Za33cK

I recently just bought an 03 Touring, it came with a pre-installed nismo CAI, i am using the car as a daily driver and one of the reasons i bought the car was the look, the power was just a little something extra but lately ive been starting to love the power more and more, ive read around the site and i'm positive i dont want to do FI cause of cost and this car like i said would be a daily driver, so i would like to keep it NA by adding a couple thousand into the car and adding that extra 50 hp from exhaust, headers, CAI, plenium spacer ect.
but am i wasting that 2 to 3 grand on parts to give it an extra 50 hp a smart idea, is 50 hp all that crazy, or is it not much of a noticeable gain??

Daytondakid13

50 horse power to the wheels? Not possible without f/I it'll be all upper powerband so it will be hard to notice. But it's your car up to you but if your going to spend 3 grand save up 1-2 more grand and go f/I your be way happier and will be noticeable.

El Verdugo

All bolt-on and tune will not yield 50whp, put in there a 75shot and then we are talking.

Voboy

iTrader: (58)

30hp might be realistic, but you'll probably spend some where between 3K - 4K chasing it down. Pretty sure you'll still feel the difference, but of course everyone adapts to the difference and want a little more and so on.

j3tt2

50 whp is possible with full bolt-ons AND a tune! You get headers, plenum spacer, intake, test pipes/HFCs, true duel exhaust, and either find a COBB tuner for sale or an Osiris tuner and you'll be at about 300 to the wheels, my 03 with everything listed above (COBB tuner) without headers dynoed at 278rwhp. The tuner is the key. Stock the car is at 287bhp take around 10-15% off to the crank and that's at around 240whp, so I'm up 38whp(appoximate) and its noticeable. Not as much as FI but for sure noticeable.

juicinjake

iTrader: (6)

with a 50whp nitrous shot, the car will feel like what you wish it did NA. my car (05 g35 6mt revup) has motordyne tdx2, ppe longtube headers, mrev2, 5/16" spacer, osiris tuner (i did fuel maps myself - full dyno tune coming soon), ztube/modded 350z airbox w/ ram air and a nitrous kit that i put together. its pretty strong na compared to stock and faster than my friends stock 08 hr 350z. i attribute most of the gains to the good r&d work that motordyne put into all their parts, same with ppe on the longtubes. the 50 shot is noticable enough to cause a little wheelhop from a roll, but its the torque generated by the nitrous that you would really feel. you wont get the same feeling out of 50hp worth of na mods that you will out of a 50hp nitrous system. that said i wouldnt waste my time with a 50 shot anyway. im an experienced nitrous user and have been on a 150 shot for a while. for an amateur, 100hp shot is where its at. you will get more power for your money with nitrous than you will with na mods, by far. im not saying its the way to go for you or not, but something to consider.

Shin Beats

iTrader: (7)

What kind of dyno was this on?

Classy

iTrader: (7)

where are all these retards coming from and ruining the NA section more? I really want to know where some of you get your information. Yes, you can get 50 RWHP from NA, but you will pay for it, cobb does not support the 350z anymore, throw that idea away... Nitrous, ugh... unless you have watched the first fast and the furious a few too many times, for a daily driven car that wont see much or any track time, why do it unless you will be doing some illegal stuff.

PPE headers, your choice of exhaust, plenum spacer, your intake is probably fine, and the fun one compared to the headers, is CAMS!!! yes I said it, you will get about 20+ hp from this mod alone if you have the right supporting mods, but it is not an easy bolt on by any means, oh, and a good dyno tune from your local uprev supporting dyno shop. You will have about 280-290 rwhp which from the about 230 rwhp bone stock dynos I have seen is the 50 rwhp we have been chasing after...

I am tempted to do one more Z33 but for a dedicated track car and I would not build the motor this time, I would do pretty close to the above mods and call it a day...

El Verdugo

You are right Classy, if he only intended to install bolt-ons then its hard to get to that 50hp gain. With Cam upgrade that means opening it up and perhaps he is not willing to go that route. In any case cams is definitely the avenue to stay full NA and make the power.

ZS14RR

iTrader: (30)

HR all day.

Bret86944

iTrader: (4)

Have you modded a car before?

The typical timeline for modding cars is:

1. buy stock car
2. mod car
3. be dissapointed with hp gain, notice exhaust leaks, idling problems, crappy gas mileage
3. sell car

juicinjake

iTrader: (6)

i couldnt agree more on the mods recommendation list! thats more or less the same route im on. only reason i havent done cams yet was because i just put the headers on last weekend and im still not sure what cams i wanna run. OP just note, he told no lie about the money thing... cams being the largest single cost of all the "worthwhile" na mods. ive got about $4500 in na mods. $7000 if you count the 4.083/quaife rearend i am getting built right now... all for a low 13 second car (with gears), and i havent even started on the heads/shortblock yet! if you really wanna stay NA, id also suggest looking into driveline mods that dont affect the engine or require a tune, yet make the most of what you have, like a lightweight aluminum/cf driveshaft and gears/lsd. you will feel and enjoy the gears more than just about any other single na mod you can make. everytime i get a 4.10ish gear in one of my cars it puts a big smile on my face. having a real lsd to help put all the power down to both tires is also good! the stock vlsd is alright, but isnt the best differential out there by any means.

classy, just for reference sake, and since you've already been there and done it... can you comment on what the OP could expect to spend on a shortblock build for NA as well as how much power to expect from it?

ive gotta respectfully disagree on nitrous though... based purely on personal experience. ive sprayed on every single one of the 15 different cars ive owned/built... all of which were street cars. there is nothing f&f about it, its just a chemical solution to the power problem. the only reason i even brought it up was because of the gains per dollar versus na on the z/g. compared to what i have in NA mods, ive got about $2500 in my fully optioned out nitrous system (you could do it for less than a grand if you wanted to). its definitely not for everyone. just something i thought he might wanna look into, as we have no idea what kind of budget the OP is working with.

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

Cobb doesnt sell it anymore, i can attest that they certainly do support.. email steve at cobb, hes awesome. It was a sales issue.. they had to manufacture hardware, whereas Osiris was a flash and cable, they got killed. All the maps are available, they will answer questions, they jsut dont sell it anymore.


Cobb is a great idea for newbs, and can support limited dyno tuning later on w custom maps.. ask me how I know all this lol. Best mod i EVER did.

Id never put a single bolt on part any car again thats running OBDII without some sort or reflash system w new affr and timing targets, period.

Completely pointless until you remap and or tune.

Za33cK

Thanks for the responses, I would never do nitrious, like I said its a daily driver, back in highschool I took a few auto tech classes and as the years went on I got into an auto shop, but just did oil changes, alignments and such, I do know I could do most bolt on mods, expect exhaust and all, as far as the cam goes, it sounds interesting any more info on this? yeah 50 hp is hard to obtain, and at rwhp it would be less, like I said I got some cash to spend but I feel slapping on a supercharger or turbo and being an everyday driver might not be the smartest idea understand that it becomes a norm after doing the mods and people get use to them overtime they and want more and more power, I on the other hand am not ganna drop 10 grand into my car seeing I could own a 06 vette or something by the time I would be done with my all my mods, if I can get the 30rwhp with the mods stated from you guys above, and if its worth it("noticeable" me being happy with that power gain) for 3 grand or around that then yeah I will look into getting the parts and such, if many of u took this same path and are not satisfied then eff it, ill save the money

Classy

iTrader: (7)

to answer these 2 things...

a manual 350z has a CF driveshaft from the factory

the cost of my built engine? LOL ugh... for the machining, cams, rebuild parts, oil pump, CD009 transmission (used) ati pulley, eagle rods, pistons, arp this and that and whatever else went into it, oh and tuning and stuff, about $9000, I would HIGHLY suggest not to build a motor, the only thing I really gained power from was the cams, run a stock motor and if you are serious, slap some cams on... cost of cams, $1200 ish, if you go with a bigger cam, it will be alot more, because you really need to pull the heads and have the valve springs replaced and reshimmed. IF I was to do it all again, I would go with a smaller cam personally...

As for the Cobb thing, I am surprised to hear this, I thought they dropped support unless your car came with a factory turbo charger.

I would not build a motor unless you are really serious about some motor sports, or you are going big with boost.

Classy

iTrader: (7)

Aside from what everyone else here has said, I think a good route to go, would be your basic bolt ons and a tune, headers, exhaust, plenum spacer, and a LSD and some 3.9 or 4.08 gears would really liven up your car.

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Power is more noticeable from a lower starting point.

50hp extra on a Civic is obviously more noticeable than on a Viper.

You could spend $3000 and do all bolt ons and a tune and get 25-30whp. Then add gears and you will certainly think its a different car.

LMAO @ the guy who says 50whp with bolt ons and a tune is possible he obviously hasn't done it.

Pengu

iTrader: (9)

What this guy said, except I learned how much it cost to gain 20-30 hp and I put 4.08 gears on. It wasn't enough, going with Forced Induction in the Spring.

Duckeee

iTrader: (7)

everyone needs boost in their life.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

^ Exactly. You need cams and head work to get to 300whp NA, which isn't considered bolt-on and isn't cheap either. And those mods will push the powerband to the right too. OP needs to ask himself whether he is willing to sacrifice power under the curve for the sake of peak power near redline on a Z that is intended to be a daily driver.