Hey all, I'm new here. I've been a Toyota guy for the last few years and although I still love my Celica and it's still my project car, Toyota just hasn't made anything that interests me (or the rest of the world, for that matter) in too long. I started with 6th gen Celicas and currently have a '98 Celica with a 3S-GE BEAMS Redtop swap and a GT4 front end conversion, but that's the girlfriend's car. For the last couple of years I've been driving around in a 2002 Lexus IS 300 and hating every minute of it. On paper it's a fun car but to actually drive it, it offers nothing exciting. So earlier today I traded the IS in for a 2004 350Z Touring. No navi but having read up on the forums here recently, I've learned that I'm better off with my Garmin anyway. It's a 5AT, regrettably, but I'm not planning a big build or any sort of build for that matter. A thread is useless without pictures, so...





Just a few quick ones I snapped after getting the car home. Better pictures to come later. No big plans for the car, except for upgrading the "Blose" sound system. This car is a huge upgrade from the IS 300 in every way, so it's going to take a long time for the power to wear off. Questions or comments welcome, and I'm here to learn what I can about the Z. So far, from what I've read on the site, I love it. I hated the ricer mindset on the IS 300 forum, and you guys remind me a lot of 6gc.net where I spend most of my time.

How good is the search function here? It blows on 6gc, so I'm no stranger to Google and doing specific site searches, although the handful of questions I've had have been adequately answered by the stickies. Thanks for reading!

 

Welcome................

 

Howdy pardner

 

Welcome and congratulations.

 

welcome. i came from a celica as well. pics of the 6th gen with alltrac front??

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome and congrats on the upgrade

 

Very Clean. 06 headlights and GT Wheels for an updated look. Welcome.

 

Welcome!
Just my opinion(no offense...),but when a guy,a new Z owner at that,tells me the first thing he wants to do on his Z is tackle the Bose system,I'm thinkin he may not really
be a serious Z enthusiast.
Maybe you should have kept the IS.
Hopefully you will get into the heart of what owning a Z is all about.

 

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I'm considering the '06+ tail lights, but I've got to do some reading to find out if there's any wiring changes necessary, since the '06+ are LED's. Surely it can't be all that complicated. I don't mind these rims but I'll probably end up with a different set soon. A good set of rims goes a long way on a Z, as I've found.

Boomer- Forgive the two tone paint, as it's heading to the paint shop at the end of the month for a full respray. Going with a metallic white. I have a set of TRD coilovers on the way that should be here in the next couple of days, then a new set of rims and that car is just about finished.





It's a work in progress, so I don't really bother taking good pictures of it. Kind of embarrassing at the moment, really.

JCITY- No offense taken. You aren't wrong. Coming from Toyotas, 6th gen Celicas at that, I'm used to leaving well enough alone. There's no aftermarket for that car, so I'm strictly limited to what Toyota offered for it. As for the IS 300, it stayed completely stock and I didn't mind it that way. And now for the Z, I have a good looking car that handles well and I'll honestly never find out how well, since there are no good tracks or even driving roads near me. It's quick in a straight line and that's about as much as I'll ever get out of it. It'll stay just as stock as it is right now. I'm the kind of person who is happy with what I have, as long as I can have a little fun every now and then. This Z will never turn into a big build, as I'm pretty happy with it just as it as. And as morbidly wrong as this is, I'll probably keep dumping money into the girlfriend's Celica as well.

 

very nice! i'm a big fan of the GT4 celicas. any plans on converting into an actual jdm ST205 with 3SGTE?

btw another owner on here is working on a 5th gen alltrac celica. here's his build thread https://my350z.com/forum/other-vehic...85-gtfour.html

 

Congrats on the Z! I came from a celica as well

 

Supras don't interest you? Glad to have ya.

 

Congrats and welcome aboard

 

Right on OP, nice trade! You give her a realllll nice buff and polish that silver will shine. Also, when I removed the rear mud flaps off my touring it made a world of difference in the 'agressive stance' just a thought.

 

Thanks! I put the BEAMS in it last summer. It's just a 2 liter, 197 hp engine with VVT-i. While it made the car feel phenomenal compared to the doggy 2.2 liter Camry engine, the power wore off pretty quickly and now I'm wanting to swap a 3rd gen 3S-GTE in it, but I've got to get it painted and lowered first. I can't say I'll be going AWD though. I'd love to but I don't have the skills or tools so I'm leaving that one alone. I'll definitely check out the ST185 thread here in a bit!



I'd love to have a Supra but sadly, I'll never have that kind of money. I'm more than satisfied with my Z, even though it's an autotragic. I got so used to the IS 300 and how numb it is so it feels that much better to be in a properly built car, getting feedback from the road again.

Weener- Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely have to try that out this weekend.

I should have given a brief background in my original post but I completely forgot. When I was 16-17, one of my friends got a 2004 Touring, fully loaded. I had seen Z's around and knew a little bit about them so I loved his car. In between Celicas, I wanted to get a Z but always talked myself out of it due to age, lack of long-term income, driving inexperience, etc. A few months back, I finally started seriously shopping around for one. I test drove a few, ('03 base, ('04 enthusiast, '06 enthusiast, all 6 speeds.) I didn't like the first two but I did like the '06. Doing a little lurking here, I found the difference between trim levels and the rev up engine. I would have bought the '06 but that dealership was full of nothing but jack***es so I avoided it simply on the premise. I kind of stopped worrying about buying a new car for a while until a few days ago when this one popped up for sale locally. It's a little older and higher mileage than I was wanting but it's clean so I went for it. It's by far the best car I've owned. I'm not after more power or better handling as (unlike most people my age) I'm well aware that this car can do more than I can handle. I'd love to take some driving classes and attend a track day (though track days around here are nonexistent.)