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April 2015 - p11primeragt

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    Posted: 21 Mar 2015 at 3:48pm

Congratulations on winning April 2015 MOTM Brian! How does it feel to be our exclusive Member Of The Month and having your name up in lights?

I never thought I would ever be selected for MOTM, so it was a major surprise when I got the Private Message on the forums letting me know! When I first got the PM from Shaun (essNchill) and saw all the text and words, I instantly thought "what have I done wrong now?" LOL! It feels great being selected for MOTM!

We’d love to find out about you the person. Please tell us about yourself and what you get up to, away from the NPOC.

Well I am 25 years young, I’m from Kendal (Cumbria) originally and I moved to the North East with my parents when I was little many years ago, for family reasons.

I currently work as a valeter for a used car dealer (80 plus cars) and I also look after the car pitch from time to time, other parts of my job include collection and delivery of the cars to the customers - This is the best part of the job for me!!

Before that I worked for a short time at a small backstreet garage as an apprentice mechanic but due to the owner at the time going bankrupt, nothing ever developed and I lost interest after that. I did however get my Mechanics City and Guilds certificates that I completed at college, over a period of 2 years.

I also manage to run a little business from home growing and selling plants online. Yes plants and not that kind either LOL, these are fruit and veg etc. I've been doing this for the past few years as a little part time earner and I even built a greenhouse to improve everything!! This wasn’t really something that I planned to do but seeing my Dad growing stuff over the years must have set me off!

My hobbies include playing football, I used to be on the team at school! I love driving, I regularly go back to the Lake District and cover most of the Yorkshire Moors and surrounding areas often. I also like tinkering with old cars and listening to music puts me in a good mood.

I have a labrador called Bruno and he's 9 years old, had him since a little puppy too.

I know it’s been a while now but can you remember how you found the NPOC forums and are we any good? Would you happily recommend the club to other Nissan Primera owners?

To be honest I can’t remember how I came across NPOC but I think it was just by chance, looking up something about the Primera when I first got it and something must have popped up in a search engine. Is NPOC is any good? Well I’ll let the people decide that are reading this... I did not hesitate to sign up as an Elite Member once I found NPOC and I’m still here 4 years on and still as an Elite Member! I would recommend NPOC to anybody who owns a Nissan Primera for sure!

So you’ve racked up 4 years of NPOC Membership now - Well done! What keeps you coming back and signing in every day here?

Simple, the members and Staff Team are so friendly, the NPOC forum is one of the best around and mainly because of my love for the Primera, these are the reasons to why I log in every day.

You’re an Elite Member here (our highest level of paying membership and respect to you too)!! Are you still getting value for money with that? And please sell us the reason, why everyone should become Elite.

Elite membership is a must! I mean for the little extra it costs, it's so worth it to gain access to all the forum sections and then to reap the discounts at the events the club attends.

Now we’ve already had a brief chat about your previous cars and cutting to the chase, you haven’t had any! So I’m curious.. How did you get around until you got your 1st car?

Well thankfully my Dad used to ferry me about, to school every day and then college or to my mates houses etc but when I passed my driving test (17 nearly 18), I got insured for the GT. At the time it was my Dad’s car, in fact he only owned it for a couple of months before me but with my Dad being the main driver and him having so many years no claims and experience, this helped to lower the insurance a fair bit for me, however as you could imagine it was still a fair bit as a 17 year old LOL! But I had already made my mind up that I was going to drive it at all costs! Thankfully after getting my first years insurance out of the way, the cost for the second year was lowered a fair bit!

Thankfully you now have 2 cars on the go and on your drive.. The gorgeous Ginger P11 GT and at the end of last year, you snapped up a bargain N16 too. So before we get into the GT, let’s find out about your N16 Almera. Why did you buy it, when you already had the GT?

I was not planning on buying another car and I just happened to be looking on eBay and noticed an N16 Almera up for grabs with 10 minutes to go, the location was nearby also, so I decided to bid and I won!  Plus I've always like the look of them too and with it being a Nissan, I thought it would make a nice little project and it would let me take the GT off the road if needed for repairs.

What’s been done to the Almera in the few months you’ve owned it and what’s the actual game plan for it? Oh and let’s see some piccies whilst we’re here too.

Timing chain replaced, including seals.

New sump pan fitted.

Full front rad support replaced.

New radio fitted.

Full exhaust system fitted.

Key fob repaired.

New crank and cam sensors fitted.

New engine rad and air condenser rad fitted.

New belts fitted.

Interior cleaned up.

New front and rear brake disks & pads fitted.

New wheels plus new wheel nuts fitted.

New rear engine mount fitted.

The plan for the car is to get it 100% fault free and make it a nice little refined driver.

So bringing us back to your Nissan Primera.. What got you into a Nissan Primera to start with, was it on the list of cars to own back in the day, or a chance encounter?

Definitely a chance encounter! I noticed it for sale down a back street (and at the time my Dad was on the lookout for a car). As I was passing by, the colour attracted me to it so I mentioned it to my Dad and so we decided to have a look around it. Then had a little test drive and loved everything about it. It had about 90k on the clocks at the time cost just £500 with a year's MOT - Win!

All this talk about the Primeras, let’s find out more about yours please matey! Let’s see some photos of your Ginger P11 GT and tell us all about the spec and all the goodies she has:

Cosmetic parts include:

P11 144 interior chrome vents.

JDM headlights.

Clear rear lights.

Chrome door handles.

Stainless sill protectors.

Plasma dials.

Sport pedals.

Carbon fiber dash surround.

Re-trimmed interior seats.

NPOC stickers.

Primera mud flaps.

17” Team Dynamic alloys, black with chrome lip.

Painted calipers.

Bigger wiper washer jets.

D1 spec radiator cap.

Custom oil cap.

Etech engine brace.

Power coated engine rocker cover.

Stainless inner clock surround with chrome rings.

N15 Almera gearstick gaiter.

Front wind deflectors.

Tinted rear windows.

Gold painted heater control knobs.

Seat Cupra bumper lip (to be fitted).

Performance / Upgrade parts include:

S3r camshafts.

Unorthodox lightweight underdrive pulley.

XTD flywheel.

FUJITSUBO exhaust manifold & downpipe.

2.5” catback system with 4” slash cut exit.

WAI system with Apexi filter.

Magnecor HT leads.

Custom air intake heat shield.

S14 200SX 4 pot caliper's at the front.

Drilled and grooved brake disks all round with braided hose lines.

Rear saloon GT strut brace.

Air con system removed.

Nissan Primera P10 wiper spindles fitted.

All the following have been poly bushed: Front and rear engine mounts, all exhaust hangers, rear trailing arms, lateral link, ARB mounts, ARB drop link bushes, gearstick rod and steering rack mounts,.

I’m sure there's plenty more but I can’t remember without looking!

What’s your favourite thing / part about the GT?

The go and the looks, the GT feels so safe at high speeds compared to many and the SR20 engine is about as reliable as it gets!

Whilst the GT looks great and continues to clock up the miles, I know that you probably still have a load of cool parts to fit (don’t we all haha)! So what’s left on the list for this one, until you can finally say “Yay, she’s done!”?

SR16VE pistons with bigger spec cams for even more grunt would be nice and fit an even lighter flywheel and then Nistune to finish off the engine side of things. Maybe a set of JDM foggies and a bigger rear brake disk conversion, that’s about it apart, from a full respray to make her near mint again.

So imagine this.. Money is no object and you can build yaself the ultimate Nissan Primera, you can do anything you want here Brian – What would you create?

The only things I would do is to drop in a lot more powerful engine, something like a SR20VET would be nice and then mate it up with a six speed gearbox of some sort, that would be an awesome Primera!

One of the things I like about you, is your passion for keeping your Nissan Primera on the road and going, you’re very hands on with maintenance and repairs. What would be the final straw, to see you and the car part company?

I think the one and only thing that would stop me from keeping the GT going, is if it was ever involved in an accident and major damage was done, at that point I would call it a day and start to look out for mint low mileage GT’s.

Is there anything you’d never take on or attempt, when it comes to car mechanics or repairs and what’s your spanner rating from 1 - 5?

I will rate myself a 4 on that one, based on just the pure mechanical side of things but I really need to practice on my welding and electrical stuff. But anything and I mean anything mechanical, I would attempt to do for sure!

Time for the quick fire question round!

What makes you smile?

Being selected for MOTM!  

What makes you sad?

Animal cruelty and bad drivers.

Tell us something we don't know about you..

I've never been in an airplane.

Your favourite colour?

Blue.

Your lucky number?

69.

What will it say on your gravestone?

It was always going to happen.

Your favourite drink (any)?

Tea.

Your sub £10K second hand dream car would be?

Off the top of my head.. A 300zx twin turbo.

Your sub £30K second hand dream car would be?

Top spec Jaguar XF.

If you could steal the keys to someone else’s car (on NPOC) for 1 day, which car would you steal and why?

Hmm hard one... But it would have to be Dave’s (trigg51) Ginger P11 GT, based on the fact it's such a great example of a standard GT, with super low miles and in the best colour too (in my opinion)! Here's a piccy of Dave's gorgeous P11 GT:

You’re a regular at the North East Regional Club Meets but we’ve never seen you at any other Club Meet sadly! When are we all going to get to meet you and the car finally? We’d love to see you at one of the big National Car Meets.

Like I’ve said in the past to the people who have asked me this question, work really does takes up all my time. I'd love to come along to one of the big National Meets to meet you all - When the chance does come eventually, I will get to one! 

Tell everyone who has never come out and joined us at a Club Meet, why they should...

It's great to put names to faces and possibly make good friends too!

You recently became the most “Thanked” NPOC member, overtaking my good self. I’ll add another “thanks” to that figure, you go out of your way to help out anyone and everyone on the forums and I appreciate this. Are you naturally someone who wants to help where you can?

Yes, the way I see it is that we’re all in the same boat here, so I try to help when and where I can. Many members have helped me in the past, so I like to return the favour where possible.

So 4 years of NPOC membership Brian, is there a defining club memory in that lot somewhere?

It's got to be being selected for MOTM!

NPOC for life (regardless of what car you own and drive) or leg it when you change car?

NPOC for life without question, whatever the car I own!

Tell Carlos Ghosn why he needs to bring back the Nissan Primera brand:

Nissan needs to go back to the basics – Meaning producing a driver’s car instead of being full of gadgets that takes away the driving experience. They need to make something to complete with today’s market such as the Mondeo. It would be great to see a new Nissan Primera with a more powerful engine and have great looks to boot.

If I say Nistune right now and give you a chance to reply LOL.. This will hopefully avoid all the comments when your feature goes live, about Nistune! So… Nistune?

As everyone knows I’ve been planning on getting Nistune for the past year LOL... But there's always been something in the way it seems, like either being too busy with work to set a date and with the location being miles away from my area, it's a right pain in the arse but like I’ve said, I might fit some bigger spec cams first, then get Nistune. Hopefully done this year anyway!

Member Of The Month is all about highlighting the unsung / unknown heroes around this club and also their cars, should they be driving a Nissan Primera. You’ve been here for years now and as well as owning a lovely Ginger GT, you are always on hand to offer help and advice to all members, regardless of whether they do or don’t pay for membership - Thank you Brian! With my thanks out of the way, it’s over to you to see us out.. Congratulations once again for winning Member Of The Month for April 2015! Please end this feature, in your own words and feel free to thank anyone who’s made this one possible.

I'd like to thank all the Staff Team and Club Owners for making the Forum what it is today, without you guys, there would be no NPOC!!! 

I'd also like to thank Chris (Geordie) for always organising the North East meets.

And lastly I’d like to thank all the people who have helped me out in past by sending parts that I've needed, or offering help elsewhere - It's appreciated!

Congratulations once again to Brian!

April 2015 MOTM - p11primeragt

Written by essNchill

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