NikNala,
Long time no hear from. You too good for us CFL guys [img]/w3timages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]. I'd love to hear your sound system! Stop by one Friday night (Check the South East Forum for more details).

<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>

 

QUOTE *** 6. Interestingly, the changes that have produced the most noticeable overall improvements in the car have been the anti-sway bars and the dealer provided TCM re-flash.***

The Hotchkis adjustable sway bars were one of the best bangs I got for my couple hundred bucks. I used to track my G at our local track without 'em, and two days ago I was at the track again with the sways. The difference? Like night and day. They let me keep the pace with the STi's on a very twisty technical track. (See Canada regional forum for links to pics)

...and the anti-sway bars gave me just as much value off the track too: on the street my car corners like a dream now -- the balance is pure neutrality. (that's with front set "soft" and rear set "medium")

One thing I'd add...
Despite this being a tech & mod subforum, I would also say that the best grin-inducing fun-factor I got for my money was a nice set of head-turning rims. (although I put the stock rims on for the track in case they got banged up on the turtles...)

If I had a buck for every thumbs up, double-take, smile and positive comment I've gotten re: my Racing Harts, I'd almost be rich enough to TT my G =)

 

Well, a local strip (Rock Falls Raceway) finally had a day (today) when they permitted obscure individuals like me to run their cars.

This was my chance to see if my discouragement was well founded or if, miraculously, my car would break the 14.0 / 100 mph barrier and prove my earlier dyno tests and resulting comments bogus.

Apparently, those things only happen in the movies (or in advertisements for bolt-on performance parts).

Track elevation: 960 feet

Temperature: 75F

Best of five runs: 14.75 @ 95 mph

 

thats a little unrealistic. A 14.0? We ran last night at California Speedway. Elevation somewhere north of 1000 ft. and Clint's sedan (which is considered rather fast...and he an EXCELENT driver) was pushing 14.2. Temps ranged from about 90F at the start of the day to about 70-75F for the last few runs.

My coupe pushed 14.6 in the warmer portions of the day, 14.5 at 98MPh as it cooled. Tluv hit a 13.6 at well over 100 with a fresh bottle of NOS.

And originally you compared your DYNO result with the advertised HP of the Z. You have to compare the cars on the same dyno with the same corrections. I raced fairly stock Z last night 6 times and beat him across the board 5 of the 6 times with one exception: reaction time. His stick and his foot were faster than my lead foot and AT. He had a hard time beating 15.0

While I agree that there are very few bolt on parts that seem "worthwhile" when you are looking for "best HP gain per $ spent"...if you are interested in irking those few extra horses out, the bolt ons are the only way to go. For that matter, there is no one magical part thats going to give you that bang for your buck.

I don't want to be rude but with a 240HP motor in a $40K car, it's just unrealistic to think that there is a cheap way to take it from stock to amazing. But the mods DO add up, and that TS ECU you are bagging makes sure you can tune your car to make the most of what's there.

I will end up being one of those people that spends 35K building the car up to FI, but not for 1/4 mile times or dyno results. I do it for the thrill of driving the car and the joy doing so brings me.

just my .02

Josh

My Team Transport Profile

 

Yup, elevation for California Speedway is still a lofty 1700 feet

I mustered 14.1x @ 100.x during the early part of the afternoon when I first arrived. Ambiant temperature at the time was approx. 90-deg.!!! I ended up socializing more than making passes, because there were simply too many cool people w. very souped up Vipers, Corvettes and Cobra. As the night approached, temperature dropped steadily. I then decided to run home quickly and throw on the test pipes, thinking I can break into the 13s.

But fate would not have it. During the 1st run, upon returning to the track, I mis-shifted badly going into 2nd gear and over cooked the synchros. It was hopeless for the next few passes, as I was not able to get into 2nd gear unless I back off the throttle completely So I had her parked for a while to give the badly abused syncho a chance to cool down. About half an hour later, when I was ready go, an Eclipse self-destructed down the strip littering parts all over on the way down. The track was shut down for about an hour or so. Most people left at that point. Maybe another day!


Clint (THX723)

 

I had jumped on the board this morning to post a somewhat similar, but not nearly as articulate observation on performance upgrades. I am very new to this side of the tracks have owned stock cars from Nissan, Porsche and Infiniti my whole life.

However, last year I moved to Denver, CO from Charleston, SC with my 2003 G35 AT Sedan. And two things happened:

1) The change in altitude robbed me of some of the responsiveness of the vehicle. There was at least a noticable change in acceleration. Even my wife noticed it and she could care less about performance normally.

2) Driving a RWD vehicle in snow or on ice was, while exhilirating, not the kind of excitement that I was looking for.

So, I looked at getting a new car. I started to look at all the AWD options and decided that I still liked the G35x best. Additionally, the service department recommended looking at upgrading the intake, exhaust, headers and pulleys to the Stillen stuff in order to improve performance. At least having them do this retained the warranty on the engine so I should feel rather safe in doing this.

I spent a week or so pouring over this forum and reading material on other web sites to better understand performance upgrades. I came to the conclusion that the suggested changes made sense. While there is certainly disupte over the optimal upgrade path these mods should provide a noticable improvement in performance based on dynos and race results and not be drastic. I liked my G35 and had no desire to change that.

So I figured that I would be able to get the AWD that would make driving in the CO winters a bit safer and do a few mods to improve performance and at least get back to the performance level of the car that I had bought in SC. So 2 weeks ago I got a new 2004 G35x and had install the Stillen upgrades that they had recommended.

Well, the one thing that was missing from all the discussions was a decibel to HP ratio. Holy #&@! What a huge mistake...at least for me. I use this car as my daily driver and the noise level in the cabin is simply outrageous. Maybe I'm naive or maybe I'm just getting old and I need to get over it; but the change in noise level out weighs the performance gains that have been realized.

Certainly the performance has improved, at least from a responsiveness perspective. When I push on the gas pedal the lag that was created by the altitude change is basically gone. BUT, when you get a beautiful new car and the very first comment that anyone has about it is that it "Certainly is loud", well for me at lest that confirms that this is a problem.

I had no idea that the impact to usability would be so high. I had family in town this week and we used this car to drive around town and the noise level of the car was brought up by them immediately and repeatedly. Where in my previous G35 the cabin was extremely quiet in this car conversations require effort to rise above the ambient noise and during acceleration are just impossible. The noise during acceleration is like a roar that at 5k RPM rattles the interior.

I simply had no idea that the cars that prowled around the roads with exceedingly noisy exhausts were 'performance' exhaust systems. Once again, my fault for being so naive.

It seems to me that while there may be some performance opportunities that Inifiniti is doing their best to obtain them while providing a extremely comfortable and pleasant driving experience. Heck, they are adding HP to the 2005 models and I would bet that the noise level is not significantly different from the 2004s.

Bottom line, at least, for me is that the stock G35 is a nice balance of performance and noise level. I like having the sport sedan feel (I miss my Porsche sometimes!) but now I, and all the people that have ridden in the car, notice the noise before anything else.

Monday I call the dealer about going back to stock. I just don't enjoy driving that car now. An expensive lesson is the fact that Infiniti engineers know more about how to manage the performance tradeoffs than I do.

Just my 2 cents.

Best regards,

Doc

P.S. Anyone in CO want some Stillen stuff?

 

DocLively,

Before you go dynomatting your entire car or removing all of your mods, please consider trying one thing. If you have an after market CAI, remove it. Put the stock air box back on your car with the resonator attached to it. The stock airbox and intake tubes have (I believe) 3 resonators built into them. These resonators are used to quiet down our cars. I replaced the intake tube with the Z-Tube (removes 2 resonators) and JWT Pop Charger (removes 1 resonator) and heard my car come to life. I then added h/f cats, a plenum and a new y-pipe and the car was quite loud. Well, last Friday I removed my Pop Charger and put the stock airbox back on (used in conjunction with the z-tube) so I basically added one resonator back on.

The summary: WOW, my car quieted down by more than 2X. I was both happy and relieved. My car no longer hesitates when I take off. Before, when I was at a stoplight, the high FL temperatures plus the heat build up from the engine would build up under the hood. When I gave it gas and took off, the car would injest all of that hot air and my car would slightly bog down until cooler air could enter the engine bay. Now, not only is my car much quieter, the car doesn't hesitate at take off. [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Good luck with your "adventure" and keep us posted.

 

DocLively:

I have actually modded many of my previous cars, (spent nearly $15k modding my 2 SHO's) but am finding as I get older, I can tolerate a lot less in the"noise for noise sakes" department. In the engine performance department I installed the Stillen Intake, 350z tube and 7 wire grounding kit last year. The car was noticeably louder and resonated so badly in the cabin that trim pieces were buzzing around the window frame and seat belt achors. The "coolness" of WOT wore off after 1 week and I remove the z tube. The car now sounds exactly like I wanted. A bit deeper growl (not much louder), no more interior resonating or buzzing, and the sound levels are very livable.

I remember talking with friends in high school in the 80's saying we'd always have an aftermarket stereo and be messing with our car's performance. Well, here we are at 35 happy to have our stock stereos, and perhaps an intake here and there.

Frankly, in the mods department, I am much happier with the money I spent on wheels, tires, Eibach springs and painting the lower trim than I am with the Stillen intake or grounding wires. Basically, I get more satisfaction out of how nice the car now looks, than some noisy 5 hp gain I have to convince myself I feel.

The most positive driveability changes to my car have come from 2 areas: 1. Getting my 5AT's TCM program updated from AL000 to AL004 - which was free! 2. Installing ceramic front pads to reduce the grabbiness and keep my wheels clean.

After reading about all the disappointing dyno's on overpriced mods and seeing some of those with FI blowing engines, I am getting more comfortable spending my modification dollars in the looks department.

Now I know why they say "Never say Never".

My how times change.

TallG35
2003 G35 Sedan, Garnet Fire, VIN #398
Eibach Springs, 18x8 AT Italia Riva Wheels, 245/45ZR18 Tires
Body-color skirts, Rear tint
AL004 TCM program, Stillen Intake, 7 wire ground kit