kplayer

I just bought a 2003 350Z automatic for my wife, I have a
550 HP 1999 SVT Lightning.
What is best, bang for your buck mods to do ?

Chip/Tuner
Exhaust
Intake

Or what ?

superchargedg

iTrader: (4)

please use the search feature first.your gonna get killed for this.as in flamed.then if you cant find what your looking for,come back to your thread.

kpiskin

iTrader: (5)

The turbonator should be your first mod. It creates 20RWHP/17LBS TQ and saves gas, all for only $39.99 plus shipping and handling.

kplayer

Pound Sand !
You probably have one for each tire.
And a extra one in your pocket.
There is no shortage of jerks, is there !

zachcrosen

iTrader: (23)

Sorry dude, but everyone else on here had to do some leg work and you should as well!

Everyone will tell you a certain mod is the best one to do, but it really depends on what you plan to do with the car and how much your wallet will support!

kplayer

Sorry, I should have know better !
Scratch my post !

DPZ

iTrader: (2)

Congats man, your new so don't listen to everyone else. Have fun with the car. And to help you out, your basic bolt on's will help you out for a while!

zachcrosen

iTrader: (23)

IMHO, I would stay from basic bolt ons. They do not really do a lot for our car. For example, I had headers, test pipes, dual exhaust, plenum and a filter and ONLY put down 232RWHP and I could only run about a 14.1@98 MPS in the 1/4!!!! The best bang for the buck mods for this car is going F/I. $6-7k can get you upwards of 400RWHP safely versus the 220-240 you have stock.

ArCtM

iTrader: (4)

At least he admits his mistake but I would go with a wheels

dixieland

iTrader: (1)

welcome - don't let the flamers runs you off! They sometimes have issues with new people.

Mods are determined by what you intend to do with the car or what power goals you have. Are you willing to go FI? If so, god help you if you ask the better of turbo v supercharger. The search function is definately useful..if not for finding out information specific to what you are looking for, but then to stay away from those flamers who have nothing better than to run off anyone who has not been here 5 years and have 1,000,000,000,000 post to the name.

Wired 24/7

iTrader: (2)

What kind of engine management did you have to get only 232hp

zachcrosen

iTrader: (23)

I didnt have any! Maybe that was the problem!! You would think that leaning out the AFRs would cause me to pick up HP. I didnt do a baseline, so I dont know what gains I had from my mods.

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

that was your exact problem....I've got less than you had and made more than 30 whp more.... - no test pipes, no plenum, no dual exhaust. Intake, exhaust, cat back, high flow cats. Flashed I made more, and UTEC'd made even more. As with ANY mod, tuning is the key

best bang for the buck - well, first and foremost, what type of budget are you trying to stick to, and what type of noise levels are you willing to live with? From there, it becomes fairly easy to make some recommendations

As for the "use the search" people, I don't know about you, but I find there to be a HUGE difference between a new owner/member who asks a simple question such as the poster did, as opposed to the umpteenth person to ask "how loud is xx brand exhaust" or "what's the best intake"...but that's just me

sisco534

iTrader: (4)

If you go N/A you will be lucky to get 40whp total 2500 to 4k , or FI and chance not getting tuned right then blow your engine. I might not be that fastest on the street but my engine is less likely to blow.
BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK FOR N/A I have learned from experience is:
Crank pulley( for faster RPM reving) 100-150
Exhaust it opens up air flow over restricted stock I got used Borla True Duel for 500+ shipping retail for 1100.
Plenum or Plenum spacer(cheaper) about the same results
But there are so many options out there good luck

sisco534

iTrader: (4)

By the way after I put on the Borla TD exhaust I expect to be over 260whp because I havent had a dyno since I changed some parts so we will see soon.

zachcrosen

iTrader: (23)

Yeah, I figured it was the lack of tuning, but I have seen others untuned making a lot more power than I as.

I still say that going F/I is the best bang for the buck and it can be safe and reliable if done properly.

kpiskin

iTrader: (5)

I don't have a problem with new people at all. I like meeting new people. I enjoy reading most of the posts here and have met some really nice Z owners in MD and VA through here.

Before I joined this site over a year ago I did a lot of searching simply to read up on the car so I could be an informed buyer, and wouldn't ask something redundant.

I belonged to another forum (Chrysler 300M), and was part of it when it originally started. One thing I learned was that (this is of course implied), that proper etiquette is to try not to repeat a question that has already been asked and to try to add to a thread you were interested in, either to comment or ask a question that hadn't been asked. This was to help create a central thread for common questions that could be referred to again and again (with a history) and helped keep less informed members from posting conflicting and inaccurate information. These of course became "stickys".

As original owners started leaving and new ones entered, we noticed a lot of drive by posts from people who did not know or notice that the same question had already been asked and answered several times since vehicle inception. Of course it became quite common as it is here now that the same question gets asked numerous times in a day. So you'll have to forgive my sarcasm, but people seem to forget to look at the FAQs, do a simple search (in actuality if you search google with your question, you will end up at my350z.com without searching the site directly), or just browse through the topic areas. Honestly it's much easier to do the search than it is to do a post.

Anyway, I apologize for the sarcasm, since you're apologizing for the post. Welcome to the forum, I hope this event hasn't dampered your enthusiasm for your car. I hope you love it as much as I love mine.

I am still on my first mod, a JWT popcharger (intake). I will probably do a few other things, and keep my car NA. Among these things will be an exhaust, MREV2 from (www.motordyneengineering.com), grounding wires, perhaps a UTEC with tune and ignition system. I do not plan on going FI, and have always liked the stealthier mods.

spratocaster

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't necissarily say "safe and reliable", but definitely you can mitigate most of the risk by having it tuned properly or building the motor. I think it all comes down to your plans for the car. If you plan to track the car or don't want to drop a boatload of money, NA maybe the way to go. If you want to blow the doors off all comers ande have the wallet to back it up, I would say you should be looking at FI.

I am currently in the same dillema. For me, since I will be tracking and autox'ing the car, I think I will stay NA for a while and put some cash into suspension, brakes, and gearing. Once I get all that taken car of then I will turn my intrest toward FI and see how the far the guys on here have pushed the envelope!

zachcrosen

iTrader: (23)

There is sufficient evidence on this forum to support the fact that the Vortech kit is one of the safest and most reliable SC on the market. Those people who have blown their motor did so because they swapped to the 2.87 pulley which is around 11-12 psi and thats not good on the stock bottom end. I have beat the hell out of my car for the past 10k miles/1 year since going F/I and I have not had any issues and I have been running the 3.12 pulley(about 9-10 psi) for about 6 months of that time. I realize this will shorten the life of the motor, but its not going to make it last only 60k. With the 3.33 pulley and a good tune, you can run around 360-380 on stock internals and not have any issues at all and it will be safe and reliable, as I have stated.

I think staying NA will be a smart idea if you plan on AutoX'ing the car. I have done this twice in my car and it is way too much power for the tight turns, etc. I would say to spend the money on suspension mods and driver training classes, etc. The slowest cars can run the fastest times in AutoX with a good driver. Locally, there is an early '80s model Corolla that has such body roll that the driver can come close to touching the ground around curves and he has some of the fastest times at each event!

spratocaster

iTrader: (1)

I have heard that the vortech kit is pretty safe and I'm sure it is on stock boost, since I don't have one, I'll take your word for it. But I wouldn't understimate the natural tendency for an enthusiast to try to get every last pony out of the mod. Everyone starts saying "I'll just run the stock setup and be happy with my 360whp". Enevitably those same people are seen posting threads like "whats the most boost I can run on a vortech". Power is addictive!


Thats sort of my dilema. A lot of the autocrossing I do is against some pretty big muscle (z06's, vipers, porsche, etc...) It would be nice to have a little more juice in the straights, but I will need some serious suspension and driver ability mods before I could make use of the extra power.