(ADVICE) building a street legal racecar
Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, I plan on buying a 2007 350z in a year or so. I am creating this thread to hear ideas/suggestions that will help me build a beast on the track yet keep it looking sleeper looking and street legal, producing around 600 to 800 horsepower. I have a budget of around $30,000 USD all in.
Ideally I would like to modify the vehicle most with stuff under the hood, as well as handling and brakes. Looking for parts and the best brands I have no idea how or where to start which is why I am making this thread. Looking for advice, I'd appreciate any comments you decide to leave.
If this post blows up I will keep you posted from beginning to finish!
Ideally I would like to modify the vehicle most with stuff under the hood, as well as handling and brakes. Looking for parts and the best brands I have no idea how or where to start which is why I am making this thread. Looking for advice, I'd appreciate any comments you decide to leave.
If this post blows up I will keep you posted from beginning to finish!
Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, I plan on buying a 2007 350z in a year or so. I am creating this thread to hear ideas/suggestions that will help me build a beast on the track yet keep it looking sleeper looking and street legal, producing around 600 to 800 horsepower. I have a budget of around $30,000 USD all in.
Ideally I would like to modify the vehicle most with stuff under the hood, as well as handling and brakes. Looking for parts and the best brands I have no idea how or where to start which is why I am making this thread. Looking for advice, I'd appreciate any comments you decide to leave.
If this post blows up I will keep you posted from beginning to finish!
Ideally I would like to modify the vehicle most with stuff under the hood, as well as handling and brakes. Looking for parts and the best brands I have no idea how or where to start which is why I am making this thread. Looking for advice, I'd appreciate any comments you decide to leave.
If this post blows up I will keep you posted from beginning to finish!
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 8,625
Likes: 1,394
From: Aurora, Colorado
Welcome, and the first thing to ask you is what kind of racing experience do you have? I suspect none, and you can't be blamed for that, but your expectations are severely limited by reality. Take some time to research and read this site (particularly the road racing forum) and you'll find there's not many Nissan racers anywhere in the world who can call upon 600-800 HP to get them around a race circuit. Understand that a race car is simply a different animal than a nice street vehicle. Recommending parts and brands won't help in building a "super car", but $30K won't get you too far (certainly not 600-800 HP). And despite being "all in", don't gamble with your money by throwing it at a car you know nothing about.
Take some time and educate yourself by going to some racetracks near you. You're fortunate to live in an area with some great ones: The Best Car Racing Tracks in Toronto - Carpages Blog Continue to read threads here and educate yourself before trying to buy a Z car. Consider attending racing school and beginning to build your own driving skills to become a 'beast", as those skills can be moved from car-to-car and last a lifetime.
Take some time and educate yourself by going to some racetracks near you. You're fortunate to live in an area with some great ones: The Best Car Racing Tracks in Toronto - Carpages Blog Continue to read threads here and educate yourself before trying to buy a Z car. Consider attending racing school and beginning to build your own driving skills to become a 'beast", as those skills can be moved from car-to-car and last a lifetime.
Also, its one thing to make a 800HP car. Its an entire other thing to build one that can last 3 sets of 30-45 mins.
Even further more do that while being able to use that block for more than 1000 miles with out needing a tear down.
try 400-500whp.
Even further more do that while being able to use that block for more than 1000 miles with out needing a tear down.
try 400-500whp.
On a stock block, you could do boost and be reliable for around 400HP to low 500s HP. You'll need a lot of cooling mods for the tracks to keep it long-lasting happy. There's a few turbo kits like AAM that will get you there, then once the motor is built, you can turn it up over 800 HP IIRC.
I'll say this, you want a Z, with 600-800 HP, but stock-looking. If you really like the Z's look, then I say you should buy a LS-swaped 350Z (I see them for $14Kish) and start from there. Such as adding braces, rework suspension, reduce weight (free!) seam-weld chassis, bushings etc. You'll have maybe several grand left, I think you save that for maintenance and track-hardened parts going out.
If you insist on a VQ engine and turbo set-up, then I'll recommend you get a 3.7 VHR block with 3.5 HR heads combo. I don't know if you really want to go down that route with $30K at stake. $30K would be a monumental down-payment for a 400Z, manual/Twin-Turboed/2-seater, decent Z06 Corvette C6, an EVO 9, hell there's a Nissan R32 GT-R for sale for $25K if that's catches your interest.
I'll say this, you want a Z, with 600-800 HP, but stock-looking. If you really like the Z's look, then I say you should buy a LS-swaped 350Z (I see them for $14Kish) and start from there. Such as adding braces, rework suspension, reduce weight (free!) seam-weld chassis, bushings etc. You'll have maybe several grand left, I think you save that for maintenance and track-hardened parts going out.
If you insist on a VQ engine and turbo set-up, then I'll recommend you get a 3.7 VHR block with 3.5 HR heads combo. I don't know if you really want to go down that route with $30K at stake. $30K would be a monumental down-payment for a 400Z, manual/Twin-Turboed/2-seater, decent Z06 Corvette C6, an EVO 9, hell there's a Nissan R32 GT-R for sale for $25K if that's catches your interest.
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I have to agree with Terra on that one, 800hp is not a VQ "thing" much less on the track, unless he's talking about drag racing? The LS will get there, albeit apples to apples the VQ will be faster with the same power, nowhere near as durable.
Welcome, and the first thing to ask you is what kind of racing experience do you have? I suspect none, and you can't be blamed for that, but your expectations are severely limited by reality. Take some time to research and read this site (particularly the road racing forum) and you'll find there's not many Nissan racers anywhere in the world who can call upon 600-800 HP to get them around a race circuit. Understand that a race car is simply a different animal than a nice street vehicle. Recommending parts and brands won't help in building a "super car", but $30K won't get you too far (certainly not 600-800 HP). And despite being "all in", don't gamble with your money by throwing it at a car you know nothing about.
Take some time and educate yourself by going to some racetracks near you. You're fortunate to live in an area with some great ones: The Best Car Racing Tracks in Toronto - Carpages Blog Continue to read threads here and educate yourself before trying to buy a Z car. Consider attending racing school and beginning to build your own driving skills to become a 'beast", as those skills can be moved from car-to-car and last a lifetime.
Take some time and educate yourself by going to some racetracks near you. You're fortunate to live in an area with some great ones: The Best Car Racing Tracks in Toronto - Carpages Blog Continue to read threads here and educate yourself before trying to buy a Z car. Consider attending racing school and beginning to build your own driving skills to become a 'beast", as those skills can be moved from car-to-car and last a lifetime.
I did my best to sort out the steps to do this a couple of years ago here. https://youtu.be/_0cRr4pK33I










