Hey I am looking to turbo my z, but not for a few years. want to appreciate the car for itself, NA for now while I finish paying it off. I constantly think of littler upgrades to do for now but then backed out on everything but the injen intake. I'll probably do the full exhaust even though the manifold and down pipe will be replaced with the turbo later. So I have a couple questions here...
1. What's the best, while still economical, exhaust with a LOW tone. none of that ricey B.S. because the Z has a real motor, doesn't need to sound like a dirtbike.
2. i need feedback on any kind of plug&play ecu mods, like this ebay nonsense, and maybe where i can get a good one that will actually do anything. http://www.ebay.com/itm/261015079093...84.m1423.l2649
thanks. any help, suggestions would be appreciated.
I'd love to just go ***** deep and pick up an aem ecu or even an apexi or hks exhaust but that's just not going to happen right now. 23yo with Little money.

 

For economical exhaust upgrades swap out the cats and keep the stock cat back, cat back exhausts are $$$

The only "ecu upgrade" you should every think about NA is Uprev Osiris, its the business for VQ's. Only problem is it costs a minimum of $400 for a set up, but holds its value and can be resold later in the marketplace. Its also more than capable of handling a FI tune, I know guys who've ran mid 600whp on stroked twin turbo setups tuned only on Osiris. For crazy builds and purpose built race cars a standalone is nice tho.

 

Why the hurry. Take your time.

 

Any opinions on the new Haltech? I'm hearing conflicting things on whether it works on the HR.

 

If you are talking about the new ECU replacement, its says right on their website

Models covered
Nissan 350Z Z33 – (2003 -2006)
Nissan Skyline V35 – (2003 -2006)
Infinity G35 – (2003 – 2006)
Engine Codes: VQ35DE inc RevUp – (Single Throttle Only – Does not suit VQ35HR)
Transmission: Manual Only

With the legacy pro harness Haltech, you need to get a custom wiring harness to work with it.

 

As far as the exhaust goes, you'll probably want to roll with the Borla TD. That's what I'd get if money wasn't an option.

I just put on a Flowmaster 80, and the sound is just what I wanted. It's deep with a nice growl when you get on it. Check out videos on youtube. It only cost me about 200 bucks (80 for the muffler on Amazon, 130 or so for install). No idea about HP gains... but it couldn't possibly be that much.

Just my .02 cents

 

I thought i heard a flowmaster setup and it was raspy? or at the very least drony, and that's the problem with the 350, and i suspect a good reason why the decent CBE's are $$$$

It suffers terribly from either rasp, or drone, or even both. Otherwise the system is usually very quiet.

 

As far as the exhaust goes i would get the Nismo exhaust. It sounds good while having low tone like you want. Its what I have on my Z.