This is my first Z.I have wanted a Z for a long time and finally bought one because of how amazing it looked.Sadly its an auto though and after getting in to the Z community I don’t feel like I should have gotten it.I wanted to know if it wasn’t weird or the I’d be a “Ricer” if I tricked out my auto. plz leave some comments and thoughts

 

Welcome to the forum!

Don't worry, there are plenty of members who run 5AT, myself included. It is what it is. If it ends up getting to where you absolutely cannot live with it then sell it for a 6MT, or manual swap it. The auto is great for light to moderate power.

You can find a link to my Z and what has been done to it so for in my signature down below.

 

Looks clean to me.

 

You have a very nice looking Z. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about what other Z owners say about the automatic transmission. For some reason, they feel driving an automatic makes you less of a man. I say that is ridiculous. Just drive your Z and have a great time with it.

 

Nice looking car. Do what you want with it. It's your car. Doesn't matter what other people think. Enjoy it.

 

OP- nice looking ride. Btw, you do realize you can put it in manual mode, engine-brake into turns and shift faster than with a clutch, correct? Your car also has a 3.3 differential instead of the 3.5 the 6 speed got, so a hair slower off the line.
Having your right hand free allows you to do worthwhile things like drink your coffee and hold your GFs hand. Win!

 

nice Z.
welcome and enjoy your Z and thinking about the manual later on

 

It's all wrong!! Totally wrong!!!!

For anyone to talk shid about it. Your car, your money. Do as you please! Driving a manual or stick.... who really cares? Many critical people who drive manuals can't drive 'em correctly anyhow so they have no right to throw stones in a glass house.

 

Very nice looking car. You made a great purchase. Don't be concerned about MT vs. AT. The purists advocate MT, but the "practicalists" favor AT. If your daily drive is in traffic, you will want the AT. And... performance wise, the AT can actually out-perform the MT in 0-60 mph and quarter mile.

 

Nice Z, nothing wrong with A/T.

i've had three z's, first was automatic, second M/T, and my third z is Automatic also.
having to shift gears all the time can get tiresome at times, driving an automatic can be much more relaxing.

 

Seriously, having your right hand being free is so underrated. I need to drink on my way to work, I work two jobs so I'm in need of waking. Which entails me as well in the AT club. It does make more sense to own one though...

Also enough, based on my experience, most supercharger 350Z are AT. They just go fast af and keep holding that power on through.

 

Nice! I just bought my 2nd Z...my first was a 1978 280zx, 5 speed, back in the mid 80's. So I just picked up a 2004 350z,, about 4k under retail. As you can imagine, it's going to need some work!

 

There is a shift kit available for the auto if more snap is needed, should be still fine for street driving.

 

I have an 04 automatic as well can agree stick in traffic sucks. I kind of know the answer to this but I was wondering if automatics could benefit from mods like the ones I listed below. I also would like to stay NA turbo & supercharger to me is like adding a bunch of expensive problems especially for a daily driver. Don't get me wrong I love the noises TU TU TU TU and the whine of the supercharger just more problems. I think it's getting 350 to 400 hp out of an NA VQ35DE I would want to overbuild and under power never worry about breaking my **** maybe I'm in the wrong if I am then enlighten me.

Ring pinion gear 3.9 final gear https://www.z1motorsports.com/rear-d...ve-p-4523.html
lightweight flywheel https://www.z1motorsports.com/transm...el-p-2025.html
lightweight crank pulley https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...it-p-7252.html
lightweight idler pulley https://www.z1motorsports.com/engine...de-p-3998.html

 

Can't speak on the lightweight pulleys since I don't have them. I am sure there is a benefit / problem associated with them that you will have to weigh.

However, I can assure you for a fact that unless you are doing an auto to manual swap, that flywheel (manual) will not be worth the time to install because you have an automatic and, therefore, a torque converter, not a flywheel.

I get what you are saying with regards to reliability, but there is an old saying that I love: cheap and reliable are not fast, fast and reliable are not cheap, fast and cheap are not reliable. This goes for most things in life. If you slap on an Ebay turbo kit and start doing pulls then you are asking for trouble. If you take the time, purchase and install (or better yet have a professional install if you are a novice) quality parts with a proven history of reliability, have a professional complete a safe tune, and as you said, build the engine to the point well in excess of what you plan to throw at it, then you SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the likelihood of costly repairs occurring frequently.

There are people out there who DD an FI car almost every day with no real worries.

 

Hello, glad you're here.
As stated above from the mods you list the only one that might be useful for a N/A car is the 3,9 final drive. Your best bet is to look at the Marketplace here and your local FB/CL sales classifieds. The gears are what- US $500 plus install at $600? Save up if you need to, most folks change to lighter wheels, stickier tires or better suspension 1st. GL!

 

Thanks, JHC
I was planning on doing the usual suspects for DE plenum spacer, throttle body spacer already had the K&N filter on it. Raceland Coilovers drop it an inch (lots of speed bumps where I live) refresh bushings, go with 18X9 wheels (not sure which yet) square setup. Brakes got my eyes on some power stops but I might just get slotted & drilled rotors and ceramic pads. You know streetcar, not a race car. I was curious about these things but Ring & Pinion was a for sure because gearing seemed a little lazy to me if you know what I mean.

 

Thanks 813
You know once a read the flywheel torque converter I realized that wait I have an auto I'm Dumb LOL. Like the saying, I don't get want to get cheap parts but I do want to do most of the work not a total newbie around engines but this is my 1st. JDM. I have seen enough youtube vids of people grading their engine with cheap parts LOL. I want to upgrade with better parts not the Best top of the line parts. I'm looking to build a DD that I can have fun with on the street but I'm not going to be hitting the track with it.

 

That is a good looking Z. Mine is a manual and I paid more for it to be that way but the bigger the engine the less bit of a deal an automatic is. If you were talking about a 1996 Toyota Tercel then manual vs auto makes a big difference. Pretty much all the new cars are going auto anyway. Enjoy it and ignore any spoil sports.

 

It's not anything to make apologies for. Nice looking car! Enjoy!