Hey, I just bought a 2004 350z Coupe. What's the easiest and cheapest way for me to boost the power? In other words, I don't really have much of an idea what I'm doing, as this is the first car I've owned in about 6 years, and back then I never took the time to learn about cars. I'm not looking to completely supercharge my z and spend a ton of money, I just want to boost the power in the cheapest and easiest ways. Thanks.

 

Easiest would be to wait until Crawford comes out with their package that will net you 300rwhp. And I imagine it will be cheap for what you get.

 

Cheap and power shouldnt be used in the same sentance when talking about the Z. Power costs money. I would wait for the crawford package as well. But 300whp right now is a dream. But 285whp or so is achievable.

 

is the crawford package essentially just all their mods put together into 1 package? Like the plenum, cats, headers, etc? Or is this something totally different?

 

Nitrous!

 

No doubt about it, best bang for the buck!

 

the best thing to do as far as bolt ons for power on our cars is the exhaust. anything you do to the exhaust will help create decent power.
bang for the buck, injen, because you get a true dual exhaust, for a good price with good power gains.
second, the intake, and for this the JWT pop charger is the way to go if money is tight.

 

It's cams, heads, headers, plenum, high flow cats, and reflash. I thought there was something else but I can't remember now.

 

When will it be available?

 

They should finish the R&D at the end of this month. So early-mid March.

 

Based on that here is a"cost analyst I threw together based on current prices.

$1321.00 cams
$2000.00 heads
$1200.00 headers
$ 395.00 plenum
$ 500.00 high flow cats
$ 500.00 reflash
------------------------
$5961 Total Parts (not including gaskets, etc.)
$1479- 25% Package Disc. (guess)
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$4482 Parts alone
$2400 (40 hrs. labor at $60/hr.)
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$6800 Total for 300 rwhp

For Vortech

$4500.00 Vortech Kit
$1800.00 (30 hrs. labor at $60/hr.)
-------------------------
$6300 Total for 360-370 rwhp


I'd say got Vortech. It will be much easier to go back to stock if you need to .

 

Don't forget that the vortech is also a bolt on which does not require opening your engine really. I would say the best bang for your buck besides nitrous is the vortech kit. Exhaust sounds cool, and the NA mods do not really seem to come out with solid repeatable numbers.
You hear things about butt dyno and amazing 10HP gains after 4 k in NA mods, but you can be certain to get very respectable power with a SC.

 

You include labor costs in these price quotes. Is it really that difficult to install these parts yourself? I've never really done auto work before, but I can't imagine it being that hard as long as there is detailed directions.

 

The Vortech kit does come with fairly complete instructions and can be done by yourself if you are mechanically inclined. It took me about 30 hours total over 3 days to install but, I have worked on car for years.