Well over the last 6 months my Z was becoming increasingly annoying with tons of little things bothering me. Mainly a very loud ride, not due to the tanabe exhaust, but what seemed like one million and one rattles and buzzing sounds coming from within, the engine bay, etc. It sounded like a racecar with no sound deadening anywhere and it just didn't feel "nice" to ride in or carry passengers anymore. You could see the headlights were out of alignment by the reflection in the trunks of cars or by people flashing me because the passenger side light was blinding them it was so heavenly high. So, in recent weeks I set out to figure out all these different annoying rattles and sounds and fix them. None of them were difficult and I don't know why I waited this long to solve the problems. Anyway, here are a few things I did to my Z over the weekend.

1) Started out with the Hypersprite Headlight adjustment. Backed the car up in the garage so I had 8' of clearance between front end and garage door. Taped a 26" high line across the door (car is lowered) and got the headlights even. Prior to adjustment the passenger side was literally 4" higher than the drivers side?! Drove down the street and back and my brother ensured me they looked identical and would not blind oncoming cars.

2) I figured out, by seeing paint transfer between strut bar and Kinetix plenum that this was the vibrating sound coming from these two rubbing together. I only ever heard this sound at redlights or stop signs, but after driving into work this morning I realize it was a constant buzz even at highway speeds. So, I ran out to the local hardware, picked up 16 1/2" washers, uninstalled the strut bar, and put 2 washers under the strut bar on each bolt. For the 3 bolts that go in from the top I simply taped the washers over the hole with clear tape and slit an X on the top of the tape. Didn't drop or lose one washer during the process and the install went perfectly smooth. The bar was spaced up about 3/16" and there was visible clearance under the bar between the plenum. Hood closed and the bar did not hit the hood. Close, but it didn't hit. This morning I drove into work thinking I was in a Mercedes. This turned out to be the best fix I've ever done.

3) As the Tanabe exhaust howls through the car there was a mysterious buzz coming from the rear hatch. After playing around with the hatch, I realized someone dropped a bolt into the hatch during OEM spoiler install and it was vibrating with the exhaust resonance. I used a strongggg magnet and jiggling of the hatch to eventually get it to fall out. No more rear-car buzzing this morning on the way to work!

4) I also heard a flapping/rubbing at times under the front of the car. No clue what it could be considering I removed the under-engine pan. It was destroyed by roadkill and I just never got around to replacing it, plus it makes oil changes 15 minutes quicker and I try not to drive the car in heavy/bad rain anyway. Either way, turns out the wheel well lining on the passenger side had lost a bolt and was hanging a little low (lowest point on the car hence the rubbing the road during dips). I installed a new bolt and the lining is a little warn/bruised but did not rub on the way into work this morning.

5) In the process of doing all this it appeared my Popcharger was FILTHY. It probably has about 40k of use on it and I never cleaned it. Uninstalled that, collected about 1/2 cup of loose dirt, leaves, bugs, etc. from it when I hit it off. Cleaned it with K&N cleaner, soaked it in a bucket of detergent water, and air dried it during all these other fixes. Reoiled with K&N red oil (making the popcharger appear red which is cool IMO since the blue wore off) and reinstalled. Car sounds much better (the popcharger stopped whistling it was so dirty) and feels a little more responsive.

Overall, it was a productive weekend. Prior to this I had concentrated on the big issues (modding the engine with bolt ons, getting regular inspections, fluid changes at the correct intervals, etc.) to keep the car running well/better than stock and I concentrated on detailing/cleaning the car multiple times a week to keep it looking tip top, however fixing these little things made me love the car more than most things I've ever done to the car before!!!

Moral of the story: Don't wait another minute to find and fix annoying rattles/buzzes, or other small problems with your Z.
Moral of the story 2: Don't get bored at work and type a 2 page long my350z.com post that noone is going to read.

Enjoy your week enthusiasts.

 

i read it and i think i'll do something like that this afternoon =)

 

Damn, it probally took you longer to write this than your weekly maint.

 

Actually to perform all the work above took several hours (working slowly), writing it only took a few minutes... but I type fast.

 

id do this if i wasn't so lazy... i have a few rattles, but i think they are from my system so im not going to bother.

 

Yeah, figuring out the plenum/strut bar problem was huge. Not only did it cease the metal on hard plastic vibrations while accelerating, cruising, or idling at a light, but it also stopped a lot of vibrations that carried through to the cabin in the steering column and center guages.

I'm curious as to why the plenum and strut bar had clearance issues in my car though when I haven't heard of them prior.

 

good write up..i read the whole thing...good notes...i would never thought some washer on the spacer would take out the rattle..im thinking to get a spacer soon..so i'll be looking for couple washer with the strut...see if you never wrote that i would never knew...good write up...and tips..im glad theres people like you who writes shiet like this....sometimes the little thing counts...+11111111

 

I can take pics of the washer under the strut bar setup. I'm thinking now that one washer on each bolt would have been enough clearance to stop the vibration, however I'm not rubbing the hood either so I guess 2 is fine. I have about 3/16" clearance between Kinetix Plenum and Strutbar now. Prior it was basically sitting ON the plenum. I'm really surprised the plenum didn't sustain more serious damage than paint transfer. I mean, it IS hard plastic, but I would think after 10k miles (roughly) of driving with the plenum constantly vibrating against the strut bar it might crack or something... who knows.

Note that this is not a "must do" for Kinetix Plenum owners (i know kinetix owners with no spacers and no rubbing), but it sure was for me.