Clear Bra. It's the only mod that is likely to pay you back in full for doing it. Especially good idea with Nissan's ultra-thin paint. If you're serious about driving your car to its potential, learn how it feels stock, first, and after you become adept at handling it stock, the first mods will be obvious. Through it all, the clear-bra will have your back.

can anyone recommend a good driving school/program in southern california?

Best advise so far.

Heck, I took my car to auto-x last weekend and with the right tires, it ran pretty darn well (even with the body roll).

Afterwards, honestly...the best mod is to save up and replace those darn oem tires. The Z, itself, is already a head turner. No need to make it into "head turner + BLAARRGHH."

If you're limited on funds, especially when you live in California, then you still have like 6 years to think about it if you REALLy want to spend that $1000 only to take it off for the PITA SMOG check.


As for racing school, they're really expensive, but if you take things to heart and not be a slacker-know-it-all, then I suggest this.

http://www.raceschool.com/

i really really wish i had gotten the clear bra when i got my car. 3-4 months in and its got rock chips all over the front end. :(

any tire suggestions when it comes time to replace my stock ones? (won't be soon, still breaking it in, only 3rd week of ownership)

If you're limited on funds, especially when you live in California, then you still have like 6 years to think about it if you REALLy want to spend that $1000 only to take it off for the PITA SMOG check.

Can you elaborate on this? I've never modded a car so am not familiar with this. Will the intake and TPs or HFCs mail me when it's smog check time? And is 6 years when i start needing to be tested?

I'm not sure about Cali with their CAFE standards, but putting hi-flow cats or test pipes on your car could cause you to fail an emissions test. Especially test pipes, since that's just straight pipe with no cats.

Test pipes can generate a check engine light because the ECU can't locate the cats. Test pipes will flunk the smog inspection, which I think is at 6 years.

High flow cats might be OK as far as the ECU is concerned but may or may not pass the inspection.

It's a violation to replace a functioning cat in California but people do it anyway. Be aware that cat replacement can be difficult. some of the bolts are hard to access and they tend to break off.

Intake mods can cause you to flunk the test but they are easy to reverse so lots of folks do them anyway, I like the Stillen G3.

The NST underdrive pulley is cheap horsepower but none of the pulleys that I've seen so far have harmonic balancers (lots of discussion if it's even needed on the Z) so I haven't pulled the trigger on a pulley, yet.

A used cat-back exhaust is good horsepower but check for sound clips as some owners have had issues with resonance or exhaust rasp with some combinations of cat-backs and test pipes/high flow cats.

If you do all three you will probably need a custom tune which is 400-600 bucks but it's worth another 5-10 horsepower.

I'd suggest a Stillen G3 intake and a cat-back exhaust, minimal headaches and about 30 HP.

any recommendations for the cat back exhaust? I saw a Stillen dual exhaust, but it was $1600

A lot of people I know like the Berk, F.I., Invidia, and a few others.

Here's a pretty good rundown.

http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...nce-guide.html

In the same boat...

How about better springs (Swift Spec-R Springs 370Z 08+) to replace the stock springs?
Do you also have to replace the stock coilovers as well?

How much does it cost to have springs installed?

CNT exhaust and HFC. Should be able to sneak in some good performance <1K. The Clear bra was some good advice though. You can pretend it makes the car faster.

There are several ways to get past the emmisions test, but that is not a subject for this thread.

You can get Berk HFC or Stillen Gen 3 + Top speed Pro1 Exhaust and Y-pipe for around 1k.

Any thoughts from anyone on the Topspeed Pro-1 exhaust and y pipe? I have mainly heard people mention Berk and Stillen so any feedback or opinions on this one would be appreciated.

http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...bucks-lol.html


http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...st-review.html