HEY GANG. My first post. I love the board here. Great info and very helpful!

I just sold my 2002 Lexus SC430 Convertible and picked up my new Z two days ago. I found one with 1,000 miles on it with a nav system and was in showroom flawless condition. I love my wheels so much. They have HUGE lips on the back just about 4-5 inches. The gun metal-ish look is great. I am not a chrome guy at all. It's an auto as well, I travel on business alot and I am on my cell phone in alot of traffic down here in So Fla so a stick was out of the question. It was tough to part with my Lex which I loved but to be honest it was not as fun to drive as this Z. Yes it was a great car and very well made but was 66K as well. My 1000.00 car payment sucked every month for sure. Anyways, love my Z so much!!!!

Few questions for the Z vets here. I want to dump a bit of money into the car and make some wise and smart mods to the car. I am confused of what the top 2 or 3 best bang for the buck mods are and best gains. I have narrowed it down to...

1. True dual exhaust (Borla, Injen, Nismo??)
2. Jim Wolf Pop charger (too much rain in So Fla for a CAI)
3. UR Crank Pulley
4. High Flow Cats (R/T or ?)


I LOVE the look of my car so don't need to change that, maybe just the grill in time. My main goal is to make it a bit faster and meaner with a deep throaty sound, but keep in mind it's an Automatic! Also if I decide to do these upgrades in steps to budget my cash, which is the best order to do it?

Thanks for all the help and guidance! Safe driving...

 

another

 

Damn I just love these wheels!!!

 

congrats on your new car. Local South FL member here as well. I have the Injen CAI, haven't had much problem with the rain, then again it hasn't rained THAT much, but as long as you are not driving in puddles, you should be ok. I hear from a lot of people that JWT Popcharger is good for the money (half the price of the Injen CAI) and since it's a short ram, it should be a little louder than the CAI.

You should come to the next Z meet, i believe it's this coming Friday, the 27th, at Tropical Park @ 6:30pm, i'm pretty sure you will see some Z's there that might have the parts you are planning on buying, that way you can see what you like and stuff.
I saw the Injen in person, i didn't like it as much as i thought i was going to, something weird about how the tips look, but that's just me. I don't believe the Nismo is a true-dual, correct me if i'm wrong though.
As far as what you should do, i say go for the exhaust, cats, intake and pulleys (in that order).

 

Picks look great J.

I see you are thinking about our conversation on Saturday

Enjoy FL, Ill be there in a month...

 

ya know.. where your car is looks familar..

I grew up in Kendall near the Falls...

 

Nice car! I'm glad you made the switch from the Lexus. Call me wierd, but the SC430 looks similar to this car. I'm sure it was nice, but for 66k, DAMN!
Welcome to the community. Don't forget to wave/flash when you see another Z!

Congratulations and Happy driving!

 

Nice, wttc.

Bat™

 

Nice, i like the rims too.

 

best bang for the buck would be the kinetix or crawford intake manifold. The kinetix is less expensive and you can keep your stock strut bar and is made of plastic. The crawford is aluminum, sold on exchange basis and requires a different strut bar and no engine cover.

Gains are the same on both, and give the highest gains of any bolt-on mod.

 

Jun, I would LOVE to go to that event. That way I can actually hear what these different mods sound like too. GREAT idea? Where exactly is this happening again, is it if Ft Laud? Also I believe the Nismo is a true dual. But I could be wrong.

Jason, You were a HUGE help on the phone bro. I greatly appreciate that. I wanted to get some different opinions on here as well but you planted a very good seed in my head as to what to do. THANKS! Maybe you can look me up when you get here or better yet put the mods on my car for me, LOL. I will most likely call you soon before I place my order.

Keep the thoughts coming boys...I pretty much know I am going to do these mods in stages b/c cash is tight so I am still undecided of my best route to go.

Thanks

 

Damn those rims look nice on your car. I like that fat lip (is that what you call it?) on the back.

Enjoy the car!

 

Actually, Tropical Park is in South Dade, where exactly are you located? If you are coming from the north, you take the Palmetto Expressway (SR-826) South and get off on Red Road (40th Street), go West and it will be on your left-hand side.

 

Welcome and nice ride!!

In order:
Plenum - really opens up the top end to redline
Pulleys - gains throughout the rpm range, quicker rpm climb
HF Cats - most restrictive stock part of exhaust, some good gains seen
Exhaust - stock exhaust is good, but once other areas are opened up it becomes the bottleneck
Intake - stock air box is excellent, CAI will look nice and change the sound, minimal gains
Grounding Kit - looks nice and smoothes things out, inexpensive

More money:
Headers - after the above mods - wow, low end torque and HP, car really becomes fun to drive
Cams - little loss in low end umph but nice gains shortly after to peak
ECU and tuning - help to keep A/F ratios safe and you can increase redline rpms, can also adjust timing if running cams


You could switch the Pulleys and HF cats around depending on how much the sound factor grabs you and how much you want to spend at once. Also the Intake and grounding kit are really more for looks than performance so they are there but not a high priority.

The more money category will really make a difference, especially with the other mods in place, but the cost is higher and install costs are much higher. ECU and tuning is last and depending on how successful tuning is through the mail, it could add up including dyno time unless you can go to Technosquare directly.

 

Welcome and sweet car.....

You just helped me out, I've been looking for pix of HP in 19's for awhile now.... Glad to see that they look good....

Do you by chance have the specs (offsets, 19x?, where the were purchased, etc.) Thanks

 

Erock, sorry I took so long to answer.

I got them from these guys local. They sell the HP with the Ventus tires. I have 10.5 tires on my rears they look sweet. I found these guys to be hundreds lower than anyone else on HP.

http://store.yahoo.com/finalstageauto/hpdesignevo.html

Here is the HP racing website too. They are made right here in FLA. They have a manufacturing facility in Miami.

http://www.hpracing.com/main.html

 

lexus33, can you give me the specs of the wheels/tires (ie. offsets, widths, etc.)? How are the ventus tires?


thanks man... I reall like those rims.


EDIT: nevermind, found my answer on that site you linked.....

 

EDITv2: I see you went with 10.5" in the rear, what size tire are you using and did you have to roll your fenders.