So I've been slowly building up my Z. Really difficult when youre over seas and the Z is back in the States, to say the least. Despite it all, I just cant afford to go FI, not if I want to go back home anytime soon. So I'm sticking to N/A for now.

I just got my exhaust, and intake coming probably in another day or two. I will probably get an underdrive pulley and a 5/16th spacer before I leave also. My question is, at what point should I consider getting a retune to maximize my N/A mods. I realize with FI, you have to tune immediately; but with N/A, after how many parts should I look into getting a reflash/retune, or even engine management? Im probably not going to do much beyond intake, pulley, spacer, headers and Exhaust. Thanks everyone.

 

Tune it when your done with your mods. If you do it before, you will just need a second tune after the last mod is put in.

 

Gotcha, but is the items listed above worth a tune? I mean, at what point or what mods (types) will a retune make a difference? I can see that a retune could help after an intake, and definitely internals like cams and such, but say, I just stuck with an intake and exhaust. Are those significant enough to warrant a retune?

Thanks.

 

Anything and everything will show a slight increase of power after a tune, it all depends on if you want to keep wasting money on dyno-tunes after each little mod, or just tune everything at once.

 

Man !prjtnax! your just everywhere, ever get you blue done?

 

Cool, so basically, even after just the above mentioned mods, it would still be a good idea to think about a tune. Thanks all.

 

Go with the Osiris and they will send you custom tunes based on your own Cipher Datalogs. If you add something later, you just send them a new datalog for a new map.

 

+1

Even a tune on a bone-stock Z would still show an increase in HP.

 

I dynoed my Z for the first time and had just an X02 exhaust. When I looked at my A/F it was not as straight as it could be and dave at FT told me if I tuned it I would get more HP out of it. I recently added a 1/2 inch spacer and may get test pipes but I'm not going to get tuned until I'm all done with my mods. Im considering technosquare.

 

nope, not yet. Planning on a tune in the spring, after I get "all" of my bolt-ons put on. Kinetix IM, Cattman header manifolds, and possibly a Cattman "cat"back exhaust, if not re-piping.

I also have to find a place that is willing to tune the E-Blue, has experience with it, and won't turn me away for having a "grocery getter" lol

 

Osiris....check it out

I would say even stock Z's can benefit from a tune...my car runs pig rich and its pretty close to stock

 

Maxima's are still FTW. haha

 

That would be my second choice.

 

yay! A person that doesn't bash because it's a "grocery getter!"

Stock 350Z's for me are quite enjoyable right now...and once I get the remaining mods put on, I think that some 350Z's with basic bolt-ons and a tune will be quite interesting!

 

I've got a related question.
In the next week I will be installing exhaust, popcharger, headers hi-flow cats and 5/16th spacer. The only other mods I've thought about getting before saving up for FI are possible a lightened flywheel and a pulley set. I was thinking about picking up UTEC and getting a tune with my NA mods before I start working on FI. Can I go ahead and do that now? I would think that the flywheel and the pulleys wouldn't affect the tune since they won't affect my AF ratio right?

 

Correct. And neither will the pulley set.

 

Oki, so as I stated in my original post. At which point during an N/A build would you consider getting an engine management device, like a UTEC or somesuch?

I get that a retune would be good after your done with modding, but take the example above, would engine management be worth it, or would it simply be good to have for any future improvements?

 

The best time to get a tune would be whenever you feel like getting the most power from your setup

Stock + tune = better mpg, maybe a litte more power
Mods + tune = better mpg, more mods to tune more power to be unlocked

As far as if its "worth it".....opinion....I would hate spending a bunch of money on mods and not knowing if they can bring the gains I thought they would.....until you tune, you wont know just how good those mods are

Is it worth it to get the most from your car? at 600-1000 to find out thats a personal choice .....on older VQs that run lean with mods....I would think a tune is very much worth it for safety and power....JMHO though

 

SergEK, thank you for that response, but that has been covered already. I get it. If you would reread the post that you quoted, you'd see I was mentioning specifically about engine management devices. So please feel free to go back and quote that post again and let me know what you think about the topic at hand.

 

To answer your question directly, I have the breathing mods you listed in post 1 plus hfc and am just now going to get Osiris as my next mod. If Osiris was available back when I started adding parts, I would have had it right off the bat to ensure safe operation and achieve max power.