Ok guys (and gals),

I have about $700-$800 burning a whole in my pocket. I'm needing the best mod to help me with my launch (or basically anything that's going to help in 0-60.

I'm not a guy that needs bragging rights by boosting my HP numbers. I just wanted what's going to make the biggest difference in my acceleration for $700-$800.

One thing I had thought about was a Unichip to tie all of my mods together.

I thought about headers, but was told that headers can actually hurt you a bit off of the line (obviously, headers help up top).

Anyway, give me any ideas.

 

nitrous

 

I'm not a nitrous expert, but I'm not sure that you spray immediately on take off.

 

Usually not in first gear, just for traction and tranny preservation.

If I had a 5AT, my most significant mods would be:

3.9 gear swap
Trans. shift kit (vavle-body upgrade)
Torque Converter (slightly raised stall-speed)
Carbon Fiber driveshaft
Headers
Cats
MREV (or at least a spacer)
Drop-in filter
Z-tube

Some of those are pretty expensive mods, but that would be my path. I'd save the $800 for a bigger item or knock out the Z-tube, filter and MREV (or spacer).

 

Maybe I should specify what I already have first. I just figured most people would have looked at my signature.

I currently have:

1/2 Motordyne Isothermal Spacer
Z-Tube
Pop Charger
Crawford Cats
Borla Exhaust
10-wire grounding kit

I'd love to do the gear swap, but cannot find a replacement pumpkin. I have no idea where to find it. I've already checked with local auto salvage yards.

 

Go for some transmission upgrades. Vavle-body and Tq converter.

Or try contacting ACPT about a carbon-viber drive-shaft. I've had no repy to my e-mail, so I will likely call them in a couple of days.

 

Is the Valve-body and Tq converter without the 3.917 Final drive still worth the upgrade?

 

A 3.9 gear is going to turn your 5AT into an undriveable mess. IMO, a 3.9 gear will overgear an internally stock VQ35. Now if the motor had cams and significant airflow enhancing work which shifted the power from 4800-6600rpms to 5500+ to 8000rpms, then yes, a 3.9 gear would help and wouldn't make the car overgeared. To improve your 0-60 times, a TC is probably the best way to go, however be prepared for reduced around the town driveability because the TC will slip more giving a sense of reduced throttle response. Also, from a roll, the TC is of little use. It's purely an off the line enhancing mod. Unfortunately, like most mods for the G/Z VQ35, no one has done any real back to back testing to see if these aftermarket TCs are really worth the price. It's all about butt dynos and feel. In most cars, aftermarket TCs are good for about .3-.4 seconds in the 1/4 mile, however most of the cars that make these gains have really "tight" TCs that don't allow much stall to be built on launch. With G/Z OEM TC, the stall is already pretty high and doubt it would see such a large improvement in the 1/4 mile.

Keep in mind that any mod that greatly increases torque multiplication (gears, TC), you'll need tires to handle the load. If not, you'll blow them off.

 

The composite driveshaft thing sounded a bit interesting. However, I called the company and they said the following:

1) It takes 3-4 weeks to complete.
2) It would cost $1200.00 to make
3) They would need me to ship my OEM driveshaft to them, so that they could custom make the composite drive shaft according to OWM specs.

So, I guess I won't be doing that!

 

Have you considered new tires? Maybe wider in width.

 

Thanks for calling! The price isn't all that bad, IMO (obviously, not for everyone), but having the car down while they have the driveshaft isn't a great selling point. Just need one person to do it so they have the specs on file. Anyone near them want to do the community a service?

I wish it was easy to find a mint driveshaft out of a wrecked G. I'd consider buying it and shipping it to ACPT. A new, OEM driveshaft runs about $500.

 

The price didn't scare me either. I just can't be without my car for an extended period of time either........

 

If we can find another person, I certainly wouldn't mind going in 3-ways (maybe even 2) on a new driveshaft to send to ACPT. I just don't want to do the entire $500, as $1700 for the CF DS would be a bit too much for me to justify.

If anyone is interested, let's discuss it.

 

I'd be interested. I'm just curious to see if a new driveshaft will be worth it. I understand the science behind it and it seems to make sense. However, I've notived a few other mods out there that seem to have science on their side, but still don't seem to translate into better performance.

With that said, I am definitely "interested".

 

I would disagree that it'll turn the car into an undriveable mess. The 3.9 swaps don't overgear the stock 6MT's, and they have a closer ratio than the 5AT. If you've seen the Z that Mike from Performance Nissan has used in several magazine comparisons, it has a stock engine, minor airflow modifications, replaced clutch/flywheel and the 3.9 gearing. It has no issues with being overgeared. The only issue with the 5AT going to 3.9 vs the 6MT is in top gear. 6MT has a 0.794 ratio in 6th vs the 5AT having 0.834 in 5th, so you get slightly better top speed and better highway fuel efficiency on the 6MT. Other than that, the 5AT spends more time in each gear than the 6MT because they're more widely spaced.

But I'll let you know how the 3.9 swap works out for my 5AT in the upcoming month. If you're right, you'll be one of the first to know. I'm following the gearing up with a transmission rebuild this fall as well, so I should be able to provide some evidence one way or another on the effectiveness of these kind of drivetrains mods on a mostly stock car.


I'd be interested, just not at this exact moment. Have too many other projects going on right now for an extra $1500 out of pocket. Note that the 5AT and 6MT driveshafts are different lengths. The first section of shaft that connects to the transmission is ~24" on the 6MT and ~22" on the 5AT and they have different connecting sleeves, otherwise they're identical. It'd be a worthwhile mod. I'd be interested to see how much weight they chould shave, how much power it could handle and what that equates to in gains on drivetrain efficiency. I'm a proponent of mods that increase the power delivered to the wheels through efficiency rather than just increasing combustion.