Christian370Z's Progression Thread

[ZForce]

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?

[christian370z]

Originally Posted by ZForce

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.

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!

[Dallaz]

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!

[ZForce]

Originally Posted by christian370z

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!

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.

[christian370z]

Originally Posted by Dallaz

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 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.

Do you have any tips on how I could improve?

Originally Posted by ZForce

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.

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!

[christian370z]

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.

[Dallaz]

[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.

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.

[christian370z]

Originally Posted by Dallaz

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.

[Dallaz]

Originally Posted by christian370z

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.

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.

[christian370z]

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!







A test fit of the door panel switch covers:






Now for the CS pieces fitted:















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.

[hdskull]

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

[Dallaz]

Those look awesome 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.

[ZForce]

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.

[christian370z]

Originally Posted by hdskull

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

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

Originally Posted by Dallaz

Those look awesome 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.

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.

Originally Posted by ZForce

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 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.

[ZForce]

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