2003 Nissan 350z Track - CL Score -Page 2| Builds and Project Cars forum |

TGMF Reader
10/15/15 7:49 a.m.

In reply to badfrogg:

In the 5+ years (35k miles) I've owned my Z, I replaced the passenger window motor twice. Never the drivers side. But is did use a autozone reman motor. 2nd replacement was warranty. It does seem to be a pretty crappy motor design.

I don't understand the abnormal tire wear complaints. Not seeing it. But if you want to talk to me about E36 M3ty syncro's in the early year transmissions that's another story. It took Nissan 9 revisions to get it right. The CD009 trans from 05+ is the one to get. I grabbed one out of a 2005 G35 sedan, for 750 bucks. Huge difference.

Autolex Dork
10/15/15 10:31 a.m.

The0retical wrote:
Autolex wrote:
I've always wondered in passing why people cut the hole in the front bumper cover but never bothered to investigate. That seems like an awful restrictive place for the stock inlet.

air from in front of the radiator/ac condenser area comes straight in from the "fishmouth", not restrictive at all really. (there's a 4"x 4" direct path that flows in from the bottom, in front of this "port" not seen in this photo)

Autolex Dork
10/15/15 10:47 a.m.

Another Update:

Front uprights out (thanks to the Harbor Freight ball joint separator 5pc kit being on sale!)

Power steering rack should get here today along with the ball joints

OEM Rotors ordered

Cheap Chinese HKS Copy catback exhaust ordered from amazon (google it, actually gets really good reviews)

Ashtray and Cupholder ordered

Deadpedal ordered (strangely missing in this car?)

Found a radio i'd like to put in on Crutchfield, JVC that can match the OEM Colors pretty well for $90 delivered with install kit. (probably order that next paycheck)

Autolex Dork
10/15/15 10:55 a.m.

Mad_Ratel wrote: before your first track day, look up pad knockback on my350z. the brembo's were notorious for it. (the pads get pushed away from the disc, so you have to "pretap" the brake pedal to get the pad on the disc and get descent feedback when applying brakes on the track"

Thanks! Won't be doing any track days though, just autocross and weekend driver status.

TGMF Reader
10/15/15 11:06 a.m.

Since you're almost there anyway, you might want to replace the radius arm bushing. (in the lower, rear most arm in the front suspension) They are a weak, failure prone bushing that causes dramatic changes to suspension geometry while braking. I slapped whitline products bushings in mine, but there are other options. I noticed no real increase in noise, but huge change in feedback, and braking stability. Since the knuckle is off anyway, you're almost there. Now is a great time to do it. Also the rear diff bushings are very failure prone. you'll see black ooze running down the sub-frame if yours is shot.

Mad_Ratel HalfDork
10/15/15 1:30 p.m.

Autolex wrote:
Mad_Ratel wrote: before your first track day, look up pad knockback on my350z. the brembo's were notorious for it. (the pads get pushed away from the disc, so you have to "pretap" the brake pedal to get the pad on the disc and get descent feedback when applying brakes on the track"
Thanks! Won't be doing any track days though, just autocross and weekend driver status.

If you are any good at autocross you'll notice it there too. VERY agravating to deal with.

Autolex Dork
10/15/15 2:07 p.m.

Mad_Ratel wrote:
Autolex wrote:
Mad_Ratel wrote: before your first track day, look up pad knockback on my350z. the brembo's were notorious for it. (the pads get pushed away from the disc, so you have to "pretap" the brake pedal to get the pad on the disc and get descent feedback when applying brakes on the track"
Thanks! Won't be doing any track days though, just autocross and weekend driver status.
If you are any good at autocross you'll notice it there too. VERY agravating to deal with.

very interesting, reading about it now.

Autolex Dork
10/17/15 7:26 p.m.

Boring stuff but parts are starting to arrive

Cupholder!? (this thing is a pile of E36 M3, but whatever)

Ashtray! (again, don't care but it looks nicer)

New Centric Rotors are here, new steering rack is here. (going to try and install this stuff this weekend)

Fixed Doorhandle...

Autolex Dork
10/18/15 9:43 p.m.

Old and busted, vs new hotness

Autolex Dork
10/19/15 11:56 a.m.

boring update, but PAIN in the ass to get this thing out. Had two rounded bolts. successfully extracted one but had to drill the other.

no updates for a few days, will be out of town for work.

Friday through sunday i'll be working on getting this thing back on the road.

Autolex Dork
10/27/15 7:54 p.m.

Back from Phoenix.

Front end is entirely back together except for a small P/S Leak I need to diagnose once this thing is back on the ground... That being said, see below...

My Fiancee (may start calling her wonder woman now) managed to smoke the clockspring in the car while helping me bleed the new power steering rack (wasn't overextended, just old i'm guessing)

That part up top is supposed to be semi-permanently attached to the thing on the bottom... new part is $690 retail, $135 shipped at courtesy nissan... Here

also; previous owner must have thought the factory exhaust was too "quiet"...

Mad_Ratel HalfDork
10/28/15 7:06 a.m.

If you have not driven the car w/o the exhaust yet do it.

The car is very comfortable on the highway, no drone whatsoever. (I drove mine the entire time I had it w/o the exhaust). Sounds great when you mash it.

Autolex Dork
10/28/15 10:59 a.m.

Mad_Ratel wrote: If you have not driven the car w/o the exhaust yet do it. The car is very comfortable on the highway, no drone whatsoever. (I drove mine the entire time I had it w/o the exhaust). Sounds great when you mash it.

I've already got my ebay/amazon special "HKS Copy" exhaust on it, but i did fire it up with just open cats/downpipes, sounded awesome!

Autolex Dork
10/28/15 11:20 a.m.

also; starting to think about some terrible tire ideas for the spring...

255/40-18 on 18x8 up front

275/35-18 on 18x8.5 out back...

Autolex Dork
10/29/15 9:22 a.m.

Completed reassembly of the front suspension the other night. Ended up getting new Tie Rod ends too (old ones frozen on the rack).

New Centric Cryo Rotors and Hawk pads, and about 1/2 a gallon of ZEP Degreaser later we get this...

Spent a bit of time this week on something for my upcoming wedding too...

Made this (it's a guestbook, people sign it with a paint pen, after the wedding it gets hung on a wall)... I think it turned out pretty good...

Mad_Ratel HalfDork
10/29/15 10:11 a.m.

My track had 18x9 and 19x10.5 on it. I'd venture to say (it's been a long ass time.) but you could fit 18x9's all around very easily. Keep in mind that the stock setup is with rear bias. Also, do some reading on My350z as you have to have a bias between the two tires (so a square setup is not ideal.) The traction control goes NUTS if you have more than or less than some % roll difference between the front/rear. I want to say it was 5% but there is a sticky on my350z about it.

FYI, your car has the same offset (+35mm for an 18x9) as a mustang gt (2010 to 2014 at least). American muscle sells a very nice not terribly overweight 18x9 for like 120 a wheel. I bought on sale and got all four for 250 bucks shipped... They also make a 18x10 and wider...

http://www.americanmuscle.com/charcoal-amr-wheels-1112.html

a prettier penny get's these ultra light Forgestars... but then you'd have half what you paid for the car in wheels/tires.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/glossblack-forgestarcf5-1112.html

Autolex Dork
10/29/15 10:46 a.m.

Mad_Ratel wrote: My track had 18x9 and 19x10.5 on it. I'd venture to say (it's been a long ass time.) but you could fit 18x9's all around very easily. Keep in mind that the stock setup is with rear bias. Also, do some reading on My350z as you have to have a bias between the two tires (so a square setup is not ideal.) The traction control goes NUTS if you have more than or less than some % roll difference between the front/rear. I want to say it was 5% but there is a sticky on my350z about it. FYI, your car has the same offset (+35mm for an 18x9) as a mustang gt (2010 to 2014 at least). American muscle sells a very nice not terribly overweight 18x9 for like 120 a wheel. I bought on sale and got all four for 250 bucks shipped... They also make a 18x10 and wider... http://www.americanmuscle.com/charcoal-amr-wheels-1112.html a prettier penny get's these ultra light Forgestars... but then you'd have half what you paid for the car in wheels/tires. http://www.americanmuscle.com/glossblack-forgestarcf5-1112.html

all good info, but street class autocross requires you run the stock width wheels plus or minus 1" of wheel diameter and plus or minus 7mm of offset.

I have been starting to look for a set of 18x9.5 and 18x10.5 Enkei RPF-1's for the car though (not for autocross)...

accordionfolder HalfDork
10/29/15 7:11 p.m.

https://youtu.be/F57NBKvzccQ

This made me want a Z, sub 2 minutes is damn fast, and mainly stock to boot.

Good luck with it, great deal.

Mad_Ratel HalfDork
10/29/15 7:19 p.m.

As a track edition your stock wheel widths are not 7"... Not sure what the 2003 track wheels were..

Is the track classed differently from the base/enthusiast model?

EDIT: nm, you already posted 18x8 and 18x8.5.

Autolex Dork
10/30/15 8:22 a.m.

accordionfolder wrote: https://youtu.be/F57NBKvzccQ This made me want a Z, sub 2 minutes is damn fast, and mainly stock to boot. Good luck with it, great deal.

Sounds like very similar prep to where i'm headed, thanks for the great video!

Autolex Dork
12/28/15 9:10 p.m.

Car is getting a little love lately:

Bilstein B6 (HD's) are ordered and should be here this week... I may have found the last set anyone had in stock for a while.

The "air guide" that actually connects the airbox through the radiator support was missing on this car (it's a 3"x3"x4" air "duct" that lets it pull in air from outside of the engine bay, a stock part.) new one was ordered, hood latch cable rerouted (this is probably why it was missing, hurried front end repair i'd presume) and it was installed.

Passenger side window must have had a new motor installed at some point, and not "reprogrammed" (frameless windows, so the car tries to drop the window about 1/2" when you open the door, this wasn't working)... now resolved.

De-tinted the whole car.

Various Bushings that are torn (and leaking?!) will be replaced too.

At the moment i'm waiting on fluids to do a tranny, diff, and oil flush.

I've put another stereo in the car so I can listen to something other than the exhaust on occasion (not bad actually), still need speakers in the doors.

Completely rebuilt stupid sliding cubby hinge (seen above stereo) with JB weld and metal pins... still a pile of ass.

Looks like this:

It's the Pioneer MVH-X560BT if you're interested ($129). It's a digital media only reciever, meaning no CD player at all, just Bluetooth, aux in, and usb.

Still on the todo list: