mcderns

iTrader: (3)

I hope you get all your issues sorted out. I used Loko-Performance Coatings to coat my stuff, and I know Charles(phunk) has too. They are local to Chicago. Heres their site:
LOKO

failsafe306

iTrader: (38)

Okay, question: Do I really need 2000 degree coating, or can I get by with say, 1450 degree coating? LO-KO doesn't offer 2000...

Badmonkey

iTrader: (9)

I don't know what your egt temps will be, but mine are around 1300 deg F with the probe in the middle of my test pipe. I know it is warmer near the block, that is why I chose the 2200 deg coating.

FYI, the place that I was referring to charged me $150 shipped for my headers to be coated.

jdx911

iTrader: (5)

I can kind of understand what you are going through. I have a friend that is dealing with the same issues but has had more than 2 years of run arounds and excuses before he completely changed his build just a couple of months ago. Now he is about 90% complete and should have his car running in the next month or so. Just hang in there, things will no doubt get better.

sentry65

iTrader: (11)

I'm NA with a decent amount of money invested into my car and sometimes feel like going FI, but it's a double edged sword.

It's a lot of money

ST and TT kits have so much torque you can't get traction (I know I know, that's supposivly "cool")

vortech and ATI are cheaper alternatives without the traction issues, but is it worth going only 1 sec faster in the 1/4 mile than my NA setup and make the handling way heavier?

Is it worth the possibility of blowing up the engine?


It's one of those things where you run into some problems and want to fix them - by throwing tons of money at it. I have a lot of NA stuff and haven't had major huge gains - about what's expected. So to get huge gains you gotta go FI. More cash. Run into some FI issues, fix it with more labor cash. etc etc. All the meanwhile it's making you more bitter at the car for not putting out.



What solved the issue for me is buying a 2nd car that WILL put out a lot with little money spent. Just buy something cheap that's been out for awhile and work to exaggerate its strengths and try to minimize it's weaknesses as much as you can.


The Z just flat out has so many weaknesses in the area of modding. Sure there's always going to be some great thing coming out next to solve your current problem, but damn it's expensive and ultimately going to be worth crap in 10 years if you did go to sell the car.

IMO as pro-modding as I am, this car isn't worthwhile. Everyone has a fix, but it's so expensive it's stupid.

I just bought a used C3 corvette (still have my Z) I can buy a lighter weight 510hp engine to drop in, get some good headers, lighten up the suspension parts etc and be down to less than 3000 lbs (possibly less) with 510 or higher hp for a grand total of $10k worth of mods and only spent $6500 on the car. And it'll be completely reliable with LOTS of support of over 30 years experience of people working on it.

It'll only be good at drag racing mainly, but that's what most FI Z owners seem to be concerned with right?

Sharif@Forged

iTrader: (92)

Chris, I know how you feel, since we talked on the phone a bunch of times about this. All I can say, is that I think you will find the results will be worth the wait. I know it's easy to say now...but after driving your NEW motor for a few weeks, you will quickly forget about the downtime you experienced.

In regards to the turbo, I am hoping that with good trimming of the lines, and 5.5QTS ONLY!!! of oil.....all will be fine. You might even try it with 5qts at first, and then gradually increase the oil level...watching for the smoke.

amolaver

iTrader: (1)

The Z is clearly expensive to mod, however, sometimes a vehicle just 'clicks' with you. Whether its the way it looks, handles, stops or goes, there is just something special about it. That's how I feel about the Z. From a raw dollars/speed equation, buying an M1 miata (90-98(?)), adding a flyin miata turbo kit, a suspension, and good tires will flat out crush anything but a huge dollar Z around a racetrack (road course). All for less than 12-15K (easily). I'm not sure about a C3, but I've seen C4's on track that are downright frightening in how quickly they can circulate (with mods of course). C5 Z06's are ridiculous straight out of the box. The new C6 is going to cost about what a TT, built motor Z would be (with very little else done to it), but will guarenteed run rings around it on a racetrack (and have a warranty to boot).

Heavily modding just about any car is as much a personal, subjective thing as anything I can think of. You talked about 1/4 mile times. Go buy yourself a fresh-from-the-dealer '05 R1 or GSXR1000 or 'busa. 1/4 in under 10 seconds, again, with a warranty. Even my FZ1 runs a 10.75 @ 125mph+, and its downright comfy. Each of these is 10-12K out the door (FZ1 is ~7500). Clearly there are cheaper ways to go fast than retrofitting FI onto a 350Z. But I *WANT* the Z to be faster. I like *THIS* car. And I suppose most other folks here, even if they haven't thought it through, are of the same mind.

I understand your point, but one could extrapolate what you're saying to extremes.

ahm

G352NV

iTrader: (13)

Right on target!

roncfpz

iTrader: (15)

failsafe306, hang in there. Like others have said, sometimes people will go F/I and have relatively few problems, sometimes they'll have many. The problems of bad advice, poor shop tuners, poor service, etc. are the price we pay for what will be a unique machine for you. Sure we all share some common parts and mods, but you've started with a basic design and are creating something special for yourself. If you've ever had a custom home built, you know the incredible pain in a$$ it is do so, but man is it worth it in the long run. I hope you experience the same gratification with your Z.

Good luck!
Ron

gringott

iTrader: (17)

Sorry about your troubles. I worried about having the same type of problems, that is why I went with a conservative kit at a conservative boost. I want to enjoy the car, not babysit it or let it sit in a shop. Best of luck.

Gman2004

iTrader: (8)

+1 million. My car was down for almost 5 months. It was one thing after another during the build. I was about to put the car up for sale on ebay and buy a luxury (GS430) and never look back on modding. Finally Sharif and Cprace put it all back together and tuned it to 543whp. I can't tell you how much I love it again.

draco24433

Sorry to hear about your situation. I wish you the very best.

BoOsTedz33TT

iTrader: (1)

bro, you got screwed over hard....no lube!! There is no reason that you should be responsible. GRD and SGP seem like they are passing the buck. I mean damn, they lost your freakin motor, because of katrina, that sucks for them, thats why there bonded courier's right?? They got to eat that bill, not you. Man www.bbb.org report there ***, if they dont wanna give what you payed for. Damn i would pop a gasket if i were in your shoe's. Damn i was pissed because my emanage ult is messing up on me, thanx for making me feel better, but really that sucks, contact the better business burea. Shops do this all the time "pass the buck"...what was your total loss, if i may ask

failsafe306

iTrader: (38)

You have my first post all mixed up. The motor made it, the clutch did not. The parts being coated were seriously delayed because of Katrina flooding the shop. Trust me, I'm not eating $2000. I will be refunded one way or another.

failsafe306

iTrader: (38)

I just got off the phone with Jet Hot. I asked why the hell did GRD not recieve my parts today, and they said there's a problem with FedEx getting the shipping out of wherever in Mississippi they are. He then told me that they started spraying the 2000 late yesterday; after I told them to **** off. So...I decided to give them one last chance, no more delays. We'll see.....

ZZtopp

iTrader: (1)

I threw an APS TT and a better clutch on my car, had it installed by a great shop, and the thing runs like a dream and is fast as hell. It's been totally reliable and trouble free. I've run mid 4's 0-60 from a street start, with no traction issues. As soon as I find some of those weaknesses you're talking about, I'll let you know.

By the way, unlike any of the Vettes you're talking about, my Z has no rattles, squeaks, and is totally as comfortable to drive as my wife's new Audi. I've owned seven Corvettes, and with the exception of a '66 roadster that I should have kept (it was built the same year I was born), they have all been garbage, even the 2002 Z06 that rattled like your C3 probably does. They perform well, but that's about it. You're dumping 10K on a C3 and saying that modding a 350Z is stupid? Now that's funny.

sentry65

iTrader: (11)

i'm not going to argue with you

glad you're happy with your car

I'm happy with my C3. It's going up in value - and if I "mod" it by fixing it up, it'll go up in value even more. Unlike the Z....

Also $6000 will get you a 600hp brand new reliable engine. Add in a new tranny and some labor and you have a car that will most likely be faster in a straight line than the Z even most FI Z's. C3's can run 10's and 11's pretty easy. Yeah it's not built for handling. The Z wasn't built for drag racing.

The Z isn't easy to lose weight. The C3 has TONS of ways to lose weight. 2850 lbs is totally attainable

Squeeks and rattles don't bother me. My C3 rattles a little here and there I suppose, but I don't think I even noticed until I started listening for them.

So for less than 20k I'll have a car that runs 11's, is fun to drive, goes up in value, and still to this day turns heads. Z's are common as hell where I live. No one cares about them. I've gotten maybe a grand total of 10 compliments on my Z over the course of a year and a half. I've gotten 4 in the first 4 days of owning the C3

I will forever maintain that the Z is not a good drag car at all unless you drive around with drag radials all the time cause you need something to get traction. I'm glad your car has 100% great traction hookup though. Every other TT owner has literally laughed when I asked them how their traction was so i dunno, your car must be the most well thought out so congrats


I firmly believe in accenting a car's strengths. The Z has no real strengths - it's well rounded, but it isn't set up as a drag car in any way - long wheel base, transmission in the front, engine in the front, can't get REALLY wide tires on the rear, the LSD won't help tons with drag racing, doesn't have heavy duty rear axels, and most importantly - has too many gears that are too close together for BIG power. Add some racing tires and bam you can suddenly take a Z that normally runs 12's on street tires and you're now running low 11's or possibly 10's.

The parts are expensive, there's not tons of experience on them yet - very few places specialize in 350Z's anyway. You can add more power with FI, but all those other things that make the Z handle so well are going to hurt you from hooking up as much as you'd like. I have yet to see a Z run 11's or faster on street tires - or street tires that were 305mm or less wide - even with 550whp

ZZtopp

iTrader: (1)

The C3 is a horrible car. Period. Very flexible frame, exceptionally bad build quality.....I could go on an on. I had a '79 L-82. Probably the worst Vette I've had.

Have fun with it.....I'm sure you can get some thrills out of it on a track, but don't kid yourself into thinking that thing going to appreciate like some other Vettes have.

Buying most cars as an appreciating investment is ridiculous. Unless you have a rare classic, cars depreciate. Enjoy them while you have them, then dispose of them and move on. My Z is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but the way mine is set up, it's the best of both worlds for me right now. It's scary fast and a great day to day car.

Enjoy the hell out of your C3 (Corvettes can be fun, if nothing else), but please don't compare that creaky old thing to a car with a few decades of technology over it. If you want to drop 10K modding a car for the track, there are a lot better ways to go than an old Vette.

sentry65

iTrader: (11)

speed is speed,

speed doesn't go obsolete

11's are still 11's and 10's are still 10's

I still have my Z which will I'm mainly focusing on handling and road courses with and my daily driver. It also won't have the extra 100 lbs in the front of my car that FI Z's have.

Like I said, you take a Z, spend $10k and you go 2 sec faster in the 1/4 mile
Other cars you spend $10k and you go 5 sec faster
even if the Z has more whp, it usually has trouble putting the power down. Even the designers made the Z have a "flat ride" so it'd be great at handling, but shifting huge amounts of weight to the rear for drag racing just doesn't happen - it's wheelbase and weight distrbution contribute to that too



they're two very different cars:

$15-20k for a car that does 10's or 11's and still looks great, but not good at handling. It's cheaper to insure

or $40-50k for a FI Z that does 12's on street tires and because of the FI up front, now does mediocre at handling because of the extra 100 lbs being added to the wrong end of the car, and has all the comfort/luxury modern stuff. Insurance is probably more expensive



Ok, yeah the C3 isn't going to appreciate like houses or whatever, but there are only so many out there and the numbers are going down. I had a friend who had a C3 and wrecked his. He bought it for $8k. Insurance company decided it was worth $15k and wrote him a check for that much.

I never said the C3 or "my C3" is better than the Z. I said it's easier to mod in terms of drag racing than the Z. Why the hell would anyone care if the chasis isn't as stiff for a drag car? I'm not planning on doing hardcore turning with it - there's nothing about it that shows it'd be good at doing that so why fight with it trying to make it do it? BTW there are companies that make aluminum tube frames in different stages for racing - and lose a crap load of weight and stiffen up the chasis. Can't do that with the Z. With the C3, you can lose 100 lbs and gain 300 hp by using an aluminum engine instead of iron. The Z you have to gain 100 lbs to gain 130-200 hp

Of course the C3 isn't going to have the build quality be as good as modern cars but guess what? It only cost me $6500 for the car. My fiance and I are enjoying the car. I mean, don't most vintage cars have crap build quality? Actually I don't really see how the build quality is much worse than the Z other than the car is almost 30 years old. Stuff was just different back then. I have AC and electric windows and that's enough for me. Actually I don't even care if the windows are electric or not.

ZZtopp

iTrader: (1)

You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding.....