Nissan 370Z Forum - Semtex's Monterey Blue 370Z

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- - Semtex's Monterey Blue 370Z (http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-gallery/2406-semtexs-monterey-blue-370z.html)

Semtex's Monterey Blue 370Z

Here is my 370Z, purchased on Jan. 9 of 2009. As you can see, it is Monterey Blue. It's a Touring, 6MT, with the Sport Package, and no Nav.

Here are some pics I took the day after purchase:

http://www.the370z.com/members/semte...sed-1-9-09.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/semte...cture909-a.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/semte...cture912-a.jpg

More pics can be found in this album: Nissan 370Z Forum - semtex's Album: My 'Burka Blue' 370Z

I also posted a thread with my initial impressions:
http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...ownership.html

Oh btw, my name in real life is Ben.

One of the first things I did after getting my Z was track down some wheel locks, as the car didn't come with any. Indeed, I even tried to purchase a set from the parts dept., and they didn't have any that fit the 19" Rays wheels that are part of the Sport Pkg.

There's a thread on this topic, if you want more details: http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...els-locks.html

But I'll go ahead and give you the net of things. The regular McGard locks that the Nissan parts dept. will tell you fit all Nissans won't work, because the lug nuts aren't the regular cone style that come with most Nissans -- they're shank style. Here's a pic comparing a regular Nissan lug nut on the left, and the Z's lug nut on the right. The contact point is the washer, so you need shank style wheel locks that also have this design.

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...s-p1000610.jpg

On the advice a friend who works in the wheel business, I ordered a set of McGard #21153 locks, and they work perfectly.

This first pic shows the wheel lock on the right:
http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...s-p1000622.jpg

And here are some pics with the locks mounted:
http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...s-p1000613.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...s-p1000618.jpg

Update: Since this was originally posted, Nissan now has proper locks for the Z in the same shape/size as the stock lug nuts. I recommend getting those instead of the 21153s pictured above.

The next thing I did was have ClearBra Xpel film installed onto the front bumper, hood, mirrors, fenders, and rocker panels. Not much to tell here, so here are a few pics. Oh, there's a thread on this as well: http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...rotection.html

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/n...n-p1000600.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/n...n-p1000602.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/n...n-p1000603.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/n...n-p1000604.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/n...n-p1000606.jpg

Radar detector hardwire and Blinder laser jammer installation

My next project was to hardwire my radar detector and install a Blinder Extreme laser jammer. I detailed all the steps in this DIY thread here: Blinder installation and radar detector hardwire

But here are some pics of the results:

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/d...e-p1000689.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/d...e-p1000694.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/d...e-p1000692.jpg

I tried installing a set of Ichiba 15mm wheel spacers to push the wheels out to the fenders more. It didn't work out too well and ended up being a no-go. The spacers went on just fine; the problem was with the wheels. This is all detailed in this thread here: http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...s-stock-z.html

Here are the spacers:

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...z-p1000643.jpg

Mounted:

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...z-p1000649.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...z-p1000650.jpg

The stock studs are supposed to fit into the little gaps between the mounting holes of the wheel:

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...z-p1000651.jpg

But the gaps aren't cut large enough:

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/w...z-p1000652.jpg

And that means that you can't mount the wheels back onto the car properly once the spacers are mounted to the wheel hub.

I have the new Stillen cat-back exhaust on order, as well as the Berk Hi-Flow cats. Both are supposed to arrive on Thursday 3/5. I'll be installing them on Friday, and will post pics as well as video/sound clips.

man ur good. I bought my Z on Jan 8th and still havent done anything besides put 3100 miles on it. Got the Berk test pipes coming in next week, gonna keep stock exhaust, and maybe pop in the stillen G3 intake, depending on how good the results are. other than that I will just do the stereo w/ subs and thats it. Congrats. your car looks great.

Looking nice. :tup: Can't wait to see a review on your experience with the Stillen/Berk combo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by semtex (Post 38113)

Looking forward to the review!!

Awesome Semtex, good first few mods!

Stillen Exhaust with Berk HFCs

The Stillen/Berk combo has been installed, and the results are awesome! I did a full write-up separately, so I won't bother repeating myself here. Here's a link to the full write-up: http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...berk-hfcs.html

Here's one of the vids:

^^ Yes, great indeed. :tup:

Once again, awesome!