My Story: (long but entertaining) with an ASK at the end.

I bought a 04 350z back in 05. My intention was to turn it into a track car so I wanted as base a model as I could find. I found a very clean Z with 4500 miles on it with a carfax that stated it was repoed. I found this listing in multiple places including E-bay.

I had a local dealership inspect it with flying colors and since the car was pretty close buy I went to check it out, all I notices was that the back window was replaced, everything else was perfect. 1 hour later I was a proud owner of a near new 04 350z for 21,800 out the door.

I worked out a deal with a local dealership for Nismo parts and started with the exhausts (I loved the stock sound so I wanted to keep as much as possible), then a JTW intake. A few weeks later my wife informs me I’m going to be a dad! The joy! And shock…

So the Z went in the garage… Since then I moved from San Diego, Austin TX, Vancouver Canada, and finally I’m in San Francisco. The car has followed me by way of enclosed trailer relocation but never really driven. Just pretty much stored in the garage.

Shortly after my move to SF last February I decided my wife needed the truck more as the kids (2 by then) are 3 and 5 so I pulled the Z out and turned it into my daily driver. And it’s still VERY new to me.

Yesterday I had a check engine light and took it to the dealer, now, out of warrantee and only 18k miles, I figured there are some gremlins. No big deal, few hundred bucks later and a new throttle body and potion sensor and I’m in good shape.

But the sales manager took notice of the car and made sure he was contacted when I arrived to pick up my car, still with a new car shine, original everything, new car smell and all. He approaches me as bluntly states, “I would like to buy your car”, I’m prepared to pay you 15k cash. He asked if he could inspect the car further, I said sure. 2 tech start rummaging through my car top to bottom and jested about wanting to make me an offer also.

Granted, I know my car has been in climate controlled storage for YEARS and only effectively driven for less than a year in the elements but the fact that it’s 7 years old completely escapes me.

But then things get interesting, he asked to run a carfax, I informed him it was repoed and he didn’t mind. 5 minutes later he appears and looks at me funny and asked if I knew the car was wrecked. I was shocked and said no way! I have a carfax somewhere that states otherwise. He shows it to me, clearly stating a front impact accident with an airbag deploy.

Now, I really had no intention of selling the car but when I first bought it I had a lot of warrantee work done, including a repaint of the whole front end due to a factory baking flaw… and a few other things. You would think the dealer would have known better than to repaint under warrantee the front of the car… that cost them 5k+…

Anyway, the dealer said sorry, don’t want it anymore, left me with a joke about crashing it to get the most of it in that classless salesman style. I didn’t think much of it but learning this fact after 7 years is shocking. But at the same time not really that big a deal.

So the wife, completely expectantly offers a suggestion, see said “Well you bought the car for the race track, the kids are older and we have more money than back then, maybe it’s time for you to do what you originally planned all along with that car?” ”Personally I hate that damn car (she opened the door on a pylon on the way home from picking it up the first time, no damage) and could care less what you do with it.”

So here I am, time warped into the past with a perfectly remanufactured (lol) car. So if I’m to turn it into a track car I’m back on reforming my original plans with no support.

If any of you guys have a garage or know anyone else who does I’d appreciate a referral. I have a background racing pre-married so I’m leaning towards B-spec+

In order I would like to:
• LSD (a salvaged rear end from any other model Z would work nicely)
• Bilstein suspension (nothing too fancy, just enough to better balance the car under load with no more than 1’ lower than stock)
• Wheels and tires (255-275 rear, 235-245 front) 18” to match the stock gearing.
• ECU upgrade (optional but I know the stock was in absolutely lousy compared to what’s out there now. Engine runs WAY to rich at high RPMS)
• Front splitter (why? Because I had a Nismo one that I never installed and managed to loose after so many moves)
• Roll cage.
• Big brake kit (I know this should be higher on the list but I have a good idea of the little stock brakes threshold and should be fine initially)

I know more than most how easy it is to go crazy moding a car, I’m older and wiser and more importantly desire function over looks. I don’t have sponsors anymore and this was a leading reason for a base model Z, now I need to start from scratch.

I’m happy to work out a price and drop off the car for a few weeks to have this all done in one place. But I would like to do this before the season starts. I was out at Nurburg last September (VLN and a few laps on the ring) and my itch is REALLY bad… But not foolish enough to take my stock Z to Laguna Seca after being in storage for so long with no support arm.

Thank you all for any support and assistance,
Trev

 

Welcome.

Doubt if i world haul a car around the continent for 7 years. Value is falling - car is not being used. 18000 miles and I am sure the motor and drivetrain are good. You will have to invest more money to get the Z on the road: tires, anything made of rubber such as belts. Not sure if dampers are functional.

 

Cool story bro, needs more ponies -_-

 

Did you run the carfax yourself also to see if he was just lying to you? Maybe he has a plan of offering you less of an amount next time he sees you.

 

Davidv, thanks for your reply, its was climate controled storage. Its MINT.

The rookie, yeah, once I get the basic track parts added I'll look into pushing more ponies into it... But B-spec has limited HP so I'll see where I net out when I look into the sub catagories. I used this car once for a video game audio session and axel dynoed it. I don't remember the real number but if you remove the 10-20% drive line loss the HP was 306, so it's less than this to the rear wheels.

Quimbly, there is something fishy here no doubt. Be it from 7 years ago or the events yesterday. But I'll most likely keep the car, track prep it, and for once not worry about meeting an armco

Thanks for the replys, any track prep shops you guys suggest?

 

stock LSD is crap... will work ok for about 5 weekends then you are back to pretty much an open diff, there is alot of opinions on what diffs to get and alot of info on the forums on what diff works in what sport

bilsteins??? I know they can make some good stuff in the high end catagory.... IMO BC suspension or Power Trix (made in the same factory) makes good suspension for grip racing for a reasonable price, if drifting is your style then Power by Max is reasonable too...

wheels and tires... Track model wheels are super light and not to bad on the wallet, or some 07 touring wheels, look good but a bit more weight

ECU up grade... UpRev is a good option for cost and offer great customer service, stand alones will cost around $1K and up

cage... always a good idea, cost about $2000 and up for a spec cage

brakes... stock brembos are great or maybe Akebono's from a 370Z... some good pad selection is available now and some lightweight rotors makes for a great brake package that isn't going to bust your bank... and you are gonna need big wheels to fit over your brakes

 

Well lets get this bad boy cleaned up and post some photos.

 

hey this is kind of random but I'm planning to ship my car back to san francisco from GA. i was wondering if you shipped your cars? i wasn't really paying attention if so i would love to know the people you used to get your car around! thanks

 

Jedix, any major movie company can help. I moved all my cars with corporate relocation. the only real choice you get is open or covered and as you'd suspect, the cost is hugely different.

The BEST option I had was putting both my heavily modified 4x4 xterra and 350z right on the movie truck. IT was quite a site seeing them on top of each other... VERY unnatural looking, it was a tall full size van.

In the event they couldn't fit in on a couple moves they sub contracted transporters. These people, all of them, are the same people that move exotics around.

It's about 5k to move the car if they are already on their way to CA... Considering it's GA it might be easier for you if you wait for a major event at Road America and piggy back off all the cars moving from race shop (most in CA) and GA.

This is how I managed to get my racing motorcycles around back in the day when I raced semi-pro sport bikes (willow, Laguna, Sears point... Err infinion nowadays)

Thanks for the tips john, and the ranges. I thought the stock LSD's where a name brand and stood up well... But if there are any stories about them crapping out I believe it... OEM isn't meant to hold up, a shame that LSD's appear to be in this category.

I'm not at all into drifting as a "sport". It's simply not, it's a style and form thing, but I fully appreciate the skill needed and the fun of it as we all love to get sideways every now and again.

Bilstian is a brand loyalty thing... Longer story than how I started this thread :P But I'm open to other options. I'm sure things have come a long way in the past decade.

Is 2k for a half cage or full? And it includes install yeah? It's hard to go cage and not change all the seats and wreck the interior etc... I know I'm all about function but I guess I'll Google some pics. Then seam welding... Oh man see, this stuff never ends...

 

Sorry, who told you this? There is very little room for squeezing on the VQ35 in the Z. You are much better off with headers, intake, and spacers instead of an ECU.

 

Im thinking the same thing too... Don't hurt if you run it on your own

 

OP said this:

" FACTORY BAKING FLAW"??


Points to possible previous damage and repair?

and this:

That doesn't sound like dealer who was looking for a lower price does it?

Anyway..all of this is really moot now, since OP is gonna track it.

 

if only you put that $22k in apple stocks in 2005....if only.

 

$286k

 

Explain

 

im gonna help you out here a bit first off your car never made anywhere near 306 crank 2nd
as far as brakes look in to 06^ add some braided lines better pads and rotors and your good to go you can find them keep and its a upgrade from your set up

 

LSD as mentioned, don't bother with OEM. OS Giken is the prefurred diff but other are cheaper and work well.

Bilstien is great, but.... More of a street setup. Look into Truechoice Koni or save up for Moton, JRZ, AST or KW Clubsports.

Wheels and tires, the popular setup for track is Enkei RPF1 or NT03 then tires are another story. I run a 275/35 front and 285/35 rear. They are close to stock height and but there are many great track combo's available.

ECU upgrade, no need , just get a tune.

Splitter, APR or custom. Another good setup is to get a Nismo V2 or V3 front end. An extra splitter can easily be added to the V2 front end.

Roll cage, $2k+ or you can just do a 4 point bolt in rollbar if you don't plan W2W racing with your car. Then of course the proper seats etc etc to go along.

Big Brake kit is simple. OEM Brembo woll work great, most people will not out grow them. Then the next cheapist option is Wilwood, I run Wilwood on mine and get all my brake parts from Todd at TCE.

 

Yes because the z responds sopping well to boot ons. Stop talking

 

This is the best advice so far.

 

Drop it off at GTM if youre in Cali