Is the front strut bar necessary? I'm not doing autocross or anything. Just daily driving into work

 

No. There is no need for any added rigidity in between your strut towers unless you are doing some form of aggressive driving and you are noticing more body roll than you'd like. The point of a strut bar is to increase chassis rigidity and keep the car flatter through the corner and allow for better traction and proper suspension loading. And even then, better to improve your skills as a driver than your equipment. Most people don't get near the limits of what their car can do before they buy more parts...

That being said, most people here tend to buy most performances parts for looks alone. If that's why you want it, by all means, it's your money and your passion. But if you are looking to add to your daily driver fun...there are better uses for your money IMO.

 

I guess it begs the question - since the car comes with one stock, what is your reasoning for removing it? Why not just leave it there?

 

I'm not really driving agressively. I use it as my daily driver and wouldnt mind a little more pep but superb handling isnt a must.

I planned on installing a plenum spacer and would rather not deal with reinstalling it until I got (if needed) another strut bar that would fit better. Since its not necessary, I'll hold off on it for now.

 

Lots of stuff is unnecessary. Take for instance rear brakes. 80 percent of braking is done by the front brakes. Rear brakes do little.

 

Which spacer are you getting? If it's the standard Motordyne plenum spacer, then the 5/16" spacer is compatible with your stock strut bar. The 1/2" spacer is not, it's too tall. But then again it (the 1/2") really doesn't add any significant level of power over the 5/16" spacer anyways. I'd suggest you get the 5/16" spacer and keep your strut bar. That's the ideal setup given the parts involved. There is no reason to remove your strut bar if the car came with it (I forgot as my G35 does not come with one stock).

 

Yeah, a plenum spacer belongs in that column. Look at all the threads about leaks, stripped bolts, and other problems popping up after people install them. Who needs that on a DD?

 

Not needed for a daily driver, but wants to remove it to add a power adder? I think ive heard it all now.

 

i really felt the difference between w/the bar and w/o the bar daily

 

Lol +1 for OP trying to make progress, -2 for being too lazy to do it correctly.

I think the car feels sloppy without it.

 

I don't know what your other mods are, but if you are looking for more pep why not go with an intake and exhaust?

If you have nothing else done, IMO you are way overthinking this for a mod that you would probably not notice in the first place.

 

^???

Intakes on this platform are essentially useless as most actually lose you power. Exhausts hardly add any power for the most part as well, mostly sound. The spacer is one of the most cost effective and productive (area under curve) mods available for this car. And as stated before, just get the 5/16" one and keep the strut bar. Problem solved.

 

Yes you are correct that some intakes do have a negative affect and I agree that a spacer is cost efficient hp depending on your car being a non rev.

https://my350z.com/forum/intake-exha...um-spacer.html


I have seen good dyno results from exhaust and test pipes, so it's not all for nothing. I'm just not a fan of spacers b/c it just gives another point to leak, and you have to make other adjustments to run them. If a 5/16 works for you, and it really gives you the results your looking for, then go with it.

 

It is not a hard or challenging install at all, but nevertheless, it's easy to make mistakes during the process if you don't follow directions and/or you aren't handy

 

Ended up going with the 5/16" plenum spacer and kept the strut bar on. Install was pathetically easy. I'm suprised people have a hard time doing it. Just take your time and follow the instructions.

 

Glad it worked out and you got added performance and no loss of strut bar. I honestly have no idea what people are on about with it being a hard install or prone to leaks. It's one of the most obvious and intuitive part installs I have ever seen.

Enjoy your new power. I am skeptical of most bolt on mods adding real power, but this was something that I could really feel with the butt dyno. I would probably just do an ECU reset with the pedal method, not sure if it really helps, but probably doesn't hurt either.

 

We forgot to remount it when we installed my Koni's. I new something was wrong the first few turns.

(I was, however, intentionally "stressing" the suspension at the time)