Performance: How does the 300zx compare against other Nissan performance cars ?

The obvious comparison within Nissan is comparisons against the earlier Z cars and against the GT-R. The earlier modified cars can out perform the later cars in many cases. And they are much simpler. Other models can also be made to perform way beyond what you might imagine. However the main competitor is the GT-R. This has an inline 6 cylinder engine of 2.6 litres (RD26DETT) with twin turbos. There are some lesser variants of this vehicle with engines ranging from 2 litres to 2.6 ltr and none, one or two turbos. The twin turbo variant has the same nominal output of 280hp but seems to have a lot more. It is also 4WD and has Hicas. One of the advantages of this vehicle is that it only has one of most things instead of the two on the V6. And there is a lot more room or access under the bonnet. The car does have 4 seats but has a higher center of gravity. I personally think that the 300zx has better handling but this does depend on what or how far your modifications have progressed. Performance wise the GT-R seems to have the edge. It can get the power down on the ground better than the 300zx. But it doesn't look as nice. Note that the only place to check out a 300zx's performance is on a deserted runway somewhere. These are far more common than you might think.

How does the 300zx performance compare against other sports cars (none Nissan) ?

Very hard to quantify since it depends upon age of engine, any modifications done, how good is the driver. I don't think that you should try on Porsche twin turbos, Vipers, larger engined Ferraris, Buggattis etc if your car is standard. However with a few engine mods and a competent driver you could start to give them a run for their money. A heavily modded 300zx should be able to give even the Viper a go. Unless the Viper is modded also in which case be careful. Ignore comments from enthusiastic 300zx drivers who said they blew off an xyz. It might well be that the xyz driver couldn't be bothered because he didn't need to. But the important thing to note is that you can be competitive for ¼ the price making the 300zx a bargain for performance cars. I bet you that you could extract an extra 100hp from a 300zx a lot cheaper than from a Ferrari (probably about 1/10 the cost). You can only get a very general indication by comparing horsepower.

The TT 300zx does weigh about 1600-1700 kg or about the same as a 928 or HSV so it is a heavy car. A WRX would blow you off on a twisty road but on the straights you will catch it. One area that the 300zx is really behind in is the ability to get serious power onto the ground via the rear wheels. If you want to go drag racing then much work and bush changing is required on the rear suspension. So even though it can develop a lot of horsepower lesser cars can still take it at the lights or track. This changes once the vehicle is rolling and on boost but if you are up against a Viper it might be too late.

What performance modifications can I do and what expectations should I have ?

Note here that one of the most frequently asked questions by NA owners is what can they do to increase their power. One option IS NOT TO BOTHER trying to upgrade to a TT because the expenses and time involved will be way more than what buying a TT would have cost in the first case. It is possible to do some modifications which will increase the horsepower but from the experience of others you will not be happy with the results and will want more. See the web sites at the end for what options you have.

For the TT there are many more options. Below is the conventional list. Most owners tend to do these in stages.

Note that the base car used here is the US TT which starts with 300hp instead of the Japanese sourced vehicles which have 280hp (the difference is in the inlet cams and the exhaust housings of the turbos). In NZ you would expect to get somewhat less than these values. There are many other things that you can do to give small incremental gains as well as the above. Some of the simpler (in time, ease of fitting and costs) of these are ­ water sprays for the intercoolers, increase the air paths to and from the intercoolers, in NZ remove the cats and maybe fit larger diameter downpipes, you can retrofit the US parts mentioned above, use undersize pulleys. The Japanese are way ahead of the rest of the world in the ability to extract heaps of power ­ typical modded cars there have ratings upwards of 600hp but note that the cost of parts there is horrendous. You might luck out and manage to buy one of these here but condition would be entirely your care.

One thing you might see mentioned in the US is the presence of the precats and how to gut them. The Japanese sourced vehicles DO NOT have precats There was a series of articles in Sports Compact Car magazine which traced the development of a 300zx with every possible engine, body and suspension improvement that you could imagine. Not sure at the moment where you would find these on the web and you may not because of copywrite issues.