performance 370z

[blackmamba370z]

Hi I am new to this forum. I just bought 2013 nismo 370z. I want a lil more horsepower. I am not a guy who turns wrenches, but I have a mechanic who cam help me. I am open to some suggestions.
Thanks for any help

[sstroudwku]

Well without voiding your warranty you're a little out of luck, forced induction is an option but due to the high compression you'll be limited on stock components.

[jerryd1987]

if you get the stillen supercharger installed at the dealer you can keep the warranty if you dont push it past 500 hp

[blackmamba370z]

Thanks, for the replys. Do I go stillen and buy the performance parts?
What about a superchips?

[BusyBadger]

What about a superchips?

Personally I'd go with a tune from UpRev.

Welcome to NICO!

[touge_s13]

You can always go with the bolt-on route and throw in a cat-back exhaust on your Z. I know HKS and M7 Japan have applications for the Z. I don't think it would void your warranty since they are Cat-back but always make sure with your dealership!

[jerryd1987]

def go uprev for tune im not a big fan of NA on these platforms, supposedly they do better on the 3.7 then the 3.5 platforms(i question it based on the dynos ive seen, turbo cars are making 400 on 4 lbs of boost and na making 320-350? sorry no, my 600 tune would be close to 700 on those dynos especially when some of them plainly display 1.1-1.2 air density ratios right on the chart for na, thats skewing it and making the dyno estimate what the car would make boosted.) but even still at the end of the day you spend nearly as much on FI for not nearly the same benefit. and some of the mods like wheels/tires and clutch need to be done either way.

[RicerX]

Welcome to NICO! Congrats on the purchase of your 2013 Z! I have a few suggestions for you. (Sorry I'm late to the party, here.)

To keep it simple, I highly recommend doing a couple bolt-ons. The 370Z responds very well to opening up the intake and exhaust.

Stillen makes the best intake for the buck for the Z. It is consistently proven to increase horsepower on the dyno by 12-18whp. It requires some modification to work, and your mechanic can likely help you with it. These parts are used on very many Zs, and you shouldn't encounter any warranty issues unless somehow the intake directly causes it (this is backed by the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act). The only trouble spot with these intakes comes if you do not insulate the A/C lines below the passenger side air duct. Stillen shows this in their instructions. Some guys have cut corners and left this off and had to replace their A/C lines. Follow the instructions as given and you'll be just fine.

To continue the intake mods, some guys go with the Motordyne M370 intake manifold. Good product and has been show to increase mid-range torque when coupled with a good intake system. To see the true performance potential of the manifold, an UpRev tune is highly recommended.

Exhaust options - a good catback exhaust will help increase power while headers and test pipes will give you the most gains. Ark Performance makes a great catback exhaust for the 370Z, which is sold here by our moderator RED_DET who operates the TunerzStore. Fast Intentions is a great option for a catback as well. Those two prove to give the most gains, along with AAM's S-Line short-tail/midpipe combination (it is very loud from what I hear from people).

A company in Carrolton, GA called Z1 Motorsports has dyno tuned a few 370Zs with their upcoming headers, stillen intakes, and their custom UpRev tune and have gotten in the 320whp range on a base Z. A Nismo edition should see more than that, and even moreso with a good catback exhaust added. You can get plenty of extra power out of the car that will likely scratch your itch without having to go forced induction. You keep all of the reliability and get a bit more power (and a totally different sound to your car).

Keep us posted on what you decide!

[poorhuntman]

I too purchased a 2013 370z Nismo (0792) Black and want to do the same thing with respect to horsepower. I've already put a short tube K&N intake on the engine and now have been doing the homework on putting the Stillen SS Ceramic coated headers and High Flow Cats on followed by a Uprev tune. I guess I'd just like someone to tell me how much hp I could reasonably expect to gain from the $2300 its going to cost to accomplish the above. Sitting now at about 365hp and looking to get close to 400hp.. Any suggestions besides Super Charging or Blowing?? Thanks...

[jerryd1987]

hate to break it to you but your not making 365 hp, really you shouldnt read box's they are almost never true with air filters gaining 10-50 hp its crap. the nismo makes 350 stock at the engine and the air filter might add 3-5 plus thats at the engine which is a 100% absolutely useless measurement the only thing that matters is wheel power. even with the tune headers and high flow cats your not going to hit your goal at the engine. hitting a specific power goal is worthless too since every single dyno is going to be different, its also going to cost far more then $2300 thats just parts and headers arnt a cheap item to install. get a stillen blower at the dealership and be happy bro

[RicerX]

Huntman - the best way to look at it is Wheel Horsepower measurement (WHP). I wouldn't get too hung up on any other number.

If you want bang for the buck bolt on power, the stillen blower isn't the way to go. Independent dynos have shown that the whp increase from a Stillen isn't the most cost effective route. Now, if you're concerned with factory warranty being intact, please research the Magnusson Moss warranty act concerning this, and don't worry about what dealers tell you. That is a law that was put into place for consumer protection.

Now to address your question -

K&N intakes are good for making power, but they're more prone to heat-soak. That's the trade off you get for having an aftermarket intake for the 370 that's still serviceable without requiring bumper removal. This will cause fluctuation on your power gains.

If you can go resonated test pipes over hi-flow cats, it is proven to be a bit better for power gains, but you stay legal with HFCs. I have seen base Zs with intake, catback exhaust, headers and test pipes get up to 340 at the wheels with an uprev tune. Given yours is a Nismo and you don't have upgraded catback, I would expect your stock numbers to be anywhere between 282-296whp and your combo could get you as far as 325whp. Maybe more, maybe less depending on the type of dyno, ambient air temperature, elevation, etc.

Welcome to NICO and good luck with your build! Keep us posted!

[jerryd1987]

Not understanding what your trying to get at xenon that act has no relevence to the conversation, Nissan is 100% able to void there warrenty for fi the judge will rule in there favor ever time, in the eyes of the law such modifications are deemed as abuse. Stillen is also legally allowed to back nissans warrenty if you install there product the way they say. As far as dyno...... Well I already made my comments about that since all those 340 whp dynos are rock 1.1-1.2 air density correction factors which is misleading as s*** and is exactly why those cars are posting 310-315 who quarter mile times. Why I hate dynos for a measurement, I could make my car read 1000 whp on low boost all day, dosnt mean that's what its doing quarter miles times are the true test. Frankly the op won't get close to 400 whp without FI or a huge a** stroker kit which will cost several times more. The boost the nismos get is in better exhaust and intake. The intake manifolds are the same, the headers are the same, and the tune is slightly more aggressive. The 280-290 ish is about right for stock, and 325 is the most any z is going to hope for without spending a ton of cash. So he can spend about 6k for the cost of parts and labor and gain mayby 35-45 whp depending on manufacturing tolerances or he can spend 8-9k for parts and labor and make guaranteed 150 whp gain. Increasing cost by 50% but trippling the gain is a far far better bang for the buck. No he isn't going to make killer power on a stillen blower but that's now what its ment for.

[RicerX]

Not understanding what your trying to get at xenon that act has no relevence to the conversation, Nissan is 100% able to void there warrenty for fi the judge will rule in there favor ever time, in the eyes of the law such modifications are deemed as abuse. Stillen is also legally allowed to back nissans warrenty if you install there product the way they say. As far as dyno...... Well I already made my comments about that since all those 340 whp dynos are rock 1.1-1.2 air density correction factors which is misleading as s*** and is exactly why those cars are posting 310-315 who quarter mile times. Why I hate dynos for a measurement, I could make my car read 1000 whp on low boost all day, dosnt mean that's what its doing quarter miles times are the true test. Frankly the op won't get close to 400 whp without FI or a huge a** stroker kit which will cost several times more. The boost the nismos get is in better exhaust and intake. The intake manifolds are the same, the headers are the same, and the tune is slightly more aggressive. The 280-290 ish is about right for stock, and 325 is the most any z is going to hope for without spending a ton of cash. So he can spend about 6k for the cost of parts and labor and gain mayby 35-45 whp depending on manufacturing tolerances or he can spend 8-9k for parts and labor and make guaranteed 150 whp gain. Increasing cost by 50% but trippling the gain is a far far better bang for the buck. No he isn't going to make killer power on a stillen blower but that's now what its ment for.

I realize the way I organized my post concerned the Magnusson Moss act is a bit misleading - I wouldn't consider warranty being intact with any type of Forced Induction application unless you went with Stillen installed by a Nissan dealer (my dealer has told me that they would be able to do that and retain my warranty but that's as far as the conversation got).

OP is mainly asking about stuff like intakes and exhaust - if they wanted to void his warranty based on a swapped out muffler/intake/etc I would fight them on it. The burden of proof would be on the dealer and Nissan as they would only be able to void warranty on a failed part directly affected by the modification. They in no way could just void the warranty on the whole powertrain with something as simple as an exhaust swap, for example. So in the context of his main question, the MM act does indeed carry relevance.

As for the dynos - I'm not going to argue. Google what Z1Motorsports in Carrolton, GA has done with the VQ37. That's where I'm basing my information. There are several 370 guys that are NA and working with 330-340whp, Nismos and base models.

[jerryd1987]

For the recommendation of the stillen he made mention of a 400 hp goal which at the wheels wontn happen without a stillen. For a 370z to put out 330-340 whp considering standard drivetrain and wheel losses and the fact that most of these dynos make peak power between 7k-7k5 that means its going to need between a 92-96% VE which isn't possible on a street engine with mass produced parts on race gas let alone pump. Even 50k pro mod engines only run about 102% on race gas and custom everything, dry sump, titanium rods, lightweight pistons that sideload easily and Honda bearings. To get that number reasonably your going to have to spin the engine to around 8500 and might still need custom built headers.

Hence why dynos arnt really a good measurement, the 3.7 isn't a vast improvement over the 3.5s it ahas the ability to not need cams since it can change through tuning which no one is really taking advantage of(and useless if you don't update exhuast cams also) other then that it has a little more displacement nothing more. To get the amount of VE needed for that type of power on a legitimate dyno you need to know exactly where the engine is capable of making the power and then custom building cams, intake manifold, headers, and full exhaust to suit that. Your not going to buy off the shelf parts and do it and the power is going to come mostly from rpms.

Shops post up all these dynos and then customers buy into it then get upset when the car dosnt perform like it should for the power it supposedly makes. A perfect example is the sg motorsports 350z. He had a full engine build done, custom built headers, put individual throttle body's on and a very aggressive tune that wouldn't survive long on the street then posted a 372 whp dyno and everyone went nuts and started buying up there headers. Everyone COMPLETELY ignored the fact that he set air density correction to 1.2 and had the computer take in an uncorrected 50 degrees temp. Take those out and the engine was making close to 300-310 whp, real horsepower not what they made the dyno read with over 15k in parts and labor. People ignore stuff like that though

[BusyBadger]

For the recommendation of the stillen he made mention of a 400 hp goal which at the wheels wontn happen without a stillen. For a 370z to put out 330-340 whp considering standard drivetrain and wheel losses and the fact that most of these dynos make peak power between 7k-7k5 that means its going to need between a 92-96% VE which isn't possible on a street engine with mass produced parts on race gas let alone pump. Even 50k pro mod engines only run about 102% on race gas and custom everything, dry sump, titanium rods, lightweight pistons that sideload easily and Honda bearings. To get that number reasonably your going to have to spin the engine to around 8500 and might still need custom built headers.

Hence why dynos arnt really a good measurement, the 3.7 isn't a vast improvement over the 3.5s it ahas the ability to not need cams since it can change through tuning which no one is really taking advantage of(and useless if you don't update exhuast cams also) other then that it has a little more displacement nothing more. To get the amount of VE needed for that type of power on a legitimate dyno you need to know exactly where the engine is capable of making the power and then custom building cams, intake manifold, headers, and full exhaust to suit that. Your not going to buy off the shelf parts and do it and the power is going to come mostly from rpms.

Shops post up all these dynos and then customers buy into it then get upset when the car dosnt perform like it should for the power it supposedly makes. A perfect example is the sg motorsports 350z. He had a full engine build done, custom built headers, put individual throttle body's on and a very aggressive tune that wouldn't survive long on the street then posted a 372 whp dyno and everyone went nuts and started buying up there headers. Everyone COMPLETELY ignored the fact that he set air density correction to 1.2 and had the computer take in an uncorrected 50 degrees temp. Take those out and the engine was making close to 300-310 whp, real horsepower not what they made the dyno read with over 15k in parts and labor. People ignore stuff like that though

My nomination for "Best No BS" post of the year.

[jerryd1987]

i like people to be informed it is very very easy to get the end user to believe anything. personally if i owned a shop i would rather make less money at once telling the customer how it is but be known for being a straight shooter then make a ton of cash at once and the consumer being pissed because there "400 hp" car is getting smoked by 400 hp domestics and think its from a lack of torque

[BusyBadger]

Need more shop owners like you out there. There's an outstanding customer service book called "Raving Fans" that's told as a story rather than a series of "Do this", "Don't do this", "Try this", etc...

The most important things (imo) that is in the book are:

1) You can't make everyone happy
2) You can't be all things for all customers
3) There are some customers you don't want - because of the first two items listed

It's nothing personal about not wanting the customer, it's just that they often want something you don't do, or can't be done and any attempt to do what they want (even when you know better) is just a waste of time and money on both of your parts.

Business lesson for the day over.

[Christothep]

Just bought a 370 a few days ago. Definitely looking at a air intake. Would it void my 100k warranty???

[BusyBadger]

For it to void your warranty it would have to be shown that the part, in this case the intake, caused damage to the vehicle. Google "Magnusson Moss Warranty Act" for more info. Here's a quick read on Edmunds for you...

http://www.edmunds.com/auto-warranty/wh ... ranty.html

Welcome to NICO!