BriGuyMax

iTrader: (4)

Do us a favor and refrain from posting next time...

Robert_K

iTrader: (25)

I have to agree with you here. I completely feel that for $10k you can build a reliable Twin Turbo 350Z making 400ish WHP that you can daily drive and weekend race. Anything over 500whp is bragging rights or mainly track use to me. IMO there is no reason for 500, 600, 700+ whp for a street/daily driven car.

To the OP; Since doing my TT kit I now want to do a complete N/A build. If I had a second 350Z, the time and money I'd like to have the VQ stroked to a 3.8, rev to 10K, complete motor build, interior gutted (steering wheel and single seat), complete CF exterior, roll cage, best suspention set-up, etc... Basically a track only N/A 350Z that screams!

iamdigital

iTrader: (44)

pics of car NOW? That thing is slammed and looks badace!

iamdigital

iTrader: (44)

I'm at that point of no return in my build. While I have a lot less commitment in this rid than my previous ride I'm not sure if I'll be happy. I have bought most of the equipment to build the car up and it's literally stripped to bare metal (interior and exterior) in my garage right now. This thing will either be a huge pride point or a nightmare and with my travel schedule lately I'm afraid of the latter. So I guess for me I wish I would of kept it simple or went with another platform. I'm sure when it's all said and done I'll love it but coming from a viper I have expectations that'll need to be met.

As far as financials go... That's a nice spot. I bought this thing WAY cheap figuring I'd replace nearly every component of the car anyway (which I'm on my way to do) So, I should end up with just about every mod I want and a built TT car for under $50K which is awesome. I was too scarred to fk up the viper. but this thing will be driven like it's stolen

2004Black350z

iTrader: (37)

Interesting and helpful thread. I didn't vote bc I'm not heavily modded or a DA like others that didn't read the thread. I'm still waiting on jeremy tibbs sharif julian alberto to chime in and say their thoughts. Seems I may just TT my car just simple with a good tune and buy a bike and a truck lol

rr_z33

iTrader: (2)

built bottom end twin turbo. lots of headaches. was it worth it HELL YES! would i suggest modifying cars to someone else? probably not. its a love hate relationship and im pretty sure that we all experience the love hate relationship. but when everything is working right for that one time. its like nothing else.

azn_speedracer

iTrader: (22)

I totally agree with his statements. I would have done the same 30k z, parts 25-30k, and adding time and labor and the hassle... i wish i would have gotten a 996tt at the time, but its all love of the game. i geuss its a tuner life

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

For me it wasn't woth all the trouble. I travelled from FL to Charlotte NC twice. From FL to Maryland. From FL to Atlanta twice, and numerous places in the state to get work done to my car. I went without my car for 9 months this year because I had tio have a third motor put in after the second motor failed (built). All the work on my car has cost me about 60K if you include rental cars and I don't even have a BBK.

I had a Turbonetics and then swithced to a Greddy which I am very happy with. But the whole process was a nightmare. Now that it's done I will keep it but I will never modify a car again. If I want a fast car I will pay for it from a manufacturer. Unless you spend a ton of money cheap aftermarket parts are not reliable.

I bought a set of shocks about 17,000 mi ago. Two are now leaking. I have a track day Sunday and have to buy a new set.

My fuel gauge doesn't work because Sharif wired my fan relay to my fule pump wiring and now the gauge is worthless. Some parts were left out of my motor when it weas rebuilt and had to have the motor pulled for those parts to be replaced.

My tunes have been dissapointing except from Jeremy at the performance Factory.

Mike at Altered Atmosphere rest my rev limiter to 7300 RPM with asking and caused my first stock motor to blow when I hit the rev limiter and snapped a connecting rod.

This journey has certainly not been worth the headaches. But the car is fast and fun. Now to seee if it can survive Sebring on Sunday!

JET

taurran

iTrader: (18)

I've had a lot of fun with the car, but I think it really has been a nightmare as its been a year since I blew my motor, and have really yet to enjoy my new built setup. I love the Z but anything after building the motor has truthfully been more of a pain than anything. However, I realize there's always a huge amount of work to get a built setup running where you want it so you can actually enjoy it. That's why I see a lot of guys around that have got to the point where they can enjoy their built high powered cars and hope mine is there soon (should be after the latest round of changes).

Over the past year, I've only been able to drive the car for a total of two to three months.

I agree with BriGuy that the car was the most fun on a stock motor. Once you have to go with a built setup it's sometimes really hard to get to the point where you can just enjoy the car with no worries.

I'm with Jet on this one. The Z is a blast when I'm driving it, but I will never heavily modify another car again. I think I've got the modding bug out of my system for one lifetime. My next car will be something that's reasonably quick from the factory and it will stay that way (with maybe a few small mods ).

MADScientist

iTrader: (3)

The only thing that I would have changed is the learning curve for modding this engine and platform all around. Seems like I have had to do more trial and error type stuff with this car than I have with others that I have built, but that is what you get when you are pushing the limits right along with the speed shops. For guys that run Supras, Evos, etc, they have a lot more guys that have gone a lot further with the platform so when they do a build they do it once. I can remember when Supras were blowing up all the time and a 67mm turbo was huge on a street car... Now it is tinny!

But the end result is worth it. The Z is still one of the sexiest cars on the road for the money and honestly until I can afford to mod out a GTR, I don't think I will be changing anytime soon.

coachk

iTrader: (21)

I love what I've done with my Z. Several guys on here including myself have pushed the limits of our cars because we have a sick addiction to go fast. With that sick addiction you're willing to try things out that are new/cutting edge and there's no guarantees. Most of the FI guys are well versed on modding cars and know the risks.
To the guys out here that have dumped tons of $$$ in their Z's to advance the limits of the VQ, I have much respect for. So to all you guys out there that are learning from our misfortunes, you will now be charged a fee to get informatiion from us.

Robert_K

iTrader: (25)

From the sound of this thread it seems the owners that have built their motors have had more problems than those that have just done a F/I kit with a safe tune and supporting mods.

Sonicspeed

Sorry man the poll was put on the front page and I voted there.

Jonathan Allyn

iTrader: (3)

I am not going to vote because my Z is not heavily modded but being that I came from a car that was, it sounds like the sentiment crosses over to other projects as well. Before my RSX, I had a 94' Prelude VTEC with the H22a1 and decided to go FI with it.

Talking about an obsessive journey from beginning to end...

I figured if I was going to buy the kit, then there was only one way to do it which was go with a fully built motor. I did the entire bottom end including Darton Sleeves, forged pistons, rods, etc.. It was a freaking nightmare and I didnt see my car for something like three months.

What started out as an intial investment of 5K, ended up being almost 12K at the end and lost relationship along the way. After that happened I had to sell the car but was able to see it put down almost 300hp @ 9lbs of boost to the wheels before letting it go.

I know this is about the Z but alot of your stories remind me of what I went through with my Prelude. Looking back, i am glad I did it and completed the project, going forward, unless I had just a ton of disposable income and a second car, I wouldnt do that to my Z.

I think my next car will be a FI car from the factory but thats just my

Good discussion here...

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

I would have kept my car at 400whp or less if it hadnt blown up in 3000 miles. I also wish my build came along at a time when the community was further developed. When I built in September of 06' anything near or past 600whp and people thought sleeves were neccessary-also 1/2" head studs. Regardless I "overbuilt" it ran it at low boost and Ive had my fair share of problems, more than most would have tolerated. I feel as if many of the mods the comunity has been "told or proven" you NEED are not neccessary (this is another thread topic).

I feel like most shop owners arent 100% honest in the expectations most customers have in how long they expect a built car to last ie. 30K or 50K+ miles. Im sick of always doing the best parts and shops and still feeling like Im coming out on the losing end of the game.

At the end of the day I struggled greatly with thoughts of selling the car and parting out, because not having 500+whp once you already did is not even an option. Ive decided to stick with it, my gut instinct isnt agreeing with me though, as g@y as this is gonna sound I made the decision with my heart and not my mind. Well, we will see what comes of this new situation, I hope I dont regret it in the future. Ive always been very passionate about modding and racing my car, and when you dont see your car for months at a time the fire slowly dies away and the thought of walking away from it all feels easier.

Its tough to answer would I do it again? Thinking back NO, not FI, I had soooo much fun NA (13.1 @ 107mph with bolt-ons) I wish I had done a nice NA build, never worry about blowing motors, tranny's, hooking up, expensive clutches, fuel systems, etc, and had a nice reliable fun mid 12 sec car with 110+mph traps EASY. At least that way I could take pride in driving the car, hard to like your car when its broken half the time, even worse that I feel as if my downtime isnt justified because I dont run any crazy custom set-ups or anything. I am hard on my car though, harder than most on the forums. In my friendship with Luie (who is most similar to me, my style of driving, mentality and experiences with the car) we are always back and forth in our discussions on these cars, one day we love them, the next they are possibly for sale!

Please dont ask what happened to my set-up or what Im doing with it, when the time comes the community will know.

Tyler4

iTrader: (12)

I'm don't have a built motor yet, but i do have a fair amount of money invested in my car (TT with all the extras).

But i look at it this way, I am young and have a unhealthy obsession with cars. And at this particular time in my life, I have the time (not married) and money to go through the process of building a heavily modded car. I also have a Toyota 4 Runner, so i'm not exactly looking for another reliable vehicle.

I have told myself that there will be headaches going into this and fully expect there to be. I mean, i am trying to get xxxwhp out of a car that was build for 230whp! But when i see people like Alberto, Louie, JKenefic, Taurran, it makes me want to go that much further with my car. I know all of your guys' headaches have sucked for you, but following your build have helped out a lot of people. And IMO, as the z community progresses, there will be less headaches because people have learned from your experiences. I have full confidence in the shop that does my work, so if/when things go wrong, I know it will be nobody's fault.

Like i said, i expect there to be headaches along the way, but I am young and financially secure enough to deal with them. If i wasnt, then i would not go into this. Plus, Like Louie said, it's kinda cool to have a 350z that traps higher than cars that cost over 100K. (i'm nowhere near that yet)

That being said, this will be the last car i modify. I will keep this until I can afford a GT2

Tyler4

iTrader: (12)

I though you built in Sept 06??

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Doh, I did, good call, let me edit my post!

Tyler4

iTrader: (12)

You put '08 this time lol

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

The car, school and work have my mind so fawked up I cant even think straight! Thanks again