Jah70

Meh. If I were going to upgrade I would go straight for the 370 instead of going to the HR because it's not that much of a dramatic difference than the earlier models.

J 0 K 3 R

new camaro>370z. no need for motor swap with a camaro. and american cars are way more reliable. my z, with 50K miles, always smells funny, clutch is finicky, and i feel like it could explode at any moment. the chevy, with over 100k, never had a problem and i feel confident about its reliability.

Jah70

Woah bro calm down. Your just making stuff up now.

Touge Z

iTrader: (3)

are you talking about the new boat that Chevy made?

logan09

iTrader: (1)

Rhev

My buddy who had an 07 and is usually the one I talk to about cars, says that when it's on the thread, it's an internal issue. And it was just on cylinder 6. He told me it's probably that one ring. The rest of the spark plugs were clean.

WSchli1672

Post #12 is good advice as some others also mentioned both money wise and 2003 is a excellent car, don't let yourself be kidded. Plus it's less expensive and no matter what car you go FI with, remember more you spend and newer model, then the more you lose if anything happens. And "terrasmak" Post #16 dots the i on the advice also given. We been around a little while and have some experience in FI and models. I love FI period and wouldn't have it any other way. As the camaro, I've had two, the '68 my favorite one with the stock 327 in it. It's was much better then the newer one I bought in the 70's. Soon as I start put mopar to work, it started letting me down. the '68 was a beauty. Then it was holly 4 barrels, eldenbrock manifolds, doug headers, thrush side pipes, etc. etc. Now it's S/C with the Z's mostly in CA and they rock. Turbo's if you can have a out of state license plate. That's CA for you.

WSchli1672

Put your money into your 350Z, upgrading or FI. It's cheaper overall and you can really hook your car up with some hp. Too bad your not here in CA, put that into your car and you could have approx. 500 hp. That's approx. what I spent on mine. Paint is another subject that can be taken up. Depends on what you would want to do first or if that's the plan. But $15,000 goes a long way if you do research on what you want to do. I play with mine like that doing something here and there. I have some friends here with 280zx's and after their paint job the car looked brand new. Now he's planning to do some engine work (hp) next. I know a couple shops for painting/body work, FI work, modding etc. and we get good deals, but again that's here in CA. Z's and G's are in large numbers and we get pretty good deals.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Oil on the threads means that the oil was sitting on the other side, as the plug was unscrewed it coats the threads. If it was a major prob on the cylinder side, it would get burned off when the car is running and leave evidence on the porcelain. But what do I know, I have only been doing this stuff for 22 years now.

Jah70

There you go op. The legend has spoken and he probably has more experience than everyone who replied to this thread. Buying another 350 or going to the 370 will put you well behind your goal of going FI financially.

Slyguy_38

Totally agree...

freddys 350z

judging from you post, you look like some one who does not want to put the time and effort in keeping a car well maintained. 2-3k is not a lot of money to get a motor thats runs like new.

i say sell it get something newer. and when that on starts giving you problems, sell that one and get another newer car.

Bpb713

iTrader: (2)

Keep your z, as stated above oil on rings is most likely a valve cover leak or somehow spilled some oil around the coils and it drained down on top of the plugs.. If you wanna get out cheap then Buy yourself a nice little s/c kit.. Super easy to install. If you have slightly deeper pockets then pick up a turbo kit and throw in some forged internals and beat the brakes off of her.. And since you are wanting FI there's no need to upgrade to an HR bc the money you'll be paying to own one of those will just set you back that much father from going FI. Hope this helps

bmcmvox

I could be misreading something but I don't think OP knows what is wrong with the car yet. This is still a 10k car, 16K in Canada. Get an estimate and a proper diagnosis before you make any real decisions. But this talk of LS swap is kind of giving me a woody. Learn something new every day.

Rhev

I know, it seems like a lot to me, only 21 years old and live on my own. Decent job but still got bills and insurance owns me already lol 280 / month. But I can get it taken care of if I had to.

Yeah my plan already was s/c kit. Just because I like the idea of gaining more boost throughout the power band and not having it just kick in at certain rpms. Plus I hear it's slightly easier on the motor as well.

You're right, I don't know exactly yet. Hopefully run a compression test at my buddies shop soon. I've thought about trading in but I just love the car and the look of it. I'm starting to come around justifying spending whatever money I would need to, to fix it.

DarkCreep

iTrader: (1)

My 03 had oil on each spark plug thread. Does thsi mean its leaking into the combustion chamber?

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Hope not, your plugs would have to be really loose and your compression will be really low

Ultra6

I used to own an LS1 camaro with some bolt ons. It was faster than my Z but I don't think it could ever handle like one or look half as good no matter what you put in it. If I was in to drag racing, I may have kept it. The new boat, as some called it, I don't know much about. The SS 1LE comes with a 426hp (stock lol) 6.2L motor, 4 piston brembos, and a tuned suspension with 305 tires in the back. It also costs less than a 370z @ around 38k :/ It also lapped the VIR in 2:58:34 vs 3:12:0 for the Nismo 370z.

I dunno... Sounds like some serious potential to me.

Here's Car & Driver doing it in 3:01 with an error..

Oh and the ZL1 is even faster. It's not GTR, but it doesn't cost nearly as much either..

Bang for the buck, I still think a C5 Z06 with mods is your best bet for a full on track car though. I don't care, I'm still a Z fan and owner!

samsniss350z

I think you know the answer by now don't you? You've gotta get rid of it ASAP, get yourself a new vehicle, something that is going to take the power that you want to put into it. Good luck.

Nismo350z#0310

iTrader: (1)

Pick up a turbo kit, throw in some internals and call it a day!