Kinda depressing owning an 03 sometimes. I love my Z but it's so discouraging when people keep saying HR this, HR that. In retrospect, are the HR's actually THAT much faster. I was on youtube and watching videos of let's say an 08 vs an 03, and it seems to be almost even. I know that HR's have more potential but my 03 after my bolt ons and tune feels damn fast. I just see lots of youtube comments and people posting on here sayin "yeah 03-05" are slow and blah blah blah. any other 03-05 owners share my feelings?

 

dont believe everything you see on youtube..you have to factor in the car vs. driver and take the internet with a grain of salt...you have the 03-05 non-rev year then it was the 06 rev-up year then 07-08 HR now we have to hear about the 370. there will always be something better and faster but enjoy what you got.

 

06 is not HR either btw. And in a nutshell, yes, HR produces noticeably more power and appears to be more responsive to modifications on most levels. Doesn't mean that your Z should feel 'slow' however.. by any means.

 

Yeah I know I know. I love what I have BUT hearing all this good stuff about HR's makes me think. And then to hear about the 370's lol........

I know 06's aren't HR's. Just saying "people" stated anything between 03 and 06 are slow. I get what your saying though and I'm sure the HR's are more responsive to mods, BUT, it is depressing on some levels that my DE is just that much slower than the HR's

 

I've raced my friends 03 (non revup) a couple times from about a 40mph roll. I had just intakes and exhaust, he had just a 5/16 spacer. Low-mid range the two cars were literally dead even. Once he got towards the top of second I pulled maybe few feet by then. When he had to shift into 3rd I basically pull away pretty good cause I still have about 1k rpm left in second. Once I we're both in 3rd I continue pulling.

This was good to see how the cars compared to each other with little impact from driver skill. Really the only thing that came into play was the 2>3 shift which is not big deal. His 03 seemed just as torquey as mine did when we raced but its the extra 1k rpm and added HP that makes the big difference.

 

that makes perfect sense. glad to see you weren't destroying him completely. gives me hope lol

 

I drove my friends HR with all his bolt ons and tune and it felt like my 05 when I had full bolt ons and an 85 shot of nitrous..... it was disheartening for sure

 

I've been searching for an HR to play with for some time, but no luck.

 

Hmm, stock or modded? I might be up for it, but I'm currently stock right now... How far north are you in Frederick?

 

This is why the single best mod for the HR has to be the 4.083 final drive. Imagine how different that outcome would be had the top speed per gear been identical in both cars. The OEM 3.5 matches the powerband for the 6600rpm engine pretty well, with the top of 2nd being a touch over 60mph. The extra 1000rpm in the HR put it around 74mph.

The gearing helps maintain overall fuel economy, but it really is a poor match. Having 2nd gear top out at just above 60mph, isn't always the best, but typically chosen by manufacturers to get the fastest 0-60mph time. Our gearing just sucks for the motors range.

Terry

EDIT: Nissan knows the 7500rpm engine is undergeared with a 3.5 final. Go figure the G37 and 370Z both come with the shorter 3.7. Still far from the ideal, but since the 3.7 is pretty fuel efficient, the gain in displacement, and the shorter gearing had very little ill effect on overall fuel consumption rates.

 

Well said.......3.9 for DE's and 4.08 for HR's (and DE's with 7k+ redline) is ideal in my opinion.

 

I want a 3.9 for cheap, and it doesn't exist

I drive a lot on the highway, 4.08's would kill me. Further, the gears are moved to far for my liking, its nearly a complete downshift.

 

hmm i was looking into the 4.08 gears for my DE(redline 6600) but am now rethinking it after seeing 03threefiftyz's post. The 4.08 gears for 6600 redline wouldn't be bad would it?

YOU ARE LYING!!! lol

 

Depends how much emphasis you put on 1/4 mile......for me with a 6600 redline I would have to spend the last 150ft on the rev limiter (or slightly more) or shift into 5th. You can circumvent this by running a taller tire. Why didn't you have the redline raised when you got tuned?

 

I still don't see why tuners don't think that our engines aren't capable of 350-400whp with more aggressive camshafts (and possibly headwork). Seems totally achievable to me.

 

It is, but primarily it is a cost/benefit ratio that ends up prompting a shop (or customer) to build for turbo apps (capable of considerably more power). If you want to put forth the cash for an all out stroker, aggressive cam, etc build........go for it.

Edit.....won't necessarily be too friendly for street duties as you get above 350 though. Requires big duration/lift cams, higher compression, etc.

There is a shop in MD that made ~380whp, but I honestly don't know the details of the motor and/or if it was on race gas (I would guess it was).

 

My experience with my 3.9 in the HR has been opposite that what I expected. Average fuel economy went UP from about 18.5 to 20.2. Most likely because I lug it around in second now for most city driving, almost no point of using first. It's a bit louder cruising on the highway now that it the rpms sits around 3K going 80mph, but no biggie. Overall this is one of my favorite upgrades to date and worth the $/pain in the **** install. Anyone thinking about this should also consider upping the LSD while they have the diff dropped.

 

You know what dude, I totally forgot about that while I was there. I left the shop and went back home and told my brother, "SH!7, I should've asked him to raise my redline a little for me. Although I haven't driven it too hard lately and I always shift at like 6500 so in turn, never really found out if my redline has been raised at all, lol. I'll have to try it some time this week. Just rev it while I'm parked to see exactly where the limiter kicks in. I'm sure it's still 6600 since I didn't ask the guy to raise it at all, but maybe he did without telling me??????

 

Stock gauges are not all that accurate.....Do you have cipher?

 

Lots of N/A HP in this thread. Wheres the track times!