Hi everyone. I've been lurking for over a year now but I'd like to finally introduce myself and my Z. I bought my 2003 350z last September from a dealership with about 36k miles on it. It's a manual and only had one previous owner. I bought it for $12,500 which wasn't too terrible for a low mileage manual Z in Ohio. Here's a picture that shows how clean it was originally.



One of the first things I did was take the car on a road trip down to the tail of the dragon. The trip went really well and the car didn't have a single issue come up.



I jumped head first into the modding waters with the Motordyne spacer and with the help of my father we installed it in an afternoon no problem. After that I did the JWT intake followed by the updated Injen SES catback exhaust. Next up came wheels and after a lot of looking around I saw some pictures on the Enkei PF01 EVO's in the SBC finish and knew I had to have them. The exact specs are front 18x9.5 +22 and rear 18x10.5 +22. After all this I had the car tuned with Uprev and it dynoed at 252hp and 238tq. Along the way I also got 18% tint on the sides and back and I've also installed the aluminum undershroud. Also last weekend I did the bumper tuck because I noticed the bottom edge of the bumper between the exhaust tips was a little warped. Here are a few pictures of the final results as it looks today.

 

Nice, welcome and congratz!

 

Now I have to give big props to the previous owner because they did a ton of suspensions upgrades that I didn't even realize when I first purchased the car. To try and list everything: Hotchkis sway bars front and rear, Tokico D-spec shocks with H&R springs, and SPC camber arms both from and rear. Having all that done already has saved me a lot of time and money.

It's almost time for the Z to go back into the garage for winter but here's what I'm planning for next spring. I'm hoping to find a set of the OEM brembo calipers in excellent shape and pick up a new set of rotors. Then I want to get the JWT clutch and flywheel kit installed because in the next couple years I want to go twin turbo specifically the JWT kit. Lastly for next year I'll probably tried to get forged internals done. Thanks for taking the time to read through my post and I'm happy to say that yesterday I made my final car payment! Oh and the updated mileage is just a little over 44k at the moment.

 

When you do the brakes upgrade to Brembo , swap pads as well with the rotors, get SS brake lines and change brake fluid , doesn't cost much and the brake pedal will have more bite . I also took it one step further and got slotted front rotors

Engine bay pics?

Good call on the aluminum skid plate , comes through when your lower than stock rise height

 

Thanks you pretty much nailed exactly what I want to do with the brakes! This winter will be mostly spent patiently waiting for that perfect set of calipers to show up for sale. I don't have any engine bay pics at the moment but I can take a few tomorrow. Nothing too special to look at. Oh I did forget I installed the EVO hood dampers which is a nice luxury.

 

Nice job OP. If you decide to stay naturally aspirated you can still do high-flow cats and an intake. A lot of your mods are just like mine? I have a 2005 w 29k miles, hardly drive it but when I do I def enjoy it. Good Luck w your car.

 

Congrats on the purchase of a very tidy looking Z. Props to you for lurking as well because it prevents you from asking the most oft repeated stupid questions. Looking forward to shots of your engine bay.

 

Nice Z!
Welcome!

 

Thanks everyone for the reception so far. Here are a few engine bay shots I took today.

 

Nice pick up.

 

If your going to go FI then I wouldn't touch the exhaust system and save up for a TT kit and forged internals , don't be cheap with forged rods and bearings and getting the crank micropolished and balanced . Depending on your numbers you want to achieve I wouldn't use jwt clutch if you plan on going over the 450whp mark. I would go with a twin disk setup for the clutch and a lighten flywheel (jwt ok).

Regardless of what you buy make sure you give your new clutch and flywheel to your engine builder so he can balanced the whole rotating assembly , not just the motor. Also shell out the extra 100-200 for L-19 ARP head studs you'll be glad you did , also I would get much stiffer valve springs to avoid floating a valve.

This advise is only as reference from my experience as well as information I have collected over the years. Your money your build as they say,

If I had the chance to go back and do it over again I would of gone LS for the money, only because the reliability and torque of running N/A is outstanding compared to a TT setup , less headache , more power going TT though

Anyways this advise only covers the (de) motor , I did other mods to the Z to adapt to my setup.

https://my350z.com/forum/na-builds/6...e85-build.html

During the winter I would read up on the N/A forum as well as the F/I forum as well , if you get a little bored check out the DIY page .

Good luck

 

Thanks for the advice! I still have so much research into FI to do that I'm still a little hesitant to ask many questions about it. The addiction for more speed is of course so tempting but I've tracked the car once now and I realize it already handles itself very well as is.