bump

 

i would just spend the money to make the car look and sound nice, its an auto... or trade in for a 06' 6MT

 

I would suggest FI, since you are a 5at (not ******* you at all) you probably wont get as much fun out of an n/a setup as us 6-spd guys, i say this because part of the n/a fun is the lightweight drive train parts, something you cant have. I would say just take your money and go FI, maybe not a full built motor, i bet you would have a ton of fun with an out of the box FI kit, then with any money you have left over maybe some nice wheels and some lowering springs?

 

for the people who sugguest F/I, is that with stock internals ? or complete engine rebuild ?

 

This looks like a great way to go, my only concern here would be brakes, which you did touch on later on in the thread.

I think you need to price it all out and see where you stand, and do some research to see how the guys with FI are dealing with the stock brakes. If you ARE going to need to upgrade those, you may consider a supercharged setup which you can probably get the parts and installation a little cheaper on, then you'd have money for upgraded brakes.

Then you can also cut some corners. For example the Cusco sways (which I have and love) could be replaced with some Hochkis (sp?) which are cheaper and probably have similar results. Or instead of a plenum you can go for just the plenum spacer which also allows you to keep your factory strut bar. But I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) you can't use a plenum spacer with a supercharger, so that would be an option with a turbo setup.

 

IMO, FI is great, but everyone is still learning more and more about this engine. FI is a lot more responsibility than NA.

BTW vortech makes a tuner kit for $3500
add in emanage ultimate, prewired etc $1000
labor/tuning $1500
that's $6k

spend the rest on what you want
I'd get sway bars, maybe high flow cats and/or exhaust
suspension of your choice
fuel pump
fuel return system if you want (CJM just dropped their price to around $1k)
possibly higher flowing injectors
tires/wheels if you want

people have ran 12.2 in the 1/4 mile with stock tires, vortech SC and 5AT cars - no one should knock SC's. They might not have the impressive torque curves or hp as high, but they're 90-95% as fast in the real world (on street tires) for half the cost/labor/maintenance

 

Yes if you decide to go with supercharger over Twin Turbo or Single Turbo for that matter. Supercharger also comes with a warrenty's. Theres a reason why they come with warrenty's. . .

 

stock internals -- a built engine would break the prospective budget


now that I look at my earlier recs -- if you went Vortech tuner + EU instead of ST, and opted for alternate brands on the LSD / sways / plenum&bar -- you could probably do the used track brembos as well

 

you should also consider the s/c as stated above, i believe a guy in the fi forum made 45? to the wheels with the vortech and plenty of other mods. (crawford headers, nismo cams, etc etc)

so if you choose to go s/c, it's a great way to start.

 

I have stock breaks, although my G came with brembos.

 

Why not build towards FI? Therre is alot of new FI tech coming down the road very soon and your 12k wont get you a proper FI setup in terms of getting it to the ground. Why not go rims, suspension, clutch lsd, exhaust, maybe some nice race seats (cobra misano L) then next year finish it off with FI. I mean how silly are you going to look with FI and stock exhaust, stock rims, stock seats, stock stock stock.

 

whatever you do, keep show and go balanced

 

Ya i guess we can call him a silly sleeper. because tech. thats what he would be right? i mean if you are correct. anyone that does F/I without doing wheels/seats/exhaust and all that has got to be silly. There are some people that like the way the Z looks stock. I def. think wheels would help out with traction. but maybe people dont want to do racing seats or want a full blown body kit. dont want carbon fiber this, carbon fiber that. I dont know. thats just a thought

 

If you are absolutely bone stock then I would do:

Wheels/Suspenions = $5K installed unless you go big
Kit/Paint = $4K will cover most kits unless you go big
Audio/tint = $3K unless you go big

I think that is a very nice jump off point. You can go FI but then you won't have a well balanced car.

 

Damn... wish I had 12k to play with. I'd double or tripple it with a natural gas stock this year, then buy all I want for free in the spring... which I probably wouldn't, I just keep rolling it over and over until I have enough for a house, but that's my prerogative. GO ROTH IRA, contribution for 05 is 4k this year. I love tax free profits

On a serious note though, it's pretty easy to burn through 12k on a Z. Fat wheels 3k, APS ST 6k, HD clutch 1k, A real LSD 1k, tuned and installed 1k, money spent Have fun with it and keep our economy rolling.

Zquicksilver

 

I'd get the Tnetics 5AT kit (7k ish installed with gauges) and save the rest for any mishaps...

 

Yep ...it's called sleeper. I'm getting the APS TT installed as we type, custom grind cams, custom 3" exhaust no cats ( stock tips!! ), APS plenum / strut bar, JWT clutch, two necessary gauges ( oil temp, boost ). The only way my car strays from stock appearance is my tires- Front 245/35/18 Rear 285/35/18 and a tint on the windows. The "show" is nice..but lets face it..it's all about the GO!!!

 

Calimarc did you read my comment above? I said the exact same thing as you. I like the sleeper appearance from the outside. but thats my personal opinion

 

Ok pall hes going to put down 350rwhp on stock tires???? he may even have 245 rears for crying out loud. I didnt mean be a show off just that you need upgrades to handle all that power. His car would be the equivalent of a guy with huge arms and toothpick legs. Its not sleeper its incomplete. FI adds front end weight and actually lessens rear end grip will adding the need for even more of what you are losing. A good lsd, rear rubber and suspension set up are tools that an FI person needs. Thats why hed look silly. If someone is running only fi on a stock set up that just strikes me as silly. Sorry.

 

Thats still heavily modified and fay beyond his 12k