I belive, much like everyone else here, your a tad lost as to "exactly what you want"..... going from.... im am looking to improve general power, handling etc to..... decent amount of power, some have gained 200hp There's a whole world of differance between those two levels of performance and handling, and its all related to the health of ones wallet ! Perhaps you should decide on the most important thing.... How fast can you afford ????? The basic improvements arent going to gain much but will make the car better "generally"..... things like .... basic engine improvements: Pod setup ........ A very cheap mod Headers ( extractors ) & new exhaust system, not so cheap! Histall convertor (auto) and shift kit... good investment basic handling improvements: Set of coilovers ... good investment Whiteline swaybars ... ditto adjustable camber arms all round.... ditto Brake upgrade kit ( ie: larger discs etc) New wheels.... set of 18's on low profile rubber to cope with the suspension upgrade ! :sorry: ..... but ..... Unfortunately your NOT going to coax many more ponies from the N/A than you have at the moment without throwing vast amounts of cash at the engine, the other downside to engine mods is the time your daily driver WILL be off the road while the engine is being rebuilt !.... Dont think that a decent engine rebuild will be a 2 day job, more like a 2 month down time ! In which case a second engine becomes the best option Rebuild that for the HP gains and this will cut the offroad time down considerably In all honesty, your best option is to spend your $$$$ in the handling and stopping departments, I'd even go as far to say "do an advanced driver course" to enhance YOUR abilities so you get as much out of the improvements that you do to the car ...... Being able to out drive will help with the lower power output against others. Kingy
already removed spare wheel, i dont want ultimate speed just improvements im happy with the car i have its a 300 how can i not be.
I have an auto NA, the biggest improvements I could feel for me were new spark plugs, 3A racing pod, fuel filter, new vac hoses as many as I could change with the engine in. Just those few things really picked the cars performance up. Oh and new rotors brake pads ect.
im not lost i know what i want if you read properly i said some have gained 200hp not me, i just did some research to find that out. and just because i said i want to improve general power etc doesnt mean i cant say ''decent amount of power'' i only want improvements thats all ive asked 4. if i want 2 spend $5 or $50,000 on my car its my choice just like its everyone elses choice what they spend there money on everyone else has done it on there cars of their choice. i know i would have 2 spend more coin than normal i just started this thread 4 help and ideas not 2 be told my car is the slowest or im wasting my time just general friendly help and advise. cheers chris =)
thanks i really appreciate your advice / help this is what i asked 4 all along good general advice / help its the minor improvements that count cheers chris =)
lol mate NOBODY IS SAYING YOUR CAR IS SLOW OR SHIT!!! Jesus! We're saying that an auto NA isn't a good base for a performance car. In saying so we're NOT saying it's a crap car, more that "improvements" are minimal and come at a huge cost. I highly recommend doing or getting a compression test done first. No point modifying a weak engine. Listen to me when i say you need to go through the entire vehicle, check the condition of every plug, connector and terminal. Get datascan software and a blazt cable and check your car for error codes and abnormalities. If you start off with bad hardware you're going to get nowhere at all. Show me these NA's that have "gained" 200 hp, with what mods? My suggestion for 'improvements' is to get everything working 100% and fail safe and keep it stock. It will be more than adequate for your needs.
some people have said its the slowest of the z32's i.e LOVIC (not having a dig, just using as example) which it probably is and i dont care im just saying i dont need too or any one here doesnt need to here stuff like that about there car! =) if i am correct most people here come here for general helpful advice and none of the other bulls**t. in my own opinion. had all compression tests done last service its running fine A1 i found them on another forum i think it was in the states. i think i put the thread in 1 of my posts check it out they could be full of crap who knows. ive gathered that by everyones honesty and who have posted on my thread that there prob not the best base for performance and there a bit costly to upgrade, but you can do stuff to them to improve them thats all i want not massive or excessive power i just mean apparently some people have gained 200hp not sure weather its actual hp or rwhp im sure it can be done at a cost. cheers chris =)
Also an oil change, bleed brakes, get data scan and see if anything needs adjusting. On mine the biggest problem at the moment is that a bolt that holds the balance pipe down has stripped the plenum out, I've got to get a helicoil for that.... Have you checked your balance pipe O-rings? mine were all missing and probably leaking. I think auto NA's cop a lot of rubbish sometimes but when I give it some on a straight from standing still the passenger usually says holy sh*t!! haha. I know it isn't turbo but they are still a great sports car.
That's because it IS the slowest model. No two ways about it. Doesn't mean it's a snail, but it's the heaviest of all the NA's so you can't realllyyy dodge reality. What results did you get on your compression test? This is probably the 10th time i've said it, but here I go again. Get it running as good as new and you'll be more than happy. Modifications usually ALL come with a trade off. Say harder suspension: pro - less body roll, possibly better handling...con - car less comfortable to drive day to day. As I said, service EVERYTHING, new rotors, pads, ALL fluids (including diff oil, tranny, coolant, brake fluid etc) and it'll do you just fine. I wish people would listen to me, i've spent thousands on my NA and although it handles rather well and the engine is running great, it is NOT pleasant to drive for any great distance (fun in the twisties yes, but not on hwys really.
ok cool cheers, will do. What year is yours? is it targa? yeah i agree with that (I think auto NA's cop a lot of rubbish sometimes) ive noticed it on here but its personal choice as ive said before and everyone is entitled to there opinion. my mate owns a stagea rs4 and first time i took him in mine i booted it off from stand still round a corner lost traction 4 a bit ( he shit himself) then when it gripped and i put my foot down again it went pretty hard picked up speed pretty quickly (they have some kickback for an auto, n/a) he said they still have pretty good power and go alright for a non turbo and auto. i love my car tho, i think the 300zx's are great cars all round lots of fun i find them pretty comfortable aswell.
I have a 1990 (registered as a 90 but it was built in 89) Slicktop. So you booted it around a corner from standstill? You'd struggle to break traction in the dry while at speed. I can break it while snapping sharply into second from first...well, I could but my new tyres won't allow. But yes, semi-decent 225's on stock rims in mine could break traction but not like a TT . I think your tyres are stuffed. You find your car comfy now? Just wait til you start modifying it
im not dodging reality, ive just heard it so many times im sick of hearing it i didnt start a thread asking people to tell me my car model is slowest lol. i appreciate everyone's honesty and have been listening to everyone. like i said one of my previous posts thanks to everybody that has posted and left honest and all advice hints. much appreciated chris. =)
But it's like somebody goes on a cooking forum and asks "what delicious meal can I make from this rotten tomato" and everyone says don't bother, either way you're still left with a rotten tomato. Ok so that was a bad example, but it partly gets my message across, you haven't picked the best base for a performance 'sports' car. Your best bet is getting it running A1 and leave it at that, a nice comfortable cruisy GT car as it was designed.
brand new tyres at the time, dry, i dont find it that hard to loose traction from standstill in my car. ive done it in cars with less power. i got 17"" rims with i think 225/45 not 100% in the wet its easier doesnt always do it in the dry i agree with you there. was stopped at a t junction turning right took of lost traction on start of turn wen,t sideways for a bit then grabbed traction pretty hard shook me around a bit not very nice feeling that one. lol
Fair enough. My old pintara span like no tomorrow too What compression results did you say you got, by the way?
mate, with a N/A you can can try and make it as fast and powerfull as anything but it isnt going to get you very far. with my manual N/A, i'm investing a fair bit of money into it as its my daily driver and i'm going to be driving from brisbane to wollonong fairly regularly once i move. i'm going for a good 200k service, good quality parts, UDP, royal purple oils and fluids, a new clutch(not sure on what kind though), doing a full re-trim, new seats a nice set of jap rims and a body kit. just going to make it a good looking, reliable daily driver that i can have some fun with if needed. make it drive, look, handle and stop well...dont worry about power as the amount of money you will spend on the engine, you could have a very nice looking N/A. good luck with the car mate...
oh sorry, i dont mean your zed is sh!t, just my opinion is it's not worth to spend big money on power mods. if you feel any offense, i sincerely apologize. some power mods can see here http://www.ttzed.com/products/products_index.cfm?grouping=1
Exactly & this is the first post you've made that mentions the dollars side of things :thumbup: Most of us cant tell you what will work mod wise without a "ball park figure" to work from..... $5000 will get you a nice looking ride that will sound sweet but still be a slowish ride $50,000 will certainly put you in there with a few of the stock TT boys.... but it WILL be a hard ride and most likely a "weekend warrior" instead of a daily driver The posts that have been made so far have ALL stated the "basic affordable" mods that 99.9% of members perform on their N/A's starting from the cheap Pod conversion ( under $100) to performance exhaust systems etc ( prices over $1500 per mod) It makes it hard to post a reply to a wallet's contents that we dont know..... IE: how fast can you afford ? You would have got better replies if you had of posted up ...... I have $50,000 to improve my N/A 300ZX, where should I spend it ? Then you would have the replies that said things like carrillo rods, roller mains, blueprinting, etc etc ..... Give us a $$$$ figure to work with and we'll give you the right answers instead of rough estimates taken from an unknown wallet ! Just how fast can YOU afford ? Kingy
My Zed is a 1990 Aus-spec auto and I love it. I've also given it most of the power-gaining mods that are worth doing (high performance cams are just a bit too expensive for the benefit gained, costing around $2G plus another $1.5G to fit if you can't do it yourself). Starting from the front: Pod filter, Underdrive crank pulley Headers, Auto trans 'shift kit', Cats-back custom exhaust, One-piece tail shaft, Lighter alloy wheels. All this has cost about $4.5G, for which I could have bought a reasonable stock TT engine, but I prefer the more progressive power delivery of the NA (son has a TT, and I don't like it!). The above mods took the rwKw from 126 to 145. (Note that most stock NAs seem to dyno at 110-120.) Compression is 175/180psi so it was a pretty healthy engine to start with. Bang-for-buck, it's probably not worth it, but it's what I wanted to do. And don't let people tell you the NA auto is slow. The factory quotes the same top speed for the NA as the TT (253kph). The NA just takes more time to get there! Long story shortened... it's your car/money and you are allowed to modify it as you desire. My hope was to get the car to do the 1/4mile in close to stock TT times (mid-14's). I'll find out whether or not I've been successful when I next get to the strip.
Yeah I agree with disasterpiece, brakes first ( rotors and pads ) then service, pod filter, exhaust. Yes it is the minor things that will make a difference with these cars. I drive an NA myself and get heaps of enjoyment out of it and although I dont have the pickup of the TT's I dont do too bad a job at keeping up. One little piece of advice is look after your auto, it's getting old and can benefit from regular service. Was the only real problem I've had with mine. Good luck and enjoy the car, Andy
