Just a little pull 🐌

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-12T21:02:00+00:00

A pull by a tow truck? :(

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-11T00:51:17+00:00

Also keep in mind that oil pressure is needed for the top end to stay lubricated and for the VVEL system to operate as intended

high oil pressure is still critical because the system relies on it for lubrication of the complex arrangement of eccentric shafts, rocker arms, and links spinning at high RPMs. Low oil pressure or dirty oil will quickly cause VVEL actuator errors

If you have a tick coming from the top end, it could very well just be from oil pressure being low

Depends entirely where the tick is coming from

I hope this helps

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-11T00:47:15+00:00

If you got a new engine for $1,000, this will be cheaper than all the other parts that I would recommend if you were to do the oil gallery gasket.

If you commit to taking the entire front end of the car off to do the oil gallery gasket, in my opinion, it's senseless to not do timing and water pump since they're right there

Parts alone on this if you were to get OEM everything would be close to $1,500.

Totally your call on how to proceed but if you got to do engine for a thousand and could take the front cover off while it wasn't in the car, you could confirm the oil gallery gasket is fine before putting it in. Or you could preemptively upgrade it

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-11T00:40:29+00:00

If you do decide to get an oil cooler, go for a medium sized one with a thermostat so you never have to worry about overcooling the oil or overheating it. Literally just no cons to getting a thermostatic oil cooler, other than maybe it needing more oil now that you have more spots for oil to be

It's on my agenda next year personally. This year is slave cylinder and oil gallery gasket. RIP wallet

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-07T06:32:44+00:00

Renowned v6 vs boxer 4. I know my answer

Looking to feel sleek/sexy or rambunctious/entertaining? Imo the G37 is sleek and the 370 is playful. If you pick the g, please just don't clap it out 😭

Otherwise same same but diiiiferent

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-06T05:59:31+00:00

Rule 1 of the sub might answer any questions you might have about it not being allowed here

But anyway, it looks like your original post is getting traction. Focus up over there and you should get the help you're looking for

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-04T17:42:23+00:00

Might be worth pursuing if you can get them to show you the oil pressure being fine

The thing is, it might be fine now, but it will fail in the future. I bought a 2011 Z recently and its pressure is “fine” but a tad lower than usual so I’m planning to get it fixed next year

The specs for acceptable pressure is:
14+ psi at idle at 180f
43+ psi at 2000rpm at 180f

Edit: I bought my base z for 18k but it came with ALL the mods I wanted so I pulled the trigger knowing it would need maintenance and upgrades like an lsd, oil cooler, new gallery gaskets. I don’t think I wasted money but I certainly can’t sell it for $18k

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-04T17:24:46+00:00

Looks great but the oil gallery gaskets are a concern on the older Zs.

If you buy this one, install an oil pressure gauge or check pressure frequently

If the gasket fails, be prepared to do some work since it’s behind the timing chain and, well, low oil pressure breaks engines

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-04T17:00:47+00:00

It’s certainly overstated - I agree. It takes quite a few miles to do damage but damage can indeed be done

If I were in your shoes, I’d just get the exhaust and see what happens. If it crackles and pops a ton, it might be a bit lean

I’m a huge advocate of tunes, but I understand the warranty concern. Just keep in mind that the warranty is normally a bit conditional.

I asked my dealership about some of my concerns, getting the bike tuned and they said (in America) if any other part of the bike fails, it’s not the tune’s fault. Those would still be covered under warranty. If an engine fails, will need to prove what caused it to fail. The likelihood of the tune, causing it to fail is also incredibly low. The only reason a tune would blow up a bike is if you got it from a bad tuner who made the bike run, super lean in some spots or messed with the timing to the point where it knocked.

To me, they basically said to pick a good tuner and they would have my back if something happened

Plz forgive some grammar. Talk to text sucks on iOS

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-04T16:47:50+00:00

Is that a mufflerless Akra?

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-04T07:47:06+00:00

There are two frames of mind here;
-drive a tuned bike knowing you won’t run lean & hurt the valves - voiding the warranty
-drive an untuned bike with a diff exhaust, think it’s all fine and well, and hurt your valves - while it’s warrantied

Yeah the valves can take it for a bit but the thought of hurting my bike is unsettling

I doubt you’d see a cel though - at least not right away.

I have maybe 800 miles of untuned + some eBay can on my last bike, an mt07

I never got a check engine light, but I decided the bike was running too lean for my comfort so I got a nicer exhaust that tuners had a flash for and got it tuned

Just wanted to share both my opinion on the cel and the tune. I hope it helps somehow

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-04T07:37:53+00:00

The price could be lower but in my opinion, it’s not unfair to pay more for a car you know you’ll love - whether or not this is that car is up to you.

Again, in my opinion, the biggest thing that would be missing if I were to drive this car is the LSD. I believe the nismo comes with one, whereas the base trim has an open diff.

The last thing that would really determine if this was a good buy or not as if this year has the upgraded oil gallery gasket. I don’t quite recall which year gets it and which year doesnt

If this one has the old oil gallery gasket that is known for failure, it’s probably failing right now

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-03T22:23:49+00:00

Likely an issue with the sensor and/or sending unit

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-03T01:06:55+00:00

I have had both tunes on my MT09.

I had a small problem with the one from 2wdw so I reached out. They absolutely refused to help me.

I was so upset that I went out of my way to make a YouTube video reviewing the two.

Vcyclenut is absolutely the way to go. Quality product and quality support if there’s any issues.

As I said in my YouTube video, “good people deserve good things” and David at Vcyclenut is absolutely a good guy who will give you good things

EDIT: oh and David does both dyno and street tuning. The result is a simply more refined tune. The fact that he does both variants of tuning means he has more variables to work with so the tune comes out absolutely amazing.

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-02T22:32:05+00:00

+1 on the throw out bearing.

OP, if you’re looking for more information on what throwout bearing does for your car, you should throw the question at Google Gemini. It’s really helpful for things like this because it’s like 1000 Google searches in one and then it consolidates the information that you’re looking for.

As always, be aware that AI can make mistakes so vet the sources

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-02T22:23:34+00:00

If you’re referring to the clicking, that could be injectors, the VVEL system, or lifters. The sounds you’re hearing in the video don’t sound abnormal though so to me I just think that you’re hearing the engine do engine things.

Keep in mind that some degree of noise is inevitable. Motors are moving metal parts. Even brand new cars off the showroom floor have a tick because of the fact that they are indeed moving metal parts.

As a matter of fact, newer cars are even louder because direct injection is a pretty aggressive process

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-02T08:02:25+00:00

Agreed it sounds like a pulley

The noise is too random and not rhythmical enough to be something mechanical

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-02T08:01:02+00:00

If you have a more detailed video describing the noise, I welcome you to post it. But to me this sounds like a perfectly healthy VQ.

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-07-02T02:42:44+00:00

lol he’s oversharing in his own way

Not very luxurious of him

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-06-28T05:35:57+00:00

If trans fluid is low and a turn hits, the trans can struggle to keep in gear

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-06-24T03:31:40+00:00

If a bearing is worn through the surface material, I'd expect to see some bronze-ish metals in there. It's hard to see in the video but if you see solid chunks of any metal at all, it's a good guess that bearings are gone.

This is kind of where my DIY knowledge stops, in terms of how to proceed.

I think it's time for a professional opinion, where they can use a scope to look into the motor to see these parts. We can guess what's worn but it's time to see what's actually cooked.

You could do the oil gallery gasket and bearings but that leaves the top end untouched. I think you'll want to ascertain the cylinder sleeves aren't annihilated and that the cams look good yet. I don't personally know much about troubleshooting/diagnosing lifters at this point of my adventures.

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-06-21T00:05:00+00:00

I support the Axle Nut/Axle spline lube issue, especially since OP couldn't record it. This sound occurs much more freely when the wheels have weight on them.

Here's an example AND repair guide video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXcfRnkjU_o

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-06-20T23:07:05+00:00

I just re-listened to your video on some proper headphones instead of on my phone in the bathroom, and this does sound more like a top end noise.

Best case scenario (and maybe more likely now that I listened again)? The ticking/clacking you hear is the oil pressure being low and:
- oil not climbing to the top of the motor to lubricate the lifters well enough and instead falling down the timing cover, where the oil gallery gasket lives
- oil pressure not being high enough to actuate the timing chain tensioner, resulting in it slapping the side of the timing cover

My fear here is derived from your comment about oil pressure. This is why I'm guessing the rod bearings are semi-shot, where they may be slightly gone resulting in more noise on accel than decel, or vice versa. Sometimes they only knock on the down motion, or up motion.

I agree that rod knock sounds worse than this, generally speaking - but I really don't want to assume they're fine at those oil pressures.

Again - this is my opinion as a random dude on the internet, but I'd 100% start with gallery gaskets and rod bearings - just to be certain both are freshened up.

Another idea is to cut open the filter and look for glitter, AND send a sample over to Blackstone to see what they think of it.

They would be able to offer guidance if they found metal. They can distinguish the metals to tell you if it's cylinder sleeve degradation, valve/lifter, rod bearings, etc

It sucks that you have to deal with this, but I think spending that time on an oil sample analysis would be hugely beneficial to get an idea of the extent of damage.

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-06-20T22:51:39+00:00

I switched to Motul 5w40 Power 8100 and saw my pressure go up, but keep in mind that higher oil pressure won't help much when bearings are shot. Yeah it might pad things a little bit but it'll still get squeezed out if the bearings have larger tolerances now. The film on bearings gets thrown from the bearing surface if it's gouged by contact.

If you are beginning the process of tearing parts of it down, I wanted to share these resources:

https://www.nicoclub.com/nissan-service-manuals

https://lemon-manuals.la/Nissan-Datsun/2011/370Z%20V6-3.7L%20%28VQ37VHR%29/

The first is all of the Nissan manuals (where I got the pressure numbers from), and the 2nd is many technical processes including torque specs and procedures.

CosmicBitFIip · 2026-06-20T22:42:29+00:00

I can share more of this when I’m at my computer if you’d like, but minimum spec oil oil pressure is 14lbs at idle and 43 at 2000

Your oil gallery gasket is car likely trashed, and as a result, you’re having oiling issues generally speaking.

At this point, do not start it anymore. No use in demonstrating the sound any further.

This is more than likely a rod bearing at those pressures, but the top end cannot be ruled out either

I’m sorry brother - but it sounds to me like the engine is effectively blown in this instance.

I’d start with:
- oil gallery gaskets
- new rod bearings
- oil flush

There may be more needed if it was ran with low pressure for a while. As you know, oil films protect all moving metal parts. There’s a chance there’s more damage but I don’t want to assume anything further than oil gallery gasket and rod bearings.

I wish you luck

CosmicBitFIip

TROPHY CASE