there's an old thread from a year or two ago where someone spoke with a nissan engineer. He was talking about for the first couple years, they pulled the ECU back for the sake of reliability being a new car and all. It also gives them more room to boost HP in later models as an improvement. This would make logical sense.

He said that would be the HP improvements to look for. The engineer also said the ECU would have to be changed/reprogrammed to get any real gains with the VQ cause it'll go into "safe mode" if it detects too much air intake or whatever, and will cut back on performance for the sake of trying to meet the specified emissions settings.

It might be that then next year, they use that ECU mapping across the board. Some of the compelling reasons to get a track model this year otherwise aren't that great. Like the tire pressure monitor system. That used to be a minor improvment the track model had over an enthusiast, but 2005, it's required by everyone so the track model having that feature isn't special anymore. The cost of boosting the ECU up is probalby pretty minimal. They have to look at the lifespan of how long they'll be selling the car - say 7 or so years. And need to spread out their improvements over that period to make an upgrade each year.

I might end up eating my words here if the new track does have the S1, but wouldn't the S1 be way more expensive than the regular VQ? It obviously isn't produced as much as the regular VQ. For Nissan to keep the same price for the track model, but offer a significantly more expensive engine seems like they'd be losing some big profit.

 

How is it a gimmick? The track model for 05 is the same price it has been the past two years (albeit a $250 increase). You're right that you don't see many track models around, but that's because too many buyers aren't interested in its features. And many of those that buy the track model are really wasting their money since they never take it to the track.

 

Well said. And that was my point.....

 

who got the info of the 300HP figure? Obviously it will be more than 287, and 300 is a nice even number to round to, but Nissan doesn't even have the final figures posted on their site yet.

Also, I thought I heard that Nissan is redesigning the plenum?

That would be a great example of a purposly flawed design to leave room for improvement over time.


I normally wouldn't care anything about any mod nissan does as an improvement cause i'd probably rip it off and change it to something better anyway, but having a heavier duty engine with more potential is the only thing will make me think twice about keeping my current Z.

 

They could have just put 300hp as a minimum because in some places on the site it has "TBD". Maybe it's there to throw off the competitors. So, now I would hate to let this 35th anni. ed. go by and find out in January that this thing is going to have a major hp upgrade.

 

It could just even be different cams and ECU - you'd need a new ECU to really get the most out of cams anyway.

 

I wouldnt exactly think its a waste of money to buy a track just because you dont track the car?? What kind of logic is that? You also get better brakes and a better wheel and tire combo as well. so how is that a waste if your getting all that?

I would think its a waste if you end up getting a track only to replace everything that made it a track in the first place!

 

That's exactly why I refuse to buy rims and a heavy sound system, because I don't want to loose my trackness.

 

I love my track rims/brakes

The only things I'm modding is everything else. I'll keep my track rims as long as possible until I'm getting too much wheel spin and actually require wider ones.

I think the stock track look is near perfect. I just want minor changes (minor suspension drop, emblems replacement etc)

I'm going to have $13k next month to spend on mods and I wanna know what the full story on this new track model before dropping that money on my car

 

Does anyone know what/if anything Nissan did to the 3.5 Altima from 02-05, it started out with 240Hp now its up to 250HP for 05 and 260 for the SER. Could be the same thing, but many of those guys think its a gimmick as well.

 

Went to create an CREATE E-BROCHURE at nissan's web site and there is a picture of the ann. Z from a different angle, additionally in the E-BROCHURE it lists the track and annv. as having 300hp and 260 lbs of torque.

 

to me, that sounds like cams and ECU.

All it's doing is shifting it's power curve to the upper RPM's which more aggressive cams and ECU will do, though the S1 engine has different cams too. It's otherwise the same as the normal VQ, just more heavy duty. I don't see why it'd be cost effective to beef up the engine to handle different cams when the regular VQ can handle more aggressive cams anyway, just need different ECU programming to keep your air/fuel in a safe area and higher idle.

Might be noted the 05 track model has the same city/highway MPG rate as the other models according to the nissan site

 

I thought the same thing. I actually with an increase of only 13 horsepower I thought they might be using the Nismo cam specs. They give around 15 horse with no other mods.

 

Not to mention that

nissan would probably try to make a big deal out of this engine change - trying to show off how hardcore it is. They'll advertise the hell out of the Altima SE-R or whatever for next year, but not this?

also, cutting costs is one of the factory's primary goals. They'll use plastic rivets instead of metal bolts anywhere they can even though the cost difference for them is like 4 cents. They go with the cheaper stuff cause it still gets the job done.

Why would they keep the track model price pretty much the same and put in an engine that's way more heavy duty than it actually needs to be to run those same HP/torque figures? Maybe for warrenty's sake with reliability? But the heavy duty issue only comes into play if you're doing way bigger HP gains than 13. Maybe if they were pushing out 400 HP, the VQ might need to be a little beefed up. If their specs don't require a heavier duty engine, traditionally they just wouldn't do it