealNips

I'll be keeping the spoiler as its the same as the one on my black one. The wheels will be going and some OEMs going on. No body kits will be added so don't worry! It will be a long term project as I've just used 4months savings to buy it and get it home, but ill start saving to get it all welded and fixed. The brakes hardly work but I'm hoping thats where its been sitting. I'm hoping to get it ready for the Monte Carlo rally next summer. Fingers crossed!

My names Tom and I have an addiction... Ive bought another one... god help me, my black one isnt even finished yet! My "new" one is a red UK Twin Turbo model. Its been well looked after until the guy I just bought it off had it. It done 80K and the cosmetically its very good, mechanically (apart from brakes from where its been sitting) its good. Structurally is a bit of another story... It does have rust, part for the passenger sill is rusty, most of the drivers sill is rusty and the offside rear arch has a hole big enough for my fist... in fact it might have been my fist that made it! A friend and I went up to Yorkshire to collect it yesterday and boy was it a trip and a half. Choice took ages to get the van ready, got stuck on the M25 because two lorries decided that crashing into each other and dropping fuel over the motorway was exactly what was needed and then having to deal with rush hour traffic through Bradford and keighley. On the way back one of the straps holding the car to the beavertail decided to snap, so after taking the strap off on the hard shoulder and driving slowly to the services, we re-attached the strap to find the nearside outer rear wheel was completely flat! After spending 30 mins trying to get some air into it we were back on the road. Arrived home at 12:30am (5 hours after we expected to be home), woke everyone up offloading and parking the car in my car park and now im back up to to go drive some buses all day! Ill add some more pictures later, but here are a couple to wet your appetites...

I have one :lol: I want a red one!

I use the JVC KD-R331. I like it because its got an AUX at the back of the unit and one on the front. The back one is designed to take a bluetooth dongle for connecting phones to make calls and play music, but I run a normal 3.5mm cable from the back, up the inside of the dash and out of the front windscreen vents to my phone in its windscreen mount. The stereo then plays whatever sound my phone is making (music, satnav, calls, even Cortana reading out messages to me!) This way there are no cables running around the cock pit especially as I have run the USB charging cable for my phone up the same route from the cigarette lighter socket. I have run a 5M USB around the dash, up the door pillar and across the roof to charge my dash cam, but at the moment the dual USB im using cant charge both at the same time, but im going to have to hard wire the dash cam into the ignition.

If thats worth 15K, then my NA with missing paint must be worth atleast 5K now... :whistling:

Choice van hire do them. Ive hired one for tomorrow for 24 hours for £89.90 plus diesel. not comfy, but they do the job!

Whats crazy is I drive 45' buses all day long, fully loaded they can weigh up to over 20 tonnes, but I cant tow over 3.5 tonnes! (I should also point out that the law says the trailer cant be more than 750kg) Its a pain in the arse, hiring a beavertail helps, but even then a 2 ton beavertail only leave room for a 1.5 ton car, so if you are wanting to stick a merc or bmw on the back, odds are you will be over the maximum 3.5 tons. A lot of people dont realise this and the majority of people you see driving down the road in their huge range rover pulling a twin axel caravan are over their license limits. The police (more specifically VOSA/DVSA) are very strict on it because you are driving without the correct license, you wouldnt jump in a HGV on a car license and go for a drive, so why would tow over your allowed weight? If you have to bring a car home that you have just bought, its safer for your license to drive it home with no MOT or TAX than it is to tow it (if it would be over the 3.5 tons), its a crazy world...

Is this anyone's? :lol:

If only his first name had been Clint. The fastest welder in the west...

count me in, I would love a titanium key for my car. I asked Timpsons about cutting a blank nissan key and they one they produced looked nothing like our keys, so I asked if they could cut a blank I provided and they said no because if it breaks the lock or breaks in the lock, they are liable for the repairs...

He doesnt mention that its turns heads because everyone is laughing or puking... I would buy it to save the poor thing, I dont understand buying a car and trying to make it look like another car. If you want a supra, buy a supra!

If it was me I would go for this: http://www.southerngt.co.uk/ If it had to be a Porsche, theres only one I would go for: Of course this is your thread and your money so dont listen to any of us!

I dont mock people for driving cars I havent tried myself... I used to mock MX5 drivers, but when I had one for 18months, I completely fell in love with it. So now I need personal experience before letting mocking commence...

Sorry to hear that... maybe the Z wanted a drink...?

The fans from that game (held in Brighton, just down the road from us) were coming home on the train last night and when they all saw my wife (shes chinese) at the bus stop they started cheering and congratulation her team for winning! in the end she just pretended to be japanese and celebrated with them! :lol: It was a cracking first half, Im totally impressed with them as a new comer to the sport, I do remember watching them in 2011 and thinking they are going to do well...

Well England got off to a good start last night. Bit shakey at first, but got going and the last 20 mins, were full of action! Lets hope we can defeat (to quote ITV) the Welsh Hills and the Australian Mountains!

Excellent. All I would say is if you do make the decision to go, the earlier you book accommodation and channel tunnel the cheaper it is. Last year I managed to book the last hotel room in menaggio in April for my trip in June!

I should point out, as I forgot in the early posts, that I would be aiming for a May/June week for it. Start saving that petrol money then, as we will use a lot :lol:

Day 3 Freiberg - Gotthard Pass - Menaggio (233 Miles) Leave Germany and drive into switzerland and up into the alps via the Gotthard Pass. Rest at the top with snow and frozen lakes. Drive down into Italy finishing at Menaggio on Lake Como. Menaggio has hotels and youth hostels, not sure about camping Day 4 Menaggio - Col De Turini - Monte Carlo - Nice (300 Miles) Leave Lake Como and head south to the coast. Following the famous coastal Autostrada as it weaves its way through mountains and over steep valleys until we turn off to drive the Col De turini. After reaching the end we turn around, drive back along it and arrive in Monte Carlo. We can do a few laps of the F1 track and park up next to multi-million dollar boats to take pictures. We will then meet in Nice for many congratulatory drinks. Its much cheaper to stay in Nice rather than Monte Carlo, so unless you really want to, we can stay in Nice which has hotels, hostels and B+Bs. Not sure about camping. Day 5 Enjoy a day in Nice, resting on the beach or drinking after driving many many miles in the greatest touring car ever! (open to debate :p), or start your long journey home. That is the plan, its open to suggestions and if people did come with us, you are welcome to do your own thing. It might be a good idea to all meet in the mornings and evening to check in with each other and make sure people dont have any problems. Ill probably carry on after Nice to the Milau bridge and spend a few days with the wife driving through France. Ive opened it to all Z cars rather than just ZXs incase others want to join us. Please let me know if you are interested, I wont be booking anything for anyone, so please discuss, organise and confirm here. We can also share accommodation, food, drink and prices on here.

So after a short few posts with another member, its been suggested that this is a good idea and needs to be offered up to everyone on the forum. I can see people being restricted by funds, time, driving hours and partners (who are welcome of course!) Drum roll please... Let me introduce the first ever MONTE CARLO "Z" CAR RALLY (that I know of!) Day 1 Folkstone - Namur - Bastogne - Nurburgring (339 Miles) Meet at the Channel Tunnel for a very early train (people from up north might need to stay down here one night) then drive through northern France and Belgium to Namur. Lunch in Namur and drive to the hill top castle for some epic photos. Carry on through Belgium to Bastogne for an afternoon break and a look around the town and museum. Carry on into Germany, check out our top speeds on their autobanns until we reach The NurBurgring where we will stay the night. Accommodation will be sorted by yourselves, there is a choice of camping, B+B or hotels in the local area Day 2 Nurburgring - Luxembourg City - Freiberg (283 Miles) Wake up in the morning and take the Zs for a few laps of the 'ring. Around lunch time and drive to Luxembourg City for an afternoon break. We then carry on through France and back into Germany to arrive in Freiberg for the night. Again camping, B+B and hotels are available.

Some of it is roads ive done in the past, some is new and other bits are pure top gear :lol:

I think we should put it forward as an idea and see how many are interested. It wont be a cheap holiday with tolls, fuel and beer, but if we could get a group of Zs it would be worth it. I think may/june would be better as it gives time for people to save up and its not the summer holiday period...

We stayed in youth hostels, worked out about £20/night. I think a good plan would be: Day 1 = Meet at channel tunnel, drive to Nurbergring (336 miles) Day 2 = Laps of Nurbergring, drive to Freiberg via Luxemberg city (277 miles) Day 3 = Drive to Menaggio via the Gotthard Pass (233 miles) Day 4 = Drive to Monte Carlo via Col De Turini (287 miles) Stay the night in Nice as its a bit cheaper Day 5 = Hang out on beach or head home individually

We loved it, it was great fun and found out two important things: 1) The MX5 will do 132mph with the roof down 2) Its possible to roll a cigarette at said speed if you do it in the glove box! On a serious note, we should plan a 300zx rally. There were some beautiful places along the route and I would love to visit them again. We have a few European members on this forum why not see if we can meet up? I like the idea of finishing in Monte Carlo though

Ive never heard of that one, but last year my friend and I did this one: http://montecarloorbustrally.com/route-two-operation-black-forest-gateau-the-route/ We did it in my old MX5. We tarted it up like a rally car and raised almost £1000 for Great Ormand Street Hospital.