oh yea, the tranny. That is a big one. If it were covered under warranty and they replaced it you should be ok. Once again, havent heard much about tranny problems from 05+. You did have some bad luck!

 

Q. Warped Rotors?
A. You brake to hard.

Q. Why is my Tranny messed up?
A. Stick to Automatic!

Q. Why put a desktop computer in my Z?
A. Something has to control the Flux Capacitor.

Q. Why am i such a d1ck?
A. Q#1 was true...the rest im just messing...........................................

All in all...BAD LUCK YOU HAVE kind sir. But hey I wouldn't put those amps on top of one another in that little compartment unless you have some kind of air going into them as to not to over heat under your carpet while cranking the beats.

 

 

so, the dealer took care of two minor issues under warranty at no cost and you're spazzin? rofl, i'd hate to see you when something serious happens that isnt a deers fault. if you think all cars are fault free you're in dream land and dont give me how reliable your mustang was because im sure there are many out there that have had issues.

 

^ tranny on my new *** car having to be raplaced at 7500 a minor issue?

id be pretty discouraged too son even if it was covered

 

[QUOTE=ThePistonDoctor;7835665]Hey all, with your help I think I've convinced myself to keep the car! I just spent about 4 hours looking at body kits, wheels, and custom interiors. I have some friends that do custom body work, so I think I'm going to get myself a nice lip kit and have someone mold it to a new OEM bumper. I also like the Stillen rear end and Nismo sideskirts. I am a big fan of custom engineering and mix n match design so this should be unique and clean. While I'm at it, I'll also have my buddy shave all the badges and maybe wetsand and repaint everything to get rid of chips and imperfections.

Also, if I'm taking the entire winter I will be able to save plenty. I have 4-5K right now for a nice winter car which I have been looking for recently, and that will leave me with enough in the bank to live on and pay bills. I can easily cover the body kit and painting through my buddy with the insurance check and I will have a little extra income from taking off collision insurance over the winter while I have the car in storage.

I can do a two tone leather interior color matched to the car for about $1500 (see leatherseats.com, there's a shop in this area that does similar custom upholstery and his work is fantastic), and I have all the equipment for the stereo and carputer, I just have to redesign the layout since one of my amps croaked and had to be replaced with a new 2010 version which is a different size. That redesign will only cost me probably $300-500. A VERY nice new set of wheels (thinking maybe Volk GTS w/ a silver pinstripe) will run me $2500-3K, and lowering I can do myself at my uncle's shop for a few hundred.

Looking at it like this and budgeting it all out, it looks like I can probably re-do the entire car into something amazing for about 5K out of pocket, I should be able to make that over the winter with minimal effort and bring her back full bore in the spring.

In the mean time, here's a few pics of my work on the stereo/carputer to give you a hint of what's to come:



Who needs a spare tire anyway!

 

i believe he meant axle click, which is a common problem and is covered under TBS and is a minor issue. I could be wrong but only OP could clear that up.

 

No, it was not axle click. There was too much play in the input shaft and the trans rattled VERY noticeably in neutral with the clutch both in AND out. And after they replaced it the noise came back but then went away a short time later (on the new trans). I also had to fight with them every step of the way and the dealer that replaced my rotors is not the same dealer that did the trans because the first one was so unreasonable and hard to work with.

They also broke part of my splash guard when installing the new transmission and stripped and crossthreaded three of the bolts, giving an indication to me that the entire thing was a hack job and leaving me reason to believe the new clutch noise is their fault. They still won't fix it because now of course it's "normal" (translation: we don't want to eat the cost of our **** up)

Now when I let the clutch out, there is still a noticeable click which sounds like a loud throwout bearing. When I took it back in they said it was "normal" so I then took it to another shop of a trusted friend and he said himself it sounds abnormally loud, but based on the normal chattering of the Z transmission he didn't think there was anything to worry about. That's when I gave up on the noise and decided to just let it go, and also when I started thinking about selling it because it just doesn't sound right to me.

Venture: there are three 12V computer fans on each side of the amp rack, one side with the polarity reversed to spin the opposite way and circulate air through the entire compartment. And no, I don't brake too hard. The rotors were **** from the factory. Braking too hard would leave brake dust everywhere, and pad residue stuck on the rotors from the heat. These were clean as a silver spoon. As far as why put a carputer in the car, I know you were messing around but when you use equipment like Audison and Morel you don't want a crappy Panasonic head unit as your source...you want a pro-quality sound card and an equalizer

But I'm not gonna argue about the mechanical stuff, the point is now the issues are resolved and I'm just stuck with the question of whether or not to keep the car. Seems like just a lot of shitty luck but I think the worst is over. I think I've made my decision and now it's time to have some fun!

BTW venture the amps run surprisingly cool and actually have about 2.5-3" of space between them vertically. When you use quality components you don't need to worry about having a lot of power. The D6 only makes 600WRMS and and Audison is 120x2. Very low power and very efficient

 

those wheels actually look pretty sharp on there.
I might have to take a look at some

 

^Thanks! They're cheap too. I think I paid $1300 with tires, mounted, balanced and shipped. They are 18x9 and 18x10 but IMO you can tell they are cheap wheels. They don't have the look of class and quality that something like Volk does, but they're decent if you're on a budget and they have a bunch of different styles

Here's a couple better pics of the wheels:

 

My compliments on a very nice installation … and, thanks for posting the great pictures.

Just curious… Was the deer killed upon impact, or was it necessary to administer the “Coup de grâce?”

--Spike

 

I think it was 95% dead on impact. I got out and it was twitching. I think it was me laughing at it and cursing that stressed it enough for it to finally die.

Haha

 

I'm glad you can laugh it off. You were lucky. I’m surprised the animal died when impacting a low vehicle as is a sports car. That scenario usually results in broken limbs and internal injuries. The unfortunate animal typically ends up in the ditch or on roadway making some awful sounds. It’s even worse if they can run off with those terrible injuries.

When you are in this situation, you are supposed to call Animal Control, a DNR Officer, or the Police; but I prefer to dispatch the poor animal quickly and mercifully to end its suffering.

I lived for awhile in an area where deer encounters with vehicles were common. It’s not pretty for the poor dear, but the vehicle’s occupants can be hurt as well, especially when the driver takes evasive maneuvers that result in “hitting the ditch.”

I lost a close friend when he swerved to avoid a deer, entered the ditch, rolled over, and was ejected from the car (yes… no seatbelt killed him).

--Spike

 

...stock wheels went out of balance in 200 miles?? All of them ?? This part of post seems far fetched. Tires usually are a balance issue, but rarely.

Were they balanced when you left dealer? Did they throw the weights?

Did you just want new wheels ?

 

OP, noticed you are from Rochester NY, me too....

Just wondering, what dealership did you take it too that you are having so many problems with...

I bought an 07 from a dealer around here and it was nothing but a nightmare...
It ended up being a lemon that they could not fix...

Bought my 08 from another dealer and its been pretty good thus far...

If you are thinking of trading it in, doesn't sound like you are anymore, the first dealer (the shitty one) called me yesterday wanting me to come in so that they could look at my car for trade in value "would make it worth my while"...

Mine is an 08 black Z as well, so maybe you could just take my place, haha...

 

Perhaps he just hit lots of pot holes!!!

 

Just like that retarded commercial where the Z Roadster comes out of the parking garage and blows a tire on a pothole, and the pothole starts talking

 

They were pretty well balanced when I left, but the car had been sitting for a long time and I thought maybe the tires had flat spots once I drove it for a few miles. I called the dealer I bought it from immediately and we agreed that we would give it a couple hundred miles to see if it wore off. It didn't. I took it to a dealer her in Rochester a few days later and they found all four out of balance by 4-6oz (I still have the printout if you'd like me to scan it, lol).

They balanced em up and it was fine after that, so who knows. Never had any problems with it after that so I chalked it up.

jmar, I took it to Dorschel on West Henrietta Rd. In the past, I had taken my mustang there and Doug (the service manager) was always a GREAT help and LOVED working on my car. I don't know what happened with this one. Everything went sour after they had to replace the trans. I actually bought the car in Saratoga, NY, near where my parents live. That's a funny idea about trading it in, but I think I'm good to go. I can't give up that easily On a side note, I'm sure trade in value at Dorschel that would be "worth my while" is about $4K...lol

 

My experience at Dorschel was poor at best...

They passed me along between 3-4 salespeople, when I had an appointment, before they even let me test drive a car...
The kid, and he was a kid, who came with me for the test drive was younger than me, and I was 27'ish at the time...

People never took me seriously about buying the car or how much I wanted to put down, so I just went to Hoselton in East Rochester.
Can't say their sales staff was any better, but the service has been top notch

 

^lol, Hoselton on Marsh is where my car is right now. They are awesome, service was great and now I have experience with their collision staff too...who have been awesome so far. The service manager at Hoselton (Dan) even agreed to go on a quick ride along with me and analyze the car while I sat in it and drove. He hit the nail dead on the head with everything he thought was wrong with the car and they fixed every issue the first time.