I will, I normally take way too many pictures anyway but I have on order: gauge hats, the rpm gauge cover, and the door panel switch panels. I can't wait, those areas are the only cheap feeling part of the interiors, especially the door switch panels.

Haha, I may need your consultation at some point. If I like the way these CF pieces look, I may go for a few more parts but those are probably going to be more involving haha.





Here are a couple pictures from this evening, the night picture wasn't great though since I forgot to change my ISO settings in the camera and I also didn't have my tripod.


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1264_3152p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1285_3168p.jpg

Looking good! I wish my Swifts gave me that much of a drop in the front! :p

I like the first pic. I really have to learn more about taking pics and basic settings. I really just need to buy a decent camera.

Subtle look is right on, I like. This gives me an idea as to what it would look like with my blacked out fangs, and it should look good.

Thanks man! My measured drop in the front is 1.3" which is slightly more than advertised while the rear dropped 1.1" which is just about perfect for me!

Entry level DSLRs are extremely cheap these days, getting a camera like my Nikon D3000 only costs you around $400 new and it is a big step up from even the better point and shoots. Just buy one and start shooting pictures, the more you shoot the better you will get.

Check out this site for tips on automotive photography: Car Photography Tutorials - AUTOMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY MADE EASY

I love a clean looking car, I think the Z's lines suit a clean look better in my opinion. Blacked out fangs would look good, I am still considering it!

Canyon Run - With Friends
 

Hey everyone! I just figured I'd post some pictures and videos of a short friendly canyon run through Malibu I did with some friends yesterday. I had one passenger in my car, but two of my friends were riding their sport bikes while my other friend was driving his '96 Pontiac Trans Am.

We drove to the top of Piuma Rd, then down Schueren Rd and back to Mulholland. It was a gorgeous day, the Z felt great tearing through the twisties. The pavement was kind of rough though, I was scraping my INGS lip all the time but that is why I bought it used, I knew this would happen.


Anyways, onto the pictures:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1357_3231p.jpg


At the top of Piuma:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1359_3233.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1361_3235p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1368_3242.jpg


My friends bikes:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1362_3236.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1363_3237p.jpg


View from the top:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1365_3239.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1364_3238.jpg


And my friends:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1367_3241.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1369_3243p.jpg


Here are the videos of the run. This first one is going up Piuma, the highlights are going through the Malibu Canyon road tunnel at 0:40 and the run up the canyon starts at 2:05. I didn't push it too hard though, lots of cyclists and motorcyclists.





This second video is on the way down Shueren Rd, this time with the GoPro mounted outside on the hatch glass. The highlights are: 4:45 WOT acceleration, and the last 2 minutes where you can see a memorial for 9/11 that our school puts on (each flag represents one victim).





Hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for reading!

Awesome. That one guy with the suit takes sport bike riding serious. As you should. It's defiantly not for me.

Drop looks nice!

He is a really cool guy, one of the fewer sport bike riders I respect. He knows his limits and never exceeds them, the same cannot be said for most of the a-hole sport bike riders that think the canyon roads are their personal race track. He also has a Scion tC that I helped throw on a Turbonetics turbo kit on but he needs to get it tuned, then we will hit the canyons again.


Thanks bro!

Nice videos Christian. Were you in any of the still shots above? Just curious. I do not know if I could handle Malibu Canyon in this day and age. There have been too many houses built along the canyon with so many driveways and and small side streets entering the hwy. Not like it used to be in the late 70's and 80's.

Was hoping to see your buddy with some knee dragging action. The road looked pretty clear traffic wise for the most part. Was the video shot late in the day? Hence the light traffic. Car sounded awesome through out the video and nice and smooth tranistions thru the corners. Any schooling under your belt? And I am not talking higher education...haha

Give me Ojai or DeAnza highway from Hemet to Mt Palomar anyday over Malibu. A little too heavy monitored by the poo-poo.

Hey I know this is a bit OT from your current posts....but. I am looking to pull the trigger on Greddy DRL's and remember your VLED's. Could you point me to the page in your thread for some brush up reading?

I had to do some digging but the LED parking lights are on the first page of the thread, here is the link to the exact bulbs I used:

2 V-LEDS 6K WHITE 194 13 LED LIGHT BULBS 158 168 2825


Mulholland is definitely way too heavily policed and there is too much traffic to really enjoy anymore. I still find the smaller canyon roads like Stunt, Piuma, Latigo, and the second half of Mulholland after Kanan to be great driving roads with little chance of police presence and much less traffic.

Apparently Ojai also has a lot of police presence, especially because the Ojai sheriff lives on HWY 33 and orders a lot of police patrols. I have never heard of DeAnza Hwy though, I will have to check that out a bit!

I just looked through most of your pages. great build and the car looks awesome with the subtle drop and carbon pieces. I definitely want those HFC's now. I don't think iv'e seen another Z on here (haven't looked hard) with the Cats installed before other exhaust work had been done, also i'm very much into photography..... Great photos!

Thanks for taking the time to hunt down the part # on the VLED's. I should have probably first checked your post #1. Thanks again!! Will also be ordering the license plate lamps.


Good to know on the offshoot canyon roads that are not heavy patrolled. It's a sham about Ojai as that was my all time favorite road for SoCal. I may have been mistaken on the name "DeAnza" and will look it up and let you know. It's been awhile.

Thanks Dallaz, I tried to keep it clean and simple which I feel best suites the look of the Z. I was checking out your photography by the way, I love it. I have been working hard to improve my quality and feel like I have made good progress but up until now, I have only been using the basic kit lens so I am buying a Nikkor 50mm prime to see if I can start advancing my skills a bit more. :tup:

Do you have any tips on how I could improve?

Don't worry about it, sometimes things get lost in the dozens of pages of some of these review threads so I understand! I have been trying to put together an Ojai Cruise but weather and police presence have caused three cancellations so we have pretty much given up for now.

It looks incredible on Google Earth though, especially the uphill section of Maricopa Hwy!

PS: My CarbonSignal CF interior parts were delivered to my school mailbox today, unfortunately I didn't get out of class early enough to pick them up but I will be installing tomorrow and taking plenty of pictures. :tup:

[QUOTE=christian370z;1330751]Thanks Dallaz, I tried to keep it clean and simple which I feel best suites the look of the Z. I was checking out your photography by the way, I love it. I have been working hard to improve my quality and feel like I have made good progress but up until now, I have only been using the basic kit lens so I am buying a Nikkor 50mm prime to see if I can start advancing my skills a bit more. :tup:

Do you have any tips on how I could improve?



Just keep shooting. There is nothing wrong with the kit lens but if you want to get real creative You should look into a wide angle lens. Also you mentioned getting a 50mm prime lens which is good because any prime lens forces you to move around and find the best perspective instead of just going with the first angle you think might work and just zooming in or out to frame the photo. Your photos will definitely improve after shooting with it for a while.

But because you have a DX crop sensor a 50mm will actually be equivalent to 75mm on full frame, so you will find yourself scooting back quite often to get everything in the photo. I have the perfect lens for you! The Sigma 30mm f1.4..... On your sensor it will be approx 45mm lens so a little wider and more like a 50mm lens on full frame. I have this lens for my D90 and it is awesome.

You can really blur the background using it at f1.4 and it also is a very sharp lens. If there is anything else I would recommend it would be a circular polarizer filter. Basically (idk if you already know about these) it's just a filter that goes on the front of the lens and protects your lens and you can rotate it to reduce reflections on lots of surfaces (say the reflection on your car) and it enhances colors and cloud texture in the sky as you rotate it.

I have been going between the 35mm and 50mm Nikkor prime lens but I can't decide to be honest. I can't really afford the Sigma at this point unfortunately, I agree with you though that the 50mm will require more space to shoot which I am not sure will be useful in smaller confines like car shows. However, I feel like 50mm focal range gives your picture slightly more depth and a sense of distance compared to shooting at a 35mm focal distance. BUT, the 35mm lens crop is better for portraits and for smaller shooting spaces.

I can't make up my mind!!!

I have a circular polarizer btw, I love it and use it anytime I have to shoot in the sun. :tup:

Nice. As for which lens I'd be unsure too. I can never make up my mind when getting a new one. Unfortunately I just broke my wide angle so that will definitely be the next one for me.

Carbon Signal Carbon Fiber Interior Parts
 

I finally was able to pick up my CS parts today after a long wait since ordering them and am very happy with the quality of the parts! I did not install the two door panel switch covers as I want to polish them first but the rest I did, including the tachometer bezel and the three gauge hats. I used 3M VHB tape, the thinnest one they sell for the hats and the tachometer bezel just fits and stays in place.


I took plenty of pictures but I thought it would be meaningful to take some pictures of the car before and after for some context.


Here are the befores: I apologize that my car is a bit dusty!


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1377_3246.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1378_3247.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1379_3248.jpg


A test fit of the door panel switch covers:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1380_3249.jpg



Now for the CS pieces fitted:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1382_3251.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1383_3252.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1385_3254.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1392_3257p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1393_3258.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1396_3261.jpghttp://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1399_3263p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1400_3264p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1401_3265.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1402_3266p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1403_3267p.jpg



Anyways, sorry for picture overload but I wanted to show what the kit looks like from inside and outside since I know people who might be interested in the kit might want to see that. I am super happy with the kit, my favorite part is definitely the tachometer bezel, and along with some of the suede work I have done has definitely given the interior a more upscale feel.

^They look freaking amazing in those pictures! Looks like they were worth it! I have to check it out in person sometimes!

Those look awesome:tup: would the entire gauge cluster cover that the Z store sells be overkill? I think it would go good. You have got to get the steering wheel done, I cant wait to do that myself.

Christian, those look awesome, I have to get them. As always your mods are in good taste and subtle.

Where did you pick these up and how much, if you don't mind me asking?

I agree the steering wheel would look good. btw...no need to apologize for the photo overload, it's your thread and do want you want. Plus a number of us including yourself are into photography. :)

Thanks! I will definitely let you know next time I am in SD, we should meet up. :tiphat:

I was debating getting that part too but I think it would be too much, it is just too big of a piece of carbon fiber for the interior and would look out of place in my opinion. If I continue making a good bit of money on my daytrading portfolio, I might be able to afford a CF steering wheel haha.

Thanks for the kind words, clean and subtle is my goal! CarbonSignal made them, I believe the grand total was a little over $400 including international shipping, a bit pricey but they do great work so it was definitely worthwhile in the end.

Definitely worth the $400 + shipping. I will have to take up newspaper delivery and mow a few extra lawns to keep up with my addiction...haha

Ha, you gotta do what you've gotta do! I used to do landscaping back in high school before I started and registered my own detailing business, detailing was my main source of income and thankfully I was very successful. Hard work pays off!

And it's now paying for your higher education. :)

btw: thx for website on lights, just ordered some LED strips...and yeh they are much cheaper than Greddy.

Good choice, I liked my Greddy DRLs but I realize now they were not the best and they were also double the price of other LED strips.


I'm going to do a photoshoot later today but for now, just washed the Z so that it is ready for the weekend!


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...01114912-2.jpg

Small Photo Shoot
 

No real explanation, just wanted to take some pictures since it was a gorgeous day!



http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1405_3269p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1407_3271p.jpghttp://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1408_3272p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1406_3270.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1412_3276p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1439_3296.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1419_3281p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1427_3288p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1425_3286p.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u...1423_3285p.jpg

Redline Manual Trans Fluid and Dyno Day
 

It's been a little while since I last was able to update this thread, but I decided to have the manual transmission fluid replaced with some Redline oil to try and smooth out shifts and improve on shifting feel. I also wanted to get it on the dyno to see how much power I gained over my old setup of the Berk HFCs, Tanabe Y pipe, and the stock cat-back. I wanted to give my rep to Seb at SpecialtyZ again for the amazing service and very reasonable pricing, I still think they are one of the best shops around and know these cars inside and out. :tup:


Redline Fluid:

So far, I think that it definitely made the shifter feel like it required less effort to move between gears. It also was a bit smoother although it was not a huge difference like some have said. I think it was worth while, hopefully the change in shift feel will be more noticeable as I put a few more miles on the new fluid.


I had the car dyno'd as well, hoping to see some solid gains over the last time. I also had Seb at SpecialtyZ get my tune to see if there was any more head room but the tune was still great so we left it as is. The first two videos are just regular pulls. The last run was with the car filled up with a half half mixture of 91 octane and 103 octane VP race gas. The race gas gave the most benefits in the midrange where it made more power across the power band, even though peak power was relatively unchanged. Throttle response is also a bit better too which is a welcome benefit for our cars!


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1839_3635.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1840_3636.jpg


Seb's awesome GTMTT Z with a custom 3" FI exhaust:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1841_3637.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1842_3638.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1843_3639.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1844_3640.jpg


Charles (Amuse370z) stopped by for a tune after having a set of HFCs and G3 intakes installed a few days before:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1849_3644.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1853_3648.jpg


I want a new shift knob!


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1854_3649.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1850_3645.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1852_3647.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1855_3650.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/u..._1856_3651.jpg


And the videos of my dyno runs:






Race Gas:





A quick acceleration through the tunnel on Malibu Canyon Rd, my favorite part of the drive!

Sounded good Christian any gains on the dyno

Haha oops, forgot to add numbers. My best run was 312rwhp and 259 ftlbs but the correction factors were not favorable so after using the correction factors from my last dyno run, I am putting down 320rwhp.

Awesome videos! I love the sound of your exhaust through the tunnel :)

Thanks guys! I forgot how loud my car was until I stood behind it at 8krpm haha.

Photos came out great! I really like what you've done to the Z.

Thanks for the pictures Christian. It was nice meeting :hello: you hopefully we can get a canyon run in one of these days.

I have to agree with Christian though Sebz at Specialty Z is very knowledgeable and Specialty Z is one of the best shops in the valley :tup:

Anytime Seb, always a pleasure! If I ever need anything else done in the near future, I'll be in touch. :tup:

We will, for sure. I have been very busy the past month so it has been hard to dedicate half a day for a run but we will definitely do one after thanks giving!

How did your dyno go?

nice runs! I'll have to look into the tranny fluid change soon

Looks and sounds great!

It definitely made a difference in shifter feel, not a lot but it is improved. Effort is slightly decreased as is some of the notchy feeling when cold, I also find that it is easier to get into gear when the car is cold as well which was the main reason I got it!

Thanks! :tiphat: