Hello guys, so I have a ‘14 Q60s coupe/g37 and looking to increase horsepower and torque. I have twin cold air intakes installed but don’t know what else can be done to give a significant boost. I’m not looking for a turbo kit btw as they’re really expensive for these cars. Thanks!

 

Intake, exhaust and tune... you'll end up 30 hp over stock on a good day, and 20 hp under the curve. That's about it unless you go forced induction.

Another approach is to look at things like poly bushings, suspension mods and gearing... things that impact feel and throttle response.

But insofar as bolt-ons go, nothing will give you a "significant boost". Everything is incremental.

That's my opinion, such as it is.

 

very interesting, I have been thinking about a motordyne exhaust system actually. However as for transmission, What do you recommend for boosting its performance?

 

Hey Guys,

I have a 2008 G37s that's been modified a good bit in most areas except for the exhaust. Coilover suspension. Carbon fiber trunk with slurve wing and mirrors. stage 2 clutch. bigger and badder back tires. I am trying to find the best product for the best price to install. I have Stillen Gen 3 Intakes on the motor as well as some other minor upgrades. I want something that sounds deep and not just like a loud weed whacker or ricer. I want the performance sound but I would like it moderately loud. More so on the higher RPMs than just idol. I have been recommended resonated cat delete test pipes from Z1 as well as some cat-back items as well but those are just muffler and tips. Any suggestions? If you go to my profile you can see the images of my car. I am wrapping the side skirts in Carbon Fiber this week just waiting on the wrap to get here. I also am looking to purchase something that will help me tune the car as well as I have too much going on for the injectors to keep up with so my service engine light keeps coming on. I have not had it tuned once yet.

Also, I am trying to replace my shift ****. (6MT). Any suggestions on the best ways that are least damaging to a stock ****? Good tutorial videos that have helped any of you before? I plan on working on installing the **** tomorrow.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

DBG37s

 

The trans isn't a cost-effective upgrade area. Minimum $700 or so for the valve body which leaves you without a car for a week or two. A full Happy Meal from Level 10 makes one clutch the pearls but isn't worth it unless you go forced induction.

 

unfortunately forced induction for these cars is ridiculously expensive. Wish you could have turbo fun without dropping your whole college tuition on it but anyways. The car is really heavy and not many convenient options for weight reduction.

 

Nope. Just accept that whatever you do will probably destroy the leather wrap on the OEM ****. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's uncommon. Good luck.

BTW, what you did here is called thread-jacking.

 

DOC racing makes a top mount you could pick up for under 5k; so it's not as bad as it used to be. It's for a Z but you can modify it to fit but that's another thread... The 7AT is your real achilles heel. Even fully built ones by level 10 don't hold up over time when legit power is put through it.

CAIs, testpipe/HFC, exhaust and a tune - call it a day. The extra bump doesn't seem like much but it really wakes the car up when it's all under the curve and usable. After that, suspension mods and wheels/tires are your friend.

 

I'm gonna say some things that aren't going to be popular with many guys on here. And I'm going to make a guess that you recently bought the car and are already looking for more power.

NA mods probably are not worth it to YOU. Don't even waste your money. It can get expensive, as most advocates of NA mods will suggest about $500 for intakes, over $1,000 for exhaust, and if you really want to get the most of NA, you'll need to consider headers (ours are already very good, but there's a few people who like their aftermarket headers) and possibly intake manifold (Z1 or something along those lines. And EVERY NA advocate will rightly tell you GET IT TUNED.
Just scratching the surface of these mods, you are looking at somewhere between $2K-$3K. And most of this power will live in the same place the VQ37 makes it's power and may not be very noticeable.

Not bashing NA advocates, as many NA guys already know this, and also are looking for improved looks and sound, so it's no problem to justify the cost/benefit ratio.

I don't know if you bought the wrong car, could have been better served by a newer Mustang, or what, but I can share my FI vs. NA experience:
I had a 2016 GTI Stage 1 tuned. I could feel EVERY dollar I spent on that car in the "seat of my pants" it was phenomenal the performance gains made from very little $$$.
I also have a Nissan Titan that I had to replace the exhaust manifolds (cracked) and it was about the same $$$ to go LT headers, reso cat pipes, CBE 3" exhaust and UpRev. I'm in it about $3K just for that. Plus, the extra power required I have a HLSD installed in the rear end (it was loosing traction too easy).

My truck is "kinda" faster. I noticed it couldn't keep traction, and yeah, sure it's probably as quick as any new truck. But, that $3K hurt, and I didn't do it for the power, I did it because OEM parts (which are a crap design) are more expensive. And my entire exhaust was already rotting away. So, I would have spent that much just for stock. The truck isn't quick enough to justify $3K on power alone. I would have rather never needed to spend that money! And, the need for a better rear end cost me another $1.2K
It all adds up.

On my GTI, I went from a 100mph 1/4mile to a 106mph 1/4mile for under $1K. The difference was real, and felt like a good value. Unfortunately, the German demons, made in Mexico, reared their ugly heads and the car spent too much time at the dealer (mostly for trim issues and recalls)

I would hope you got a good deal on your Q60. 2 years ago I paid $20K for my Q60 AWD lease return with 22K miles. I totally intend to boost it, I have spent $0 under the hood knowing that any NA mod would be a waste (well, CBE can be reused and enjoyable after boost). I have set aside $10K to buy the S/C kit from Topgunz, the "ACE" kit. You would be at 450WHP after this kit. You WILL feel that! That is nearly a 170-180WHP boost. And, at those modest levels (this kit can do over 600whp, but you'll kill the 7AT eventually) with linear torque your 7AT will last quite a while.

I don't know about you, but a boosted 450whp AWD Japanese coupe for under $30K all in sounds like a fine deal to me. Go look at the price for the ONLY other comparable Japanese coupe, RC350....they are all at least $10K more than your Q60 (way better Lexus resale value) and also go look at what it takes to add power to a RC350. The G37/Q60 is a WAY better platform than the RC350 for adding significant power per dollar.

Seriously, save your money. Practice impulse control. Or get a different car.

 

No offense taken, a lot of truth here. Keep the power under 500whp and the VQ can retain a lot of its stoutness. That said, a lot of it depends on your tuner if you go the NA route. Headers are not required in the least bit to get over 310 whp and will keep overall costs significantly low. If you go with someone who just chases that peak power number; and it all comes in at the end of the RPM range (6800+) you'll be very disappointed. If you go with someone who knows what they're doing and is able to tweak the table so you gain that power all under the curve, you're going to appreciate that. My car is extremely eager and the characteristics are very different than pre-tune. For being all in at <$2,500 it's a good compromise and more than enough power for a DD and having fun on the street.

My personal opinion, unless you have a Sport 6MT trim, FI is a hard pass. No LSDs, no 6MT (7AT just isn't a fun transmission), 500whp limit before internals will need a re-work and a 7AT that will require the kitchen sink thrown at it to hold any type of power reliably (+$5,000 min.) just seems like a large endeavor when you could go with another platform (as you mentioned). Or, buy a G37 that is already boosted. Takes a lot of the fun out of building it to your specs but also saves a ton of cash in the long run.

 

I will definitely agree with you that the 6MT would be a better platform to start with for 500+whp.
But, when I bought my car, I was coming from an over-powered FWD wheel-spinning-no-traction-having GTI.
Once you get around 500+whp I am pretty sure you run into serious traction issues, at least what I can tell from Youtube videos (admitting no real world experience here) I've seen at least one RWD G37 7AT sedan running high boost Topgunz kit getting sideways when punching it at 50-60mph! (his video description did mention the 7AT was modded).

I'm OK with 450whp and AWD and I kinda am OK with the 7AT also. It would have been nice if a 6MT AWD was offered. I would have bought that instead.

 

Edit: here's that video I was talking about, and I read more his 7AT is NOT modified. But, you can see his traction issues even at 40mph!

 

I know the video - Infiniti Bros...
7AT probably isn't modified because he can't put more than a couple miles on a Vq before he blows it up..He's gone through at least 2-3 motors in the few videos I've seen

The 7AT will most likely be fine as long as you baby it 5-7 and keep tq under 350. 1-4 are pretty stout from what I've seen on the Z forum. Friend of mine worked at AAM and said valve bodies, cooling and keeping the power moderate will keep the 7AT alive.

 

I blew 4th gear in the DSG of my Stage 1 2016 GTI at 20K miles because I was constantly putting it in manual mode and hitting boost at 2,000-2,200 rpms while preventing an upshift, the car felt like a monster V8 at those lower RPMs. Supposedly the DSG was invincible, but I managed to break one.
That's why I probably wouldn't consider a turbo kit for the 7AT cars, turbo CAN make a TON of low-rpm torque.

Have you ever heard of anyone developing a way to lock-out gear 5-7 when a certain level of boost is reached? I almost feel like a simple boost-cut/limiter or an automatic downshift at a certain boost level would be fairly simple to implement, and might save a few 7AT's that hit too much boost in too tall of a gear...

 

A fella on facebook has swapped a used trans from a Q60 red sport into his G. The two cars share the same 7AT with the exception being the internals are upgraded to handle the higher torque from the twin turbos. He had to shorten his drive shaft because the RS trans has a longer bell housing for the beefier torque converter. (triple disc!) He also swapped the TCM and had to drill a hole for the crank sensor as well as using the trans mount from the RS. This looks to be the cheapest route to getting an upgraded 7AT that can handle over 400 ft. lbs of torque.