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Robi’s 370Z was built to show just how fast a fully streetable 370Z could go in full street trim with street tires and a daily driver friendly suspension system. The car is amazingly stock. The VQ37VHR engine is completely stock with the exception of a lightweight 3" single outlet, center exit exhaust system built by Robispec and Motul 300V 5W40 superoil. Currently even the downpipes and cats are stock. We guess that this exhaust is probably worth about 6-8 whp over stock and sheds about 60 lbs of weight. Robi muttered that the car only made around 260 rear wheel hp on his dyno, which is about what we would expect for a stock 370Z with exhaust.

Robispec Nissan 370Z
Robispec makes one of the 370Z's lame cosmetic features functional by putting the exhaust right through the middle.  We really love the looks of this exhaust system.

Often tuner cars reflect the creator’s personality and Robi’s cars always have a unique feel to them. They are forgiving and easy to drive at the limit. Robi is mostly known for his work with the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru WRX but Robi’s work tames the notoriously hard to drive Honda S2000 into a smooth riding touring car that your mom could lap quickly at Buttonwillow. Similarly his 370Z can tear it up at the track and drive around town no problem. Robi’s wash and wear, stock engined 370Z  was less than a second behind Import Tuner Magazine's 500 plus hp, twin turbo monster 370Z with Formula D driving ace Tyler McQuarrie behind the wheel.  From working with Tyler at Falken, we know that his natural driving gifts are far beyond drifting. Bolting in the Tyler steering wheel gasket is probably at least a 2 second a lap advantage over other talented drivers.Robispec Nissan 370Z

The real magic of any Robispec car lies with the suspension system. The Robispec 370Z starts with a good, yet reasonably priced base. KW Variant 3’s are used all around with a twist, Robispec valving with a foot valve with a higher blow off rate giving a slightly more digressive compression damping curve. The additional low speed compression damping gives a snappier response to driver input and a little more body motion control than the standard valving with little ride penalty.

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Comments

Jim
# Jim
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 1:12 AM
Is the rear wing mounted to the chassis or the truck lid? Because it looks like it's just on the trunk.
jere
# jere
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 2:27 AM
This is the way to build a car!
Steve
# Steve
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:30 AM
Very nice build, great approach. Surprised 370's are not selling well in CA, 1000 units a month total NNA is more like G35 Coupe numbers back in 2003-2004 vs. 36,000 350Z's the first year. Doesn't help most of those 350Z's are still around as used cars for pretty cheap, nothing like that back then.
The 370Z timing was pretty bad here in the NE - both post-crash and January = not going to sell a lot in NE in Winter. I figured that was just a regional thing since it is every bit as exciting or better than when I bought my 350Z in Nov 2002, and they're mostly holding the line on price with a much nicer car! My theory is people on the top % are still buying the GT-R's since it's not a stretch for them, maybe even pulling in would-be buyers of much more expensive cars. The 370Z target audience is still trying to figure out how to keep the house, job, things were a heck of a lot easier back when the 350Z was introduced. A lot harder sell today for any new car. I just don't have room for another car right now with 6 vehicles (4 Nissans), or I'd be all over that. Or, a very slightly used 350Z NISMO, they're still around with ~10k miles for $24k.
Robi
# Robi
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 2:22 PM
Yes we mounted the wing to the edge of the hatch right wher they have folded 3 layers of metal together. the hatch moves not the wing mounts or the base plates. (so we added a bit of pre-load to the hatch latch mechanism) and the slight wing movement went away. Tested to 145 mph...
Jim
# Jim
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 4:15 PM
Thanks Robi,

I really like all the detailed refinements that you made to the car. I like the BIG BOY chassis brace and the high contrast color scheme is nice. In the article:

"In the rear, a fully functional carbon, DHP composites single element race wing is mounted directly to the chassis via adjustable Robispec mounts."

I just wasn't sure if I was missing some super trick mounting technique that you invented.

Wow, this forum is pretty cool. I didn't expect that it would be the actual builder responding to my question. Thanks again.
brandon drecksage
# brandon drecksage
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 7:44 PM
Wow, that is awesome. I wish more tuners went for lighter weight with better handling before going for 1000hp.
pcruz
# pcruz
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:33 PM
here in mexico the sales have been really bad... mainly sales price... over 48 grand.... thats a lot of money for a nissan.
Eric Hsu
# Eric Hsu
Thursday, November 26, 2009 9:05 AM
200.5 seconds for a lap at BW CW13? Was that a typo? That's over 3 minutes.
Mike Kojima
# Mike Kojima
Thursday, November 26, 2009 11:42 AM
Supoosed to be 2:00.5 minutes
cheeky14
# cheeky14
Sunday, November 29, 2009 3:06 PM
whats the driver (steering wheel gasket) ?

"The driver (steering wheel gasket) is one of the heaviest single components".....
Mike Kojima
# Mike Kojima
Sunday, November 29, 2009 9:35 PM
A driver is nutin but a steering wheel gasket.

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