to some degree I would agree with what your saying, I saw my stock Z and saw some physical appearance changes that needed to be made.....when I looked at it from the side it does not look good, like just a elongated banana...... I wanted to make it look more aggressive....

Darker Paint color
Nismo Spoiler
Nismo Dark gray rims
Front lip on the front bumper
06+ headlights
Clean and simple Body kit..... for ground effects
Not the Veilside ricer body kit...

one of my biggest pet peeves was having to see that huge antenna......I had it replaced with a much shorter antenna....


This is all personal preference.....but i get a lot more heads turning on my z now than ever before......I did not want to opt for a turbo kit because 0-60 in 5 seconds is fast enough.....anything more is just luxury at that point

 

That antenna buged me too. I just took it off and didn't replace it. I never listen to the radio anyways so who cares. Ever notice in all the stock photos of the Z33 all of the antennas are gone? Look it up on google images.

 

Yea appearance mods are OK as long as they aren't permanent. I updated to the Depo 06 headlights too, huge huge improvement. The Z33 has a donk but other than that and the stock wheels being sunken in I pretty much love the stock look. Only thing I would want is maybe a V2 front bumper and some low offset 19s.

 

Oh for heaven's sake no!

 

While I do love taking the Z to roadcourses and have been doing more events frequently, I don't think I have the right to be labeled a 'track junky'.

 

Dude, other than the mileage on your car, everything you wrote is simply wrong.

Today's turbo systems are quite efficient and will simply blow the doors off an all-motor Z. I know because I have done this myself.

 

Turbos don't add weight?

Turbos don't add complexity?

Turbos don't compromise reliability on a high mileage stock block?

Turbocharging a car the right way doesn't cost a lot of money?

HP is more important to me than everything else?

What exactly is wrong in my post, aside from me not having the same preferences for turbocharging as you do? How is not wanting to turbo a car or caring about "blowing doors off" "wrong"? Where did I ever say an all motor car would be able to hang with a turbo car? Naw, everything you wrote in your post is wrong... maybe you got some threads confused

 

I had to

 

but the LAG is the biggest deterrent....

 

+1 The lag on my supercharged fwd car makes me hate all turbocharged cars.

I was being facetious, other dude was calling you out for street racing. Had no idea you even tracked your z. lol

 

Your supercharged fwd car has lag?

 

+1 on headers being a waste. Our cars don't gain much with Boltons so your better off forced induction.

 

my opinion: the engineers that built this car knew the in's and out's and built this car with the intentions of max power output. so unless you turbo/super charge, any mods you do will produce minimal amounts, if any.

 

unless you have an HR

I believe stock they have 260-270 WHP

After intakes, test pipes, exhaust, and a uprev tune I'm making 300WHP

That's a pretty substantial gain for bolt ons.

 

Tunes work pretty well on DEs too from what I've seen. I think full bolt ons + a tune can yield a good 25-35whp/tq, at least from what I've seen. The problem is spending the $$$ to get there. $75-100/hp is a little crazy but that's what it looks like it will take. I'm OK. I will be good with a little noise and some other minor mods.

 

Mine is an 07 HR. i've done some research, as well as spoke to many others, and some of the gains vs cost just aren't worth it to me, IMO. and of course, you also have those that claim, even guarantee, gains and do nothing more than decrease the performance.

props to you though on 30-40 hp gain.

exactly my point.

 

The only thing good about this thread is the title really. The Z is "expensive" to improve upon. Even if you're buying parts used, getting good deals, and doing things yourself it's going to cost money.

Proper Z suspension $2-6k used shocks/springs/suspension arms/braces and new performance bearings

Proper BBK on all 4 wheels $2k used

Average NA mods $2-3k used depending on how far down the rabbit hole you go (~40whp)

Proper gears & LSD used $2-3k

Proper wheels & tires $1.1k used (probably more, but I got Enkei RPF1's w/ 265/35/18 Toyo Proxy R1R's for that much on here so... it's possible)

So for a well handling, relatively under-powered sports car (by modern standards) it's going to cost you at least $9,100 to $15,100 dollars in performance modifications. Don't forget to add professional labor cost for setting up suspension since most people will just mess it up if they try to DIY. I'm sure there's something else I'm forgetting to.

 

true.

what i don't understand is why people sh*t bricks whenever they see the prices to mod the Z. understand that the Z is a sports car and it will cost some $$ to do basic modding. i said before that the cost vs gains are not worth it to me, but i was already expecting for prices to be high. the Z isnt like a civic, where major mods won't cost an arm and a leg.

IMO, if you're about to install a major mod, you should really do some research and understand the form vs function of it. getting a mod just to have it and having someone else install is a dumb move. if you know how to install a part, chances are you will understand how it works and if you know how it works, chances are you'll know how to install it. i've seen kids with turbo charged civics that have no clue what they're doing and end up messing their sh*t up.

 

This thread has gone every direction possible. I would like to ground things mentioning the title and how it relates to the Z.

The title (“The Z seems hard to improve on”) couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact the Z is delivered as a basic sport car begging for modification. And, there are many options, products, and choices owners have to improve and individualize the car.

• The Z safely handles many different wheel and tire setups. This is an extremely popular modification that buyers often do first on their Z’s.
  
  
• The Nissan engine is sound and accepts a wide range of modifications and add-ons.
  
  
• The Z has a plethora of cubbies and mounting positions for a variety of A/V solutions, including SubW’s, door pods and kicks, external amplifiers, and even car PC’s. I cannot think of any car with more A/V options.
  
  
• Owners have many options for body kits, seat replacements, and custom interiors.

--Spike

 

But relating back to the thread title, you can't improve perfection. Just saying