Take off that grille and youll be set, thing looks like it belongs on a wangsta Chevy s10.

Zyellow Wrote:
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>> Interestingly, it was shipped from the same city
> in China where they manufacture the 350z.

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When did Nissan move production of the Z from Japan to China? I guess that I took a nap and missed that one.

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Mspeasl
Decatur, Illinois - Forum member since 2/02

'Growing old may be mandatory, but growing up is optional'

2009 Solid Red Touring 6sp W/Sport Package '370Z' - Delivered 7 April 2009
2008 Radiant Red Toyota 'X-Runner' - Delivered 15 November 2007
2005 Satin Jade Green Chrysler 300C 'Hemi' - Delivered 1 June 2004

1957 Chevrolet Belair 2dr post - 'Gas Coupe Drag Car' owned since 1964
1947 Chevrolet Fleet Master sport coupe - 'Street Rod' owned since 1974

I agree, the last place (or next to last) is China. Japan keeps their high end electronics and product manufacture in Japan as well as rice. I know , I go their often and am in the electronics manufacturing business so I see their factories. I also see the factories in China, some are quite impressive but the culture of copy is everywhere. Watches, machinery, software, technology, etc. Japanese managers know this and what they send to China they know will be copied. I highly doubt that ECU's are being made anywhere but Japan for the 350Z which is made on Japanese soil.

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2005 Super Black 35th AE
Three tranies, two engines and still love it

I was joking about the Nismo Chip and China.

Maybe I should get into the performace chip e-bay business, it's on the interent so it has to be true, right? There is one born every minute.

Not joking about the aftermarket crank pulley.

The aluminum underdrive pulley is one of the most noticeable mods I've put on my Z to date.

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1985 300ZX n/a

See my Z project

As far as underdrive pulley's, IMO....buy only a well known brand.
Some brands just don't do the job....some are not balanced correctly too!

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My ZR still feels like heaven! [www.zcon2010.com] [www.clevelandrockz.com]
My ZR pic

the most noticeable mod on my z are my wheels. people see them immediately.

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Currently Zless
Z's I've owned:

'71 240Z White
'73 240Z Orange
'05 350Z Chrome Silver Touring
[www.henryism.com]

I purchased the OEM size(a new product,at the time I purchased), from Unorthadox Racing. I am very happy with the results.

The performance gains come from weight reduction. The old pulley is approx 8 lbs and the new one is approx 1.5 lb.

I knew this chip question would start a buzz. Also, I knew that you would respond because you are an asset to the Z family and very knowlegeable/honest
with your responses. You do take the time to read these forums and I give respect for that too.
I just came out of the Mustang scene and to add any HP at any price no matter what for bragging rights is BS. Heck I figured it to cost about $25.00/HP.
The Z is a much more refined, handling sports car with many extras up front.
I really like everything about the Z. I bought this 04 Z with only 20,000 miles on her last week. Also, I got the 100,000 mi wrap around Nissan warranty for all of the unexpected short comings that may arise. The clicking noises in the rear etc. Yes, this warranty comes with rental car re-imbursement too.lol.
What are my first real mods?
JWT Popcharger or plenum spacer?
Thanks for reading through all of this,
Dommer

I would do the POP charger first. You want a free-flowing intake. The next step is probably to open up the exhaust, but this will cost you some low-end torque.

Almost every mechanical mod that really increases peak HP causes the low end torque to suffer a bit... well, except FI that is.

Things like the lightweight pulley or flywheels don't actually increase torque or HP, they just allow the engine to get more of its power to the wheels.

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1985 300ZX n/a

See my Z project



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit was 2008:07:09:01:05:14.

And on those points we agree. Peak hp at the cost of low-end torque.

300zx1985 Wrote:
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> Take off that grille and youll be set, thing looks
> like it belongs on a wangsta Chevy s10.


I did take it off. I took the pix the second I put the car in the driveway.
I really like the original open face look too.

z32d00d Wrote:
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> I would do the POP charger first. You want a
> free-flowing intake. The next step is probably to
> open up the exhaust, but this will cost you some
> low-end torque.


Thanks, I appreciate it.
Pop Charger is on its way and it is a pretty easy install.
With the exhaust do I start with the headers or high flow cats or both?
I really like a few sound clips of the Borla or don't waste the money and get something else.

phxZ31 Wrote:
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> Almost every mechanical mod that really increases
> peak HP causes the low end torque to suffer a
> bit... well, except FI that is.
>
> Things like the lightweight pulley or flywheels
> don't actually increase torque or HP, they just
> allow the engine to get more of its power to the
> wheels.

phxZ31, question for you. First, I will tell you I am a novice at best in regards to working on cars. You mentioned that low end torque suffers, With my car I have a problem keeping the car from somewhat jumping or launching for a dead stop-it just wants to fly, like at a street light. It's a manual and I know how to drive. After my mods(bolt on's) I feel as if it got more torque(y). Is that just in my head and all Z are like that?

Also, dommer331 sorry for going in a different direction.

"phxZ31, question for you. First, I will tell you I am a novice at best in regards to working on cars. You mentioned that low end torque suffers, With my car I have a problem keeping the car from somewhat jumping or launching for a dead stop-it just wants to fly, like at a street light. It's a manual and I know how to drive. After my mods(bolt on's) I feel as if it got more torque(y). Is that just in my head and all Z are like that? "

Have you noticed how with nearly every increase in HP output on the various VQ35's, the toque peak was diminished slightly? An engine can only perform optimally at certain small RPM range. Typically, the higher the redline of the engine, the weaker it will perform under the 3000RPM mark, and the lower the peak torque, and the the torque peak will usually be shifted upwards on the RPM range.

Not sure if you've ever driven large trucks. You'll notice that they produce boat-loads of torque, but most truck engines don't rev much past 5000 RPMs. Thats because their cam profiles are designed to allow maximum intake/exhaust velocity at low RPMs, which effectively chokes the engine at higher speeds, preventing it from pulling breathing properly.

An engine designed for higher RPMs will have more valve lift and duration, and usually larger intake/exhaust ports and runners for more air volume. The downside to this is that at low RPMs, the intake/exhaust gas velocity is relatively slow, and so it doesn't perform optimally until enough air is being pumped through that it builds up sufficient velocity and inertia to force more air into the cylinders.


That being said, why did your mods help the low and high end in your perception? Well, mechanical mods will almost always favor either HP or torque, but only intake mods can increase both simultaneously. That being, a free-flowing filter, less restrictive intake manifold, etc. Since the heads, cams, runners, etc all stay the same (same flow rate as it came from the factory) but the end restrictions have been removed, performance may increase across the board. This is especially true when it comes to FI, which increases flow rate as well as breathability.

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1985 300ZX n/a

See my Z project

I'm going to have to disagree with you phxZ31. In general you may be right on the fact that increasing the peak hp lowers the torque peak, but I believe it depends on how your increasing the hp peak. If you're playing with things like cams or header lengths I totally agree. However, when making an engines air flow less restrictive you increase its adibatic efficency in general.

To be specific, heres a dyno chart from my car, the blue is stock (its an 04) the red is post exhaust (fast intensions), pop charger and plenum spacer. As you can see almost all of the hp increase is due to preventing the hp from flatening out at the very high end. However the torque peak didn't really change (there was a slight increase at peak), but the torque curve was generally flattened and there are torgue increases both above and below the peak, in the low end, theres an increase almost all the way down.



Gain of salt, although all the runs were done on the same dyno, there is almost a year between and the second set shows a lot more noise due to the dyno rpm pickup. We did three runs on each setup and they all look basically the same, but I wish the software for these would let you average multiple runs to increase the accuracy (grrr).

For cars doing well on just N/A mods, check out the spl parts car. There's a post on my350z.com showing a time slip over just under 13s on the 1/4 mile. The one thing he hasn't done is the 4.2 stroker kit. In general though your bang for buck sucks on N/A mods.

"the red is post exhaust (fast intensions), pop charger and plenum spacer."

aarrgghh, re-read what I said

I said that intake mods will increase torque and HP both. I believe both the popcharger and plenum spacer fall into the catagory of intake mods. I said that "MECHANICAL" mods almost always lower torque if they raise HP.

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1985 300ZX n/a

See my Z project

You're right I most have missed some of the last part. I was more responding to this "Have you noticed how with nearly every increase in HP output on the various VQ35's, the toque peak was diminished slightly? An engine can only perform optimally at certain small RPM range. Typically, the higher the redline of the engine, the weaker it will perform under the 3000RPM mark, and the lower the peak torque, and the the torque peak will usually be shifted upwards on the RPM range. "

And this "The next step is probably to open up the exhaust, but this will cost you some low-end torque." from someone else.

Based on your last sentence, we appear to agree.

Yeah, Phx is right, if you alter the intake it is different than altering the exhaust. If you open up the exhaust, you lose torque at the low end due to the back-pressure waves that are tuned carefully at the factory. Forced induction relies less on these effects.