Andy Briggs

The front wheels on the red one are the wrong way round.

Welcome. You'll find lots of helpful advice on this forum. Congrats on buying a great car. How much cash have you got? Andy

I'm sure Mike would have checked all that. He knows far more about this than I do. He's had the car several times running tests etc and came up with the electronic linkage between speedo and gearbox being faulty. ie the gearbox didnt know what gear to select because it didnt know how fast the car was going, and this was an intermittent fault. The problem lay with the speedo converter that was put on when imported and the problem has largely gone away having replaced this item. Mike reassured me that the timing was ok (see post 11 of this thread) and at this initial check CAS was checked too. I know Mike occasionally dips into this forum so if he's reading this and has any other thoughts i'm sure he'd give me a ring. Andy

I get about the same with my N/A auto especially round town and short trips. Motorway driving however is a lot better, getting upwards of 300-350 miles to a tankfull. Andy.

Hi Jez, I expect that the Dyno wasn't calibrated properly? Or could it mean that my car has been modded in a previous lifetime as I have absolutely no history on it?! Andy

There's never been a problem with the torque. I'm not sure about the units which the charts show. Andy.

Before you add anymore power wouldn't a brake upgrade be advisable?

This is to bring everyone up to date with this old thread. I drove around with the 8bit ECU for a bit which did improve throttle response but there was still a massive hole or flat spot in the power curve. The car would perform ok for bits and then it would seem that the engine totally lost interest in pushing forward. It also became apparent that it had difficulty selecting the right gear appropriate for the speed and acceleration. I also noticed that the speedo would often "start" at 20mph. I decided to have the detonation sensors fixed which didn't seem to make a lot of difference to the overall driving experience. I agreed with Mike at MJP to recheck the Dyno afterwards and to compare the two ECU's; my original 16bit one and the 8bit that I had fitted. I'll try and attach the traces at the end of this note if I can work out how to do it. You'll see a massive dip in bhp around 4300rpm which then quickly recovers approaching 4600rpm. It seemed that there was faulty wiring between the speedo and the gearbox (as evidenced by bodged soldering and loose wires etc at back of speedo) and a simple replacement of the speedo converter (SpeedM8 removed) seems to have done the trick. Many thanks to Mike at MJP Eastern....now lets see if I can get these Dyno traces on here.... yours Andy

Winchester's a long way to go for a curry if you live in Essex!!

Back passage. Front passage. Dirt box. Pandora's box.

Don't forget Seaman (Semen) Staines!!

Thanks Chunk, but a bit too far to travel. 1400cc a bit too big for learner driver??

I'm planning on buying my daughter a cheap runnabout for her 17th birthday this week. I reckon to spend up to £2K. I'm looking for a low insurance, manual that's 5-10yrs old. The models that come to mind are: Punto, Fiesta, Micra, Clio, Pug 106, Polo, Lupo, Corsa... Anyone got any experience of these and are there any that I've missed? Cheers Andy.

Insurance is a total lottery IMO. I'm a professional man, nearly 50 and live in a leafy suburb of London. I have 11yrs no claims bonus at least on 2 policies. My Z is a third car so required a new policy, ie no "no claims". The quotes I got for it were so random it beggars belief how they work it out. They varied from £2000 to £600. Some companies wouldnt insure me at all because my Z is an import and others insisted on a tracker being fitted before they would even consider insuring it. The answer is SHOP AROUND and check the small print on the policy you're taking out covers you for what you need.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Hamster. You are incredibly brave.

Mike did suggest that he could replace detonation sensor but for the cost (£250 approx) he didn't think it was value for money in terms of bhp/£. Would you have it done? I'm planning to drive it around to get the hang of it again and if I'm still not happy Ill consider having it done too. If you think it's worthwhile I'll consider it more positively.

Not listed on invoice but he told me there was no problem with the cylinders. Does this equate to the same thing?

Ok. Got the car back last night from MJP Eastern Auto and it's created quite a puzzle. they used ConZult to do most of the diagnostics and this is what they came up with: 1. Vacuum leaks - none found. 2. Connector Corrosion - TPS, CAS, MAS, temp. sensor, injectors, coil packs - all clean, no corrosion. 3. Installation of timing belt - all correct. 4. Air Filters - some blockage due to dirt accumulation - replaced air filters. 5. Fuel filter - changed. 6. Check throttle bodies for carbon build up - some obstruction found. Cleaned with carb cleaner and freed throttle movement. 7. Added injector cleaner direct to new fuel filter and added remainder to tank. 8. Check fuel pressure and fuel pressure response - slightly low readings, but good responsiveness to throttle. 9. Check voltage to fuel pump and fuel pump operation - all normal. 10. Operation of PCV valves and system - all good. 11. Operation of air regulator valve and AAC system, clean - all good. 12. Check ECU for diagnostic codes - shows code for detonation sensor. 13. substitute ECU for earlier equivalent - improved driveability and responsiveness by comparison with the original 16 bit ECU. 14. Reassess sensors using ConZult via replacement ECU. All within correct parameters and behaving normally. NB ECU now shows fault code for Fuel Temperature Sensor as this unit is not present on later models! So, basically MJP replaced 2x air filters (it looks like only one had been replaced at a recent local service. They probably didnt realise there were two!!), 1x fuel filter, cleaned the throttle bodies and swapped the ECU for a second-hand one off an earlier model. I must admit it now runs much much better and the throttle response is amazing. However MJP reckon they haven't got completely to the bottom of things as they reckon power is still a bit short of the expected 210 at fly, but they have certainly corrected those horrible flat spots on the power curve. I guess it's back to the Rolling Road!! Any more ideas from you guys?? Cheers.

Thanks for all the comments lads. Answers as follows; Yep, I bought it for it's looks and general street credibility. I've a 14yr old son who loves it although a Skyline might impress him more. I'm getting a bit long in the tooth and not up to too much modding so a nice gentle smooth ride is what I'm after, with good looks and some urgency. I cant afford a DB9. The RR bloke said about 175 at the fly max. Yes it's the same MJP auto (there can't be 2 MJPautos in Essex both specialising in Nissans and Zeds, surely?). I got the address from this web site and they come highly recommended and yes they do have a conzult. By the way that TVR was moving I expect it would thrash most cars on the road today. Thanks Jack for the offer of a drive. I'm looking forward to driving my car with it's expected dose of horsepower ie 220 at the fly. That may come as a pleasant surprise as I've been tootling around on only 175!! I may hold you to the offer. 200 at the wheels for an NA sounds good. Someone at the RR did also mention that putting the calm belt on one tooth out does make a difference to output. We'll have to see what MJPauto come up with. By the way, in addition to having a low power output the old girl was lacking in torque too.

I got a disappointing result at the SE meet at Surrey Rolling Road last week. Only 124bhp at the rear wheels. I've had the car 1yr bought from importer with little or no history. It's a 1995 2+2 NA Auto (probably all the wrong combinations for performance). I was told that the cam belt was changed at around 90,000 kms and there is an aluminium plate in the engine bay that says so in Japanese (I think that's what it says!). Its now done 80,000miles. However, because I've not anything to compare it to, the fastest thing I've driven to date was the old 2.8i Supra, I'm not aware of any power loss. Any sluggishness I've put down to the auto box. It is pretty slow off the mark but if you kick down and it finds a lower gear it seems to take off ok. Mid range acceleration in kick down seems ok too, although the other week I was left for dead by a new TVR Griffith. The engine note is fine and smooth, there don't seem to be any added noises, there's no smoke from the back and no oil on my driveway. The boys at Surrey RR were mumbling something about running rich and air flow meters etc so I've booked it in at MJPautos nr Chelmsford this weekend to be sorted out. Any of you guys anticipate what they'll find?

I'll try and get there for the 11 to 12 slot. Already voted. Membership pack arrived today!

Thanks Steve.

Hellooooooo....is anybody out there?

I can't see my name on the list and still no pack. I'm sure I've submitted all my details more than once. What's going on?

Yep, we tried disconnecting and reconnecting all the other phone lines in the house, unplugging and re plugging the modem, disconnecting the Sky lead etc.. all to no avail. We were getting NO line at all, even though the two green lights on the modem thingy were on, so we couldn't even Email Orange to tell them the problem. However, finally after hours sitting on the phone Orange did finally send us a new modem thingy to replace our old one that plugs in the back of the computer and sits on the top, and new phone line filters and this seems to have worked. We are now back on line, but what a fiasco. I dont think it's any better or quicker than before.