This Soon To Be GT3 Killer Is Everything A New Z Owner Should Be Excited About!

JonBoy

Apparently a number of you have zero idea what one-off, custom made equipment costs to design and fabricate or machine. This car is using some off-the-shelf equipment but it will also have a fair bit of fully custom work done to it. It doesn't take long to add tens of thousands of dollars just in labor to such a car, not to mention the materials costs. Development work is extremely expensive and this project is no exception.

Consider that you get charged a minimum of $75 per hour for work done on your car. Consider how many hours are going to be put into this car before it's done and that alone will probably add $30K+ to the "street price". Add in the literal cost of off-the-shelf parts (wheels, tires, brakes, suspension, exhaust, forced induction at some later point, tuning time, aero kit, paint job) and you're adding in tens of thousands more. Consider then if they strip it to lighten it, add in a roll cage and body stiffening elements, possibly do a seam-weld job on the car (requiring it to be stripped down - very time consuming!), add in more monitoring equipment, etc, etc, and you're going to have a very expensive car that is very quick around a track but it's also extremely expensive, does not have a warranty, and is worth a lot less than what you've spent to get it to where it is.

There are racecars that cost the owner $10K (or less) that can beat a GT3 around a track. It's not impossible by any means but when you take a brand new car, you take a big financial hit up front and it's actually quite a bit more expensive to develop than an older car since the platforms are not nearly as comprehensively supported by the aftermarket.

What I can guarantee is that 99% of us would still pick the GT3 over the heavily modified 370Z. Why? It'll still be the better package (even if it is possibly slightly slower), as well it should for the cost that's been invested to buy one.

theDreamer

What custom work has been done to this car?
Most of the parts that are throw into this car can be bought, heck even some are sold by Nissan. Maybe once he gets into the engine he might be doing some custom fab for performance, but it will not cost 50,000USD. People are throwing on twin turbos already for 15,000USD (custom built), throw in the rest of the upgrades needed to compete against the GT3 and you will probably spend 32,000 to 34,000USD on the car and 8-10,000USD on everything else. You are looking at under 60,000 for a car that competes very well, heck you could drop another 20,000 some how and still only be at 80,000 with room to spare.

Now I am not saying the Porsche is not great, I would love to own one, but at the same time having the Z and adding to it myself and getting it all the way I want is worth something. Then again, the Porsche does have a warranty.

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JonBoy

Yes, right now he's using bolt-on equipment. However, I think if you add it up, he's pretty close to $25K-$30K just in parts.

Wheels - $3K
Tires - $1.2K
Exhaust - $1.5K
Seats - $2K
ECU + tuning - $2K
Body kit + install - $3K
Paint - $1.5K
Bracing - $1K
Oil cooling kits (engine and diff) - $1.5K
LSD - $1K
New catalytic converter - $0.5K
Endless Brakes - $5K
Custom Valved Coilovers - $3K
Steering wheel - $0.4K

TOTAL: $26.6K

And that's not even touching any bolt-on engine mods he might want, forced induction, roll cage, any chassis work (seam welding, weight reduction, lightening, etc, etc). That cost also doesn't necessarily include labor costs to install the different parts, which is probably another couple thousand dollars at typical shop rates.

Future work:

Forced induction - $15K
Tuning - $2K (he'll want it perfect)
Reinforcements to body and frame (engine bay and sub-frame bracing) - $1.5K
New clutch/flywheel/pressure plate - $1K
Roll Cage - $3K
R-compound tires - $1.5K

TOTAL: $24K, not necessarily counting install costs either

So, he has a $40K car (Touring + Sport with Navigation), $26K in mods right now and at least $24K to come, which puts him at at $90K and doesn't necessarily include installation/labor costs or development time if they have to go with custom work on the car to get to where they need to be. That's not the price of a GT3 but it's more than you'd pay for a Nissan GT-R which will still be quicker and have a warranty.

I know these cars aren't supposed to make sense (heck, the J's S2000 is well over $100K in parts and labor, including the initial purchase price of the car) but my point is that most people won't spend this kind of money to modify when they can just buy something else off the showroom floor with similar (possibly better) performance but with a warranty and probably more comfort.

This is a neat engineering exercise but it's a foregone conclusion that you can make just about any reasonably focused car faster than a more expensive, even more focused car by throwing money at it. It's just a question of whether it's remotely worth the time and effort.

Red370

why does any of this matter? this car is being built to compete with a car thats 115k, the overall cost is still well below that, and will probably outperform it when its all said and done, calm down fella.

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2011 Mustang 5.0 | 3.55's | Lethal Performance off road H-Pipe | Magnaflow Muffler Delete | JLT CAI/Bama tuned 417whp/ 404 ft/lbs

JonBoy

Add in the investment loss when you sell the thing for half what you put into it and you're at the cost of a GT3. There, we're done.

370Zsteve

Haha, well done. Agreed.

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SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.

Red370

uh, this is a shop car fella, probably not going to be sold, and I'm sure they can handle a loss, the point of the article is that the car is being built for time attack and will compete with the elite, I think you're getting way off track with your logic.

__________________
2011 Mustang 5.0 | 3.55's | Lethal Performance off road H-Pipe | Magnaflow Muffler Delete | JLT CAI/Bama tuned 417whp/ 404 ft/lbs

JonBoy

So you think this heavily modified car is going to go up against a STOCK GT3 in a Time Attack series?

Shop cars are almost always sold eventually, primarily because they want to get on to new and better projects.

Someone's off on their logic. It ain't me.

From the looks of their shop, they're not exactly rolling in money, either.

initialgemini

Yes you are correct. Spending the cost of the car to modify it so it can compete with a gt3 is probably beyond most people's budget. Worth the time and effort? Well apparently for this shop it is.

If we're looking at a race application as in this issue, a gt3 costs significantly more in regards to parts and maintenance. The newer Porsche cars aren't as simple to work on as a Nissan. If this 370 has every intention to be tracked and competed, you have platform with cheaper parts. Cheaper parts makes the 370z a more flexible platform to modify than a gt3.

But hands down, if I had 112K that I intended on spending on car, I would pick up a gt3 over a heavily modded 370z in heart beat.