I'll help a fellow Texan out with some ideas:

1) Exhaust system - big bottleneck - test pipes w/ resonators and Greddy EVO II or Injen Exhaust will free up about 15 HP ($1100-1300)

2) Plenum - I would have went w/ Crawford if I hadn't got a great deal on the Kinetix through the group buy ($440 - painted black)

3) Tein Basics - suspension is way too soft on this car for performance driving - I was going to get RS*R springs and Koni shocks, but I think the Basics would do what I want right out of the box for $200 less ($750)

That comes out to around $2300-2500 depending on which exhaust you choose - you will have good power and better looks w/ a lower stance... you can then start saving your money for some lightweight forged 19's (can't get away w/ 18's on this car - just doesn't look right - although I wish it did - major weight savings w/ 18's) - I think this would be a good start to modding your G...

I'm not one to hate on spoiled kids, because that's how I was when I was in my later teens (although I worked at a salvage (junk) yard from the time I was 12 until I graduated high school - earned my keep) - all I can say is good luck with everything and this board is for direction on what to do with your G, not what to do with your life... you can go to the "off topic" section for that....

2003.5 BS coupe 5AT
Clear Corners, Alum. Pedals, Pro-1 Intake, Helix Test Pipes, UR Pulley, Grounding Kit, CF Engine Cover, GReddy EVO II Exhaust, Kinetix Plenum (ordered)

 

oh, and if you don't know where to go in the Houston area for performance mods (installing/ordering/advice) - don't hesitate to call SGP racing... they are extremely hardcore when it comes to modding Z's and G's (I'm talking forged internals, etc)

2003.5 BS coupe 5AT
Clear Corners, Alum. Pedals, Pro-1 Intake, Helix Test Pipes, UR Pulley, Grounding Kit, CF Engine Cover, GReddy EVO II Exhaust, Kinetix Plenum (ordered)

 

Wheels-

If you want wheels, do an internet search. BBS-RGR's in 8.5 fronts and 9.5 rears in a 19. They are less weight than the stock rims and are stronger and lighter. The Toyo TI'S are much lighter than the Michellin Pilot Sports (several pounds per tire) so you should notice something due to the increased understeer, more contact patch and lighter wheel/tire setup.

The 10/1 sprung vs. unsprung weight loss mentioned above is pretty far off, more like 3/1 or 4/1 depending on the weight of the car (the lighter the car, the higher the ratio). If you go to the RGR's they're a 1 piece forged wheel, look awesome, and you'll notice a change in the way your car handles for sure (plus others will notice your ride from a mile away). 245/35/19 and 275/35/19 are the popular Toyo sizes (double check on the 35 part) and also check into the tire weights.

If your G is any shade of silver, the RGR's will look "off the hook". Do a search on Fresh Alloy if you find anything I posted as interesting. Several people have this setup and it is my favorite of all time (right next to the Laser Red coupe with I-FORGED EVO'S).



Performance-

I noticed one heck of a gain with the high flow cats AND the Crawford Plenum. I can only imagine that once I get the Y-Pipe and Fujitsubo exhaust installed that the gains will p/u more at the higher rpm's. From there comes the TS ECU...

I'm not sure if I'd recommend sways unless you plan on doing track events of some kind. Our ride is pretty firm/tight in the stock form and unless you're going to be competing in timed events, I'm not sure your money is best spent here (unless you have unlimited funds like some people).

Either way... Happy modding!

301-bhp!!! ...and growing!

 

Is it good to get those Helix Test Pipes? I see alot of people sayin yes, whats the benefit to them?

For $170, its a cheap mod, but is it really worth it? Alter the sound of the car?

 

definatly not unlimitied funds... i have to stay in a budget because its all my money..... when my dad bought the car he said "order ANYTHIGN u want fromt he factory because after u get it, its staying the way it is." I asked about wheels and he said SURE as long as i pay for them..... My dad is a weird guy who only i know.... he makes good moeny (his 17 year old is driving a 35k car) and he doesnt mind getting something that is "the best" even if the price is high. He is really **** about his money however and wont spend a dime now that he's making payments. If u had ztube + p/c what would u guys get? i have 1045 right now and will have another 1500ish in 2 weeks. Help a brother out with some advice....


2004 Black on Black g coupe 6spd.... <3 aluminum pedals, clear corners, z tube, and pop charger. From down south, houston tejas

 

hmm.... how about upgrading your sound-system? [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

The exhaust in not a huge bottleneck in this car.... a complete exhaust system (cats+mufflers) will up your HP by 15 at most. Its a small bottleneck, not huge.

Anyway... i would go with wheels or a simple Nismo sway bar

<font color=green>-Rambo</font color=green>
G35c-6MT-DG/Willow/HyperGround/BorlaExhaust/350Z-intake/AVIC-N1-double-din

 

well what can i spend to get the most combined hp for 2500? I cant be without my car for 2 days f/i

2004 Black on Black g coupe 6spd.... &lt;3 aluminum pedals, clear corners, z tube, and pop charger. From down south, houston tejas

 

intake: Z-Tube ~$80
plenum: Kinetix or Crawford ~$400
high flow cats: Crawford ~ ~450 (or RT cats for ~$500)
*some people would say straight pipes for ~$200 instead
y-pipe: JIC ~$420 (or Top Secret but pricey)
TS ECU upgrade: ~$600

This would yield you about 20-25rwhp and it also leaves you with $400 or so (*700 if you go with straight pipes) to do with as you please. I would not advise a UR Crank Pulley but some people swear by them. That might add another 3-5rwhp and run you ~$230.

*If you opted for straight pipes you could almost buy a Fujitsubo Exhaust ~$800, so if you could scrape up another $100 or so I'd definitely go that route.

You would have replaced all of your breathing components on your car (except for the headers) and done close to as much as one can do on a NA car. I'd assume the exhaust would be equivalent in gains to the pulley with all of the other "stuff" you'd have added to the car.

There is a lot you can do on our cars for $2500. That would yield you over 10% hp gain at the rear wheels (or close to15% at the crank) which is not too shabby.

You will definitely feel a difference in acceleration and sound.

Also, keep in mind that I'm basing the above hp claims on both my experiences (about 17rwhp on the dyno with RT Cats, Z-Tube, JWT P/C and Crawford Plenum). The Y-Pipe, Exhaust and TS ECU portion of the equation is only a guess, but only adding 3-8rwhp for those mods might actually be on the shy side of what you'd really see. Oh yeah, add another ~$100 for the before and after dyno runs and you'll be set. (Now your mission should you choose to accept it is to go scrape up another $200 and have one heck of a fun DIY install day. [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]) If you live locally (Central Florida) I'll help you with the Z-Tube, Plenum and maybe some of the other stuff, but for the cats you're on your own, as I value my knuckles. [img]/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/img]

<font color=blue>The above statements are only my take on the issue. If you disagree with anything I typed then you are 100% right!</font color=blue>

 

You ain't kidding about the knuckles Neff. I spent 3 hours yesterday battling my passenger side cat and I won. But I didn't live to fight another day. The drivers side is going to be done by someone with a lift! PITA!!!



2004.5 Coupe/5AT/Ivory/Everything but front spoiler/Nismo CAI/Crawford V5

 

i have a ztube and p/c already. Instead of cats i was thinkings maybe injen exhaust or fujitsubo for around 800-900, and i could do that right now if i wanted (i have a little over 1200 in the bank at the moment). I would also probably get a new plenum when i got the exhaust. I have a 2004.5 coupe so i think someone said earlier that they dont have an ecu program for me yet. Maybe i should just do exhaust and plenum and make sure hat i have the cash for when the ecu comes out for my car. What exactly is the y pipe and where is it on the car? (from reading on this site i have gathered that it is exhaust side of airflow, but i havent ever seen one on aftermarket parts sites or anything. Is this a part of a full exhaust system that one would buy or what? Sorry for sounding so dumb lol. I guess if i got plenum and exhaust i would be pretty muhc done (maybe go pullys route), and then i would just save for the wheels i want. I am about too add to my visual upgrade side a black paintjob for my grill and some piaa extreme whites for my corners and verticles. I also need to upgrade radars prolly when i get my exhaust and plenum . if i got exhaust and plenum tho that would prolly run about 1500 dollars and leave me at about 1000 saved for wheels. Hell i will be able to buy the plenum and exhaust at the end of thsi week probably. UR pullys not worth it or what? why would u advise against them? Are there any downsides to anything that i am doing? Assuming that everything is installed correctly, would anything be bad for the car?

2004 Black on Black g coupe 6spd.... &lt;3 aluminum pedals, clear corners, z tube, and pop charger. From down south, houston tejas

 

LOL, dude you need a plan. You're sort of all over the place. Go get a pen, a pad of paper, a calendar and a calculator. But before you do that, read everything on this website:

http://www.g-owners.com.

After you've read all that, categorize your mods with prices.

Intake:
Filter, tube, plenum

Engine:
Pulley
Cams
ECU reflash

Exhaust:
Header
Cats
Y pipe
Midpipe
Muffler
Tips

Rotating mass:
Pulley
Rotors
Wheels
Tires

Suspension:
Wheels
Tires
Sways
Springs
Shocks

Now that you've attached dollars, ask yourself how much you want to spend ALL TOGETHER and better yet, what is your mission? Street? Track? Autocross? Drifting? Drag? Looking cool? Also decide where you want your power on the power band (need to know this for many "air" related decisions), and more importantly, what your tolerance for risk is, insofar as short, mid, or long term damages or labor charges you may incur on your ride. Without defining your mission you will be wallowing in never never land and you may end up installing mods just for mods sake that will be counter productive.

Once you've defined your mission, the mods you choose and the order you install them will be glaringly apparent. Once I did this there wasn't even any debating with myself. There was only one way and one order to do everything.

Specifically,
If you go Injen, Stillen, Borla you don't worry about the Y pipe. Those exhausts replace the Y pipe.

If you go Nismo, Fujitsubo then you buy the exhaust in two parts, Y pipe, then Y pipe back. The order of exhaust is, exhaust manifold, cats, y pipe, mid pipe, muffler, tips.

Exhausts are trade offs usually between low end power and high end power. Don't forget about weight and how you like the sound. Also, some of them seem to have mufflers where the underbody plastic is currently, behind your stock muffler (assuming you have the coupe).

You don't know which one to pick yet because you don't have a mission defined.

They pulley is a big debate. You'll pick up a few ponies, but your accessories will be underdriven, and you'll lose the damper that is internal to your stock pulley. Again, depending on your mission and level of aversion to risk, will drive whether or not this is an option to you. It may be fine, but if it's not, the risk is damage to your bearings which you could detect with regular oil analysis. High lead means bad bearing.

If you don't want to screw with air until an ECU upgrade is out, focus on your wheels.....which you won't know what to get until you've got an idea of what you want out of this car.

2004.5 Coupe/5AT/Ivory/Everything but front spoiler/Nismo CAI/Crawford V5

 

catafish thank you VERy much for the informative post....

i guess as answers to ur questions

pully's no longer even sound like an option to me. I do not want to do any mods that are high risk or even medium risk. I realize that when u start changing things on the car that there is at least a small amount of risk invovled and that i will experience no gains without a small amount because the least risky way it to leave everything stock. I am not going to be tracking this car. There is a lot of street racing around my area. I live in a community with lots kids with nice cars and wealthy parents. I know it probably sounds dumb to you more matures/older (not old but older ) people, but this is all about bragging rights and people talking about my car and people just knowing that its quick lol. I really love driving my g as it is, but i hate when a trans am steps on it next to me and pulls like half a length from 30-90mph and just knowing that for a little bit of cash i would be the one pulling away. I have lost a lot of the few races i have run (trans am, mustang svts, integra gsr turbo, e36 m3) by only small amounts. The integra i may have beaten except that i had like 500 lb's worth of people in my car and got pulled on a little bit. I find that through 1st and 2nd im usually dead even with most people. Because the throws in the g are pretty short for the price range, i pull between shifts against other people with manuals. My friend's m3 which should have been just a little faster through 1st and 2nd was dead even with me (after popcharger and ztube) and then he pulled a length in 3rd up to about 80. I dont run around town at 100 mph tho. I always am at WOT tho and it kinda feels like from 3-4.5k im a little slow and then my rpms just quickly to 6.5k from there. I am plenty satisfied with how well my car grips (i have torn up some twisties at 70mph without my tires even starting to break loose) but the car feels like its gonan roll more than it feels like it'll break loose. thats why i was considering the sways because i have heard that those will keep my car more parrallel to the ground in corners instead of it rolling over a little bit. I know about air in - air out and not just working on one side, but i am planning on finishing my intake (plenum) at the same time as my exhaust upgrade. The only reason i was really thinking that hard about wheels is because that is something that will make my car stand out to OTHER people, but then i realized that I wont enjoy that as much as engine mods. Sure i'll be known as the kid with the G on rims, but i think id rather just be able to be known in the smaller group of car enthusiasts at my school as the kid with the modded G. Either way i would probably get wheels by xmas time, its just a matter of what first. I am sitll kind of up in the air between the two however (power vs looks). After summer i wont be able to work full time so i will be making a LOT less money. I'm prolly going to be getting a job at subway making sandwitches or something lol (seriously...). So it'll take a little longer to get all my stuff done if i dont get the wheels done first. (this is because i cant make the ~1000 off my stocks). If i were to get my wheels first, it would be like i was only spending 2000 whereas if i get my engine stuff first, i will still be saving 3000 for the wheels and end up with a 1000 after i have nothing else to do to my car.... (if u understand what i am saying) Maybe i could just put that 1000 into getting some screens or something to make my car the all around ladies mobile that the G desearves to be lol . Or that 1000 could go into springs/ camber arms and alignment..... GAWD so many choices so many choices. In the process of typing this post i think that i have decided that i want the engine stuff and then wheels when i get the money, and then i'll sell my stocks for springs and camber arms and an alignment. I think i'll go plenum and injen exhaust (maybe this coming weekend or the next)


SHOULD I WAIT FOR THE ECU UPGRADE THO? will it be bad for my car to be running the factory ecu program with all these mods?

2004 Black on Black g coupe 6spd.... &lt;3 aluminum pedals, clear corners, z tube, and pop charger. From down south, houston tejas

 

If your VIN is 80000 or higher you have a 2004.5 and there is not an ECU upgrade yet.

"I know it probably sounds dumb to you more matures/older (not old but older ) people"
Well, I'm 37 and my mission is to 1) dust people trying to play around with their fart cans at stop lights and exit ramps 2) take it to a real track (not autocross) once or twice a year 3) drag her at the strip 3 or 4 times a year. My retired Mechanical Engineer grandfather was in his early 80s and he was still making performance modifications on his 88 Camaro for exactly the same reasons. It disturbed him that an automobile manufacturer would produce, and a consumer would drive, a finely engineered machine that didn't live up to it's 100% performance potential.

Thus, I'm hitting intake, plenum, cats, exhaust, ECU upgrade wheels/sways/springs.

Cash flow is an issue, so I'm doing the wheels last, after the Pilots are bare. Then I'll sell the factory wheels and buy new 18 lb 18" replacements with Toyo Proxes rubber. I want to do the tires/sways/springs all at once making sure to buy adjustable sways. Depending on the tire size/width you go with it will effect the current under/oversteer balance and I want to dial that back the way I want it with sways.

Sounds like you have a good plan and have prioritized according to cash flow and mission, great start! Now you just have to sift through competitive products and then find the right price. Good luck.



2004.5 Coupe/5AT/Ivory/Everything but front spoiler/Nismo CAI/Crawford V5/Crawford Cats

 

im probably going to go in almost the exact same order as i already have taken care of my intake and am hitting plenum/exhaust next (together probably and if not less than a week in between). Then i am going with ecu reflash. Will someone please explain in a little more depth the exhaust setup? I know understand that some exhausts come with an upgraded Y-pipe and some u have to buy it seperately. With full cat-back exhaust does that include cats or what? AHHHH i waited to long to get into cars.... i shoulda been into them with all those other kids when we were like 12 years old even tho i had no interest since i knew i had 4 more years and i was more worried about playing soccer on the playground and stuff lol.

2004 Black on Black g coupe 6spd.... &lt;3 aluminum pedals, clear corners, z tube, and pop charger. From down south, houston tejas

 

Choosing an Exhaust is not really that hard. you just have to get used to the lingo.

"Cat Back" - means you get everything starting from behind the cats. so you don't need anything else, this is the whole package.
Stillen, Borla, Injen, Greddy EVO 2, etc are complete cat-back systems

"Y-Pipe" - is the part of the exhaust just after the cats, only found in exhausts that combine the 2 sides into 1 muffler (thus it looks like a Y).
If you buy an exhaust that is "Y-Pipe back" such as Fujitsubo, Nismo, or Greddy SP2, you will need a Y-Pipe also. thou sometimes they will sell a Y-Pipe together as a package.

For your application, just pick an exhaust based on the looks and sound you like. Thou dyno comparisons are available, unless you are a nut, you will not notice 2 or 3hp difference. of course I am not saying don't look at the numbers at all. you should still understand which one will give you more gains, and which ones will lose some low end torque. but after all, don't kill yourself over 2 or 3hp

PS - let me know if you manage to find a sound clip of Greddy EVO

Good luck!