Installation Time & Costs

Catspaw

Greetings all.
When I’m ready to add horsepower to my Lady, I’ll have to decide what upgraded hardware to buy. After that, comes the inevitable decision of doing it myself or paying a pro.
So … these questions, please:
-- Is installing a new exhaust system a bolt-off/bolt-on job?
-- The cold air intakes look like something this old shade tree mechanic can do.
-- Headers, are probably out of the question for me though. :O(
Comments please ?

Next, if I do go with a pro, roughly how many hours labor should I expect to pay for each of these change outs :
-- Headers?
-- Cat back pipes + muffler?
-- Hi flow cats along with cat backs?
-- Cold air intake, filters in the engine compartment?
-- Cold air intake, filters down in front?
-- Oil Cooler?
-- Cost of Tuning

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Fair Winds and Following Seas

Spartan 1771

I did high flow cats and a Cat-back in my garage with the Z up on jack stands. It was a little cramped, but it saved me a lot of cash. I also installed my own cold air intake, throttle bodies and upper intake manifold. All of which were pretty straightforward. If you have any wrenching skills and can follow a DIY, you should be good to go. Just do a search on here and on youtube for the best DIY for what your doing.

Headers can be done at home, but it's a tough job and from what I remember takes about 8 hours to do both, but I may be a little off on that. It's been a while since I've looked in to them.

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~Rob

-DD Air Guide, Stillen G3 CAIs, 63mm Throttle Bodies, Motordyne M370, Berk HFCs, FI TDX CBE (non-res, CF), Sprint booster v3, Ecutek Dyno Tuned, and the list goes on...

Rusty

34 row oil cooler from FI or Z1. About an hour.

Stillen 3 Gen long tube CAI. About 1 hour. Prefer.

Air intakes under the hood. Don't waste your money.

LTH's. The passenger side about 1 hour. The driver side about 5 to 7 hours, depending on your skill set and pain threshold from being chewed up by the screws and bolt ends sticking out.

High flow cats or test pipes. Time wise depends on how much trouble the Demon bolt gives you. Some people have no issues with them. Others have changed their religion.

CBE. Depends on which system you get.

Tuning. UpRev or Ecu Tek. 2 ways to do it. On the dyno, or e-mail. If doing it be e-mail. Seb is the best. On the rollers. Depends on what part of the country you're in.

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浪人 - 殺し屋
"The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only"
http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

Spartan 1771

With your reference to being a shade tree mechanic it sounds like you have some wrenching skills. With that being said, I definitely wouldn't recommend paying someone to install the cold air intakes. I would also reemphasize what Rusty said: Don't wast your money with short rams. Go long tube if you want any real gains in HP. Short rams will sound better when you get on the throttle, but heat soak will be a major issue and will more then likely decrease performance, especially in the Florida heat. There are a lot of excellent choices for long tubes. I have Stillen Gen 3s, but when I got them years ago there were only two choices: Stillen and AEM. I went with Stillen over AEM because I preferred the placement of the filters. Now there are a lot more choices: Stillen, AEM, Z1, Admin Tuning, Injen, Mike Upton, etc. If you aren't looking to upgrade to 3" intakes, I would seriously consider the Z1 kit. The silicone tubing used allows for easy installation without having to cut anything and they also don't cause any wear issues with the condenser line. Other kits use metal tubing that sit directly on the condenser line and you have to insulate the line to prevent it from getting damaged over time. If I were doing things now, this is the kit I would go with.

Just my $0.02

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~Rob

-DD Air Guide, Stillen G3 CAIs, 63mm Throttle Bodies, Motordyne M370, Berk HFCs, FI TDX CBE (non-res, CF), Sprint booster v3, Ecutek Dyno Tuned, and the list goes on...

Catspaw

Spartan (Leonidas?) & Rusty: Thanx guys. Right now I just cannot learn enough about my Fairlady

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Fair Winds and Following Seas

wideglideleon

Just remember with the long tube intakes the front bumper needs to come off to service the filters. I agree they are the only way to go if changing from factory intake for power increase.

JARblue

Congrats on your Z

I know you're excited and all, but use that excited energy to search and learn. Most of these guys are super nice and happy to answer questions and talk about the Z. Which is what makes this forum awesome. But every bit of the information you requested in this thread is already posted on this forum (in numerous locations in most cases).

If you want to start a new thread, try here: New Forum Member - Nissan 370Z Forum

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JARblue

That is going to be totally dependent on the shop and their rates - I can tell you what my local Z guy would charge for all that, but it might be of no use to you. Consider searching or posting in the Florida (South East Region - Nissan 370Z Forum) region of the forum to get some locals' recommendations on shops to use. Your best bet is to call up several promising shop options and get quotes from each of them for comparison.

For tuning, Seb at Specialty Z is the best in the business and Ecutek is your best software option (unless you prefer to self-tune). He does remote tuning (you data log, he tunes), and you can find all his pricing on his website.

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OptionZero

I like to consolidate jobs in the same area

The Stillen gen 3’s require the bumper coming off, while you’re there you might as well get an oil cooler - 34 row, z1 or fast intentions, as well as the Dewla air guide and an under tray from z1 or zspeed

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OptionZero Build Thread

God-Speed

with all the guys above!

Spartan 1771

Don't be intimidated about taking the front bumper off. Its sort of a 370'z owner right of passage. By now I can do it with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back. And although you might get the urge to do a quick test drive of whatever mod you just installed, NEVER drive it at any real speed with the bumper off. The wind will push down the front bumper's plastic floors in front of each wheel and they will hit the pavement and get ruined.

How do I know this?...... well.........well see....... I........ I have this friend who did this....... yeah.... a friend of mine told me about it.

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~Rob

-DD Air Guide, Stillen G3 CAIs, 63mm Throttle Bodies, Motordyne M370, Berk HFCs, FI TDX CBE (non-res, CF), Sprint booster v3, Ecutek Dyno Tuned, and the list goes on...