Project: 2010 solid red roadster
 

Hi everyone - I owned a highly modified 05 Maxima and most recently an 05 350Z roadster with all the 07-08 Nismo coupe bits on it - complete interior, exterior suspension, engine bracing, frame dampers (or is it dampeners?) etc. I sourced all OEM Nissan parts except the rear spoiler was a replica.

Anyway, it has over 219,000, and is getting a bit "long in the tooth" so to speak. It runs beautifully, but a fender bender with an old lady who shouldn't be driving caused me to decide it was time for something newer. When I bought the car in 2014, I really wanted red but black was fine. Now, my mission was to find a red 370Z roadster. Initially, I wanted a 6 speed with Navi and sport packs. I determined the 7AT was faster, and had paddle shift, and that the sport pack had super heavy brake rotors (30 lbs each!!) and that the Navi was outdated.

Sooooooo, after scouring the country, I found a nice little cream puff of a car 110 miles from home - a 2010 red roadster 7AT touring with 47K miles and in virtually perfect condition. Zero dents, a couple of little scratches on the tonneau cover, no rock chips (!!), some faded leather on driver seat left bolster and thats it. It smelled great too. The top had that last 5th bow issue but they all seem to have top problems. More on that later.

All the fluids looked fresh, and air filters were clean. Tires have life left, top in great shape, headlights not faded.

I want to drive it a bit before I jump into the modding. However, there were some obvious things to be done. I didn't have floor mats so I got some mats from theZstore in Orange, CA with matching red Z logo. Love em. Replaced the silly antenna with a 4 incher from Autozone that looks factory. I removed the front license (illegal here but ask me if I care...no i don't) and found some great hole plugs from Autozone. I also swapped the white license plate LEDs from my 350Z which look great, in place of the boring yellowish ones that were in the 370z.

There are soooo many directions to go with the car but after some research, my initial thoughts are:

Exterior: 2015+ Nismo bumpers front and rear, and side skirts maybe, smallish rear spoiler (not the duck tail), JDM tail lights, paint inside chrome of headlights, light tint for windows and clear for windshield to reduce UV sun rays.

Interior: Red GTR start button, white interior LEDs and GTR clear lense covers and then option 1 - Nismo steering wheel, and M35/M45 AT shift knob or option 2 - Custom carbon fiber/leather steering wheel, carbon fiber shift knob, and a couple of carbon fiber bits like shifter surround and inner door handle areas. The stock radio seems fine but it needs a bluetooth plug in to the Aux to stream music from my phone. I want to have modern Navi and backup camera. The Garmin 65 is nice and big (6.8" ) and would fit in place of the silly compartment above the radio, with the addition of a Garmin back up camera.

Performance: OEM Nismo exhaust with dual output Y pipe (increase in power but not much louder) or Stillen true dual, possibly a short ram intake, maybe lightweight pulleys. A tune would be good too. For rims, the factory 18s are light, but a set of 19s would be nicer, possibly 2015+ rims. I like the style of the Ferrari California turbo rims with the split spoke star pattern. Savini SV F3 or Ferrada F8-FR5 look similar.

I want to get back in SCCA Solo II (Autocross) on an occasional weekend. I have a set of square 350Z Track edition rims I may use for this - super lightweight at under 19 lbs each.

Any suggestions, thoughts, feedback would be appreciated.

I would recommend an oil cooler and oil pressure gauge if you're going to spend any time hanging out in the higher RPM's. Idk... You might be OK at auto-x events, but I understand that track days come with their limitations.

I have 40k on the clock, so I'll probably be getting the transmission fluid changed out (the manufacturer indicates that the 7AT is maintenance free; I find that hard to believe). Maybe something to think about.

So many options to add horsepower and torque, if you're into that kind of thing. Otherwise, I'd put my money towards suspension and brakes upgrades, especially if auto-x is an interest.

I'm a novice compared to some others on this forum, so they will be of greater knowledge.

Glad you found a car you enjoy!

Look into the roadster issues ASAP, if yo are not already familiar. You will want to keep ALL EYES on top mechanisms that can go bad (currently no consistent fix once damage is done).

I added a red GTR start button with red Nismo ring trim. Very cool.looking and brings a bit more red inside. I also removed the "370Z" badges off the rear to clean up the rear end.

In a spirited drive up the local mountain, I saw the oil temperature climb to 260 degrees. A big oil cooler will be in my future, due to hot local temperatures and Spirited drives either in canyons or at auto cross.

I noticed the AC seemed to be blowing a bit warm.I bought a can of R134a with the gauge on it. Then I proceeded to overcharge it. After letting some freon out the AX cools beautifully, even in 100 degree weather with top down. I bought some evaporator fin cleaner and sprayed it through the grill. I noticed that the bottom part of the condenser condenser has some flattened cooling fins. When I remove the bumper in the future, I can do several things. I will install and oil cooler and maybe an auto trans cooler, I will straighten the fins of the condenser, I will remove the headlights to paint the inside chrome trim, and I will add cooling ducts to the air boxes.

Regarding, intakes, I have been reading about CAI vs improving stock air boxes with drop ins and post MAF silicone tunes. It seems that the stock boxes with designed pretty well and are not a point of restriction. Is this true? It seems the arguments for CAI vs. Stock boxes never ends and people swear by both.

For exhaust, I'm still thinking OEM Nismo exhaust with H pipe replacing the Y pipe and HFCs.

I can't figure out how to post pics.

Today I had the leather seat bolsters repaired. They needed dye and sealer so I had it done. They look new now.

Sounds great, I love my red Roadster and also thinking of bringing some red inside, so I should start with the red GTR button as well . Upload some pictures if you can. Just click the small paperclip icon and upload from there.
Cheers, :tup:

I installed a carbon fiber steering wheel. It's from Vivid Racing and has white stitching. I may try to put a red stripe at the top. I'm not sure how it's done on carbon fiber...paint...vinyl?

Installed vinyl red stripe decal on steering wheel. Hopefully it lasts.

I have some parts coming in....a carbon fiber M45 shift knob and the H pipe and B (mid) pipe from a 370Z nismo. I may run it without the muffler, with stock muffler, or with rear resonators. I don't mind a bit more noise thsn stock, but not into the racket that some of these cars make. Also thinking of installing my gunmetal square set of 350Z Track rims. They look great and weigh 18.6 lbs. I'm not sure the offset will work with the 370z. Anyone try 350z rims on?

See below.

http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...eels-370z.html

Those are great wheels, too bad it’s a little narrow for z34. There was an OG member here using a widened (cut, widened, welded) version of those wheels on his track used Z34.

Seems like spacers would work for offset. My Track edition wheels are a square set so the front would likely be ok. The rears would probably need about 20mm of offset.

I got my Nismo B pipe and h pipe installed, with no resonators. It is louder than expected but not bad. It only gets loud at higher RPMs and if you mash the gas pedal. The general consensus is that this gives about 9-10 hp and the other hp of the Nismo is due to a tune. I plan to do a YouTube video so you can hear the sound.

10 extra horsepower. Guaranteed! :tiphat:

Mainly weight savings but a bit more aero. ;)

Carbon fiber M45 shift knob and custom suede shift boot.

I installed a custom e brake a.k.a. hand brake handle as the OEM piece is plain. I had it made with carbon fiber to match the other cf bits, silver trim, and suede boot with lt grey stitching.

Installed a Stillen front anti-sway bar set on stiffest setting.

I bought an upper and lower intake so I can port them and swap it with my original ones. Also have K and N drop ins and Z1 post maf tubes.

I have SPL front end links that will go in. Also bought a VLSD differential from pick a part. It has the 3.3 gears since it was from an automatic, but the price was right...$82.

Nice! I just added my Nissmo steering wheel. Love the feel compared to my original, which was showing signs of wear.

That's a really nice choice. I considered the Nismo wheel but went with a carbon fiber wheel to go with the carbon bits I wanted to add at the time. My wheel was also a bit worn too. Also my shift knob was worn, so replacing it with the carbon piece was a great upgrade.

I ran the car through some mountain roads last night and am very please with the way the suspension works together. I plan to install the differential later in the morning.

I installed the differential from an automatic sport model so it is now an LSD. I also replaced the rear anti sway bar with one from a pre-2015 Nismo. It measures 2mm thicker than the stock 25mm bar. I also replaced the resonator-deleted Nismo mid exhaust section with one's with factory resonators in anticipation of a possible muffler delete.

For appearances, I replaced the rear black bumper cover piece with a Nissan JDM foglight. I replaced the engine cover with the red Nismo cover.

The LSD makes a huge difference in handling in tight corner, as expected. The larger rear sway bar helps turn in even more. I plan to install a square set of all rear 350Z Track edition rims with 25mm spacers for the rear rims to bring it to the stock 370z offset. They weigh 18.6 lbs and are gunmetal.

350Z Track edition wheels installed
 

I have long thought that one of the not so well known secrets to improving the 350z was the Track edition wheels offered around 2004. Made by Rays engineering, and look similar to Volk TE37, the rears are 18" x 8.5" and weigh a scant 18.6 lbs. Long ago I purchased 2 sets of these rims so that I could have a square set of rear wheels on the car. They can be had online for about $400 a set compared to about $3000 for the TE37s.

After a lot of research, I determined that the front wheels would fit just fine but the rear ones would need about 25 mm of offset to be at the stock position on the hub. Without a spacer, the rear wheels would be sunken in.

I purchased some spacers and installed them (making a really long story short) and installed the Track edition wheels. They collectively weigh about 40 lbs less than the base rims. Acceleration should be improved.

I have made many changes since my last post. I replaced the 350Z Track wheels with 370Z Nismo V2 wheels. They look great. I also added a pre-2015 370Z Nismo rear anti sway bar. Also I added a 2015+ 370Z Nismo V2 rear bumper and JDM foglight. The foglight is used as a brake light. Finally, I deleted the rear muffler.

The huge tires and better suspension make the car handle superbly.

I also added a 32 row oil cooler and painted inside of the headlights. While the headlights were open, I replaced the lenses with much better lenses.

I have a flat bottom all Alcantara wheel. Has a nice feel. Not slippery or sticky.

Recent pic: