So I drive an A, but my friend drives a Z!
 

Sorry for the lame title but I'm new here and drive an 05 Acura RSX Type-S (pics below). It is supercharged netting ~300WHP. I'm here to learn more about the Z community because a good friend of mine is a fresh, very enthusiastic 370Z owner and he is looking for help towards modifying his car since he keeps losing to mine lol. He is not very message board savvy yet but it's a work in progress. He is overly anxious to do all kinds of crazy mods to his car but I'm trying to keep him from ruining it or ricing it up haha. To me, the 370Z is a well-packaged, well-tuned, beautiful and amazingly built machine. Don't have much else to say but glad to be here and looking forward to learning a few things from fellow Z owners. Any tips for starter mods is appreciated, and now for the pics!

My car:
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1913/56284832.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2765/...cf5e715c45.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7553/85498073.jpg
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8567/75925751.jpg
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/9532/16433365.jpg

His Z just so we can end on a good note :rolleyes::
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2839/16738853.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5650/28735330.jpg

Easy bolt ons:
~Intake - Stillen Gen III or Injen
~Exhaust - Stillen, Fast Intentions, Berk, JDM brand, AAM, etc.
~HFC - Berk, Stillen Fast Intention

Show/Handling:
~Wheel/Tire
~Coilover

Thanks for the feedback. I'm suggesting he give I/H/E a try first and see how he likes it then we'll make plans to go boost if he wants way more. Those all seem like great products and I've heard of both F.I. and Stillen so I'll investigate further for gains.

As far as suspension is concerned, he is only looking for a subtle drop ~1.5in. He's anxious to do new wheels and has his eyes set on a set of Volks for now.

Hello and welcome! Nice RSX as well.

If he wants to boost, I wouldn't spend the money on the intake and possibly not even the exhaust.

There is a Stillen supercharger prep thread, where they say the (currently best CAI) Stillen G3 doesn't fit.

And for the exhaust, if you want to supercharge it a 2.5" woudl be fine.
But if you want to put a turbo on you're better of with a 3", so you would have to replace it again...

Welcome and best of luck to you!

COBB Tuning kthxbai! lol

I/H/E and a tune and he'll be making more power than you.

easily

a more easier route, I/HFC/E the headers are an intensive install, the others can be done in the garage on jack stands. I believe Semtex made 321whp on a dynojet with the G3's, HFC's and Stillen Exhaust, same setup as me.

Thanks for the compliments and input. I'll try to address it in order.

I'm aware that the intake and exhaust are both not optimal mods to invest in initially if the ultimate goal is towards turbo or sc, but I failed to mention that boost will likely occur further down the line rather than ASAP. That being said, since your 370Z comes so beastly out the box, by following an I/HFC/E route, I feel he'll be able to enjoy the mods more along with the car's response to each of them. I changed my exhaust 4 times, not so much because of restriction, but the noise level's differed as well as the build quality. Now I'm on a custom 3" and still hesitant.

It's his first sports car and he's still getting the hang of everything; tuning in general and not to mention the thrill of having RWD. A steady approach to working on his own car will be most advantageous.

As far as COBB tuning Vipor, I'm sure if we lived closer to DFW we would highly consider it. Houston's still not too far so I wouldn't mind visiting their facility for our Z. I've not yet had time to look into how these cars are tuned: chips, stand-alone ecu's, piggy-back, etc. COBB however has always held a good place in my mind because I have a few friends with subarus and some mazdaspeeds that make good use of their products.

I'm sure the mods we've laid out will put him past me HP-wise, and as Dreamer reported a range of 320'ish whp would be a very nice start...should make a run-in with my car a lot more interesting.

Any more insight on tuning would be nice just to get my thoughts going in that area. Thanks.

Tuning (in Texas) you have two choices: Cobb or Uprev
Uprev does a full new ROM which allows them to load three or four custom setups: Power, valet mode, stock, <1k RPM
Cobb I think does a wipe but just one map, but not 100% sure

Uprev has stated they will no be working on VVEL currently while Cobb is working on it. Opening VVEL is meant to give us good access to some nice tuning changes, but no one knows yet exactly what it will do.

I think he will enjoy basic bolt ons, even if he plans on dumping them down the road for forced induction parts. One thing I would mention is to look at getting supporting mods if he is 100% forced induction route, many of which do not hurt having early. Things like oil cooling, upgrading the brakes (pads/fluids/lines), wheels & tires, etc. Those items you will not replace down the road, will help now and in the future.

So... this might be off-topic, but when are we going to see engine bay shots of the DC5?

Sure. Here's a picture of it in 06 right after I put it on and cleaned it up a little. A few things have changed since then but I don't always take pics of it because I like keeping it low key. Thieves sadly plague my area:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ry/P_00038.jpg

Cobb and Uprev, both very interesting options that I'll read further into when the time becomes available. The VVEL adjustments do sound promising but I guess just like everyone else we'll have to play the waiting game to see what comes of it. Is there one right now that reigns supreme or favorite over the other?

I agree with you about the element of fun that comes with the basic bolt-ons, and since they are so widely used, I don't see it being a huge problem reselling them when the time comes. I'm glad you mentioned the supporting mods because I have noticed a lot of threads on oil cooling in particular. I already made a note to check out that, DIY or pre-fabbed kits.

All suspension goodies will likely be addressed after the series of first GO-parts as he'll find out quickly enough if he wants to go fast he'll wanna be well equipped to control the speed and stop it. Besides that he's been really crazy about that rear fog light (lol) and pondering over some type of in-dash navi unit since he didn't get the factory option.

Keep the tips coming and I like how there's fellow Texans helping out. :tiphat:

Where in Texas are you (and your friend)?
The rear fog can be picked up from many vendors on the boards for around 50USD, but to get it wired up you will either have to do it yourself (buy the wire and everything) or buy a pre-made wiring harness for 150USD. In-dash navigation can open up a number of choices, do you want a full 7" screen or a smaller one, what other features do you need, etc. Top two choices with the navigation units is Kenwood or Pioneer.

it will be fun to see how keith's car progresses, cant let u have all the fun man

Welcome to the forums :tiphat:

If it's your buddy's first sports car, I'd say go easy and forget boost. Stick with or at least start with bolt ons.

Like others have mentioned, Stillen Gen3 CAI, Stillen/FI CBE should be good for starters; I'd skip headers and upgrade HFC's instead.

Hey thanks guys... Maybe bolt ons is the way to go for now. I don't want to have to buy more than one exhaust for tt though. Can I get some suggestions of exhaust? I'm trying to avoid the fast intentions exhaust, too gurgle-y lol

Strytnyne how dare you bring your Mazdaspeed3 here I already told you these guys eat your car alive?! :rofl2:

Well Dreamer the owner is from Houston and Strytnyne and I live about an hour east of that towards Louisiana...and yourself? If you say EP that's a good 11hr's away, ATX is 4, DFW is 4-5. :icon14:

50 sounds good for the rear fog I kinda dig it myself, but 150 for the wiring! I do like that oem fitment button though and if that's the only way to get that look I'm sure he won't care.

For in-dash navi he wants to fill that spot with likely a 7"like they have here. I'm not saying he's going with that setup, but this is similar to what he has described to be looking for.

I love Pioneer in-dash navi and have never gotten to own a Kenwood unit, but I'm sure if its anywhere near their HU's it'll be on par with what he needs. His main concern is that he wants bluetooth so he can talk handsfree to his lovely gf while he's commuting...I'll let him post pics of her at his will. He's still waiting on internet he just posted from his iPhone lol

rofl i just wanted to see what all the fuss was about XD, keith still keeping the z clean i hope!

Be careful what you say. :stirthepot:
I would suggest against anything in the cubby, mainly because of fitment issues. Houston, needs to hit up the Texas section and find some meet ups. Standard one for Houston is monthly, second Sunday of each month at 10:30 at Uptown Park along I-10.

Exhaust suggestions, well hopefully soon I can recommend Berk but beyond that you have Stillen, AAM, JDM options (HKS, Amuse, etc.), and a few others.

Well if you got supercharger you can keep your 2.5" exhaust (if it is true dual), and hopefully soon we will see how a 2.5" exhaust performs with a TT kit on the Z. I am sure if you want unlimited power (550+) you will want a 3" exhaust with a TT kit, but it all depends on what path you plan on going.

He's still a padawan when it comes to the forums but funny you mention that bc I already put that meet in my calendar, Nissans and Coffee right? I'm not sure if I will be there but I'll try to get him to go out there and socialize.

Personally to be budget, safe, and efficeint, he could just use his portable GPS unit and seat it somehow in that little cubby, but then the dumb door gets in the way so you have to remove that and then if the gps unit is NOT there then you have a huge hole in your center console for baby birds to sit and poop in. I'm going to just look at what kits there are and what custom work is done and I'm pretty good at car audio stuff so we'll figure something out for him. Portable gps' these days even come with bluetooth, but some are better quality than others. It may not look the hottest but it'll be a good temp setup to utilize.

Whatever exhaust you recommend it better be quiet as hell bc he is rev happy and practices revving his Z even when he's playing Forza 3.

Rev happy, oh I think plenty of us here are like that. ;)
One idea for the portable GPS unit is to mount it on the left by the A-pillar, out of the way, but in clear view to use. If you do get some cubby work done please share.
Yep, Datsun/Nissan and coffee, it is a nice time to chat with people and meet other enthusiasts.

ok I can understand every now and then but no he is very rev happy like before he even presses Engine Start he mimics the revving sound of the VQ with his mouth and it actually almost sounds like the damn car already started.

Yes A-pillar is a good idea and probably better for the mic on the unit too for bluetooth calls. We'll have to experiment with that. Any kind of progress we make with that hole you will know.

I'm going to really try to make this meet...I don't have a love for coffee but I do get hyped when I'm surrounded by cars that think I'm in a stock rsx and proceed to poke fun. :excited:

its ok, i can drink the coffee while u converse =], to his defense vq's sound pretty damn sexy... if he gets ap we can go get tuned together! :tup:

those are nice pictures....i want a good camera like that....sigh

Strytnyne is actually the one behind the camera. You could PM him about any details about photography he's pretty helpful. On top of that he details. He actually detailed the Z in just before those shots.