So what did you do this weekend? Did you spend two days under your car? I basically did, well more like 1 day, but it was broken up over an afternoon/evening and then the following morning after I ran to get a new “nut” that I needed to finish things up.

Why was I under the 350z? Well, removing the fun parts of course. I planned to remove the front and rear Hotchkis sway bars, along with the TrueChoice Phase 4 Konis (front) and the off the shelf Koni Sports (rear) along with springs/perches. Though in order to deal with the rear sway bar I also ended up pulling the Injen Super SES exhaust system off the car as well and put the OEM exhaust back on.

Read the whole blog post for the time lapse video

So I experienced something while driving the 350z yesterday that I haven’t experienced in quite a while. Typically the 350z comes with a staggered tire setup, meaning that the front tires are usually a smaller size than the rears. A week or two ago I got some new street tires put on the car, the new tires are “square” meaning the fronts are the same size as the rear.

This actually gives you the ability to rotate the wheels/tires (assuming the wheels are the same size), which can go a long way in making your tires last longer. The old set I had taken off were actually okay in the front, but the rears were bald, being able to rotate could have helped prevent that.

The downfall of having a square setup, at least with a 350z, is that the computer isn’t setup for that, not having the stagger causes the front tires to run at a different speed in relation to the rear tires. This causes the computer to freak out, though most of the time it is fine, where it will freak out is typically when you are accelerating on an onramp.

I had this happen for the first time since some time in 2006 (when I sold my first 350z) last night. It wasn’t a huge shocker, but it was a bit of a surprise. You can avoid the computer issue, but it requires turning off the traction control, something you can’t do when it is activated by the differing speeds. So for now, I will continue to turn off the traction control (tcs) when I get in the car.

I’m curious to see if there are any ways to disable the TCS by default, and only have it turn on when you press the button. That would be extremely useful in autocross as you NEVER want traction control in a 350z enabled when autocrossing.

I don’t have an Autocross event coming up for a couple weeks, but I couldn’t wait, I had to do something to the car.

So here she is, DotNetNuke logos on the front and the back of the 350z.

and

What is DotNetNuke? DotNetNuke is an open source platform for building web sites based on Microsoft .NET technology.

Why would someone put a DotNetNuke logo on their car? This website runs on DotNetNuke. My personal website runs on DotNetNuke, my wife’s site runs on DotNetNuke, my daughter’s website runs on DotNetNuke, SCCAForums.com runs on DotNetNuke. I work for DotNetNuke Corporation. I’ve used DotNetNuke for 8 years now. My life revolves around DotNetNuke, and has for a long time, and hopefully will for a long time as well.

So I found it fitting that I should try to help promote the product in any way I can. That includes putting the logo on my car, front and back. I’ve done it before, on a different car, so why not on my current car!

So what do you think? Am I crazy?

So I’ve been trying for 4+ months now to get some customer service from Injen Systems for the Super SES Exhaust on my Nissan 350z that has a massive leak in it.

Back in August I received a response from Injen

Hi Chris,

Can you send me a picture of your exhaust? I guess we had a few different ones made for that same vehicle and a photo would make it much easier to figure out what part and get you the correct part.

Thank You,

 

I responded with photos of the exhaust and what I needed. I have heard nothing back. I’ve emailed them multiple times, even emailing their tech and info email addresses, but so far I have not received a single response from them since that email quoted above.

I sure wish I could get some help, I actually liked the exhaust on my 350z, but this has to be the worst customer service ever!

UPDATE: I'm glad to say that Injen came through and got me the replacement parts I needed!

So I still have an exhaust leak in the Injen Super SES System on my 2004 Nissan 350z. And I must say, I’m not too happy about it. I blogged about this over a month ago, almost two months now. I actually emailed Injen at the time, and I got a fairly quick response inquiring about photos of the system so they could try to figure out what replacement parts I need.

Since then there has been radio silence. I emailed them the photos, I’ve emailed them since, and have heard nothing back. At this point in time I’m going to have to suggest, if you’re serious about your ride, stay away from Injen Systems. For cold air intakes, exhaust systems, whatever they sell. If this is the customer service they provide I can’t suggest that anyone ever buys a product from them.

*disappointed 350z owner*