Diamond in the rough.

Originally Posted by SurfDog

I consider the Z to be a good car with great potential. My question is what mods MUST be done to fix the factory design defects that make this car mediocre when it could be great.

Below is a list of what I believe to be the basics (or key weaknesses if you will) That MUST be addressed in every 370Z. What Key weaknesses have I missed.

1. Steering lock (duh)
-Needs the steering lock fuse pulled/or voluntary recall at a minimum (duh)

Fixed in late 2011 through current model year by nissan removing it entirely

2. no oil cooler
- unforgivable defect but easily retrofitted. (I used stillen 25 row kit)

semi-fixed by nissan in 2012

3. Horrible clutch feel on 6mt
- many solutions from removing the stupid assist spring to a full clutch replace. I went full on with a JWT, but do we all agree the OEM clutch sucks donkey balls and should be considered a must fix or is it just me???

Your opinion as i dont have a problem with the clutch feel, but aftermarket is always going to be an improvement

4. Failure prone CSC.
- I did mine when puling apart tyranny to put in JWT. Is it worth swapping before failure?

Never had a problem with mine in 30,000 miles of driving, but do agree it should have been built sturdier

5. Massive 25 lb Flywheel.
-Is this a poor designby Nissan? I think so!!! I put in a much lighter JWT flywheel and did not notice increase in vibration, but did notice much better throttle response.

More like a way to save on cost as to not increase the price of the car

6. TUNE!
- why don't they all come engine tuned to NISMO specs. Why do I have to put it up on a dyno (4-600 bucks) to get the same tune a nismo has stock??? That's just stupid marketing bs IMHO. It would cost Nissan nothing to flash all EDCs with the nismo data no?

Agree, but im fine with the power that the base comes with

7. Horrible road noise.
-From day one it has been criticized for road noise by everyone from R&T to my wife. I know sound-proffing is heavy (for you track bubbas), but a little engineering effort to help buffer the howl is definitely needed if you DD (I put some dynamat in key spots, but it still screams on some surfaces)

debatable as even a porsche cayman has almost the same levels of road noise as the Z just a different quality of road noise

8. The "sport" VLSD. (let alone the base "open" one!!)
-this thing is terrible. A real locking 1.5 or full 2 way (or at least a helical gear type) is a must unless you only bought the car for looks in which case this thread is wasted on you.

something nissan has done since the early 90's as even the 240SX and 300ZX came with VLSD

9. hatch springs
-I mean come ON Nissan

never ran into this issue on my previous 2011

10. unnecessary Hatch weight
- so stupid that some have and some dont, even the factory kinda addresses this by only putting them in like half the cars.

also never an issue on my previous Z

I realize this is not a full wish list of things we would all like to do, more a list of the things Nissan should have done at the factory.

Although awesome, I did not include things like:
HFC/CBE
Twin turbo or SC
better sways
better Stereo (though I almost did)
Pilot super sport tires
...Because they are mod/improvements not really design flaw fixes.

So what have I missed. what do you guys think is really broken or just poorly done?

In summary, for a few thousand bucks you can turn a pretty, though unreliable turd into a "real" sports car capable of holding its own against other "real" sports cars.

unreliable in what sense?? cause most of us have not had any mechanical issues although i admit there have been the oil consumption issues on earlier model years and a few odd cases of engine failure, but limited to very few cars out of all the members here

What have I missed??