Title says it all, whats the best bang for buck upgrade? I was thinking about spending a few hundred on upgrades. Is the ECU still the limiting factor? Is there a new one out? I heard that a chip replacement will yeilld over 300 hp?!

 

Realistically, I would say the best bang for the buck would be suspension mods. You will noticed it right away and benefit from every corners or lane changes that you make, even at moderate speed. With that in mind, for ~$500. you can get a nice set of sways from Nismo or probably from Cusco or Dwnshft's Company.

 

best upgrade?

1. tread

2. rims.

Ill give you 1000hp, you wont do much with it if it cant stick to the ground. tires are the only thing that gets your moving, only contact with the road, they have total control in accel, braking, and cornering.

rims are a not so distant second also having the ability to leech less power to spin, and lighter rims can ride up and down over imperfections in the road and wont hover over a bump reducing traction.

if your talking hp mods, then SC or turbo, strict HP/$ is nitrous, but thats only for racing quarter miles. so if you like to factor in time of use, it falls back a good bit from the always on power of FI.

 

As far as performance parts on the market right now, tires would have to be the single best upgrade for the money. Nothing out right now seems to be getting any power to the ground. A few have gotten small gains from intake or exhaust, but just as many have actually lost hp from the same mods. The ECU seems to be the limiting factor but until I see some hard numbers from a reputable source I'm going to save my money.
With that said, if you know enough about FI, and have all the tools necessary at your disposal, you may think about making your own SC or turbo kit. I have thought about making a kit for a while, but I'm a bit on the lazy side and I don't know anybody with a mandrel bender. The kit would be much cheaper in, dollar terms, to make than buying it pre-made from a manfacturer like Greddy. Of course, what you save in dollars, you pay back in time invested. If you know what you're doing and don't mind DIY work, I'd say this is the best bang for the buck.

 

Yeah, I'm gonna volunteer tires as well. I mean, if you just go up to Tire Rack or some of those sites, you can find replacement rubber for like $120-300/tire (aka about $600-800 for a good set of name brand). The stock grip is bad. Its not the worst in the world, but for a sports car you can do much better.

I'm also in the same boat in terms of "performance". The problem is - this is still a "new" car, limited to 30K produced a year. That means performance parts are gonna be expensive & in low production for a while.

Also, I don't know how well the Unorthodox UD pulley is (I haven't read any articles on it), but they built a pretty bitchin kit for the Z32, I would think you could get a handful of hp out of that unit - plus the alternator is MUCH better in this car than it was in the Z32, so less to worry about burning up your alternator.

 

Thanks for the replies. I agree about the tires. I'm ripping up mine as fast as possible so I have an excuse to buy something decent. Does tire rack sell any good performance tires for our car?

I guess I'll hold off until an ECU is available. I have a feeling that it will give immediate, substanial gains by itself. Hopefully it wont cost $1000.

 

Sway bars and tires.

 

if you are N/A id have to go with the 3.9 final drive, i know its kinda pricey, but relative to the gains, i think its best bang for buck

 

well that's a blast from the past

 

After riding with a friend who just got the 3.91 ring and pinion in his 2005 Z with basically a stock engine (he has a Nismo intake and 19" wheels and tires), I think the final drive is the best bang for the buck. What a difference in acceleration from first through third.

The 3.91 ring and pinion costs about $850 and you should be able to get it installed for $500 or less using the stock LSD. I know what is next on my mod list now.

 

get a plenum. most show at least 10 hp and tq in the mid to top end gains. and can be had for very cheap.

 

hmm so i originally said 3.91 final drive... i think i might retract my previous statement. I think the best bang for the buck would be to get fat drag radials in the rear. I have the track edition so I'm getting 265's, as borderline as i can find (basically street legal slicks). you can do a LOT with the new tires, youd be suprised how slow E46 M3's can seem with the right set of tires... 177 each for BF's drag radials, and you only need two

 

3.91 a no-go if you plan to go FI?

 

Best bang for the buck for a 6MT is learning to drive it well. A bad driver in a FI Z will never run 12's even low 13's. A good driver in a bolt-on Z will...spend $20 for test and tune nights go every chance you get and you will see an improvement. Or just practice shifting fast on the street when you have a chance to do so. Always look for little things to make your shifting faster and you will drop more time like that than with bolt-ons...

 

We have a winner here.

 

Ya but your gas mileage suffers greatly

 

Headers if u have an exhaust or intake already, otherwise a plenum spacer will do for hp performance

 

with FI, your usually putting down more power than you can handle. the 3.9 gear will make 1st gear so riddiculously short it will be hard to shift sometimes, and you'll have to shift all the time. some guys actually go down to the 3.3 gear to lengthen the time they stay in gear so they dont shift 2x as much

 

Best performance bang for the buck if you are staying NA is definatley the pop charger. Also crank pulleys are really cheap. Really opens up the car and it doesn't lose steam at upper rpm's. Best overall mods are new tires and rims and the most important of all is learning how to drive a 3200lb. 300hp rear drive beast.

 

In order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. Improve driving skill
2. Pop charger
3. Crank Pulley
4. Plenum Spacer
5. Tires
6. 3.9FD