MISHIMOTO RADIATOR AND THERMOSTAT

Whether you bought the automatic or the manual 370z, one of the things this car is unfortunately notorious for is overheating when you’re driving hard on the street, and especially at the racetrack. Keeping your engine cool is important for maximizing power, minimizing damage, and some low-hanging fruit is doing a radiator and thermostat upgrade. Mishimoto makes a radiator that will run you around $550, and the thermostat about $70. The thermostat will just open at a lower temperature, making sure to keep everything cool, maximizing performance, and protecting your engine. Because this is low-hanging fruit, we think it is a must-have mod to ensure you maximize your go-fast, fun time and minimize the amount of time that you’re sidelined.

AFE POWER TAKEDA SHORT RAM INTAKE

Starting with the aFe Power Takeda Short Ram Air Intake, this system is a short tube system but has high flow filters, which means it’s pulling in more air than your stock filter, but it is pulling in air from the engine bay because it’s a short tube. That engine Bay air is going to be hotter than air that’s coming from outside the engine bay, which is the benefit to a long tube system. The reason we like this is it’s made from aluminum looks great under the hood, allows more airflow, and it comes in at only $400.

AFE POWER TAKEDA LONG TUBE INTAKE

The next best option is going to be the aFe Power Takeda Long Tube Air Intake system, which is a long tube system, which drops the air filter down inside the bumper at the front of the car, pulling the cold air in from outside the car and creating velocity up those long tubes into the actual air intake manifold. At just over $500, this is one of the best values in cold air intake systems that are long tubes.

INJEN SP INTAKE

Our pick for the best option on an intake on your 370z is the Injen SP Intake which is also a long tube system but uses two separate tubes and two separate filters. It puts those filters back down into the bumper, just like the long tube system from AFE, but because they’re separate, they’re not competing for the same air. The other reason we choose Injen as our favorite for 370z is that Injen is a brand that focuses on JDM performance, and you know they’re paying that little bit of extra attention to detail. At just under $600, that’s our best pick.

Our next must-have mods are exhaust systems. And this is an obvious one because this is one of the most popular mods anybody does on any car in the enthusiast industry, but on your 370z, there are three major areas of your exhaust system that are worth identifying as different components that are all opportunities for performance starting with headers.

One of the best bangs for your buck is the headers on an exhaust system on a 370z because the stock exhaust manifold is cast and it’s extremely restrictive and it always has been on the Z’s. Short tube or long tube headers are going to be a great enhancement to power because they get a lot more exhaust gases out, and people can see a 20 WHP gain from header systems. If you need to stay California legal, you’re going to need to go with short tube headers and get a high-flow cat.

BULLY DOG GT TUNER MODULE

All right. We’ve talked about how to get more air into the engine and exhaust gases out of the engine. The next must-have mod is a tuner module because you’ve made these changes to the engine. You’ve got to recalibrate things like air-fuel mixture and the spark advance to make sure that the engine is running clean and maximizing the gains that you’ve just invested in. With tuner modules, there are many, many different options out there, but we recommend the Bully Dog GT Tuner for one very specific reason: It’s four devices in one giving you diagnostic and monitoring tools, but it’s also 50 state legal. We talked about getting a high-flow cat and remaining 50-state legal which is extremely important if you live in California. For around $500, the Bully Dog GT tuner is going to be a must-have mod that lets you plug in pre-made maps or get custom maps made to maximize the power gains and fuel efficiency, and keep your engine running clean and strong.

BC RACING COILOVERS

All right, so we’ve got a few go-fast bits installed. Now it’s time to switch the conversation to how to carry a little bit more corner speed. The suspension on the 370z is known for being excellent out of the box, and you’re going to be able to get a long way with that suspension stock. However, if you’re ready to take it to the next level and get a little bit more performance, one of the best mods you can do here is a set of coilovers. You are going to start to gain controls like ride height control—which is both a styling and a performance upgrade—spring preload, compression damping, high and low-speed compression damping, rebound damping, and all the other controls that you can use to really tune exactly the way that your vehicle handles through corners. And one of our favorite brands in this industry is the BC Racing Coilover Kit, which will set you back around $1,000. It is an incredible value and a great mod for your 370z.

WHITELINE SWAY BARS

With a set of improved dampers in place, you’re going to want to match that new performance with an upgraded set of sway bars and adjustable end links. The most important reason for this is because you’ve probably very likely can change the ride height of your 370z. If that is the case, the car will be riding lower and the sway bars in the end links are not set up to work with that lowered height. Adjustable end links will allow you to make that adjustment. The sway bars that come on your 370z are basically made out of junk metal, and they do provide torsional stiffness, but they’re just not going to perform as nicely as a set of spring steel, Chromoly, solid sway bars from a brand like Whiteline. Their Front and Rear sway bar kit runs about $600, and features adjustable end links, lateral locks, and it’s all made of super high-end chromoly steel.

STOPTECH BRAKE KIT

With power and handling enhancements in place, it’s time to talk about how to get your 370z slowed down. One of the best places to make up time on a racetrack is on the brakes. This is oftentimes overlooked. If you drive the base version of a 370z, your brakes, honestly—if you’re pushing it—are a little bit sketchy. You’re going to want to look at a big brake kit replacing the caliper, pads, rotors, and lines to make sure your braking performance keeps up with the speeds you want to pull. If you’ve got the better version of the brakes with the Akebono calipers, those brakes actually perform pretty well. The place for improvement there is in the rotors, pads, and brake lines. We have an excellent option: The StopTech Street Axle Pack comes in under $900, includes cross-drilled and slotted rotors, upgraded pads, stainless steel braided brake lines, and you’ll notice a marked improvement in how hard you can get those stoppers pulled.

MISHIMOTO OIL COOLER

If you’ve gone through this whole list of mods and you’ve got these all installed your Z is performing like a champ. Hopefully, that means you’re taking it to the racetrack. If you’re taking the racetrack, even with that radiator and thermostat in place, you’re still going to start looking at some heat issues. We highly recommend considering an oil cooler. For a little under $500, a Mishimoto Oil Cooler will help keep that engine healthy, happy, and running cool.