well, i finally picked up my z after having the following Nismo parts installed:

cams
headers
flywheel
intake

so not really a cams-only review

first startup...idles like stock ....a VERY tiny blurp once in a long while, but thats because i was sitting there and staring at the needle to note any differences. who knows, maybe thats how it was stock. revs come a little quicker from the flywheel, but not a drastic change.

so i take my friend for a test drive near the shop where i had the installs done to make sure i'm near the shop in case a cam falls out or something (j/k). unfortunately the streets are small and not really alot of open road, so i couldnt take the car up past 4k that much; plus there's a police station nearby i think. the car felt a little more snappy, probably because of the flywheel. but overall, below 4k it was just a minor, but noticeable, improvement over stock. of course there's the unmistakeable sound of an intake and i think the headers added to the sound too. i kind of had to get use to driving the car again after driving around in a pontiac grand prix for a week, which had some body roll just from flipping the turn signals

anyways, after verifying that the car was put back together correctly and runs perfectly, we hop on the freeway to go home, and you know what that means, 4k+ territory. i leave it in 3rd and got around traffic, and mashed the pedal. revs are moving quicker and the car is pulling HARD all the way to ~6300 when i shift. 4th gear comes and soon 100mph.. ok better back off. on the way home i did a couple of these highway runs and i am a very happy camper

near my house are some small uncrowded roads near a military base. i take my friend out and test the car from a stop. the most noticeable changes are the quicker revs and the bobble of the car as i go from 1st thru 3rd. i'm running toyo proxes t1s 255r. these are sticky tires so i didnt burn out that much going through the gears. but the rear end just squatted a lot more, and once the tires hooked up, the car would bobble back and forth more (yes, i'm on stock suspension), conclusion: definitely more ponies and the butt dyno agrees. i should've mentioned earlier, but i'm on stock exhaust too. i had let my friend test drive the car a week ago in stock form and wanted him to test drive it again today, but he said he'll do it after i get my nismo exhaust on. so i gotta wipe the cobwebs off the nismo exhaust and install it soon, maybe next weekend. i feel like the car can give a little more, and the stock exhaust is a bottleneck.

overall, i'm very pleased with the performance increase. its not a kick-in-the-butt like an FI upgrade, but still very nice the cams i know are on the mild side, but thats the way i want to keep it, stock feel with more power i know the power addiction of throwing a turbo on an n/a motor, but because of my newfound hobby of autocrossing, i want to keep the car reliable. next mods will probably be the s-tune susp/sways, and when my 18" lm gt4s arrive, everything will be complete, well....almost.

ok, now i'd like to take some time to thank jeff@performance for all of the great prices on the nismo products and also the great customer service. reason i didnt have the catback put on at the same time was because i was unable to transport such a large box. jeff offered to have one of his service guys pick up the nismo exhaust from my house and drop it off at the shop (30+ miles one-way). but then i would encounter the problem of getting the stock exhaust back home, so i couldnt take advantage of jeff's offer. it was also through jeff's referral that i found the shop to do the install, Vincent's Foreign Car Service in Covina. my z was the first 350z that bryan(shop owner) worked on for cam installs, but he's been working on z's since the 240 i believe; very knowledgeable, professional, and a pleasure to deal with, and obviously i'm happy with the results

i know someone is going to ask for dynos, but i just picked up the car today, so cut me some slack ok? my stock dyno was 232/232. i'll try to dyno again at the next dyno day thats on a weekend; only time i'm available. by then i'll have the catback on i'm sure. but honestly, i'm only interested in getting around a track faster, just mild curiousity in dyno #s.

 

awesome review

please post a review of PNR

https://my350z.com/forum/forumdispla...s=&forumid=111

looks like you are going all out on NISMO.

Victor

 

Glad your happy with the car. Stay tuned as I will post the pictures of the cam install on your car Monday sometime. We have been having major problems with our web host so pix have been slow coming!! As soon as my 04 gets here, bryan will be doing my car next.... plus the s-tune. Enjoy the car!!!

 

b18bvudoo....

Excellent review... and funny too !!

Really enjoyed reading it... and please post again once you install the exhaust.

Thanks.

 

HEY! send em over, i can host them

mikewazowski@***.net
nicejacket@***.net
my350z@***.net

 

hey jeff!

Will your place install the flywheel / cams?

 

great review...can't wait til i order mine...

how long did the cams take?

 

Hmmm, lots of questions asked already. But I have to wonder, what effect would cams have on FI, whether it is TC or SC??? Also, the installation time would be nice to know.

 

is the trany louder/more vibrations with the flywheel?

 

1/4 mile times ???

 

Having an ATI S/C on my car (non-nissan) I've found that the cam made the engine come alive. I would think that anything that allowed more air and fuel to get in the engine would be a natural for F/I. I'm sure there are people on this board more qualified to answer this question. Just my .02

 

Cams no, flywheel yes but I've been sending people over to Vincents, where this car was done. We as a Dealer can't install R-Tune parts until NMC gets C.A.R.B. approval. On the other side of it, we can help with the tuning. After Bryan was done the car came to me. We needed to bump the idle 100rpm and almost advanced the timing a couple degrees, but decided with the crappy 91 octane fuel we would leave it alone. When my car comes in next week or so, Bryan will install all the Nismo stuff and we will use it for the test puppy as far as how much we can push things and stay smog legal in Calif. Keep in mind we are a VERY mod friendly dealer, but I can't speak for the others. Pictures of b18bvudoo's car all apart should happen today. I got to work and the system is up, but someone has my camera with the card in it!!

 

I think i drove past your dealership this weekend... is it along the 210? big concrete lookin sign that says performance nissan?

im going to be putting all nismo parts on my car... except their cold air intake...

and i dont mind the drive out to your dealership from valencia

 

That's us!! Call me anytime!!

 

Here are the pix.....that weren't deleted!

 

there is a little bit of a chatter i think when i'm at a stop and engage 1st gear fully (not feathering the clutch) but going slow. maybe someone else w/ the nismo flywheel can chime in here.

install time is ~13 hrs i believe, but i left my car at Vincent's for a week to give bryan enough time for everything.

thanks for the pics jeff . i guess bryan was right; there IS alot of room in there to work compared to the old 300zx.

also, as all of you already know, the torque curve of our z's is very smooth and not really full of frills. its not any different now because i'm still on stock ecu, pretty linear, but with more torque theres no sudden lunge or anything around 4k.

 

Cool, I know that for our engine, we would already have to look into rods and pistons to go real high in HP. I would think cams would also help in any high HP application. I think alot of people going that high in HP only think about making the engine stronger, whereas putting cams on it would be a power upgrade.

On the stock engine, most of these cam offerings get anywhere from 15 to 30 rwhp. With FI, that number would go up big time. Bet it would be easier to get the cams and turbo done at the same time to save a little on labor. Man, talking about expensive, lol.

 

dang that's a lot of work!

 

So THAT'S what our engine bays look like without all that extra stuff in there! All these reviews and threads are making me want this stuff now! I don't know if I can hold out much longer!

 

Wow never seen her that NAKED!!!