So I picked up a G35 coupe for cheap to see how fast it can be made with simple bolt ons and some weight loss.

The project started last year. The car is an 03 G35 coupe, automatic, with 120K on the odometer. The base run was right at a 14.5@95mph or so. Please dont mind me giving the times off the top of my head as I do not have the track slips in front of me.

About a week later, we stripped the passenger seat, rear seats, spare and trunk mat and padding, took the muffler off as it is somewhat restrictive and pretty heavy, replaced the aftermarket 18" front wheels the car came on with 16" 240sx SE wheels. At this time the car ran a healthy 14.0@98.

By the start of this years season we added a JEGS 12lb race seat with some simple brackets for the track days, ebay brand test pipes, which didnt throw a CEL, surprisingly enough, a Z Tube from Z1 Motorsports, an ebay Y pipe, and a Blox 5/16 plenum spacer.
The car ran an impressive 13.5@103. The issue we had was that we could not build enough RPM off the line, due to the automatic trans, in order to get a better 60 foot. The 60 foot on this run was a 2.1XX. We tried drag radials with no difference.


By the end of this season, I am hoping to put in some VQHR oem headers, 75 shot ZEX kit, already here, a 4" intake with the 75mm throttle body, and a tune.

I will keep you guys posted of the times when the upgrades are finished.

 

interesting read. lets see what else is in store.

 

14.5 stock? that is not even bad...

 

I am honestly hoping the car will break into the 12.9 with the 75 shot.

 

Don't forget to do the top idler pulley delete on the motor. This makes it rev a bit easier and is super cheap to remove. All you have to do is buy a spacer and a smaller main Serpentine belt. I think you can get them both from Z1 Motorsports for like $32 shipped total..... or you can just cut the corner piece off of your original idler pulley bracket and use that as a spacer, and just go buy a shorter belt from Advance Auto or whatever. The correct shorter belt for our cars is Dayco part number 5060450 or 6PK1145 if you decide to use a different brand.

Might as well remove the Air Conditioner compressor belt while you're at it, and if you're real serious about losing weight, completely remove the A/C components all together. That should save a ton of weight.

 

While we're at it.
Aluminum driveshaft will drop another 30lbs of rotational mass weight thingy majiggy.

 

AL isn't all that much lighter IMO. Definitely not 30 lbs. If you're going to upgrade the DS go with CF.

You got really good gains with those simple mods... Should be interesting when you stop getting .5 second improvements from simple mods haha.

 

Ok maybe not 30. But It's about 15ish pounds (Not exaggerating) compared to stock.
CF is another 1-4 pounds less than aluminum. But the pricepoint is much higher as well so it depends how much you're really willing to throw down for a wee bit more.

 

I'm intrigued, we have similar model years and alot of this stuff I might do someday. Subscribed!

 

Let me know if you can even do an idler pulley delete. I'm pretty sure you'd have to do an E-fan conversion, since the radiator fan is driven off this pulley for the 03 G35. Someone else confirm this for me.

 

If I'm not mistaken that was only the case for 2003 G35s built in the first 2 months of that production year(technically built in 2002 I believe). I think most would not use that pulley though. He'd want to check that first though... good call.

 

i have a 2003.5 Sedan with fan attached to the pulley. I was not impressed.

 

That sucks. I'm not so sure about sedans. When I did my research and my install it was based purely on coupes. Perhaps the sedan is different? Maybe even 6mt vs auto coupes.

 

My fans are electric. I will do the pulley removal this weekend.

 

Any Updates?