Volume #1, Issue #1
April 26, 2007
Written by Neil Tjin & Staff,
Photos by Mike, Brian Khang, Giancarlo Pawelec & Jennifer Shih
 Never Enough
is the phrase that best describes Mike's Z. Since buying the car in January of 2004, he has
dumped over $35K into it--most of it spent on the rarest of rare JDM parts.
Mike had always been a fan of the 300ZX Twin Turbo of the 90's. It was his favorite car growing up but
he could never afford his own Z-car until now. He bought his 350z brand new in January of 2004 and has been
modding it non-stop. His goal is to build a high performance track car with all the creature comforts of a
daily driven street car.
Mike started out big right away by installing a centrifugal supercharger made by ATI. His car had barely
1,200 miles on it. Mike's Z was one of the first handful of 350z's to go forced induction at the time. Seventeen
months later in late 2005, after adding a host of supporting mods like a full a return fuel system with larger injectors,
walbro fuel pump, upgraded SARD FPR and a Greddy e-manage engine management system, the fruits of his labor payoff. He
makes 394WHP@9.5psi on a dynojet (link).
Still a little short of his original goal of 400WHP but he'll take it. Mike recalls: "Franz at
KTR Performance (in Ayer, MA) is a tremendous tuner...
and I really have him to thank for getting so near the power goal."
Since then, Mike has thirsted for more power. So in early 2007, he had the turbo gurus at
Dent Sport Garage tear out the supercharger in favor of GReddy
twin turbo's. At stock boost levels, the twin Mitusbishi TDH05H-18g turbos pump out the same peak
horsepower levels as the supercharger...but Mike is not planning on staying at stock boost levels. A full
short engine build out with forged pistons, rods and many goodies is coming for the winter of 2007. The new power goal
will be 550WHP (~643HP) and will include a new engine management system (HKS FCON).
Mike believe's that when you mod a car you have to keep everything in balance. So to support 550WHP the stock
brakes are no longer adequate. Mike installed a 13" Stoptech 4 piston big brake kit for the front and 2 piston
rear. Of course braking also has a lot to do with your wheels and tires as well so he got rid of his stock
17" rims and got a set of bigger, wider and lighter 19" Volk Racing LE37t's shod with Falken FK451 rubber "drift
tires."
One of the things that didn't need changing was the Z33's suspension...for a street car nothing rides better
and the Z33's suspension is actually a very good performing factory system. But since Mike has this
modding disease he couldn't pass up a set of very rare Cusco Zero-2 Titanium coilovers from his friend Adam
over at Z1 performance in LI, NY! Only two were ever
sold in the country. Not leaving any stone unturned, Mike also added a full set of GT Spec Chassis bars,
Hotchkis sway bars, Arc Titanium strut bar and had his car corner balanced by the track guru's at
Dent Sport Garage in Norwood, MA.
At the beginning of 2006, Mike decided the car's exterior needed a little freshening up. So he went with
USDM Nismo V1 Side skirts and a Nismo V1 JDM Carbon Fiber rear spoiler. "Because it looked more
aggressive than the JDM Nismo equivalent." Mike didn't like the OEM Nismo front lip so he close a
Top Secret carbon fiber lip which also serves as a full front under diffuser. The car now retains an
aggressive factory Nismo look and definately turns a lot of heads on the street while improving greatly on
the car's aerodynamics..
So in keeping with the theme of balance and completeness, the interior also got a makeover. Mike upgraded
his sound system and interior with modest components picked from Nazar at
Wicked CAS in
Kingston, NH. The rear side box finished in Carbon Fiber was custom made by WickedCAS and really matches well
with the theme on the car. Mike's system is modest, yet performs well while still allowing the car to be
nimble and lightweight while plowing through S-curves on a road course. A perfect balance!
Mike's proudest achievement is putting in a fully functioning Windows XP Computer in his
Z. "I don't know how I ever lived without it." This little computer does everything for the car:
GPS Navigation, Internet always on via Sprint EVDO access and 3G router, Bluetooth Phone, Weather Traffic,
OBDII monitoring, hooks into the engine management system to manage maps, plays MP3's, DVD's, games, etc,...
All installed and fully integrated into his car as if it was originally from the factory. Very impressive indeed!
This is truely one complete high tech Z.
Click here to download the Mike's spec sheet in MS-Word Format.
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