how much would you spend for...

[Atilla the Fun]

Would you guys call $80 a fair price to gain 8% more peak torque and 1% more peak HP, for a daily driver commuter car?
The thing is I want to try the Pathfinder intake mod to the 300ZX before selling the 3.0L V6 engine.
I estimate $15 for the used Pathfinder plenum/runners unit, $15 for the used Pathfinder dizzy, $15 for new cheap Pathfinder-length plug wires, $15 for new cheap cap and rotor, $5 for used Pathfinder dizzy hold-down bracket and one used Pathfinder electrical connector, and $15 for half the gas to drive to and from the salvage yard.

[CincinnatiFiero]

I wouldn't.

Dont be dissapointed when it looks like ass and resulted in a 1hp gain.

I installed my intake, but never fired it up. It cleared the hood only after modification to the intake, and lowering the engine.

also its not worth the effort in a na

What an pain in the butt this mod is, most people I've seen doing this their hood dont close and they just leave it and it looks so crap. The only real way to do it to my knowledge is to lower the engine mounts.

http://www.zcar.com/forums/744694/pathf ... take-vg30e

[CincinnatiFiero]

Some guy on cardomain has

NISMO cams in reworked heads, 240SX throttle body (10mm larger than stock
) with match ported '93 Pathfinder upper intake, and, Motorsport Auto Headers. Accessory drive components removed (smog, powersteering,fan, a/c).

and he did 160whp 180wtq.

Seems like a shitton of work and not a lot of power for an OHC 3.0L.

[Atilla the Fun]

I was reading on 4 different 300ZX forums, and I've seen many more positive comments.
Thanks for looking up what you did, but I wasn't trying to put you guys to any trouble.
I really just wanted your thoughts on the general value, the fair ratio of $ per percent gain.
Since you're willing to go looking, look at this:
http://z31.com/mods/pathy.shtml
I sure hope Will, Crazyone and BlueShift chime in on this.

[CincinnatiFiero]

Hood thing doesn't seem worth it. Its an N/A and you're planning on swapping. If you were going to be driving it for a long time or if it was a turbo I'd be all about it, junkyard mods kick ass.

Intake manifold upgrades: The two most common choices are a gutted stock plenum and a stock pathfinder plenum. Dyno results on heavily modified cars have shown an increase of 8% in hp and 12% in torque for a gutted stock manifold and 1% gain in hp with a 8% gain in torque with the pathfinder manifold.

Gutting sounds free.

[Atilla the Fun]

Gutting the stocker is a high-rpm mod, daily commuters want low-rpm, not high rpm.
It's not very high on my wish list, but IF I find nothing that's higher on the list...
even a dually axle for my '83 C-10 is higher up my wish list.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Having a scalpel does not make one a surgeon.

As Gordon Murray said, the fundamental automotive problem is one of packaging.

IE, if you're bolting things together that don't fit--and I don't mean that don't fit together, but rather that don't fit where they need to go--then you're missing the most fundamental aspect of engineering a car that you might as well just give up.

Having the hood not close and spacing it up to compensate is such a horrendous kluge that it shound never even enter the mind of someone who actually gives a damn.

So the mod isn't really $80... it's $80 plus whatever it takes to make the hood actually fit... which may be just some bodywork supplies to make a shaker, or the cost of a fibreglass hood or cowl.

Anyway, don't be a cheap hack. If you're going to put something together, put it together like a skilled craftsman, not like some random schmoe who just figured out how to use a wrench.

[Indy]

I really just wanted your thoughts on the general value, the fair ratio of $ per percent gain.

The only person who can decide that is you. There isn't any desirable ratio. I've probably spent spent a K and several hundred hours chasing around a few so-far-theoretical percent on a setup I'm not even finished with. My wife would probably object, but it's not her car. Only her money Likewise, your Z is not my car.

But using washers to space the hood latch up? Well...Let's just say there are some absolutes in play here.

[CincinnatiFiero]

I would still gut the stock intake for free and see how that goes. You'll feel that HP on the highway. That spaced hood looks jank as hell, as does cutting out sections of the hood frame. It's pretty obvious to be nissan designed two VG30 intakes for the sake of packaging, not so the pathfinder would have more low end torque. I would take all of this money and put it into the LSx fiero.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I would still gut the stock intake for free and see how that goes. You'll feel that HP on the highway. That spaced hood looks jank as hell, as does cutting out sections of the hood frame. It's pretty obvious to be nissan designed two VG30 intakes for the sake of packaging, not so the pathfinder would have more low end torque. I would take all of this money and put it into the LSx fiero.

Depends on whether the pathfinder or 300ZX was designed first.

Ditto on the "put it into something you really want" comment... DON'T DETOUR.

[CincinnatiFiero]

300ZX came out in '83, the pathfinder came out in '86, so I suppose it would have been for more power, but they could have been aware that there was more power available in the intake because of their struggles with packaging it three years prior.

[Atilla the Fun]

Thanks! It's nice to get real input. But I can tell you guys didn't read Car Craft in the '90s. Raising the rear of the hood is a legit speed mod even when not necessary to clear tall parts. Sometimes you can still see a Dart or a Chevelle done that way in Popular Hot Rodding. It reduces front end lift, and improves cooling.
Driving around with spaced hinges for a week wouldn't bother me the least bit. I love to see other drivers looking down at me with contempt. Why else would I like driving a 2-tone brown 4 door '85 Ford LTD? I get the last laugh, because their $30,000 SUV, plus insurance and financing, is costing them $70,000, which I get to use to get out of debt, not further into it.
And when my debts are paid, then work on the Fiero will go from 1/4 Impulse to Warp 9.9!
But I'm not about to let the hood stop me from trying this. I'd rather cut a hole in the hood than not try this. How cool would it be to see the TB jiggling from side to side? It'd be like the shaker hood feature on the '70s Trans Ams!
But I'm more likely to space the hinges, not that I go fast enough to worry about front end lift, but because the V8 won't need the hole for the TB. And because it's more sneaky. Cutting a hole for the TB is what a 19-year-old would do.
If I find the dually axle, I won't go looking for the Pathfinder intake. If I find a T56, I won't go looking for the dually axle until I sell the T56 for a small profit.

[CincinnatiFiero]

So don't spend money on your daily and pay those debts.

The point of a daily, in my opinion, is so that you put gas (diesel) in it, and change the oil every 5k, and that is it! My 300D gets 27-30mpg, seats 5, fits 4 wheels and tires in the boot and starts every time and is DEAD, FLAT, STOCK. That's a daily. My opinion, is don't waste money on the LTD or the 300ZX, put money into the Fiero LSX swap. Put that $80 aside for the next NSX trans that comes up.

[Atilla the Fun]

Well, I don't know about you Cincy, but most of us can't live without some diversions. Some guys watch TV at home in the evenings. Not me. Some guys subscribe to car magazines. I used to, but not anymore. I didn't ask you how you would spend my money, I haven't sent you a copy of my budgeting, income and expenses.
But while you guys are watching TV, I'm porting heads so I can earn the $80 to "waste' on my education. I've learned the value of first-hand experience.
If I built the Fiero instead of paying down the debts, the intrest would keep adding up, and I'd never crawl out of the debt hole I'm in. Bad enough to have $28,000 of debt. It's gonna take me another 28 months to pay it off.
Since the $80 won't get me any immediate driving pleasure from the Fiero, then I may as well put it where I can enjoy it.
As to your daily driver, it's SLOW. That's unforgivable. A daily that doesn't get monthly mods is like a granny car, and that's what your diesel car is, if you're not pushing 40 pounds of boost. A 300ZX can never be a granny car. When they were showroom fresh, grannies could drive them, but grannies chose something else.
My LTD has already received performance shocks, synthetic lubes, and a bunch of other performance mods that aren't visible to other drivers.
But it can't do the things a V8 300ZX can. I can have it both ways, and that'll keep me going for the next 28 months. I do the Fiero as I can, and this trip to PNP is partly to find a 282 for getting the Fiero to the big annual car show. But if I don't find a 282, that same money will get me the 3.8 H.O. heads or the Pathfinder intake, if either happens to be there.
Your comments on the ideas presented are welcome, but my finances aren't up for discussion. Only whether or not 8% more torque is worth $80.
On a 350 Chevy, 8% would be 35 ft-lbs, and then the answer is obviously: YES! But on an a$$-crappy 3.0L, why should the answer be yes or no? It must be one or the other. Stick to which and why, not my funding.
I didn't try the V8 S-10 because you recommended it, you would've done the opposite. I did it for the experience. I was one V8Archie kit away from getting that exact 350 running in the Fiero instead, but experience is worth more, and having that diversion is absolutely necessary, like air to breathe.
I should've spent this weekend on the 300ZX's front suspension, but instead I put the 4.3 in the trans am just to post pics on tgo. Now it has to come back out, but that's more TV alternative.

[CincinnatiFiero]

You misread that, I'm not interested in your finances. You brought up debt, not me. I didn't ask how big your debt is either. I really want to see your fiero come together because you have drive, desire, and knowhow to produce something really cool. I mean that complementary. If you detour it will put off the fiero project.

It is your money and your time, but you did post a "what is your opinion thread" well you got my opinion and wills.

My daily is slow to 60, that's the idea. It holds more people and stuff than a Fiero. That's why I bought it. It pulls hard on the 45-75 and cruises at 120mph with no problems. It serves a very specific purpose. It's comfortable but has adequate power, gets good mpg and has a nice three pointed star on it.

As for getting through life without distractions... read my sig. My big project is the 3.0CS, which I've put off for the next 5 years as it needs about $40,000 worth of work and I don't want to half ass it in the meantime.

BTW:
1980 Ford LTD 0-60 mph 12.4 Quarter mile 19.0
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300TD 0-60 mph 10.3 Quarter mile 17.5

that's a T124, I have the lighter W124, they say the sedans are more like 9 to 60. I'll roll race you if you come to Ohio or if I make it out there I may be headed to Colorado soon but I don't think I'll make it to Utah.

Do whatever you want bro, but if you ask a forum for opinions, you'll get them.