2003 350Z 70K mileage performance enhancements

[Sam350]

Hello 350z enthusiasts,

I recently purchased a 2003 350z with 70K miles. I don't know much about engines or modifying, but i'm interested in getting the best performance from my car. It runs perfectly fine with no issues, but i'm curious with the car being a 2003, can i get better performance? At this time i'm not looking to add turbos or major modifications, i just need some advise on how to maximise performance from what i have. Maybe i have the maximum performance from my car, is there any recommendations to measure this.

Id be very grateful if anyone could help.

Thanks
Sam

[jerryd1987]

dont waste your time, the engines already have an extremely high volumetric efficiency and mods are very expensive. full bolt ons are going to run you what a used turbo or supercharger kit and only provide a small fraction of improvement. also "maximize performance" isnt a goal you have to tell people what sort of performance your trying to maximize. drag? track? street? overall though as i said bolt ons arnt worth the money for this platform.

[BusyBadger]

Tires, suspension and brakes.

It's amazing how many times I've seen drivers drop $1500 on an exhaust system a couple hundred on an intake system and maybe even a set of headers when they don't do much overall. But for a lot less than that (an a WHOLE LOT LESS if you're having someone else do the work) you could strap on a new set of QUALITY tires and dramatically increase the performance of the Z.

Let us know where you live and how much you want to spend and we'll come up with some recommendations.

Welcome to NICO!

[Sam350]

thx busybadger,

Im currently looking to replace my rear tires, my front still have a lot of life remaining. Do you have any recommendations? i don't visit tracks, just need some nice grip for street driving. im located in the miami area.

Thanks again
Sam

[BusyBadger]

What tires are you currently running on the front & rear?

[sams350zgt]

One enhancement that you can make which will cost less than $100-00 and will make the engine breathe a lot more efficiently and that is to fit a 2006 airbox to your '03. Its already been found that the best airbox/filter to fit is the standard one but the '06 airbox has something that gives that little bit more performance and that is the velocity stack. There is a guy on the UK 350z site www.350z-uk.com who sells the bits necessary to fit to your '03 airbox, the kit is small enough to fit into a jiffy bag so you hopefully won't get clobbered for taxes and will cost approx. $70. Fit a five eighths plenum spacer along with the venturi stack addition and give it a tune on a dyno by a decent tech and you will come out with an improvement into double figures.

[jerryd1987]

no idea what a "venturi stack addition" is supposed to be as there is no way for a plenum spacer to add venturi's of any sort, with those mods you have about $1000 invested for MAYBY 10 whp and thats pushing it. thats a horrible return for investment and not even worth the time after you figure in the time to install it.

[Sam350]

BusyBadger - my current tires are Michelin P245/45R18 96V. Looking to replace both rears this weekend. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks again
Sam

[BusyBadger]

What kind of Michelins? In any case, none of the tires I recommend are cheap since they're all that's connecting your car to the road.

If you can get away with running a summer tire year round my suggestions are: Michelin Pilot Super Sport, Bridgestone Potenza S-04, Continental ExtremeContact DW (in that order). Cheaper options in the summer tire category for the Z are the Bridgestone Potenza RE760 and the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2.

If you're going to need to use the Z year-round and the temps drop below 40 degrees you're going to need to run an all-season tire. Like before the three tires I recommend come from the same manufacturers, but with a different order. Michelin Pilot Sport AS/3, Continental ExtremeContact DWS & the Bridgestone Potenza 970AS. I put the Potenza dead last in this because the tires have a directional tread pattern and you cannot rotate them (unless you remove the tires from the wheels, flip them and remount them). The other two can take either first or second place. If you know you're going to have to deal with snow go with the Conti, it's great - but there's a good bit of sidewall flex. The Michelin is amazing but isn't very good in the snow (but better than the last place Bridgestone) - it's what I run in late fall and through the winter and it's grip is almost as good as the Bridgestone S-04 tires I'm currently running in the warmer weather, it's also got an amazingly long tread life. The only cheaper option in the all-seasons that I have any firsthand knowledge of is the Goodyear Eagle F1, it's what is on my Juke and it did pretty well this past winter. I'd never want to run it in deep snow and I had to get used to stepping down from an Xterra to the Juke this winter, but they were ok tires. When it comes time to change though I'll probably get the Continentals for the Juke.

[Sam350]

I'm living in Florida so summer tires year round are fine. Thanks for the advise.