Where To Start?

[whitestag]

ok, now Ive had my M35 for a month or so im looking at mods to do to it,

getting the TV tuner soon, at same time I will put a decent alarm/imobalizer on it and change to english,

after that im not sure where to go...

its got nismo suspension,

Nismo catback exuast,

Nismo Dash,

is it worth looking into doing the turbo to cat?

ECU? I heard Mines does one aswell as dolphin does one.... which is best bang for buck?

just wondering what else others have done to there M35's that is well worth the change...

Edited July 28, 2010 by whitestag

[Bis-e Bee]

is it worth looking into doing the turbo to cat?

ECU? I heard Mines does one aswell as dolphin does one.... which is best bang for buck?

just wondering what else others have done to there M35's that is well worth the change...

Exhaust - dump pipe, probably best off waiting until you replace the turbo with a highflow They have a tendency to go after 100,000km's, in Japan I believe they replace them during that service. It's not all bad though as a highflow pulls like a freight train and is going to last a lot longer due to getting rid of the ceramic turbine. Besides with the stock turbo I doubt you are going to find remarkable performance upgrades from just an upgraded dump pipe alone.

ECU, so far in the country that we know of the Nismo & Impul aftermarket ecu upgrades have been tried and tested in the AR-X. From the opinions and stats that have been provided the Nismo seems like the choice of the two. Keeping in mind that no ECU from Japan is going to be tuned for 98RON and for all possible modifications, probably not going to make a huge difference but...?

Silver Auto Service are currently developing a remap system that will be done with live runs on the dyno, however the tool they need to do it is currently in Korea and they cannot confirm when the tool will arrive. Long story but as soon as there is an update someone will post something on the forum.

Aside from Mine's, Dolphin, Impul & Nismo there are also aftermarket ecu's available from G-Zone, DMY Racing.

[andy65b]

The dump pipe and in particular will make a big difference as there is a massive Cat in the stock one and the 3 inch exhaust will help give a little more in performance. More so in the mid range and a little in the higher revs but the ECu limits the turbo at the upper end of the rev range so there is less benefit there.

ECU's: the Jury is still out as we have more testing to do. Will also depend on your goal of performance gain.

Plenum Spacer will give a small gain in low end power and help fuel economy through increasing inlet runners and reducing the intake temps through the plenum. Plenum Spacer

Swaybars make a big improvement on the ARX, nor sure on the RX.

Brake upgrade: R32 Caliper upgrade. This is a big improvement on the stock from brakes. Brembo's are an option but a little more expensive.

Cheers

Andy

[Daleo]

Exhaust - dump pipe, probably best off waiting until you replace the turbo with a highflow They have a tendency to go after 100,000km's, in Japan I believe they replace them during that service. It's not all bad though as a highflow pulls like a freight train and is going to last a lot longer due to getting rid of the ceramic turbine. Besides with the stock turbo I doubt you are going to find remarkable performance upgrades from just an upgraded dump pipe alone.

Going to have to disagree with you on this one Stephen...

I believe the most beneficial thing you can do for the life of these turbo's, given their fragility; is to reduce the restriction of exhaust flow. The standard dump pipe is massively restrictive, both in pipe diameter and also, as Andy has said, it contains yet another catalytic converter.

To give you an idea of the restriction, the flange off the turbo exhaust housing is oval shaped, 105mm wide by 55mm high. Within 30mm the diameter is reduced to less than 55mm! A huge reduction in flow, in anybody's book!

This restriction manifests as a huge heat load for the turbo to deal with. Replace this with a free flowing dump pipe, a high flow catalytic converter and a well designed 3" exhaust, and you will almost certainly extend the life of the factory turbo.

I currently have ONLY the group buy dump pipe on my car, with a 2 1/2" compliance cat (unknown quality) and the full factory exhaust (teamed with a K&N air filter). The difference made by this simple addition of the dump pipe is simply amazing! The car has a much deeper note, and the response of the turbo is much quicker and the reduced throttle required at any speed is easily noticeable. So large was the improvement, that I am presently planning to replace only the cat (with a 3" high flow) and running 3" mandrel bent to the front of the factory 2 1/2" muffler with a tapered reducer. I believe the hot gasses will have cooled enough in that distance it shouldn't present a very large restriction (given that cooling gasses shrink).That way I can keep the factory silence. It will be backed up with back pressure testing to see whether it actually needs a full 3" system. Fortunately, I have the time to waste, to see if I can save a few dollars.

All of this is just one man's opinion, of course. Good luck Whitestag, the guys you're asking have plenty of experience and are an excellent resource.

Cheers, Dale.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Daleo

[GoldZilla]

Dude, the FIRST thing you should do is get your alarm/immobilser sorted out! No use planning mods for a car that's been stolen...

[Bis-e Bee]

Dude, the FIRST thing you should do is get your alarm/immobilser sorted out! No use planning mods for a car that's been stolen...

lol spoil sport

[iamhe77]

I would have to say the rest of your exhaust should be a priority.

You already have the Nismo cat-back (which one? Oval tip or twin square tips?) so all you need is a dump/front pipe combo...

Now, who do I know that has made such a thing...

and a good quality, high flowing air filter element

Edited July 28, 2010 by iamhe77

[rb26stagea]

If you don't need constant access to the cavernous space in the rear of the car, you should make a rear strut brace one of your first mods: bang for buck, it is by far the most dramatic improvement for $ mods you will undertake...

[Daleo]

The problem with the M35 is there's no strut towers as such to brace off.

If you were really keen, you could build a roll hoop and tie it in to the floor and the rear seat belt mounts with a cross bar to triangulate. But it seems like a bit too much effort for a 1700kg car with all the fruit. I have seen braces that tie the subframe together and also the subframe mounts. Big advantage, you can't see any of it.

[pipster11]

If you don't need constant access to the cavernous space in the rear of the car, you should make a rear strut brace one of your first mods: bang for buck, it is by far the most dramatic improvement for $ mods you will undertake...

sorry to hijack the thread but which ones fit the c34's?

r33, r34 or are they stagea specific?

[whitestag]

I have got an alarm/immobilizer on it but I'm going to upgrade

[rb26stagea]

sorry to hijack the thread but which ones fit the c34's?

r33, r34 or are they stagea specific?

Good question: I bought mine of darrinspencer, and never asked the question, but I'm pretty sure they're Stag specific

[Jetwreck]

Hi Matt,

Only talking engine performance.....and a couple of points will probably give you a bit more longevity with your standard turbo as well.

As mentioned above and I will take it to the grave the single best improvement I have done on mine and completely noticable straight away was a decent dump pipe with a good high flow cat(not that I have one....at all )

The next thing you should look at especially with the coming summer months is a decent FMIC. There are two out there...Blitz from Just jap and the HDI. Also look at putting a Nismo thermostat in....will save the top tank on your radiator.

From what I have heard the suction pipe is also a very good upgrade (fitting on to my car atm while it's off the road)

As far as ECU's go the best piggyback for our car's is probably the Greddy but you will need to find a good tuner. You will more than likely find that you standard ECU will still fight with it though. There is the F-con but finding a tuner to do it is a problem...BD4's don't do it anymore...spoke to the guy yesterday. As for a replacement ECU, the Mines ECU....if you can source it go for it.....I've tried but to no avail....even if you get it how do you tune it? If you can get a Nismo or Impul it is probably the best bolt on upgrade and again you notice the difference straight away. Oh and if SAS ever get the reader unit back that would without a doubt be the best option as you will be able to tune the standard ECU.

As far as turbo's go Scott's is probably one of the best working upgrades. Not saying that I have given up on my turbo setup either....I just have a few more hoops to just through yet. Both of us have had our own headache's with our setups but I can tell you first hand Scott's goes like shit off a stick straight out of the whole basically no lag....oh and not saying mine doesn't go hard either......the Mexicans are just a bit ahead of us with development ATM

BTW the standard turbo will probably only ever get you about 180KW's ATW's....tops.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Jetwreck

[whitestag]

Thanks for all the info, I will start work on a dump pipe, Cat? who needs a cat.... never liked cats they always in the way lol.

so you running standard radiator? still good in summer?

[Jetwreck]

Thanks for all the info, I will start work on a dump pipe, Cat? who needs a cat.... never liked cats they always in the way lol.

so you running standard radiator? still good in summer?

running a V35 manual radiator....bit wider and no tran's cooler tank.....I run an additional 2 transcoolers though.

[scotty nm35]

Mishimoto radiator here. Overkill compared to the 14mm stock one.

You would be interested to know Craig, the car absolutely flies at take-off now the tuner leaned the acc enrichment. Get an Emanage onto that nismo.

[mxfly]

Rofl about the Mexicans Craig.

I think the F-Con Pro (V Pro) would be a nice way to go in the ecu department and thankfully, there is someone in Sydney than can tune them and more importantly, tune them well. I can't remember off top of my head but they are in Marrickville and tuned my mates R34 with an F-Con V Pro and on top of that, a V Cam setup. Downside is the ecu's are one of the most expensive to buy. Even used it fetches some coins as one came up for sale a few weeks ago in Yahoo. The workshop also charges my friend 1600 bucks for the tune from scratch. Obviously that included the V Cam tuning as well so it would be cheaper just to tune the ecu.

Bloody hell, my memory is terrible today!

[mxfly]

I have a question. Even with a Nismo or Impul of Mines ecu, how tunable would they be? Or is it they are more compliant with a piggy back ecu such as an eManage Ultimate.

[iamhe77]

I have a question. Even with a Nismo or Impul of Mines ecu, how tunable would they be? Or is it they are more compliant with a piggy back ecu such as an eManage Ultimate.

The Nismo, Impul, Mine's, G-Zone, KS etc ECUs are all re-maps of a standard ECU.

I would not think they would be re-tunable here unless you had an acceptable "reader".

Perhaps if one was taken apart...

[scotty nm35]

I think the best bet at the moment is to get a generic G-Zone/Nismo remap and run an Emanage ultimate or F-con pro for adjustment to suit our mods, fuel and climate. The Emanage is certainly the cheaper and easier option.

With a quicker reaction time I could have got into the 12's at Calder last weekend (I hit speed cut 3/4 way down the track too), not bad for a 2 ton car.