|
LinPark's 370Z Journal
Here she is - first pics and write up from the first day.
Purchase date: 4/7/2010 2010 Dark Cherry 6MT with Sports Package, Floor Mats, Illuminated Kick Plates, Splash Guards, and Trunk Mat MSRP (w/Destination): $34,840 Invoice (per truecar.com): $32,321 Purchased for: $30,529 (before other fees) http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...r-lighting.jpg More pics here. Day 1 It all started when the alarm went off ... not that I needed it to since I had been rolling around most of the night unable to sleep. :) I quickly got ready and waited for the family to wake up so they could all take me over to the Enterprise to pick up the rental car. We arrived there at about 8:30 AM and I was "upgraded" to a fairly new White PT Cruiser. After a quick stop for some breakfast and an interior setup so my music and GPS were all set, I was on my way at 9 AM. As I hopped on I-75 N, it struck me as funny that I should be in a White PT Cruiser since that is the exact car that my parents currently drive around in. And that made me think of my mother purchasing a new '78 280Z back when I was just 10 years old. When I knew I was going to get this 370Z, I talked to them about how they remembered their Z buying experience. My Dad said that he knew they were going to make major changes in '79 and he didn't like the looks of what they were doing so they decided to get a '78 instead. The car was manufactured in June of '78 and is one of the last 300 280Z's to roll off the assembly line. They found it in the back lot of a Datsun dealer and though it wasn't their first choice in colors they went with it. After all this recollection, I had the good fortune of hitting Disney World traffic while nearing Orlando. Feeling lucky to get through it I hopped on SR-528 to head east toward Merritt Island only to find out that this wonderful road has tolls. I haven't purchased a SunPass yet so I had to stop at each one and this took me back to those wonderful days of driving on the NJ Garden State Parkway where they stop you about every 5 miles to collect $1 - it is aptly named because you find yourself "parked" on it more than driving. After all this fun, I arrived at the dealership at 12 PM. I was quickly approached by numerous salespeople until they realized I was there for someone else. I spotted my car over near the body shop sitting in the shade and after finding my salesman we took her out for a quick spin. What a great experience that was even though the shifter/clutch on the 370Z is quite different than the 280Z. :) Once back from the drive, I got out of the car and noticed some scratches on the roof on my side and the car was whisked away for the final prep. I went inside to the dealership, signed all the paperwork, finalized the financing and was ready to get going. The car came back from the prep and was parked under an awning for final review. I found a few more small issues that the body shop folks polished out and by 2:30 PM I was pulling off the lot. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can prepare you for pulling one of these off the lot that belongs to you. Its a great feeling and at the same time you cringe everytime someone else gets near you. The drive home was fairly uneventful. I varied the speed between 60 mph and 80 mph (oops, did I say that). I stopped for a quick bite to eat and that was the first time I moved away from the car and was able to look out at it and realize it was actually mine. The car looked absolutely stunning sitting there in the sun ... like something right out of the future compared to the other vehicles around it. I ate fast since no one was parked on either side and hopped back in for the final stretch. I had hoped to be home around 3:30 PM but with the late start I called the family to tell them I would have to meet them at our Wednesday rendevous point. I arrived around 5:15 PM and actually let the wife take her home while I waited for the kids. Handing over the keys wasn't my favorite but I had already seen the 100 mile and 200 mile indicator click by so I was fine with it. But I did tell her to call me when she got home. :) Overall, a fantastic day ... I went out to check on her in the garage a few times that night and remember going out there first thing the next day to make sure it wasn't all a dream. All I can say is that if you are thinking about getting one of these and have the luxury of affording it then DO IT .. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT! |
Day 2
Nothing major here, just a late afternoon drive for a few miles. Tried plugging in the iTouch to the Aux port and it didn't sound too good so I'll have to play with it some more. Day 3 Poor girl spent the whole day in the garage. :( Eh, she needed a rest. Day 4 Her first bath early this morning and I'm hoping to give her a full claybar treatment today ... she was on that dealer lot for quite a while ... if time, I'll wash off the clay residue tonight at sunset and get ready for her first wax treatment on Sunday ... then it will be a night on the town - stylin' and profilin' .. WOOOOOOOOOO! :) |
Day 5
NXT 2.0 wax went on fine and she really looked great - took her out around 4 PM for a quick hop into Sarasota for a movie and dinner with the wife. Everything was great until it started raining. :mad: She tripped 300 miles on the way home. Day 6 Backed her out of the garage into some mid-day sun so I could get some better pictures to show off the Dark Cherry color (see pic in post 1) - ordered some polish/wax products from Adams to hopefully address some of the light swirls in the paint - the NXT seemed to cover these up pretty well but I guess driving in the rain undid all that hard work. Will start looking at tint and spacers - pretty much set on H&R 15mm/20mm setup with stud replacement given all the great write-ups around here on them but am completely up in the air on the tint so if anyone has suggestions or could recommend a good shop in the Tampa area it would be greatly appreciated. My options are pretty much open in Florida I think. |
4/17/2010
Walked into the nearest dealer and ordered the locking lugs - they should arrive on Wednesday - just didn't want to risk ordering from someone online and getting the wrong thing - price of $50 for 4. Adam's Polishes arrived today - tried the hand polishes out and they don't really seem to be helping much so guess its going to be a PC 7424XP for me soon. Car hasn't left the garage since Tuesday but I'm thinking about an early morning trip to get the blood/oil flowing. :) |
4/24/2010
Picked up the locking lugs today and they match the pics that I've seen on the forum here so I'll be torquing them on tomorrow. Took her for a late afternoon spin today and she tripped 400 miles and the fuel warning came on letting me know I was down to just 50 miles remaining. Will probably fill her up tomorrow. Was just amazed at the grip this car has when I was entering the interstate today - its like the thing is on rails. Also, got behind an Infiniti G-class with what looked like Fast Intentions exhaust - those things are now at the top of my wishlist big time - just gorgeous and sounded great - the guy punched it at one point and ran the RPM's waaaaaaay past where I can go right now so he was gone. More Adam's stuff arrives on 4/28 - this will be the full machine polish setup and the tire/wheel cleaning kit so I'll definitely post back here how all that goes - looking forward to getting all the swirls out and doing a proper exterior detail to see exactly how good this color can look. :) |
Bump for more pics of the black cherry. I must have missed that this became available for the new models in the coupe version and not just the roadster.
Hope you're enjoying your new Z! |
5/9/2010
Just last Sunday, took her out for a stretch and turned 500 miles. Had a chic in some little hybrid vehicle follow me from the main road all the way into the movie theater parking lot to check things out (guess she didn't see my wife in the car with me or she just didn't care :icon17: ) - saw Iron Man 2 by the way and it was quite entertaining - I'll take my Z coupe over that Audi convertible anyday. :driving: Have a birthday coming up in about a month so hoping to get the Universal Homelink mirror and some spacers to play with. Also, have a ton of Adam's products now that I've been gradually using on the car - once I get a full polish done to her I'll post up some more pics here - the color is really starting to pop in the sections that I've done and that's one of the best features of this one in my opinion. |
You're living in florida! Soooooo lucky you can get away with any mod, get a catback + test pipes
>:[ So unfair |
Quote:
I'm thinking around Christmas time I want to get a full Fast Intentions setup from headers all the way to the rear. So you think CBE and test pipes would be best? I was thinking of going with the HiFlo Cats and the 18" resonators - I don't want to wake the whole county when I fire her up. Maybe I'll ask around in the regional forums if anyone near Tampa has a setup with test pipes. |
Story reminded me of myself when I first got my Z :) best day ever!!
|
5/22/2010
Just tripped 600 miles on tonight's trip - still can't express how fun it is to drive this car and I haven't even started mod'ing it yet. I have started to purchase a few things for the car and will post those mods up when I've finished them. Sticking with some external things to start and possibly 15mm/20mm spacers in the near future. Holding off on the Universal Homelink Rear View Mirror for now since I'm really not missing that very much. Slowly getting a full detail completed on the paint - quite "swirly" when I picked her up thanks to the dealer using some rather rough clothes to clean her I guess. I've done a full treatment on the roof and it is just stunning. I'm starting to think I've spent more hours washing/detailing her than driving her. ;) I was able to remove the dealership stick on from the rear driver side earlier in the week using Goo Gone and that felt so good and looked 2000% better. Back on 4/17 I mentioned my lack of success with the Adam's hand products. I broke these out again because that section just under the spoiler is too small for the 7" pads. I worked that thin strip for the better part of 2 hours and I take back what I said - the product definitely works very well but keep in mind its my arms and shoulders doing the 5,000 oscillations per minute instead of the PC 7424XP so it is ALOT of work. |
6/13/2010
Just tripped 700 miles on tonight's trip - went out with the wife to celebrate my birthday - saw Prince of Persia (fairly entertaining) and had a nice dinner. Received some Z valve stems and a Z license plate holder as gifts and installed them. Still working through the detailing as stated earlier. Currently focusing on the driver side panels and needing to use some polish that I was given by the body shop to take out some of the more pain in the rear blemishes. Really is rewarding to see each panel as it finishes up. Here's a nice story: Returned home from a biz trip to NYC last week and my family picks me up at the airport. My 6 year old daughter proceeds to say this - "Mommy, are you gonna tell Daddy about that scratch you put on his car?". The next 5 minutes in the car were quite interesting to say the least. It boiled down to some watermark on the car that my daughter thought was a scratch and that my wife rubbed off with her finger. But when my daughter first said it, you can just imagine my reaction. :) |
6/22/2010
Just tripped 800 miles today - she also got her 2nd fill-up with Chevron 93 Octane just a few days before this at $2.96/gallon. Two thirds of the way to recommended break-in - I have cheated a few times but not by much - can't wait to open this baby up. Completed the polishing of the driver side last weekend. Unfortunately, as my wife pulled up beside me today in the 370Z she was on my lefthand side so I got a real good look at all the work I have to do on the passenger side now - UGH, will it ever end. Also, stripped the 370Z logo off the rear this past weekend in between polishing sessions. I have the Fairlady Z logo but want to finish all the detailing before putting it back on. Regarding that, has anyone considered mounting that logo above the old spot so much that it actually sits on the hatch instead of the bumper? I like the idea of having it on the hatch (passenger side actually) in case I ever decide to completely replace the bumper with something new. What do you guys think of that? |
6/28/2010
Just tripped 900 miles today and had to do it in one of those horrific Florida downpours. I've got the parts for an oil change on the way and hope to do it myself just before the break-in period ends. Going with Nissan Ester Oil for about 2,000 more miles and then switching over to synthetic. Just love all the great info on this thread. Also upgraded to a Premium Membership the other day - my my my, it's a great big world out there. ;) |
Lin, IMO...skip the Ester oil and go straight to whatever you want to use. Its pointless to run the Nissan oil. I have Mobil 1 5w30 in my car right now and it runs perfect. I did what you're doing and gained nothing out of it. Might as well save yourself some money.
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
7/18/2010
So I have been waiting for quite sometime on this post - it is my 200th post here on the site and I have quite a bit to cover today. First, the car tripped 1,000 miles last night. She sat patiently in the parking lot of the movie theater at 997 miles while my wife and I took in The Sorcerer's Apprentice which I would recommend to anyone. After that, we took her out on SR70 here in Bradenton and I almost teared up as she passed into the 4 digit mileage territory but then I remembered how sad it would be if she just sat around in a garage all the time. I plan to do an oil change in the next 100 to 200 miles - I have all the items that I need now. I have to say the oil filter for this car is amazingly small. Not that long ago, I bought an oil filter wrench to help me change the oil out in my 280Z. Here is a picture of the 370Z oil filter sitting inside that wrench which just barely fits around the 280Z oil filter: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...oil-filter.jpg I haven't owned that many cars so I basically assumed that most cars have an oil filter in them about the same size as the one in the 280Z so I bought a fairly standard wrench and figured it would always work. Now I'm wishing I had bought one that was a little more flexible in the sizes it could handle because there is no way this one is going to grab that 370Z filter. Last weekend, I finally finished most of the paint correction and had gotten to the point where all the polishing was complete but no wax was used so I figured it was time for my first real modification. I guess you could say installing the locking lugs was my first one but that was just too easy so I'm not going to count that one. I stripped the 370Z logo from the rear using the techniques outlined in the DIY section - dental floss and the Bug N Tar remover seemed to do the trick best for me on this project. I had toyed with moving the logo altogether but in the end liked the look of it best right where the old logo had been - here are some pics of my Fairlady Z emblem: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...fairlady-z.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...y-z-emblem.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ly-10-2010.jpg And last but not least, I've finally finished the exterior detailing. I can't believe I started this project back in April on a brand new car and it took me until July to wrap it all up. Granted I only work on this car a few hours each weekend because of other commitments (college for my kids and retirement for me can't come soon enough I tell ya!) but it has been completely worth it. I'd like to thank AK first for turning me onto the Adam's products - if it weren't for his thread on cleaning his car and referencing those products I'm not sure what I would have ended up doing but I'm sure it would've taken me even longer than it has and costed me even more money than I've already spent. I'm sure there are those that will argue with the use of those products and tell me I could've done it much cheaper and much faster (please let's not flood this thread with those comments). The bottom line is that there will always be certain things each of us are willing to spend money on - sometimes we pay the least we can for a solution and other times we pay what we feel is warranted to get the results we want. I am extremely happy with every product I've purchased so far and here are the pics: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...od-oh-yeah.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-kaaa-chow.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...pped-cream.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...n-road-bad.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...windshield.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-kaaa-chow.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...at-hot-sun.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...quid-glass.jpg Next up for me will be an upgrade to the audio and I've also reached out to Igor/Alex at 180 Customs to do some headlight modifications. Later all! |
I like it! Great job dude!
|
gorgeous color.
|
I've gotten some comments on the pictures in my Albums section and wanted to post up some before pictures so people can see exactly how bad things were on this car before I even started detailing it - these swirls stood out worst of all outdoors in the sun - they were not easy to see while the car was in the garage but working out in the sun in 100+ temps wasn't really an option.
The first 2 pics are of the rear spoiler area and the marks you see here were pretty much all over the car - the light just had to hit the panel the right way and you would see swirl city: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ler-swirls.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ler-swirls.jpg This next pic is of the front passenger side - at this point I had already finished the correction on the hood so it really shows the difference between the 2 surfaces: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-corrected.jpg Here is a shot of the hood before it was corrected - note what looks like a spider web spreading out from the bright center of the spotlight I was using: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...nel-swirls.jpg And finally a shot of the front fascia before correction - if you look just below the bright spot you'll see the swirls in the paint - again, this was taken after the correction to the hood so you don't see any swirls above the bright spot: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-corrected.jpg If your car has marks like this on it, you can fix them. It will be extremely difficult and time consuming to do it by hand. I would recommend some sort of orbital polisher (I used the Porter Cable 7424XP but there are many other options) and a mild polishing compound (I used Adam's Swirl & Haze Remover followed by Adam's Fine Machine Polish but again there are many other options). Some of these marks cleaned up in just a few minutes and other sections literally took me hours to perfect because it all depends on how bad the damage really is. The best part is that as long as I clean this car properly going forward, I shouldn't have to invest that amount of time again to achieve the same results. |
Lookin' good Lin... should I post all our email convos? LOL
|
Quote:
|
8/8/2010
The car tripped 1,100 miles on her maiden voyage with the new audio system intact. Here are some shots of the final product: No dash kit used for this install - space around the unit is minimal - only wish the screen came with more of a flat black appearance instead of the glossy screen - maybe I'll look into a screen protector or something. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ished-dash.jpg Fairly standard mounting location for the microphone. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ide-pillar.jpg Most of my parts came directly from Wicked C.A.S. who I can highly recommend - shown here is the MagicBox with 13" JL Audio Sub and new Z carpet - the JL Audio J2 500.1 amp is mounted under the styrofoam piece just above the Z logo in this picture. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...dio-13-sub.jpg Sample screenshot showing the unit when using the FM Tuner - reception seems to be quite good. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...9960-tuner.jpg Sample screenshot showing the Main Menu of the Kenwood DNX9960. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-main-menu.jpg Sample screenshot showing the Reverse Camera feed - very impressed with the quality of the image - the unit works really well both day and night. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-day-night.jpg Sample screenshot showing the unit in Navigation Mode. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...igate-mode.jpg Location of the rearview camera. http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ra-mounted.jpg The sound quality on this unit is really nice and it has just about every feature I could ask for in an aftermarket HU. I was very surprised at how easy the install was for this. A big thanks to guys like SlikNik and bigaudiofanat for posting up their how-to pics and videos because without those I would have never been able to do this. :tup: Next up will be my first oil change and after that who knows what might transpire. :stirthepot: |
8/14/2010
Finished my first oil change on the car just before the 1,200 mile mark - went with the Purolator PureOne PL14610 ordered from Amazon (pack of 2 was about $12), an SS250 FilterMag (from eBay), the Project Kics magnetic drain plug (from Evasive Motorsports), and 6 quarts of Nissan Ester oil (from eBay). I tried to remove just the 4 bolts and fold back the underside fascia but I just couldn't get the oil filter off. I removed the entire plastic protector and found it much easier to do the work - this is quite a few bolts and clips but it really comes off easy and goes back on just as easy. I had the car up on stands but think you could probably do this entire project with just the front passenger side jacked up and supported. I think the most difficult piece was getting the factory installed oil filter off - they really seem to torque that thing on - luckily I had bought one of those special wrenches at AutoZone that uses a piece of rubber to wrap around and grip the thing. I think this is a great first project for someone looking to bond more closely with his/her car - in total it took me about 4 hours but I work really slow (that includes cooking my lunch :icon17: ). You get to see quite a few cool things about the car while you are up under there - I recently put a new Master/Slave Clutch unit on my '78 280Z and actually had a chuckle when I saw the brake lines under the '10 370Z look almost identical - 32 years separate them and yet some things are still the same. Thanks to AK for his DIY post that convinced me to do this myself - I'll be switching to Redline synthetic about 2,000 miles from now and will start using the Blackstone Lab to analyze things. Here are some pics from the project: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...oil-change.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-not-shown.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-installed.jpg Now that phase 1 of the audio is done and the oil is changed, I'm thinking H&R 15/20 spacers will be my next project (which should make wheee! more than happy at last :tup: ). |
Subscribed! You take awesome pics, & your journal entries are kool to read =D
|
A few updates after this weekend - received the final set of items from Chris at DressUpBolts and installed those - here are the before/after shots:
http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...right-side.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-left-side.jpg And after surviving the holiday seasons and finding a nice set of H&R 15mm/20mm spacers in my stocking, I was able to finish that install this weekend - here are a few before/after shots on those: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...5mm-fronts.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...20mm-rears.jpg I can't say enough about how much better these make the car look and I can't say enough to thank wheee!, ChrisSlicks, rtrono, and djpathfinder for not letting me give up on the project. Now that I know what I'm doing I would guess that I could get all four spacers installed in about 2 to 3 hours given enough good liquor and music. Mega Thanks to ChrisSlicks, ModShack, and wheee! for the DIY write-ups because without those I probably wouldn't have even attempted the project in the first place. Next Up: I spoke to J.J. at Intense Power last week and my HKS Hi-Power Titanium Exhaust should ship this week - I might get it by the end of this week or early next week. Yeah Baby! :eekdance: |
More work this past weekend and the HKS Hi-Power Titanium Exhaust is installed - took her out on Sunday evening and of course a young man pulled up behind me in a green corvette and started rev'ing his engine - I rolled my eyes and thought what does he want. At the next intersection he got beside me, rolled his window down, and asked me to rev mine up so he could hear it. Guess he saw it and wanted the full effect - needless to say he was most impressed by the sound as am I!
First some quick shots with the spacers: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...enger-side.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...river-side.jpg And here are some pics from the install - you can find a write-up that I did on removing the stock CBE here: http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-gonna-fit.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...thing-good.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...2-huge-box.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-protected.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...-whats-box.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...tem-layout.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...id-section.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...er-grenade.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...ookin-good.jpg http://www.the370z.com/members/linpa...tanium-cbe.jpg Next up will be intakes and I need to find a place to display the awesome HKS logo that came with the exhaust. :) |
Put the logo on the solid crossmember on the exhaust. It's a nice subtle touch to see it there.
Like mine...! You can juuuust see it in this crappy iPhone pic... http://www.the370z.com/members/wheee...60-sweeeet.jpg |
Man, at a price of ¥ 1,500 aren't you worried it would fall off there and never be seen again? :roflpuke2: Not to mention, you are asking me to crawl up under the car AGAIN!!!! Good idea though! :tup:
|
Mine has held on for two cars now! It was on Takayuki's Z before mine...
I get a few comments on it. I like it there. More of the sleeper effect...! |
Watch the HKS SS Rolled tips thread for the group buy. Nissan Generation PM'd me that it was starting soon.
|
looks clean!
|
Filled up at Chevron with 93 octane at $3.86 a gallon today - OUCH!
Finally tripped 3,100 miles this past week so I did the second oil change today and converted to synthetic with Redline 5W30. Second one went much faster and glad AK warned me to pull the magnetic plug away quickly or face hot oil spewing all over the place. Anyone complaining about the cost of oil really needs to look closer - my 5 quarts of Redline was about $55 and should last me quite awhile but to fill my tank cost me $60 and I'll be doing that again real soon. Next up: Stillen G3 Intakes on the way, hunting for Berk HFC's, then an UpRev tune to dial it all in. |
I just got 5qts of mobil 1 oil and filter for $33. On sale at Advance Auto till the end of the month.
|
Quote:
... and we MAKE the stuff here! Something is not right......:shakes head: |
Quote:
|
Just drive down to the bay and scoop up your own!
|
How's the HFC's coming? Installed yet?
|
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:07 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2