Jeffblue's 370z Journal
 

So i figured it was about time to start a journal thread of my own, so here goes:

My love for the 370z began when i saw the top gear review of it from that point on, i decided that i really wanted the car. From November 2009 to march i researched and researched and figured out what i really wanted, and decided deep down, i wanted a fully loaded 6spd black with persimmon interior, and i wouldn't settle for anything else! At that point, i couldn't drive stick, but i made it a point to learn how (on my friend's 87 300zx) and on March 4th 2010, i went into the dealer, told them i wanted the car with those options for invoice price. They ordered it, and it arrived exactly 2 months later. I was thrilled.


Here is the car when i first picked it up.
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...7&d=1290047278
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...8&d=1290047278
http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...90-mileage.jpg

and in the driveway with my '08 altima 2.5s (which i sold a few weeks later)

http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...88-old-new.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...89-old-new.jpg

Since i knew of the paint issues, especially with black, i decided to get the clear bra. I got the xpel paint protection installed at Executive Paint Protection in the Bronx, NY. I literally drove from the dealership straight to the detail shop to have the car detailed and have the clear bra installed. They installed Full hood, Full fenders, full front bumper, mirrors, and side skirts. I was very happy with the results of the detail and the clear bra install. i literally can't tell there is film on the car, almost every edge was tucked so there are almost no edges.

http://www.execpaintpro.com/gallery/...8/IMG_1016.jpg
http://www.execpaintpro.com/gallery/...8/IMG_1022.jpg
http://www.execpaintpro.com/gallery/...8/IMG_1044.jpg
http://www.execpaintpro.com/gallery/...8/IMG_1046.jpg
http://www.execpaintpro.com/gallery/...8/IMG_1050.jpg
http://www.execpaintpro.com/gallery/...8/IMG_1057.jpg

when i got the car, i had about 3 weeks left in my last semester at college. Once i moved back home, i planned to clean out the garage to keep my car in it. After being home for 2 days, the third night i was home, thieves stole the rear wheels off of my car.

http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...n-wheels-1.jpg

imediately after getting the wheels replaced, i got a viper 3033(i think) 2 way alarm with tilt sensor, along with smart start. And the garage was cleaned out by the time i got my car back.

My very first mod was a set of 3 piece forged wheels from Forged Specialties. I got 19x9.5 and 19x10.5 FS-M20 with a hyperblack face and polished aluminum lip. I got them through Chris from Wheelsdirectonline.com.
http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...ure18881-a.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...-dsc-0489p.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...6-dsc-0469.jpg

I love these wheels. The quality is top notch, and the customer service from chris and forged specialties has been outstanding.

While i was waiting for them to be delivered, i saw a thread from GTSPEC-NY looking for someone to come test fit their new 6 point ladder brace for the 370z. I volunteered to head over and test fit the brace for them, and they had a really nice shop. lots of wheels from work, volk etc, along with all of their braces on the walls. It's one thing to see all these wheels on the internet, but seeing them in person is really exciting.

http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...6&d=1290047278
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...5&d=1290047278
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...4&d=1290047278

Once the brace was fitted and i took it for a test run to feel the handling difference, they simply gave me the brace, which was really cool.
http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...dder-brace.jpg

Once the wheels were installed, i realized (along with much coaxing from chris and other members, that i definitely needed to drop the car. I decided to go with BC Racing BR type coilovers along with an Eibach (SPC) rear camber kit. I ordered it from GT-SPEC, because after meeting them, they seemed like a nice shop to do business with. Aside from the fact that they were local, and had the best price on the parts i wanted :tup:

I just picked up the coilovers and camber kit tonight (After only 4 business days since ordering them.
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1290098116
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1290049401
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1290049401
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...6&d=1290047777
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...7&d=1290047777


They are going to be installed this saturday at Performance Motorsport, in Smithtown, NY. and soon after i am having a full photoshoot done of my car. :tup:

I'll top it all off with a nice crappy iphone pic of my car from yesterday, waiting patiently to be lowered :tup:
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...5&d=1290047777

I'm not sure how to scale down those really large images of the coilovers, if someone could do that for me i'd appreciate it so i can replace the HUGE pics.

damn bro some really big pics. Love the process of your car.

thanks jamaica

And i just fixed the pics right now

I'm disappointed this is not your actual life journal. You know, the one where you reveal your man crush on Bobby MacPherson, the star player on the high school football team, in your sophomore year when you started to feel a little "confused?" He was so dreamy and he actually noticed you in the halls. And one time in the locker room after gym class you caught a glimpse of his...

Well, I guess it's not that kind of journal.

Nice car, though. Definitely want to see those pro photos. :tup:



:bowrofl: :bowrofl:

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/s...shocked019.gif
:roflpuke2::roflpuke2:

Nice job Jeff. I tried to rep ya some, but it said I need to spread the love before I rep ya again. So, love comin your way later. :tup:

Nice journal. Keep it coming. :D

no kidding. It's about time. You have great build going there.

What about the back-up camera?

haha good call! i wrote this journal last night, and as some of you may know the site was really slow and kept getting database errors. It made attaching photos and stuff kind of a nightmare. i'm gonna add the backup camera today :)

nice jeff, everything looks good. what coils are those BCs? Let me know how they are.

seeing that black altima coupe really made me miss mine :(

Very nice.

You know, I still haven't sold those rims. I like you new wheels much better than stock.

:tup:

i figured starting a thread for my car would be a convenient way to disguise starting a real journal to document my inner feelings and frustration i have with my sexual orientation thanks steve, i'm pumped to have the pics, photoshoot is scheduled for sunday at noon :tup:

they are BC BR type coilovers. I will def let you know how they are. i'm pumped to get them on. I plan to lower just enough to get rid of the wheel gap, which is just about an inch. I think i'm gonna have to take off that front chin spoiler, it scrapes everywhere and i'm not even lowered.

as far as the altima coupe, i had some good times with it, but i am much happier now, as i'm sure you are too :tup:

haha yup of course I am!

As far as the chin spoiler, I'm in the same boat, but I like how it looks and don't wanna take it off :( I've been trimming the scraped plastic off of it every week now and it's about half the size it originally was at this point lol.

No power mods?!

nope, i'm all stock in that dept. i'm actually fine with how the car sounds and the power still puts a smile on my face. i like to go all out, so when the car stops satisfying me in terms of power, i will think about what i'll do. as far as the other mods, i knew i wanted wheels, and the car needed a drop, so i figured i'd go all out and just go for coilovers. I'll have to go for a drive in someone's car that has full bolt ons and a tune to see what a difference in 20-30 whp feels like though.

:tup:

Z is coming along quite well! great job so far!

nice car! great upgrades! may i suggest a setting of 17 front and 20 rear! lemme know! as i am experimenting with the dampening as well!

Thanks a lot, i will keep those in mind and see what the installer says. :tup:

Lame thread

:iagree::roflpuke2:

i know you can do better then that lol

better than what?

Now you got me in here, watching lol, I have no subscribed.

Not agreeing your thread is lame. thats all

Trend setter. :p

Today is the big day, Where are the updates JEFF, CHOP CHOP!

heres a shot from post install. photoshoot is being done tomorrow, so i will have more, better pictures soon :)

the install went great and i will post more info about it tomorrow. It was really cool meeting up with some of the Long island Z guys. as far as the drop is concerned, i did an inch up front and .75 inch in the rear. i wanted to have a tiny bit more gap in the rear than up front. I've got my damper settings at 20/20 and i like how its riding. definitely stiffer but its not too harsh. I'm happy with the ride height.
FYI these shots are from before the laser allignment was done.
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...9&d=1290316389
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...8&d=1290316312

Looks real nice... What time did you end up getting out of there?

It looks Nice bro:tup::tup:

haha... like 5:30 my feet hurt from standing around so much.

thanks!

Jeff so are you happy with the ride quality or no? Height aside.

i'm very happy with the ride quality so far. I think i wound up with 1inch drop in front and a .75 inch drop in the rear, but i have pretty beefy tires so there isn't much wheel gap even with such a modest drop. I love the ride, its definitely stiffer, but not really annoying. I haven't tweaked it at all, its on 20 out of 32 dampening setting all around. i'm lovng how flat it is in the corners and on big bends at high speeds.

here is a shot of what the rig looked like for the photoshoot. it attached to the car using two specially designed suction cups.http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6825270_n.jpg

wow thats a serious rig right there, who did your photoshoot?

Jeffrey Liu JeffreyLiu Photography | SmugMug

i'm really excited to see the pictures. from what he showed me after each group of shots, its going to look great. He was really professional and really knew his stuff.

yeah that was a full day haha. drop came out nice though, looks great.