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Yeah I hear you. I went through that phase too. Good fathers with young kids are doing what they are supposed to--fathering. You've probably got a way to go before the mid-life crisis. But trust me, if sporty cars figured in your life (or mind) early, they will again. And if your handle is any indication, I guaran-damn-tee you they will!!!
;-)
Yeah I hear you. I went through that phase too. Good fathers with young kids are doing what they are supposed to--fathering.
I guess I'm a bad father. My cave dweller black G35 sedan w/6 speed and sport suspension doesn't give up much to a 350z.
Wait a minute......this isn't a bad influence on my son.......I'm teaching him you can have your cake and eat it too! MMmmmm cake....(Homer drools)
What, are you guys tooling around in minivans?
am there right now, got myself a 330ci coupe with performance package and SMG. Does it suppose to make you feel better? I still feel as lost as before.
Just think how much faster you can get lost. If you get lost in my neck of the woods, I'd be glad to help you find your way. Now, give me the keys....
Now now, that's not what I said. When the old man rides around in a new Vette and the kids are walkin' around barefoot―that's a bad father!
;-)
Hmmmm....
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Best Regards,
Shipo
jmess: I remember an article last year by a magazine called Grassroots Motorsports (good mag).
Just for giggles they did a full track session with a couple of vintage Porsches vs. the tow vehicle. You guessed it, the tow vehicle was a Honda Ody and it lapped competitively with the Porsches.
The bar just keeps getting higher....
10 years ago the only sedan that could run like my G35 had an M on the tail. Now we've got TL, IS, 3ers going like stink. And the M's, AMGs, and the new Maserati are light years beyond that. It's a great time to be an enthusiast.
Hope gas prices don't put the kaibosh on it. My car get terrible mileage.
Now all I need is a hybrid SH-AWD Acura RL pushing 350-400hp. Toyota and Honda's technology has the potential to majorly shake up the performance industry, I think. There's rumors of an AWD Lexus GS350GT with 470hp getting 40mpg. Now THAT is having one's cake and eating it too.
Huh? I just drove to Vegas this week in my Bimmer. Running an average of 90 (but more realistically over 90 as I had to fight traffic to get out of San Diego at 5pm) I got 26 mpg. That was including one segment of about 70 miles at over 100 mph and occasional bursts to over 120. 26 mpg isn't too shabby.
Coming home as it was day and traffic was thicker I still averaged 80 and got 30 mpg.
I couldn't do that with my econobox commuter.
Best Regards,
Shipo
The SL65AMG is not $70K either. It is a super high performance 2? seater vehicle, costing many more bucks than an M5, without the option of a stick shift. The cars are in different leagues, it may compare favorably with the new M5 though.
Those are the only ones I remember vividly. Point is you made a blanket statement, that I don't believe was quite accurate. You can't even heavily mod a TL because it would shred the tranny/tires or engine. Want to get to 60 in 5.7, how many drop-clutch starts does it take, before the clutch is burnt out. On these modded cars, you could drop-clutch all day and the dang things would yawn.
Wish my G35 got mileage like the above Bimmer posts. 21 mpg in mostly rural driving.
Didn't the 70's have a fuel crisis that brought the muscle car era to a screaching halt? That's what I'm hoping isn't going to happen now.
I had a '77 Mustang with a 302 V-8.. 135 horsepower.. two barrel carb. Gobs of torque, but ran out of breath fast.
regards,
kyfdx
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But not probably much over 100. I know one can get a go cart to outran a Porsche.
In an hour and a half it took to install the plenum and some break in miles I went from 270 miles per tank to 430 per tank on highways trips...this is with another person and weekend luggage while driving fast the entire time. I can get from philly to raleigh nc without stopping now. Also the 20 hp increase and significantly better overall responsiveness throughout the rev range are a huge bonus.
To stay on topic any of you other sedan owners pushing 300 hp with 1000-1200 bucks in minor modifications?
Chris, could you please name the two companies? My G35 buddy would be interested in this bit of news.
1) The saab guys.
2) I flatly don't beleive a plenium upgrade will increase power and economy that much. There's just no way the car can produce 260hp at high RPM and be "restricted" enough to suffer when puttering along on the highway.
dave
dave
At ATCO raceway when 300 Z's and G's from several forums got together I raced a coupe with 20 more HP out of the showroom. I have just the plenum and a lightweight pulley. He got a 14.7 @ 94 in the 1/4 at 59 degrees with 39% humidity. He has a 6 speed and lauched rather well. I have an auto and ran a 14.2 at 97+. Other Sedan auto's were running 15's and even a 16.
As for the Saabs yes that is a great mod car if you dont mind cranking up the turbo boost - same with Audi 1.8's...but who wants to buy a new turbo...Talking to a n/a freak here.
I don't want to speak for Dave but I think the point was that just a plenum is not going to get a G35 sedan owner 40HP (260 vs 300). I'd be skeptical that your setup is at 300. Close maybe, but the VQ ain't like uncorking some V8 where minor bolt-ons yield staggering #'s.
I would say that 10-15 whp is a reasonable claim. Won't catch me tinkering under the hood until the warranty expires. 260 hp is still plenty fast for me.
PS The video of this race of me vs the G coupe left the guy holding the camera audibly gasping as I pulled on the coupe. AS my car hit second he was right there after second gear he was 5 lengths behind - and he has a six speed with 280 stock and was running a pop charger and z intake. While not good for 40 hp - this is worthwhile beyond the $ paid for it and the results dont lie - email me and i can link you to the discussions. The v-8 thing is true but don't let your past experience detract you from recognizing that if 2 cylinders of the six are choked for air as they are stock, that the modification will help in a significant way...again - this is not a tin can toy for a tiburon - this is an engine design mod!
I've been down a long winding road of discovery since I bought this thing and I felt the same way as you about modding before. Hell, i've owned 5 japanse cars and until now the biggst mod I ever made was putting in speakers that didn't suck...I am not into stickers or racing on the street or being seen and heard - it's about engineering, design funtionality and making the 35k I paid for my car pay off in tinkering and improvements that DONT hurt the car. FUN! I want to own this thing for 200k miles or 10 years which ever comes first (10 years is looking good).
Why would a BETTER air intake manifold setup hurt the car? If the intake plenum itself goes then you get a new one from Doug...and the only ones to go have been covered by him even though they were all FI induced blowouts of the plenum at the weld points - yer talking 450 hp cars here!
Given that you have effectively improved the car, lets hope you didn't drop any bolts or dirt into the intake runners... IF the day you put the plenum on the car doesn't work becasue you didn't install it correctly - you're on your own. But if you put the plenum on and there is a problem with your air flow sensor or the exhaust manifold cracks - well they would have to prove that your mod casued the problem. Casue and effect are hard for them to come up with in the most clear cut cases. The MM act is a good one to get to know. It puts the burden of proof on the dealer. Proven effective mods that dont harm the engine from reputable race teams or proven mod experts is harmless fun to me. Is there risk - sure. But a better design like a plenum that offers better airflow and less air fuel ratio differential for each cylinder (or more even distribution of the same air) is not going to casue you any problems (dont take my word for it call doug or think physics). THis is no where near the modification level of a forced induction system or something that makes the engine work hotter, faster, more...this makes it work more efficiently with the existing conditions - ala the better gas mileage.
Adding 40 hp tp this car is not going to hurt it one iota. Studying the VQ for the last few months while researching the viability of lightweight underrive crank pulley I learned that the VQ may be the most naturally balanced and most durable engine ever built with 6 holes. From the cylinder bank angle to the internal balancing to the tranny that handles 340hp in a v-8 platform from the Q...it all adds up to me no longer worrying about things that wont hurt my engine. The worst thing I ever did was a Cold air intake and I may put that back on if my girlfriend stops driving it!
Well, if it was done with NISMO parts and done at a Nissan sanctioned facility you would be ok.
Chris,
You'd be surprised how manufacturers find any excuse to strip you of your warranty. Sometimes any mod, weather related to the warranty repair or not is enough for them to deny you warranty coverage. You shouldn't have a problem with the VQ, because it is a very sturdy engine, but just in case, be prepared to fight if you go to your Infiniti dealership for warranty repair that relates to engine or tranny.
When i show up at the dealer the techs come running to see what I'v been working on and many are incorporating my mods into thier own maxima's and G's. Many dealers sell the pulley and many have installed the plenum (not mine). Some infiniti dealership will give you a hard time as they are not mod friendly...a hard time is easliy overcome with knowledge about your rights as a consumer. I get BS from service providers all the time about things they think they cant do. A little knowledge always overcomes ignorance and people looking for an excuse to not work or cover the warranty.
Look the day I went in to get my seat fixed my STOCK pulley started to squeal like a pig right in the service bay...immediatley some guy who sits at a desk (the servuce rep) said it was from my Injen CAI...I had to take the time to make him go get the real tech so he could tell both of us that it was OBVIOUSLY the pulley. Point being - some dealers will TRY to blackball you but the ability they have to actually deny warranty service is against them and thier wishes to make things go away if they think you will because they attribute your problem to your mods. You can walk away or you can demand your rights. The words "Magunson Moss Act" during one of these freindly dealer spats turns heads and get results faster than you can say "my car goes faster than the new 300C".
Spend some time with people who are nuts about these things like I have and the enlightenment about what you can do and have the right to do is incredible. And lets get real - I am not doing much to my car at all so my boldness is not really that bold now is it
I can imagine, however, that with a car where they dont even know the problems sources as in these problematic electric gremlined nightmares, they will TRY and blame you. Your rights are your rights and some dealers will make you work to get your point taken seriously. Sometimes a lawyer freind is helpful here. If they didn't prove your mod did and dont fix it, then they are breaking the law.
There's a weird thing going in the above sentences. You never had a bad experience with VW service, yet your car was in the shop 18 times in a year? That to me signals what my two year ownership of VW confirmed - it's an incompetent company.
If they didn't prove your mod did and dont fix it, then they are breaking the law.
I never had an issue with denial of service - I've read numerous accounts of people who have had issues though. My problem was with everything the company did. just a bad company that deserves to go out of business.
Is the premise here that some bolt-on outfit has figured out something that the Nissan engineers either: a) were too stupid to see, or b) found, but didn't want to use, because they didn't want the engine that they use in 90% of their vehicles to have more power and/or fuel economy?
It's a conspiracy, I tell you! Isn't "big oil" involved somehow?
P. T. Barnum lives!
I think it all boils down to how comfortable you are with your dealer. If your tranny goes, the dealer could rightly claim raising the HP/rev limiter allowed tranny tolerances to go out of spec. It's a calculated risk.
"to see that there's yet another board in which the laws of physics and thermodynamics have been repealed."
Whose repealing physics? The plenum helps the engine based on SIMPLE physics. This is Homer level. The measured airflow for the front two cylinders is not consistent with the front two or middle two by a significant measure.
"Is the premise here that some bolt-on outfit has figured out something that the Nissan engineers either: a) were too stupid to see, or b) found, but didn't want to use, because they didn't want the engine that they use in 90% of their vehicles to have more power and/or fuel economy?"
You almost got it; Engineers do not make the perfect performance car or it would have 400hp. They make a balanced daily driver out of a Z platform with all the give and take of design, functionality, $, platform selection, engine availabilty. Somehow those guys at nissan who do a pretty good job based on net income figured that if they were going to have a certain clearance under the hood of the Z, they would maximaize space using a sloping plenum. As stupid as they are they still got 287 HP out of NA v-6.
Another whopping 8% in power shouldn't be so hard to believe. 20hp is alot but it doesn't change the car. Break in is also responsible for the add;l mileage I qouted and I would attribute the plenum to a 4 mpg increase on the highway. While the bolt on outfits may not impress you (have you been to one) the fact is these guys race weekly and know more about engineering and cars and speed and motors than you'd ever believe.
There are plenty of Z cars out there running 330 hp totally N/A. This should be easily believable so to think that I can't get to 300 or so with $1500 in a G with the same platform and same motor give an intake tube and a minor exhaust difference. You guys driving LS's and 3 series and TL's may have your motor on edge cominng out of the factory - mine has 30% more to give and as they release newer versions of the G they will have add'l power as well. 330 hp in the new m45 from the same VQ3.5 is probable if not foreseeable. Tinkering is not so bad guys - 3500 members giving thorough analysis to this and many other great tweaks such as a FREE airbox mod and tons others plus the support of a hundred thousand crazy Z owners can find plenty wrong with those yucky engineers at nissan and thier crap designs. Proof is in the pudding 15.0 or 14.2. The difference measured in time equates to some horsepower measurement based on the weight of my car. I wonder what that number would be?
2) You dont believe it because you attribute a 40% increase in mileage to what. I say the sudden blip in mileage the day after I got the plenum speaks for itself and the 2500 others with excel spreadsheets and milage charts...sha.
What do you think better/more air does to your car - effeciency come to my mind and better gas mileage would come from that as a default. Is your denial based on the 3 series having few mods like this?
3) I increase the reliablity by doing two things a) lightening the load on my crank with a lite weight pulley and b) improving and eqaulizing the airflow distribution to all intake runners.
I've been studying the physics on these for a while. I dont proclaim power numbers for the sake of it without a dyno chart but you can see them from other's with the same exact mods on more enthusiastic car specific forums for yourself. Those 2 mnods are worht 30hp.
Better performance at the expense of gas mileage. I've never seen a mod on any car that increase performance and gas mileage at the same time. If that were the case there would be a mod that increases gas mileage thorough the roof, I'm still waiting for one of them. You must be the only one that gets better performance, more pulling power and a whoppping increase in overall gas mileage. Why do you think the Subaru 2.5 engine can get an abysmal 14mpg? Yeah, it produces and it is FA, but there is a cost. There is always a cost. While your discussion at face value sounds nice, I do not buy any of it, because there is no way to measure it, only your conjecture about your interpetation. I'm not saying don't mod the car, but I do not believe any engine mod such as you did is the holy grail and in fact will not lead to warranty problems down the line. But it's okay, it's not my car, you don't have to convince me.