GeeDog

Thanks guys - I'll get onto it this week. I had already fitted a large (280 x 200mm) trans oil cooler, but didn't think about the power steering overheating. Supercheap has a Davies Craig (same as PWR?) trans cooler on special this week.

Competed at a motorkhana yesterday, and had issues with the power steering. It was quite a hot day - ambient temp around 37 - and the event was on a large concrete truck parking area. My car's outside temp display got up to 41 while on the concrete surface, and I think this was fairly accurate. We had 2 drivers in my car, so it was doing twice as many runs, and from the start of the event we were 3 cars apart. This meant the car didn't get any cool-down time between me driving & my son driving. The first 4 runs were fine, but in the 5th run I noticed the power assistance dropped out a coupe of times - the steering just went really hard for a few seconds. In my son's run shortly after he basically had no power steering at all after the first turn. After this we organised to move his spot so that the car had a similar cool-down time between each run, and this helped but the power steer was still dropping out. In the end we didn't do the last run each because of it. Now I know it was extreme temperature, and motorkhana is very hard on the power steering because you are going from lock to lock virtually the whole run, The problem was definitely heat related - after a lunch break the first couple of runs went ok, but the problem came back as the fluid got hotter. We tried using ice in plastic bags to cool the reservoir, which also seemed to help a bit. I had to drive 80km to get home, and had no problems. I went out a few times today, and once again the steering is fine. The fluid smells a bit off, and is dark, so I'll be flushing & replacing it this week. I'm going to use Mobil 1 full synthetic ATF, which I hope will handle the heat a bit better. As far as I know the fluid is original, so a fluid change may well be all it needs. Because I have no way of testing until the next motorkhana event on a hot day, I want to replace the OEM P/S cooler with something a bit more effective, and maybe even fit a couple of fans that can be turned on for events and/or some ducting to get air directly onto the cooler. I'm looking at a PWR auto trans cooler - probably a 150x280mm or 200x280mm, which should fit where the factory one is now. A google search shows this is quite a common problem for people with 350Z's in hot climate - ie Texas. They seem to use either Stillen or Nismo P/S coolers, but the prices are a bit over the top for something that's not much bigger than the factory cooler. Has anyone changed the P/S cooler? What did you use, and what was the effect?

Not sure that I'd ever call Redstuff pads "race suited" - they are sold as a street pad for "more powerful cars - over 200 bhp" that can be used occasionally on the track. If we were talking about Yellowstuff pads I agree that they are too harsh & too noisy for street use, but I have found the redstuff pads to be brilliant on the street.

I've got EBC redstuff front & rear, and I'm very happy with them. I will be doing numerous events in the car, hence the pad choice. That said, I've never braked hard on the street and though "shit - the brakes are too good, I should have bought cheaper pads" - so I don't agree with the "overkill for street use" comments.

When you fill out the application form for a Cams licence, and get it signed by a club rep, you will get a tear-off bit of paper that is a temporary licence and will be valid for a month, starting immediately. You'll get the real licence in the post within a week or so, but you only need the bit of paper to enter an event. Have a look at the form at http://www.cams.com.au/en/Forms/~/media/Files/Forms/Competitor%20Forms/Lv%202%20License%20application%20renewal.ashx - this is the L2 form, not sure about other licence levels.

Just do the $5 fix (actually about $12 here) - fit an off-the-shelf central locking solenoid to replace the factory one. I did this last year & it works fine, and is much quicker & cheaper than the Nissan solenoid. I bought the solenoid from Jaycar.

I did mine about 5 months ago - took about an hour or two & has been working perfectly ever since.

Anyone else from here entering this series - entries close tomorrow. Details at http://ozgymkhana.com.au/

Murry, With the stock 18" rears (245/45R18) my speedo is almost spot-on. Your rear tyres are about 5% smaller than stock, and that's the main reason your speedo is so far out. If you went to 275/40R19 you'd still be slightly smaller (but much closer), while 275/45R19 would be slightly larger (so the speedo would probably read 1-2kph less than actual). I use the calculator at http://www.miata.net...e/tirecalc.html - you can directly compare 2 different tyre sizes. Your fronts are also smaller than OEM, but this won't affect the speedo.

Found a half cut I want to buy for my track car As I read that I had a mental image of the front half of a car going round a track - I'm sure that's not what you meant though:)

No idea what the problem is or how to fix it, but I assume you know about the manual opener attached to the inside of the boot lid - you get in the car, fold down the back seat, and reach through to a T-handle in the middle of the underside of the boot-lid. that will at least get the boot open so you can have a look.

I have a set of 17" winter tread tyres that were on a set of rims I bought. The fronts are 225/50R17, and have heaps of tread left. the rears are 235/50R17, and are still well above legal tread. I drove around town on these for about 6 weeks while I was painting (mostly thinking about painting) my other rims, and they are fine. http://dl.dropbox.co...%2015.07.44.jpg these would be good for someone needing cheap tyres, or for burnout tyres. Looking for $60 for the set. 0418 841 730 Tyres sold

I have a set of 17" winter tread tyres that were on a set of rims I bought. The fronts are 225/50R17, and have heaps of tread left. the rears are 235/50R17, and are still well above legal tread. I drove around town on these for about 6 weeks while I was painting (mostly thinking about painting) my other rims, and they are fine. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64688547/2013-02-01%2015.07.44.jpg these would be good for someone needing cheap tyres, or for burnout tyres. Looking for $60 for the set. 0418 841 730

I've got a pair of SAAS sport seats in black. These have never been used - we bought them last year but didn't get around to installing them. They are black fabric / mesh. They recline & tilt forward (for access to the back seat in a 2 door), and come with sliders but no mounts. I'd like to sell them for $160 each or $300 for the pair. They look just like this one (not the actual seat in the photo): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64688547/Saas%20seat.jpg Ph 0418 841 730

Sonicii - my Coupe OEM 18's are both 8" too. I think the front / rear stamped on them is just so fitters know where to put them. If they can't see the tyre sizes I'm not sure how they'll see the front / rear cast into the rear of the wheel Marshan - I'm pretty sure the OEM 17's are 225/50 front & 235/50 rear - that's the sizes on the OEM 17" alloys I bought, still with Japanese tyres fitted.

Looking for some CHEAP 18" tyres for an event. They are for a V35, and to fit on 18" rims. OEM sizes are 225/45 front & 245/45 rear, so something around there would be good. Rears just need to have a bit over legal tread, would prefer a bit more on the fronts. Let me know what you've got. Cheers, Geoff

Seems to be all good. I got the last flush with just a tinge of colour. I didn't remove any of the engine drain plugs - decided that was likely to cause more problems than it fixed. The Nissan coolant says to mix between 30:70 and 50:50 with water, depending on the minimum temp you want to run in. I mixed 30:70 (or as close as I could get) - put almost 3 litres of concentrate in & the rest is water. Thanks for the input.

Hi all, I bought my V35 coupe about 5 months ago, and it had green coolant in it. I have no idea if it's the original "from the factory" coolant, or has been replaced in Japan at some stage by Nissan or other coolant, or if the compliance workshop replaced it with Nissan or another brand when it was complianced in May last year. As with all the other fluids, I wanted to change it - mostly because I just didn't know what it was or how old it was. Also, when it was 44 degrees here last week, my car's temp went to about 3/4 of the guage while I was driving up a steep hill at about 90, with the a/c on full. This is the only time I've ever seen the guage go over half way. I've bought some genuine Nissan coolant, which cost a bit more than Nulon or similar but not enough to worry about. I'm trying to flush as much of the old coolant out as possible, but I'm not sure how anal to be about it. Basically when I drop the coolant, I'm only getting about 4 litres out. I then replace that with 4 litres of distilled water, go for a drive to get the thermo open & mix the coolant / water, let the car cool down & then do it all again. So far I've done this 5 times, and obviously the coolant mix is getting weaker each time - the colour has gone from a deep green to something that looks like weak green cottees cordial. If I knew that the existing coolant was Nissan, I would have stopped after a couple of flushes. Because I don't know, I'm not sure how much I need to dilute the existing coolant before putting the new stuff in. Does anyone know if green coolant is all the same basic stuff, and therefore ok to mix brands, or should I be trying to get it as clear as possible before adding the new coolant? The distilled water is cheap, but it's a bit time consuming.

No idea about powder coating cost but I painted my 18" OEMs just before Xmas - used the same silver colour as the car but darkened it a bit, 3 coats of paint & 3 coats of clear. I had the outside beads broken so it was easier to mask up, cleaned with wax & grease remover, sanded out most of the scratches & filled the bigger ones with body filler, then painted. Total cost was SFA, but we already had the paint & clear coat. You can buy wheel paint & clear in rattle cans as well. They came up fine - probably not quite as nice as powder coating but "they're just rims".

The front bit of the brake light (closest to the front of the car) has 2 clips that hold it down. I fold down the back seat, then use a large flat screwdriver to push the area of each clip towards the rear of the car, and lift up. Once both clips are released the whole assembly slides forward and out. The pic below shows the assembly removed & turned upside down. The 2 clips closest to the camera are the ones you need to push back & up, the other 4 plastic tabs then come undone when you slide the assembly forwards. Pic - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64688547/2013-01-11%2017.38.07.jpg

I know it's been asked before, but where are you located?

Well that was weird - I clicked play on the ad above, and at almost the exact same time the real Swisse ad came on TV during a break in the cricket. The song is "Be Ready when I say Go" - Emperors

Where are you, and what have you got in the way of wheels - photo shows 2 different rims on drivers side?

I'm looking for some cheap 17" rims to fit a V35 Coupe - standard V35 rims (17x7.5 front, 17x8 rear, +30 offset) would be perfect, or something similar. I'm not too fussed about gutter rash or scratches, just want them to fit old tyres for motorkhana type events. Anyone got suitable rims in the shed? Edit - with or without tyres, tread or no tread

So what's the difference between Wintercup & Multiclub events?