Hi there, I'm new to the forum as you can see by my post count. I have a customer with a 2006 350Z. he wants a cold air intake, tune, and exhaust. He doesn't want to spend over $900 tho. I told him he would be better putting that money into one item such as the exhaust only but he asked me to see what i could find.

I figured id turn to you guys for knowledge if you don't mind
Does anyone offer a tune/intake combo kit with a plug in tuner? or are they a waste of money?

Im a mechanic trying to help out a Marine who knows nothing about his car other than that he wants more power and more noise!

I drive a 2014 Mustang 5.0. I've got an Airraid intake with a custom tune, exhaust, Whiteline adjustable sway bars and control arms, control arm relocation brackets, adjustable upper control arm, 3:73 TORSEN diff and i just ordered an air lift performance bags for it. Most of my product knowledge came from mustang forums so i figured, who better to ask about this than some Z enthusiasts!

Thanks for any help!
-Chris

 

Tell the customer to come on here and look for a nice used exhaust for $900. A tune would be roughly 1/2 that cost. ANY bolt on for that price without a tune is pointless, and with a true CAI, you would only get the ~15hp with a tune.

IMO, have them get an exhaust and save for other components. Tune only after ALL intake(s) plenum spacer if 03-05 Z, cat replacements (test pipes will result in most HP but can/will cause them to fail smog in CA, unless the Marine is smart enough to register out of state with no emission law) and catback exhaust.

Don't let him spend less than $700 on an exhaust if he's serious about quality. If he just wants sound, cut out the muffler and weld a "y pipe" to make the dual tips appear factory

 

IMO his stock airbox is just as good as a CAI, so skip that. Tell him to grab the apexi airfilter from conceptzperformance for $26.

I've gained the most power by doing testpipes and y-pipes. You must get a tune, however. The ECU will fight the lack of catalysts and other mods, a tune makes the ECU compliant.

$500 - osiris standard.
$170 - Megan y-pipe.
$150 - testpipes. (I am happy with the megan V2 resonated pipes).

I had the nismo exhaust with OE cats, and it was quieter than stock. With testpipes (resonated) and nismo exhaust, it is quiet while cruising, but the sound when on the throttle is more of an exotic sound, vs a more....import sound?