New 370z owner! Need some expert advice
 

Guys,

I am new to this forum and just purchased a 370z. I had a g35 coupe that I recently sold in which was bone stock. Loved the car, now it is time for a real sports car! Just bought a 2009 black 370z auto (wanted manual) for 23k with 12k miles Got a good deal.

I have done tons of research on this website and others and have found this website has a lot more members who know what they are talking about.

I have raced motorcycles before (street bikes) and have done all the mods myself, however, cars are different. After researching different posts on here, etc.. I have few questions about the potential mods for my car. Before I get into it, here are my goals for modding:
1. No actual engine or suspension mods needed, not going to track the car.
2. I would like to gain extra HP
3. I absolutely do not want a set up that is too loud or gives a drone sound on the interstate

I have been working with someone at Concept Performance and they have answered some questions for me. I want some feedback from you based on my current selections. Let me know what you think.

Mods I think I will go with:
1. Injen SP1989P Cold Air Intake - I want as much HP as possible but still easy to install.

2. Stillen 508385C Ceramic Coated Headers. Want to try to avoid significant heat to engine. They said these help that…?

3. Motordyne VQHRART Advanced Resonance Art test Pipes.

4. Akrapovic Titanium Evolution Exhaust – seems a bit on the muted side, but excellent build? Listened to clips and sounds good. Anything else to suggest for a system?

Again, I don’t want anything really loud. Questions are:

What do you think of this list?
Any suggestions for anything different to fairly easily increase HP
And with the Test Pipes, does the Advanced Resonance ART test pipes cut down on the sound? Do test pipes in general increase sound considerably?

I have akrapovic on my motorcycle and they make the absolute best motorcycle exhaust systems you can buy.

Any other suggestions? Will any of these aforementioned mods affect engine life?

Thanks for all your help guys. Great Forum.

Stillen headers don't make power. The 370 has a good set of headers already. Test pipes are loud. If noise is a concern, get high flow cats instead.

Honestly, any shop that recommends Stillen headers is a shop I would avoid. Plus, the OEM headers have plenty of heat shielding.

My experience with test pipes, which are the Motordyne v2 ones, is they did not really increase the overall loudness of the car much unless it is really cold outside. If I had to try and give an estimate...I would say....mayyyybe 10% - 15% increase on regular days.

For myself, switching the exhaust did more for loudness than test pipes did.

[EDIT] Just figured out a better way to describe my experience. Post test pipe installation, it is not any harder for me to have a conversation in the car at a normal speaking level.

Hey OP,

Congrats on your purchase.

With the mods you are listing you won't see too much of an HP gain, a little jump here and there, butt dyno will feel it, but no significant jump in numbers on paper.

With bikes, little additions and bolt-ons has a significant larger impact. Not so with cars unfortunately (at least with 370).

ditch the headers, gains haven't been proven worth it.

I'd personally ditch the test pipes in favor of a good high flow cat if you're concerned about sound.

The rest of your plan looks good but I have no experience with that particular exhaust so I can't say if its going to drone on you or not.

probably should get the car retuned after you do those performance mods to get the most out of them as well.

I've put my answers in bold so they follow your questions. :tiphat:

Excellent responses. This is why I ask the questions. I do not want to mess with removing bumper for the cold air intake. I will take your advices a go with the others.

Also not doing the headers. Doesn't sound work it.

On so with the test pipes, do I understand this correctly?

1. Most hp gains are straight test pipes but loudest?
2. Second highest gains are resonated test pipes? Benefit being not as loud but still more hp than hfc?
3. Hfc are still upgrade to replacing cat but least amount of hp?

1. Yes
2. The resonator does not affect HP gains, only sound/rasp.
3. Yes, depending on which brand you go with and what size cell they use (100,200,300), they will have different impacts on HP and smell.

Also, check in your state/county to see if it is legal to not run cats. If you have to do emissions testing, you will have to swap them for the stock cats prior to your inspection. Some HFCs have passed I believe, but I can't remember which ones.

Your answer is forced induction, it's the only way to real gains. Everything else is chicken scratch especially if you're used to how hard a bike pulls.

Hope you have patience.:shakes head:

With a A/T 370,just go with a FI(supercharger is good for A/T).Headers are
a waste.Bling up the plumbing on your intakes with polished tubes.Drop in
K&N's.HFC's are best.In love the Amuse exhaust for the 350.Check on the 370 version.
Your are not gonna get the power increases youthink with the stuff you have listed.
Whats your budget?

:icon17: He's already said no engine mods, so FI is out the door right there.

Besides, the AT would need just as much spent on it to handle FI as the motor, not worth the cost.

The Amuse exhaust is way too expensive and doesn't give the best gains. He's not looking for "massive" gains. Probably just more response feel on the ol' butt dyno.

Even after changing the intake, HFC/test pipes, CBE, headers won't increase the horsepower to a significant amount. I say save the money for a set of wheels + spacers, CBE, and maybe some exterior mods like a lip kit. It will make your Z look so much better but with similar performance.

With intake/HFC-TP/CBE and tune, he's probably looking in the realm of 30hp to gain possibly. That's a 10% improvement. Granted, not worth the cost of what it takes to get it on this car, but its still a significant amount.

U want to gain the most HP with little work....
Injen CAI + HFC + non res exhaust system + UpRev profession tune:tup:
I gained approx 5OHP & 45ftq @wheels with that set up.

:confused: Going from ~280 to ~320 whp is a significant amount. You'll absolutely feel it. That's a 15% power increase.