BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

PM'd

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

I have the Stillen exhaust with Hotchkis sways, and I have no rattling issues. I do wish the sways were more stiff though. Maybe should have gone with 350evos.

Eibach springs were nice on the street, scary on the track.

Kinetix a-arms were scary. No cotter pin and no conical bearing. Maybe okay if you just want to correct for lowering, but no good IMHO if you are going to track the car. I now have Cuscos, and these are fine.

JWT pop-charger, Stillen exhaust and Crawford cast plenum has netted me 260whp with no other engine mods. Great combo. The plenum was the single most noticeable hp mod. The JWT pop-charger along with the Stillen exhaust makes the car sound awesome at high rpm.

I bought a cheapo grounding kit the first time and felt nothing. Late bought a 4 guage kit and actually noticed something.

B&M shifter does make noise and is harder to shift than stock, but I have gotten use to it and the shift from 1st to 2nd I never miss now (used to often miss at high rpm using stock shifter). But now, 4th to 5th is more easy to miss and the reverse lockout just does not work at all (need to be careful going from 5th to 6th, though I have never missed that one). Why can't Nissan make a tranny that shifts as well as a Honda or a Mazda? Switching to Red Line fluid has made the shifting easier though, and I hardly ever miss a shift now.

QUESTION: Is it worth it to install headers and test pipes? If I can get 20 more hp from these, I'll do it. If not, it's not worth the expense.

AParshall04

iTrader: (6)

Can't go wrong with lighter and wider rims with grippier tires!

BlackSpec02

iTrader: (17)

Are these solid? I think I want the MOST stiff Hollow sways... hoping the acheive the best of both worlds... lighter weight and stiff.

jreiter

iTrader: (6)

Mods I regret:

Nismo exhaust with high flow cats. Exhaust looked and sounded fantastic with the high flow cats. However, that combo droned way too much on the freeway. (Yeah yeah, I guess I'm overly sensitive to droning.) Made long road trips completely unenjoyable for me. After trying many different combinations and spending too much money, I ended up with the stock exhaust and high flow cats. Still sounds good at full throttle, and has zero droning on the freeway. I wish I had just done that to begin with.

Nismo CAI. Sucked up water during a hard rain (even with the bypass piece installed). Didn't damage my engine, but killed the MAF and made me walk a few blocks back to my house in the rain since the car was dead until I could dry the MAF out. Got rid of it after that and went to a Popcharger.

Aftermarket nav system. My nav install is actually very clean, very well done, looks virtually stock, and functions great. However, the parts and install costs came out to be as much as the stock nav option would've been, and there's really no advantage to the aftermarket unit to be honest. I'd just go with a stock nav if I could do it again. Then I'd have buttons on the dash right below the screen (rather than an annoying remote control like I have with the aftermarket unit).

Lightweight flywheel... sort of. This is a tricky one. I *love* the performance, but *hate* the noise. Sounds like the tranny is broken while idling (people sometimes stare), and sounds terrible when giving the car any throttle below 2500 rpm. The responsiveness is just so nice, though. Rev matching is much faster and easier for better downshifts. I go back and forth on this one constantly: Should I go back to stock or not? Having a mod which makes you mentally dither like that can be frustrating.


Mods I love:

Nismo rims with 255/275 tire combo. Absolutely fantastic look on this car, and the handling, grip, and balance was improved greatly. Not one single gripe at all about this mod. Perfect, 100%. It was also great to get rid of those terrible stock tires that come on the car from the factory. Blech.

JWT Popcharger. I don't believe it actually does anything for performance with the hood closed (since it's sucking in all that hot engine air), but it sure sounds incredible at full throttle. That sound makes it all worth it.

Koni shocks. Serious improvement in ride and handling. Much better than the stock shocks, hands down. Combined with my RSR springs, the handling (and even the ride comfort, believe it or not) is so much better than stock it's just silly. The RSR springs are a bit too low for my tastes, but not too bad. The handling gains outweigh the annoyance of scraping on the occasional speed bump.

Stillen engine torque damper. Pain to install, but the reduction in engine movement was a very welcomed and noticeable result. The engine still rocks a bit, but the torque damper definitely helped. Great mod.

jreiter

iTrader: (6)

Turning down the input gain doesn't actually affect the power output of the amp. It just allows you to take a very hot input voltage (from today's head units with high voltage outputs) and reduce that voltage to something safe for the input circuitry and amp section of the amplifier. Turning up the output voltage on your headunit and turning down the input gains on your amp is actually a good thing to do, as it reduces the effect of noise injected into the signal cable between them. However, if you previously had the input gain on the sub amp turned up high then had to turn it down because it started sounding weird, then yeah, something probably fried somehow.

But anyway, I digress. Sorry to get off topic from the thread here.

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

The Hotchkis sways are hollow. I did finally add the collars, but not sure I could really tell much difference. I believe that the 350evo sways are solid (maybe that's why they might be a little stiffer, though the numbers quoted for stiffness don't bear this out).

Blake350z

iTrader: (3)

Someone said there Kinetix plenum melted? How? I love the way the kinetix res. test pipes sound with the injen exhaust and plenum. Louder is better i think. Its only loud after like 4k rpms.

Only thing i would change is that N/A isnt worth the cash for the performance factor if you want major gains. 20-30whp is what you'll get with basic bolt ons.

Blake350z

iTrader: (3)

Would be sad to see if some of you guys get a viper someday and put exhaust/headers on it then you'll HEAR loud.

jamnew

Just absolutely a great thread! Thanks to all you guys with such great experience for posting You can't help but learn with this kind of advice. this is why MY350Z is the best

AParshall04

iTrader: (6)

The sub itself makes a weird humming/rattling noise if it's given power is what it came down to.

G35audioman

iTrader: (3)

I had a set of Ro-Ja R2-5 wheels on my car at one point. The offset was off on them and they just didn't flow well with the car imo. I ended up selling them less than a month later for my PIAA rozza's.

gringott

iTrader: (17)

Did I mention the B&M shifter?

CTBZR

Zero Regrets...!

vantage350z

iTrader: (9)

One Regret.. see for yourself........

Robert_K

iTrader: (25)

Ouch!!!

frankmusic

iTrader: (1)

Yes, I would definitely say that is one MAJOR regret alright.

I hope you were able to get some type compensation for that dilemma.

It sure ain't something you'd ever see in a mag ad for KINETIX!

SandMan

here is my story:


I had a bad feeling when I ordered the INGS +1 Hybrid Full bumper kit for the Z. I had nightmares of overspray, damaged rims, ****ing up my bumpers on speed bumps and potholes. But I never imagined what actually happened. I bought the kit from Peformance motorsport (Westbury, NY), it took 3 months to get, that was understandable. Once I got the kit Andrew Rubio told me they had to charge me extra because of frieght charges, they had to send it by truck. But I noticed on the box it was shipped by air and was in JFK. I didn’t know JFK flew trucks around. And I thought the price was final, I guess not. Hidden fees start to begin to show up, plus they tax these hidden fees. Ok whatever I am not complaining I got my kit.

Now I need it to get painted. I went with the place the Rubios owned, Performance Autobody in Smithtown, NY. I am guessing that since they own it they will know exactly what is going on in there. The guy in charge Oscar Rubio said he personally will keep an eye on it. So I feel less anxious, ok the boss will keep an eye on it, should be immaculate. They charge me $2500 dollars for the job, I am expecting show quality work. They even told me they will put their best guy on the job, the guy who did the paint on their Pro Car. They told me it would take a week, ok no problem I can deal with a week. The week goes by and I call to pick up. They told me they were “massaging the kit on” and needed more time for the “TLC” they were giving it. Ok no problem I won’t rush work, I give them another week. The time comes for me to pick up the car. The exhaust wasn’t mounted on the car, they told me the angled tips wouldn’t fit the kit. Ok no problem I will see what Performance motorsport can do to fix it. The rear bumper was uneven, they told me they didn’t mount the brackets because they didn’t want to mess it up before the exhaust went back on. That is total bull**** because it was mounted on an uneven bracket they made. The paintjob was hard to see because the rain on the car. But once I got it back home I checked the paint again. The whole kit was a couple shades lighter and lumpier than burnt homemade gravy. They gave me the excuse that it was the kits fault because the molding is bad. Yeah, a $3000 kit is to be at fault because of their “****ty molding”. The original paintjob was chipped in a bunch of places with hairline scratched all over. How is it I go get a kit put on and end up with more damage than when I went in?

Ok I went to Performance motorsport to get the exhaust put on. This is the Injen SES angled tip exhaust I had before the kit was bought. Vinny Ten told me they will cut the piping and refabricate it. Ok I left my car with them for a week. Come back and the exhaust is put on the same way I had it before the kit was put on. Not only that but the paint was chipped where the exhaust was touching the kit. I was like what the ****? And not only that, they wanted to charge me for the work the bodyshop should have done in the beginning. Ok can we get a lil bit lazier? I argued with them and they dropped the cost. I drove the car back to my house, and my brother looked at the kit and told me my paint melted off the rear bumper where the exhaust was pointing at. WHAT THE HELL, ok do their lazy shortcut backfired on them. The paint just blew off in sheets. It looked like total ****. I had to drive around like that for 2 weeks. I spoke with Nick, their secretary, I told him I needed them to fix what they caused. He wasn’t being cooperative, they were racing so they couldn’t take me in. I was furious to be the least, but I lost it when Nick told me “The race team comes first and customers come second.” I lost my temper and started to get loud. (Why have a speedshop when customers come second? Why not just stick with racing?) Who is this secretary to tell me this? I was a customer of Peformance motorsport 2 years before this clown even stepped foot in to work for them. I was their first customer and I am now treated like a second hand *****. I went to the shop myself and explained myself to Vinny and how Nick told me “The race team comes first and customers second.” I finally got them to take me in, they said they would fabricate it for real this time. I left the car there for a few days.

I call to pick up my car, Nick picks up (hmm he still has his job there?) and tells me I have to come to the shop RIGHT AWAY. I felt sick to my stomach, and I felt sick the whole drive there. Vinny tells me “Ok we will include me in the decision making process now.” WHAT?? OH thanks SOOO MUCH to include me in the decision making process now. He told me they tried to put a heat shield on the bumper. Once they used the rivot gun to put it on, the bumper just cracked and were full of holes. Wait, why the hell did you try and put a heat shield on without my say? Frankie (mechanic) told me “he tried to put on the heatshield on then thought to himself wait the exhaust pointing at the heatshield would melt the paint and cause more paint to melt.” Ok, after your put 5 craters on my bumper did you think of this. I always thought good mechanics measured twice and cut once. Wow everything that could go wrong DID go wrong. I went to a new body shop they dropped it off at. I was ready to kill someone when I saw what they did. I have pictures of it but its kind of crappy because it’s a cell phone picture. Ok here is where my part of “decision making comes in.” Frankie tells me ok what they have planned is to keep my Injen SES on there and refabricate the bumper and charge me for it. I was like, OH hell no, I will end up with a bumper in 20 different pieces. I told them to put my STOCK exhaust on and just cover up the holes. At least Vinny took care of the cost of the repaint. The repaint was not too bad, althought the paint feels like sandpaper. At least the holes were covered up. I just didn’t want them to **** it up even more than they already ****ed it up. Now I am with less horsepower because I had to go back to stock exhaust. And now I am with a $3000 bodykit and $2500 dollar paint job, and it looks like I spent a total of $500 on a replica with a paintjob a 5 year old put on.

Performance Autobody and Performance motorsport lost their faithful customer, their first customer they had. I am just so angry how they half assed everything and wanted top dollar for it. What is a customer to do when they are not top priority? I think my gut feeling in the beginning was right, something was going to go wrong. Wait no EVERYTHING is going to go wrong. I am now looking to sell my Injen and maybe invest in a new exhaust system. I just had to get this off my chest, it hurts me everytime I look at my Z and see a botched operation. It’s like looking at a model who had Texas chainsaw as her plastic surgeon. Such a pity.

frankmusic

iTrader: (1)

Man, I'm sorry to hear that you got so very SCREWED on your long anticipated purchase.
Unfortunately your nightmare really became a reality.

They're were lucky that you didn't return armed. I actually thought your ride looked great with what you had. AND - I do remember your interesting window tint. (We had met a while ago in Huntington, NY on a VERY VERY cold day)

SandMan

Hey how is everything? I remember that meet, how could i forget freezing my nuts off with a bunch of car guys lol.

Yeah I guess i should have just gone with FI instead of a body kit. But who knows maybe with my luck my engine would have blown. Good hearing from ya, maybe we can check out some local meets, the weather is getting cold so it will be like last time.