Diamond in the rough.

Originally Posted by scope22

How is better LSD going to improve driving experience? better take offs?

Originally Posted by SurfDog

If you ever have "power slid" your Z (either on wet road or just hammering your tires on a dry one) you will notice you have a very hard time predicting when your back end is going to "break loose", and when it does, it does so almost violently. My previous car was a 94 Miata, and I loved drifting and sliding it around in wet conditions. The Z was no fun at all. The Miata (unbeknownst to me, had a good LSD)

Enter the Quaife LSD.

Now my "drifts" are both predictable ,(not dependent on hugely variable power transfer from different temperatures of diff oil) AND more importantly CONTROLLABLE. I drift a bit in the snow and rain, but more importantly it happens if I get throttle happy at the track. The Quaife has saved me from any number of trips into the dirt.

Now when I begin to power slide, the back end goes out smoothly and controllably and comes back (with a slight throttle lift) the same way.

Its just plain fun.

I chose Quaife (helical gear style) over other LSDs due to low maintenance requirements (none really) and handling characteristics under normal use (I mostly DD my Z)

LSD is recommended (by me lol) if:

1. You plan to track. (I'd say almost mandatory)

2. you run in the wet and don't like spinning out when you push her a bit hard into a turn.

3. you don't like the feeling of the traction control/VDC (nanny) pulling power every time you aggressively turn and simultaneously accelerate. LSD vectors power to your better gripping rear wheel to avoid the spins which activate the "nanny"

4. You occasionally like to push into a drift for fun (note: for best results remember to turn off the VDC. Okay mods I'll say it... ONLY AT THE TRACK)

Originally Posted by SurfDog

I consider the Z to be a good car with great potential. My question is what mods MUST be done to fix the factory design defects that make this car mediocre when it could be great.

Below is a list of what I believe to be the basics (or key weaknesses if you will) That MUST be addressed in every 370Z. What Key weaknesses have I missed.

1. Steering lock (duh)
-Needs the steering lock fuse pulled/or voluntary recall at a minimum (duh)

2. no oil cooler
- unforgivable defect but easily retrofitted. (I used stillen 25 row kit)

3. Horrible clutch feel on 6mt
- many solutions from removing the stupid assist spring to a full clutch replace. I went full on with a JWT, but do we all agree the OEM clutch sucks donkey balls and should be considered a must fix or is it just me???

4. Failure prone CSC.
- I did mine when puling apart tyranny to put in JWT. Is it worth swapping before failure?

5. Massive 25 lb Flywheel.
-Is this a poor designby Nissan? I think so!!! I put in a much lighter JWT flywheel and did not notice increase in vibration, but did notice much better throttle response.

6. TUNE!
- why don't they all come engine tuned to NISMO specs. Why do I have to put it up on a dyno (4-600 bucks) to get the same tune a nismo has stock??? That's just stupid marketing bs IMHO. It would cost Nissan nothing to flash all EDCs with the nismo data no?

7. Horrible road noise.
-From day one it has been criticized for road noise by everyone from R&T to my wife. I know sound-proffing is heavy (for you track bubbas), but a little engineering effort to help buffer the howl is definitely needed if you DD (I put some dynamat in key spots, but it still screams on some surfaces)

8. The "sport" VLSD. (let alone the base "open" one!!)
-this thing is terrible. A real locking 1.5 or full 2 way (or at least a helical gear type) is a must unless you only bought the car for looks in which case this thread is wasted on you.

9. hatch springs
-I mean come ON Nissan

10. unnecessary Hatch weight
- so stupid that some have and some dont, even the factory kinda addresses this by only putting them in like half the cars.

I realize this is not a full wish list of things we would all like to do, more a list of the things Nissan should have done at the factory.

Although awesome, I did not include things like:
HFC/CBE
Twin turbo or SC
better sways
better Stereo (though I almost did)
Pilot super sport tires
...Because they are mod/improvements not really design flaw fixes.

So what have I missed. what do you guys think is really broken or just poorly done?

In summary, for a few thousand bucks you can turn a pretty, though unreliable turd into a "real" sports car capable of holding its own against other "real" sports cars.

What have I missed??