Speedracer

Wow!!!! What a response to my post on NA mods and their benefits on the Z. I will admit, I did title the post in the way I did to try and generate some controversy, but also to get all the facts out on the table. So, here's what have I learned.....

There is no one NA mod that has a big impact on power and performance. However, the CORRECT combination of products can give a noticeable and real power gain.

Seems like to me, at the present time, the state of the art NA Z would have the following set-up:

JWT pop-charger
Crawford Plenum
Crawford headers
Crawford cats
JWT cams
JWT flywheel
Stillen, Borla, or HKS catback

Seems like this set-up will get you about 50wheel hp at peak. Including all installation costs, it would cost around $7500 or so. The important thing to remember here is that, if you take away any of the elements of the combination the overall power gain drops dramatically.

Now.....a Greddy twin turbo kit with intercooler, clutch upgrade an cat-back including labor would cost $11-12,000 for about double the amount of power.

So....in reality, dollar for dollar, on this car, the NA mods, WHEN DONE IN THE CORRECT AND COMPLETE COMBINATION, actually give better gains than the turbo. Of course, those gains are limited, But still...I have learned something. All in all, for me, I will probably still be going with an FI set-up, as this is where I have had most of my past tuning experience, and where I feel comfortable, and the low end torque simply can't be duplicated.

Thanks to all who responded....even if I did get your heart rate up. You helped me figure it all out in two days!!!!!

Z33Concept

Good Information man Thx. Im still thinking tho should I go the NA Way or the F/I way hmmm

PoWeRtRiP

your wrong! these na gains wont even stack up to a turbo. dont forget to do some tuning or you wont gain much at all, you need to fix your a/f around the time you add headers or cams. the crawford plenum shows very little gains on heavily modded z's btw so you might not want to waste your money. a clutch would be nice while your adding your flywheel. its nice to put together a wish list like this but youll end up breaking the list up as you begin modding. and you could probably have all that stuff done for more like 5k if you know how to source parts and can turn a wrench yourself.

Speedracer

The enrty level cost for a turbo set-up is over $10k including install and all the proper other parts. Even is you were only (hypothetically speaking) running 2psi boost and making 310 hp.

What I am saying is that at lower power levels, the NA mods do offer a good dollar value compared to a turbo set-up. Now...if your talking 400hp motors, to do it NA would probably cost WAY more than a turbo.

drivenCSZ

iTrader: (2)

so your saying it cost 4k for a turbo instal??

ares

iTrader: (2)

first off, you wont get 50hp, but thats been said, 25 maybe? there are the weight benefits of 50-70lbs.

I donno about a turbo costing over 10k or near there.

it should be a 10-20hour install at most, which would be 600-1200$ at most shops. even if you paid 100$ an hour, it could never take 40hours to install a turbo.

turbos should cost no more than 8grand installed. now what you spend on tuning, and that you should add other mods, thats a different issue.

toykilla

iTrader: (1)

umm u can get 200rwhp hp from the greddy kit.. thats 4x's as much as NA mods for about the same price

i can get the greddy kit for 5600 and do the install myself.. tuning is another few hundred.. so u spend 7k and ill spend 7k and we will see who breaks the 400hp mark

2003z

iTrader: (7)

and a supercharger is good for at least 100 hp or more, depending on which you get, for under 7500 installed.

JST4FN

You should not compare bolt on parts to a turbo or supercharger kit. The only true way to get NA power is to pull the motor, add some cubes, ported heads, new cams and maybe a bump in compression. You could make some pretty good power this way,but you will still be down on drivability and power, especially torque if you go the turbo route. You just can't hardly beat forced induction if it is done right. Usually you will even gain gas mileage if driven right. Just a opinion....
Thanks Mike

Dissolved

wtf, cant you get a greddy tt kit for $4995 wthout intercooler? Where did you get this $10k figure from? Personally I wouldnt boost to much on these cars. Aluminum block + high compression= bad. Sticking to NA. Fast enough for me. If I wanted a beast I would of bought an mkiv. I wanted something new, classy looking and handled well

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

no one really knows what the above combo will yeild, as no one has done it yet to my knowledge.

There are people at or close to 300 whp for an NA setup, andthe key has and remans proper component selection and tuning of the ecu.

However, what people see, content to do here is add a mod that person "x" says is good, to a mod that person "y" says is good, assume it will work together, and call it a day. Depending on the exact mod, you can come out ust fine (ie no intake and exhaust combo will yeild significantly more HP than any other combo.

However, when you start getting into cams, it has to be a good match for your plenum, your headers, and most importantly, your ecu..get any of those things wrong, and the car will fall on its face.

Adam

ares

iTrader: (2)

well as long as were talking theoreticly, I think there are low compression forged pistons available by now. or just get some custom. should run 1500-2000$. we'll not concern ourselfs with the install cost .

3rdpower

My idea is to take it in steps. FI is the final goal, however, in preparation are alot of things Everything I get works well with a FI set up. With larger fuel injectors getting good/better gas mileage would be an interesting challenge

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Damn, does that include the intercooler? If so please share where...

wakaZ

Not if I do it myself

ares

iTrader: (2)

theres a vendor selling em I thought it was 5800 if you paid cash, but same difference. still pretty cheap these days.

if you have a good shop you could try custom too. if you plan on upgrading the greddy that is. save time and redo the internals all at once and get bigger turbos so you dont have to sell anything off later.

Dom

For me and lots of other track-guy FI is nothing to even think about.
I'll try to get 280-290whp and that will still be much more reliable
than any FI in my opinion ( if you track the car).
Let's talk about it asa some people hit 20-30k miles with their FI cars.