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ahhh ok... I myself am 33 and i'll be honest... if I had 8 grand i'd still be tempted to use it on my car, but think about how nice having 6 grand in the bank would be if you decide to sell the car at some point, or if you want to put some money down on a house. You can easily use 2,000.00 and add 30 whp (wheel horsepower) which is a nice jump from stock.

I HIGHLY recommend you do go to a course if for no other reason than to learn everything about the car with no other cars around just to be in a safer environment. I had 2 AWD cars in the past and coming back to a RWD let me tell you, with 30 more whp you can't screw around with this thing... it will snap right around on you if you aren't careful.

Our engines are pretty much very efficient, you can't really expect massive power gains without Forced Induction, unless VVEL gets cracked anytime soon, but I'm not holding my breath for that.

With an exhaust/intake/tune... you're looking at maybe picking up 50-60whp. That's a ballpark figure, no flame guys. Some have seen more, some have seen less, but it's a good avg. I know you said you were looking for 100hp more, but don't worry. You'll do fine with 325ish at the wheels.

If you do have any leftover cash though, I would invest in looking at a performance driving school to learn how to drive your car. Not saying you can't, but it's still fun seeing just what exactly our cars are capable of. :tup:

Your money spent will have more gratification if you research what each part does at least. Idk if this is a troll post or anything as I couldn't imagine someone getting a z, and willing to dish out 8k without knowing what a supercharger is.
So first things first, don't spend a dime until you understand performance parts, and gain an appreciation for cars.

:iagree: If you have to appease the mod bug, just do half/half.

4k will put you where you wanna be power wise, and you'll still have some left for a rainy day situation.

Seems like your dad is a modest person.. Why are you looking for our advice on 8k instead of his??? (even if u won it on a slot machine)..

But.....
For starters,
Get Stillen Generation 3 cold air intakes (abbreviated as Gen 3 CAI)
Stillen or Berk High Flow Cats (HFC)
Stillen, Fast Intentions, or other brand name exhaust system (CBE)
UpRev ECU tune
Swift R springs

If you don't have the sport model you neeeeed to upgrade your brakes and all their components. You can look up the different components.
This will give you about 50hp. After this you should know if you want more, whether it be a supercharger or twin turbo kit, and what the differences between them are

Chris and Methodical u guys have been esp. helpful. thanks a lot. after taking your advice (afterall i asked for advice in the topic), i'm going to lean to what both of you guys are generally saying. i'll dish 2-4 k of the 8 grand on performance and save the remaining for another time.

the wheel horsepower sounds interesting and i'll look into that.

definitely! Learn about each mod. We'll start here.

1.Cat back exhaust or CBE... it will give you from 5 whp all the way to about 20 whp
2.High flow cats or HFC .... your stock cats or catalytic converters are extremely restrictive and so changing them will yield pretty big power gains.
3.Test pipes or TP are simply just a tube with no cat, they have higher gain than HFC's but are illegal to have.
4. Cold air intakes or CAI are long tubes that are outside of the engine area, they suck in cold air from outside and so far have had the highest hp gains.
5. Short ram intakes or SRI are intakes that are less restrictive as well, BUT the engine bay gets very hot and hot air equals less horsepower and since these intakes are kept inside the engine bay they are less effective, which is why many go with the CAI's instead.
6. Pulleys. Pulleys are all of the little things in the front of the engine that run multiple things at once through a belt, the aftermarket pulleys size are adjusted to add more throttle response.

These are the most common mods for bigger power, but as said already... you aren't going to gain massive amounts of power unless you add a supercharger or turbocharger... which I do NOT recommend... good way to hurt yourself.

:tiphat:

Just because you have 8k doesn't mean you have to spend 8k.

nothing wrong with dishing out money if you can. don't hate!

coughLongTubeHeadersFTWcough :inoutroflpuke:

I would say if you want to spend for a CAI, you can, and Stillen's Gen III's have been the top performers so far. However, if you're looking to save cost, you can get a set of K&N Drop In filters for a lot less. And just get a set of sillicone Post MAF sensor tubes and be done with your intake for half the cost of the Stillens... Just a thought.

thanks guys. cant thank u enough.

Dont expect to much from just bolt ons. Buy an exhaust system then a supercharger or turbocharger if your looking for a big difference in power.

Looks like everyone has provided the Op with valuable information, and I see no need to have this open any longer.