ive got the TS ECU for my 6MT 03 sedan. and there were gains too. i have an exhaust though. without the exhaust, there were no gains to be had.

 

You are as correct as I. I can see why people would not like it depending on the way they use their vehicle. Long distance and family outings in our house are the job of the 4Runner (except for school drop offs). I'm generally solo, cranking the tunes, so not as much an issue for me and, as I said, I like the sound. Highly recommend people listen if possible before taking the plunge. On the track it is a mean ****. I can live with the occasional annoyance waiting for the next time to open the G up.

 

Yeah for flying solo it's ok, it's when you have friends, family, co-workers, and a complaining girlfriend that it becomes untolerable.

 

I am kind of glad that there aren't many cheap mods to the G35. My last car was a 1.8T VW Jetta. Talk about mods, you can make a 150HP car into a 300+ HP car in what it takes us to add 30HP.

The reason I decided on a G35 is because it had a good amount of HP / Torque out of the box. I bought my G35 knowing I wouldn't mod it, and wanted a car that I would be happy with without touching it.

Modding my Jetta was a lot of fun, but when ever there was problem I would get really angry.

 

Wow... A internet conversation based on logic. Good stuff guys.

It's funny to think that just by removing 50 to 100lbs from your car will produce better performance gains than $2000 in modifications.

I feel for the guys who have spent a small fortune in modifications to gain a small amount in power and then get the 19" or 20" Bling Bling wheels and tires just to have the extra weight of the tire/wheel package make the car slower than when it was stock.

 

Amen to that. Removing weight has a greater affect on performance than adding power. Like you said, it seems like most guys are more concerned about adding big bling bling rims and then add an intake and think they're faster. People don't understand just how much a big rim combo and additional weight slows your car down. A great example is my old Maxima. The stock 15" rims with 215/60 tires weighed in at a total of 42lbs. My lightweight 17s with 225/50 tires weighed in a 42lbs. On the same track and same day, I ran my 15s on the front (17s in the rear) and then my 17s on the front. With the 15s I was consistently getting 14.5s@96mph with 2.19-2.22 60'. With the 17s I was getting 14.6s@95mph with a 2.17-2.21 60'. Even though the 17 inch combo weighed the same, more of the weight was further from the hub which means it took more power to accelerate the rim. With no weight increase and a 2+ step up in diameter, my car was .1 and 1mph slower on average. That suggests about a 7-8whp/wtq loss in a 3000lb car like my Maxima (yep, they're very light).

The stock 17" G35 rim combo weighs in around 50lbs and many guys are stepping up to 18s and 19s plus they're increasing the weight. Contrary to popular belief, tires are very heavy and often weigh more than the rim. Lower profile tires can get really heavy because of they're wider tread and much thicker sidewalls. Rolling resistance of wider rims also becomes as issue. Adding a 55-57lb 19" combo to a G35 could slow the car down by as much as .3 and 2mph. That's pretty significant when you look at all the mods it takes to gain .3 and 2mph.

Static weight doesn't have nearly the effect that rotational weight does, but every little bit of weight reduction can help. A G35 sedan auto with fluids and a full tank of gas weighs in at 3350lbs. When I go to the track, I plan on running a 1/4 tank of gas (-120lbs) and no spare or jack (-35lbs). Right there the car has shed 155lbs. I also plan on running my 15" Mazda Millenia rims (11lbs) with my 225/50 BFG Drag Radials. This combo weighs a mere 36lbs or about 14lbs less than stock. Right there I shed another 28lbs (of which is all rotational) plus I'll gain traction and the 2" shorter tire will result in 10% better gearing. Finally, with a prayer, I hope my lightweight 17s from my Maxima will look good on this car because of the 8lb lighter overall weight. I'll have these on the front so that could mean another drop in 16lbs of rotational weight, though not as effective because the these rims aren't being directly accelerated by the motor. In the end, my G35 could possibly loose up to 197lbs, which could make the car accelerate as if it gained ~20whp/wtq. I also plan on running 95 octane race fuel vs the 91/92 at the pumps because of the gains SCC magazine saw with thier 350Z running 100 vs 91. They gained about 10whp/wtq across the board.

In late February, we'll see just how quick a "bonestock" G35 sedan can go. My only problem is that I'm at 1100' above sea level which does suck out some ET/MPH.

 

Who cares about power mods....That was me years ago...I just wanna drive the b!tch... Only mods I did the most in the past was to the handling, but I think the stock setup on the G handles good for what it is. I only changed the tires with a lower profile, wider setup because there wasn't much to choose from in stock size. IMHO, the only "worthwhile" power mod is an upgrade to turbo, then add on the other goodies to enhance the experience. That would be the only indication that you have more power driving to the wheels. The intake and exhaust mod is so minimal, you can barely notice it other than the increase in noise.. My .02

 

I think it's something like every pound off your rims/tires equals 7 LBS off of the car.

 

OK so you'd rather have all those rims and tires to truck around and change or put a plenum on for the same power. The power mods are not simple intake and exhaust..thats why this community thrives. Do you guys not see the results from dynoing and tracking that I see. Shedding weight is not as reasonable when we don't track it. SOme of us want to go faster and do it on the way to work! Don't underestimate what a UR pulley and a plenum can do. Sure there is risk but no one has come up with any problems for either mod. I like weight reduction too, dont get me wrong - i dropped the mid pipe for the coupe's and the plenum is lighter as well as the pulley and all the airbox baffleing I ripped out. It all adds up and my mods are cheap (to me) combined and show results!

 

Well if my aftermarket 17s look good, then theres little "trucking" involved seeing that they're bolted on the car. My weight reductions aren't that hard or involved. I don't street race so pushing the car to ultimate limits on the street doesn't do much for me. Smaller and lighter rims equal better acceleration, better braking, better handling, and most importantly, a better ride due to less unsprung weight.

I'm not going to get into the whole UDP thing because I had an UR UDP on my Maxima and it didn't improve my 1/4 mile ET/MPH nor make any gains on the dyno therefore I have a hard time considering one for my G35. You can read my responses in the UDP pulley thread is the Modifications section. As for the plenum, that is one mod I will consider, but I need to research it more here and My350Z.com. Concerning the midpipe, again, I'll have to see dynos and more proof because I've seen the cutaway pics of the sedan resonator and it's a straight thru design with an S-bend. I don't see how this could be terribly restrictive after seeing how unrestrictive the big "can" resonator is on the 3.0/3.5 Maxima VQs. We're talking about neglible gains with catback exhaust which includes a tiny resonator and straight thru muffler.

I noticed you're best is a 14.2@97mph which is damn impressive. Interestly, my friend's bonestock 03 sedan did a low 14.7@96mph with a slow 2.3X 60'. His trapspeed, which is the indicator of available power, is only 1mph slower than yours with mods. He also weighs 280lbs, had a fairly full tank of gas, and didn't remove any weight, or yank the ABS fuse and is racing at 1100' above sea level (worth .2 seconds and 1.5mph). I'd imagine with a lighter driver, less fuel, no spare/jack, and no ABS fuse, his car would be capable of 14.4s@97mph at 1100'.

Don't get me wrong, I love bolt-ons, especially those that don't compromise driveability for all out performance. I'm just not going to make the same mistakes I made with my Maxima and waste a bunch of money trying out mods that don't work. Way too times I fell victum to listening to other peoples stories of improved performance with a mod and the "OMG, my car is so much faster with X-modification". When I put these mods to the real test on the dyno and track, many of the them were bunk. Things like intakes, UDPs, intermediate pipes with smaller resonators, mandrel bends, and "performance" mufflers were basically a waste of money and just noise makers. About the only NA mod I see worth it's cost is the Z midpipe.

I don't want to drive stock, but if stock works, then stock it will be.

 

"I noticed you're best is a 14.2@97mph which is damn impressive. Interestly, my friend's bonestock 03 sedan did a low 14.7@96mph with a slow 2.3X 60'. His trapspeed, which is the indicator of available power, is only 1mph slower than yours with mods. He also weighs 280lbs, had a fairly full tank of gas, and didn't remove any weight, or yank the ABS fuse and is racing at 1100' above sea level (worth .2 seconds and 1.5mph). I'd imagine with a lighter driver, less fuel, no spare/jack, and no ABS fuse, his car would be capable of 14.4s@97mph at 1100'. "

I weigh 240 and didn't strip the car down or pull the fuse and I deep staged. I actually got some applause my GF told me. At the time I had an injen intake which I found a little thrashy and power robbing down low. But lets put my run into context of that day: I was the 2nd fastest G there that day. I ran a coupe with a 6 speed that didn't get to 95. There were 3 Z's that day that ran 14.5 at similar trap speeds to mine and the only 2 other sedans were in the 15's and one was near 16 seconds. Comparatively I was very impressed. I DO believe the pulley has something to do with it but less so that the plenum. Of all my mods the plenum and the grounding are what mean the most to me on the road. I highly reccommend the plenum.

"I'm just not going to make the same mistakes I made with my Maxima and waste a bunch of money trying out mods that don't work. Way too times I fell victum to listening to other peoples stories of improved performance with a mod and the "OMG, my car is so much faster with X-modification".

That's why I spent months on this board waiting to let other weed thru the crap to get to the fruit. I have spent 1000 bucks or so on mods that make a combined significant difference and the joy of experimenting with each one individually after it has been tested by members and incrimentally improving the drivaeblity of the car overall is pure ectasy. Slapping on intake and catback is easy and expensive and not what I wanted - especially since it does little for power. I must be doing ok since stock times are in the 14.7 @95 range..right?


Also it sounded like you were swapping wheels alot to get to the track. Not something I wanted for once a year runs on the track. I would love to run my car on slicks if it were reasonble cost wise, but probably wont do it unless I can get my girl to follow me in her suv and pay for them! I do respect the notion of dropping the rim weight down rather than putting spinners that are 100# each. Also I don't race to work - i just like to hit the gas hard once in a while on the way.

PS the coupe midpipe is about weight reduction and sound - I doubt any power comes from it. Cost to me was 100 bucks.

 

PS the z-tube is nearly free if you do it yourself and was proven to be a couple ponies. Hey it aint TT but it all adds up for the guy who really knows thier car!

 

I'm still a total non-believer in the whole grounding kit thing and I notice you have a 10-wire grounding kit, so apparently you didn't weed out everything people on this board said because the camp is still split 50/50.

Coupe-Midpipe helps sound and that's it (little weight too).

Track times are a bad way of measuring one car vs. another unless it was the same track. I've seen tracks that have slight inclines (both up and down), tracks that have uneven surfaces, etc.

Still to this date, no one has provided any conclusive evidence that 95% of g35 mods actually do anything. It's all, "Wow it feels so much faster." -OR- "I was 1/10th faster at the track". There are just so many variables and nothing gives significant of a gain to overcome the variables. To me, if a mod can't overcome the simple variables (different tracks, different dyno's) then it's probably not anything worthwhile.

It didn't take long for the Maxima guys to realize the power of the y-pipe; it wasn't rocket science. Every dyno, every track time, every driver all had similar feedback. I've seen everything from 25 WHP gains to 10 WHP losses with different products; to me that's just people being honest, people making up stories to be 'cool', people trying to make themselves feel better, etc. The only mods that consistently put down A LOT of power are FI.

Weight is an easy/obvious thing to look at. Removing 5 lbs per corner is simple mathematics for FASTER. Adding a plenum is not simple mathematics for FASTER. I'm not a big fan or removing that much weight in my car because A) I bought an Infiniti not a stripper car. B) I don't drive with my spare tire out so why should I remove it at the track?

All that said, feel how you will about mods, I've spent $30,000 in mods on cars in the last 6 years and I, like Dave have wasted a lot of money listening to other people on message boards post.

Stories I read here are no different the stories I've read in other places about the tornado intake insert thingy adding 40 HP.

 

I very appreciate your help and insight on the subject. You sound like one of the few informed guys on here.

Swapping wheels isn't much of a pain because it's only two wheels. I can have it done in about 15 minutes. I choose to get drag tires because I was sick of getting sorry 60 foots on street tires. After years of watching guys swap thier rims at the track and pull .2-.3 better 60 foots while dropping their ETs by .4-.5 seconds, I figured it was the cheapest way to go for NA bang for the buck. It's all about bragging rights you know The 24" diameter of the BFG DR setup is such that both wheels will easily fit in the trunk as will my tools and jack. Sure, the G looks pretty funny with short tires on the rear, but it should hook up pretty good......I hope.

 

Has the GAB (ghetto air box - see maxima.org ) mod been done on the g35? And possibly with the z tube?