I guess its time to start a build thread.
I bought my 09 base/bose/sport used with 27,000 miles for $27k at San Francisco Nissan (certified preowned)
Here are my mods (big and small) so far, in roughly chronological order, and a few thoughts on each one.
1. Steering lock fuse pull. Wow what a great DIY mod! 20 minutes because I'm an idiot and dropped a leather-man tool down into my bay
2. Wheel locks. I looked around a lot and ended up with Nissan locks from dealer. Had to be careful to order the 19" rays (sport) ones so as not to hurt my rims with the wrong nuts.
3. Stronger Hatch Springs. The stockers did not get the latch quite open and required two hands to open gate. SF Nissan supplied them as a courtesy. 10 seconds to install.
Went to ZcarGarage (Rob Fuller) in San Jose and installed the following:
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4. JWT Pop Charger intakes. I decided on these versus the long tube Stillens so I can get to them myself to clean the elements without having to pull the bumper. Also I like the clean install up under my hood and feel in the wintery Colorado weather they will stay cleaner up in there. I might have given up 1-2 hp but I like the compromise.
5. JWT lightweight flywheel. I feel this is mandatory. Upside better torque faster revving engine and better clutch feel, supposedly better gas milage and a 10-15 lb weight reduction. Downside... sounds like a john deer diesel tractor in neutral sitting at stoplights.
6. JWT Clutch. Mandatory swap from that awful OEM clunker. I just took a test drive in a stock 2013 sport to feel the difference my mods have made. lol what a difference. That stock clutch is horrible.
7. Zspeed Throwout bearing (aka, ZSpeed HD Concentric Replacement Clutch Slave Cylinder CSC). Rob suggested this for longevity since we had the tranny off. seemed like a no brainer. The stock CSC is a reportedly high failure item.
8. some aftermarket CSC (dont remember manufacturer). Longevity upgrade
9. Master clutch cylinder. (just to be safe). I understand that swapping out the clutch hardware can cause failures, so I was conservative.
10. Berk HFC. Better emissions, better hp, better sound, pretty stainless build quality. All good reasons to upgrade. I really put it on just to lift a finger to the Fascist California government. It makes the car more efficient AND reduces emissions over stock yet is illegal in the nutso state of CA. Screw you Faciast overegulating pigs. I bolted on a Berk. Suck it.
11. Berk CBE. Pretty much the same reasoning as above. Then I fired up my Z and instantly fell in love! What a beautiful sound. I get a huge kick out of pulling up at a San Francisco stoplight next to a Prius. When I goose the throttle to listen to a bit of mechanical symphony, they look over in horror!
12. Uprev Dyno tune by Rob Fuller. Ill post the dynos below. I put 4 maps in. 1.Tuned 2.Stock 3.Valet (2700 rpm rev limit) 4.Kill (no start/anti theft)
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13. Dynamat in the hatch. I love the Berk sounds but don't want to go deaf enjoying them. This mod is one of my favorites. I pulled out all my back half trim and pretty much went seats to tailights covering every inch. The noise got way more tolerable. Stock tires still suck (loud) and I had to wait a few months to upgrade. (see below) I will do the doors someday when I can find a free afternoon. For now I am satisfied with noise levels.
14. Filter mag. part #FTM-SS250. This little bugger fit my stock filter then after I later put on a Stillen oil cooler I hit it with a heat gun and stepped on it to open it up a bit. Now it fits the way bigger oil filter used on my cooler.
I feel like a genius for figuring that out all by myself without help from you forum dudes!
15. Installed a Escort 9500ci radar/laser detector and shifter. A few notes. a. I put the GPS reciever under the dash above my nav cubby. It works great there.
b. I put the little LED drilled into my steering column cover (just in front of the gauges.) Its cool at night when the LED lights up it reflects right smak in the middle of my speedometer like a little HUD display.
c. I'm still looking for the perfect spot for my display unit. Currently it sits on top on my nav cubby. I might open up my home link and stick it shining through the mirror.
d. I put the control unit in front of my seat heater switches, and am going to put a better on/off switch in center switch slot when I get a chance.
e. The Escort 9500ci is pretty awesome. I love the LASER shifters. I feel like such a criminal driving around with them on!!!!
16. 35% window tints on sides and hatch. Hope I don't get stopped!
(edit: I got stopped... for speeding, but the cop couldn't produce a speed gun reading {i wonder why??? see above...} he pulled out one of what appears to be the only window tint checker gizmos in the state and out of frustration wrote me up for illegal tint. {no fine just a fixit}. He said "Well you came blowing past me way over the limit what do you expect me to do?" I did not respond with "protect and serve and start looking for actual criminals"... mostly because I think mod #15 above might make me "an actual criminal"...
17. Stillen 25 row oil cooler. Finally Got it in. The guys who installed it cut the oil lines for a better fit. (the kit comes with really long lines that would have to be wrapped up somehow). Also they shrink wrapped the lines in heavy duty rubber shrink tube to help avoid vibration chafing. My temps are much lower now and the oil cools very quickly even while idling at a stop. I think Nisan are jerks for not making this mod stock, but actually now that I have a way better than OEM cooler in, I'm kinda glad they didn't. My Stillen cooler is pretty awesome.
18. Re-tuned at MAC auto sports in Denver for high altitude driving. The California tune was learning high altitude, but still running pretty lean. Now I have it like this. 1.High alt 2.low alt 3.valet (2700 rpm limit) 4. No gas/anti theft. I'm only putting down 295 rhp on the dyno vs. the 319 I got in San Jose California, but that is at 6000 feet elevation. Also the tuner let my intakes heat soak a bit during the tune which hurt the money shot final dyno a bit. I think if I drove around a bit and cooled my intakes, we would have hit 300. No matter, the car is running really well and is getting good fuel air mixtures up here. (my house is at 9000 feet)
19. Michelin Pilot Super Sport a/s plus tires all around. My Potenzas still have some good tread, but absolutely SUCK on snow. These new tires do better but aren't quite up to heavy snow. I may have to get some blizzaks for winter, just to feel like I'm not going to spin off into the trees every time it snows. If I were to do it again I'd put on blizzaks and suck it up and get Super sports in the spring. Oh well, live and learn.
20. 32 inches of clear bra up the hood and front fenders. The bumper is kinda beat already so I left it naked. I actually traded a buddy pass on my airline for this work! ka-ching!!! I also wrapped the a-pillars and the mirrors. I'm thinking plastidip in the fangs/grill area. we'll see.
21. (not really a mod, but...) I cleaned out my garage enough to put the Z inside and out of the snow. Of course my wife claims the garage for her beat down 330i, now my baby has a home too.
Thanks for tuning in I'll try to get some pics in below.