dme

I bought a 2007 VQ35HR 350Z five years ago. It was a base model with no mods and few miles (~30K); what I was looking for. I have had many high performance cars, mostly V8 muscle cars like the 1970 Camaro, 1984 Mustang 5.0 and the 2006 Mustang GT. I thought I might enlighten those wanting to 'tune' their Z with what money they might be looking at investing. I thought it might be informative to post what costs I've expended over the years to get my Z in the shape I want. Suffice to say, It's a great car that's fun to drive, and will give what is given...
2007 350Z VQ35HR Base, Black Pearl
Description Price
Bought used with 30K miles in 2017 in Nashville TN 15,000
Tax, Title, License in IN 1,000
Window Tint, dark 200
Shorty antenna 40
New Center Cubby. Original had a crack 250
New Driver side air vent. Louver was missing a blade 100
Rear strut brace cover replace. Old one was sun faded and cracked 200
Short shifter 300
Nismo Carbon shift **** 150
Front/rear dashcam 300
Floor mats 100
Interior bulbs, blue halogen 50
Momo steering wheel w short hub (original leather wheel was shredding) 425
Radar detector and mount 300
Front nismo fender, badge delete, install, paint 3,500
Rear hatch emblem delete 500
Rear wiper delete 200
Black door handles 150
Running lights / front & rear side, smoke - grey tint 150
2.5" AAM competition dual exhaust with down tubes and O2 sensors 4,000
19" Rohana deep convex alloy rims with fender roll and tomo tires 4,000
Enjuku dual CAI intakes 300
High Flo MAF's 600
Dynosty dyno tune 1,000
Z1 Pro street LSD 3:9 diff 4,500
And1 dual Oil Catch can 200
New headlights; old ones were yellow. $900 a piece 1,800
Total 39,315

Stillen supercharger and extras ---> coming very soon 14,000
Projected 53,315

dme

Forgot. Had BS Racing full coil-overs installed as well. Had them drop it just low enough to meet the top of the wheels.

2007 350Z VQ35HR Base, Black Pearl
Description Price
Bought used with 30K miles in 2017 in Nashville TN 15,000
Tax, Title, License in IN 1,000
Window Tint, dark 200
Shorty antenna 40
New Center Cubby. Original had a crack 250
New Driver side air vent. Louver was missing a blade 100
Rear strut brace cover replace. Old one was sun faded and cracked 200
Short shifter 300
Nismo Carbon shift **** 150
Front/rear dashcam 300
Floor mats 100
Interior bulbs, blue halogen 50
Momo sterring wheel w short hub (original leather wheel was shredding) 425
Radar detector and mount 300
Front nismo fender, badge delete, install, paint 3,500
Rear hatch emblem delete 500
Rear wiper delete 200
Black door handles 150
BC Racing full coilovers w install 3,000
Running lights / front & rear side, smoke - grey tint 150
2.5" AAM competition dual exhaust with down tubes and O2 sensors 4,000
19" Rohana deep convex alloy rims with fender roll and tomo tires 4,000
Enjuku dual CAI intakes 300
High Flo MAF's 600
Dynosty dyno tune 1,000
Z1 Pro street LSD 3:9 diff 4,500
And1 dual Oil Catch can 200
New headlights; old ones were yellow. $900 a piece 1,800
total 42,315

Stillen supercharger and extras ---> coming very soon 14,000
Projected 56,315

dme

BC not BS

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

You got raped on pricing

dme

Maybe.

Probably a bit 'generic' or ballpark on the item costs. Didn't itemize. For example; tires, plus rims plus aftermarket lugs, plus shipping, plus tax, plus getting it to the pro shop for the right fitment and offset, plus having to 'roll' the fenders because going from 18" up to 19" on a BC coilover dropped car means more clearance is needed, Then having the fender rolling crack the paint, so having to take to the body shop to fix the paint. Similar with the exhaust: buying the dual exhaust, also test pipes, then the pro shop unable to remove the old rusted O2 sensors, so need 2 new ones, plus new hangars, gaskets, shipping, tax, labor, etc. I could go on, but maybe the point is made that the costs are for everything; and I have pro's work on my car, I don't trust myself to do it. Old cars have too many unforeseen issues arise and usually something else needs to be fixed that wasn't planned for.

GreyZ

iTrader: (2)

Man you got drug over the coals on pricing.

dme

Nope. Researched and compared everything prior to buying.

dme

Does anybody on this site do any research? Go to the Z1 motorsports website. Look into the differential. Go from a 07 non LSD base ratio diff. Select the 3:9 ratio upgrade with LSD and the Pro Street option, with whiteline bearing, fluid and the upgraded cover kit. With ship and tax will total ~$4200, There's a core return of ~$800 so looking at $3400 total. Get's to the shop, but the kit is on backorder, so wait. kit arrives' needs to be installed onto build, them installed on car. ~$800 in labor and need to spend ~$200 to ship back to get core refund (Z1 doesn't pay the return ship). So $3400 plus ~$1000 is $4400. Where am I getting 'coaled' or 'raped'? Do you guys even attempt to determine what it costs to upgrade your car, or just troll? smh

MicVelo

Well, consider that a lot of people do their own work so there’s a different perspective.

Personally, I no longer do much of my own work (slowed down a lot when I left my retirement job managing a shop and lost free use of a lift and alignment rack, haha). Yet, I glanced over your list and saw that a couple of items you listed “seemed” high to me and honestly, I don’t use an inexpensive shop. (People here know where I take my car, haha.)

But, is what is. Don’t think you need to get defensive, people just call it as they see it and I’d advise you get some thicker skin as people here are extremely helpful so long as you don’t get all sensitive about comments.

DarkZ03

iTrader: (11)

I don't care to know my total cost. Wheels, brakes and seats are already as much as the car cost me lol, I like having stuff nobody else does, that drives the prices up.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

op... print out, fill it out, then post it back on here

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

Right? If I totaled up everything I spent on my Z in modifying it, I would get depressed.

ARRRT

dme, nevermind what other people say about pricing, etc. - you’ve done great job modifing your z and sharing your experience!

GreyZ

iTrader: (2)

Lets just take this mod for example. I bought my tomei clutch type lsd for 500 off of the forums. I bought my whiteline bushings for 50$ that someone else on the fb did not feel like installing. I also picked up a diff brace on a black friday sale for 100. Amsoil diff fluid was a fb deal for 40$. I did the change setup and install myself. I sold my vlsd for 200$. My total cost for a true clutch type installed was 490$.

I understand that there are people that don't do their own work, and buy everything new from retailers. That has to happen to keep these suppliers open. What I want to bring to light is that the modifications that you did are possible to do for far cheaper if you are willing to do it yourself. You have a nice list of modifications, I think my initial reaction was just due to how much you spent without seeming to get anything at less than retail.

My car is similarly modified and in my opinion it would be difficult for me to justify that kind of price tag, or even close to it. That means that all of my parts were self installed and that nearly all of them were forum or fb deals.

DarkZ03

iTrader: (11)

Yup, a common statement I've made is I'm building my own Porsche, because in the end I want the car to be as sorted as a Porsche. I fully expect it to cost as much as one, I'm just building it and paying for it over a longer time and it's exactly what I want it to be, so to me it's worth it.

LexD

People love to nickel and dime their way from a perfectly fine passenger vehicle to a broken / illegal / unsafe one and then talk about money saved :rolleyes

travlee

iTrader: (8)

perfectly fine for one is not perfect for another

LexD

Budget / Reliability / Performance.

We can get 2 of the 3. Which do you choose for your build? I opt for reliability and performance myself -- screw the budget.

jhc

I bought a perfectly good LSD off FB for $125, and a Vortech V3 kit complete (never installed) off MP here for $3K. This year I stuffed 65 raffle tickets into the door - prize box at ZDAYZ and got a set of Z1 2 piece front rotors ($600) for $50. At 470hp the car runs extremely well, and for what I've spent I'm very satisfied.

You can break the bank if you buy all new parts or you can compromise and use the money saved to enhance other areas of your life

GreyZ

iTrader: (2)

This is an interesting view to have. What makes you think that?