When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Good Morning. Well, the car past inspection yesterday (an activity I never gave a thought to until this car, LOL) As I said in the last posts, just driving the car and enjoying the new exhaust and bushings. Fixing some little things here and there in the interior still. The weather here in Houston was stellar yesterday, windows open and just driving around having a blast. I did come up on a turn and hit the brakes hard and hmmmm, was it me or did those suckers not fill "crisp" or haul the car down as expected? Tried it a second time. The brakes feel a bit vague and squishy to me. The day before I bought the car the owner had a brake job done and alignment and I have the receipt for that.
I did some reading around last night and I see that is a normal thing for this car. Some of the best stopping standard brakes I have felt were on some BMW's and that is what I am looking for at least. I did see that you can get a bracket for the Z from Z1 that stabilizes the master cylinder. Might give that a try. I also saw you can buy 370z calipers with a Z1 bracket and upgrade that way. I guess I am wondering how "good" can I really get the braking with just doing a base upgrade of the bracket, stainless lines, and maybe different pads? Do people track the car with the standard brakes and manage ok? Any suggestions on this that does not get crazy expensive?
By the way, I never really commented on the drifting we went and saw. While I enjoyed watching it and I can see why it would be fun, my son and I agreed that is not where we want to go with the car. Without any prompts from me, he said he would prefer to run on the track for times or race than sliding sideways. No disrespect to those who like to do it. I probably will go watch some more of drifting events, just not my thing to do personally. By the way, never seen fire coming off tires before, pretty crazy. The cars were pretty beat up for the most part. Looks to be where Z's go to die. LOL. There were also a smaller set of nice looking cars though. On that note, it appears to me that there is a rapid "disappearing" of 350z cars occurring. A LOT of part outs going on. I suppose this is the normal cycle of car models, the engines are wearing out and the ones with a lot of miles and driven hard are reaching the end of their lifespan. Used parts are plentiful right now for sure. I would suspect it will be similar to what you see with the limited number of 300z's I see around in the next few years.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-15-2019 at 06:13 AM.
Jim, you could stay with the OEM calipers and just update the pads to say,.... Hawk HP+. However, the best route if you're gonna track the car is to bite the bullet and upgrade to a BBK. I have Z1 Akebonos on my car and there is a world of difference when tracking. If you do upgrade the pads to a track friendly pad, you will get more dust and some noise so be prepared for that. Good luck with whatever route you choose.
Jim, you could stay with the OEM calipers and just update the pads to say,.... Hawk HP+. However, the best route if you're gonna track the car is to bite the bullet and upgrade to a BBK. I have Z1 Akebonos on my car and there is a world of difference when tracking. If you do upgrade the pads to a track friendly pad, you will get more dust and some noise so be prepared for that. Good luck with whatever route you choose.
Yes, I might just try the bracket they offer at Z1 to stiffen up the brakes a little and see what that does to the "feel" for now. It was very noticeable when I leaned on the brakes for a quick stop and a bit unsettling. I am driving a Hyundai Genesis right now as my daily with great stopping power, so I notice it. My next step is to replace the valve covers, plugs etc. I was thinking I would go after the suspension next, but now I might consider doing the brakes first instead.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-15-2019 at 08:33 AM.
Yes, I might just try the bracket they offer at Z1 to stiffen up the brakes a little and see what that does to the "feel" for now. It was very noticeable when I leaned on the brakes for a quick stop and a bit unsettling. I am driving a Hyundai Genesis right now as my daily with great stopping power, so I notice it. My next step is to replace the valve covers, plugs etc. I was thinking I would go after the suspension next, but now I might consider doing the brakes first instead.
If tracking, an upgrade to larger brakes for better heat dissipation are a good idea. However, for street and possibly even HPDE, a simple pad and rotor upgrade on standard brakes is a good idea. I run Carbotech 1521 (Bobcat) in stock non-Brembo calipers on top of StopTech high carbon rotors. Way improved over stock brakes. Have never cooked 'em to fade level in hills runs. HPDE will punish them more but I still think they'd hold up. I have a couple of sets of other pads on the shelf that I tried out while I was going through a "brake upgrade testing phase". Each were run a thousand miles and I ended up reinstalling my favorites in the caliper. The others Included Project Mu (2nd place, very good pads), Hawk HPS - which I hated due to their noise and dust.
I run the Z1 brace as well. Pedal seems to be improved but in all honesty, have not run anywhere hard enough since installing a few months ago to have an "expert" opinion yet.
One thing that can make a big difference is upgrading your brake fluid and installing SS lines. Pad upgrade will make the biggest difference like mic said. Personally looking at doing z1 lines this coming year with some "good' fluid. Have done SS lines on several cars over the years and always made a very big difference, although part of it may be due to the new fluid.
Thanks guys. I will look into the option of (brake cylinder brace, braided lines, pads, fluid and rotors) upgrades as suggested above. That would be worth a try and then see what I think of it. Some of it can be re-used if I later decide to go to the full upgrade route. Let me price that out and see. Can I just say I really enjoy driving this car! Took it on a 1 hour lap this evening. After driving mostly luxury cars and SUV's its just a blast to be in a car that is so much more minimal and in contact with the road. With the windows down today it reminded me of my motorcycle days in some ways. Really enjoy running through the gears. Never take any of my other cars out just to "drive".
Today I went down a long list of minor things. The guy deleted the windshield wiper on the back, but never installed a plug to fill the hole. Nice. Fixed that with a Z1 plug. Got the garage door button working on the mirror, cleaned up the interior. Spent some time in the hatch area. The spare is good, but the wrench will never take off the rims I have. LOL So, got the right tools in the back to actually take off the wheel if there were a flat and still need some basic lug nuts to put on the spare. The Rims I have use hex bolts and go inside of the rim. Took care of one worn area on the trim inside a door area fresh paint. I actually bought a new OEM shift ****, so I installed that as well. Put on the toll tag so I can run the toll roads now. Just a LOT of little things. NO big projects today.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-15-2019 at 03:26 PM.
The quest to extinguish my airbag light continues. I have eliminated all I can do to get the driver side airbag to clear. So, I dropped it off at the dealership. They ask me, try another airbag?, yes...try another clock spring? yes, driver airbag ever deploy?...I really do not know, but the car had some light damage (bent plastic trim holder and cracked radiator bracket), maybe? The Z store said no damage anywhere to the car itself. I did confess I used an aftermarket clock spring. So....after hours, I am now at home with a rental car and they will let me know. I am sure the tech is scratching his head on this one. I feel vindicated in some way, because it is not something easy. LOL. As I was typing this they called and have decide to replace the clock spring with an OEM one. I am very dubious this will fix it, but you never know and I get that the tech has to give that a try. They keep mentioning the wiring harness which is kind what I was thinking when I brought it in which moved beyond my skill level to diagnose. I was really hoping they could clear it with their computer, but no luck.
So, they are keeping it overnight and will update me in the morning. I am still betting on some type of wiring harness issue. Just because everything else has been replaced at least once. We will see.....they did seem to be losing some confidence that they could fix it late this afternoon..LOL
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-19-2019 at 01:54 PM.
By the way. This is what the Field Service Manual says and what I did or did not do when I tried to correct it. It just occurred to me that the Tech might be trying to also replace the sensor unit. The customer service rep, is talking fast and not relaying what is happening clearly to me. Probably because he does not understand the details of it. Nice guy, just not the guy doing the work. Hopefully they get it today. They said they were having a part shipped from Louisiana overnight and mentioned it was discontinued, I think that would have to be the sensor, not the clockspring. I have essentially opened my wallet(going to be painful) and said fix this. LOL
. Visually check the wiring harness connection. (Did this)
. Replace the harness if it has visible damage. (NOT DONE, no visible damage and I am not quite sure I understand how to replace the harness)
. Replace driver air bag module. (Did this)
. Replace the spiral cable. (Did this)
. Replace the diagnosis sensor unit (NOT DONE) The more I think about it, there is a pretty good chance it is this. As you know, I rewired and re-installed all the airbags. The only one that came back with an error was the Driver Airbag. All of the airbag wires had resistors on them because of the airbag delete and yet the airbag light was on when I bought the car. I bet my previous owner shorted it or did something in some way to damage the sensor while he was doing the de-install. Just a guess. When you think about it, the sensor is pretty simple. It's just checking each bag to see if there is a complete electrical connection and some resistance. If it sees that, it's good. The driver airbag on the driver steering wheel had all the wiring in place. I did not need to solder anything like the others.
. Replace the related harness. (NOT DONE)
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-20-2019 at 05:13 AM.
So good news, bad news. So, the Nissan dealership essentially worked on the car two 1/2 days and called me today to come get it. The bad news was they were unable to fix it. They did do a lot of work establishing whether the after market non-oem clockspring was the problem. They installed a brand new OEM clockspring and the same error occurred. The good news is, they worked on it a lot and they are convinced it is the wiring harness or the Control Module. The bad news is that the wiring harness is no longer made. The other bad news is the control module still can be purchased, but you are looking at 1000 dollars for just the part. So, I am going pull the center console out and examine the control module. My plan is to get the part number off of that and find a used one to try $20 to $150. I am also going to check the connectors to ensure they are plugged in well and making a good electrical connection. The current controller is NOT showing that any airbags have ever deployed. So, my theory is, like any electrical component or board, they can fail and coupled with extensive resistor work etc. someone may have damaged the unit. The last VERY GOOD news is I went in to get the car and they said it was .....drum roll please.... FREE. No charge other than the 40 dollars I spent on a loaner car. Wow. I know they put a lot of time into it and I spoke directly with the Tech at least twice during all of this. I thanked them for my Christmas gift and they have my business going forward with out a doubt.
That is respectable It is great to see a shop own up that they couldn't fix it and cover the cost for it.
Hopefully the new module will fix the problem. Any aftermarket company that makes engine harnesses that you could contact to see about a custom harness being made for the airbag?
That is respectable It is great to see a shop own up that they couldn't fix it and cover the cost for it.
Hopefully the new module will fix the problem. Any aftermarket company that makes engine harnesses that you could contact to see about a custom harness being made for the airbag?
I will look into that and see.
Well I took off the center console and found some interesting things. Someone has been in here before (15 year old car 4th owner, not a surprise) and I wonder what they were up to? You can see a cut off tap into the parking brake wire. You can also see they tap'd into the harness wire coming into the airbag sensor. Both have been disconnected by someone so they are essentially doing nothing now. The other interesting thing is that part number that I got off of the Air Bag sensor does not line up with with part number that I have when I go look up the car for the replacement sensor. Odd. The sensor is working with exception of the driver airbag, so I purchased the exact part number sensor that is in the car off ebay and I will give that a try next to see if it resolves my issue. If I continue to get a driver airbag open circuit then we are down to the wiring harness. I checked into the schematic and there are three wires involved that come out of the sensor and then plug into the Spiral Cable. My thought is if I cannot buy a harness replacement (still have not found the part number) I might just build my own harness for the driver airbag and wire it that way. Easier than replacing this big harness that goes everywhere in the car. Just a matter of running those three wires(3 Yellow ,4 Yellow Black and 45 Red/Blue on the diagram) to the airbag on the driver side with the appropriate plug for the steering wheel connection. Hopefully, just replacing the sensor will do the trick.
Oh, and now that I look at the pictures, need to vacuum and clean it up in there when I open it back up to put in the sensor. Pretty dirty...LOL I am starting to get pretty proficient at the wiring diagrams LOL. The good news, is there has been zero issues (Other than maintenance items) for the mechanical side of things.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-22-2019 at 04:54 PM.
Parking brake wire was prob tapped for a radio to play videos. It wont unless the parking brake is on
Interesting, Thanks. My FM radio does not work on the car, after doing some reading on it either the booster in the back trunk is missing or broken or they did not supply it power. Eventually, I will get to that. My kid is like, who listen's to radio Dad, just use the phone. Radio is in trouble even more than it already was.
It's cool to see a Dad and his son working on stuff. My son and I worked on our 08 Corvette for autocross and HPDE. He's in the Navy now (home for Christmas leave) and since the Vette is long gone, we are going to replace the factory exhaust and the rear differential bushings on our 05 Roadster.
If you are looking to do a decent brake system upgrade, send me a PM and I can send you a link to company that specializes in just brake components. Just new calipers, rotors, pads and SS lines will make a world of difference, and not break the bank.
BBK's are nice (had Stop Tech on my Vette) but unless you are really hardcore HPDE or NASA, then it is just too cost prohibitive.
Well, why not, I have all the parts in a box? Everything went pretty well today except it is a LOT of nuts, bolts, and plugs. Every plug is like it's own puzzle to unlock. They are all different in how they work. I did take a lot of pictures to try and get some reference to where all these plugs go. I also put the nuts and bolts in individual zip lock bag and labeled everything. But the plugs on that main harness are everywhere!. LOL I am trying to get the harness free so I can move it a bit out of the way for the passenger side valve cover. There is one wire that drops down off of the main harness and the friggin' plug is like at the bottom of the car. You can see the start to it in the last picture, it is the smooth wire cover coming off the main harness and it runs down deep. Looks like there is only 1 wire going into the connector below, but I am sure there should be at least two. Might have to jack it up tomorrow and come in from the bottom to get to it. My plan though, is to go ahead and install the driver side valve cover tomorrow and then see if I can get enough play in the harness to get the passenger side valve cover off without removing that crazy plug down low. The previous owner said it had a plenum insert, it does not. Sigh. I think I can get m hands on a Plastic Kintex intake from the local Z store maybe. I might to give them a call and see if they have one. I mean, I am in so deep, I would at least like to get that upgraded. Wow, what a lot of stuff, taking a breath and will hope I can get it back together successfully. LOL My son had to go to driving school and when he got back he was like "wow", you think you will get back together? haha.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 12-26-2019 at 06:14 PM.
Looking at few video's and it looks like if I take the front intake box off it will make it easy to get to that plug I was discussing earlier. Will give that a go in the morning.
12-15-2019, 05:23 AM
