I have. I wanted a 350 sooo bad when they came out. I drove the ones with the rev up motor. The 350 was speedy, but the quality was subpar IMO. I happened to test drive an RX8 just because I was at a Mazda dealer getting my wife a CX7 and fell in love with the handling and feel of the RX8.

The 350's lack of handling prowess and subpar interior killed the 350 in my mind and I got the 8. The 370z is a completely different story. It is certainly faster than the 350, handles MUCH better, looks sexier, and has a much better build quality. My wife hated the 350 but loves the 370. I do think the 350's were stronger on the low end, but the 370 quickly catches us in the mid range, and then pull away quickly on the top end. It may just be my imagination, but the 370 revs much easier than the 350. The 350 does have a better sounding exhaust however...

If I had a 350, I would trade it in a heartbeat for a 370 (unless I had the Nismo 350; I love that car).

Thank you Soygen. Why the f'ck is he on here? :gtfo2:

You got that right. But my Z still is not louder than the newer Stangs. But the SN95 Stangs were very noisy.

And about the M3, I read an article from the M division chief and he stated they moved to the 8 as they has extracted all they could from the I6. It was a good article, but is about two years old now. BMW had to keep up with Audi and the RS4..... No matter what they did to the I6, it would not be enough to keep up with the RS4. I think the CSL got 360 or 370 out of the CSL. Not enough..... I was pretty up on that whole discussion as, at the time, I was planning to get a M3.

my bro made a great tuned rsx typs s stage 3 race 600hp he was working on it everyday... sometimes it would take 2 min to start..

Sounds like it had problems. You can't compare a poorly put togather combo to a factory car.

The Z06 makes 505bhp and has a 5/100 warranty on that engine--it does it reliably or they fix it for free.

Unless you have some sort of a tune! I read one thread where a guy had a Hypertech tune or something like that on his Z06 but did not know it; he apparently bought the car like that and the seller did not tell him. His engine blew up and GM voided his powertrain warranty.

You hear crazy stories no matter the car/manufactor.

Yep! just like turning traction-control off on a GT-R.

Buy something that performs like you want right off the lot, or buy something and mod the hell out of it and don't whine when your warranty is void. There really isn't a middle ground anymore unless you go with Ford's FRPP packages. That is a pretty cool deal.

As to the deal you refer to--don't buy used unless you know the car's history/have a PCM snapshot reviewed by GM (or Nissan). People lie.

exactly. and fords FRPP program is awesome. buy a supercharger through them, have it installed, and you are still covered under warranty. +120 HP. awesome...

i would still get a GT-R in a heartbeat over anything else on the market today however..

Modified cars are not the same as factory cars. Not even close.

If you have the money, the GTR is an awesome car. I would be interested in one if it were a normal standard (which would also have the effect of dropping it's price into my range that I am looking into).

As it stands, though, the GT-R is out of my price range. Having to look to GM for my jollies.

Still an awesome car, though. Wish they had a mid-range car for say 55-65K instead of a 45K Z and an 85K GT-R only.

They can be...but that takes SERIOUS money. My friend dumped over $40K into his Civic to have a car that made over 800whp on 116* and was as daily driveable as it was when it was stock.

He still broke things every now and then, though. When you do that, you have to re-engineer the ENTIRE car to handle the stress. When you buy a car from the factory, they have (hopefully...) already done that in the beginning.

I'm aware of how to build a car right. It's still not the same as a factory car. No one can afford to do the sort of testing a factory does.

I've had a 600ish HP civic. I'm curious as to how the car was DDable as stock. There are tons of compromises that are made on a build like that, even done "right".

I'm curious what he did as far as the trans that kept it as DDable as stock.

Yep, there are always compromises.

When you start tracking a car that's when you find them. Bushings designed for comfort over performance being just one of those things.

The trans was OEM stock except for the clutch and did just fine for over a year. It actually broke while he was cruising a day after a 706whp dyno.(before he re-did the entire engine and ended up with 800+).

I drove the car around the block on pump gas and the only thing I noticed was that I had to rev it to around 12-1400 instead of 800rpm to smoothly take off. Other than that, it felt exactly the same as my bone-stock Trans Am if I didn't get on it (of course the power delivery and handling were different, I just mean as far as livability/clutch feel, etc.). The clutch felt stock to me, or at least the same as the one in my stock WS6 felt regarding effort and how it grabbed.

I am unaware of what the car currently has done. It is no-longer a DD and is a dedicated strip car.

We have a lot of nicely modified Honda's in my area. S2Kfrom hell (don't know the current status of that car, it is one car that WAS puking driveline parts all the time, even on pump-gas, but the owner DROVE it.), etc. Kinda odd for a little southern town until you consider we have one of the largest military bases in the US.

So in that case, you've got to worry about the trans going at any time.

Do you know who owns the s2k, or details on it?

Think it was Curtis or one of those guys that owned it. Here are some pix for you.
http://www.myspace.com/curtis95dxt/photos/41763621
http://www.myspace.com/curtis95dxt/photos/41763618
Other than that, all I know is it was a big deal because it made 750whp on stock internals. As far as I know, the engine never blew. Last time I ran into it was over a year ago, and I don't keep up with that crowd much. Have other things to do.

Hm. You know if he posted on s2ki? I don't think I've seen anyone that has ever had a motor last with that much power on stock internals, even with a headgasket.

I am disappointed in the performance of the 370z. Should have been a twin turbo or at least get out of the NA v6 game and opt out for the 5.6L v8. They did it with the m56, why not a 560z? Just seems like they love to screw everyone who wanted a 370z. We get subpar paint quality, loud and noisy transmissions, a harsh feeling motor, so much NVH, crappy CSC problems, etc.

But the most disappointing part is I still love this car! The looks and the feel just cannot be matched with anything else out on the market for the price range; there are very few modern cars that really put that big of a smile on my face! But I've already decided, in a few years I'm trading in the 370z on a C6Z06.

I don't know. He was local and posted on our local boards. Like I said, I don't worry with that group. The numbers are legit, though. I saw the dyno. The only thing up for debate is if he lied about the internals, but he is known for blowing cars up, so I don't think he was lying. He just doesn't care.

That'd be impressive as heck if he actually kept the thing running with 750 on stock internals. I'd love to see details if you have any of his posts from your local forum.

This is a 28k dollar car...this is made to compete with similarly priced vehicles, which it does remarkably well. This car is about perfectly balanced for handling and power, and putting a substantially more powerful engine would either require a much better suspension that would compromise ride quality...or you would have a car like a corvette that's hard to drive fast for average joe.

Import-- those pics you added don't seem to work btw.

I'm thinking it was probably 1 or 2 times on the dyno and he ran it on pump-gas mostly, but like I said, I don't know.
Also, sorry, it was Jeff's car. I guess he got tired of his turbo Scion TC, lol.
Here is the dyno vid I dug up for you:

YouTube - Jeff S2K video smaller
I guess the 750 came later or I mis-remembered. Last time I ran him was over a year ago. Curtis was with him IIRC. I don't know if he even still has it.

Links to myspace profiles sometimes dont.

Getting the thread back on track...

I just got back from a spirited drive and I seem to never get tired of driving this car. I find myself purposely finding the curvy roads and taking the backroads so that I can have fun with this car. I used to hate 2nd gear, but that hate is even going away. I cannot wait to get my M370 installed and tuned.

I know I always praise my old RX8 with MS suspension, but the more I get used to the Z, the more I begin to love it over the 8. With a few suspension bits (and I do not have sways yet), this car is truly transformed to a great handler; very composed. It just seems to have the perfect balance of everything. I am still extremely pleased.

And I have recently started noticing how many people stare. I passed by two 911 drivers and one E92 M3. The 911 drivers (one older gentlemen and one older lady) just started as if to say, "wow". The M3 driver just smiled and shook his head up and down... YES....

All in a day's work....

It helps that you made your car look 10x hotter than it did stock. :tup:

Your car is so effing clean and sexy.

THX!! :tup:

taking this thread off track again: When did you get the Ford Racing Sport mufflers?? Have I just been missing that?

Hmmm I think I got them roughly 3 weeks ago. I never mentioned them in the public section of the forum.

And how do they sound?? Nice? Any discernable power gain? Ford Racing has really stepped up their program. I wish Nismo did the same......

There is a 0 power gain with the mufflers. They are just for sound.

Here are a couple runs from last week



Listen to that wheel hop :icon18: :( :mad:

God I love that sound. Stangs just look right on the drag strip....... Well done Sir!

Thanks man. :tup:

Hey, how do you like your Invos? My PZeros probably have 6,000 miles or so left on them so I'm starting to look around for replacement options.

Nice vid! what did you run!? BTW i might be going to VA for a FEMA conference next month, would be nice to meet some Z or ex Z members!

Best run was 12.87 @ 110.31 on a 2.01 60', essentially stock. Lots of traction and wheel hop issues. Shooting for ~11.80s with bolt ons by next spring/summer. :tup:

If you make it out to VA I'm assuming you'll be in the DC area? If so, let me know. We meet every other Saturday for coffee and lunch in out here and would be glad to have you. :tup:

Here's an onboard of a 12.91 run to give you an idea of the wheel hop.

yes in the tristate area? I have never been so I'm just quoting. Cool man that would be awesome, i will let you know what happens....and what was that car next to you...it just took off!

I'm assuming you mean VA/MD/DC so yeah, Tri-State area. :)

The car in the other lane was a Pontiac G8 GT on slicks and skinnies up front. He had an intake manifold and cam and ran ~11.7 @ 117 on that run. Later in the day he started spraying and went 10.80 or something like that.

I love the Invos for the street. If I was tracking the car, I would want something more aggressive, but the Invos are outstanding on the street. If you are taking your 5.0 to the strip often, you might want something more aggressive like the NT05......

I would get the NT05 next, but they do not have them in the sizes I want. As such, I am sticking to the Invos!

I'll have a dedicated wheel/tire setup for the strip.

But for street and HPDE I will probably end up running the same tire. I really love the RE11 but they don't make it in my size (255/40/19). Though I am thinking about some forged SVTPP (GT500) wheels so I might be able to fit an RE11 or NT05. :yum:

Thanks for the info ImportConvert. Just a couple of things however that I noticed are skewed. I do not own a Touring, I did not pay 40K, the Challanger SRT8 is NOT 33K, and raw quality counts more in the bottom line than XYZ picks from a reviewer who drove the car for maybe a month. I am presuming that premium fuel is part of the review and the base cars they show do not require them as another example. I am not arguing with your point, just the data. I also give discounts on the costs based on FUN FACTOR. Soooo, it is like Nissian is paying me to drive thier car.... :-)

Did I notice correctly, was it hopping on the shifts!? Ford has always been shy of putting enough tire on those cars. Maybe you can order the Boss rims when they come out, or use whatever tire they are using or something? 255's on that car is just stupid and I don't know why Ford insists on this kind of stuff. My WS6 wouldn't even sqeak a tire on shifts. It would lay waste to mustangs with similar power/weight simply because on the 1-2 shift they lost a car-length that they never came back from. You need good tires for the street, too!

All I saw was *justificationjustificationjustification---I bought what I wanted--justificationjustification*

If you bought what you wanted, who cares how much it cost? I'm not paying for it, and noone else on this board is either--you got what you want. Period. :tiphat: