I have just bought a new z three weeks ago IT'S AWSOME!!! I have no experience in race tunning and would like to know which performance parts can increase power, especially low end torque. At the same time, can this be achieved without increased wear and stress on the engine or the possibility of damage. The JWT pop charger and UR racing pulleys seem like a safe and inexpensive way to begin. There seem to be some very experienced people on this site. Would some of the heavy hitters be willing to way in with they're own lists of some safe and efective products? Thanks

PS I've driven a toyota truck through a shallow river and the engine was warped about an hour later so cold air intakes that might take in water are out for me!!!

 

Only two mods have no negative effects whatsoever.

1) Get in shape

2) Go to a driving school and mod your brain.

Everything else, although maybe very minimal, will have adverse effects.

 

1. Gutted stock cats. You will dramatically decrease way more backpressure than adding a bigger ID cat back system while maintaining the original flow dynamics of Nissan engineers.
2. UR Crank Pulley. It will reduce the rotational inertia on the crank by decreased radius and weight to get your revs up faster and into the powerband quicker.
3. Panel air filter. Increase throttle response by decreasing pressure drop in intake secondary to having less restriction than paper filter. Will not let less compressible hot air into motor like the pop charger or to much air for the ECM airflow parameters/restrictions like some CAIs.
4. Hyper Ground Kit. Multiple dyno proven aid to ECM grounding efficiency. See recent Import Tuner mag. Just $ .02.

 

brucenator

As you know, any time you add a mod to increase performance, it will decrease the life of the engine. I have pullies, rumor is that they create vibrations at the crank and produces premature wear on the thrust bearings. never did it on my old car doubt it will do it on this one. CAI can damage the mass sensor. off road pipes damage the o2 sensors. So all mods could have a negative effect, but if you are like me and love power, its worth the risk.

 

everything as an adverse effect, even a K&N filter as adverse effect, even grounding kit...

But.... we are crazy people and will gladly sell the soul(warranty/life) of our car for more power!

 

I appreciate the input so far and I understand now that all of these mods will have some negative side effects. I think what I'm looking for are the mods that are most effective in terms of power but I'm trying to avoid high compression blowers or NO2, things that could blow up my engine. I'm interested in the what the down side of the nismo cams would be or headers and exhaust. People don't usually talk about what the negatvie ramifications of the most common products are.

 

The mods I have listed have no proven ill effect. Ask for the evidence base against them vs. the philosophy. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

 

Thanks for the info Z Monster. Any advice on how to gut those stock cats (not that I would do something illegal like that).

 

All the tools seen here, brute force, and patience.

 

Looks like I have my saturday planned. Thanks

 

I may gut the stock cats on my maxima. Although that ruins 2 very expensive OEM pieces. wouldnt running test pipes be more worth it??

 

I do not understand why people always want to gut the cats. Those are very expensive pieces of exhaust that someone probably will want to buy. The gutted cat flows worse than a straight pipe. This is because the exhaust expands to fill the larger chamber of the cat, but then must return to the smaller diameter of the exhaust piping. This causes some turbulence in the exhaust flow and will decrease top end power (but might also increase low end torque).

 

wait a minute...you can just gut the cats

or do you need to but test pipes..?

 

Gutting the cats will create a lot of turbulence as mentioned above, if not totally, then coming close to negating any gain associated with removing the cats. Plus, you are done forever with your cats. You would have to buy more should you need some and they aren't cheap!

 

why not work the inertia side of the acceleration equation some more. Anything to reduce translational and rotational mass - smaller and lighter weight wheels, lighter flywheel, CF hood, CF aero system, Ti exhaust, ... ?? Higher accel's and no added stress to the drivetrain.

 

I like the idea of gutting the cats but if I sell the car later ( to get a new Z!) I might have problems. who makes quality staight pipes?

 

LSDUnique

 

Any flowbench numbers to back your theory up?

 

Any flowbench numbers to back up yours?

 

Test pipes are always better than gutting. However, gutting does NOT harm performance. I've gutted the cats on a '91 supercharged trans Am and '90 Z32tt. The trans am's 1/4mile stayed close to the same 13.37 vs 13.32 with gutted cats. The z32 dropped a tenth.