In case you can't read the subject, be warned that this will be LONG. Probably multi-post long.

I got my 05 6MT brand new(4 miles) on June 12th 2005. My first mod was pretty cheap. I got a midpipe from a local 350z owner for $25. It cost me $75 to have an extension welded and the midpipe mounted. That was about a month into ownership.

My next mod was even better; a different local z owner gave me his ztube for free. Installation was easy without any hassles.

A couple of weeks later, I bought a set of coupe 18" wheels(mounted with goodyear eagle RSAs with almost no tread) for Cheryl's car, and a set of 04 coupe springs/shocks(approximately 24k miles) for $500 total. We got the wheels put on Cheryl's car that same day. The day before hurricane Katrina hit I installed the front springs and shocks with help from Cheryl's stepdad. I didn't have time to get to the rears. On the way home, I noticed a large clunking noise from the driver's front wheel well. It was just a nasty sound going over bumps, and sounded like the entire suspension was grinding against itself over railroad tracks. Being a complete noob, I was too afraid even to take off the wheel and examine it myself.

The next day(d-day for katrina) I took it to a local shop to examine the front, and install the rear springs+shocks. Stupid me, I didn't ask how much it was going to cost. That afternoon when I picked up the car, I was told the arm connecting to the sway bar on the driver's side had been left disconnected the day before; simple bolt-n-screw. Then I got the bill; $400 for installing the rear shocks+springs. I was blone away, but I had to pay it to get the car; and to quote Cheryl, sometimes I'm way too "nice."

It had been our intent to take my stock suspension(sport for 6mt) and install it on Cheryl's non-sport 04. My suspension had only about 5k in miles. Almost a year later, it's still in the garage.

A couple of weeks later, we had to replace the tires for Cheryl's coupe wheels. That was another $570 in tires shipped, plus mounting and balancing. She loves the tires.

The next mods were a pair of k&n filters; 1 for each car. Installation was easy. No problems, and fortunately none since.

For our anniversary, Cheryl bought me a set of used kinetix cats for about $200. I have no idea how old they were, but I was at least the fourth owner. I installed these myself, with some help from Cheryl's stepdad(again). It took me about 4 hours; being the noob that I am. When I pulled out of his shop, I immediately experienced the heat shield rattle. The next day, I payed a local oil-change place $25 to let me get underneath the car and beat away the heat shields. That didn't help. The day after that, I payed a local exhaust shop $60 to "fix it"(same place that mounted my midpipe), including possibly welding a mount from the cats to the stock cat mounting brace. They used a crow bar to beat away the underside of the car, but couldn't get the mounting bracket to meet the cats properly. No more heat shield rattle, but a waste of $60 for a no-show weld job.

Two weeks later I visit Doug Stewart at Crawford up in Nashville. I was basically doing him a favor; he had received a report from my350z.com that his cats did not fit an 05 5AT sedan. I took my car up there so he could do a test-fit. His cats fit just fine. While I was there he offered to sell me his old cats; meaning the cats actually off his car. Considering the heat sheild problem, I went ahead and bought them. I promptly sold the kinetix.

The next week(mid-november now) I bought my wheels+tires from tirerack. Total was $1350 shipped to my door(already mounted+balanced). The next day, I shipped my stock 18's+tires(with 11k miles) via DHL. Buyer purchased the wheels for $1200. So I basically got a new set of aftermarket wheels, and brand new tires for $150.

The wheels arrived, and the purchaser notified me that the wheels were extremely scuffed. He got a quote for $600 to repair them($150 per). I went ahead and refunded the guy his $600, and pursued a claim with DHL. After several months, we received notice from DHL claiming that in order for the complaints to be processed, we would have to have the shipper(a local PAKMail) send a letter on official letterhead disavowing any future rights to the claim, then we would have to resubmit our claims(1 per wheel+tire). It took about 2 and a half months to even get this far, so I just ate the $600.

For Christmas, Cheryl got me the mrev. Technically, she got me the spacer, and got a good price on the oem lower collector from a nissan dealership out of state. I shipped the collector off to Tony to have him machine it(turn it into an mrev+ basically). Even after that, we still didn't pay retail.

Before I received my collector, I purchased a used stillen gen1 exhaust for $300. Unfortunately, it could only be shipped via freight for about $375. So my friend and I borrowed a pickup truck and drove 21 hours round-trip to get the exhaust. We left his house at 7 AM, and got back at 3:45 AM the next morning. I payed $75 to have the exhaust installed. Unfortunately, I had not yet purchased the 03/04 to 05 rear muffler "adapter", so the rear section was hanging only from one hanger.

I received the mrev the day I was travelling to pick up the exhaust. I installed it the next week. Installation was a snap. However, I didn't notice gains anywhere close to what I had hoped for. After getting the car on the dyno, I saw gains only about half of the typical mrev+ gains. I also was getting eratic a/f readings, so I thought the cats might be causing the issue.

I'll resume the post in a few hours after dinner.

 

ehehehe... this looks like another "i wish i bought an M3" thread. i feel your pain... i gave up on my mods. don't want to go turbo, and anything else is just plain not worth it.

 

So, I paid $100 to remove the cats. I could have taken them off myself, but that was a bitch and I just didn't want to deal with it.

Later on, because the muffler kept rattling(hanging by a single hanger), I ordered the exhaust adapter from everythingg35.com. It got here, and I took the car to a different exhaust shop to rehang the rear muffler. It turned out that the package was missing one of the hangers. Unfortunately, we didn't realize this until the car was on the lift with the rear muffler sitting on the groun. I called and actually spoke to a human(can't remember his name). He said that I needed to reuse the stock hanger off my 05 muffler. So the exhaust shop was nice enough to let me borrow a car to drive home and pick it up. I returned, only to find the oem hanger from the 05 wouldn't fit with the adapter. So the exhaust shop guy just used a standard rubber donut, twisted. I really didn't like settling for such a hack, but it's worked out fine.

After attending a dyno day at a different dyno location, I was able to determine that the erratic a/f's measured earlier were a problem with the first dyno, and not my car. So I paid *another* $100 to install the crawford cats, again.

A few weeks later, I finally made it to the track to see if my times improved at all. While at the track, my clutch started slipping. It was at this point that I realized I was starting to spend some serious money on this car.

The day before I went to the track(and found the clutch slipping), I bought the stillen intake and sways from Russ. He gave me a good deal, with it was money that I would have applied against the clutch had I known about the clutch issue.

The week after I received Russ's old parts, I installed the front sway bar and the intake. The intake was a breeze(I ignored the bottom screw). The front sway, on the other hand, was a bitch to install. We didn't have the correct deep sockets, and we almost gave up trying to break loose some of the bolts. One in particular gave us extreme problems. After we finally got it out, we looked at the bolt, and noticed an imperfection on the threads. It seems this imperfection was present from the factory(factory bolt), and when we finally got the bolt out, it screwed up the threading on the socket. So at some point in the future I will need to drill out and re-thread the socket. I'm driving around with the front sway attached via three of the four bolts, and the end links of course.

Because of how badly we underestimated the effort of installing the front, I decided to skip the rear and pay someone to install it. That was another $75. The shop only took 20 minutes, but they charge a 1 hour minimum at $75. I normally wouldn't have paid that, but I really like the shop.

On the clutch front, I researched for weeks before making a decision. I ended up going with a clutchmasters stage1(new), and a JWT flywheel. The clutch kit cost me $328 shipped to my door, and the flywheel was $275 shipped. I ordered the clutch from UltraRev, but they never gave me a tracking number even after two separate calls. I wasn't sure I was going to receive it until it arrived at my front porch. As for the flywheel, it was only used for 600 miles, so it was still in pretty good shape.

I got all the parts two weeks ago, but had to wait until this week to install them. I was planning on anywhere from $350 to $500, but I was overly optimistic. Most places that I called locally quoted around $600, while a few quoted me $500. My dealer actually quoted me $400.

I had the flywheel resurfaced yesterday for $35. I dropped the car off this morning(and got a Kia Rio as a loaner), and got a call this afternoon stating the dowel pins were too small for the flywheel. Apparently the seller either didn't know himself, neglected to mention it, or just plain forgot. So I called JWT and ordered the pins, overnighted to my house. Right now, FedEx estimates a delivery time of 4:30pm, so I doubt I'll get the car tomorrow either. Regardless, it will cost me another $35 after shipping for the pins. So the total so far to the clutch/flywheel is $670(clutch kit+flywheel+pins+overnight delivery+flywheel resurfacing). That's still a decent bit below the jwt clutch/fly combo, especially when you consider the fact that the combo doesn't include a pilot bushing or throw out bearing.

So that's everything I've done to my car so far(excluding stuff like tint and clears). Almost every time I've modded the car, something has gone wrong. More often than not, that unanticipated "something" has cost a bit of cash.

Some might comment on the fact that I purchase so many used parts. Except for the cats, almost everything I've purchased has been "nearly new", and the fact that they've been used has not been a factor in any of my problems, until the issue with the missing dowel pins.

(Continued)

 

I detailed everything so people would understand my ranting.

All of the "go fast" parts have netted me between 15 and 20 peak hp. My abuse of the car has netted in a nearly blown clutch, and I've gone through a set of tires in almost 15k miles. The mods, in all honesty, haven't significantly affected the performance of the car. And as we all know, there's always a tradeoff. The minor changes in performance has changed the disposition of the car. The wheels/tires have helped lighten the steering, but as a result I feel every imperfection in the road surface. I'm not talking about the feel of an ultra-stiff suspension here. I'm talking about roads that aren't *absolutely* flat causing a pull in the steering in the direction of the crown; I'm talking about ripples in the pavement causing flutters through the steering column. And of course, no matter how many times I balance the tires, there's still an oscillating vibration between 70 and 80mph.

With the cats, exhaust, and intake, the car doesn't sound anything like stock. It's not nearly as smooth, and because of the xpipe, there's even more vibration into the cabin. The shifter has always vibrated excessively, but it's downright annoying now. Engine breaking from anything beyond 3.5k results in a "thrashing" of the shifter; the first time I experienced it I thought the damned thing was going to shoot through the roof like a rocket.

Last week, Cheryl, my son and I spent 5 days at the beach in Florida. We took Cheryl's car. Being in her car for 5 days and several hundred miles really made me appreciate how nice and refined her car is, and thusly, how nice and refined my car *used to be.* The cars now have two completely different personalities; mine is raw, lopey, loud, violent, with touchy steering. Hers is what it should be: quiet, smooth, power "right there", and nice, heavy, "predictable" steering.

Having said all that(in three long-*** posts), I wouldn't have done anything differently. I've spent quite a bit on mods, and haven't seen much as a result. But it's *my* car. I like that it's loud. I like the touchy steering. I like the "lively" suspension. This is the sportiest damned car I've ever owned. It's as close to a proper sports car(coupe owners laugh here) as I'm going to get for quite a while. Sure, I wish I wouldn't have had all of the hassles whenever I touched the car. And I would have liked to have spent a little less dollar. But all in all, I've got quality parts(no meagan ebay crap here).

Before anyone responds with the I-told-you-so's, and the "thats why I don't use so-and-so's products", remember that I have willingly accepted the trade-offs.

The point of this rant is for all the new owners out there, or people new to modding cars like myself. First, don't by into the hype. Research your mods thoroughly. Form a plan from starting point to end game before you do your first mod. But be aware that when you mod, things *will* go wrong. Some of those hiccups will throw your budget askew. And above all else, realize that each mod will affect the car in some way. Most times, these effects will be a detraction versus stock behavior.

You've been warned. And thanks to anybody that made it to the end.

 

You need a hug.

 

let's give Trey a hug =)

 

dang...i know exactly what you are going through.

with my previous car, i spent lots of money modding it. i was a newbie to modding cars and i tried to do everything myself. of course things went wrong, parts didn't fit perfectly, etc...so i had to take it to the shop and have it fixed or buy another part to make it work.

in the end, i spent a lot more money than my mods were worth....my car was no faster than when i bought it brand new (ok, maybe 0.01 faster)...my car never had the smooth stock feel...and i had to live with the fact that some of my mods weren't a perfect fit and were "forced" to fit (this bugged the hell out of me cuz i'm a perfectionist and couldn't stand that the fit wasn't perfect). the one good thing that came out of all this was that i learned how to work on cars and maintain them myself.

anyways, with my g35 coupe, its pretty much stock except for a z-tube. in the future i may go with springs/shocks. other than that, i'm done with modding. any car i own in the future will stay stock with the exception of suspension.

anyways, like trey said...RESEARCH any mod you are going to buy...if you are a perfectionist, buy QUALITY parts not cheap junk that looks like some 5 year old fitted on your car...finally, if you are not a diy'er, be prepared to SPEND lots of money.

 

thank you for your posts. you give honest reviews, that most people don't, they just say they like their mods or that they did them for "sound", like you can beat the stock sound (LOL).

i respect that you willingly accepted the tradeoffs and that you love your car, but i got a feeling of frustration from reading your posts. and i feel your frustration. having owned a sports car (c5) that had crappy reliability, i pretty much wanted a hassle free sports car with japanese reliability, luxury interior, and 4 seats. having seen the ease with which my friends were modifying their evos and stis to match the performance of the c5, and just bying into the hype of modifying japenese cars and hearing that the vq was a "great sports car engine" and very "sophisticated" and "high tech" i thought that it would be easy to get some good reliable japanese performance with a few thousand in mods. i have come to realize that without FI we're pretty much looking at an increase of only 20-40 hp. and I have also come to realize that G's with 298 hp perform like G's with 280 hp, and will probably perform about the same as the new G with 306 hp. I am guessing that to feel a difference in this car, you need to add a good 100-120 hp, to the wheels. i have also read from everyone that goes FI, that the costs are much greater than they expected and that a lot of em blow their engines.

Trey i remember when you posted your last dyno with the MREv and your performance did not improve at all. Have you figured out why that combination of mods didn't work?

Also, where does the vibration in the shifter come from? that is really unfortunate.

also, I can't wait to hear a review of the new cutch and flywheel when you get your car back

thank you very much again

 

Hug....

 

^^good post. i used to own a c5 corvette as well (2001 coupe). had to sell it when i got married to put a downpayment on a house. i also hated taking that thing to the dealer everytime something went wrong. but u know what... not a day goes by that i don't miss her. u just couldn't beat the performance and 'fun' factor of that car. i haven't modded my current gcoupe to the same reasons u listed above (the performance/quality gains are just not there with the money u dump in). i've even debated blowing a wad of cash again on a new corvette now that my financial position is back to normal. but instead i've ended up buying a motorbike and love every aspect of it. i only drive for fun, it's a hell of a lot faster than any modded car, and is dirt cheap to own and maintain (plus no quality issues!!!). in fact, since i've grown and gotten married... the gcoupe just doesn't excite me anymore as it did brand new . next year i'll probably just sell it and get a 4 door luxury box

 

I also feel your frustration (all hugs aside). But not with this car. I have modded a few cars before this one so I have some experience with being totally ignorant to both expectations and reality. I bought the G with the intention of doing mods (suspension, power, tranny, stereo, etc.). So far my mods are exactly as I expected for now though they have been more expensive than my previous rides. I'm short of doing FI but that will come soon. All my "power" mods have yielded great noise and little power gains but the suspension upgrades have significantly changed the ride (beyond my expectations). And the stereo is very nice but its not done yet (probably ever).I guess my 2 cents are if you want to mod, choose the right car and also if you expect big gains from an exhaust or intake (or other simple bolt ons) you should have an FI ride.

 

IMHO it appears that the manufacturer squeezed about as much as you can out of VQ in its current state. So any additional non FI mods arent gonna be huge. Am I the alone on this or what ?
I've tweaked a couple japanese rides in my past and due to efficient designs of the engines, nothing significant happened until you add boost. Then you have to make sure the tune is dead on or issues will come shortly after.
My perspective of NA mods for this car is that when you add them all up you still need some type of engine managment to get the maximum benefit.

Just my opinion after trolling this site for years before G'n up !

Trey, thanks for the honesty in your journey.

 

The details of the story really do point toward learning the lesson to have things done right from the start, be it using a new part or getting professional installation the first time around.

Indeed, modding a car will generally change the way it behaves, for better or worse... ...so I agree 100% that having a prior build plan, based on research, is key. I had about 6 months to finalize my plan before taking delivery, which turned out to be a very good thing. Even so, there were some key changes based upon new products entering the market (MREV+) and first-hand owner knowledge that began to trickle in.

I've been pretty happy with my mods so far, but I do hope that a TS reflash will improve the A/F, especially below 2500rpm (sounds/acts/feels too rich). By about 3000rpm the mix seems about right and then I get the characteristic MREV+ punch at 4000rpm, where everything sounds/acts/feels great.

I'll install the NISMO clutch, flywheel, roller-bearing pilot-bushing and SGP clutch line soon, so that may change things a bit. Hopefully in a good way. The OEM set-up feels like **** with just 3200 miles on it. And, hopefully, the NISMO flywheel will be light enough to be noticeable without being so light that it's a nuisance during daily driving.

 

Your honesty is appreciated. I feel the same exact way about a lot of things ou mentioned. My biggest gripe that people aren't honest about mods and exaggerate the good, but don't tell you about the downsides/compromises. It really pisses me off because not all of us are willing to gain 10whp in return for horrendous resonating, reduced low rpm throttle response, or transient vibrations caused by the mod (ie dual exhausts without flex sections in the Y-pipe).

Case in point, a 6 months ago I bought Borla TD exhaust. I researched and researched. Everyone swore up and down that the exhaust was very tame, made great gains, and didn't add any vibration even though the y-pipe didn't have flex sections like the OEM y-pipe did. I spend my $750, order the exhaust, and install it. Yeah, it's far from tame. The SOB was loud, resonated, caused cabin vibrations. The gains seemed okay. However, after 5 days, I decided it was too much. It took away from the refined character of the G35, I didn't want the vibration, the noise (especially back seat) was too much and I worried about my 16 month old son having to deal with the resonating. I pulled off the exhaust and sold it for a $200 loss. The buyer installed it on his 05 6MT and gained a whopping 5whp So much for the claimed 10whp everyone says it gets.

This wasn't the first time I was duped by a mod for the this car. While I had serious doubts that grounding wires would do much for any car, I went ahead and bought a set of Gords 10-wire set. I figured that nearly a hundred 5AT G/Z owners couldn't be wrong about the wires improving shift firmness/response. I got the wires and installed them. Absolutely no difference. I left them on for 2 weeks. Nothing. Nadda. Zip. I took the wires off and sold them for a $20 loss.

It frustrates the hell out of me that I'm stupid enough to buy into mod claims time and time again. I swore when I got my G35, I was going to research mods to the fullest because I had been duped so many times with my old Maxima and Z28. I've come to the realization that most people lie about gains and the downsides to a mod. The only way you'll know is if you ride in a car that has the mod you're interested in or you're going to have to bite the bullet and buy the mod yourself and hope for the best.

I've added just about every typicall bolt-on NA mod for a VQ that exists. Maybe not to my G35, but to a VQ30 Maxima and I've know a hell of a lot about works for the VQ35 on the Maxima/Altima (basically the same exact engine short of the intake manifold). People are annoyed by how critical I am concerning VQ mods. It all stems from all the mods I've added to these cars over the past 8 years or so. Iv'e seen first hand on the dyno and track what mods do for the VQ30/VQ35 motors.

I'm glad to see someone else on this site being honest about mods. It helps everyone else out. It also can make the aftermarket companies build a better product too. It amazes me just how many aftermarket companies (primarily exhaust makers) have such shoddy work. Clanking pipes, poor clearnance, resonance, poor welds, etc should never make it into a production piece. The problem is buyers accept this quality of work and continue to buy from these companies. I could go on for pages about this stuff so I'll stop there.

FYI, all the mods on my car that you see in my sig are there because I think they work and have very little compromise. I see absolutely no downside to the MD spacer and it does add power, the Z/coupe springs ride no differently the stock Sport springs, and the Z-pipe adds a sexy growl. Like Trey as realized about this wife's car, I love the refinement and will not compromise it. It makes buying a mods harder, but I'd rather keep the refined character of the car instead of adding 10whp at the expense of vibrations, noise, and crappy low rpm throttle response. I've been there and done that. It gets old quick.

 

If I had ever owned a vette(or some other true sports car), or modded another car, I probably would be the same way. But even through all my frustration, I plan on still modding.

First, there's still a little more power in this car NA. I could still do pullies, headers, test pipes, and an ecu. I don't plan on pullies. At this point, I don't really plan on headers either. I am giving serious consideration to resonated test pipes, mainly because believe it or not I want *more* exhaust volume. And I've decided to get the UTEC. It may be a year from now, but I'm not going to settle for an SAFC or cut up all the wiring by getting greddy unit. If I do get the pipes and the utec, I'll take it over to sharif and let him squeeze out another 15 to 20hp. That will tie it all together. And it would be right around the 275 to 285 mark.

The other reason I will still mod is not just performance, but the "personality" of the car. Modded sedans in Birmingham just don't exist. I'm not necessarily doing it to be unique, but it does make all this easier to swallow. And to top it off, my dad is enjoying my modding by proxy. He's always been into cars. He was into the modding scene back inthe 60s and 70s. He's argued against almost every one of my mods. But it gives us something to talk about.

And the last reason: I want to be one of the faster sedans NA. Hell, if I could mount some stickies and pull a 1.7 like audiblemayhem(that's not gonna happen, but I can wish), I'd be *low* thirteens without all my current mods. My hope is to hit a 13.4 this fall, and if I can borrow some DR's, maybe a 13.2 or 13.1. That would be an acomplishment. Hell, if I against all reason managed to run a 12.999, I'd drive the car home, give the keys to my wife, and never drive the car again.