The night before I sent my Nissan Fairlady Z to Redsun Motorsport for more work to be done, I went to pump petrol. After I was done, I noticed that the engine check light came on but I was going to meet my friends. So, I kept driving but slowly. The next day I brought the 350Z over to Redsun and after one week it was done. This time a few things were done to the car. Some new and some were left out from the last visit. I even wrote down on paper to make sure they do not forget what needs to be done like the previous time.
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| Engine Check Light on |
The main reason the 350Z returned to Redsun was to rectify the gearbox grinding issue when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. Redsun removed and opened up the transmission again to examine the gears in order to further understand the issue. The first thing that came to mind was the synchronizer rings again but the synchronizer rings are in good shape. Redsun changed one of the gears and asked me to let the new gear run in first. I was told that I should be gentle when shifting and be careful. I think the gear that was changed is the synchronizer hub for 3rd gear. As usual, I took the car out for a spin with the owner of Redsun in the passenger seat and everything was alright. The gears are shifting smoothly until it grinned again when I shift to 3rd from 2nd gear. The owner asked whether did I fully stepped on the clutch pedal or not because it sounded like I did not. In the end I was told to run it for a while and let the new gear break in. It will get better.
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| Synchronizer Hub changed |
Next are a couple of things that were left out by Redsun from my last visit. Among those things, what Redsun had time for were the car's pulley belts, A/C compressor and an engine service. First on the list was the pulley belts. If you take a look at the engine bay where the radiator is, you will noticed there are 2 belts in front of the engine. There is a long belt that drives the alternator and power steering pump while a short belt that drives the A/C compressor. The belts on my 350Z looks like they were not changed for a long time. These belts were dry and I could see cracks on the surface of each belt. It looks like they were about the break and I have asked Redsun to take care of them but was left out the to-do list. Although I was told I could still drive the 350Z without a problem, I was still worried it might break from driving too fast. Luckily this time, they remembered to change both of the belts. Now, I can drive without fear.
Next is the A/C compressor and this was pointed out during the last visit. Back then, I was told the A/C compressor was the culprit of the wolf's howling sound that could be heard while driving. I initially thought it was from the exhaust because this is the first car that I drove which has an aftermarket exhaust manifold with De-Cat pipes and I did not know how it should sound like. I was surprised the compressor was the culprit because the A/C was working well. It was working so well, that I set the temperature at around 23 degrees and I still feel it is too cold. The owner of Redsun, who informed me about this, showed me how he found out the problem. He turned on the A/C and the howling sound was there. He then turned of the cold air and let just the fan go on. Instantly, the howling was gone and I was convinced. So, he looked for a compressor and it was replaced with a reconditioned one. Now, the howling sound is gone and the A/C returns to how it should be and not too cold.
Lastly, Redsun did a regular engine service. Since picking up the 350Z I wanted to do an engine oil service but I did not have the time and Redsun forgot about this. The previous owner did not drive the car much and from the service reminder sticker, I realized that it was way past the schedule to service the car. He must have thought since it has not hit the mileage, he does not need to service the car. Many people actually forgot that for car services, you send the car for service after a certain mileage or a certain period of time, whichever comes first. In this case, the previous owner should have followed the time period set and send the car to service. It has been long time since it was serviced. So, I asked Redsun to service the car while they were at it. The engine oil was drained, oil filter changed with Nissan Original part and engine oil replaced with M7 Racing Full Synthetic engine oil. This M7 oil are suitable for track and street use. I guess this is one way to pamper your car.
Here is something more recent. After investigating, they found out the cause of the engine check light was faulty O2 sensors. When I first bought the 350Z, many of my friends told me to get them replaced because the sensors on most cars usually starts to malfunction after 10 years. However, from the first day of owning the 350Z, it was still functioning and that is why I have not replaced it yet. I would say the timing was quite right as I was going to bring in the 350Z anyway. This saves me a trip to Redsun.
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| Replaced both O2 sensors |
I would say with all the work done on the 350Z, I can feel a difference from when I first picked up the car. The newly replaced crossmembers increased stability and after engine service, response is quicker. The 350Z hits 180 km/h in blink of an eye and with its overall weight and width of the car, the 350Z is very stable. While driving and sitting in the cockpit, you would not feel the speed but when you look at the speedometer, you will realized that you are going quite fast. I can see two disadvantage from this. One, it could be dangerous and two, you will feel the itch to make the 350Z go faster in order to feel fast. That is going to cost a lot. Having said that, I can finally push the car and find out its limit. I could not do this previously as the car was not in good health. However, there is still one more crucial part that has to be taken care of. Find out next time what that part is.
On the side note, although it was not on the list, I had Redsun take a look at my windows. 10 years ago, when I first sat on the passenger seat of a 350Z, there was one special feature that I remembered until today. That is when you open the doors, the window will go down a little bit and when you close the doors, the window closes on its own. That is to ensure the frame less windows would not hit the roof and this is really advance technology during that era. Now, I noticed that every time I close my door, I hear the movement of the window but I could not see the difference. I asked Redsun to take a look at it and was told that the motor that moves the windows were replaced by some cheap, not fitting motors. He will try his best to adjust the windows and motor but there is no guarantee it would work. Now sometimes it works and sometime if I hit the door, I could see it dropping. In the end I was not charged for this because he knew it might not amount to much unless I change the motors. Appreciate the efforts though.
