just the covers that go on top. I wanted the option of going back to stock.

 

Cool, I ended up getting some tweeter and gauge covers from them myself.

 

New steering wheel just arrived. I'll say I had convinced myself I'd done a good job w the leather wrap I did myself on my steering wheel and the CF stickers over the summer. And it felt good too because it was a little thicker. After all, you always feel a great sense of accomplishment doing something yourself. But after seeing this, I realize how much better the real deal is. Can't wait til the spring so I can install. Its 23 degrees out today, I'll pass on messing around w car stuff til it warms up. Plus I'm mega swamped with work.

Well, here's the new steering wheel. Let me know what you think. I went with orange stripe and stitching to stick with my interior theme of black/orange leather, CF dash and door bits, and CF exterior side skirts and front lip. Plus the brembo's are orange/gold so I guess it accents those .


Feels very solid. Looks great.

Orange stripe.

The attention to detail is excellent.

 

Looks excellent. Will like to see it installed.

Where did you get it from?

 

No comparison really, I know people sometimes think the price is steep but it's one of my favorite mods and it's worth it because you interact with it every time you drive.

 

@wcharon. Thank you. I got it from vqcarboncustoms. He’s on IG and he also has a website. I ordered on Nov 30 so it took a good 7 weeks to get here but it was worth the wait. I’ll install it in Like 2 months and post pics. Too cold right now to work on cars.

 

Ordered my coilovers today and some rear camber arms along w a toe bolt kit. Also ordered some pulleys, a belt, a diff cover and a diff brace. Going to be leaving my stock bushings as the car is low miles and they are likely in good condition. Plus they seem to be a real PITA to replace. I'll be installing the latter in March and then the coilers when my new wheels arrive in mid to late April this way I only have to pay for an alignment once. I went w the KWv3s. I debated for a while between true vs OEM coilers and ended up w OEM style. I seriously considered the BC Racing and FortuneAuto but I think in the end KWs reputation won me over.

On a separate note, my car is a 2005 Enthusiast. A couple of years after buying it I upgraded to the OEM Brembo brakes. Anyone know if the factory spare would fit over the OEM Brembos? I'm trying to determine if I even need to keep it in my trunk weighing me down if it won't fit anyway. I have about 20" of snow all over my driveway right now and the batter is dead so car is stuck in the garage and I can't go out and try it on my own. If anyone knows, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

On a separate separate note (lol), still debating between 18" TE37SLs 9.5" front 10.5" rear +22 offset vs 19", same specs. I have 19s know, kinda of a no name brand, and they are heavy. I'm hoping going to a lighter wheel will make the car a little more lively. The shop has ordered several in a variety of sizes and i'll get first dibs so I don't have to decide til April what size I really want to go with. I want that concavity and not sure if i'll get it more with 18s or 19s. Opinions welcome.

 

Opinions...don't bother with a diff cover and brace on stock bushings, it's not a question of if, it's when, the bushing WILL fail. My vote is for 19s, don't know about the spare. And I feel like I'm the only person against coilovers lol, no need, unless you track.
Last note, since you want more oomph out of the car consider a different FD while you are dropping the pumpkin.
Edit: don't use a lightweight crank pulley.

 

I preferred a static setup for the mention above

 

According to this thread, the 16" spare won't clear the brembo's. Apparently, there are two different 17" spares - one will clear the brembo's and the other one won't.

https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-...firmation.html

 

Heel, thanks for that info. Really appreciate it. I’ll do a little more research on that and do a test fit when I finally thaw out.

 

No problem - coming across this thread now makes me wonder if the OEM spare in my G35 fits over the Brembo's that I installed on there. I have the 17" spare from my Z but I think it's the 17" that doesn't fit. I went to the Akebono BBK on my Z and got a spare off of a 370Z sport model so I know it would fit and not leave me stranded. In case you're curious, the spare for a 370Z would clear the the Brembo's and it doesn't look too bad for being a spare tire. It also fits nicely in the spare tire compartment.



Just a heads up - if you do get the 370Z spare, you will need 5 of the lug nuts in order for it to seat properly.

Either way, I think I'll test fit the 17" spare once the weather warms up and I put the summer tires on my G. Seems to me that if the spare fits on the G with the Brembo's, then it should fit on the Z, but what do I know? If you can wait a few months, I'll let you know

 

~260whp is solid jam for an NA non-RevUp DE with stock compression and cams, and I think realistic. Especially if you’re spinning the stock clutch/flywheel in there. (I’m assuming you don’t have an ‘05 35th Anniversary, thus non-RevUp)

What did the pull look like? Did you get a taper towards the top end? The plenum is forever the restriction on NA DE’s, and unless you gut it like 2th did, there’s not much to be had beyond a spacer and crossed fingers for cold air on your dyno day. That can manifest as a taper (reduction in slope steepness) on the pull up top. Keep in mind with NA you’re going to make more juice the faster you spin it, so being non RevUp limited to 6000rpm needs to be considered when talking ultimate numbers. Now, is a lightweight clutch/flywheel, 7000rpm redline, and 10deg cooler going to give you 10hp? <insert non-committal sounds here>.

Don’t be disheartened! Just start taking weight out and you’ll get faster everywhere.

 

My last car dynoed 254whp with intake, spacer and CBE. No tune, overall numbers don't really matter much, I care about feel.

 

Thanks for posting. Long ago I had said i would put up my dyno sheet so I think I'll finally do it. I don't want to get stuck on the numbers but to me it is one way, if done consistently on the same dyno in similar conditions, to see if the changes made to the car are yielding results. I like the car and I know it'll never really be fast without FI which I'm not doing on this car due to DMV in my state, but that said it would feel good to me on a personal level to reach 300whp on an NA DE non rev-up all while being able to pass inspection.

 

300 would be hard on the stockish intake/exhaust since I imagine ITBs and LTH are out of the question. If you need stealth mods just about the only thing you could do is cams and pistons. Hidden nitrous maybe?

 

I'll still chase that number just cause i'm stubborn. But i'll have to go slow because of emissions. I added headers and a larger TB recently and i'm due for an inspection in a few months so hope I pass. After that i'll figure out what my next power mod will be. Hope the headers don't affect my emissions at all. Z1 said it "shouldn't". I was going to order either JWT or Tomei cams but they do change your exhaust a bit so I want to pass this next inspection before I add those because if i fail i want to know what causes it. Every time I go for inspection those guys spend extra time on my car looking for a reason to bust me.

As for the other stuff I was planning I went ahead and ordered all of it. I keep all my oem stuff anyway so if something doesn't work out I can always go back. I"m considering some solid bushings for the diff but some people say they are loud. I already have enough rattles and ain't interested in anymore, lol. I'll do more research on the bushings and see if I pull the trigger on them. I'll post up on how those mods work out for me once the car comes out of hibernation.

Dark - how did those CF pieces from MazterpieceAuto work out for you? I'm still waiting on mine but the vendor told me he was dropping them in the mail this week.

 

That pull looks pretty solid, and it looks like the VE falls off above 6K, to be expected with a stock plenum and cams. Best not to spin it beyond that as there’s not much point.

As for getting to 300whp NA, there’s really no chance without upping the compression and/or upping the displacement by stroking the engine. You’d also probably have to add a cam that would be challenging to manage on the street. Big cams paired with open element filters makes for tough idling and challenging off throttle recovery during injector cut. Raising the idle can solve the first, and working the ignition timing and VE can help with the second, but it’s less than ideal.

Cams on the DE tend to just move everything up the rev range, making street driving a little trickier as well. You’ll lose a lot of that torque around 2K that makes pulling away from a stop sign nice and smooth, pushing it up into the 3K range or beyond. Some of that can be recovered with cam phasing, but still sub-optimal for the street. Your top end also moves up, so you’ve really got to consider how much time you spend at 5500+ rpm daily.

Fueling starts to be a consideration as well when you’re pushing the 350+ crank hp scenario. Given the rail pressure on the Z, you’re unlikely to max out the injectors, but your fueling requirements at higher compression may lead to a need for bigger injectors and/or a bigger pump. Something to think about even if only to give yourself some headroom/peace of mind.

For some context, I’m running a RevUp DE on stock compression, JWT C8 cams, plenum spacer, short intake, full Tomei exhaust with Z1 cats, CJM rails, DW200 pump, DW 440s, UpRev, lightweight clutch.

279whp on a conservative dyno on my old heavy-**** XXR wheels.

That’s just the platform, friend. To add 35whp you’re probably looking at 40-42chp, that’s some 15% additional over stock, let alone what you’ve already done. Nissan didn’t leave 20% power on the table during design...

This isn’t to discourage you, but rather to help with realistic goal setting. You can get to 300whp NA, but it’s a much bigger development program than cams and exhaust. For the $6-8K (conservative) you’d spend to get to 300whp, you could consider a composite hatch, light wheels, light exhaust, light battery, light brake rotors, AC delete, etc. to get better all around performance than an additional 35whp.

 

Oh, and about inspection/emissions.

I run cats because, one planet we’ve all got to share, so it seems responsible (I’m not green washing my race habit, I swear! &#128529

That doesn’t mean my ECU thinks my high flows are efficient enough. My car sees the street some, so it needs to pass emissions. Let’s say there’s some creative things you can do with resistors and capacitors to make the downstream sensors...more helpful...

I’ll leave that at that.

 

I have not put them on, but upon inspection they look good, Not too stoked about the gauge cover but it's a second style I bought just to see which I end up with.
what headers did you end up getting?