My Nissan 350Z

But nissan did build it already. 350z S-Tune.

S-Tune doesn't make enough power, considering its mods. Its also really expensive, but I basically was aiming for something along the lines of an S-Tune spec. I might revisit it and see what they do, and decide whether I'll get similar parts myself.

*Edit* So true about cabin rattles in nissans.

I've owned 2 Nissans, and I hang around with a lot of Silvia and Skyline owners. My best mate used to have a Maxima (sold as a Cefiro in some markets). I've only ever seen 2 cars not have rattles, I think.
 
So how much power did the engine management system give you on a N/A car like this. Definetely not as much as turbo setup but im still curious.

Definitely not. Forced induction will always get you more power than NA.

The single turbo kits (and supercharger kits) for this car put out around 220rwkW. Most twins put out around 280rwkW.

I've seen guys rebuild their engines with forged internals, run cams, and high flow the intake and exhaust, and only made around 220rwkW with NA....and that cost them twice the outlay of a single turbo / supercharger.

The car baselines at around 155-160rwkW. I added an exhaust and pod filter and it ran consistent 167rwkW figures. After getting the piggyback ECU, it made 182rwkW. Now, with the modified intake (CAI, modified intake runners, manifold spacer) and reflashed factory ECU to bump the redline and the headers (extractors) and high flow cats, it makes 195rwkW.

(All measured on the same rolling road dynamometer, with the same operator, with some figures double-checked at another workshop.)

And did you shorten the radio attena? or is that factory stock standard, its annoying having a long attena sticking around.

Its shortened (and then shortened some more). Some shots have it removed, since I never listen to the radio. Now I have an aftermarket short antenna, which I broke. :)
 
^ The cool thing is you can order any of the S-Tune parts from your nissan dealer.
So you don't have to buy an S-Tune car, you can get a base model and then just order the S-Tune suspension for example.

Anyway i have owned a few nissans, i still have a skyline and at least 70% of the cars i work on are nissan. I have learned all the good and bad points. Some of them have rattles from new.

Oh i did a single turbo kit on one made 250rwkw. Unopened motor.
 
It does rattle a bit, but I've owned a few Nissans and they've all rattled. Its something I was willing to put up with for how it drove. Its certainly no Euro car when it comes to interior quality, but in my opinion it drives faster than anything I could have afforded.

Oddly enough, my locally assembled Bluebird doesn't have any interior rattles. Although, It's probably hard to hear over the engine, or it's the fact that the interior compromises mainly of what seems like a bit of cardboard and cotton over the doors, and a plastic box dash board! :lol:

I like what you've done though, very tasteful! How's the Renault engine? :p
 
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I like your taste! TE37 on 350Z = FTW!!!



http://img473.imageshack.**/img473/5783/alan1pg9.jpg
how stiff can you get!!!! nice!!
 
also, dont mind them, i love the subtle CF on the exterior! CF front and rear chin and spoiler :D good job!
 
The cool thing is you can order any of the S-Tune parts from your nissan dealer.

Yeah, but they want an arm and a leg for it.

That wing, for example, is a copy of a Nismo V1 wing. It cost me AUD$700 painted, and is dry carbon fibre. A fibreglass Nismo one, from a Nissan dealer, was $1100 unpainted.

The stainless steel Nismo exhaust was $3000 when I checked, and I'm pretty sure its just a Fujitsubo exhaust.

Pretty much everything I've got cost half as much as what Nissan would charge me for Nismo parts, and they do the same job (if not better). The only Nismo parts on my car are my bronze track rims, which are Nismo LM GT4s. And a carbon fibre gearshift knob.

I'm not one of those "JDM yo" types that needs to spend big money on brand name parts for the wank value. I buy parts that work. Hence my exhaust is Australian, the intake is American, the suspension and wheels are Japanese, etc.

Oh i did a single turbo kit on one made 250rwkw. Unopened motor.

The motor will handle around 300rwkW, so most kits tune to 280rwkW for reliability if they can go that high. The HKS Single Turbo kit makes around 220rwkW, because it uses the stock injectors which are almost maxed out at that power level. Upgrade the injectors with the kit and it'll flow 260rwkW without breaking a sweat.
 
Awesome 350, just what it should be and look like, discrete but built to perform, and Volks <3
 
I've owned 2 Nissans, and I hang around with a lot of Silvia and Skyline owners. My best mate used to have a Maxima (sold as a Cefiro in some markets). I've only ever seen 2 cars not have rattles, I think.

And weirdly enough, I cannot think of any one customer that comes to my dealer that has complained about interior rattle. I mean, the 350Z's are all made at one plant, right? Baffling...


I'm not one of those "JDM yo" types that needs to spend big money on brand name parts for the wank value.

Thank the Lord... :clap:
 
love it man, love it

350z is a great car if your after cruising over ragging it. i think id have an rx-8 for ragging it, but the 350 to just cruise.... its a terrific car imo
 
And weirdly enough, I cannot think of any one customer that comes to my dealer that has complained about interior rattle. I mean, the 350Z's are all made at one plant, right?

It could also be where I live. The roads in Sydney are really rough in ways people of other cities can't understand. Its possible that driving it around getting bumped about causes a lot of the interior to knock about and rattle.

That said, my car had a squeak from Day 1 (like, driving it out of the dealership with 15 miles on the clock) which never got fixed. Most of the owned-from-new Silvias I've been in (S14, S15) have had rattles, and the owners tell me they started occuring within 6 months after buying the car.

They're not loud, and running the stereo masks them. Its just that, if you have the stereo off and with the cabin otherwise so quiet, the noise stands out more.

I used to own a N15 Pulsar SSS (its basically a hatchback Sentra with the SR20DE) and it also got rattles and squeaks early on in its life.
 
^ Yeah i know of a few people who purchased S15 200sx and they had rattles from brand new. Also the plastics tend to scratch easily, around the gear lever for example.
 
My memory must be worse than I thought, cos I remember Clarkson generally liking the 350Z, just commenting that it was more of a "muscle car" than a "sports car".

Either way, nice ride. I'm gonna agree with everyone who says the subtle exterior mods and useful performance mods are good to see.

Enjoy.
 
Might add some clearer shots of the car with the track rims on, since the shots I posted in the first post are motion blurred:

my350z_20070801_bodykit_06.jpg


my350z_20070801_bodykit_10.jpg


my350z_20070801_bodykit_99.jpg
 
My memory must be worse than I thought, cos I remember Clarkson generally liking the 350Z, just commenting that it was more of a "muscle car" than a "sports car".

When he tested the first one to land in the UK, it hated the cabin plastics, the boring sounding "French" engine, and how heavy everything was, and how rough the suspension tune is.

When they did the convertible shootout on that beach thing with the TT and the Crossfire, he panned it again.

His Times Online review of the Roadster is not flattering either. I can't find his written review of the coupe, but its not particularly nice either.

But if you look up reviews, everyone else seems to love the way it goes. Tiff, Vicki, Jodie Kidd, and most of the British, Aussie and American reviewers I've read seem to think its fantastic.
 
Although I like watching his reviews I wouldn't put too much stock in what he says about a car.

Horses for courses. As long as theres no major flaws, it comes down to how a car suits your driving style, intended use and aesthetic sensibilities.

Unless you're a brand snob, like Jeremy.

And worse, when you?re at a party and someone asks what you?re driving you have to say: ?A Datsun with a Renault engine.?
 
Yeah, I know Clarkson has a somewhat tenuous association with facts.

As for the engine thing, Renault only started using the engine in 2001....after the co-operative agreement they did with Nissan was inked in around 1999.

The VQ block itself has been in production since 1994. Its not a Renault engine. Its a Nissan engine that Renault bought. You may as well say that Rovers were powered by Lotus engines, because Lotus bought K-Series blocks off them, or Mondeos have Noble engines in them because the M12 has a modified Duratec.

At any rate, Nissan's VQ block has been one of Wards' Top 10 Engines for every year since the awards have been around (14 years, if I remember correctly). Its the only engine to do so. I'm not sure what qualifications Wards' editors have, but it can't be any worse than Clarkson's honorary doctorate.
 
Most of the compliments he gave were backhanded ones. And didn't he say something along similar lines, about having to tell people you drive a Vauxhall?

Anyway, the reasons he didn't like the Z were,
Looks: Purely subjective
Hard ride: He's an old man
Firm controls: Again, he's old. Plus personal taste
Too heavy: Fair complaint?
Engine note: Fair complaint? A new exhaust soon fixes that

But I think its often like reviewing movies. If you catch the reviewer on the wrong day or in the wrong mood it can really go against you.

Sorry to hijack your thread.

I also like the rims.
 
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