Just keep in mind i don't expect monster gains....just good n/a bolt-on power that is reliable, smog friendly (at least friendly enough for mr. state referee to get off my back), with some ample gains without CELS or anyother lights that go off.

intake: it seems like the injen sp1986. although many love the popcharger i just couldn't get sold on the engine bay fliter. i have just had poor experiences with SRIs.

exhaust:Nismo. quiet. noticeable gains through the band and not obnoxious.

Crawford Plenum: It seems this is the plenum of choice as far as performance and reliability. although it sucks that you have to remove the front strut bar and remove the engine plastic (or buy crawford's bar and re-cut the plastic) there have been too many great reviews. plus it seems the intake will benefit more due to the increase air flow the plenum makes.

emanage/unichip: to smooth out the powerband through a/f tuning with all the n/a mods.

misc mods: c/f hood, lightweight wheels

....so what do you guys think. i'm not really into the whole F/I thing (s/c, nitrous, or turbo).

 

If you arent planning on getting higher #'s then its alright.

 

I would suggest NISMO intake instead of Injen, cause I am a NISMO nut.

Good choice on the exhaust by the way.

I have the Kinetix plenum and cats. The V4 plenum lets you keep your stock stut bar.

Add some NISMO headers to that list, and you are good to go!!!

 

i'm thinking around 15-20whp?

as far as kintetix...haven't there been melting and leak issues?

 

avoid unichip for na. one vendor began to sell it on this site. there were lots of questions, none of which were answered by unichip. vendor stopped offering their product.

 

there seems to have some problem about the OEM ECU self learning which might just overwrite or make unichip's tuning does not work anymore... There is one aussie memeber reporting this on the other forum but when I had it installed on my car... it didn't seem to be the case though... or it might be due to the tuners... who knows...

cheers,

richie

 

None whatsoever. They had issues early on, but the version they sell now (v4) is rock solid. I was putting 276hp to the wheels before the flywheel. I didnt do a baseline, so I dont know how much of an increase over stock, but with most stock Zs in the 235-240 range, thats 35-40hp gain.

It feels and sounds like 100hp gain though...

 

Before you make a decision on an Exhaust, look at these numbers:

From Sport Z Magazine:

PEAK HP:
1. Borla 8.2
2. Stillen 8.1
3. Injen 7.6
4. Nismo 6.3
5. 5Zigen -3.4

PEAK Torque:
1. Stillen 7.3
2. Injen 5.1
3. Nismo 4.5
4. Borla 2.7
5. 5Zigen 0.2

In hindsight, I think I should have saved up more and went with the Stillen for over-all gains in HP and Torque.

 

The difference between the NISMO and Stillen is less than 2hp. I'd rather go with something that has been tested by Nissan than gain 2hp that is likely within the margin of error of the dyno....

 

ZlleH: get real, do you really think there is a huge diff. betweem 6.3 and 8.2hp gained (especially with less torque) ???

You should consider the JWT flywheel. Its an excellent mod with power gains adn will make the car feel even faster. You will like it.

 

Woah, easy there fellas. I just told him to look at the numbers then I told him what _I_ should have gotton in hindsight. I never told him nismo was bad or that he should not choose nismo.

Jeez, we're all friends here looking for the same things. information.

 

Hey! That's why I put a little at the end. We're cool. I just see way too many people getting hung up on 2hp when going NA is a lot more than exhaust - choosing the wrong combination of bolt ons can actually hurt performance.

 

I'm going with the Nismo too... when my stocker falls off. Plenty of breathing room and hassle free fit. The HP difference between the Nismo and Stillen is justified by the weight difference, IMO.

I have a CAI, AAM spacer, TS headers and HELIX HF cats and dyno at 248whp @6300 and 244lbft @4000... Not bad for no ECU reflash and a few mods.

You pulled some sweet numbers ZBoater!

Zquicksilver

 

I'd get an exhaust (for looks and sound), and an intake (cheap), and spend the rest on visual mods if you plan on staying NA. NA mods just don't give enough power returns for the cash you drop into them, and by the time you start hitting some serious NA horsepower, you might as well have gone with an FI setup.

I wish I had never put all the money I did in NA performance mods. If I had that cash back now, I would have one of the best looking Z's here, and also the power to back it up with the turbo.

 

great info! do you have a link so that i can see the power curve throughout the band? peak power is okay but i want to see the gain throughout. anyone have this/ this is great guys...thanks for edumacating me...

as far as n/a i just like th set up. i'm not looking to go super fast like a turbo, nitrous, or super charger...i think i just like the challenge of n/a

thank you so much for the info on the kintetix. i doubt it gains as much as 30whp, but knowing that the latest version is solid makes me think twice about crwford. i just don't want to have to give up the stock strut bar.

 

No prob. I got the info from this link: https://my350z.com/forum/intake-exhaust/130367-borla-or-nismo-2.html

about not wanting to lose the struts bar... I'm going to get the motordyne 1/4 inch spacer instead of getting a whole new manifold top. I want it to look as stock as possible and that means keeping the struts bar.

I've heard nothing but good things about the motordyne spacer.

I'll be doing 3 mods before the end of the summer is over.

JWT popcharger (done, well worth it, engine sounds more aggressive and butt-dyno says it's faster )

Borla True Dual Exhaust (installing it later int he day or tomorrow)

Motordyne 1/4 inch spacer (haven't ordered yet)

This will be it for now, I'll take the next year to save up for new rims.

I'm a look and performance guy.

And I agree with you on not going all out with a FI, I'd like to get to know more about my car. these installation is a learning process in itself.

I'll probably get a twin turbo 6 years from now when I decide rather it's better to trade it in for the next generation Z or to just install a FI to keep up with the avage horsepower of the time. Who know, maybe 6 years from now a Ford Echo could be 300 hp base. LOL!

 

haha...awesome! this is really great info guys. say if the unichip is a dud, are there any other ecu upgrades i can use that are proven to work without having the stock ecu override the settings? i know some people have used emanage....any other options? i would just like to smooth out the power curve after the breather mods are installed...plus i don't have a lot of info about cams. it seems the only options are the nismo and jwt...but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of people who have experience with them...keep the info commin'...this is truly great stuff!

 

Look into the new eManage Ultimate.

eManage Ulitmate GB thread

 

whoa...that emanage ultimate sounds like a great buy...plus it comes with all the tuning setting i want....

 

not really accurate though, as the cat back systems were not tested with an aftermarket Y pipe, where the duals have the equivalent of one supplied. The Y pipr is responsible for the majority of the hp gains, so if you tested the true duals vs the Y pipe+catback combos, I bet the difference would be 5 hp or less for any system