wheee!'s Journal - RoZy
 

Well, I guess it's about time I built a journal!

It all started in August of 09 when I came home on leave from Afghanistan. My wife and I test drove an 09 370Z and fell in love! We placed an order for a 2010 because there were no fully loaded Sport Touring models around.
The dealer was unsure of options at that point for the 2010 so we said, "fully loaded in Platinum Graphite" and that we would confirm any changes to the build order in November when I was off tour.

Well, I got off tour and found out the car was available in Black Rose, so we changed the build. That also delayed delivery till January 2010. Oh well! It was winter already, who cares! Factory installed/Dealer installed options were Sport Touring with NAV, added the lit door sill, tinted windows and 3M Clearbra. Dealer sold me the winter wheels and tires (not used anymore lol) and a set of Nissan wheel locks. Yes, the right kind! I was silly enough to buy the Paintless Dent Repair package and the premium leather care package, so I will have to take it in soon for an interior cleaning! He threw in the premium floor mats as well.

Production stats courtesy of Vince! 1 of 6 built and (from what I have been told) first one in Canada!

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...rozy-stats.jpg

Delivery day: (ignore the winter wheels, Enkei Eurosports 18's)

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...very-sweet.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ure10132-a.jpg

Bringing it home: (yes, I bought the car for my wife, but keep reading! lol)

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...r-new-baby.jpg

The first thing that happened was the dealer put the stupid stealership logo on the bumper after being told explicitly not to. :shakes head: Of course they send in a 12 year old to remove it with a heat gun and screwdriver and he immediately damages the paint on the bumper. Now they have to repaint the whole bumper for me! grrrrr :mad:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...love-plate.jpg

After repairs are done:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...s-finished.jpg

At this point I think that I am not going to touch the car (ya right) and just leave it stock for my wife. However, after driving it for a little while (two weeks!) I decided that it needed a little more oomph to the sound and performance...

So I ordered the Stillens Gen II CAI's and the H&R 15 & 20mm spacers to offset the wheels a little more. I also ordered the Stillen grounding kit at the same time.

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...en-sticker.jpg

grounding kit:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ding-point.jpg

spacers (fronts, rears done too)

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...p-out-stud.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...e-assembly.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...-20mm-rear.jpg

About this time I also did a full fluid swap out and replaced the Diff, Trans and Engine oils with full synthetics. Big difference! Well worth it.

This seemed to satisfy the mod bug for a little while, then it bit hard!...
My buddy was switching out his Berk HFC's for test pipes and he wanted to know if I wanted them!! YEAH!!! No pics, but I slapped those in quick. No problems really with the demon bolt as the car was fairly new (under 1500kms)

What happened next was a small bit of luck and timing. Another buddy was trading in his 370Z to buy a 240Z for rebuilding! Okay... whatever! He took the car into the dealer with his HKS exhaust still on it! I went to the dealer that day to get a tire pressure checked (nitro) and sure enough it was sitting right there! The used manager was talking to me about it and said that he needed to swap out the "aftermarket exhaust" for stock but he needed parts! I quickly offered my stock system as trade and we made a deal for $400 cash. Yes. You heard right. An HKS exhaust with under 1000km for $400 plus traded exhaust.

On the trade in car:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...dismantled.jpg

On my garage floor:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...1-img-0316.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...0-img-0317.jpg

Mounted

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...60-sweeeet.jpg

Well by now RoZy has become somewhat more aggressive and throaty... in fact my wife is a little annoyed at how "her" car is becoming 'my" car! oh well... guilty as charged! No stopping now! The exhaust is beautiful and rich but has the tendency to set off the car alarm in my Lincoln on cold starts! hee hee!

Then the bonuses rolled in! The guy that traded his car in also had his stock exhaust system at home, so he gave that to me as well cuz he no longer needed it! THEN, he also had a brand new set of Challenge SS brake lines, never installed that he sold me for $30!!!! Crazy! If I would have had more cash, I would have bought his aftermarket wheels too as they were beautiful.

I installed the SS Brake lines and replaced the fluid with Motul 600 Blue.

Now that most of the performance mods (i thought) were done, I focused on getting a rear backup camera installed. I bought the plug and play kit from Brian (bdl99) and it was flawless!

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...3-cmos-200.jpg

I then worked with Brian on the NAV/DVD/Camera hack. I built a prototype harness using Brian's plans and wired my camera through a relay to the centre console so I could switch it on while driving to see behind me. I use it to judge how far I am pulled in to the garage so I can close the door without having to get out or put the car in reverse. While I was there, I also wired the NAV speed sensor system to be bypassed when the switch was in the opposite direction. This would allow my wife to enter NAV info while I am driving. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Why can't a passenger enter NAV info while driving? Isn't there a seat sensor that would indicate that a passenger is sitting in that seat and then allow the car to have NAV info entered? arrrgh. Whatever. I built my own!

Relay for VSS bypass:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...n-1-switch.jpg

NAV end:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...-wires-vss.jpg

I know the quick connects look cheap, but I wanted it to be removeable (why?). I did two more of these harnesses for friends and made them all soldered connections in the vehicle. Much better.

Extra seat heater switch

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ter-switch.jpg

Painted

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...top-lights.jpg

Installed

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...286-lights.jpg

The centre position is Camera off, NAV VSS engaged. Up is NAV VSS off, Down is backup camera on. Very slick!
I also set the DVD park brake switch to permanently 'on' so I could theoretically play a dvd while driving too.... not that I would.

So after this I thought I would take a little break. But that didn't last long either! I started researching the colour dye pens on the market to tint the stitching in the car to match the outside! I found this at Michaels.

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...in-crimson.jpg

Which did an amazing job of tinting the stitching. Hard to photograph but it looks awesome in person.

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ather-seat.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ng-console.jpg

Watching the forums one day I noticed another Canadian member selling their Swift Spec R springs for a great price. So I snatched those up and had them installed in a day! Wow! What a difference the ride height makes! Performance was increased, handling was sharper and the car just felt better all around! Great upgrade! No install pics but a before and after.

Before:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...4-pic-0299.jpg

After:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ped-swifts.jpg

Added the forum clutch helper spring as well. Found that to be a big plus in clutch feel!

Recently another friend went turbo so I had a chance to pick up the Stillen GEN III intakes from him! Of course I jumped on those because a G37s buddy wanted my Gen II's as well! Perfect. No pics but I am sure you have all seen GEN III install pics before!

http://blog.stillen.com/wp-content/g...ntake_Main.jpg


So that brings me up to date so far. Things to come?

- Kellyefields Hood Lift Kit (in garage waiting)
- Fumoto oil drain valve (in garage waiting)
- Z1 Motorsports SS Clutch line (in garage waiting)
- Hankook Ventus V12's in 275 and 305 fitment (ordered)
- Custom wheel alignment (this spring)
- UpRev dyno tune (this spring)

Well, I did the hood lift install tonight. No major install issues but a little bit of a fitment concern.

The passenger side is fitting just fine, but the driver side is hitting the plastic brake reservoir cover and bending the lift arm at about 6 inches from being closed. Closing the hood causes the Gas Arm to pop off the front mount quite violently. I tried readjusting the plastic brake reservoir cover, but there is no play in it. I trimmed the plastic to allow the arm to go lower but it seems to hit in the middle of the plastic cover and then the arm starts to bow with the pressure of the hood closing. When I do get it closed, it leaves a large gap...

full extension

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...-extension.jpg

gap when hood closed

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...sing-right.jpg

at this point of closing the hood, the arm starts to bend as it presses against the brake reservoir cover

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...-bend-here.jpg

Well, got the Hankook 305/30/19 and 275/35/19 front package installed this week. I was very happy with the results and EVOHUNTER hooked me up with a great deal and service too!

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...9-big-meat.jpg

Touchless removal and mounting. Boy, those Bridgestones were bald!

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...ss-removal.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...s-mounting.jpg

Landon then balanced them out for high speed usage :tup:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...nce-300kmh.jpg

Mounted

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...-30-19-v12.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...e47554-yum.jpg

Then on to the wheel alignment for perfect setup. I even sat in the car for this part.

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...-alignment.jpg

The initial setup before tune... not too bad

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...inging-all.jpg

and the final results!

http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...7483-align.jpg

Got the SS clutch line installed yesterday. Boy what a pain to work on a lowered car without a lift!! I had to stack block under the tires on t ramps to get enough room to work under there. Everything went fairly smooth except that stupid tensioner clip on the top of the SS line to the hard line.... I could NOT get it back on. :shakes head: I will have to try again soon... when I have access to a lift. Might have to remove the line to do it, but purging and filling is easy!

nice start sir. u got a steal on that exhaust

Hey, you finally started your journal...congrats! It was nice to re-live your first two years of Z ownership again. :tup:

Great start on the journal! It's nice you were taking pictures along the way so you had them to add in here. Looking forward to seeing the PSS's on the car this spring :tup:

I had to think about everything I've done! I should have started this sooner, but seeing as how I am stranded in Nova Scotia at the moment it seemed like the time to do it!

I should have had pictures of you under the car installing the HFC's! lol
I am soooo looking forward to the PSS's. Can't wait to see your mods installed too!

Yessir I did! Love the HKS. The Berks make it come alive though....

Looking good man. As previously stated, nice price on the exhaust and good choice!

Nice, you made out amazing on that HKS exhaust, lucky dog

I wish I had more "dealership" photo's when I picked up my Z...I was so happy I just grabbed the keys, shook hands with the sales guy and drove off lol.

So who is actually driving this car more? :stirthepot:

Poor guy...he's still in the doghouse. :stirthepot:

:tup: Very nice ! I'm not sure why, but I am real partial to the color of your Z for some reason.

Nice car, cool exhaust system. I'm running the same one on my ZCar. I would recommend you selling the Stillen Gen 1 Intake. I dynoed my car with and without. With I lost 10 horsepower from stock. If you keep your stock airbox + K&N you will make good power.. Gen 3 and Injen long tube intakes make around 10 hp. Just a heads up!

Well, no one at the moment!, lol But it seems I am in the drivers seat more often than not. My wife still drives it (she is a very good manual transmission driver) but gets annoyed at the louder exhaust and the attention it gets.... :rofl2:

It's getting better! We paid off the Lincoln this month so now I have a little extra playdough...

It is a love hate relationship. I love the classy look the car gets in this colour but I can attest to the high maintenance of dark paint!

Not sure where you read I had Gen I intakes. I had Gen II's which had minimal gains (~8hp) but a nice throaty sound, then upgraded to the Gen III's just recently.

Thanks for all the comments guys! I am not done yet!

Mark