027 | I Bought a Nissan 370Z… Was It Worth It? | Real Owner Review, Mods & Canyon Car Talk
Cool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life
027 | I Bought a Nissan 370Z… Was It Worth It? | Real Owner Review, Mods & Canyon Car Talk
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Car
Nissan 370Z
The Nissan 370Z is a sports car from Nissan. It’s part of the “Z” lineup, and Chris is talking about how it feels to own and drive one.
Car
Nissan Z32
The Nissan 300 ZX is a sports car coupe made by Nissan. People often love it for its look and driving feel. The podcast is talking about how the speaker has liked the Z cars for a long time, especially the 300 ZX.
Concept
two plus two
“Two plus two” means the car has four seats, but the back seats are usually small and not very comfortable for adults. It’s more for occasional use than regular commuting.
Term
turbo model
A “turbo model” has a turbocharger, which helps the engine make more power. It usually makes the car feel stronger, especially when you accelerate.
Term
bucket seat
A “bucket seat” is a sporty seat that wraps around you more than a flat bench. It can make the car feel more driver-focused and can also affect how much room people have in the back.
Car
Nissan Frontier
The Nissan Frontier is a pickup truck. The speaker is talking about how the back seat area works in a certain Frontier configuration.
Term
midlife crisis
“Midlife crisis” is a joking way people talk about buying something exciting later in life, like a sports car. It’s more about the vibe of the purchase than a literal diagnosis.
Term
VQ engines
“VQ” is Nissan’s family of V6 engines. People like them because they run smoothly, have good everyday pull, and generally feel well-built.
Concept
engine swap
An engine swap means putting a different engine into the car than it originally came with. People do it to make the car faster or to change how it drives.
Term
supercharged
A supercharger is a device that pushes extra air into the engine. More air usually means more power.
Term
18s
“18s” are 18-inch wheels. They can make the ride a little smoother than larger wheels because the tires usually have more sidewall.
Term
19s
“19s” means the wheels are 19 inches across. Bigger wheels can look sportier, but they can also make the ride a bit firmer.
Concept
pre-purchase inspection
Before you buy a used car, you can pay a mechanic to inspect it. The goal is to find problems you might not notice yourself, so you don’t get surprised after buying.
Concept
lowered car
Lowering a car makes it sit closer to the road. That can look cool, but it also means you have less clearance to avoid scraping on bumps or speed bumps.
Term
sample test of like 300 starts
A “sample test” of many start cycles is a diagnostic approach to see whether faults reappear under repeated conditions. It’s meant to catch intermittent issues that might not show up during a single test drive.
Term
check engine lights
The check engine light is a warning that something might be wrong with the car’s computer or engine systems. If it’s off, that’s a good sign, but it can still be worth checking the stored codes just in case.
Brand
Harley Davidson
Harley-Davidson is a famous motorcycle brand. The speaker is using it as an example of how people judge car purchases differently than motorcycle purchases.
Term
saddlebags
Saddlebags are the side storage boxes on a motorcycle. They’re useful for carrying some stuff, but they don’t hold as much as a car’s trunk.
Term
mini bike
A mini bike is a tiny bike with a small engine. Since it’s light and not very powerful, it can take more effort to get it moving smoothly, especially if the ground is soft or uneven.
Term
throttle
The throttle is the pedal/lever that controls how much power the engine makes. If it feels like you have to push hard to get going, it usually means the engine is small and responds quickly when you open it up.
Concept
illegal street racing
Illegal street racing refers to drag or roll races conducted on public roads without authorization. It’s dangerous because of unpredictable traffic, limited safety equipment, and the lack of controlled track conditions.
Term
pink slip
“Pink slip” is a slang term for the paperwork that proves you own a car. When people say “race your pinks,” they mean the ownership of the cars is the bet.
Term
boost
Boost is the extra “push” a turbo adds by increasing air pressure. More boost usually means stronger acceleration, but it can come in after a short delay.
Term
dual air boxes and dual intakes
“Dual air boxes and dual intakes” refers to a design where intake components are split into two paths/boxes feeding the engine. The speaker connects this to Nissan’s HR engine family and explains that the 370Z has a dual-intake arrangement, which can matter for how intake mods are planned.
Part
air filter
The air filter keeps dirt out of the engine. If it’s old or dirty, the engine can’t get enough air, which can hurt performance.
Concept
straight pipe
“Straight pipe” means the exhaust is basically opened up with fewer restrictions. It makes the car louder, and it can sound rougher.
Term
RPM
RPM tells you how fast the engine is spinning. When you rev higher, the engine and exhaust usually sound louder and more aggressive.
Term
Voodoo engine
“Voodoo” is the nickname for a special Ford V8 in the Shelby GT350. It’s known for revving fast and feeling sharp when you drive it.
Term
canyon car
A “canyon car” is a car you’d pick for fun drives on twisty roads. It should feel stable in corners and be easy to drive fast without getting sketchy.
Brand
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is a British luxury/sports-car brand known for grand touring (GT) cars that balance performance with comfort. The speaker groups it with other supercar brands to talk about what they’ve driven and what they like for canyon driving.
Brand
Lamborghini
Lamborghini makes some of the most famous supercars in the world. The speaker is basically saying they love that kind of car.
Concept
short wheelbase
Wheelbase is how long the car is between its front and back wheels. Shorter wheelbase cars usually feel easier to turn quickly on twisty roads.
Concept
EVs
EVs are cars that run on electricity from a battery. The speaker is saying more EVs are showing up in events and racing now.
Term
stick shift
A stick shift is a manual transmission. You have to use a clutch and choose gears yourself, and the speaker says a lot of people don’t know how to drive one.
LIVE
Hey, what's happening? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and this is the world
famous cool cars with Chris man on today's fantastic episode. I took a little road trip
up to Courage's house to do this episode from the backyard. Yes, we are live from the backyard
at Courage's house because today I had something special to show him in person. And that thing
is actually a cool car. Yes, I got myself a very cool car of my very own and I took him for a ride
in that cool car. So you'll hear his thoughts on the cool car and we'll discuss what this car is
on this episode. And you know, he's working on that little like project mini bike miniature
motorcycle. Well, I had a chance to take it for a ride. I took it for a little spin around the
neighborhood. You'll hear about that on this episode and topping it off. We are answering
your questions. And the question that came in was, what is the ultimate Canyon car? What is a
Canyon car? Can any car be a Canyon car? Well, I don't know. Find out on this episode. Let's go.
Hey, what's happened? This is Cool Cars with Chris coming to you live back from Courage's
backyard. How are you doing today, buddy? I'm good. It's good to have you up here in the boondocks.
I like to call it up here. Up here in Smecula. Man, what's it like up here? It feels hot today.
Was it normally hot like this all the time? No, no. We really, the sweet spot usually is this
time of year. It's usually a lot nicer. Like you peak at like, you know, 75 or so. But I mean,
this last couple of weeks and going into next week is supposed to just be in the 90s consistently.
But today 81, like I'll take it. Like it's decent. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we are having a weird,
like early summer right now. It's pretty crazy. So, but I did call it way up here and show you
the brand new, this is going to be hot, hot take. It's a hot news, hot depress. I picked up a cool
car of my very own. And we like to tell everybody what I picked up. Yeah. I know we've, we've talked
about some different, you know, different cars and different dream cars and ones that you want to
have again. But the 370Z exists, the cool cars with Chris Ride. And I got a chance to check it out.
That's it, man. The brand new to me, not new, but new to me, 370Z. And the Z is back a baby. We
are back in the Z. Wow. It feels good to be home, man. It feels like, like, man, I miss this car.
You know, like I miss it so much. I had the other one and, you know, for me, the Z, like,
the Z car in general, I've always loved the Z 32. I knew a lot of people had the Z 31.
My sister had the Z 31. My friends from school had the Z 31. I love that one. And of course,
the Z 32 is iconic. You had the Z 32. Z 32 loved that car. Yeah. It's, it's,
I remember seeing it in movies. There was a few movies that had to Z 32. Yeah. And you've ever
seen Good Burger? No, no, I've seen clips of it though. Yeah. Weirdly enough that I, it took me
years to find out that that was actually like the hero car in Good Burger of like all the random
movies. I found out other ones, but yeah, like the, the whole like Good Burger, Keenan and Kale
like type thing. They had a red, like gloss red, and it was a two plus two as well. Like it wasn't
even like a turbo model. It was, and so that even was even cooler. Wait, it was yours? A two plus
two? Mine was a two plus two. Do you have a back seat? Nothing. I had, yep. Have back seats for,
I won't even say some people make the joke of like back seats for legless passengers.
Like people fit back there. Well, you know what's funny? The Mustang's kind of the same way too.
Like the Mustang has got a back seat, but like when I drive the thing, I have to be like seat
near the back where there is no leg room. But I've noticed that some modern like two-seater,
like two, I guess modern like pony cars really is at the back seat, like slants. So you're sitting
at an angle and that way your feet kind of like, you know, I mean, it's kind of weird. They're not
straight out. Like they're kind of, right. Especially because the back roof kind of like
slopes down, you know, usually. So like if it was normal, if you were sitting flat across,
like really like this, you're, you can't see, but like, you know, your head would be ducking,
ducking underneath the, you know, the roof line. And a lot of those actually, those 90s cars,
particularly they had, they had like a, the seat was actually kind of like, so you sit into the
seat. So it's not flat. It actually kind of like, it's like a bucket seat, literally. Like that you
sit down in it. And I think that's another reason that they did that. So that your legs aren't
going straight out, but they're actually kind of like, you're bringing your legs up a little bit
to fit in the seat a little better. But it's, I've noticed that in like the Supras, they had
like the back seats, the, or the super didn't have it. The, the first gen or the, the, the Mark
three Supras, they had back seats. And then those were like the, the concave seats, the Z had it.
And that was just their way of, I guess, being able to potentially fit somebody back there.
But, you know, you didn't want to be back there for a long period of time.
No, I remember when I had my Nissan Frontier pickup truck, it had technically a back seat to it.
It was the extra, it was called the King cab. It didn't have the four door, but it was like
the suicide door that pops out and had space for a briefcase, but it had to have two little like
flat like seats. I don't think they fold, I don't think they folded down or not. If I'm trying to
remember if they did, they might have. Anyways, I've sat four adults in that truck, you know,
but it was like, I had to move my seat towards the front, much like could because, because there
was no slope back. There was a straight wall, straight, like an L shaped seat really. And so,
not a lot of space in those things, but we took it up to knots, pretty far. I remember four of
us went up there in my truck, but, but yeah. So anyways, the Z is back. I've got the Z and it's,
it runs great. I won't say I got a really good deal on the Z. I mean, I probably paid about
average price for the Z. Those cars are kind of weird because sometimes you'll see
some that are like as low as 10,000, probably salvaged title and beat up to like a, you know,
mint condition Nismo for like 30 and above. So it kind of runs the gamut. At first I was looking
at 350s and then I was like, you know what, if I can find a good condition, 370, that's priced
about right, then maybe I'll probably do that. Yeah. Yeah. That was good. We got a, we got a
fun little deal. My little guys are around. This is the, this is the fun thing about doing this in
our backyard. My little guys kind of hanging around, you know, podcasting with the backyard.
That's the nice thing about this little gear I have. I brought here is that we can do podcast
and do it everywhere. Anywhere. And in fact, we're going to be doing it from somewhere special coming
up, find out. We're not going to tell you right now, but coming soon, we're going to do some live
podcast recording. Yeah. And we're going to do video too. And it's going to be full production,
you know, got the production team in the works. Yeah. And it's going to be amazing. Yeah. For
sure. Hopefully not the, not the little guys. Once he gets a little older, it'd be cool to take
him out to an event like that for sure. But, but a funny, funny little tidbit is my little guy,
he has two movies that he's crazy about. We'll get his attention no matter what,
too fast, too furious. Oh really? And I think we probably talk about this. I'm pretty sure it's
like all of the colors, like that they were heavy on like the neon lights and all the colors of the
cars and everything. But he also really loves Herbie, the, the, the remake or the original?
The remake, the Lindsay Lohan special. I never saw that. I remember seeing that when it came out,
like hearing about it and stuff. I never, I never, that was when she was in her hot phase
of like hitting all those movies. It was like mean girls, that movie, whatever else she did,
I don't remember. But, but yeah, I never saw that. I'd never seen some bits of the originals.
Disney, I think it was maybe back in the day with Disney. And like the love bug, like they had
that movie. It was the same thing. I think, I don't, I think they did have another Herbie,
but yeah, I think the love bug, I guess was like kind of like both the inspiration for both, I
guess or whatever. Cause they have both on Disney plus now. Oh, Disney plus or everything. I mean,
well, everything is Disney really. It's almost too much though, too. It's like when you go sit down
and see a movie on Disney plus or Netflix, whatever, you're just scrolling through the thing. Like,
what do you want to watch? I don't know. You know, I don't feel like, you know, I don't know what
I'm mood for overload, but it is back to the Z though. Cause I want to, I want to get your
impressions now, you know, having, having had the car and driven it. And obviously you had one
before, like, you know, how's the comparison of the two? But what's funny is that my first Z
and this Z were the exact same color. Yeah. You would think that like maybe they didn't
sell many colored choices, but they did, you know, which is kind of ironic. So this one, I mean,
obviously they're different cars. I mean, same car, but different, so to speak. The first Z,
I really, really enjoyed it because I, like I said, I've always loved Z cars and it was a chance.
I always, this, I, I get, I picked it up at a different time in my life that is today, obviously.
Not much different though, but, but I did have like, like when I bought the, the first Z, I bought
it cause I wanted a Z. Like I just wanted to have, I never had one. I wanted a sports car.
People call it a midlife crisis back then. People are calling it a midlife crisis again today.
But I, I guess, you know, they feel, they feel different. I mean, you know, I mean,
they're different cars, but then that really though, you know, cause they drive very similar
to each other. You know, I mean, the other one I had was pretty much stock. Like it had nothing
done to the car at all other than the wheels and, and bigger tires. And I think that was pretty
much all it had done that I did the exhaust on it full X pipe and full dual exhaust X pipe on the
car, which this one is maybe I'm dropping a little hint, but this one may be getting a similar
treatment pretty soon. Oh, definitely. Definitely. In fact, as record this tomorrow, I'm taking it
into the shop and we're going to do full X pipe, dual exhaust X pipe mode of the thing.
And cause right now it all has is the axle back system on the car, which is basically
you go from your rear axle on the vehicle. And cause your mufflers go from where the
cats are, which are probably in a closer to the transmission up front of the car.
So from there, all the way back to the back axles, pretty much stock. And it's kind of messed up
to tell you the truth, because there's been a lot of scrapes and bumps and things on that car
that undercures this new car. Not the prettiest sight to see. And so it needs to be fixed anyways.
I'm like, well, if I want to fix the exhaust, I might as well just rip it out and put a full
on like system that I want. So the full on X pipe and dual exhaust can be happening in the brand
new Z, but it still sounds okay. I think even for just having the axle back, it sounds okay.
You know, could sound better. You get a little bit more like you haven't driven in it with you.
You get a little bit more of the induction noise. Like you hear the more the intake sound
not necessarily like the like at the end. I think you do get a little bit of that,
but you do hear like just that movement of like the air into the like into the you hear
more of the engine, but in a good way. Cause I mean, nothing sounds like a Z in that way.
Those engines, like I love the VQ engines. They sound great. They rev great.
They've got power, a lot of mid-range power. You know, it's, it's a, I think in my opinion,
personal opinion here, hot take here, I think it's one of the best V six engines ever made.
Like ever made. Like I, I mean, there's probably a few out there, people say, well,
let's go with that car. But like V six naturally aspirated engines. I think it's
gotta be the top of the list. Cause if you, cause if you would have said six cylinder,
generally speaking, I'm sure this Porsche guys are going to fight you on that. But when you're
talking these V six engines, no, they're straight. Yeah. Or straight sixes are different or,
or flat fours or flat or the flat sixes that they use the horses. Yeah. Those aren't the same
thing. I mean, it's not like V six engines. I think it's, I think that'd be, that's a pretty,
that's a solid argument. Like yeah, the VQ has gotta be one of the best V six engines ever made
just durability, power, sound. Like they really over engineered it pretty well. You know, I mean,
using pretty much the same formula for, you know, two, almost three decades really. Cause I mean,
it's an older engine. They don't make it anymore. The guy is done. They don't make any new VQ
engines, but there's so many out there. Like I could see people using these VQ engines for all
kinds of different things. I mean, people, people engine swap everything. I think people engine
swap three seventies with like a Hellcat engines or what else, you know what I mean? Like, I mean,
you can do whatever you want. I think the ones that drift, the people that do the drifting versions
of that car, they rip that engine out and they put something big in like a V eight or something
supercharged, supercharged, whatever. So, but, but yeah, I mean, the news, the Z is back. It is,
what color, it's, I think it's called like a metallic gun metal gray. I think what you call it.
I don't think it's quite, it's not quite gray. It's not quite silver. Yeah. It's, it's on the dark,
like from what I saw, like on the darker side, like of that, like I think gun metal, I'm sure
they got like some interesting like color code or whatever, like name from the factory that they
have. I'm not one of those that knows colors all by the names, but it's, it's a, it's a really cool
color, especially like in the afternoon timeframe where you get, even when you pulled up, like you
hit it, you see it in a certain light and it's got like, it's got a darkness to it, but then you
start to see some of the light come out a little bit more in it, but it's, it's fitting for, and I
like it with the silver wheels too, like the combination of the two. Well, they all had the
silver wheels, all would have like the chromium kind of silver color. Well, they're more like
chrome-ish kind of wheels that have, I forget what kind of wheels they have in the other car.
Yeah. But they were 19s, I remember the old car, and this one has 18s in their stock to kind of
like a darker, darker color wheel, I guess you call them there. Yeah. But it does have like
bigger brakes. This was what we were talking about a little bit of like curious that, well,
I'm pretty sure they probably aren't stocked, but it's got some pretty, pretty beefy brakes, like,
you know, size-wise and slotted, rode it, slotted, slotted, and drilled too. Like,
Yeah, that's not stock. Those are not stock. I can tell you, those are not stock wheel. The wheels
are stocked with the brakes. You're definitely not stock on the car. And they still stop fine. You
know, I mean, I haven't really pushed it hard in the canyons or like that, but I can tell, you know,
no squeaks, no issues, no rattles, no shakes or like that. When I brake, it drives fine. Yeah.
The car runs fine. You know, the only thing I'm really worried about is that with my other car,
the slave cylinder for the clutch went out on the other car. And I'm worried about this one too,
because it does have high miles and stuff. But the part of me was thinking like, well, maybe we
went out on the last guy, and maybe the last guy already fixed it. That's not what I thought,
because this has more miles than my other car did. And I'm thinking like, well, the other car had
those issues at this mileage point. This car is more mileage than that. So maybe it's already had
those issues and somebody else fixed it. But the problem is it's not even in the car fax. I look
at the car fax and it doesn't even like show those things. So I'm like, well, then maybe they
didn't happen. So what I did buy the car is I had it taken to a mechanic before a third party
mechanic, not a mechanic that the place I bought it from knows, but a third party has no skin in
the game. Yeah. Not trying to sell the car like that. So I took it there as I do an inspection
on the car. I paid the full pre-purchase inspection. So he did, he checked it over,
checked everything out, said the car runs fine, the engine has no leaks, the coolant's got no leaks,
no oil leaks or like that. But he did say there's a lot of damage on the bottom, a lot of scraped,
dents, things like that on the bottom of the car, which happens in lower cars. I mean,
if you have a lowered car and you drive a car that's lowered, it's a good chance you scrape
something or hit something, hit a bump, speed bump, whatever. And of course, the exhaust is kind
of dinged up under the bottom or two. There's some, I think some scrapes, maybe even holes in
the flex pipe or the two, like the, there's some joints. Right in the joint. Yeah. So I think
that's why I'm getting the exhaust. I mean, I want to get the exhaust in anyways, just in general,
but, but this is a good excuse to get that fixed up anyway. So I'm like, well, let's get the whole
thing redone. It's like, you know, we do work model house and you got to do something in the
kitchen. Like, well, it's why you're, why you're doing it. Right. Right. I'm going to fix this
there stuff too. One thing I was going to say about the, the slave cylinder, which unfortunately
it's like not one of those things where you can just go and like, say, replace it just because
you want to like, you know, replace, replace an air filter. Like it's not as simple as that.
Like usually people aren't like just replacing the slave cylinder because like it's going to,
you know, because it's like, oh yeah, you might as well do that type thing. So it's, it's unfortunate
that that's something that you can't really like track to see if it's been done already type thing.
But hopefully. Yeah. Well, the coloring, that's what I think about maybe getting it flushed out
because the color, the coloring is a little dark or not too dark, but I did buy some brake fluid
dot three to like top it off, make sure it's filled up correctly. I mean, that's one thing.
And I guess if it did go out on me, I guess I could top it off and try to pump the clutch,
get enough pressure to use it to get us getting down the road, which I did the last time I went
out with the last time I went out, like I didn't feel nothing. I wasn't prepared as that Costco.
And we just got like some dinner to cook at home, some frozen dinner. I was like,
think we've got the Alfredo, which is like in the frozen. It's like the ready to cook section.
Yeah. So it's in the back of the car, you know, a few other things. And I'm just leaving Costco and
like use the clutch pedal. And then all of a sudden like it went down to the floor and like,
well, that's odd. Why is it not? That's weird. Like I put it, I put it, I put it down the floor,
shifted in gear. It wouldn't shift. It was like grind, grind. I'm like, what is going on with
this thing? That's not, that doesn't seem right. And then I realized that as I pull the clutch
back up and tried it again, wouldn't, wouldn't do it. I'm like, Oh, the clutch is out. Like
it dawned on the clutch outside. I kind of like shoved it in gear, like grind it and get into
a gear, got to like, got through a stop intersection. Yeah. Did you have to run a light or run a stop
sign? I'm trying whether I did or not. I think I, I think it just, it was green to go, but it was
like the, it was traffic on the left side because people get on the freeway. So I got on the right
side of those guys to get around them, to get through the green. And then I think, I think,
you know, I need to remember like, but the next intersection, there was like a, a big parking
lot for the trolley. Cause they knew the trolley center. So I pulled into the trolley center
parking lot. It was a big open space park, like right in the middle of the parking lot, practically
stopped the car, killed it, shut it off, checked the hood and like under the car was all the fluid
from the slave cylinders all on the ground. The little like reservoir was like completely drained
in tea. That's what we're thinking that if I had the reserve, if I have like a canister of it,
probably, yeah. Top it off and maybe, maybe pumping it up to get enough pressure to like
use the clutch. I'm not sure I never had a situation knock on wood. Hopefully not, but
that's like the big thing I'm kind of like worried about, I guess with a car and the car
does have some weird noise in the transmission. And it says weird clunk it makes. I can't figure
this out. There's a weird clunk when you shift. I'm trying to research this. When you shift and
land the gear, it makes like a, they call it a drive train, drive train lash. Yeah. Do you,
and do you feel it more towards like the, like with the differential? Like does it feel like it's
coming more from the, cause I've heard about that. Yeah. So I think it's slack in the, in the drive
train. Maybe it's bushings, maybe it's the older car. I have no idea. One thing I was going to
comment on you, cause you mentioned kind of like the, like you kind of hear like the transmission
a little bit, like a little bit of the transmission chatter a little bit. And I kind of noticed it,
but I, that was something that I've heard on and that is pretty common on those too, that
actually really isn't like an issue. Surprisingly, it sounds weird because, because even my car does
it, even with the automatic transmission is kind of loud, but it's, it was, I was researching it
back in the day, actually when I had my Z and people were saying, yeah, like actually this is
like, it's common and like, you know, as long as you're like, as long as your fluids fine,
like usually you don't have any issues, but it definitely, obviously if you, if your mechanic
tells you something otherwise, but we did write up in the report that the transmission makes a
noise, like noise or whatever it's when he, he wrote up, but you know, um, yeah. Other than that,
well, I did ask the mechanic, I said, what do you think about the car? Should I buy it? Like,
would you buy what it was worth buying? Cause that's like the main thing really care about
really when the mechanic does a full inspection on, make sure it's worth buying. Cause he says
it's not worth buying and be like, well, not going to buy the thing. If he's, oh, it's fault,
it's a freaking bucket of bulls don't buy it. Like if it was a Range Rover with 200,000 miles on it
and you know, it's got every check in July on the dash, on the board, you probably tell you,
stay away from this car or whatever. But no, the thing goes, the main thing also too,
I want to make sure it ran all the codes. He plugged it into the OBD2 scanner or what are the,
the better one they have, cause they run small checks there and all that stuff there. And he
said he ran like a sample test of like 300 starts or something like that. And or the last
300 starts and there was no check engine lights at all in the last 300 cycles or whatever you
said. That's good. I didn't know it was really like a test that you could do. That's pretty,
that's a good test actually. Yeah. I think, so that's good then. My main concern was with
fact they had the modifications and, and I didn't know if I had a tune or not in the car.
Yeah. Maybe it did. Maybe it didn't. And so I'm kind of like, well, I was taking this place,
have them, you know, that's what I told the mechanic is that make sure that there were no
like tunes or anything to worry about or skeletons or any issues or that kind of stuff,
run the codes, run all the stuff. And he said, well, fine, come on, fine, fine. So even 300
cycles back, which you think about, it's probably about, I mean, in real, you know, data, what is
it like, how many starts you think we do in a car in an average week, at least five, one to work one
back, you know, probably when a day, like, yeah, probably, I don't know. I can't do the math on
this real quick, but probably 300, it's probably about a couple of weeks worth. Maybe one, I would
think so. Yeah. Maybe a month's worth of starting the car. If you want to drive, it was like something
like that being maybe more, like, unless they were daily, like they were, I think they were,
I think the miles kind of add up to, at first I was like, the miles seem like a lot of miles.
But then if you look at the math on it, you figure out, like, well, it really comes out to like
12 or 10,000 miles a year, which is average. Yeah. Average or less than average, really.
I mean, because you live up here, you probably do way more than that in your car.
About 15, 16 maybe. Yeah, because I was doing 15 on my first truck. I think it was
14, 15, but I was taking it everywhere. Disneyland every weekend, you know, desert trips, like,
like Vegas trips all the time. Like, I don't plan, like, I seriously don't plan on doing more than
20,000 miles in this car. Yeah. I mean, I might just keep it forever. I don't know. I mean, you
know, it's hard. It's early to say what I'm going to do with this car, but I don't plan on taking it
and driving it more than like maybe 7,000 a year, maybe 5,000 a year, 7,000 a year.
Because that's only because that's what I did in the old car. The old ZI had only put in like
6,000 a year in the old car, maybe seven. Because it's like weekend car. It's like a fun car. It's
like a, I was going to describe this too. It's like almost like as if I were to buy a Harley
Davidson motorcycle. They cost almost the same. Really? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. Even for used ones.
So a neighbor's got a Harley too. Oh, well, do they can get like, Harley can get like 30, 40 grand?
Yeah. I went to their showroom that they have in San Diego over off of like Moreno Boulevard over
there going towards PB, walked into the showroom and it's just like, it blew me away. Like how
many different types of bikes they even now they have some like kind of more like sport
stir style bikes. They're a little cheaper too. Like 10 grand range. Yeah. But I suspect like,
yeah, those top tier, you know. Oh yeah. You're like into the multiple thousands. You're like car,
but you're basically a price of a car. Yeah. And so I'm like, well, I don't have a motorcycle license.
And so to me, this is even more practical than a Harley. Oh yeah. Even though they cost the
costs virtually practically the same price. So it's like my version of the Harley, because nobody
seems to ever give a guy grief for buying a Harley, but they seem to do it with a sports car. I'm
getting a lot to grief here from buying the car, you know, versus like, if I'm on a motorcycle,
like guys wouldn't even care, you know, even though it costs the amount of money, because the motorcycle
is so impractical. Like you can't buy a grocery. He said, load on that car. You can't take passengers
really safely in that car. You don't want to be in the rain. You can't be in the rain. I mean,
people do take them on long road trips, but it's not ideal. This is more practical, you know?
Don't some of them have like the little like on the side saddlebags? Yeah. Like where the little
compartments obviously like you're not fitting a lot in there, but you got something versus like
people do. They'll take like, they'll go like cross country courses or like up to like Seattle
or whatever during the summer, of course, the winter and they'll do that. Like, and they'll
bring, you know, full on all the gear in a suitcase or whatever and stuff. They have a little
strap to their motorcycle. They'll do those runs groups. So I've heard people have done that,
but I've heard like riding that long on the motorcycle, you get so worried and just like,
it takes a lot out of you. You know, I can imagine, but, um, you know, speak that I was,
not to, not to switch gears, but I was going to say, speaking of, uh, speaking of bikes,
I know being up here, you've had an opportunity to also check something out.
Well, evil, evil, evil bike. Uh, Mr. Chris has had a chance to,
one thing we were talking about with Chris, not to out you on this, because Chris is a pretty
tall guy. I'm about six foot ish. And this is coming from a guy that's like five, five. So I'm
like, you know, Chris is a tall guy. You're fair to me. So seeing them on the mini bike, you know,
he's like a clown on like a little miniature, miniature car, miniature motor, so kind of thing.
Yeah. But, uh, but yeah, even when you got to check out evil, evil bike and, uh, any
impressions, I know it's, it's not a motorcycle. The throttle felt like, like I had to like almost
like push the bike to get moving, you know? And I can't remember my dad who has the same,
and not the same one, but he has a mini bike too. Yeah. In fact, he still has. I saw that his place
like last weekend. And, um, I rode that thing like so long ago, but I remember kind of the same
deal too. You had to kind of get, get it moving. Yeah. You almost, once you get to rolling, once
you get like up to speed, it's like cruising, but like getting to speed seems like it's kind of like
play the throttle, give it full throttle, get it moving. Yeah. His did kind of something similar
to that too, that I remember. But we did last, last time I rode that thing was in the sand or
like softer, that kind of stuff. So it's a little different than down those pavement. Yeah. But, uh,
yeah, I think it'd be crazy. I didn't get crazy. The thing I did, you know, I didn't want to get
too, too out of control. Cause I don't know what this thing can do. You know, um, I'm going to be
the first one to like wreck your mini bike or die, you know, I'd be a mini bike. I was asking
kids to put the ramp out, you know, you know, lay down and I'll, I'll get the flames going.
Get the flame. Get the fire, the circle fire going and I'll jump right through it.
And you get, you can actually, that's already the plan. We were going to do that before you,
that you had to do that before you leave because you had to get like candle bar,
like streamers, like the other side or whatever. I'm curious when they did like you,
when they did those in circus acts, like were they mini bikes or were they actual motorcycles?
I like, I've just thought about it and it was a picture in my head. I'm curious.
You know, I, I don't know. I know when I saw the Avengers, um, they did a play in San Diego,
it was like Avengers, you know, the, the Marvel Marvel Avengers live, what they called it.
And they had like Captain America ride in a motorcycle and one of the scenes.
And it was like a small motorcycle like that, but it was something like the, like you're
saying, you're saying like a stunt motorcycle, but I don't remember the electric or for
was gas. I don't remember. It might have been electric, but they had sound effects playing
and music playing. That was a crazy show, by the way. They had like all kinds of crazy stuff
going on that show. It was crazy. They had Avengers on ice, but it wasn't even on ice. It was like
in like in the theater area at the sports arena at San Diego. Oh yeah. I don't think,
I don't think they call the sports arena anymore. I think they call it the, you know, it's, uh,
Pachanga arena or something. It is, which is weird because we have Pachanga here up nearby us.
Like it's, uh, Pachanga casino. And so we've been there for a show kind of here and there. And
you know, I'm not much into casinos and gambling, but I haven't been in a while.
Man, this might go on last night, but I decided to watch a movie instead. I was like, I should go
hip to casino. But you know, it's fun. I thought about this because it was recorded on Sunday.
And yesterday was Saturday and Tuesday packed the casino, which makes it kind of hard to gamble
because the machine or table you want to play at is usually busy. And so you're like, well,
the odds don't matter at all. When you, when you play at a casino, whether it's a Tuesday or
Friday, it doesn't make a difference. Like, like gambling is still gambling. The odds are exactly
the same. So I want to play when I have a choice of a machine or choice of a table that I can pick
versus when you go there on a busy night and you have no choices, but whether whatever's left,
the loser machine is left. I'm going to play that one. Yeah. I always see these people on
Instagram is always a funny bit on Instagram. People say the only machine that always guaranteed
you to pay out is the ATM machine. Yeah. Yeah. No matter what, like you'll get something from it.
Like the sources questionable of where it's coming from, but I think Barona claims my
sister works there. Barona casino claims they have no ATM fees because other casinos charge.
This is true. Yeah. But I think your bank still charges you whatever they charge you do it.
Yeah. I've only done it a few times. I've been up at the casino one time and I'm like,
I didn't bring any cash. I didn't plan on gambling, but I feel the girl run a date or
whatever or something like that for dinner. And she was play a little bit like run to the ATM
and pull out like a hundred bucks or whatever. I figure we're charged to do that, but maybe 20
bucks to get your hundred bucks or some ridiculous amount of money. But yeah, I mean, gambling,
don't do this kids because you don't always win. I mean, it sounds fun when you do because I've won
a few times, but I've lost a lot too. So yeah, it's one of those. Yeah. You gotta know your limits
and whatnot. Well, if you're going to play, play for fun, like know that the 200 bucks you took
to the casino, you mean throw out the window. It's funny. It's not money you need for like
groceries or whatever or rent money. That's the worst when you blow your rent money because
that was at the casino. Man, let me tell you, I, when I used to work there, my department,
was not allowed to play the machines because we worked with the machines, but the security
officers were allowed to do whatever they want. And we worked with security guards and one security
guard was a big gambler. Like you get your paycheck, they let you cash your paycheck
right there at the casino. So dangerous. And so he would cash his paycheck and he would go
straight to the machines after work and play. And he was telling me a story. Like one day
I was paid a, he cashed his check, went to them, a couple of machines and he was down, down, down,
like I have this entire paycheck, like rent money, you know? And so he played it down and then he
hit some, I don't say the jackpot, he hit something to bring it back up to where he like
basically got his money back pretty much and cashed it out. And he's like, oh, like, like,
like literally like almost lost by rent money kind of thing. And that's kind of scary. I remember
at Barona years and years and years ago, they had this program that I used to do because it was,
there was a prize involved. When there's a freebie, there's a prize involved and you think like, well,
what's the catch? So the catch is, is that this event they had, you should be called double your
paycheck. You would bring your paycheck, like an actual payday paycheck to the casino, wait in
line and you would literally cash, they'd cash your paycheck, give you cash for your paycheck.
And then they'd spend this little wheel or draw a number or a ball or something like that and
choice of prizes and everybody won something. You're guaranteed to win something. The bare minimum
was like free buffet dinner. The high end, they doubled your paycheck. So whatever you,
whatever your paycheck was, we'll double that. Of course, we all did that, right? But the catch is
you'd be smart about it. You can't just, oh, I got cash now. I'm going to go play in the casino,
which most people do. You gotta be smart about it and bounce out of there. But, you know, I mean,
my mom was good at it a lot. And so did you, would you have the opportunity to, could you lose it?
Or what? No, no, no. So you could, you go to the casino, you cash your paycheck there at the casino.
Yeah. You enter in the drawing. Got it. Okay. And then they would physically give you your money
for the paycheck and they put you in the drawing and one of the prizes was up to potentially up to
your double, like double your paycheck. Got it. And most of the other prizes were like gift shops,
swag, um, you know, food court vouchers, buffets. Yeah. So you're winning something. You're walking
away with your paycheck and something. Right. So I always went there to win something, you know,
and I always go there and do that and all the time. But paychecks weren't very big at the time.
So I was like, I always kind of sucked, but I actually did hit the jackpot one time. Wow.
I hit it one time. I was so excited. I hit it one time and I remember, but it wasn't
a smaller paycheck that I think about. So it kind of sucked, but I mean, double your paycheck. It's
awesome. So I got double my paycheck. And I think back then I bought my very first,
that about my first digital, I might have bought my first digital camera. Was it that one? Or
about another time I won somebody at the casino? I know winning at the casino was how I bought
my first digital camera. It was like a digital cameras are like new, you know, the nicer ones.
But, but yeah, it could be dangerous gambling could be dangerous. People get really addicted
to that kind of stuff. And it's sad when I see people like, like spending the money they don't
have to gamble. And they're just, you know, in debt and there's lots of movies on that stuff.
And it can get crazy, but speaking of gambling, you know, now that I paid the car off in cash,
I could probably get my pink slip and raise your pinks. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're in that,
you're in that level because I didn't, they would be sucky to be raising for pinks and then
find out, Hey, I don't actually have the pink slip, but you can take on this.
Yeah. But no, it's kind of thing. I was telling, I was telling Jacob that and Jake was mom that
when we bought his mustangs and he paid cash to the Mustang as we get the pink slip in the,
in the, for the car, which he just got, I think she said, yeah, he's got the registration, I think.
And so I say, and then you can raise your pinks. Yeah.
As you literally have the pink slip, you can raise your pigs. Do people still do that for real?
I, I mean, I've, again, that's, that's another form of gambling that
100%, 100%. But I kind of wonder because, I mean, most people take loans on cars,
especially newer cars and things like that. So a lot of it's like a beater. Like see,
I've got like a 91 civic that's modified with a turbo or whatever. Yeah. Kind of a thing. I remember
like in Fast and Furious, those cars, the thing in the movie. That was the thing. Yeah. That was,
that was what it was all about. And I know they, you know, don't condone it, but I know they have
areas where they do like, you know, these like, you know, they're illegal street racing and,
you know, they, they, you know, Texas is big for it. They had that whole boom, you know,
about last decade or whatever, where they just had this whole underground, you know,
Texas drag racing scene. And, you know, they had all these call outs and, you know, these like
hand to heads and all these kinds of things. And I suspect some people were still, you know,
they had a car on the line or a massive, massive amount of money on the line, you know, in that.
But we'll be interested to see if that's still really going on now to these days. Or if you're
just pulling up to some random guy on the street, like, Hey, you want to know what they have under
the hood or what you have, what they have and things like that. So I mean, I just think it's
kind of funny that, that having, well, when the pink slip comes in the mail, I'll be able to have
that. I'd be literally say I race your pinks, whatever. I had the pink slip on the other car,
too. Never thought about it, but it's always kind of funny. Like you race your pinks because you
have the pink to do it. Yeah. It's like, it's an option for me now. Yeah. But, but I mean,
we're talking older car here. And I mean, I'm not trying to wreck the car. I'm not trying to like
destroy the car. Like I have some fun with the car. It's going to be like, I think it's going to be
like the pace car for cool cars with Chris. Yeah. The new 370Z is, is the cool car. It,
you know, it's almost kind of matched with the logo of the show, like the color scheme.
Oh, I kind of see that. Yeah. So I mean, I got to figure that out. But I want to get like,
I want to figure out how to like, I don't use it as like a tax write off somehow, but like,
you know, on the website on the back or like QR code, maybe at least a QR code sticker on there.
I got to figure out do that. Yeah. Well, we won't do a pink slip race, but if you ever got,
if you ever got to the point you were down for it, it would be great to get us,
get the in and in the Z out to, uh, to street legal. Oh yeah. Out there, you know, a nice little
330 foot and nothing crazy. Yeah. I got to have that transmission. I want to get the transmission,
get your oil flush. I want to check out the transmission for it. Make sure everything dialed.
Yeah. I mean, I don't want to break the thing up there and then when I got to get it back somehow,
you know, whatever kind of thing. Yeah. That's a good like for you because it took you an hour,
right on an hour to get here. Yeah. Something like that a little more. Yeah. That's a good
like hour and a half for you in terms of a drive. So, but yeah, if it ever happens, it'd be a nice
little cars and Chris showdown and you know, all we got is bragging rights between each other,
I guess. Well, you got, I mean, you got like modern tech and turbos and tunes and things like that.
Hey, man, sometimes the tried and true method. Sometimes that's all it needs.
The car feel fast. So we go for a variety of things. How does it feel to you?
You know, so I, we were talking about just the power delivery and, and it's, you know,
Lenny, I haven't necessarily, I mean, the DM has the same powertrain similarly at least, but the,
you know, I've gotten so much used to the turbo powertrain where, you know,
turbo kicks in at what RPM about like 26 to 2700. Before that, what do you feel?
Yeah. If you like say, if you'd mash it at second, like, or at 2000 RPM, like you'd,
you'd, there'd be a lag from zero to that. What do you feel? Does it feel like you feel
kind of old in the air? Kind of like power. I kind of just feel like it's not doing much.
No, it gets up pretty quick. Like even it's a smaller turbo. So even, even at the lower
RPMs, like you still feel it kick in, but it'll take a lot more of the boost to actually,
if you're really trying to get off of the line, you can go, but, you know, you're,
you're boost, my boost gauge spikes pretty quick. So, you know, sometimes when you're
leaving from the light, if you, if you don't give it enough gas, you'll like,
you'll kind of get a little bit of that bog down until the boost kicks in. But if you launch it
the right way, like it'll kick in pretty instantly and, and it pulls pretty heavy all the way up
until the top. But again, like, you know, if you mash it from like say 3,500 RPMs, there's a little
bit of a, you know, kind of builds up. And then like when you see like the boost gauge get up to
like 10, 15 PSI, then it just starts to rev out. Like I feel like with the Z being in it, it was
more of like, it, it revs out, like it starts up, it starts up, it starts up, but it builds the whole
time versus turbo is like maybe not a lot of build at the start, but then you just kind of have this
punch, this punch. It's kind of imagine like a turbo lag and kind of kicks in all the time.
And then it kind of, you know, spools up. Yeah. Spolar turbos help to not make it like super
crazy. Like some of the builds you see, you'll see some with like big massive turbos, but
like they'll be dead, you know, below, you know, 3,000, 4,000 RPMs, like where you just really
not doing anything until the turbo kicks in. And then tires just like lose grip and just get going.
And that's like kind of the dangerous thing if you're not ready for it. Cause you these real
high horsepower, big turbo builds is like, you know, if you, if you underestimate how much is
going to kick in when the turbo kicks in, it'll just snap, you know, speaking of builds, what
would you do to that car? My music, what'd you do build, build wise? If I, so if we race for
pinks and I won the car, what would I be doing? That's a good question. Well, I would have,
the exhaust is definitely, you know, a good first step that I would probably be doing.
You know, you'll probably have it done by then, but other than that though, I, you know,
some visual things, like, you know, I, I like the stock wheels to be totally honest.
I got me too. At first I was thinking like, I don't know. And they were small in the last ones
they had them again. I don't know. It looks good on the stock wheels. Like I don't really think you
have to go out to the car too. Cause the color is darker color on the car and darker color on the
wheels. It was like dark on dark, but it's not quite like, cause some cars will see like black
on black, which, and then it's black tires. It's like, I don't know. It's a hit or a miss. Some
cars look really good, stealthy black on black, you know, others, it just gets a little played out.
But, but yeah, you know, visually I wouldn't, I even liked the spoiler. The spoiler is after
market two on yours and I like that. I would just like, yeah, probably for some, some power mods,
just to maybe get it up a little bit more. Well, it does have that intake in there,
which I have the filter for it to figure out a change of filter and the thing. It has a,
has a cut as a pull there intake, but it's like, I forget the brand is, but it kind of loops in
under the bumper and connects the filter sits in the middle. Yeah. So cause on the three seventies,
there is a dual intake. So there's a tool, dual air boxes and dual intakes into the HR
motors. I think, I think on the 350, the HR, the earlier ones, the later ones. Well, yeah,
the ones that were like the, I think oh, oh eight, maybe had it. And so the three seventies
kind of kept that design with the dual intakes. And so, but this new custom intake I have,
it's actually piped in under the bumper and the middle of the bumper underneath there
is where the big old giant air filter sits in cold air directly into the, into the engine.
So I wasn't sure how old the filter was or how long it's been sitting in there,
or even when the intake was even installed. So I ordered the replacement filter online.
Now this filter, you can wash it and reuse it. Great. I want to have one that is like,
you know, in the car and one I can pull out and then wash it while the other ones in the car.
Yeah. Cause like, have to wash it and dry it and wait and put the car back and put it back and
all that stuff. It's one just flip flop, switch it out. Whatever. I mean, the filter was,
I think it was like a hundred bucks with shipping for the, for the filter.
Oh, that's a bad, yeah. It's just interesting when you show me that, what the filter looks like,
because I, and I know there's certain kits that actually do it as two individual cone filters
that come into the intake, but I never, I didn't realize that, you know, that one actually is,
it comes in as two paths, but then it goes into the same filter and makes like a circle.
Big giant loop or whatever. Right. Right. Right. So that was interesting.
According to the website, I think it adds like 15 horsepower and like 16 pounds foot of torque
on the thing, which is decent, you know? And I know those are like, you know,
depends like, you know, environment, like, you know, what do you call it, temperature,
like all of that. But, you know, it does help the, it helps the car breathe better for sure.
Yeah. About the cold air burns. It has like a better combustion cold air versus the hot air.
The cool thing about it too, actually, I didn't think about until now is with it being underneath
your bumper and upfront like that. Cause a lot of times, like even me, like technically I have a
hot air and it's still under the hood, but yours being like out, you know, still under the hood,
but it's like away from the motor. And it has the separation of the bumper and everything else
in front of the radiator. Yeah. So it really is like out, it's outside of like that atmosphere
of all the hot air under the engine bay. And so yeah, like truly, you know, you, without going
all the way down, cause some people think, you know, make it cold air has got to go down to the
fender or somewhere like, yeah, cause it does sit up really high. The filter sits literally
like where the Nissan logo sits on the bumper, just like right there, like right on the other
side of that, which I'm like, how do I get to that? The only way to get to that, to change it,
is to remove the entire bumper and all of that stuff, remove it off. But I've been watching
some YouTube video on it. It looks like it looks so hard. Of course, everything you see on YouTube,
every tutorial looks like it's like, oh, all you need is like a roll of duct tape and like,
you know, two minutes. I've said this before, but like when it comes to, when it comes to getting
things to fit back the way that they, like getting fenders back lined up or like, you know,
trim, trim pieces, like I am not good at that. Like I had mechanical stuff. I can kind of work
my way around it, but that's why, you know, we talked about maybe kind of tag team and getting
her done. But I told you, I told you like, you just got the car. I don't want to be the one
that screws up the fitment on the bumper. I know here I'm driving home without a bumper.
I would hate to do that to you all the way. Is it legal? Is it legal? Is it a lot of drive
that a bumper on your car? Some people do it. I mean, if it was allowed though, well, technically,
I mean, I guess you can argue that you probably wouldn't have a, I know we talked about this too,
but you wouldn't have a front license plate if you therefore don't have a bumper. And then
technically speaking in California, at least they could pull you over from not having a license
plate and then say something about the bumper. But you know, I've seen people do, I've seen
people drive. There was a guy down the street today with a nineties, the 3000 GT Misha Bishis.
Oh, it was like kind of like a, it looks similar to a 300 GT.
Yeah. Same, similar body style and he didn't have a hood. He didn't have a hood on and, you know,
and it looked like he did it on purpose that way. And so, you know, people, people kind of do what
they do. Well, I want to show off the car. I get it. You know, like how they have the hood open or
no hood or whatever. I've seen, I've seen a lot of builds like that too. I'll say on Instagram,
where they have like, just like a big blower stick on the roof, you know, out of the hood or
something, you know, just cut it. Yeah. Like either, either cut like into where the turbo is or
or even how the dump, like the dump pipe come up out of the hood. Like I know a lot of people
that do that kind of thing too. So yeah, you can even conneval your car and do all those kinds of
things. I don't think I will though. I think, I think it's just going to, I'm going to, I'm going to
keep it the way it is the most part. Maybe do a few minor things there and there. I can't imagine
like, I mean, especially here in California, like what are you going to do? It's a little tough.
Although I heard that then there's all this like little posts and things, which I don't know how
I take them with a grain of salt, but that like with some of the new like, you know, legislation
has passed that some of the required, like some of the like harsh like California rules and stuff
are starting to drop. And I've seen like big channel, like automotive channels like post on it,
like as if, well, there's a guy running for a governor, he's the sheriff up in Riverside,
somewhere up here. I forget the guy's name, but he just claims that if he wins, he's going to get
rid of carb. He's going to get rid of all that stuff. And I don't believe he's going to win,
to be true. You know, like, like, I don't think he's going to win. People say he's, you know,
he's winning the front runner for the Republican party, but I don't think the Republican party
is going to win California. So it doesn't matter. So that, you know, that's up thinking. But so,
I mean, I remember, I remember a while back when I had my other Z, I just got the exhaust done on
the car and they passed that like exhaust loudness. Uh, it was like, it was like no exhaust or a
certain decibel or some, yeah, that happened. They passed. I remember they just passed that
and I was kind of worried about that, but my car was never like that loud. I've heard some of some
Z's. Like I was at a station doing a delivery and one guy drove by single exhaust, must have a tome
or something like that. And I swear I heard something like four blocks away.
It's real easy to make, make those things literally like trumpets on wheels.
But why, why is that? Why, why is this the way the motor is just, I mean, I don't know.
That's a good science experiment to kind of understand like what, you know, what makes them
so shouting when you make any car that loud though? I mean, you can. Yeah. I mean, you know,
you, you've seen like straight pipe, like Mustangs and what I mean, like a minivan or
something. Could you, could you make, I mean, could you make that theoretically like a minivan,
like loud as a Z? I don't know if you could. I think the 300 or 370 Z,
the engine, the VQ is designed to scream. It's designed to get loud. It's designed to go high
RPM, you know, it's designed for that kind of stuff. I think regular cars, the only, the,
the main way you do that is probably like, I've seen like people when they're getting their exhaust
changed or something, they'll like drop it from, you know, say from the cats just and then start
the car up just, you know, just for the heck of it. And yeah, it's, I mean, it sounds terrible.
I wonder if they're going to do that with my car when they're putting it together. I don't
think I could be there. I'm just going to drop it off and maybe get an Uber or something back to
the house. This is like four or five hour job. I'm like, okay, fine, whatever. I'll just drop it
off and then head back. I'm going to try to get a video before and after. Yeah, that'd be cool.
Oh, or at least pictures or something before and after. I remember the last one I did. And when
they were finished and the guy backed out of the bay and he backed it up this little parking spot
and he revved the car and it hurt for the first time that exhaust and it had that little bit
of rasp and he got up to like, you know, five, 6,000 RPM, beating seven. And I was like, what?
That's my car. Holy crap. I've been driving home. It felt like a weird experience driving the car.
After you get the exhaust done, it's a weird experience because you drive the thing and you're
like, it sounds different than it does and it sounds cooler, but I'm sure I'm learning the sound
of the car now because it feels like a totally different car than what it did when I brought
over here today. It's such a cool experience. I've had that experience twice now, one with
the 300ZX and one when I did the muffler delete on the M a while back. And it was the same thing
where it's like, when you hear it for the first time, like, you know, it's just like, you know,
discussed car guys, like we get super excited. Well, you get used to your car too. If you've
driven your car awhile, you keep driving, you know, it sounds like, like, but especially
other than a manual transmission, like, um, like I don't, I don't, I just kind of like,
shift by ear, I guess a lot, you know, and I kind of like feel it with our PMTAT and shift
like that kind of stuff. And I think that, um, that helps you when now when you get
exhaust done or muffler delete or anything, it sounds different now. So you have to like,
well, it sounds different now. So I have to figure out how to like, how to drive it back
or whatever that kind of stuff. You're getting used to it. Well, one thing I want to throw in
there in the mix, uh, if you're down for it, I know we had, we had kind of talked about doing
some questions here on the pod. And I, uh, we did kind of put some things out there and, you
know, we're kind of filling it out, like seeing, seeing who gets, you know, gets some engagement
here and there, but did have a, you know, a few questions come in, but one, one that I thought
was interesting, tag team, the questions from the backyard. Yeah. Yeah. The backyard question
series, the backyard podcast bear with me as I'm going to pull this up. Okay. By the way,
yeah. Is that your red light?
75 actually. 75. Okay. But, but there's two meanings there. Cause like in the movie,
Ford versus Ferrari, 7,000 RPM was, it was a whole like theme of, of the movie. He does
a whole montage, talk about 7,000 RPM when he tells, um, oh, it's his name, um, in the second
race, the movie, he says, uh, run at 7,000 RPM. And, uh, yeah. So 7,000 RPM. I thought it was
kind of funny me. I mean, 7,000 RPM podcast. Yeah. I mean, I kind of dig that a little bit.
I'm close to 70, 70, or 70,000, 7,000 RPMs in Indiana, like 68, 69. Yeah. Like, yeah,
6,800 stock. Some people will rev it out just a little bit more, but you kind of lose a bit of
power or something. I just have red light on the car, but you can change red light. The red light
is like, it'll flash red when it's telling you like shift now idiot. And, um, I think I remember
the older car, I could change the, where you want that light to come on for like, you know,
like maybe set for 3,000 if you want, like, if your kid's driving here or whatever kind of thing
or whatever. But I think it's stocks at the like 7,500 or whatever. I know if I used it,
it did go off when it get closer to seven. Yeah. So what'd you got for questions? Right on. So
this one guy came from a buddy of mine that I met over the last couple of months. Um, Voodoo, Voodoo
GT 350. I told folks I was going to give shout outs as we get questions coming. Uh, but he has,
he has a GT 350, uh, as well as, um, the E class, the, uh, the wagon, the AMG wagon,
things, a monster and, and it's like a cold spec, you know, silver GT three. So he has a
Ford GT 350 Shelby, right? Yeah. Uh-huh. And then I love the car. What's with the Voodoo engine,
right? Uh, yeah. Um, so the 350 R has the, has the Voodoo engine. I have to double check to
see if, if he has that one or it does. Yeah. Cause I know they had the, the regular 350 that
still just had like, you know, kind of the regular motor issue. It wasn't the flat plane, but, um,
yeah, I haven't seen this 350 actually, but I've seen his AMG a bunch and really cool guy. He loves
his dogs and, um, it has some cool stuff going on. But he, um, he asked a question that I thought
would be cool to kind of, kind of take in stages. I interpreted this maybe differently than he was
anticipating, but he basically was asking in terms of, you know, if you were looking for a canyon
car, which one of the, you might have your answer already kind of based on, based on your recent
purchase, but if you were looking at a canyon car, uh, one, you know, is it a manual or a,
or an automatic, but basically like he went in stages of, you know, a good four cylinder,
a V six or a six cylinder, eight cylinder, 10 cylinder and 12 cylinder. Well, let me tell you,
okay, okay. Here's the thing. It all depends. Everything, everything really, everything really
depends. So I think a well balanced car, of course, something that's really well balanced
for the Z, for example, it's like almost near 50, 50, I think weight ratio. Yeah. You know,
that car, the Z actually has what it's called a mid-front, what's it called a mid-front engine.
Mid, midship, mid, yeah. So the majority of the way, the way the engine sits behind the front axle.
Yeah. So it kind of gets a more balanced car. But, um, as far as like, uh, cylinders go,
I think probably the thing about having a VA or V 12 or whatever, I haven't driven any
Ferrari or Lamborghini, so you can't speak on this, but I could imagine that they don't
rev up as quick as a four cylinder does. So if you're going from the canyons and you're going
up and down the RPM range, cause you're going gas to break, gas to break, you know, for the turns,
yeah, you would think you want a car that can hit those RPMs go from low to high pretty quickly.
So I think a probably smaller displacement, maybe that's, that's my,
I'm your Miata is your S 2000 something that can go from like, like quickly up to the,
up to the rev range, back down again, back up again versus a VA, which kind of this,
this kind of take a little while to get what depends. When I, when you say that though,
cause I feel like for me, like V 10 VA is kind of the cutoff point to that, to that point,
like where you're, you're still kind of in that range of, you can get some kind of
revvy VA. It's like, I think even the Mustang VA, yeah, I'm sure it does. I still know how,
how quick it gets. I do, I do agree. Yeah. Like, you know, the, the four cylinders, even like,
you know, the, the Z and like, you know, the six cylinders, like Z takes a while to rub up there.
It's not like, it's not like from, you know, zero RP, 100, 1000 RPM up to like 7,000 RPM,
really, really quickly. It still takes time to get up there until you slap the turbo chargers
on it. Oh, maybe that's, that's, that's the problem right there. But as far as like stick
shift to me, I, I don't know. Like, I think pallet shift just might be easier just because
your hands are already on the wheel the entire time. You kind of flick, flick. And if it has
like a, if the car's got a double clutch, even better because you're already like booming gear,
you know, downshift, upshift, good. I don't know if people kind of had that argument that you don't
really get that engagement with the DC, like a DCT or whatever. But I think that it's like,
you know, I mean, when you look at any, like, you know, racing series now, like F one and all
of that, like, you know, you're, you're true engagement. A lot of, like, I mean, we love
manuals and for the reason that those race car manuals, they use it. It's just like a
manual. It's called where it's like just one, you just move it up. It's a sequential. Yeah.
Yeah. Or back and down. Yeah. Right. It's like up, up, you know, one gear, one gear, one gear,
and then down. It's like, you know, kind of thing. That's an intense, you know, kind of,
yeah. That's a different feeling altogether where you're still almost getting the manual,
you know, shift, but it is literally clutching those things or no clutching those things.
Some of them do, but some of them, some of them, you know, can operate basically, like,
you know, like you're not having to do your foot, you know, but some of them, yeah,
you're still like it runs like a motorcycle. Because on a motorcycle, when you, when you
shift to motorcycle, you run the clutch in your hand and you tap it down.
I think mine was down one and like you put your foot underneath it and you pull it up for the
next gear up, up, up, down, down. That seems like easy to kind of screw up. You know,
you're just going to feel for it because you can't see what gear you're going to obviously see.
Does it automatically, when you stop, does it automatically be brought to you? Okay.
Yeah, it'll stall like you would in the other, in the other vehicle.
You've got fourth gear, you're stopping it, fourth gear, you'll stop, you'll stall it,
you know? Yeah.
Same kind of, same kind of concept. So, no, that's interesting because I'm on a similar
Wade Lake because I, you know, I love supercars and, you know, I haven't driven anything above
like eight cylinders, but, you know, I love the, you know, Aston Martin's, the Lamborghini's,
Ferrari's, but I think there's a certain point where you get past like, you know, maybe like,
you know, the older like, you know, Gallardo's, like the, you know, the V10 Gallardo's or even
like the R8, like the R8 is actually like a really good example because they had a V8 and a V10 of
that where that maybe could be a really good Canyon car. But more so for me, kind of like what you
said is the size, like, you know, because you, when you're in the Canyon, you want something
that's really kind of short wheelbase, this short wheelbase nimble and, you know,
Corvette's kind of long, I think things like that. The C6 Corvettes and things like that. I mean,
the C8 really does, you know, it's an awesome car. Like, but the C6, I think was a good, like,
you know, good size car, like C5s, things like that. But, but yeah, I think, I think really it's
like the, the size that will take a look at what they run at Pikes Peak. I know they run a lot of
like your cars and things like that, but like those, that literally is a Canyon run for the most
part. Yeah. And so I don't think they use anything really long wheelbase for those kind of,
that kind of shorter, smaller, you know, cars. Yeah. I don't kind of engineer one of those
things to the truth. I haven't really followed up on Pikes Peak stuff. Oh yeah, all different
guys. Like you said, EVs are big. I know, but that's why I keep seeing a lot of EV stuff. Yeah.
Hyundai got a whole thing. One of, I don't remember if it was Randy Pulse that raced with them or,
or it was Amelia Hartford, I think, you know, one of, one of those, you know, kind of bigger names
that raced with Hyundai's team and race the Ioniq five in that they, that they have for the event.
Good old N series. Yeah. Yeah. They, they, you know, that's been some of their play now with the
EV stuff. But yeah, you know, I, I do think though that like, you know, for Canyon driving, like
you, you want some of this really small nimble, like, you know, you can, you can play around with
the engine displacement. Like I love a V8. Like I feel like that's just kind of a, that's a good
spot. But I mean, Miata S 2000, you know, obviously like the, the hot hatches and things
like that. Cause there's still smaller cars, you know, they feel good, you know, the,
and I would say there's a rubble drive on that too. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. Yeah. I mean,
you know, Honda Civic and things are old, accurate tickers. Those are all fun. I mean,
I guess it kind of depends, you know, the thing about a car, having a cool car or any kind of car,
it kind of depends on what you're going to use it for, what feels good for you.
Can you drive it or not drive it? You know, you'd be surprised how many people like who cannot
drive a stick shift. Yeah. You know, and like, I kind of feel weird dropping the car off at any
kind of shop. It's like, okay, well, you know, and they're like, look at the thing and the stick
shift. Like, what do I do with this thing? You know, or what I remember in my other car,
I went out in the shop getting the brakes done or something and they said, oh, we're waiting on
somebody who can drive it, who can drive it to like bring it around the front for you. Yeah.
And like, what? That happened to me at the dealership the first time I took the end to the,
the lady was like, oh, yeah, like, we'll go, they were busy that morning too. And like, you know,
we'll go get your car taken in and everything. And she was the one who went to go turn around
and take it. And she opened the door and she's, oh, I got to go get, go get so and so to bring
the car up. Cause like everybody, my car literally is unstealable. Yeah. Nobody can steal my car.
Well, I got a key issue that you know about, but also other than the key issue, like,
it's unstealable. Yeah. Like, like nobody can steal my car. I feel like I feel like I'll leave
the keys in it, but like literally like windows down. Yeah. Like, what are they going to do?
You know, that take stuff out. I don't keep being valuable in there, you know, but,
but it's a fun car. What's okay. What's the next question? Have you had a question yet?
That was, yeah, that was, there was a, there was one I wanted to kind of fleshed out and out a
little bit more with them. I think the biggest preface I wanted to do is kind of kind of get
that shout out because he was, he was like on it when we first, when I posted that, give him a
shout out. But I wanted to, you know, preface that as I don't know if we talked about it,
particularly on the pot, but for anybody listening, you know, we'll, we'll be doing those, those
posts, you know, 100% and just, you know, whatever questions you got, you know, car questions,
you know, interesting questions you guys want to hear, ask them on the pot, you know, we're,
you know, we're no experts, but we got some interesting thoughts. Hey, you know, and if you
want to, if you want to, um, you know, you get your voice on the podcast, you can do that too.
There, I believe there's a link on my website to double check on this. Don't quote me, but I'm
pretty sure there's a link on my website where you can drop a voice message or voice note.
I think I'm pretty sure there is. I have to double check on that.
And you got one of those pretty cool in a while back that I think you played on.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a way you can do it. There's also ways you can do it,
you know, technology today, like literally we're doing this podcast in the freaking backyard.
I mean, like, I never thought I would be able to do this because when I had the other, um,
the original podcast I did was in the bedroom studio, professional and all that stuff, but
being able to do this in the backyard, cars running by, and that's a nice thing about
this equipment here is that like, yeah, it's all portable. You probably probably wouldn't
even know your trickery and editing. You probably won't even notice. Well, I'll do my best. I'll
do my best on this. I mean, no promises though, you know, but I'll do what I can cause like,
cause I, uh, I just auto edit audio editing, you know, um, as a side gig and for, for companies
and things like that. And there's some times where they don't have the best audio. Yeah.
And I have to like do what I can with it. And I have some tools and there's lots of tools,
mostly you're sent around AI these days. Yeah.
That's AI for everything now. You know, if you don't like AI, fine, but I'm telling you,
you know, like AI is embedded in like everything we do now, whether you like it or not, like
everything, every company, everything you do, like online, everything has got some form of AI
built in somewhere. So even your car probably, it's got some kind of AI.
No, I mean, that would be an interesting, you know, I've heard of some people using AI to,
you know, I've talked about having the JV for, and how you can actually do custom parameters to
do a custom to map. Oh, use AI to help you out. There's some guys that use AI to basically like
figure out what parameters to adjust and stuff like that. And I would not trust it that much
with my car, but it's also funny being around tax season. There's always a joke of like,
somebody walking away in handcuffs and this thing, like using chat, should we do by taxes
or whatever, or whatever, like that. Like I trusted it. Like they should know.
Or your car blows up. It's like, I used to, I used to do my car. Your whole agent blows up.
Yeah. So, but do encourage. It's been so much fun having the backyard here doing cool cars with
Chris right here at your place, man. Thanks for having me over. I really appreciate this.
Thanks for coming up. Thanks for, thanks for being a little patient with this,
with the, with the fam and working around that. It's fine, man. Cause I got kids too,
and you know, they're a little older now, but I remember the same deal, you know,
you know, my little, my little guy is like a little devious guy.
He was just waiting for his opportunity to be like, I'm going to, I'm going to be a part of this.
But it's all good. And it's all, it's going to be, it could be worse than me. Gosh,
me could be like squirt with a squirt gun behind the fence or something.
If it was hotter and they were playing with water, that could have definitely been a
podcast fizzles out and it goes up in flames and sparks or whatever. But hey,
if you want to check us out, go to coolcarswithchris.com. Everything you want to know is right
over there. Got links to all my stuff, you know, socials and all the stuff right there on the
interweb, coolcarswithchris.com. And we'll see you on the very next episode.
About this episode
Chris and Courage celebrate Chris’s new (to him) Nissan 370Z, comparing it to Courage’s past Z ownership and diving into what makes the VQ engine so special—sound, revs, and durability. They discuss buying due diligence (pre-purchase inspection, OBD checks, and concerns like clutch slave-cylinder history and drivetrain lash/clunks), plus planned mods: full X-pipe and dual exhaust, a replacement intake filter, and possible future power upgrades. The episode also turns into canyon-car philosophy (manual vs auto, engine size, wheelbase, and balance) and a fun sidebar on mini bikes and gambling/pink-slip racing talk.
Original notes
The Z is BACK… and this time, it’s mine.
In this episode of Cool Cars with Chris, I take a trip up to Temecula to hang out with Courage—and show him my brand new (to me) Nissan 370Z. We take it for a spin, break down first impressions, and get into what it’s really like owning one of the most iconic Japanese sports cars ever made.
But this isn’t just a car reveal…
We dive deep into:
- Real-world 370Z ownership (the good, bad, and unknowns)
- Used sports car buying tips (what to check before you buy)
- The legendary VQ engine—sound, power, and reliability
- Upcoming mods like X-pipe exhaust + full system upgrades
- Cold air intake performance gains (what actually matters)
- Transmission noise & clutch concerns (what to watch for)
- The difference between turbo vs naturally aspirated power
- And a fun debate: what makes the ultimate canyon car?
Plus… we go completely off the rails (in the best way):
- Mini bike rides 🏍️
- Casino stories 🎰
- Racing for pink slips 🏁
Because that’s what car culture is really about—real conversations, real stories, and real cars.
🚗 FOLLOW COOL CARS WITH CHRIS
🌐 Website: https://coolcarswithchris.com/
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoolCarswithChris619
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cool_cars_with_chris619/
🤝 FOLLOW COURAGE
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDriveNDad22
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedrivendad22/
00:00 🔥 I Bought a Nissan 370Z (Big Announcement)
00:31 🚗 Showing the Car + First Reactions with Courage
01:02 🏁 Listener Question: What Is a Canyon Car?
02:20 💰 370Z Pricing: Cheap vs Clean vs Nismo Builds
03:42 🏎️ Nissan Z History & Why It Still Hits Today
06:02 🔧 Exhaust Plans (X-Pipe + Full System Upgrade)
10:56 🔊 VQ Engine Sound, Power & Why It’s Special
14:21 🛠️ Pre-Purchase Inspection (What I Checked Before Buying)
17:19 😬 Clutch Failure Story (What Happened Last Time)
19:05 ⚠️ Transmission Noise + Drivetrain Clunk Talk
22:10 📊 Mileage, Ownership & How I’ll Use This 370Z
23:09 🏍️ Sports Cars vs Motorcycles (Real Talk)
25:29 😂 Mini Bike Ride (Evel Knievel Moment)
28:37 🎰 Casino Stories + Gambling Lessons
33:58 🏁 Racing for Pink Slips?! Street Car Culture Talk
36:03 🚘 Future Plans for the 370Z Build
37:31 ⚡ Turbo vs NA Debate (How Power Feels Different)
40:41 🔥 Cold Air Intake + Real Performance Gains
43:11 🛠️ DIY Mods vs Shop Work (What’s Worth It?)
45:07 🚫 Wild Car Builds (No Hood, No Bumper Trends)
46:00 🌴 California Car Mods & Legal Talk
52:30 🏁 Back to Listener Question: The Ultimate Canyon Car
58:30 🏎️ What Makes a Car Fun on Canyon Roads
01:00:30 🎤 Final Thoughts: Is the 370Z Worth It?
Nissan 370Z review and ownership experience—what it’s really like to buy and drive a used 370Z in 2026. In this episode of Cool Cars with Chris, we break down 370Z mods, VQ engine performance, exhaust upgrades, cold air intake gains, and real-world reliability, including transmission noise and clutch issues. We also compare turbo vs naturally aspirated engines, discuss affordable sports cars, canyon driving performance, and what makes the ultimate canyon car, all while sharing honest car culture insights from a true car enthusiast podcast.
#Nissan370Z #370Z #CarPodcast #CarEnthusiast #SportsCars #CarMods #CarCulture #JDM #Automotive #CoolCarsWithChris #VQEngine #370ZLife #UsedSportsCar #CanyonCar #CarTalk
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