For somewhere near your budget you could get into being dropped. Springs, rear camber arms and toe bolts. If you have access to a jack and a dremel tool for the toe bolts, and sockets you can get that done. Im sure you could do it with the factory flat tire jack but I wouldnt recommend it.

Need advice on how to start working on this beaut.
 

Sway bars. Drop in air filters and maf tubes. Used cat back. Leave the rest alone until you've got more money to work with.

And lose the stickers.

This is nothing to be embarrassed about. I was in the same path as you. Although I was broke *** college student, I devoted everything to own my very own Z. With the help of my parent's generous down payment, I was able to make my own payments and eventually pay off the Z by working my *** off. I wanted to mod my Z sooooo badly but that had to wait. Slowly but surely I saved up and got an intake and exhaust. I couldn't afford aftermarket wheels so I decided to plasti dip it (which turned out amazing). I even blacked out the headlight housing myself. Everything takes one step at a time.

I just recently graduated from my school (Dec. 2015) and locked in my career before graduating. Now I have access to income that I've never had before and I'm kinda overwhelmed by it. Everything that I wanted on my Z is accessible......but now that I think about it, I want to buy my very own house. Things change and you don't know what'll happen down the line. I will eventually do something to my Z but not as much as I hoped back when I was a student.

As for your budget part, I suggest maybe getting a HFC or TP. GL!

stickers can make you look like a tool (unless you are intending too) or if you're mocking something. like saying 'lifted' when you're really slammed etc. but that definitely makes you look like a ricer.

focus on paying off your car then look at doing other stuff. save your money to maintain the car and any unforeseen issues that come up. when you have spare cash that's when you should consider doing any mods

save your money now, dont rush into modifying it. enjoy the ride as stock for now. if you want power go for twin turbo in the future. adding these small mods will only get you to wanted more power.

I am also a college student. The only thing I have done right now is a muffler delete ($150) and K&N drop ins ($100 i think for the two). I also have Stillen Gen 3 intakes, but have not installed them yet because I think I might be having transmission problems :/

I would start with a can of WD40. It will take your stickers off without damaging the paint.

Good suggestion. I'm trying to decide whether I want to go with exhaust stuff or suspension now... :ugh:

Any recommended drop ins? Or are they all pretty much the same?

I paid for my car in full, upfront, in cash, a little over a year ago. :rofl2::driving:

Hope you get the transmission figured out :(

K&n. But make sure you don't over oil them. The maf tubes are all pretty much the same. I'll bet you can get almost all the parts I listed here in the classifieds used and come in pretty much on budget. Might have to swap out the car back for muffler deletes. But that will give you a quicker, better handling and sounding car without breaking the bank.

Awesome! I'll check the classifieds out right now ;)

And all of those are easy DIYs. After that, figure out if you really feel like spending a metric fuckton of money to turbo the car. If that's the route you're going to take, don't buy other power mods that you'll just have to take off when the turbos go on.

This might drop right into your budget with a little negotiation...

http://www.the370z.com/parts-sale-pr...haust-new.html