2003 Nissan 350Z - Child Proof

In 1513, Don Juan Ponce de Lefn of Spain sailed the coast of Florida in search of the fabled Fountain of Youth. Although he founded the city of St. Augustine, he never did find the magic waters he was looking for.

Roughly 490 years later, Tim Goodman of Pleasanton, Calif., claims to have discovered what de Lefn had been seeking. But Goodman's fountain has nothing to do with water. Instead, he found the secret of youth in a 2003 Nissan 350Z with gleaming silverstone paint.

"I originally bought a touring-model Z with an automatic, thinking I would use it as my commuter car," Goodman says. "I drive 27 miles each way and traffic is heavy at times. I didn't want to be in and out with the clutch...after all, I'm 47."

Initially he hadn't planned on modifying the car to any great extent-some wheels, maybe an intake and exhaust. Goodman mentioned his modest aspirations to his mechanic, and the guy introduced him to Rob Fuller of Z Car Garage. Fuller was instrumental in getting the project off the ground and for pushing the performance envelope to its current limit.

Progress was slow at first. The 350Z was still a new platform at the time, so they added parts as they became available, beginning with a pop charger and exhaust, then anti-roll bars, headers and finally cams.

Around the time Goodman began taking an avid interest in improving the car's performance, he also became interested in competing in Nevada's Silver State Classic Challenge. The Challenge takes place on a 90-mile section of Nevada Highway 318, a public road officials close a couple of times a year so registered participants can compete in various Touring Classes defined by an average target speed.

In May of 2003, Goodman competed in the Silver State Challenge's 110-mph class. He placed ninth, which was all the encouragement he needed to come back that September and compete in the 125-mph class. He finished just 11.5 seconds off the optimum time and fourth overall.

Not long after the fall event, Vortech released its supercharger package for the 350Z, and Goodman, lusting for more power and a chance to compete with the heavy hitters in The Silver State, had to have it. Fuller, however, told him the project had hit a plateau because he believed the automatic tranny wouldn't hold up to forced-induction power. Goodman was at a crossroads, so to speak, and would have to decide if he was happy with the automatic he now had, or if he wanted to get a new car with a manual six-speed, and install the blower on it.

"Basically, he asked me, 'Is there room in your life for two Zs?'" Goodman laughs. "I told him I'd have to think about it, so I thought about it overnight and decided, yeah, there is."

He searched the classifieds and eventually located a pristine, non-track-edition Z with a manual transmission. Plus, it wore the same silverstone paint as the first. The car had spent the first year of its life in a garage, accumulating only about 1,800 miles on its odometer. Unbelievably, Goodman went back to the Nissan dealer later that day and bought a new daily driver, a 350Z convertible with a six-speed. "Because I've always liked convertibles," he says. To pacify Goodman's wife, however, who thought three Zs was just too many, Fuller sold the first Z a couple of weeks later, parts and all.

Although the roadster would remain stock, the new coupe went directly to Fuller, along with the Vortech supercharger kit, which is about as comprehensive as you can get and includes every last piece of hardware. The system includes the Vortech V-2 gear-driven blower, an open-element intake, front-mount intercooler, and oil feed and drain assemblies to keep the system running smoothly and reliably, even under what Vortech calls "sustained boost conditions." Full engine management parameters are also supplied, including a stand-alone ignition-timing controller, high-flow fuel pump and fuel management unit (FMU).

Keeping this car's upgrade path similar to the first, Goodman and Fuller also added Stillen headers, Stillen straight pipes in place of the catalytic converters, a full Stillen exhaust system, a new pair of Jim Wolf Tuning cams, plus a JWT lightened flywheel and clutch assembly. Other mods include a harness bar for Goodman's belts, StopTech brake assemblies consisting of 14-inch rotors and four-piston calipers at all four corners, and 19-inch Volk LE37 gunmetal wheels wearing Bridgestone S03 rubber.

With all the components in place and the supercharger system running at Vortech's initial specs, Fuller says the Z turned the Dynojet's roller to the tune of 330 hp, less than 100 hp over the stock baseline number. According to Fuller, everyone at the shop was shocked the final number was so low. Dauntless, he spent the next two weeks fine-tuning the supplied engine management. "I was on the phone with Vortech every day," Fuller says. "Vortech took every one of my calls, and was actually very interested to see what kind of power the car was making." Its best run to date, according to Fuller, is 413 hp and 337 lb-ft of torque.

By now, Goodman has run The Silver State once again and he tells us he plans to move up in class again, this time to the 150-mph segment, where his closest competitors will be Corvettes, Vipers and Porsches. If he does well, he'll probably move up yet again, and compete in the Unlimited Class; that is, driving the course as fast as possible. At that level, full suspension mods will be necessary, since he still runs a stock setup, as well as a full roll cage, new seats and an automatic fire-suppression system.

The man, and the car, seems up to any challenge. Ah, youth.

InteriorHarness bar, four-point harnesses, fire extinguisher