diegov1009

Hello hope you are doing well. My name is Diego and I have just purchased my first 350z and would like to see what first modifications would be best for my vehicle and wants. I have a 2003 which is fully stock aside for some aftermarket wheels which came with the car when I first purchased it. The car has a salvaged title and my plan is to daily drive it but have a fun fast daily. I would like to keep the car NA for quite a while and wanted to know what are the best performance modifications I can do , I'm not looking to spend a crazy amount at the moment. I want to do little by little and would like to get some recommendations of what are the first things I should do to increase my hp.

MicVelo

Driver education.

No, I'm not kidding. When you are at least 80% as capable as the car, then you can worry about making it faster. You don't need to spend $2k for a day course at Skip Barber necessarily but track days (HPDE), autocross, all with ridealong training by more experienced drivers will give you more enjoyment in a stock Z than a driver-destined-for-a-drift-fail-video with $5k in parts upgrades.

But if you must cure that "modification itch", I would pay attention to good tires, shocks, sway bars, springs, alignment adjustability, in that order. Z33 wakes up to proper suspension tweaks.

Some people like exhaust system as their first mod, which is OK, but don't expect a lot of power gain that you can feel. But a nice exhaust note always helps to enjoy rolling the windows down.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

What Mic said …


Go through the car and see what needs fixed / refreshed …

a nice set of suspension mods will go a long way but nothing will be inexpensive about this - expect to pay $2500 to $3500 when it’s all said and done.

if this is out of your budget just look at getting quality shocks/struts, quality brake pads, and mounts/bushings are in good shape.

Nissan made the car pretty good straight from the factory.

If you want to stay NA than just a quality air filter/intake and maybe some exhaust work but don’t expect any gains from those without a tune and with a tune you won’t gain much more than 15hp.

jhc

5/16" angled plenum spacer hands-down. Even before a tune the difference is noticeable. Cheap mod and no CEL!

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

not a bad intial mod ... if you know your way around an angle grinder and can clone the motordyne lower plenum shave it'd piggyback well

on top of that, pretty easy to do

iideadeyeii

iTrader: (6)

Gut the interior -Free
Remove P/s and a/c - Free
Remove front and rear bumper guards -Free
Gut factory cat - Free

illjim69

iTrader: (6)

Bumper guards? What is that? Do you eat crappy Italian food, as you watch pedos seem to enjoy For one, are good guards thougbt that they meant well but it got dicey for a bit.

Honestly we just need to save up in the mall configuration, and hire empoyees that dont suck.

iideadeyeii

iTrader: (6)

*crash bars*