Odunn

I have owned the Z since day one never wanted to do any mods or anything and possibly mess something up. Its 12 years old now though and suprisingly in great shape, only 65k miles and never needed any real repairs. I am looking at adding some horses instead of buying a new car like the new camaro v8 or challenger 392. Looking through the forums on multiple sites techs changed a lot and im sure there are better upgrades out there then what was posted 6 or 7 years ago. Things I am looking at so far are

K&n Air intake/filter
Tunesport performance chip (do these really work?)
Exhaust Mods, not sure which to do yet

Hoping to so as much HP as possible that I can do myself and not get forged pistons etc. Bolt on stuff basically.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Hoo boy... not sure where you're doing your research, but there's no significant HP increases to be made from bolt-on mods. The K&N filter and intake will make a small change to the sound of your engine, but little else. As for the tunesport performance chip, the 350Z's operating system is much too sophisticated for such an antiquated hack. Exhaust mods offer little hope either, although at least you could get a less rusty part to replace your ZR's exhaust.

As has been said so many times, if you want a significant power increase, the only option is FI, which is costly. There's many threads on this subject, so there's no shortage of information on it. In the meantime, enjoy the consistent performance of your ZR, secure in the knowledge that Nissan really did extract the max from the VQ engine.

zakmartin

Like you, I've owned the Z since day one and have kept the mileage down to stupidly low levels (I haven't even made it to 40K miles yet.) I went through the bolt-on mods phase with my last car, a Mitsubishi Eclipse, and except for the lighter wheels and tunable suspension, I was hard-pressed to get any significant gains from the butt-dyno after spending a few thousand bucks on "upgrades" like a new intake, exhaust system, ported throttle body, etc. NA cars are never going to perform like FI, so it's not even worth trying as far as I'm concerned.

Since you're the car's original owner and there's a certain value to that fact, I think you're better off keeping the car stock. After owning the car for more than a decade and enjoying it as-is, is throwing aftermarket parts on it something you really feel a need to do? If you're bored with the car, you can spend the "upgrade" money on an old beater and make a fun build project out of it.

That being said, of course it's YOUR car. Before jumping into the mod waters, always consider whether or not you're going to do something you may end up regretting later on. There's not a lot of new stuff available for the 350Z since it's essentially a dwindling platform. With the next-generation Z scheduled to debut at the Tokyo Auto Show later this year, you're looking at a car that's soon going to be two generations old. You're going to find a lot of "ebay" copies of aftermarket parts as "original" (a.k.a., "quality') parts that used to be available for the Z33 become more and more scarce. Be wary of cheap ebay parts, and unlike what a lot of people will tell you, I'm a firm believer that you should be equally wary of buying used aftermarket parts.

Finally, if you ever plan to sell your Z, remember that mods will lower the value of your car. Being an original owner, low-mileage STOCK 350Z gives your car extra value, particularly for a potential future buyer who might want to use it for NASA Spec-Z racing or simply want to pay more for the stock Z that they dreamed about owning when they were too young to drive.

luv350sass

wrong thread sry!

luv350sass

.....

Ulery53

here's what ya do to your exhaust delete the cats add test pipes and y pipe to single exit..

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

First, you're responding to a six-year old thread that's already run its course. Second, exhaust bolt-ons won't do much to increase HP/TQ unless you get a tune. But putting test pipes and a single outlet exhaust will guarantee you won't pass an emissions test.

jcandas

I too have a 2005 GTR (purchased new). I have added a few items that give some increase in performance, but my expectations were always inline with the small results.

Remember that everyone wants different things. My car was my daily driver and I did not want to lose any major durability by adding FI. I have almost 200k on my car and now that it isn't my daily, I am looking at what is possible with upgrades that make a bigger splash.

I would be interested to find out what you decided to do...