Stutopia

This is driving me nuts, there are squeaks coming from the rear quarter, driver's side, just behind my head. I'm fairly certain it's from the hard plastic of the rear window trim. It's ok on perfectly flat roads, but once there's some flex in the chassis it makes a right racket. I'm checked to make sure it's seated properly, seems fine. Grrrrr. Anyone else got it? More importantly, anyone fixed it? Thanks.

I’ve got a high level brake light on order, so I’ll give the parcel shelf a thorough check when I delete the OEM one. My seatbelt receiver does squeak at certain angles, but I’ve got used to standing it straight up when I clip in, which eliminates it for me,

Good effort bringing one back, looking forward to the build.

I had Alpin PA4s on the 350z, they were a great tyre even when temps warmed up.

That’s really nice. Except the plasti-dipped wheels 🤢

A lot of people, myself included, initially believe using a machine makes life easier for all the paint jobs. Whilst it definitely allows you to correct paint in much less time (arguably with less aggressive combinations) than you could by hand, once you’ve finished the actual removal of the swirls and scratches and reach the final application of protection (wax/sealant/coating), you’ll actually save time and energy doing it by hand. Your hand is more versatile and accurate than a machine and protection shouldn’t require any force or heat to apply. You also don’t need to expend the effort to control and move the machine when you protect by hand.

Nice write up, I can only echo what you've said (being a recentish convert myself) the sharper throttle response and lower down torque actually improve my relaxed driving, lower down the revs, much more than I expected. There's at least one wet roundabout in West Yorkshire where the increase in low end torque gave me a surprise when I wasn't really paying attention. I had to thank the maker for the TC and absence of traffic!

Nice, huge improvement in the stereo surround and trim above the glove box areas.

For something that light, any polish with a small amount of cut on a small section (like your fingertip) of clean microfibre towel will remove it.

I don't want to be a dick, but can't we have an option to keep existing Projects & Builds threads going? All it takes is to disable the permission for Members to create new threads and let the existing ones live on? You can then still force new member content onto the Blogs (for whatever reason) but without the forced migration for the ones in progress. Sorry to moan.

Mint trip, thanks for sharing your route and shots. I’ve got one down to Lake Como in August, taking in the Swiss Alps, can’t wait!

Nice. I really like BSD for this time of year, it’s much more like a sealant than a QD, so perfect for topping up protection in double quick time when it’s chilly out.

At last, an end to the madness.

+ a million Best money I’ve ever spent on going faster, and, you even get to keep it if you sell up!

I did wonder. Cheers mate. Nice bit of kit that.

Ouch! The pearlescent paints look great but are a pain to fix I believe. My guys did a mate’s blue scoobie recently and the match was spot on, so fingers crossed.

Thanks, but sadly there’s two huge cracks in the paint, so even if the dent could be sorted, I couldn’t live with them. Grrr.

Merry Christas to the **** who couldn't resist neither parking next to me at the furthest point from the supermarket entrance, nor slamming their door into my car. I particularly enjoyed how you managed to do it in the 10 minutes I was shopping and then move your car somewhere else in shame, curiously though it wasn't enough time for you to leave a note. At first I thought it was jut some paint transfer, but after a clean up theres a 5 inch crease in there, which I wasn't able to pull. £350 has been quoted to sort it out with my local paint guy, the only good news is that they do flawless work, so I know it will be taken care of properly. If only I'd been there to catch them...

It’s absolutely mental, I spent all day on the phone with all the “specialists” offering forum discounts. One even explained how much less likely members are to make claims. Only one of them could beat the meerkats and only by a hair’s breadth.

I see them as deterrents to rear ending and also the ultimate reverse parking sensor 😂 I’m banking on the fact that the eyes are meant to take a fair bit of lateral force each, so 40kg or so of vertical across them both shouldn’t caused many issues. Obviously the first high speed run out will be interesting and I’ll be keeping an eye on both the eye holes and the extended hooks every time they go on and off, which won’t be that often. I can push the bike up a bit closer to the body to reduce the mechanical advantage but I’m not too worried.

You may well have seen this before if you've been on the hunt for a bike rack solution, but in case you haven't, here you go. This project has been on my to do list for a while now, but it was delayed by a joke of a company messing me around for weeks on the fabrication side. Anyway, here we go. I don't like generic boot racks with their straps and clips rubbing on paint and flapping about all over the place and there isn't a roof rack option I like - I just don't trust the massive sucker ones on the flimsy BRZ roof. So, before you know it I had a brand spanking new OEM tow hook. I then (eventually) found a skilled magician who biggered and blackered it for me. PM me if you (or your special friend) want anything to be made bigger and blacker - oooh, and indeed, errrr. Then I got it wet, to make two. Next I screwed the biggered tow hooks into the OEM slots. Then I found a quality roof mountable bike rack. Last, but certainly not least, I took my bike and balanced it on the rack. It even clears the boot with room to spare. I've tested it* and it's solid as a rock* and doesn't touch the body one little bit. The arm which comes up to meet the frame is super sturdy and grips it like a mutha. *May not have been tested for solidity, may result in bike loss, your results may vary. Terms and conditions apply, your bike may be at risk if you do this.

Not the best from my phone, but it gives you an idea.

My insurer (advantage) simply refused these mods, so we fell out. After ringing around to find someone who doesn't consider a circa 2.5% bump in BHP enough reason to consider me an existential threat to humanity (Marker Study), I ended up with a £400ish bump. This is obviously my fault, I was so used to previous mods being "bolt on, pay an extra £50" that I didn't do enough research. I won't make the mistake again. Makes you wonder why people don't bother telling their insurers about mods.

What mods? What are you talking about? This is pure maintenance bro.

Thanks to @Dessss moving on to Germaner things, a lovely TD UEL manifold and overpipe popped up for sale on here. Before you could say M6 to Stoke and back, it was sitting in my boot. Now, I know many of you will think that I've finally cracked and succumbed to the frivolous world of modding for noise or performance reasons. Straying from my golden rule of only doing quality maintenance - and you could be forgiven for thinking that way. However, as it turns out, when it came to the swap over, one of the nuts one my factory overpipe was looser than it should have been. Needless to say I think I've been completely vindicated in my Columbo style hunch of choosing to do this piece of maintenance prior to that fateful nut working itself off completely and causing untold damage. Gorgeous piece of kit this from TD, working it's way miraculously through the guts and fitting very snuggly indeed into the belly of my blue beast. Whilst she was in with the excellent tech's at Grinspeed in Leyland (I can't recommend Stevie and Don enough to anyone in the NW). I treated her to new fluids all around (nicely smoothing things off in the gearbox) and decided this was a time to do the plugs too. It is a little early for plugs for my BRZ but as there were bits coming off in the vicinity, and it never hurts to have new plugs, it felt right. I'd read these were a bit of a job and the workshop manual suggestion to essentially whip the engine out more or less confirmed it, however, that all went away when they got to work and had them done and dusted in no time. Result. Naturally you'll be aware it's not ideal to change the exhaust flow and run a touch lean. So, after a chat with @Mike@TD.co.uk old bluey was on the TD dyno for a leg stretch. I've kept the 2nd cat in a desperate effort to maintain an easy MOT life, so don't be surprised to see me a little down on other charts you may have perused. I'm very pleased with the dyno work, the sharpening up of the throttle response alone is super, not to mention the fuller Subaru sound and a splash more torque when crunching motorway miles in 6th. I've not yet had a chance to take her for a spirited B road drive or try out the launch control, flat foot shifting or the auto-blip, but they're more for a splash of fun, it's all about the improved drivability and noise for me. Anyone thinking of going to see Mike at Tuning Developments, this was my first trip and I was very pleased with the service. It can be a bit dull sitting around waiting to get your car back, but it was great to have a chat with Mike and get some first hand info on the products and services they offer. I know it's been said on here before, but I add my voice to those who have already recommended checking them out if you're considering tuning work. It's a great place to go and spend your hard earned with a genuine fellow enthusiast. That's it for me now, my insurance premium has taken a preposterous leap in response to these recent mods updates and I really dislike handing money over to them.