Engine balance/polish? What?

 

qualla. Do not confuse this guy ( no offense). There are currently no chips available for the 350Z. I would wait, save some more money, until someone comes out with pistons, rods, cams, valves, pulleys, fuel rails, and fuel controllers etc. There will hardly be any turbo lag with Greddy's TT. They use two small turbo's which spool up faster, you can eliminate turbo lag with nitrous if it is a problem. I agree port/polish your engine, a good way to make hp increase. If you have any more questions just ask.

 

Modifications you can do now:

1. Intake - $250-270 5-10 hp
2. Cut Resignator - $75 5-10 hp
3. Grounding Kit - $40-150 (1 hp +/- smoothness above 4000rpm)
4. GET A TCS - NOW!!!!!! ($400 - $600)
5. Exhaust (custom or prepackaged) $500-$1200 15-20hp
6. ECU (Nismo when released) 20-40 hp ($800-$1200+/-)

This should give you 320 hp +/- as the crank.
All prices are guestimation - don't quote me.

MY OPINION:

Nitro aka boost = booboo
TT = booboo on stock internals
Supercharger = good investment with all above bolt ons

 

1. Driving School This car has more potential than most people will ever learn how to control.

2. Harness System Once you gain some skill on how to drive a harness system will allow you to stay with the car instead of holding on.

3.Sway bars/Brake upgrade As your skill level improves you'll carry more speed into the corners and you need to be flat. With more speed comes the need to bleed off heat generated by the brakes.

Most other mods are for show but hardly used on a daily bases.

 

Are you a supercharger kinda guy or something? Superchargers DO NOT PROVIDE AS MUCH HP AS A TURBO, MUCH LESS A TT.
And a turbo (TT) will not be a "booboo on stock internals", if you do not run high psi. I don't recommend only getting a supercharger, or only getting a TT, or only getting NOS. Get two. TT + NOS = awesome, expensive, impressive
Supercharger + NOS = cool, okay

 

What's a grounding kit, and what's TCS???

 

As I said, this was my opinion. You have an aluminum block. A twin turbo or single turbo is going to effect durability... why? No one is going to dial in a low psi with TT... they're going to put it on the edge. For the record - a twin turbo and a single turbo make roughly the same amount of HP depending on their application, size, etc. A large turbo could easily push out more hp then a twin turbo set up. A supercharger does not push as many ponies as a turbo set up, yes, but it is not a huge void.

Honestly, there comes a time for balance in everything. MORE power doesn't equal BEST mod. You could take your Z with TT+NOS, (or G35c or whatever you have) etc... I'll take my Z with a SC and extensive suspension modification. Personally - I'll take; stability, reliablity, dependability over; SPEED, FAST, THRASHED.

To summarize, if you are looking for a drag racer go ahead and do TT+NOS or SC+NOS. Go to the quarter and have fun. If you are looking for a dependable driver with good dynamics and great flexibility across the whole range - look at doing standard bolt-ons (intake, ECU, grounding kit, exhaust, etc) suspension (sway bars, tires, etc) and add a SC later down the road. Your engine will thank you and so will your resell value.

And oh yeah, I totally agree with Clyde pointed. Your driving skills are more important then the cars performance. Get these straight first and learn how to push your stock equipment.


- TCS = traction control system - extremely important for RWD cars
By far the most important modification for a base Z.
- Grounding Kit is a set of cables which ground the current in your car.

Do a search - there is plenty of information on all the topics I discussed.

 

The answer to your question depends on what you want out of the car...Big power? Quick response? Great handling? Massive stopping power? The list goes on and on...figure out what you want out of the car first...here's an example.

I've been toying with the idea of FI for my Z for a while. I would like a little more oomph. However, my main use for the car is daily summer driver, weekend autoX'r, and back road blaster for fun. I really don't need a whole lot more power for those things. Sure, I might not be able to beat a souped up Mustang in highway pull, but who really cares?
Therefore, my plan is to balance the performance improvements to the car. I think weight reduction could be the most sensible route for first mods in this car. Less weight means better performance under all circumstances (barring crash-worthiness...which isn't an issue with this car to begin with). Here's what I've been thinking:
1. The exhaust. The Stillen exhaust is out, but from all indications, the thing is a tank, and weighs a ton. Even heavier though, is the stock system. I've heard estimates of the muffler alone weighing 35-40lbs, and that the whole system weighs more like 80lbs (as a side note, I really, really wish someone who bought an exhaust recently would weigh all the pieces and post the weights). Having an exhaust that heavy is like hanging an anchor on the back of the car. If you put a titanium exhaust on that weighs 8-15lbs, you're going to save a bare minimum of 50lbs. Even if it doesn't add any power, you won't be any worse off than adding a 90lb stillen setup that gives you 8rwhp. The weight penalty eats up the performance gains vs. a titanium setup, and the extra mass is harder on the brakes, turning, etc.
2. If you like to be a little risky, remove the spare tire. That's 40ish lbs I believe. Put a can of fix-a-flat in your glove box.
3. Replace the battery with a lighter unit (a la Raceboy's 12lb battery). That drops another 25lbs off of the car for roughly $100 dollars.
With these mods, you're talking 100lbs. off of the car. Assuming a 3hp gain from your exhaust on the original 3200lb enthusiast model, your new power-to weight ratio is 3100/290=10.69 vs. the orginal 3200/287=11.15. The total cost of doing this is approximately $1200 for a single pipe ti exhaust (JIC, etc.), $100 for the battery, and $10 for fix-a-flat. Probably in the $1500 range total.
Now, if that's not enough, you can get a little more hardcore:
4. Replace the seats with either fibergalss or carbon fiber buckets which will be $1000-1200/pair fiberglass...should weigh 15-20lbs each, or $1600-1800 for carbon fiber wich weigh more like 10-12lbs. Stock seats weigh in the 40lbs range each I believe. Since fiberglass is the more reasonably priced alternative, replacing both seats would drop another 50lbs. Now you are at 3050/290=10.52lbs/hp.
5. Replace the standard wheels and tires with something like a lightweight volk ce28N and toyo T1-S (I'll check specifics and edit my post), and you should be able to shave an easy 7lbs. per corner unsprung weight on wheels, and another 5lbs per tire. Let's say you drop another 50lbs this way. Now you're talking 3000/290=10.4lb/hp. The cost of this mod is probably in the $2500 range. However, you'll have some sweet wheels...a first mod many people do anyway.
So, for roughly $5000-5500 range, you can get your car down to a fighting weight of roughly 3000lbs give or take. None of this takes into account weight being taken from the back of the car (more front bias), but at any rate, the car should handle, brake, and accelerate better in any situation. As a point of comparison, here are some power-to-weight ratios of other cars (stolen from Zcar.com). You can see how you drop down the ladder with these mods. If you ever add more power to the car through computer, headers, intake, etc...it's all gravy.

2002 Ford Mustang - GT - $21,313
260HP and 3241lbs = 12.47

2002 Honda S2000 - $29,146
240HP and 2809lbs = 11.70

1996 Dodge Stealth - R/T Turbo AWD - $18,000
320HP and 3671lbs = 11.47

2001 Porsche Boxter - Sport - $50,200
250HP and 2855lbs = 11.42

2002 Pontiac Firebird - Trans Am -$25,643
310HP and 3517lbs = 11.35

1995 Mazda RX-7 - $20,000
255HP and 2830lbs = 11.10

1998 Toyota Supra - Twin Turbo - $30,000
320HP and 3515lbs = 10.98

2001 Ford Mustang - SVT Cobra - $28,605
320HP and 3430lbs = 10.72

2002 BMW M3 - $46,000
333HP and 3415lbs = 10.26

2001 Porsche 911 Carrera - Carrera 4 Coupe - $72,000
300HP and 3032lbs = 10.11

2002 BMW Z3 - M Roadster - $44,990
315HP and 3131lbs = 9.94

2001 Porsche 911 Carrera - Carrera 2 Coupe - $67,000
300HP and 2910lbs = 9.70

 

2.5K is more like single turbo+manifold+ accessories
Prepare 6-7K for new coming out twinturbo kit on Z.

 

I was talking 2.5 thousand on the tach. Talking about spool up time and lag. Yah a turbo will cost you a lot to do right

 

I'm not sure...NA, turbo, supercharger....But what i do want is POWER!! But turbo's, or so i've heard, lowers the resale value considerably. Do SC's do the same??? What's your opinion on what I should do?

 

I'm pretty sure any kind of performance mod will, in the end, lower your resale value because there's more of a chance that you "abused" the engine and took it to the limits...at least that's what the buyer will argue...as far as what GReddy will use on their new TT kits, I've read they're using 2 TD05's, which is pretty small, considering its what they use on the Integra kits...but it's all up to you on what your goal for the car is, like everyone said... You have to start off with a goal, then strive to reach for it, rather than throw out cash and end up going another route...As for my dad's Z (which is his car, but I'M modding it, and buying from him once i graduate college), I'm looking to push approximately 350 to the wheels and have it handle as best as I could...Anything above that, knowing my love for speed, I'd be too scared to drive it...

 

presently there are no chips since nissan is releasing the code for computer. sup. stillen is making like a daughter board of somesort to piggy back of of computer. since he is developing the supercharger get in touch with them they will fill you in.

 

Don't be in such a hurry to blow through the money you have saved. Save more and do some real research on what you want. Check out some boards with cars that use turbo's, superchargers ect. read their expierences and learn. You have time until any of these upgardes are even available for the Z. If you have no idea about Turbo/superchargers you are going to blow up your engine.

Decide what your goals are for the car (other than extreme power) before you make a decesion. If you make hasty decisions based on what other people tell you, eventually you may regret your choice and may have to start the process over (ex. putting on a supercahrger then deciding it doesn't provide enough power for your purpose and switching to a turbo setup.)

Save that cash and watch the aftermarket, and research research research.

Sorry for the long post

 

Nice post J Ritt, good to see another P/W afficionado.

It's interesting that by replacing the 80lb stock exhaust with a 15lb Ti, the 55 lbs you save gives about 5 virtual hp. About half of the ~10 you gain for real.

(I'm using the general rule 10 lbs shaved is as effective as raising hp by 1)

I'd like to offer some ideas to mitigate "removing too much weight from the rear".

-Relocate your Raceboy Battery to the rear of the car. you remove 12 from the front and add it to the rear (24lb net).

-If you upgrade your swaybars consider hollow front, but solid rear.

-Keep the spare.

Not many people concern themselves with F/R weight balance, I like the fact you mention it. And since the Z is already 53/47, dropping more from the rear than the front could make the car handle worse and destroy the benefits of the weight loss.

 

No one has really named any brands, only like "add an intake"...name some brands!!!please

 

AEM and Injen are the only brands so far. Jim Wolf Technology has a pop charger, which is only the filter. AEM has a cold air intake and a short ram intake. Injen only has a cold air intake. If you need to know any more info you can emailme at Hockey67stangBMW@aol.com or instant message me (aol) or you can pm me.

 

I don't only mean intake brands, I mean brands for everything. Thanks for the info tho.

 

Okay I know there are A LOT more brands out there that have some kind of product for the Z, but main one that comes to mind are:
Tien
Injen (as said above)
AEM (as said above)
Nismo
JIC
HKS
Veilside
Greddy (whenever they release)
Stillen

All I can think of at the moment...Please add some more if you guys wish or if I left something important out...HTH

 

Listen to this guy. These are the "mods" people should be making first, instead of investing in expensive exhausts or pointless intake upgrades that net you <10 HP. IMO, anyone who tells you to upgrade i/h/e first doesn't know the first thing about modding a car for performance, and I would question their driving skills as well.