Hey guys,

I'm contemplating going FI and right now it's a fight between my heart saying yes and my head saying no.

I've bought my 15k miles '03 350Z three months ago for a huge amount of money. The 350Z here in The Netherlands is a luxury car costing 63k euro new and a nice used one starts at around 28k.

We have a completely different car and tuning culture here. The average car here has 100 horses and tuning is 99% rice out here. Cars are just too expensive for youth to buy real cars. Not to mention gas costs (6 euro a gallon). My city has 100k inhabitants and there area a whole 6 Z's around with mine already being the nicest as the only black one with the best rims (19" Nismo's) (;

So what I'm trying to say is that I don't have to proof anything.. I already have one of the sickest and fastest rides in my city.. You wouldn't believe how many heads it turns.. It really is an exotic sportscar here.

Still the idea of 400 horses within my grasp for a relatively small amount of money makes me hungry for it (: It's almost a sinn not making use of so much potential the car and engine has to offer. You probably see three 400+ hp cars a year here.

I love my Z but it does feel a bit underpowered at times. Especially at the highway doing over 60mph. I miss getting pushed in my seat when i shift down and step on it like it does in 2nd at around 3500rpm. Will 400 horses fix that for me? I've never driven such a powerful car so I have no idea what it's like.

Can I afford FI. Yes no problem but I can't completely disregard resell value either. Also if I blow my engine I won't be able to find a cheap secondhand one.

My plan is to have a Vortech V3 supercharger kit installed with the goal of 350whp. I'm thinking that will give me a decent amount of oomph without too much risk of blowing my engine. Also my car can be returned to stock if I would want to sell it.

I already found a tuning company that can do it. Total costs will be around 7k euro.

So what do you guys think? To FI or not to FI?

 

if your only option is the vortech, I would say no... I just it will leave you wanting more

 

then what would you recommend? that tuning company also has experience with twins so i can basicly go with anything...

 

with the position you are in, I would upgrade to a car that came faster from the factory.....

 

that would mean switching to a sedan like a M3, RS4 or Evo and that's not the type of car i want to drive. so the next best thing would be a 911 turbo but a decent one is 80k euro here. that's a whole other ballgame. well maybe a Lotus Elise 160+ hp version or Ariel Atom even would be around 50k euro but that is a lot less car for more money than a 350Z FI.

 

Go For It!

 

No good deals on a Z4-M out there?

 

cheapest one i can find is 58k and i don't find it fast enough to consider it an upgrade (:

 

There's nothing like the sound and feel of a blower on the VQ...

 

Only a twin turbo will give you that 2nd gear feel in 4th gear. But to feel that punch I think requires 400 to the wheels at least. At that level there are no guarantees that your 2003 rods will last... If you build the motor at the same time, then yes, go for it. Then you don't have to stop at 400 either. Otherwise stay NA.

 

nah that's no option.
way too expensive and too complicated.
rebuilding the engine is out of the question.
surely 100-120 extra horses on the rear wheels will make a huge difference (:

 

With you being the Netherlands, I say go with the Supercharger. Easy to install, reliability, and a decent amount of power. I hope you have another car too, because with you being in the Netherlands, you don't want too much power to the rear wheels in the winter.

And I know what it is like to live in a place, where the fastest car out there is a Peugeot 205 or Seat Leon, it sucks. So once more I say go for it.

Good Luck

 

You will just get used to the power again and be right back where you started....you always get used to the power

 

Dont' do it!! all you will end up is with strings of problems and a lot less money, especially when you're at a location with minimal options. Also, you will need 2 cars, since the z will be in the shop constantly.

 

dont do it

 

Then lets stop talking a get it done.

 

what is everyone talking about in the shop constantly? do any of you even have vortechs? I have had mine trouble free around 6 months, and others have gone much longer than that.....

The real question should be whether or not you can get a reliable tune. The power you want is achievable, and because the vortech is centrifugal, the power and boost in 3rd and 4th seems quite reasonable for your purposes. My car certainly seems to get to from 60-90 like my car used to get from 30-60. Hope that helps.

 

you will always want more power, I say pay your car off, meanwhile buy a nice bike 600cc or higher, sell the bike after your car is almost paid off and then put that money in your Z

 

350whp on a vortech IMO isn't going to feel worth all the effort and money. Maybe if you went with shorter gearing and a light clutch/flywheel it might, but still you're not going to feel a whole lot until 5000 rpms. IMO the 3.12 pulley is needed at least to make it feel remotely like it was worth it where you're making more like around 375-380whp and kicks in at 4500 rpms

TT is just going to be more expensive and more headaches down the road if you don't have a good shop nearby

The Z is a good car on it's own. Lots of power is nice, but it eventually gets old and won't feel like a big deal anymore. Then you're just going to want more power.

 

my car is paid off...

i sold my ducati superbike 2 months ago because it was going to end badly with me losing either my license or my life.