Bought this bone stock Z w/AT (51K miles) for $2500 back in June.
Performed gradual bolt on mods:
1. *HKS intake
2. Tomei headers/mid-pipe/full exhaust
3. NWP 76mm throttlebody
4. Koyo Cross Flow radiator/Mishimoto low temp thermostat
5. Upgraded to 3.9 differential and currently running 4.36
6. Earl’s Oil cooler and AT transmission cooler
7. Uprev - e-tuned by Moncef at AdminTuning
8. OEM 350Z Nismo wheels/Tires Proxes R888R rear 305/30/19 Front Nankang NS-2R (treadwear 80) 265/35/18
9. Kinetix V2 Intake manifold
10. Innovate DLG-1 Dual Wideband AFR gauge
11. Stock suspension/non brembo brakes - Z handles just fine under occasional spirited driving through the twisties. Actually pretty damn impressive in stock form

A. pre-tune with above mods reflected significant power gains with AFRs running obviously lean

B. Contacted Moncef at AdminTuning who sent me an e-tune for those mods. And Wow! The Z was a total beast. Pleasantly surprised with the huge difference in performance considering I am used to 500+ hp turbo cars. So I wasn’t expecting much in terms of power from a normally aspirated engine.

C. *Fast forward to last week when I decided to install the AdminTuning 3.5” cold air intake w/extension and contacted Moncef again for a retune for the 3.5” intake. Holy moly! What a difference in response and power! Definitely could feel the seat of the pants difference! Takes a lot to impress me, so this was exciting to feel the significant improvement the AdminTuning 3.5” intake made. Hats off to Moncef at AdminTuning! Unfortunately I do not have access to a dyno, would have been nice to have tracked the HP/Torque improvements from stock through the various stages of mods and tuning.

Color me happy! This Z rips thanks to AdminTuning and my wife for supporting my modding needs!

i live in Japan so the time difference forced me to stay up late awaiting Moncef’s e-tune after each datalog run I sent him.

My opinion:
For those considering swapping your AT for a manual...don’t waste your money and time. The AT with decent performance mods and tune will smoke a 6mt all day long off the line.

 

Welcome to the forum, OP, and congrats on your Z purchase. It's great to see another member with a 5AT. I am beginning a slow build myself on mine.

If I may make a recommendation, consider a Transgo valve body upgrade and the Exedy technics 5AT sports clutch kit (I added the steel matting plates on mine). You will be amazed at how much better that power will be delivered. Those two mods alone made the car feel so much more responsive and the shifts were quicker and much more clean.

Keep up the great work, and don't forget pics!!

 

thanks for the welcome
I have a spare AT and already have the TransGo shift kit just waiting to do the install. Been having too much fun lately. Although AdminTuning firmed up the shifts in the tuned map. But I’m sure the TransGo will make it even firmer. Do you have a source for the clutch pack?

The 4.36 geared differential is awesome, it launches hard and fast off the line

will post pics soon

 

Nice! You will definitely notice a difference with the Transgo kit. I picked my clutch kit up off Z1

https://www.z1motorsports.com/transm...at-p-9600.html

 

Thanks but no at this power level manual>auto all day. Been thinking about using Moncef but we'll see, I definitely ain't getting the admin intake tho. I want to make sure the tune is solid and don't want any of the currently popular flame bullsh!t

 

Well I’ve done my homework when it came to deciding who to use for an E-tune for the early bolt on mods I did. Then of course the quest for more power led me to study up on the various intakes and the 3.5” CAI w/extension (which brings the air filter out to behind the bumper and decreases the air temp the MAF reads significantly) more studying and weeding out the BS posts about who has the best CAI and the typical nonsense pointed me in favor of the AdminTuning’s setup. My honest opinion through my personal experiences with Moncef is that he’s def top notch in my book. Hard to find tuners who know their stuff and proves it through solid results and I’m definitely impressed with the results and I live in Japan😁

As far as the flames, it’s an option to activate that specific map if you choose to do so out of the 5 maps that are loaded into the tune.

 

I am aware that his intake is the best but I don't like how it looks, the fact that it bypasses PCV and stuff like that. I have the injen at the moment and I've had like 6-7 intakes lol. I think I'm just gonna have a custom pipe made to improve the injen a bit, but it's a maybe for me at this time. On the tune side of things are you happy with what he did before you got the admin intake? Also does it drive and idle smoothly?

 

Also you are using 2 widebands if I read correctly, is the kinetix v2 the velocity manifold? How do the AFRs look while driving?

 

is your Injen 3,5” or 3” in diameter and filter sit in the engine bay or does it go out behind the bumper? Stock or 76mm TB?
you can reverse engineer very easily, don’t need any major fab work. Either way you will need a tune since it will run like poop if you mod your Injen from the originally intended design. Not sure how it will run without killing the PCV recirculating configuration though.
A big yes! The first tune was kick butt, like I said, surprised me on how much it really woke it up. The 3.5” tune was another eye opening yippeee Kai ayyy experience since 2 days ago Runs super smooth through the rev limiter and idles like normal.

 

the wideband is an Innovate DLG-1 Dual AFR, one gauge with displays for bank 1 and bank 2
comes with everything you need, a true dual wideband set up.

AFRs are pretty consistent between the two banks range of 12.6 - 12.8 readings

Yes, Velocity manifold
https://www.z1motorsports.com/engine...ld-p-2172.html

 

Lots of fun roads in your area, heading north in the east of the island was always a pleasure. Then the road of 58 to Maeda Point was a blast.

How do those tire work in the rain on those roads? I would probably try using an RS4

 

you know the roads here suck traction wise to the point of being dangerous if it’s wet. I drive within the limits of the Proxes when it rains since they are literally slicks
the fronts are pretty good performance tires for Okinawa and they are about $120 a piece for a set of 265/35/18’s

Takoyama is a fun twisty road going up and down the short stretch. That’s the road that runs past Ryukyu-Mura. Yeah the east side (Higashi) is a fun stretch and the many east-west roads up north.

 

Ok cool, yeah I have the NWP 75mm and the velocity as well, (we have similar setups lol) Tomei headers, Berk HFC, and HKS twin. I will be using the Zeitronix ZT4 with a nDash display for widebands because I'm a complicated person lol, I don't want a gauge pod and don't want a gauge hidden anywhere, I want it to be visible at all times. The nDash also has capabilities of reading a temp and boost sensor so it can be used for displaying those for the future.

 

Sounds like you have a good setup

my plans are to stay NA and go with a 4.2 stroker complimented with shots of happy juice 😉

 

It's always refreshing to see threads like this. Proper research has been performed, quality modifications, a tune, and then results. It definitely beats the typical "What's the cheapest way to make 300+ hp?" threads.

I'm obviously a fan of the Admin Tuning intake (as I have one) and I love the way my Z responds post-tune. There are absolutely a lot of opinions as to the "best" intake, so I feel you as far as combing through all the nonsense out there.
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Cause HP ain't cheap, those asking for it are oblivious to that fact, it's nice to see other velocity manifold owners out there as it's a rare mod for most because of the info and opinions out there, just like with intakes. I like the admin in theory but not practice, I don't like that it doesn't retain the PCV, the best version is the short but it has no stack or heat shield, and you have to modify to use as cold air. If I intended on staying NA forever I would just have a custom one made up to replicate nismo intake used with the S1/S2 along with the V2 scoop so it can actually get only cold air. I actually have most of the parts still laying around, but I gave that idea up as I rather go boost in the future.

 

Agree with you about the negatives of the AT intake. I have a velocity stack at the end of mine which makes it a tight squeeze with the air filter, but it still fits. I routed the PCV on that side to a vented catch can. Once the weather isn't so miserable here, I plan on making a heat shield out of carbon fiber to block the engine bay heat. I have the V2 bumper with the scoop which funnels air to the filer, but I plan on making a long radiator diversion panel to better direct the fresh air to the intake. It seems like a lot of the panels out there stop short of the air duct behind the bumper. The hood prop was in the way, but I have some struts now, so it's no longer an issue.

 

 

Significantly more power and torque with the AdminTuning intake w/extension compared to my previous HKS intake sucking hot engine bay air.

Datalog showed a 26F degree decrease in MAF air temp. Cooler air is the potion for good power/torque improvement matched with a good tune.
Personally I don’t see an issue with having to delete the PCV.

 

Little bit of headlight polish and will look mint
Have an engine shot yet ?