My '05 GTO was totalled. Can't go back. Am gonna miss the ponies, but I have a good starting platform for the next phase...picked up a sweet little '03 G35. Great car, but lacking in low-end power for sure. Cold-air intake is gonna be my first order of business. Looking for some direction as far as best return for my dollar for a cold-air intake setup. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Totally unfamiliar with this car still, and that is one tight **** engine compartment!!!

https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-cou...pe-thread.html

Read that thread for a bit. It will give you a good idea where to start. CAI don't do crap for this car.

Unlike many other motors, the VQ does not seek many beneficial benefits from intakes

take the LS2 out of the totalled GTO and put it in the G35. You will love life

In all honesty tho the VQ35DE doesn't respond to bolt-on mods well... Do everything (intake plenum headers full exhaust and tune) and you're looking at around a 30 whp gain over stock.

The most effective mod you can do is either a plenum spacer or the kinetix composite V+ manifold, as for an intake you can just swap the OEM intake out for the intake tube from a nissan 350z (called a Z-tube) it doesn't have the baffles that the G35 intake has and as such flows and sounds a little better. In all reality its good for maybe 3whp when used in conjunction with a K&N drop in filter.

Since its an 03 I would highly recommend checking up on all the regular maintenance, fluids, spark plugs, etc.. These cars aren't nice to the plugs until you get an ecu reflash to smooth out the fuel delivery.

You're going to hear a lot of people talking about osiris tunes as well, that's what is used to tune our cars, it basically lets you completely reprogram the factory ecu like a full standalone, one of the most noticable benefits is removing the full throttle restriction that the factory electronic throttle has, it makes a noticeable difference

Can you expand on full throttle retriction? I thought that's a G37 thing only?

The throttle restriction is actually most pronounced on the earlier VQ's (any VQ35DE) and VK56's in the titans, the tune has gotten progressively better with the HR and then VHR motors.

Basically the G35 has an electronic throttle that is modulated by the ECU, so when you push on the gas pedal it doesn't just open the throttle however much you are pushing like on old school cars with a cable linked throttle, it first sends a signal to the ecu which uses some crazy equation to figure out how much to open the throttle (speed, rpm, temp, throttle position, as well as actual flow potential, all come into play) and then it sends a signal to the throttle body to open a certain amount.

In stock form it never actually opens up 100%, and from a dig when you romp on the gas at low rpms its very restricted, gradually opening up more and more as you get closer to redline. Uprev has figured out how to manipulate the electronic throttle tables in the tune so that they just have an "uprev tuned throttle" setting that maximizes the flow potential at all speeds and allows the throttle to fully open from all speeds/rpms.

This is one of the main reasons people are so impressed when they get a reflash, the car feels way more responsive

honestly the best idea was the first thing said, swap out your ls2 into the nissan... these engines dont like mods

but either way good luck with your car

So, coming from stock, I should buy the sprintbooster first, and then I can still have the ECU flashed and uprev tuned afterwards? Or should I get my ECU flashed and uprev tuned first, then try the sprintbooster? Sounds like either way would work and for about the same $

Don't waste your time or money with a spring booster, just go straight for uprev. If you're on a budget you can get a reflash and basic tune for $300 so there really isn't any reason not to... The sprint booster will not do anything that uprev doesn't already do better

Sorry bout your GOAT effingeffer, I owned a '65 & '68 wish I still did! I started modding with Motordynes 1/2" spacer then Stillens CAI and Z-Tube followed by several exhaust systems and HFCs until I found the sound/results I wanted. Then I went with the Osiris tune. Getting a tune first isn't a bad idea but every mod you make will require a retune to get the results they offer. My tuner charges $100 for a retune which I'll never need since my breather mods are completed, finished....I'm done!
Gary

hunting around for a basic flash/tune now. not planning any other mods for at least a year. anyone know of a good shop in nw washington? im in the mount vernon area

Sorry to hear about your GTO. My son had a GTO with the 6.0 liter. What a beast that thing was!
He put several aftermarket mods on it including a K&N CAI system which helped it. However, the engine in your 03 G-35 (like mine) does not respond well to the CAI systems.