Most cost effective intake/exhaust mods

I

ian119

Member
Location
las vegas, nv
Hey all,

I've been reading around the forums quite a bit, and I've seen a few different mods that would be within my price range. I realize I'm not going to get a ton of HP from Exhaust and Intake mods, and if I wasn't concerned about reliability I would probably just go and get a turbo installed. My question is if I want to get another 20-30 HP, would that be possible with a catback exhaust + cold air intake and an ECU tune? If so is one of the Sub $1000 cat back systems available on ebay far inferior to a more expensive product?

I'm looking to spend less than $3k for everything installed. Is that unreasonable?
 
You can spend less that 2K and get another 30HP easy...

Intake, plenum spacer, exhaust, and an Rev-up tune and you should make much more that 30hp. Include some HFC, or test pipes and headers and you will make plenty more (at the expense of a super loud car).

1. Intake - no more than $200. Install is an absolute joke, DIY. Options:

-JWT Pop Charger
-Stillen
-Takeda
-Fujita
-etc

2. Exhaust - anywhere from $300 to $1500 (price can go a bit higher if you farm out the install) so many options:

-Nismo/fujitsubo
-custom
-invidia
-HKS
-etc

Invidia is a great exhaust (I have it, along with many others). We have a member who works for them Gordon, who can cut you a great deal.

3. Plenum spacer/plenum - anywhere from 175-400
-motordyne spacer (most popular)
-Generic spacer (BLOX, BWR, etc)
-Kinetix V+
-Kinetix SSV
-Crawford
-Cosworth

The 5/16 MD spacer is considered one of the best bang for buck mods, it can be had for about 200 bucks and it is really easy to install. I bought the kinetix v+ simply because it looks cooler under the hood, but they all achieve the same end result.

4. Osiris rev-up tune the pricing varies by location, I have seen as low as $500 & as high as $1000.

Thats just a really quick run down, but you can do some research from there, and ask away in here and I as well as many others can delve deeper.

---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 AM ----------
Dracula said:
afterwhile the 20-30hp will not make you happy, id say supercharge it and call it day
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Lol... After awhile supercharger isnt enough, and he has to go built transmission and fully custom internals. Bore the 3.5 out to 4.2 and go TT.
 
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If budget is a concern, skip the intake. Zero definitive Dyno proof that they make power. Get a generic or cheap spacer, motordyne is twice as much as others, but not twice as good. I paid like $100 for my Powerlab spacer. HFC's are Dyno proven and bigger bang for the buck than exhaust. But tune is most important by far. You could pick up more than 10 hp stock with a tune.
 
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My concern with the supercharger / turbo is that it will significantly reduce engine life, and also will no question void my dealer warranty. I've been looking around the forums for actual dyno results of a stock fx35 vs fx35 with Uprev ECU tune, and intake/exhaust/spacer.
I've only been able to find dyno results of Turbo/SC and heavy modification.
 
I remember seeing a dyno chart of a 350z, I'll see if I can dig it out.

But it was a 350z with a 5/16 plenum spacer, and fast intentions exhaust, JWT pop charger, everything else stock. He had no initial dyno results before his mods, but they did a baseline run and after the tune and about 2 hours of fine tuning with his shop on the dyno he ended up picking up like 25hp. So that would be 25hp on top of w/e he gained initially from putting on the parts.

I can see it being feasible that the VQ35 can pick up about 40+ horses from just breather mods and a good tune.
 
Not to say what has been said already, or repeat myself for the millionth time… the bolt ons do not do much and by the time you get "all" of them and a full tune to try and squeeze out a measly amount of hp, you'll already be in the ballpark of buying FI. Back on my FX35 by the time I had gotten most of the bolt-ons and the tune and the exhausts etc I hadn't even gotten everything and I could have just bought FI instead. Honestly, if your goals are just to make it louder and say "I have a few things done to it" by all means get the intake, plenum spacer, and exhaust. But that's all i would really recommend.

If you have more serious goals in mind, save your $3k and be on the lookout for used turbo/s/c systems for sale on the forums. I know there was a s/c sys for sale on here a while back for $3k. Look on Z and G forums, you're bound to find one.

i know we just sound annoying telling you to not mod, but we've all been there. I've been there with my FX35. don't make the same mistake haha
 
jbaker1121 said:
Not to say what has been said already, or repeat myself for the millionth time… the bolt ons do not do much and by the time you get "all" of them and a full tune to try and squeeze out a measly amount of hp, you'll already be in the ballpark of buying FI. Back on my FX35 by the time I had gotten most of the bolt-ons and the tune and the exhausts etc I hadn't even gotten everything and I could have just bought FI instead. Honestly, if your goals are just to make it louder and say "I have a few things done to it" by all means get the intake, plenum spacer, and exhaust. But that's all i would really recommend.

If you have more serious goals in mind, save your $3k and be on the lookout for used turbo/s/c systems for sale on the forums. I know there was a s/c sys for sale on here a while back for $3k. Look on Z and G forums, you're bound to find one.

i know we just sound annoying telling you to not mod, but we've all been there. I've been there with my FX35. don't make the same mistake haha
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Very wise words.

BUT, you would still have to do the exhaust with almost any FI application, well you wouldn't have to, but by that time most people would. Thats where most of his budget would be going as well, simply considering that at most the intake and plenum spacer are $400 and super easy to install.

Exhaust = $900
Plenum spacer = $150
Intake = $150

He could have all of this done and installed on the car for less than $1500. If he saves a bit of money, I have seen intakes as low as $100 and spacers can be had at around $50. If he manages to install his exhaust himself he could conceivably have the tune done as well for less than 1600.

Also I was in almost the same boat as the OP not long ago when I bought my car. The FX is my DD, one down day and it ends up causing my hassle and conceivably costing me money. Until such time as the FX is no longer my DD I will not be going FI, regardless of how much money I want to throw at the thing.
 
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FI is definitely going to cost more, not to mention you have to be prepared for issues to come up. Just do some simple, cost-effective NA mods to set your FX apart.
 
meme405 said:
Very wise words.

BUT, you would still have to do the exhaust with almost any FI application, well you wouldn't have to, but by that time most people would. Thats where most of his budget would be going as well, simply considering that at most the intake and plenum spacer are $400 and super easy to install.

Exhaust = $900
Plenum spacer = $150
Intake = $150

He could have all of this done and installed on the car for less than $1500. If he saves a bit of money, I have seen intakes as low as $100 and spacers can be had at around $50. If he manages to install his exhaust himself he could conceivably have the tune done as well for less than 1600.

Also I was in almost the same boat as the OP not long ago when I bought my car. The FX is my DD, one down day and it ends up causing my hassle and conceivably costing me money. Until such time as the FX is no longer my DD I will not be going FI, regardless of how much money I want to throw at the thing.
Click to expand...


+ a tune to actually realize full potential
 
Great advise above.
Also recommend a good tune after those mods. Unrealized gains, & the mods will throw your air/fuel off a bit. it did mine.
How are most tuning these days? now that Tadashi doesnt get a mention any more

---------- Post added at 01:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 PM ----------

Have you done any suspension. That would be a good place to throw some money.
Let's see some pics

& yes. Dont buy an ebay special unless you know the brand works. There is a difference in hardware, as is likely installation
 
Osiris Rev-up seems to be the most common, and it has proven results.

JBaker, I mentioned that if he managed to get a deal on the intake and spacer then he could manage to do this for below 1600, including the tune.

More realistically OP should expect to pay about $2000 to make about an extra 30hp. Which is what he wants and it is about $1000 cheaper than he was willing to do. I would take that $1000 and buy some coilovers.
 
I did the spacer/intake/exhaust then I did the fx to corvette mod. (400 hp with 2 seats) I should have gotten a vette sooner. So much fun to drive.

The he fx sounded better though. Vette I'd still stock (not for long)
 
THe "best" (arguably) intake is on sale on this site - the Ztube (if you use it with the power duct) for $90 - new it's 200ish.
spacer - 5/16th used $100ish
exhaust - get new (high flow) cats and muffler used ($150-600ish)

under $1k

tune -> $700ish + dyno time = ~$800

under $2k most likely.


+ springs $100-300 (find used or get new)
+ STB + rear lateral (most 'noticeable' braces) used


Good to go for under $3k.

thats my honest recommendation to do just those things, maybe add more braces if you want more handling (didn't feel much more after adding the others, ride just got worse…so I guess they were working)

Maybe get wheels (lightweight, less weight to turn)


other than that, if you want more power, save up and go FI.
 
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That makes sense. I have always had a hard time believing that simply upgrading exhaust and whatnot would do a whole lot(unless the car is already FI). As far as FI goes, its not so much the money, but its about voiding my dealer warranty and whatnot. Does anyone have any data on overall reliability of FI systems on the vq35? Also is there any difference in reliability between SC and a turbo?

I do notice that the throttle response is a bit lacking from time to time. It seems like there should be some way to increase responsiveness with software. Maybe I'll just do an ECU tune plus intake.
 
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