Got a New 370Z (6mt)

KW are a good choice if you have a euro car, as there isnt much else out there worth your coin. Ive run Bilstein coilovers and quality wise the KW are better

but Christian has the advantage of owning a jap car, and with it a massive choice of premium JDM tuning parts that are much better than the euro stuff

HKS, Cusco, JIC, Tein, Tanabe..... the list goes on, and most available with in car adjustability these days

mod it like it's hot mate

 

What a beautiful vehicle!

 

There are definately options for those but the best seem to be HKS Hipermax III, Tein Monoflex coilovers, and even the Nismo OEM shocks and springs. The only problem is that they are a LOT of coin.

I have been working over the car in pieces with PO85rd and my Makita to get rid of the almost nonexistent marring but also to remove this haze that makes the paint look almost yellowish. My LSP has been Collinite 915 and I plan on using either Lusso Oro or Pinnacle Sig. Series II as my final coat.

I like your last line, although I can't mod the Z as willy nilly as I did the Saab... At least for a little while! I have a Stillen G3 intake on the way and will powder coat it textured black for a subtle OEM+ look, followed by Berk HFCs when they come in. Later this year or early next, I will be on the hunt for some rims or a cat-back exhaust (probably Fast Intentions). As of right now, I cannot believe how well it handles with just sways but I love how even though the car is very firm, it is not uncomfortable and is a great balance of performance and comfort.

Thank you, I truely appreciate it!

 

I went to the Z store to pick up my Berk High Flow cats today which was a lovely drive through gridlocked traffic on the 405. I knew that most if not all G37/370Z owners have painful stories to tell about removing the stock cats and trust me, I was second guessing myself about halfway through. First, you have to remove the Y pipe which was easy enough and I had that out in 30 minutes. Next, I undid the clips holding the O2 sensors to their wiring loom on the body. Now, the truely fun (or dreaded) part: getting extensions, and a 30 inch breaker bar and accessing the top stud on the cat through the engine bay. Now, I am a noob to mechanical work so I was very nervous about going any further (no mechanic in CA will touch non CARB stuff).

I have the tendency to confuse which way to pull or push to undo bolts when I am under the car so I caused myself a little more grief but mother of god, those bolts were unbelievable for a car with 200 miles on it (see picture). After breaking a stud, I was scared that if I couldn't get the rest, I was screwed. But I found a few tricks online about gaining leverage with a wrench daisy chained to the bottom of another and finally got the stockers out:





Eat my shorts nasty stud:



Stock versus Berks (in middle):



Next on my list is to ditch this puny Y pipe with a full cat-back or a Tanabe:





Thankfully the Berks use new hardware with nuts and bolts versus studs which will make future work on it much easier (and without a Nissan gorilla tightening the bolts). I have to say I am not very mechanically inclined but I feel very accomplished for successfully completing an install that a lot of people would have brought to a mechanic. Bottom line is if I can install these, anyone can!

On Road Impressions:

Even with my limited time with the car (I am also adhering to the break in procedure), I can feel that there is more power in all areas of the power band. The most noticeable change was in how much harder the midrange comes in which feels like a surge. And the sound: I am extremely happy with this part. It now has the type of exhaust note it should have come from the factory with. It sounds almost stock under 3k rpm but once you give it some throttle, it growls and the signature Z exhaust note emerges. I would say it is double to triple the volume of the full oem exhaust, but it does not add rasp. Rather, it sounds deep and smooth which is something I was not sure what to expect after reading alot of reviews saying it sounded raspy.

Up Next: Stillen intakes that will be powder coated texture black to look more OEM+.




Video of a Cold Start:

YouTube - ‪370Z Berk HFC Cold Start‬‎

 

It is with great sadness that the Saab is officially out of my custody. The auto relocation company came to pick up the new gen to take it to it's new home in New York. To be honest, it feels wrong not having it in the garage as it has been around me for most of my life(15 years) and the attachment I developed after the ungodly amount of time I spent making sure it was perfect is scary to think about...

I just hope that this auto relocation company does not trash the car like the last one but I protected the car as much as I could which is why it is hard to see it out of my hands.

Walk around video:

YouTube - Fairwell to the Saab







Being loaded up, wasn't pleased about the company it was facing on the trailer:










A final quick photo op by the ocean:

 

I got my intake back from powdercoating the other day and was super happy with the way they turned out. It took me about 3 hours to install my Stillen intakes but I was pleasantly surprised that it was a much easier job than I was expecting. I used the dremel to trim back the air intake passages in the front core in order for the pipes to clear which turned out very nice, then it was a matter of getting all the pipes where I wanted and then tightening down all the fasteners and clamps. Once I finished, I reset the ECU in car and started it up to check for any issues to which there were none.

The bumper went back one and I finally got to look at the finished article; it is perfection in my opinion, the look is exactly what I wanted as it looks sleek and oem but yet the texture black powder coat has just a bit of sheen to give it that something extra. I am very happy with it, they have turned the car into an absolute animal!

Before:




After:






Install Time!

How the filters sit in the front bumper recess:





All finished, love it:






Next up will be the Tanabe Y pipe and a custom road tune!

 

The car looks fantastic! I have run a couple of these in my mildly modded G8 and they are quick. A tune will do wonders for you especially after the intake and HF cats! Should put you in the low 13's possibly high 12's.

 

i hear ya about seeing the saab go

but at least now that you're nolonger driving a saab convertible, you can go back to liking women oke:

 

You sure about that?

I haven't read much about the new 370's but I have a hard time believing a intake/exhaust/tune car will go high 12s. I can maybe see low 13's but I can't convince myself that he's going to break into the 12's with those mods.

Edit* Did some research. Id put him in the low 13's with those mods. It seems like people are running mid 13's stock. Saw a guy on the forum I was lookin at running 12.8s with your mods and gears..pretty impressive.

 

Like the Intake install, very stock looking!

I had similar experience with the X-pipe on my '03GT when I had it. 30" of extension to get up to the manifolds, but I was lucky that nothing broke, but it certainly wasn't easy to do!

 

That is absolutely the cleanest Saab I've ever seen. Congrats on such a beaut. Hopefully it'll do well in NY...

 

This should easily have me at or over 300whp and 240-250wft/lbs. Most get 0-60 times of around 4.5 seconds with that type of power and a perfect launch, but the car feels completely different than it did stock... It almost feels turbo charged in the way the power surges as the revs increase and the car scream above 6k rpm.

Ha, chicks love the convertible! Besides, who wouldn't love smoking cars like the m3, evo, sti, G35s, GTIs, and the 335i in a 15 year old Saab convertible?

But I will agree, I already love the 370z much more than the Saab even with the amount of time and attention I put into the Saab. I can definately see why the Z range has garnered so many long time enthusiasts, such a great car in so many aspects.

It you run 305 tires in the back with an agressive compound, a perfect launch could get you into the very high 12's but I am not a perfect driver and have 245 tires out back so I doubt I could make it into the low 13's anyway. I have come to terms that this car is not about all out straight line speed, but many cars that would take the Z in a straight line would get smoked once the roads get twisty!

I was pretty scared about going through with the install mostly because no shop in California would even touch the car if something went wrong due to the non CARB cats. Even though I snapped a stud, the HFCs came with new hardware so I could reorientate all the bolts for easier future access. It took a fair amount of time, patience, and painful contortions to get all the stock bolts broken loose but if someone like myself can do it on the garage floor, anyone can!

Thanks P1et, I really appreciate your nice comment. But the OCD cleanliness can only be expected, I am on DB remember?

 

That is a very clean Saab! I know from experience how soft that paint is, I'm sure you will be much happier going from maintaining a soft black finish to a harder silver one.

I'm sure you are loving the well balanced feel of a RWD sports car vs the slightly nose-heavy FWD Saab. I've driven one of those (it was a 2001 9-3 vert, looked pretty similar to your old one) and took a turn a bit too quickly, the understeer scared the sh!t out of me lol. I remember it was pretty peppy for a 4 banger though. I'm sure the Nissan feels amazingly quick (5 seconds to 60 is damn fast IMO) and great in the twisties.

 

Oh yes, you are right about that bigpoppa! The two cars are so different but each has its appeal in my mind. Not like either would be a bad car to have anyway!

 

I got my Tanabe Y pipe from my favorite UPS truck this morning so I immediately got to work getting rid of that nasty stock pile of restriction and in with the beautiful new Y pipe. The car already has Berk HFCs installed so this mod was more to tie in the HFCs to the rear of the exhaust because I personally believe the largest restrictions in the OEM exhaust are the factory cats and the Y pipe.

After the stock Y pipe was removed, I didn't realize that the Berk outlet diameter was almost an inch larger than the oem Y pipe so that was killing my gains. The exhaust diameter in the OEM piece also had varied diameters, the smallest point of the Y pipe measured 1 1/2"!

My measurements for the inlet and outlet diameters of the stock Y pipe are as follows:

Cat to Y pipe: 1 3/4" for both inlets of the OEM y pipe
Y pipe to axle-back: 2 1/2"

Tanabe Y Pipe diameters:

Cat to Y pipe: 2 1/4" for both inlets
Y pipe to axle-back: 2 3/4"




Just to make a point, the diameter of the inlets for the Tanabe Y pipe match the Berks... Now look at that restrictive OEM piece.



Comparison of the two at the smallest point of the OEM Y pipe:



And Installed:





In Car Conclusions:

With the ECU reset and the Tanabe Y pipe in, I felt a huge jump in power not only in the top end, but mostly the mid-range. The car just pulls so hard now that I feel the exhaust is very well rounded with the exception of the rear muffler section. The sound actually changed more than I was expecting; the tone is much deeper and less raspy, adding a bit of volume past 4k rpm. However, the exhaust is still fairly quiet under 3k rpm which is great for those who are interested in being low key when cruising but really letting the car sing up top. Fit and finish was excellent as well with nice welds and a very smooth merge at the end of the Y pipe.

I highly recommend the pairing of HFCs with an upgraded Y pipe for those that want to get rid of the two most restrictive areas of the OEM exhaust. Videos to come later!

 

keep in mind if you haven't remapped your ecu you will slowly lose that gain in power over time as the ecu will self adjust back to within it's optimal operating range

so in your case itll basically pull back fuel and/or timing to get back within this range

most people dont believe this theory, but having mod'd cars for almost a decade now, i've seen it happen on a dyno many a time after installing intakes, headers, exhausts, hfc's etc

 

I know that as you get used to a car, it feels slower and slower but that is just one of the causes of the continual modding bug. Long term fuel trims take a while to fully adjust to a set of modifications but my main reason I am getting it tuned in september is mostly to make sure the car is not running lean at any point and also to get rid of the throttle delay and to extract the last 5-10rwhp still left on the table.

 

sweet Z man!