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2003-2009 Nissan 350Z

anyone read SCC ?

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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 05:22 PM
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Default anyone read SCC ?

This is the only article I am aware of that I have not read. I saw it in the store and noticed they changed the muffler and actually got less HP. Is this true? Can someone please give an overview?

BTW I think the acceleration times are getting worse as we go along. I'm starting to get a little depressed. Can someone please get a 1/4 mile time less than 14 sec? (I am not counting 13.94 sec because that sounds like 14 sec to me)
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 05:50 PM
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Maybe SCC can't launch a RWD car. How could they when all they focus on is FWD rice. I'm suprised they didn't put a HUGE wing on it plus a fart pipe and call it a day.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 06:00 PM
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This is what they say in conclusion
"We know now, for example, that Nissan has delivered a piece of hardware that can be easily be made into a giant-killing track machine. We also learned that they didn't screw around with the engine. The simple stuff, like the muffler and the intake, were pretty well done from the factory. There will be gains to be had there, but nothing huge. Simple tricks with ignition timing probably won't yield much either, as this car appeared to be visiting the knock sensor even in stock tune. Handling is easy and stopping shouldn't be much work."

It'll be a year or two before i do any performance mods so i'm not really worried. That is plenty of development time.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 06:15 PM
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Default Don't forget they read the power as 244hp

I'm not sure if they were quoting RWHP or crank but it just didn't sound right to me.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 06:16 PM
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I was happy to hear Raceboy give his review of how the car was balanced in the twisties... he mentioned that the stock suspension was great, however, a larger rear sway bar would help get the rear end out easier...
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 07:15 PM
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ay droidekaus,

you ever actually read SCC? or do you just stereotype it with all the other import enthusiast type magazines?

if you ever picked one up and read it... they dont really feature ricey cars with big wings and stickers... they write alot of technical articles involving everything from proper lines to follow through a corner, to thermodynamic efficiency of turbos all the way to the politics and economics of state laws involving enthusiast issues like modified exhausts and legal ride heights.

a friend of mine is a writer and photographer for them... he is one of the most anti-rice guys you'll ever meet... he's a mechanical engineer working at nissan headquarters in gardena, ca. most of the other writers at SCC are just like him... smart engineer types definitely all about go versus show.

no, i dont work for him or the magazine, i am just tired of all the ignorant prejudice against anything so called rice... you guys all seem to call anything japanese that aint a Z or done up in a matter to your taste rice... that's ridiculous... just cuz someone has a fwd car modified in a style not to your liking doesn't give you the right to act like you're superior. I know several guys with civics, integras, eclipses that will blow the doors off your 350Zs from stoplight to stoplight, on the highway, at the autox and at the track on a roadcourse.

i been in the import scene for over 10 years now... but that doesnt mean i ever had, have or plan on having a car with a big wing and lots of stickers... it does mean i pay alot of attention to detail when it comes to alot of different cars and their modifications... but i bet you just call anything with a bodykit rice. I frequent this site alot because i am a nissan fan... and a proud owner of a twinturbo 300ZX... and in time hopefully a 350Z owner.

It just bothers me that Z people, can have such a negative attitude about fellow imports... and the scene surrounding modifiying imports... SCC magazine will probably be the only other magazine to have informative articles about modifying your 350Z. You should spend some time at domestic message boards or chats... you'll see how your precious 350Z is considered rice just like any other import by plenty of v8 american iron fans.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 07:26 PM
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Very well stated...
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 07:31 PM
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Default THANK YOU SO MUCH

Thank You dwnlojedi so much for that last post. I have been a subscriber to SCC For about 3 years now and that mag is one of the few mags that spend a lot of time on the performance side of the import scene. I love their project cars and feature cars. Oh and by the way they do know how to launch a rwd car cuz they have a 300zx & RX-7 project cars with insane amounts of horsepower. The 244hp and 238 ft/lbs of torque is the most accurate reading I have read so far out of all magazime articles and Nissan press releases. This number is RWHP not crank.
So thanks again dwnlojedi for the excellant post.

Adam
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 07:56 PM
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Originally posted by dwnlojedi
*snip* ay droidekaus, you ever actually read SCC? *snip*
Yeah, I've read it. It's good for a laugh like everytime F&F comes on the tube. I believe in stealth, something the import scene doesn't seem to grasp. The Z will be the fifth Japanese car I've owned in ten years, so I don't have anything against imports per se.

But hey, you've got your opinion and I've got mine.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 08:09 PM
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i'm just glad to know there are at least a few other Z people that actually read the magazine and understand where it is I am coming from...

it annoys me all to hell how closed minded some people on this site are... dont get me wrong i point and laugh with my friends about ricey cars, but i think being in the scene so long i can honestly tell the difference between a clean civic with a nice paint job and polished, worked, turbo'd motor versus the guy with a primered kit falling off and nothing but a welded on generic muffler and 4inch tip. There is a definite distinction.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 08:26 PM
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droid,

*if* you have read it then you would know you're wrong... the only UNstealthy cars that typically make it into SCC are japanese tuner cars... with wild kits and lots of stickers... but they almost always have the heat to back up the look... if you ever read the magazine.. you'd see several project cars are rwd cars like miatas, rx7s, a 300ZX, etc... most of those projects are practically stickerless and devoid of any UNstealthy body kits or spoilers...

owning your 5th japanese car has nothing to do with the ease at which you throw around the word rice. maybe saying you dont like anything japanese that isn't a Z was too broad of a statement, but i stand fast to the rest of my assumptions about your superior attitude to so called rice.

but hey you are right... we are all entitled to our opinions... i guess i just got tired of hearing yours.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 08:34 PM
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I think a lot of us here (I can only speek for myself) are acutely aware of the stigma of RICE. AKA the fast and the furious.

My target car is an M3, and Boxster S. Several magazines have made this reference and say the 350Z is in the same league as M3 in handling departmet. (I'm not saying power or speed, but style and handling).

M3 owners in particular (not so much Boxster owners) are big into thinking their cars are better than others. Now throw in the fact that a track 350Z costs $15-20K less than a M3 and they will go ballistic if you ask them about the Z.

Therefore we are going in the oppisite direction so as not to give the M3 owners any ammunition against the 350Z. If the Z gets an image of 21" chrome wheels, 4" inch exhaust, park bench rear wing, ect... than the M3 owners will be in heaven.

I don't know what the problem is with american V8's as far as the owners not liking the 350Z, I think they are two different types of cars and one is no threat to the other.

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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 08:45 PM
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Originally posted by dwnlojedi
droid,

*if* you have read it then you would know you're wrong... the only UNstealthy cars that typically make it into SCC are japanese tuner cars... with wild kits and lots of stickers... but they almost always have the heat to back up the look... if you ever read the magazine.. you'd see several project cars are rwd cars like miatas, rx7s, a 300ZX, etc... most of those projects are practically stickerless and devoid of any UNstealthy body kits or spoilers...

owning your 5th japanese car has nothing to do with the ease at which you throw around the word rice. maybe saying you dont like anything japanese that isn't a Z was too broad of a statement, but i stand fast to the rest of my assumptions about your superior attitude to so called rice.

but hey you are right... we are all entitled to our opinions... i guess i just got tired of hearing yours.
Hey, if laughing my *** off about **** like this is tantamount to having a superior attitutude, then count me guilty as charged. I don't care how fast any given car is if it looks like *** and I'd say the same of ANY marque. Oh, look, it's domestic rice.



I couldn't give a rat's *** what SCC does with the Z now, or in the future. I'm looking to NISMO for my mods and nowhere else.
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 08:58 PM
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hahaha uhh yikes... either you dont understand what i have been saying or you really have never read an SCC...

what you posted there is ABSOLUTELY RICE... not just rice but domestic rice...

the point is you NEVER see rides like that in SCC, except maybe in the readers rides section... but never as a featured car or as an SCC project car...
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 09:01 PM
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i like scc there funny
and i dont think there rice
i dont really dont think any mags are rice
even import tuner, those cars are sooo modified and people put so much money into them...
some are just for show, some go
and i read the scc article..
it was funny,good,informative
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 09:18 PM
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Originally posted by dwnlojedi
hahaha uhh yikes... either you dont understand what i have been saying or you really have never read an SCC...

what you posted there is ABSOLUTELY RICE... not just rice but domestic rice...

the point is you NEVER see rides like that in SCC, except maybe in the readers rides section... but never as a featured car or as an SCC project car...
Umm, yes I do understand what you've been saying. Tell you what, I've got a single copy of SCC at home which I purchased solely for the article on wheels and their respective weights that I'll pull out tonight if I've still got it. I SWEAR that there were some hideous cars in that issue and if so I'll scan pages and post them.

Truth be told, and something that you need to understand, the subject matter of SCC has never appealed to me. I shoot for a much higher benchmark in my ownership aspirations which at the current time are just not going to happen (read: 996C4S). Something about trying to convince my wife that $1,500 car payments are a good thing. The Z is a great stopgap at this time for me. After all, wasn't it originally designated as the poor man's Porsche?
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Old Aug 26, 2002 | 09:20 PM
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I used to subscribed to: Turbo Magazine, Sport Compact Cars, Super Street, etc. I learned some tips for modifing my 96 Integra, and how I can keep it look "CLEAN".. I think the definition of RICE is cars that doesn't have the go, but wanna be with the go ppl, so they slap on stickers with parts they don't even own, big *** wing, etc, etc. But there are tuners that knows what they are doing, and actually has cars to back it up.

I think most of us here are not RICE type of ppl, even though we modify our imports to make it better. That's my 2 cents.
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Old Aug 27, 2002 | 02:10 AM
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Old Aug 27, 2002 | 04:21 AM
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Default Re: anyone read SCC ?

Originally posted by rai
This is the only article I am aware of that I have not read. I saw it in the store and noticed they changed the muffler and actually got less HP. Is this true? Can someone please give an overview?

BTW I think the acceleration times are getting worse as we go along. I'm starting to get a little depressed. Can someone please get a 1/4 mile time less than 14 sec? (I am not counting 13.94 sec because that sounds like 14 sec to me)
Back to the subject at hand. SCC only had the car for a day, less than 24 hours really and they threw together a real slapdash arrangement for the Z, and that's why it got them nowhere. They came with a custom exhaust that consisted of 2 aftermarket Porsche mufflers welded together, not to mention mismatched pipe sizing. The jerry-rigged set-up is why they lost power, not necessarily because Nissan had a premier setup from the factory (although the Z seems to be well-done already). Next they adapted Ground Control coilovers, of which I've never been a fan, from a G35, I believe, and made them fit on the Z. It lowered the car a bit too much, in my opinion, and I have a feeling they'd scrape the nose on a driveway. Next they slapped on some StopTech brakes, which were about the same size as the stock Track's Brembos. Not much to say on that front, but they probably delivered equal performance to the Track's brakes. Then they swapped wheels; the ones they mounted were severely undersized, both in height and width. No matter how light they might've been, the setup looked terrible. You'll notice they dropped a 13.9 but they were basically using cut slicks as tires, if memory serves me. I really do believe if you break the car in, it'll drop a 13.9 stock, although some greater tires would be light-years better. The comforting part is that they seemed to think an 18x10 wheel might fit out back. Lastly, the numbers they quoted, 244 and I forgot the torque number, were at the wheels, not the crank. But considering they had the car for less than 24 hours, I'm surprised they came up with what they did, but I'd pass on buying it and wait until someone gets their hands on a Z for a while longer, or until HKS & GReddy start coming up with stuff.
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