I got my first Z last summer. I am coming from a background of FWD Hondas and Nissans. Those were easy to improve on. You can drop a Honda 2" and dramatically improve the suspension geometry, for example. The stock exhausts on those cars were peashooters... jumping to a 3" exhaust on a Maxima yielded decent gains even with a turbo style muffler.

With the Z it seems like things are more expensive and yield way less of an improvement. For example I've read here that lowering the car more than an inch yields detrimental changes to the suspension geometry, and also requires camber kits front and rear. The cabin is boomy, which makes building a high flowing but drone free custom exhaust a huge challenge. Nobody can seem to say one way or another whether aftermarket intakes improve on stock. Plus unlike an Accord this thing is pretty damn solid out of the box. I don't want to just mod it to mod it; I really want to improve on it. For example I def think my DE would benefit from headers.. the stock ones just look like garbage. I'll definitely also do the spacer and get some kind of 3" exhaust. Wider wheels are also a huge possibility. But beyond that what else is really foolproof on these cars? Just seems like there's not really a lot to do here for improvements on a 100% street car.

 

You are comparing the Z to cars that aren't performance oriented out of the box. You are on track with the spacer and exhaust. Look into the 06+ airbox if you haven't. The Z's major weakness though seems to be the lack of grip, especially the front. Wider and stickier tires and more negative camber completely changes the dynamics.

 

The price/hp gains on headers is not worth it at all. Not to mention they are terrible to remove.

 

Headers are a bigger waste of money unless you are turbo. Smart mod would be suspension. My two cents.

 

Suspension, diff , brakes , there are lots of shortcomings on this car.

 

i've been lurking on here since 05 but was on 300zxclub for a while before that and finally also just picked up an 03 Z (10+ years later) last spring.

I feel your pain OP but i have to say, I drove it for a few months then did: JWT intake/z tube, test pipes, higher performance brake pads, resurfaced rotors (car only has 19k miles) and it's a completely different car for only a couple hundy. HP gains weren't crazy, but throttle response is much better and butt dyno definitely feels the increase.

Also, i read the whole oil change thread and put in the best oil for my location which also helps. Spark plugs, suspension, wheels/tires are next for me, but the above changes help get it closer to what you're looking for i believe.

Bottom line is, you should have just found a motivated seller with a built motor and/or turbo/supercharger hahaha.

Oh, and good luck w/window motors & tire feathering

 

The Z from the beginning(Datsun 240)has been "balanced for the masses".
Of course,give a lot for the money.This formula does not work for the car
guy that wants more.You either pay for a car that gives more like a Porsche or,
do the mods to make it your own.
The latter is what most of us have done.
Its also,a lot more fun.
If you have the bucks,go with a FI setup instead of the bolt ons(headers are a waste)
you have listed.

 

My experience was the opposite. I had some Nismo headers when I was doing my NA building spree but it turns out they are of thinner cast and lesser quality and may be susceptible to damage due to FI heat.

So, when I went turbo, I was highly encouraged by GT Motorsports to put my stock headers back on.

To be honest, the Nismo headers did NOTHING to increase HP and torque and may have even detracted from factory numbers. Hell, even the sound of the car when it revved didn't change.

While I am sure there are some thing for NA building that can make a difference, the engine is already pretty well-tuned from the factory. Suspension mods such as springs and adjustable sway bars and good tires offered the biggest performance increases (hugely noticeable!) compared to air intakes, exhausts, headers etc (I never did the plenums which I am curious about).

To the OP, I never thought I would go FI. I ended-up wasting a few thousand on worthless NA mods and many of them were not useable when I went turbo. If you even remotely think you will go turbo or supercharger in the future, please save for that and don't waste your money on NA mods.

 

I'm not a big FI guy. I don't think I will ever do that. I just don't like the extra weight or how it changes the sound/response. My car has 170K miles so an N/A rebuild could be in the cards. Also as far as headers go, I'm guessing 2 things. 1 your car was an HR (which came with ideally sized tubular headers rather than the DE's POSs) and two headers on a DE really need a tune to capitalize on the gains. The other thing is I think headers will help with the sound of the car with an exhaust... I hate the Chewbacca moan and I think the DE headers are the cause.

O and the DAY I bought the car, the driver's side regulator went out lol. Sucked!!!

I mean, for a race car (judging by your avi), yes. But I prob wont do more than 2-3 track days a year with this. I'd rather take my bike. For the street it is pretty damn good.

 

Blu- that's good to know and actually save a thousand bucks on that

A suspension is good for everyday use. Just depend on what you get.

 

Depends on what your trying your achieve with your car. I am trying to build a competitive (for street class) time attack car, but has to maintain streetability, without question. A surprisingly good cheap mod for me was the hks replica exhaust WITH the magnaflow x pipe (let the flamers flame on this one.) It sounds like chit without it, but with it sounds surprisingly good for the money. It is dirt cheap, no drone (with x pipe,) is much lighter than the oem exhaust(probably because it is cheap) and most of all, allowed me to spend money on things that matter (suspension, diff etc.) One of the only mods I have cut corners on, and have not regretted it one bit....

 

The 350 and 370 was built as an alternative/rival to some of the porsches. I'm not sure if Nissan had their sights on the boxster or 911 but either way it's in the middle between both in terms of performance and it's cheaper. This car was built with performance high on the list so of course it lacks any potential because the engineers tried to extract every last bit of performance out of it while still staying in safe ranges and being environmentally friendly. Hondas and other econo cars don't have performance high on their list which is why you see a drastic improvement when you mod them.

 

I dont know why everyone dumps on the true dual sound. I like it. Exhausts that merge the 2 streams (singles or duals with x-pipes) make that Chewbacca sound on DEs. True duals, at least from Youtube, sound like Porsches/BMWs. Only reason I'm probably still gonna stay single is I've heard people lose low end with true duals and obviously it's cheaper.

 

Lol at chewbacca sound

 

I had the Injen true dual with Magnaflow X pipe welded in on my DE. Sounded absolutely amazing, everyone young and old would comment on how great car sounded except for the fruit with the manbag/purse that bought my car. Don't recall Chewbacca sound.

I installed the 4.083 FD on my HR Z. Definately can feel an improvement in acceleration but how much i don't know. Still definitely worth the money for this mod, hopefully will.see.a significant improvement at the strip. I'm glad I never installed the 3.9 FD as I'm sure I.would have been dissapointed, its just unfortunate for.the.DE guys with the stock 6600 redline.

 

The stock redline doesn't bother me. You don't necessarily have to have a high reving engine to make power. But it does sound sweet hearing the car orgasm lol.

 

My point was that with 6600 redline and 4.083 FD you would have to shift alot.

 

I'm not dumping on the true dual, or single exhaust sound. The reason I suggested this setup is because it is a "cost effective/cheap mod" and will yield performance gains and is lighter than OEM. Unfortunately, speaking in terms of this particular exhaust, the HKS replica sounds like crap and is full of drone out of the box. Once the magnaflow x pipe is installed, the exhaust is virtually drone free, and sounds much, much better. I paid about $350 shipped for everything including the x pipe....so yeah dirt cheap.

 

an exhaust is just pipes, only thing your paying for is quality and sometimes that is never reflective of price

 

Ok but I'm just saying that the title of your thread is based on the Z being 'hard to improve on'. As far as power production is concerned, if you stay the N/A route, it will CONTINUE to be hard to improve on.

FI parts do not add that much weight and good turbo systems can spool up very quickly and any lack of the N/A response you are used to will be MORE than replaced by the huge surge in torque that turbos can provide.

Also, the CHewbacca sound of the car, as you put it, is probably not from the headers but the design of the exhaust canister. When I went to a TurboXS exhaust which has the same look as a stock facotyr exhaust (transverse-mounted canister), the sound of my car completely changed.