Can someone give me a pep talk here. I've researched long enough to know that I'm going to wait on any more mods for the car.

It's so tough extracting more power out of this motor.

Nismo's not even developing an ECU.

The only intake that seems to gain power is JWT but even that's suspect, because for some cars it's gained and others, it hasn't added but 1-2HP.

The one mod that seems to work is messin with the Cat's, but at most that gets you 5-8HP? Not bad considering the investment....

but honestly, this car lacks low end grunt.

I'm beginning to think this car is kind of like the prom queen, pretty, but she won't put out.

Is there anything promising coming out that will add HP?

 

No low end grunt? what kinda car are you used to!? A viper?

 

LoL @ the Prom Queen analogy.

Anyway, I hear ya man. The thing is, the motor in the Z is pretty much a 'built' motor from the factory. They did a pretty good job of sucking out all the power they could and left SOME room for improvement, but unless you get into the internals or valvetrain.. its gonna be 5 here.. 3 there untill more R&D can be done. We need things like heads, a full intake manifold (top and bottom), complete valvetrain, and most of all.. a tuneable ECU. THEN we can start seeing nice gains.

Untill then, you could always get blown (no pun intended) but I get the feeling you, like most of us, want to keep it NA. My advice? Be patient and do all the audio/exterior mods first. I plan on just doing everything that will keep my warranty for go fast goodies, putting in a quality sound system, maybe a kit, and then trying to go about tweaking the drivetrain and suspension to get more power from point a (the engine) to point b (the ground), other than that? Its hold out or go FI.

Or you could always buy and S2000.. lol j/k

 

well i mean it can be done, mod to get some decent power that is its just not as wallet friendly as most other cars. If you add a plenum, exhaust, headers, high flow cats, intake, maybe some pulleys. i mean that should get you a hefty chunk o' NA power. you gotta be talking atleast 25-30hp for all that stuff. although itll cost about 2500-3000. but thats the price we gotta pay for having a brand new car thats got a really power squeezed engine from the factory.

 

J, you aren't the Z I see getting on the freeway at Price every morning, are you?

 

get a twin turbo.

 

Stop your whining.No low end grunt?274 lbs-ft of torque.5.3 seconds to 60/155 top end/under 14 for the 1/4 mile.Not bad in my book for 35K and under.

 

Hmm... its all about what mods you get they have to work well together but getting 25-30 hp from basic boltons is pretty good as far as n/a cars go. then look at how many 275+ cars on this forum once you add ecu and cams to boltons!

 

If you want low-end grunt and don't feel the Z has enough of it, get an LS1 f-body.

 

You have to factor in installation if you arent a do it yourselfer.

 

I pretty much came to the same conclusion that JFritz did long ago. I have decided to get the Vortech kit.

 

yeah im whining about it. That's why I posted, that's what this board is for. Spending $3K on mods that will get you 25HP just doesn't sit right with me.

Hupper, I drive on Price every once in a while, but not to work in the morning. If you ever want to go to the Pavillions hit me up.

Get a LS1 Fbody? I wish I had a dime for everyone in here saying that everytime someone talks about 1/4 times, like it's some kind of cut down. I have had a LS1. The quarter mile is just as important to me as hitting the slalom.

I guess I was just expecting more from the aftermarket than what we got. This car doesn't do 0-60 in 5.3 seconds, Maybe Nissan tweaked the Z they gave Motor Trend to get it there....who knows....That was the only time I've seen that 0-60 time and haven't seen another magazine duplicate it or do better.

 

I don't get it.

The car seems to have plenty of low end grunt to me. But I a reckon it's human nature. No matter how much you have, you'll always want more. I'm guilty of that periodically, but I try to keep it at a minimum.

If the low end grunt is not to your liking, why not keep your rev a bit higher when you punch the accel. You'll be more in the power band of the Z, and it'll give you a better kick.

I do this with my bike, an inline 4. When I had a v-twin, it had a nice low end grunt, therefore I got lazy. With the inline 4, the power band is much higher, therefore the laziness ceased and I had to keep the rev higher to get that optimal kick.

I'm already happy with her low end, but I find that when I keep the rev up........she "kicks" a bit better.

 

Maybe you should get a Suburu, 4.9 0-60 secs off the show room floor. As they say in the song something like "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make an ugly women to be your wife". You married a looker and they are high maintenice, in this case, hp cost a lot of money. You could go FI but then again, you might have less reliability.

Another option is buy a vette, it handles corners and 1/4 both. No matter what you do to a VQ, it will not have the potiential of a LS 1 as far as maximum hp.

 

Yeah it's true it cost some bucks to get just 10-15% more HP to the Z.

I pretty much knew when I bought my Z that an additional 5K was gonna go in it.

If you wanna play you gotta pay

 

You know what is pretty cool though? This car is MUCH more sporty than a vette! I traded mine in on an 04, and this car is much more fun to drive. Granted, I know longer have 300+ torque/hp at the wheels, but modding has become more fun. C5 intakes can run up to $400+, exhaust can be up to $1500, cams are a $2500 job. I enjoy being able to buy aftermarket stuff at an affordable price.

It seems that with the Z, for any real power you are going to have to just suck it up.
$3500 and up for N/A hp
$4500 and up for S/C hp
$6500 and up for TT hp

 

w/ full bolt you should be knocking on low 13s maybe even high 12s. If thats not enough then what is? Enough to take out those bastard m3s

 

I have 430hp & 365pft of torque at the crank (SAE).... my total investment is $37,900 including the price of the car and all the motor work, suspension, wheels/tires and cosmetic goodies AND I still have a warranty.... how's that for bang for the buck?

 

sounds like you will need to change the gears in the rear for more low end grunt and pick up a plenum and cats for the weak top end. As for the LS-1 people are saying, why?? If the only thing he wanted was more power ONLY then just buy a old muscle car with a big block and some slicks. Im gonna go out on a lim and say he bought the Z because he wants a car that has it all, and its very nice for the price when looking at the alternatives. Hell I could get a honda hatchback with a built Type R motor and smoke the Z but thats just not me and probally not him

 

Find out if there are any different gear ratios for the rear out there yet. Even if you do all the best NA mods out there you might still lose a little low end power so if going NA the best thing might be gears. I took a spin in a S2000 that had 4.77 in the rear and it pulled much harder down low, and all through power band.