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Project Trophy #393.



  Nissan 350z
Well after owning this for almost 3 months now I thought it was time I put up some details on what's happened with 393 so far since I picked it up from York on the 8th May.

To summarise the eBay listing:
76k on the clock
Timing belt done
new tyres all round,
Sachs racing front suspension rebuilt end of last year
mintex 1155 pads in the front, new standard pads in the rear inc new discs,
New engine mounts with uprated dog bone bushes
Service history
Scorpion cat back stainless exhaust
Recaro suede/leather front seats in great condition
6stack cd changer in the boot and cruise control
Motd and taxed
£3800 ono

On the surface It seems a bit of a bargain however the work involved so far says otherwise...

- Mark Fish adjustable rear Koni shocks fitted to replace leaking Renault Sachs. (There were on back order from France).
- Trophy new front springs fitted to replace the black springs that the car came fitted with. (Still not sure what they were?)
- New Scorpion middle section and replacement Cat fitted to fix the welded exhaust bodge to stop it blowing :(
- Yanoo stiff shift fitted to address the very vague/sloppy gear change the car seemed to suffer with.
- Richbrook slant gear knob while the gearstick was off having the Yanoo fitted.
- Renault dogbone fitted to replace the Powerflex black series dogbone the car came with (couldn't deal with cabin shake)
- Windscreen replaced because of 2 chips the car came with.
- Wipers re-seated at the base of the windscreen instead of randomly 2" up.
- Snappy retrimmed steering wheel to fix the OEM melted steering wheel.
- 172 black insert Xenon headlights fitted to replace the OEM halogens.

... And that's pretty much how the car sits today 3 months later. Some choice pictures from my first proper outing in the car to the Lakes for a weekend with my wife:

T23IxU.jpg


g2s7zW.jpg


pLeqFf.jpg


And an interior shot:

HE1MPJ.jpg


I know not all of the jobs done so far are fixes/required but It was about getting the car to where I wanted it to be in terms of a replacement for the Megane 250 that came before it which was quite an act to live up to! All of the work has been carried out by Mick @ Diamond Motors, a quick pic of the Trophy in its 2nd home:

z28n.jpg


There's still some bits on the to-do list;
- A pending trip to Scorpion to address the exhaust fitment
- Some fettling of a pair of Brembo 197 calipers for a brake conversion
- Respray the front bumper to address the lacquer peal

But it's good to be back in 1*2 ownership despite the non ending game of "guess the rattle"!
 
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  Nissan 350z
Thanks both :)

The latest addition has been the Brembo caliper conversion. I picked up a pair of Chris Powell brackets from his recent group buy and then after a cheeky offer of £105 on a local eBay listing managed to collect these:

fW4L4J.jpg


Looking very sorry for themselves I decided to send them off for a refurb to a local'ish company based in Long Eaton... what a mistake that turned out to be! After the best part of 8 weeks and me delivering and collecting them they were finally ready:

0V5PeC.jpg


So after yet more shopping with G172 and eBay I managed to source everything for the conversion which included:
- 280mm mounting brackets and custom brake lines - Chris Powell
- Brembo calipers - eBay
- Brembo HC discs, DS2500 pads and new OEM rear discs and pads - G172
- Motul RBF 600 fluid - OpieOils
- Revised caliper pins - MrPink (clio197.net)
All loaded up and ready to go:

Xwd3z5.jpg


And finally a before and after of the lot fitted:

M7LJcZ.jpg
B3fFVk.jpg


lgSmTw.jpg


FUZmP1.jpg


AfKneq.jpg
 

Dannyeff

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 182 trophy
looks brilliant - might do the conversion to my trophy. hopefully do a thread soon aswell
 

Tim.

ClioSport Club Member
Brakes look a bit beefier than the standard affairs, although I think I'd have gone gloss black or silver. Do you have any pictures of the entire profile of the car?
 
  Nissan 350z
Brakes look a bit beefier than the standard affairs, although I think I'd have gone gloss black or silver. Do you have any pictures of the entire profile of the car?

The standard rears are now black as they were in a similiar condition to the fronts as seen in the before pics above. I dont have any better pictures to hand due to the weather and being at work but hopefully this gives a better idea:

7vveUY.jpg

(this was in direct sunlight after being fitted)
 
  Nissan 350z
Cheers both. They are still bedding in really what with being new discs and pads, when they've got some miles on them I'll report back. First impressions are slightly increased pedal travel (to be expected) but then great initial bite and feel.
 
We did a similar conversion on our Trophy - but used 300mm discs and fitted the bigger master cylinder - and because we're fussy we fitted 197 rear brakes as well (same sized discs but bigger pads)

The brakes are now exceptionally good.

DS2500's are excellent as a road pad but in my opinion can't really stand up to the severe use of two of you driving back to back on track.

Last week we fitted DS1.11's and used the car at Oulton Park yesterday - I have to say I think the setup is now perfect for track use. The pads initial bite is quite something and they don't seem to fade or judder even when they are really hot. Brilliant pads for track use - but they do squeal a bit too much when cold which would drive you mad on a daily driver.
 

George@RTR_Parts

ClioSport Trader
  need BRAKES? PM me
Looking good mate, the front Brembo 4pots are a nice addition :approve: (if you haven't bedded them in yet , I can talk you through this over PM if you like Sargara)

Glad you're pleased with the DS1.11 Peter PeterCee
 
Bedded them in as per instructions in the box. First a few easy miles followed by 40 stops at 50% by which time the brakes smelt good and hot and no squeaking. Seemed to do the trick. Finished off the bedding in process with a day of the two of us thrashing it round Oulton park.
 
  Nissan 350z
Cheers @Keith185. I'll be honest if I'd have known how much messing about, time and money the whole conversion took I would have thought twice before going ahead with it. It's taken the best part of 3 months, probably around £750 total, 2 trips to Diamond Motors, 2 trips to the calliper refurb place, a trip to collect from eBay sale etc. So I'm glad its finally finished lets put it that way!
 
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How much heavier than standard calipers are the Brembos and what thickness spacers did you have to use to clear the wheel spokes?
 
  Nissan 350z
As im testing the water with selling up I thought i would post the latest updates. After a trip to Scorpion in Ripley and many trips to Mick @ Diamond Motors the Trophy has now had the following:
- New exhaust mounts and cat-fitting kit, fitted by Scorpion to address the ill-fitting exhaust
- New exhaust middle section fitted by Scorpion
- Replacement HEL braided lines fitted after 1 failed, and more Motul RBF 600 brake fluid
- New lambda sensor fitted to replace the one broken by Scorpion causing an EML on the dash.
- New brembo pads fitted

I admit I've had to swap out the DS2500 pads and had some standard brembo pads fitted. I just couldnt get them to be quiet enough and the constant looks of "is your car broken?" from the other motorists in the stop/start commute on the way home was too cringe-worthy! So I bit the bullet and had them replaced, I'll just save them for future non-commute driving :)

So out of my initial list of tasks/jobs to tackle the only one I havent had any progress on so far is the paint work. Not bad going if I do say so myself :)
U40dVe.jpg

HN8roO.jpg
 


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