So after driving a 4-banger, autotragic, wrong wheel drive granny car for over 7 years I finally bought a real car. Last week I bought a 2008 350Z Touring Edition, 6 speed MT, with 23,500 miles on it.

Thankfully the guy I bought it from cared for it meticulously, so I feel like I actually have a brand new car! Time for me to learn another car.

 

Those aren't 08 wheels (atleast mine didn come with those) get those swapped ASAP. Looks clean and low miles are great. Enjoy ! And welcome

 

Looks very clean. Great job, OP!

 

Those wheels are the optional chrome wheels available from Nissan. They have been around since 2003.

 

Very nice congrats

 

Welcome and congrats. Looks just like mine except yours has a roof. Wow at the low miles. Good find.

I had those wheels on my '05 and now my '07. I don't see why they would not be available for the '08. I think they were a port installed option.

 

Congrats and welcome.

 

Congrats and take it easy with the new POWA!

 

Congrats on the Z!

 

Thanks everyone.

I've been looking for the right car for over 6 months now. I was contemplating things such as a WRX, a Genesis Coupe, or even the Toyobaru, in addition to the 350Z, but then I saw this baby pop up and I couldn't let her pass.

I don't know everything about these cars (yet), but I have to think that those wheels were a Nissan option. They are very clearly label NISSAN and the former owner didn't modify ANYTHING except to add locking lug nuts. He even kept a book of every time he filled up with gas and still had the original window sticker. So I would have a hard time believing that he swapped on aftermarket wheels and didn't even record it.

With the low miles, this car has never seen snow and barely seen rain. It was clearly a Sunday car for the previous owner, and it will continue to be a Sunday car. I still have my 95 Toyota Camry for my daily/bad weather driver.

This car is actually my first stick shift car. I've driven stick plenty of times before, I've just never owned a stick and gotten a chance to get too familiar with one clutch. So I'm going to take my time to really get to know the car before I try to push it very hard. I've also read that these cars have one of the highest death rates in the country (probably due to stupid drivers), and I don't feel like killing myself quite yet.

 

23,500 miles is a good find. Welcome and congratulations.

 

Wow, 350Z for a fist manual shift car. At least the high clutch pedal engagement point will feel normal to you and everything else will feel strange.

 

Congrats on the HR!!! How much did you pay for it? That trans is easy to hurt so be careful but the factory clutch is garbage so kill it learning.

 

Check out the RJM clutch bracket... it'll change your life.

 

Good find, now please swap the wheels.

 

this ftmfw!!!

 

Bah. I like the stock chromies. Reminds me of the 6 or 7 spoke stock chromies that we had on our 3000GT back in the day. But I'm getting into old fart land. The chrome haters will change their tune in a decade or two.

 

Yes, I bought a 350Z for my first stick shift car. Would you get anything else?

But just because I haven't owned a stick before doesn't mean I don't know how to drive it. Thankfully I have had friends that let me drive their really nice cars, such as a 2004 STI, 2004 Mazdaspeed MX5, and a 1989 240SX (with SR20DET and stage 2 clutch). I liked the 240 the best. A nice grippy clutch that I could feel exactly what was going on.

I bought it private party for $20k, I think I got a good deal. What makes the trans so easy to break? What should I watch out for? And I'll try not to burn up the stock clutch too fast, that's still a pricy repair that I don't want to do right away.

Just found this:
http://g35driver.com/forums/g35-coup...-run-away.html
Ooohhhh.....aaahhhhh. That might have just made it to the top of the list of things I want to buy for this car.

I wonder, would it be a good idea to master the stock clutch and bracket before switching to the RJM bracket? I figure that would hopefully make me better with a clutch overall and give me a better idea of where I would want to adjust the RJM bracket to overcome the stock deficiencies.

Why do I need to swap the wheels? While I'm not the biggest chrome fan boy out there, they are stock wheels and I don't think the chrome looks too bad with the black body. I don't mind if people suggest things to be changed, I just like explanations and justifications as to why.

 

Absolutely not. The 350Z clutch can be "trying" at times though.

You have the best of the best of the 350Z transmissions. I wouldn't worry about the trans. durability. The clutch/concentric slave cylinder OTOH are balky. The stock clutch does not like to be "launched". If you do decide to do a smokey burnout and find the clutch pedal sitting half way up and slipping badly, welcome to the club. By the way, our clutches make a lot of noise. I kind of like it but others don't.

Yes. The clutch pedal is not too bad once you get used to it. Also, the stock clutch pedal itself tends to click and pop after a year or so. I grease the sh** out of mine to abate that.

The people here just hate chrome anything. Even inside the headlights. They'll take the headlights apart and flat-black the whole inside to get rid of it.

 

Looks good! Welcome!

Get rid of those wheels though!