List of Best Upgrades

[fenetikZ]

fenetikZ and I love AWE Track edition because of its visceral exotic sound with wow factor.

100% correct! You can feel the system in the seat, the steering wheel, and your bones. It’s good living.

 

[SleepyD7]

Interior starts rattling apart during acceleration

 

[Kludos]

Assuming you're going to tune, there are a few items that will keep your VR30 happy.

Heat exchanger: The stock unit is tiny making the car susceptible to heat soak. Many people suggest this is THE upgrade to do on your VR30

Oil solenoid delete: prevents oil starvation by making the oil pump run at full pressure at all times. Requires tune to remove the code.

Oil catch can: these engines get a reasonable amount of blow-by and this prevents it's recirculating through your engine.

Billet oil pan: the stock pan is plastic and doesn't fully drain due to the plug location. A billet pan will be easier to drain, safer, stay a bit cooler, and increases oil volume. Some have baffles too.


If you're doing lowering springs or coilovers:

Despite what some people claim, it's hard to get a good alignment for spirited driving with stock parts if you are an inch or more lower than stock. At a minimum budget for rear camber arms and some form of toe adjustment - I'm not going to recommend anything here because it depends if you are going true coil or divorced, and how you feel about dremelling your subframe.

For the front, you don't need FUCAs but they will help combat camber gain if you are quite low, and same with tie rods for bump steer correction, but the latter is probably a good idea.

People say you need adjustable sway bar links too, but the bars aren't level anyway and there's not much room to adjust without them hitting the lower links.


Enjoy the journey, deciding your build is the funnest thing about it.

My full build so far is here: https://www.nissanzclub.com/forum/threads/kludos-gunmetal-z-build.8979/

 

[Zplz]

Thanks for your compliments! The AWE track exhaust is indeed quite loud, especially when paired with a downpipe upgrade. This was very intentional on my part - I want the car to feel loud and generally unsettling; it increases the excitement factor. You can try to maximize this car for a comfort experience, but I like that it seems to lean into a more raw/pure sports car driving experience….which is not easy to find these days. I think that’s one of the things that makes the Z so special. For those who want comfort and luxury paired with speed, the market has lots of offerings. Back to the AWE track, I’m sure you’ve seen that they have a “track to touring conversion” piece that is not too expensive and, as I understand, really calms things down.

Regarding the heat exchanger - I felt it was a critical upgrade, especially when using the 80mm intakes since I’d like as much of that extra airflow to be properly cooled - Plus, I likely would not be able to get the most out of my tune if I had the OEM exchanger in there as a potential choke point.

Congrats again on the purchase! Have fun on the journey.

"I think that’s one of the things that makes the Z so special. For those who want comfort and luxury paired with speed, the market has lots of offerings..." Absolutely agree! That's one of the main things I love about the Z. It's a great platform for configuring to get it just the way is best for you.

I've always loved Z cars but at this point in my life, I wanted to set up my Z as a fairly comfortable ride but with very nice straight-ahead performance capability at a decent price. I just went with a base Sport but decided I definitely wanted an upgraded HX and CAI, along with the exhaust. The NISMO street exhaust has been perfect for me. Not loud at all for me ears but it provides the harmonious sound I was looking for when I accelerate.

 

[RHE2026]

Welcome Osage.
For my 24' MT Performance my goals are simple. (1) 10.99 sec quarter mile (2) the best street-able ride quality I can achieve (3) Sick wheels. All this with caveat that I wanted to go only with premium parts. (I've gone el cheapo any many previous cars so...)

My List:
(1) Armytrix cat back exhaust with lower down pipes
(2) Advan Beyond GT Wheels on PS4's
(3) Intakes (leaning towards an open K&N or Mishi)
(4) Mishimoto Skid Plate/Catch Can/HX/Intercoolers
(5) B6A Flex Fuel kit w/Port Injection
(7) And finally a tune from Sonic or Racebox and send it

I'm open to running Air or Coilovers as soon as I'm convinced there's a product that will actually improve my ride quality, so far the offerings are purely lowering/handling focused.

27' Nismo in Black Diamond looks absolutely sinister with the contrasting red piping on the fascias.

I want to add a catch can on my Z since I hear it really helps with reducing carbon build up on the intake valves.

 

[kevinbonds]

If I had the Nismo, I would not touch the wheels or the suspension. The only thing I would do, is a set of LDP's, a solid exhaust and a tune. Maybe a heat exchanger, but the Nismo has better colling factory. In my opinion, this is the best bang for the buck.

 

[RHE2026]

If I had the Nismo, I would not touch the wheels or the suspension. The only thing I would do, is a set of LDP's, a solid exhaust and a tune. Maybe a heat exchanger, but the Nismo has better colling factory. In my opinion, this is the best bang for the buck.

Did you feel it needed to have a catch can installed? Will adding one get in the way of my warranty ?

 

[SleepyD7]

https://www.nissanzclub.com/forum/threads/another-catch-can-worry.10334/#post-184603

 

[Big D]

Ordering a '27 Nismo with the 6MT. Cross shopped the M2, RS5, Mustang Dark Horse, etc. The Nismo Z with the 6MT seems like the best combination of looks, community, and reasonable aftermarket tuning possibilities. It just seems the most fun.

This is sort of an alternative/companion thread to the one about making 500HP. I don't care about doing that as I have no interest in upgrading the stock twin turbo system. I just want a good old numbered list of everyone's favorite aftermarket add-ons, with preferred make and model, to noticeably improve performance.

For intakes, for example, I see there's the Nismo version, AMS has one, as does Mishimoto, and several others. Wondering what everyone's experiences are.

If I had to guess, it would seem that the list is:

1. Exhaust
2. Intake
3. Wheels (Apex seem to be the lightest)
4. Tune

I have seen others suggest upgraded heat exchangers and downpipes, etc., but not sure what the quantifiable gain is with those. Really would appreciate the conversation on these things. Thanks!

The Rays wheels are already fairly light,, and very well engineered.

 

[Big D]

Did you feel it needed to have a catch can installed? Will adding one get in the way of my warranty ?

On most engines catch cans don't have much value if they don't consume much oil. But direct injection engines have no way to clean the intake valves of oily vapors that try to collect from the PCV system.