Being a Texas truck guy I have never owned a sports car, but I assume that we all knew someone in high school that had a HOTROD. This was the car that eveyone talked about racing for pink slips and smoking every other car...blah blah blah blah freaking blah. This was also the car that every weeking was up on jacks being worked on for one reason or another. For me it was a guy with a Monte Carlo SS that would pull a wheelie.

Anyhow, I was pondering all the mods that could be made to the car and it was like doing some mathmatic equation. I was figuring out how many HP I could get out of each mod.

K&N filer 8
Injen 7.5
Chip 20
Exhanust 21
Clear Side markers 30
Big assed wing on the back 50
Jet Assisted Take Off 5000

I mean in my mind right now my Z is like 5000HP.

So my question is when do we make so many mods that we no longer have the reliable vehicle that was driven off the lot (minus the orange peel, grease streaks on the window, BOSE, brake dust, BOSE, small cargo area, little bity cup holder, small sun glasses thingy, no back seats, BOSE, leather that's not as nice as that in the rolls royce, no trailor hitch, power seat contol that hit me in the let and every other thing that has been whined about)?

I want to increase the performance on my car but not so much it becomes the car sitting on jack stands every weekend.

 

DOOD,

I don't have an answer for you, but your post is DAMN funny!

Nice job!


Well, here are a couple thoughts....

I think that if you want to mod but still stay reliable, you just need to be careful, and not go too crazy (unless you want to spend money like a madman).

I think brake work and suspension work are pretty much a no-brainer as far as reliability goes. Unless you really screw up the install or buy really cheapo parts, you can do pretty much anything.

I think that you can mess with the intake and exhaust without really hurting things either, because you are basically just removing some of the restrictions to make the engine run more efficiently without increasing the load on the pistions or drive train too badly.

If you go with any kind of forced induction, or a Nitrous injection system, then I think you start to approach the questionable area. I've never modded much either, so I have no first hand experience, but once you reach that type of modification you are adding quite a bit of complexity to the car as a system, as well as greatly increasing the stresses on the engine components themselves. This would tend to reduce the life of any system, and increase the chance of failure, but the question still remains, at what point do those changes become something you will notice (for example, does the engine life change from 350,000miles to 300,000 miles - not a problem, or from 350,000 miles to 35,000 miles - big problem).

I think you can also get into problems by tweaking the engine the N/A route, especially if you try to increase the redline. I typically believe that you can be pretty safe if you only increase torque slightly and try to make the curve more flat at the top end. This will minimize the increase in engine stress, and therefore will minimize increased wear.

Of course, this all depends on how well you know what you are doing.

I think the basic idea is: The more outrageous your mods, the less your life will be. Make your car a race car, and you will need to rebuild it after every couple of races, just like a race car.

-D'oh!

 

If you want to go fast you have to pay the price. If you wanted a faster car without being up on jacks every weekend you should have bought something else. First off you are comparing Apples and Oranges. The Nissan 350Z is made in Japan. Japan has higher quality standards than the SS you were talking about. The drivetrain we already know will be able to handle 400hp. You aren't going to get cloes to that unless you have Turbo, Supercharger or NOS. I would stay away from NOS it is like cocaine for a motor. If it is a properly designed kit you should have no problem. If you are still worried wait 2 yrs and follow what everyone has done on their car. I was told not to turbocharge my Impreza 2.5 RS. I ran 26 psi on the track with stock internals. I had no problem even with stock tranny. It you know how to drive and don't beat on your car it will last.

thanks,
Greg
12.8@108 1/4 mile
Impreza 2.5RS

 

SO would I be running into problems with say a super charger or turbo? And yeah I was going to buy the F-1 but I put the Island I bought on the credit card to there wasn't any room left for a more expensive car.

 

how the hell did you run 26 psi of boost on a stock ej25 block. I have not seen this ever. if this is true hp would be atleast 600 crank hp and 650 lb ft of torque . which should equate to more like a 10 second 1/4 mile time. please enlighten me.

 

I agree. I am keeping my Z stock! I dont mind the mods that cant be seen by the eye - to a certain extent. But yea, I paid for for a new Z and am driving a new Z, not a bunch of Nismo parts on a Z frame.

 

Yeah the whole reliability issue is a good one, I like the idea of modding my Z a bit 330-350 would be such a nice number to get to, but really can do without the hassle of my engine bursting into flames..... I have done that before! (Nissan Sunny GTR may she rest in peace!) Still that turbo feeling is such an addiction! I think the trick with turbo kits is to wait until a few people have started using them and see how their engines handle it.... if they start blowing up left, right and center then we all know that more work needs to be done!! I am sure there are plenty of people willing to be the first with 400bhp I for one will be sitting back with a wait and see attitude.....

 

Welcome to cyberspace automobiledom. My creed, let somebody else do it so we know it works. Why do you want to increase the power on your 350Z? I'm not asking you to be a smartass, this is your first sports car and its a damn fast one stock! Its the fastest sports car I've ever owned w/o any modifications at all and I have owned sports cars since forever and I'm 58.

I've made one change so far, the tires. Get rid of them ASAP, they are crap! You have exactly the same car as I do, a Brickyard/ Frost Leather/5AT, so you have 17" wheels and tires. The wheels are fine, I changed the tires to Michelin Pilot Sports A/Ss(all season) in the stock size, 225/50sf and 235/50sr. The OE tires are Summer tires and worthless under 50 degrees, their tread turns into rocks and you will have no traction at all on all surfaces.

My current issue is the bouncy ride. The new tires got rid of a lot of it, but its not gone. I just got off the phone trying to track down a suspension engineer at Nissan's Technical Center in Michigan or wherever. I left a message, I expect a callback, I still have my J.D.Power Survey and told them so.

The tire change will set you back about a grand, unless you want to change out the 17"s for 18s, 19s or 20s which can cost $4-6000+. Changing suspension components $800-2000+, then you start thinking about intake and exhaust because better breathing gains HP.

Right now, most of the hardcore modifiers are waiting for a new, re-mapped ECU which will allow all the breathing improvements to add HP to avoid a meltdown of the stock one. The standard ECU, as you know, governs all engine functions and if it meets a mod it doesn't like, you will lose power, instead of gaining it.

There are a lot of people on this site and other sites, like 350zfrenzy.com, who are much more knowledgeable than me, so you've come to the right place. Just remember the questions, "How fast do you want to go? How much money do you have?", and follow the leaders, you'll recognize them when you read their comments/advice/experience. Good luck, Slick. Hope all is well in Baja Oklahoma, old joke, just kidding. Welcome.

Boomer--my opinion, use it or lose it, I don't care.