Maybe its just me being sour, but I feel like most people that went FI back in the day or built early just had bad experiences, and were smarter than me and cut losses quickly. Not your usual "a coupling came loose and I lost boost" but the "I spent $25K+ and my motor blew after 1 yr at weaksauce power"

Many stories like the ladder unfortunately, and as can be verified by the private classifieds people just jump ship to other platforms once they realize boost isnt always what its talked up to be.

Ive been here since 03', gone thru all stages of modding, and had MANY more negative experiences since going FI. In fact I have less than 500 miles on my car this year (not because I want to), been to the shop 3X, after leaving everytime something else negative pops up, I just cant get a break. Been that way since 2007 really. Its hard to wanna keep doing this after almost 4 years of hardly driving it, not trusting it, and not having fun but still spending money.

Fawk this platform

Last night after picking up my car I got the start of what Im almost positive is rod knock. Im over the car

 

it definately isnt going on like it used to.

i mean... i dunno about the other sections of the forum... my bookmark goes straight into the FI section and RARELY do i leave that area unless searching for something specific. im sure other parts of the forum are probably doing much better, no?

but it makes sense... this isnt a FI Car... there used to be enough money floating around here to see a lot of action. but this car is too expensive to FI to see a whole lot of it in comparison to factory boosted cars. this car is expensive to FI for most people because you have to buy everything all at once to get started (turbo(s)/sc, intercooler, piping, bov, ems, fuel, etc) and even then its a fragile short block and people know that, and dont want to spend a ton of money to blow an engine. this engine is too complicated to trust a DIY build. the engine bay is too tight to do much DIY FI.

on the 370z forum.. the FI section is crap too. same problems and mentality with that car... only there is far less product support there. every thread in the FI section is "GTM GTM GTM GTM GTM GTM" because they are like the official forum turbo kit. the only things any shops post is "look at the gtm kit we installed". that pretty much the entire FI forum with the exception of a forged greddy build. nobody has fabricated or done anything non-cookie-cutter yet for that car. its a serious yawwwwn.

 

this too.

i must say... i am the only one that works on / builds my car, except for help from my business partner and a couple good friends. i have been fortunate in the sense that never once has my car broke down or been left seriously impaired. i have had a few gremlins, but nothing serious if you ask me.

however... if i didnt have the means and experience to build the entire car myself... NOOOO WAYYY i could ever justify it or afford it. These cars, when it comes to big power... meant for high rollers... not blue collars like myself.

at the same time tho... i believe that faulty engines builds are a big issue around here. when i built my first VQ35DE in 2004... i built it with the fear of god in me. YES it is only an engine... but there are 500 places to screw up something very small that will have a very negative result if you miss on this engine.

its such a fragile and finicky engine and everything has to be JUST RIGHT or it will be a complete ****up. I would NEVER EVER trust someone else to build me a VQ. precision and efficiency is always fragile. the vq is efficient and precise, and it wont think twice about shattering.

 

This platform had a chance but was swallowed whole by shops interested in money not the cars,once the carcass was picked clean they moved on(i tried to warn you).Now you have a bunch of kids and the "nice police" to keep you company.

I say you get what you deserve,no-one stood up when it mattered and now it's too late.The looters have destroyed your precious z and talent has left the building.....and were not coming back.

i pop in to watch this forum in it's death throws but that's it. "who is john galt?"






EDIT:typo

 

This section along with most of this forum died due to the exact reason of this thread. Despite how stupid newbs can be it was not the bashing of them that killed it, it was the bashing of members attempting to change the platform when all of the shop nut huggers or just ignorent members would simply tear them down for their ideas and find ways to disprove them. It drove a lot of people away I think, including myself being one of those people. There is no support here as seen on other forums of other platforms. That and I believe that the shops also killed this car. There are maybe 2 shops that are left here that havent screwed customers over. I think its true that shops got in here to make money without a care of bettering the platform. They made it and got the f outta dodge, now theyre moving onto other platforms to screw over.

 

Agree with everything said above, especially the bolded part. Amazing nuthuggers still managed to look away during the blow ups, they wait a few months then go back to repping those shops.

 

^ +1

That's why I have always done my own work except tuning
When I made threads asking questions they were mostly overlooked
because I didn't get it done by a shop or a shop loyal

Very little support for the DIY guys and very little information shared
by the shops which I have been saying for awhile.

 

yeah, it's unfortunate that it certainly seems like a lot of shops don't stand behind their work. i know of several people who've abondned their cars because a motor blew up...and one shop had done all the work/tuning just to leave them in the dust.

although this is my first car that i've modified, so i have no idea how reliable other cars are when you start doubling or more the factory rated horse power.

 

If you want to see an active FI forum for a non-factory-FI platform, check out Camaro5.com. This place is depressing as hell.

 

Nothing lasts forever. For a car design dating back to 2002, lasting into year 8 seems pretty good. Greedy shops killed the platform? What? There's greed everywhere - lol - nothing about this platform to make it immune. Some platforms have no aftermarket options so be happy with what you've got or move on. It's the people that love their cars and stick with the platform that make this forum special. I've really enjoyed the experience - my car still provides the thrills and ZdayZ still rocks!

You mopey dopey downers - get your @sses out to the next zdayz in whatever ride you've got - doesn't really matter!

 

It could also be the economy guys..... Money is not as easy to come by for most.....I am building another platform at a shop that had a waiting list a mile long.....now I am getting the VIP treatment because most ahead of me dropped out.

I agree with the post above....a lot of crap went on in this forum....shameful things.....It really bothers me to see members or anyone pay 25K and not get what they paid for.... Greed fed the hype. 25k? If I showed you the bill from my other project ....it would **** a lot of you guys off....

Never could understand why a car that cost so little cost so much to mod......please don't say it's because it did not come FI from the factory.....my other project did not come FI from the factory either.

 

This has played a key roll in my decision in FIng my Z. I believe all the things above 100% - I am at the point where spending some good 25k in attempting to make 550 whp isn't as appealing as it would have been some years ago. I love the body and style of my Z but I hate the poor engine that it came with. I am at the point where even parting out my Z won't yield much of an interest because the Z is fading out IMO.

I made a thread about what "you" would suggest I get instead of TT my Z and the answers were by far a Porsche 911 Turbo. NOT a single person suggested or encourgaged me to TT my Z and now I see why. The reason why? Well it is factory turbo charged and with 5-6k worth of upgrades this beast will come to 600 all wheel drive horse power. I know this isn't apples to apples but in the long run people like Alberto and other members who have probably already gone past the 100k price tag on their Zs just for the up-keeping and fixing the things that break, getting a 100k vehicle would have been a more cost effective choice but again some of us just love how the Z looks.

 

Yes....the Porsche TT is a great car.....but if someone told you that 5 to 6k can get you 600whp ......don't fall for it.......been there done that. Even if you are talking about the 2008 to 2010 model.......An exhaust alone can cost you 7k ....that's a cheap exhaust....and that gives you a few more whp.

Put it this way.....if you blow a Z/G motor......you can get a built one for 5k......5k would only be a down payment on a Porsche motor

 

Hey guys, which is faster an auto Z or a manual?
What type of exhaust should I buy? And which one is louder single or true dual?
I want to buy some new wheels, what kind should I get?
What color Z should I get?
Hey, what ever happened with that whole tire feathering thing?
What's the best compliment you've gotten in your Z?
An automatic Z? Seriously? Anyone who drives an auto is ghey and now I'm going to write several paragraphs on why that is.....
Hey guys, I'm 17 years old and just got a Z for my graduation gift. What should I do to it first?
Who makes this body kit?
I just got pulled over for speeding, but clearly the cop was just hating on my $30k awesome car. What should I do?
Should I get the Stillen SC or just go FI?
Hey guys, my slutty GF/wife just cheated on me. Here's some pix of her getting tag teamed by me and my buddy, enjoy...[AG Section]
The Dem/Repubs are taking this country to hell, and now I'm going to show how much I don't know about politics or world affairs [or my command of the Engrish]...[PW Section]
Oh boy, [insert AA athlete's name] has done it again... [Sports Section]

...I'll think up some more, feel free to add your own reason why the whole site seems to be so depressing lately :0P

 

Excluding domestics, is there a better bang for the buck platform for modification? A Porsche turbo costs $200k new - how is that in the same comparo? Where do you go from a TT Z/G that's got show and go? <<<<<<< that's a serious question, cause all of us are thinking about it. Anything after a few years gets boring. A used R8? blah...

 

There is nothing I can think of......The higher you go in price range....the less you have for mods.....

 

dsm's seem to have great support and they are old as hell. Still going strong with tons of things to do.

My friend tyler has about 17k TOTAL (including the cost of the car) in his 2gen talon and he's putting near 800hp down in awd. It sickens me every time i talk to him about my car. Stupid money pit that has now sat in my garage all summer. Now it's waiting for haltech to fix the random broken unit i have.

 

DSM's are different though. They are FI from the factory (well, the ones people mod), which makes it easier and CHEAPER to upgrade. Also, their layout is completely different from the Z, which lends itself to easier, CHEAPER DIY turbo kits and other mods. Key word here? CHEAPER.

 

Nobody is going to be fabbing up a turbo kit and building their own motors for their Z in their garage any time soon. That is why this platform is dying, because it is just a tad more sophisticated than your average DSM or Honda. Modding a Z requires $$$, which a majority of people who own Z's now a days, don't really have.

 

EXACTLY. Evolutionm and iwsti boards stay up to date on new break throughs and think about it the evo and the sti have been out way LONGER than the 350z has. we need more DIY support like ashtrojan2008 and streetzlegend. ill post my diy greddy tt build when im done.