hey guys,

i'm getting an enthusiast model auto in about a month. what engine mods are best to add without having to go F/I. and i'm assuming N/A means naturally aspirated? I want power, but i dont want to kill the engine life by adding F/I. thanks!

-steve

 

hate to burst your bubble, but i feel f/i is the only way to go on this car. your will end up spending as much if not more trying to do a healthy n/a car and still be far below one with f/i. take a look at some used units from forum members if you want to save even more money. f/i turned my car into a beast!!
but you can always just do a n2o set up and call it a day too!

 

the search buton is very valuable here. use that youll find everything

 

hmmm. but doesnt F/I like cut ur engine life in half? whats healthier? turbo or SC? i dont know much about engine specifics. help me out. thanks.

 

there are alot of write ups and comparisons on most all the turbo and supercharger kits and pro's and cons with them too from forum members. it really depends on how you drive your car or the amount of power you are looking for. all kits can be tuned either for more power or less if desired. the supercharger kits don't make boost quite as quickly but more linear in thier power delivery. while the turbos will generate max boost typically around 3000-3500. all kits (that i know of) come with a blow off valve, so most all the time you are normally driving, you will not even be seeing boost as it is being vented. but when you need it, just hammer it. guess longevity depends on your driving style.

 

ANY mod that you will put in your car that will increase the factory HP/TQ specs will reduce the life of your engine because the added stress. It differs on the type of mod you do, how you take care of you car, & how you drive your car. You can actually have a properly tuned FI car last longer than an un-modded car. Modding your car is personal preference so don't get swayed to what you personally are not comfortable with. You have to ask yourself first what your power goal is for your car, what you intend to do with the car (i.e. autox, drag, spirited daily driver) & how much money you want to put into it. As soon as you establish that, then you can focus on what aftermarket parts are best for you. Good luck & happy modding!

 

i'm mostly going for "spirited DD". i just want a fun, fast car to drive back and froth from work, and something that looks sick.

 

I disagree. $4-5k in N/A mods will get you close to 300whp that is completely linear and way more reliable than any FI setup.

 

You've already got that ("Spirited DD")

 

true.

 

$5K broken down (for me)

$1000 greddy evo2 exhaust
$517 Crawford plenum and strut bar
$230 UR crank pulley
$200 Injen Intake
$380 Labree Resonated Tests
$430 Topspeed Headers with jet hot coating
$245 bored throttlebody
with $3000 spent, I dyno'd at 256.9 rwhp which is not high or low and I figure is about a 20 rwhp gain at peak. About where one would expect it to be.

I have since had my ECU flashed
$600 ECU flash
$3600 spent and I have yet to redyno, but I would guess maybe 5 hp at peak gaind with the flash, so now I am at say 263 rwhp. This is figuring you do all your own installs. If you paid for installs, you would be well over $5K and NOWHERE NEAR 300whp
The remaining $1400, in my situation, might get you cams installed so add in 15 hp at peak, which i think is possible with all my intake and exhaust breathing mods. so now I am at 287 rwhp and my $5K was spent entirely on parts and having a shop install ONLY the cams. And I am still not at 300 rwhp

Now, on the other hand, you could spend $5200-5800 on the ST kit from aps and put down 350-380 rwhp.

 

what's the ST kit?

 

Single turbo
LINK

There is a group buy going on, on the 'other' board for this kit

 

SICK! money money money though. the Z's gonna cost me enough on its own though. haha. we'll see how i like the stock Z. considering im driving a 96 civic with barely over 100 whp, i'm sure the Z will be a huge difference.

 

I would spend $30 and get Corkey Bell's Maximum Boost. It's a very informative book on turbochargers and you will learn ALOT. It covers every single aspect of having a turbo car. Knowledge is power my friend. I read the book about 75% through and will be finishing it this summer. As for my car, I will be staying NA. Simply because I can do it a little at a time. I know it will probably cost close to the cost of a turbo setup anyways but the ability to do it in $250, $500, or even $1000 chunks is the main appeal to me. Also, the VQ35DE is not a boost friendly car. I would not trust it unless I ran a SC at stock boost or built the motor. The HKS supercharger setup seems like a very reliable unit that doesn't need fooling around with but you are limited power wise (made for stock Z, excess mods will **** it off).

 

Can you tell me about waht you did to your throttle body please? I haven't seen that mod widely discussed. Are you running 93 Octane? We have 91 in AZ, un ortunately. Did you go with AAM for the re-flash?

I have an N/A car with NISMO CAI, Cams, Headers and Cat Back Exhuast. I am doing Plenum and Cats next and think I will go Kinetix. Thoughts on Kinetix?

Thanks...

 

The throttle body will do little more than increase throttle response. It is onlya 2mm bore, but they modify the throttle plate and shaft to reduce drag. The modified shaft is where the 'gains' come from, not really the bore.

Contact http://www.proflowdesign.com/ for more info if you are interested

I would only go kinetix if you are getting their new SSV plenum. I wouldn't trust their regular plastic plenum. IMO, you are better off with a crawford cast or spend the $ on kinetix new style plenum.