Congratulations
on winning July 2013 COTM James! Both yourself and your Nissan Primera P11 GT,
are a very worthy entry in the NPOC Hall Of Fame!! How does it feel bagging
this exclusive award and the awesome COTM trophy as well?
It feels really good. To be honest I
probably don’t post as much information about my car as I should, I never
thought myself or the car had really been noticed. So I am really happy to be
picked.
Before we
talk cars, modifications and mechanics, we’d love to find out about you the
owner. Please tell us about yourself and what you get up to, away from the
NPOC.
My name is James, I am 31 and I live
in Worcestershire with my wife Hannah and my 2 dogs.
I have my own solar panel business
that I have built up over the last 3 years. However I am now looking to go back
to doing what I love and hopefully open a garage in or around Worcester
If you don’t find me in the garage
tinkering with cars or engines, or watching the F1 on TV you will find me on
the riverbank fishing.
How did you
find the NPOC forums and are we any good? Would you happily recommend the club
to other Nissan Primera owners?
I found the NPOC forum years ago, I
can’t remember how exactly but I was probably searching the Internet for some
kind of problem and came across the NPOC. I would definitely recommend the club
to other Primera owners. There is a wealth of knowledge on here and everyone is
very friendly.
What keeps
you coming back to the forums every day?
Probably like a lot of us I am a
member of various car forums and the NPOC is without doubt the friendliest one
of them all. On a lot of the other forums you will get people making harsh
comments or just generally not being very helpful. People are more interested
in making themselves or their car appear better than everyone else. But the
members on here are not like that and just seem very friendly.
What got you
into a Nissan Primera to start with, was it on the list of cars to own, or a
chance encounter?
It was actually a chance encounter. I
was at a car action about 10 years ago and saw a resplendent GT SE Saloon going
through. I wasn’t even really aware of the GT before this. When I got home I
goggled the car, read the reviews and bought a GT hatch the following week.
Do you have a
history with the Nissan Primera brand, or is this your first time?
I have had Primeras on and off for the
last 10 years. Often having different cars in between, but I kept coming back
to a Primera.
Would you say you are a
car modifier, or just passionate about keeping the Primera on the road and
using the opportunity to replace failed factory parts with upgrades?
I am not a serial car modifier but I
do like to keep my cars in tip top health. If I can replace something with an
upgraded part all the better. Any previous cars, you have thrown a
lot of love and money at, in making it “your own”?
Not really. Most of my other cars have
been fairly standard. I have always kept them in good condition but the only
car I have really modified extensively is my current Primera.
On to the
modifications, now would be a great time to tell us all about your gorgeous
Nissan Primera P11 GT! So please list your full spec and all modifications,
inside and out:
OK,
I’ll probably forget something but here goes: -
Engine
K&N
Panel filter in standard air box.
Custom
61mm cold air feed to air box from front fog light.
SS
Exhaust manifold with 2.5” downpipe.
SCE
copper exhaust gaskets.
2.25”
Stainless Steel exhaust system with 3.5” Slash cut Tip.
2.5”
Decat.
Timing
advanced to 17 degrees.
Unorthodox
racing under drive Lightweight Pulleys, (crank and water pump) with new shorter
drive belts.
Nismo
FPR.
Drivetrain
Fidenza
lightweight flywheel.
Modified
Clutch cable bracket (needed due to the fidenza flywheel).
New
Exedy 3 piece clutch kit.
Uprated
Energy Suspension gearshift stabilizer bush.
Silkolene
Sync5 gearbox oil.
Suspension.
BC
Racing 30 way adjustable coilover suspension, with track spec springs.
Cusco
front negative camber arms.
Energy
Suspension sway bar poly bushes (red).
Energy
Suspension sway bar droplink poly bushes
(red).
Energy
Suspension Rear trailing arm poly bushes (red).
Hard
Race rear lateral arm link bushes.
Brakes
Goodridge
Braided brake lines.
Dot
5.1 brake fluid.
Z32
Brake upgrade, 4 pot alloy calipers.
Re-drilled
Z32 brake discs.
EBC
Yellow Stuff brake pads.
Wheels and Tyres
16”
Team dynamics Pro race lightweight alloys with Avon ZV5 tyres.
Standards
16” Enkie wheels with silverstone 595 tarmac rally tyres for track days.
15”
standard alloys for winter use.
Other
HID
Headlights.
Deep
Pile floor mats, with Primera embroidery.
LED
sidelights.
Polished
fuse box covers and PAS cover.
Aero flat wiper blades.
Sony CD MP3 headunit.
What’s the
most enjoyable change you’ve made so far?
That’s a tough one. Probably the BC
Coilovers, they transform it on the track.
Any horror
stories of something you thought was going to be an awesome idea but just
didn’t work when it went onto the car and can now be found in a bin somewhere
LOL??
The first set of HID lights I fitted
lasted about 5 mins, and to be honest the current ones are playing up a bit so
these may be binned as well. I think I might just go back to the standard
lights.
If I gave
£500 right now and told you it had to be spent on the car, what would you buy?
Either Nistune or a Quaife LSD.
If money was
no object and you could do anything you wanted to your Nissan Primera P11 GT,
what would you do?
A full on 99 spec BTCC build.
Do you carry
out most of the repair work / upgrades yourself and is there anything you
wouldn’t take on and out of 1 – 5, what rated spanner monkey do you consider
yourself to be?
With the right tools/facilities there
is nothing I wont take on. I have been involved in cars engines and engineering
since I was a child. If there is something I don’t know how to do I will try to
find out. So I suppose I would have to give myself 5 spanners.
Do you currently have any plans for
further modifications to your Primera?
I am thinking about turning it into a
full racecar and entering some form of competitive motorsport next year.
Time for
the quick fire question round!
What
makes you smile? My wife, my dogs and my car.
What makes you sad?
Not being able to see friends and family
as much as I would like.
Tell us something we don't know about
you.
Your favourite colour?
Silver.
Your lucky number?
12.
What will it say on your gravestone?
Don’t really care, I will be dead.
Your favourite drink (any)?
Belgian beer. Duval or Tripel
Karmeliet.
Your sub £10K second hand dream car would
be?
BMW E46 M3.
If you
could steal the keys to someone else’s car (on NPOC) for 1 day, which car would
you steal and why?
One of the VE engined cars. So probably "Japsniper" or "Sprint"s, so I could take it on track and drive it like I stole
it.
As you have
revealed above already, your GT will soon be transforming into a much more
serious, track orientated car (yay!).. I was wondering whether it was still
going to be “road legal”, so you could drive it anywhere and at anytime, if
not, what’s going to be your daily?
It is fairly track oriented as it is
now. But the plan is to take it off the road soon to convert it into a racecar
for next season. I doubt it will remain road legal though. I have a car trailer
for transporting to and from events.
I will say though that I haven’t 100%
decided to do this yet. It’s going to be a hard decision as there will be no
going back, and it would be a bit of a shame as it is such a sorted road/track
spec car as it is now.
I have got my work van so I wouldn’t
technically need another daily. Not sure if I would get one or not though.
You're another
member, who has so avoided joining us at a club meet. Any reasons why? We don’t
bite (well not that hard) you know.
No not really. I don’t know why but I
have never really showcased my car or myself very much. I just never seem to
have the time these days.
Can you see
yourself owning this car for a long time, or will it’s time sadly come and
you’ll be driving something completely different?
I did half-heartedly try and sell it a
little while ago but I didn’t really put much effort into it, as I didn’t
really want to sell it. Providing I have the space I would like to keep it
forever.
NPOC for life
(regardless of what car you own and drive) or leg it when you change car?
I would love to say for life. But in
all honestly I would probably leg it if I didn’t have a Nissan Primera anymore. But
hopefully this will never happen. Even if I did sell up I will probably just
end up getting another one at some point down the line. So you will never
really get rid of me.
Sum up in a
few words, why everyone should own a Nissan Primera??
They just do everything you need a car
to do. They are great fun to drive but are still comfy and very practical. I
can’t think of any other car on the market at the same price I would rather own
and drive. They just seem to get into your soul, that’s why I have had 5
different Primeras over the years.
Tell Carlos Ghosn why he needs to bring back the Nissan Primera
brand:
I’m not actually sure that would be a
good idea. I think it might end up being a bit of a disappointment in the end.
I just don’t think they would capture the magic of the P10 or P11 ever again.
From 2013 onwards in every COTM feature, my final question to all
winners is going to be this one... If you could change 1 thing about the NPOC
Forums, what would it be and why (and don’t be shy)?
I wouldn’t change much. It is definitely
one of the best car forums on the web. But perhaps add the ability to agree or
disagree with a post.
You often get people asking for advice
and if someone replies with an answer it would be nice to have the ability to
agree or disagree with that answer. It might give the person asking the
question some reassurance that the info is correct or perhaps incorrect.
Many thanks
for telling us all about yourself and your Nissan Primera P11 GT James, you
have a cracking car and watching it evolve, is going to be interesting!
Congratulations once again for winning Car Of The Month for July 2013! Please
end this feature, in your own words and feel free to thank anyone who’s made
this one possible.
Thank you very much for picking me and
my car for the feature, it has been a real pleasure telling you about my car
and myself. There isn’t really any one person I need to thank but rather the
club as a whole. In the early days when I needed advice on anything Primera I
always managed to find the answer on the NPOC. The club is a great resource and
I hope it lives forever.
Congratulations once again to James!
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