Back in March'06 I got the new car bug by accident when hanging out with my co-workers at an Auto Expo... there I found this gorgeous Z, 2006 for the LatAm market, which means this is a 2005 version on the rest of the world... well such is life! Anyway, I got it and started reading about it on the net. My last car was a 2005 Mazda6, a great car by all means, but with little aftermarket support. The aftermarket offer for the 350Z is simply mind-boggling! This car is a classical cash pit if you let it drag you into the 'mod fever'.

Well, not exactly in chronological order here (I did one major aesthetic change to my ride before this happened, will show later on the blog), but after hanging for a while on the Costa Rica Nissan owners forum (take a look at http://www.nismoclubcr.com/foro/ , it is only in Spanish) I decided to take the Z for a spin at AMD Dynamometer, the best in the country as far as I know.

These were the results, which I am quite pleased with, considering that the car was completely stock at the moment. 238 WHP / 240 WTQ... time to get some performance toys! It seems that the torque line is a bit rough and that can be smoothed out with some simple bolt-ons. The HP's go smooth enough and we only need to gain a few more at the highest area of the chart. As for the F/A relation, I received a recommendation to get a fuel management system from A'Pexi or maybe the E-Manage; we will see.

By this time, another Tico Z owner, Arturo Z (AKA Azrlee) had directed me to the huge forums of 350 Motoring (http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/) a great place to hang out and get ideas on how to modigy your car. Excellent people and quite cooperative!

So, back to my first mod: as I was telling you all, my car is an '06 in the body of an '05 :-) It can be a little bit frustrating, but there are three things you need to get rid of, to get this wrong right: tail lights, xenon lights and wheels... easy, right? If you have the cash, sure it is.

The cheapest of the three and the one I started with was the tail light conversion from the plain red version (upper) to the led version... but not being satisfied with the red led version I decided to go JDM and get the clear version: an excellent decision even if I have to say it myself! It makes a world of a difference on the looks of the car, and the leds are extremely long lived. Sourced from Courtesy Parts in Texas (http://www.courtesyparts.com/350z/exterior.html), not the cheapest guys around, but great service and most of the stuff is on stock.

Now, to the next add-on...

I will post a shot of it soon, but this was a simple thing, a carbon fiber cover for the center lower lip of the bumper... a great look that should be simpler to install! I mean, you might be thinking: "How hard could it be to remove a double-sided tape and put the cover where it needs to go?"... the answer is, it is plenty difficult to get it *right*! The cover is cut to measure, but it requires some force to get bend into place, and that is where you might loose the right spot... I kind of got it right after a while :)

Now, during this one something interesting happened. I have become a frequent visitor to the http://www.350zmotoring.com forums, a great place with lots of knowledge on the 350Z. I had seen this Titanium Hood Panel from ARC and decided that I wanted one. Even though I liked the Carbon Fiber engine dress-ups, I found this extremely great looking and ultimately better than its CF counterpart.

So, I found a reputable merchant: Vivid Racing (http://www.vividracing.com) and place my order. But happens to be that since I am and international customer the things get complicated and I have to wire the funds...

Meanwhile, a debate starts on the 350zmotoring.com forums about the customer service given by Vivid Racing!! I was getting nervous then!! But my order came through with excellent speed and was delivered as expected. Top notch service for me and I highly recommend it!!

Will post photos of the installed finished product later!!

Then I ordered a NISMO Radiator Cap and a NISMO Oil Billet Cap from Courtesy; these were processed quicky and arrived in no time.

About the same time I was purchasing the Hood Panel, I was ordering yet again from Courtesy, this time for a few interesting things: A NISMO Cold Air Intake (after a lot of research, I liked this one the most), a MaxGround grounding kit in red, a shorty S2000 antenna -only thing I installed- and a few other miscellaneous things.

Also, I had to find a shop to install all of these things... I consulted on the local forums and got several options. I will try first with a mechanic that already has worked with Arturo's Z and see how that goes.

While getting the NISMO CAI, someone at the 350zmotoring.com forums suggested the Pi-Thon Induction Locks... So I ask why and then I am directed to their website (http://www.pi-thon.com). Their product serves both form and function, providing unparalled looks with great sealing power. I was hooked and ordered immediately the lock set for the NISMO CAI and the set of billet fluid caps with the engraved new Z logo (see latest engine shot later one for a look at these)...

This week I also went to my first NismoClub meeting and we watched the new Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift movie. A wonderful group of people, and far more packed that I would have expected! I think we had at least 50 people that night. I intend to keep attending as much as I can and I already presented my application.

07-22-2006: This is the current look of my engine bay. It should look different in a couple days as this Monday I have an appointment at the shop... will post pics after the install.

As you can see, the only things that I placed in here myself were the caps :) -so much for my mechanical abilities!-

I ordered a few things more last week: stainless steel brake lines (Russell), ceramic brake pads (Hawk) and I had originally ordered OEM replacement XD/S Brembo rotors, but due to logistics complications and a change of heart, I am now cancelling that in favor of a set of OEM replacement 2 Piece, floating AeroRotors, cross-drilled from StopTech (http://www.stoptech.com/products/rotors.shtml). I am getting all of this from a local shop, Valverde Racing (http://www.valverderacing.com), very professional and helpful people. Roy Valverde and Rodrigo Quirós are involved with the local motorsports scene and this weekend they both have activities in La Guacima and Costa Rica Rally, respectively. Good luck to both!

Also on order at this time: - a Carbon Fiber full engine dress-up from DG Motorsports (http://www.dgmotorsports.com); and a set of assorted vinyl decals from the Acromman shop (http://www.acromann.com).

07-24-2006: The new look of the engine bay is ready! Or at least in part: I still have not received the CF covers I ordered, but the NISMO Cold Air Intake, the ARC Titanium panel and the MaxGround grounding wires are all installed and functioning correctly! The clear sidemarkers are ready too.

And I had a great time at the shop! We started to work at about 2PM and ended with all the stuff by 8:30PM... we were talking half of the time, of course! I tried to participate on all the processes and get my hands dirty a little bit. It went well and no CEL came on after the CAI install... that was my main worry from the beginning.

Frank is a very through mechanic... no slopiness there! The attention to detail was more than reason enough for me to be calm during the whole process.

I shared shop with a Camaro 350 '67... the engine awesomely modified to reach in excess of 500WHP + nitrous oxide if it ever comes to be needed, ha! The original exterior restored to show a classic car, never betraying the beast under the hood.

There was also another work under way: a JDM Toyota 'Hilux Surf' (looks like something like a little Land Cruiser) was getting the 'driver to the left' conversion, an awesome and very clean job... these guys made a Skyline conversion at some point in the past... so there is one good place to get that done if someday I get the Skyline craving!

09-02-2006: New DG Mortorsports' Carbon Fiber engine dress-up installed... and a really sucky day at the Dyno!!!

My day started normal, with plans to install the covers and to visit the dyno. Did both and one came out great -you can see the photo!!- while the other really sucked. The install of the covers was fun, the battery/brake liquid part is a basic peel the tape, place the cover. The engine cover is a swap: full real CF extremely light and with a nice weave. Believe it or not, this thing weighs hardly half what the plastic one does.

... and it looks extremely good. I added a NISMO decal from the ones I got from the Acromann Shop and voilá... new look altogether. I do not think it looks too bling! and certainly makes the engine bay a different and worthy place to look into :)

Now, for the sucky dyno day: I tried three pulls: two in 4th gear and one in 5th gear. Best pull was 238RWHP and 235RWTQ... even horse power to the wheels a loss of 5RWTQ since the last time... so the CAI and grounding actually set me back a bit. Now, that is a very relative thing: throttle response has definitely improved since the mods and I was kind of expecting something like this, as the N/A mods tend to work well only when you have a full path change... so now I am missing an exhaust and hi-flow cats change, but not for long. This morning I talked with Adam at Z-1 Performance and I think I will go with an HKS Hi Power Ti exhaust and the recommended Ultimate Racing hi-flow cats. This setup will work even if one day I get the Turbo fever, so this should be a good investment.

So, wheels will have to wait a bit longer!

Next in line: Motordyne ISO Thermal Spacer and Headers (unsure about the brand as of know).