- [James] $20,000 Nissan 350Z,
(upbeat music)
- [Nolan] Versus a $50,000 Nissan 350Z.
(car engine roaring)
Does more expensive,
really mean more better?
- Let's find out.
- It's the final battle?
(comical noise)
- Metal.
(engine revving)
(upbeat music)
We bought two nearly
identical Nissan 350Z's
that we've been modifying
to be daily drivers that
you can take to the track.
- One Z got a bunch of
cheap parts totaling $20,000
and the other Z got a
bunch of really nice,
expensive stuff adding up to,
are you guys ready for this?
$50,000 for an 18 year old Nissan.
Last time I spent that much money
on an 18 year old--
(beep)
Epstein's Island.
Today, after six months of hard work,
we are finally putting them head to head
on a real track to see if all that money
translates into real world,
not internet forum,
not my uncle says that this does this.
Real world results.
- But before we do that,
we're gonna break down all
the mods that we've thrown at
these two cars that add up
to that crazy dollar amount.
- Yeah.
And then we are going to guide
you through all the steps you
need to take, to take your
car to your first track day.
So you don't make all the same stupid,
- Hi car has sprung a coolant leak.
- Idiot.
- Son of a bitch.
- We thought it was raining,
but turns out we were just spitting,
coolant all over our windshield.
- Dumb person mistakes that we made
on our first track day, which is today.
(upbeat music)
First time around the block,
we throw on some new
coilovers, wheels, tires.
We changed the color of our
cars, added some turbos.
And then we drove all
the way to world famous
Sandia Speedway in Albuquerque, New Mexico
for a track showdown.
- But we weren't truly done there.
In usual project car fashion,
neither car was complete.
When is anything ever complete?
We had to get the band back
together and finish these things
- Once
- and
- For
- all.
- First things first, we handled
some unfinished business.
Both cars got bolt in,
four point roll cages,
and finally got some proper harnesses.
- Not only do the cages look sick,
but I do believe that hi
car is a little bit stiffer.
And honestly, I just feel
safer heading to the track
in a car that is caged.
- Low car feels a lot stiffer too.
And I totally agree. It feels super cool.
Seeing a roll cage in
your rear view mirror.
Speaking of looking at things behind you,
we put a freaking wing on this thing,
and a body kit.
- For hi car, we went
with an OG period correct,
C-West body kit.
It came with everything but new mirrors.
So we threw some carbon
fiber mirrors into the mix.
Like you do.
- Low car got a Duraflex body kit.
And because it didn't
come with a wing or hood,
we just had to get a new carbon
fiber hood in a big old wing
to match the hi car.
But getting it installed is
a story for another time.
Watch that episode.
- So now we got these new
body kits on the cars.
They don't match.
So what we do?
Okay, we color match them
in true hi car fashion.
We went with the professionally
installed 3M vinyl wrap.
- For low team, this is
our shot at redemption.
(suspenseful music)
- Oh, no!
- Oh, my God!
- After installing all
of our new trick bits,
we had to step back into the booth,
and give Plasti Dip another shot.
And this time we really did our homework.
- And it's a really good
thing that they did,
because I don't think
that Nolan's little heart
could take any more disappointments.
You guys were Ritz.
I mean, you guys were
really mean to my boy,
Plasti Dip community.
- Calm down dude.
We're okay.
We talked to the PlastDip god himself,
Fonzie, AKA the bicep boy.
He gave us a lot of great
guidance and I think the results
speak for themselves.
- Massive gains.
Nolan, I think I can officially say,
that you have redeemed yourself.
- Thank you.
Okay, next to match
our Z's race car looks,
we needed to sort out our fuel injectors.
We had previously installed
turbos on both cars,
but with all that extra turbo
air getting jammed into our
engine, we needed more fuel.
So we wouldn't blow 'em up.
hi team got to set a very expensive.
Deatschwerks, 600 CC squirty boys.
- And low team got a set up
used R35 GTR 550 CC injectors.
And to feed them,
we installed a new
Walbro, 255 LPH fuel pump,
- But just installing them wasn't enough.
We had to get the cars re-tuned to work
with the new injectors.
We went over to our boys at Specialty Z,
and got the cars dyno-tuned.
Low car made 302 horsepower.
- And hi car made a very impressive,
super masculine, handsome 372 horsepower
that comes on super low in the rev range.
Just usable power, man.
He's tapped at boy and it eats.
I'm not going to say it's perfect.
There's always room for improvement,
but it's damn near perfect.
- Very, very good.
Over on low car,
we did discover some
leaks in our turbo system,
as well as a hose that was
disconnected from our waste gate.
We've got those issues figured
out pretty confident in
saying that we are making
a little more power, maybe.
- More power, maybe!
- Put that on a shirt.
Actually don't do that.
That will be copyright infringement.
And I will sue you.
Donut won't, I will.
- And to put all of that sweet, sweet,
sticky power to the ground,
we gave both cars that
complete suspension overhaul.
Now both cars were already
sitting on adjustable coilovers,
but that just wasn't enough.
- Low car got some
Megan racing sway bars ,
and eBay adjustable control arms.
- And hi car got brand
new Whiteline sway bars
and a barrage of SPL adjustable
suspension components.
So sick.
We also got adjustable
front, upper control arms,
rear camber arms and sway
bar end links front and rear.
- Then car's got professionally aligned,
so we know that we're comparing the parts,
and not be alignment.
Next it was time to help
both cars stay cool.
- Easy-er said than done.
In hi car, we installed
an aluminum CSF radiator,
trust Chris Forsberg,
'cause these are Nissan Z's.
We also got a Mishimoto dual fan
and HPS silicon hoses.
Noice.
- We rubbed through one of the
hoses and replaced it with a
stock one though.
- Low car got a Megan racing radiator,
and a universal 16 inch
fan to cool it down.
But truth be told we cut the
OEM fan because it was a lot
better than this (beep) one we that got.
And now that our insides were cool,
it was time to make our
outsides even cooler.
- Low car got some super
sick Ebay headlights
and tail lights, unquestionable Underglow,
as well as a very cool steering wheel.
I love it.
- Yeah. Makes all the difference.
- It really does.
- hi car got some very trick
custom LED tail lights that
have a bunch of different
pattern settings,
including party mode.
And then we also got some
XK glow, RGB LED Underglow,
and headlights that you can control
with your fricking phone.
- James is really good at his job.
- Your phone.
On my phone?
I ain't think you can
do that with a Tesla.
Hey Siri, make my car party.
- It doesn't actually work with Siri.
(audience laughing)
So now both Z's are looking so fire.
- So fire, but there is one
thing that we have left to do.
- We're going to racing, baby.
- Let's just not.
- Yeah, let's not do that.
- The final showdown,
to see does more expensive
actually mean more better?
Yes.
- Whoa.
Absolutely, this car
rules, that car sucks.
Watch the video.
- I think he's gonna be surprised.
(electronic music)
- It's just dragging.
- So plenty of people will
trailer their car to the track.
But if you're like us,
the car you drive at the track,
is the car you drive to the track.
And if that's the case for you,
you should really give it
a shake down lap around your neighborhood.
Take it for a test drive
because the last thing
you want is they hit
the road for the track,
and then rupture a coolant hose,
have to fix it in the
parking lot of a gas station.
- We rubbed through our
lower radiator hose.
There's a hole in it.
That's bad.
I just found an AutoZone.
I can see it across the street,
and they have the lower
radiator hose in stock.
I got to go to AutoZone.
They close in 20 Minutes.
- And then find a boost leak,
fix it in some gravel
parking lot somewhere.
- Whether it's a 12 hour road trip,
or a three hour road trip.
- It's hi, low.
- And then get your motel
at one in the morning,
to get to the track at
6:30 in the morning.
- But if you do manage to make
it to the track in a working
car, then you're bound to have a good day.
- And what a great day it has been, Zack.
- Track days can be a
little bit intimidating.
(engines revving)
I know I was super intimidated to coming
to my first track day.
Already, I get it.
I get the appeal.
This is very fun, very exciting.
I'm super nervous, but very, very excited.
You might have to pay
like a $10 admission fee.
In most cases,
you're going to have pass some
sort of tech inspection in
this case, it was a self-inspection.
So we just ticked a lot of boxes, really.
Yep.
Safe, safe, safe, safe.
- Body panels aren't secure.
- Now after you're all settled,
you're going to have to
go to a driver's meeting.
- These flags are your only communication
from your car to the outside world.
- It's honestly really simple.
It's like what the flags mean?
What are the rules to pass.
- First session, no point bys.
Second session, point
bys on straightaways.
- If your car breaks, what do you do?
- It doesn't always mean
that you're in trouble.
It might just be that we need
to talk to you because you put
a wheel off and we want to
take a look at your car.
- There's two things that
they wanna happen here.
They want everyone to have fun
and they want everyone to be safe.
- If we pay, look how good we look.
(engine revving)
- All right, this is exciting.
My first track day, I've been
doing car stuff for so long.
- At a lot of events, they
offer you the opportunity
to have an instructor ride
along with you, shotgun.
That's exactly what we did,
and I cannot recommend it enough.
Super useful if you're a beginner,
or if it's just your first
time at this particular track.
They'll show you the racing line,
and give you some pro
tips on the trickier parts
of the track.
- So I think the most useful thing
the instructor was telling me,
was to look as far ahead as possible.
Look at your next turn, or
even the next one if you can.
You kind of think of your brain
is like a computer and you
need to process the coming turns.
So the further ahead you can look,
the more prepared you
are for what's coming.
- So braking points, entry, apex and exit.
That is what we'll focus on, right?
- Yep.
- He pointed out every
trick of this track.
- Nice.
- Like your angry mo?
- Two of them.
- Do you care to share?
- Nope.
- My instructor, Mike was awesome.
The first session was learning
the track a little bit,
learning the etiquette of
everything and just like what
you're supposed to do on a track day.
And then on this last
session, the second session,
we focus more on our racing line,
where I'm supposed to put the car,
which side of the track I'm
supposed to be on in every
corner and really started
focusing on going faster.
- Now full throttle down the straight.
(car engine roaring)
- How do you feel?
- Really good, fantastic man.
- There goes your track chain.
- Dude, having a coach is like so sick.
It's awesome.
'Cause like I would brake way before
he was telling me to brake,
and then he'd be like,
stay on it, stay on it,
stay on it.
So awesome.
I think I got bit by the bug.
Got to explain to my girlfriend
that I got a new hobby.
That's expensive, and it's going
to take up all my weekends.
Thanks Mike.
(upbeat music)
(car engine roaring)
- You basically dusted
everybody behind you already.
- I overcooked the turn, lost
all the grip in the front end,
and just went off the dirt.
The tires aren't there.
The tires are the main
limitation of the car right now.
- You went off track?
- What?
- You went off?
- I went off track.
- Hell yeah.
- 'Cause it was the uphill one.
Not the blind turn over
here, but over here there's
- Where you kind of go over that
like horseshoe a little bit.
(engine rumbling)
- Oh!
- You good?
- Now you definitely have to pull in.
- And I just like overcooked
the tires and just lost grip.
And then it was just like
went straight and just bounced
over the dirt.
Got back on.
- Yeah. That's freaking great.
- It was really fun.
(upbeat music)
(engine roaring)
- We've got some traffic.
- You've got more car
than most of these guys.
- We've gotta pit.
- Oh man.
I don't know if you guys saw that.
We're getting a lot of smoke at hi revs.
I'm trying not to like feed on it.
I'm like actually being very easy.
Yeah, look at all this is oil, Nolan.
- From that.
- Yeah, see that.
- Aaron is going to try to
modify his driving style,
by skipping third gear.
So we'll see.
- That's gotta be it man.
And that's only three grand.
- So hi car feels a combination
of really good and a little
concerning on that last run.
I was getting some good clean
laps where I was pushing it.
It's getting a little hot.
I think there's still some
air in the cooling system
that needs bled.
So I'm going to bleed it.
Hopefully that will sort
out the cooling issue.
This is all kind of a playtime.
We've got an instructor with us.
The next session, that's
the big one by ourselves.
- I like racing.
- Yeah, that was dope.
- I was so much faster that time.
- This car is amazing, man.
It's, it's so much fun.
Aaron's worried about the smoke issue,
but I think we'll be okay today.
- You beat my time by four
seconds on your hot lap.
- My hot lap was fast with him.
I went four wheels off on
the S over there, dude.
I blew off.
He's like it's blind.
And I was like, alright, well
I'm just going to go at that.
I turned in a way too late.
I came over the hill and I was like,
I'm not going to make this.
So I held the wheel
straight and I was like.
- We got it.
- The name of the game
today is fastest lap wins.
We originally planned to
average every lap and take the
fastest average time.
But that doesn't seem possible right now.
There's a lot of cars out there.
I think 109 in total, today.
Going into the third session,
low car actually does
have the fastest lap time
with a 2:14.
hi car's fastest lap,
between me and James was at 2:19.
But me and James,
haven't gotten a clean lap
yet in the first two sessions
we've gotten held up
and we've been having
these overheating issues.
So we've been having to back off a lot.
I just bled hi car some more,
got some more air out of it.
And I think it's in better
shape. So hopefully this lap,
I got a 2:15 or lower in me.
Maybe we'll see.
I feel like I could
beat hi car and low car.
- Aaron's a pro driver.
like literally he's a pro driver,
and he's fast.
And he's also nuts.
(tires screeching)
- Oh, my gosh.
This car is awesome.
- I've driven hi car, and
I know what it can do.
It's hands on a better car.
But, Buttonwillow is a very fast course.
Two minutes gives you a
lot of time to make up.
- He's definitely hung it
out a lot more than we have.
- I wouldn't count us
out of the fight yet.
- At this track, we got a chance.
- We spent ridiculous
amounts of money on this car.
We can't lose this.
I will push this car to
and beyond its limits.
I'll break it on the track
to win this thing today.
I don't give a
(upbeat music)
(engine revving)
Damn dog, you're fast.
- It's like some Le Mans type (beep) man.
- Grip it.
Nice.
(engine revving)
- Did you hear that?
- Yeah.
- Low car broke.
- Oh, no.
- The heat too is going up, big time.
- Damn it dude, We're cooking.
- Yeah We really were.
- Oh no.
- I'm sorry.
That's that's a motor for sure dude.
I'm sorry guys.
Coming into this first
turn after the straight,
heard a big backfire.
(engine roaring)
- Uh, oh.
Did you hear that?
Yeah.
- I was on the brakes real quick
and immediately the car
just sounded way different.
Like it was down a cylinder.
I'm pretty positive I blew it up.
- It sounded like a Subaru boxer engine.
- Oh my God, dude.
Now you don't get to drive, man.
- I know that's okay.
- For a low car. it means that this car
is retired from the track.
It'll make it back to Donut,
but it's motor is destroyed
and needs to come out.
A low car is still here.
It just needs a heart transplant.
- So low car lost the cylinder
and is out of the race.
Luckily for them, hi car
just got a black flag.
(engine revving)
- Black flag, we gotta go in.
- Is it because we're broken,
or did we do something wrong?
- What?
I don't know.
- So pretty even, I guess.
- We got black flagged,
because we were shooting a
bunch of smoke out of the back.
- Okay.
- We broke the car.
- Sweet.
I think we may have broke ours too.
- All right.
- Well, so yeah, a little disappointed.
We don't get as many laps.
Hopefully we can drive them home.
How bad did you break yours?
- We're putting it on the trailer.
- Really?
Dang.
- Damn. So that's all
she wrote on a low car.
I mean, duh!
So I mean, technically,
even though both cars are kinda messed up,
I'd say that ours is better.
It's not a pretty win,
I would have liked to win cleaner.
- it doesn't matter if you win by an inch.
or by a blown motor.
- So with that, both cars are broken.
Now let's try and figure out who won,
because not one of us won,
but all of us went.
Alright, back to the studio.
(soft music)
- Does more expensive,
mean more better?
The results are in.
- Well, since we broke both cars,
I don't know.
- My advice, what I learned
is you'll have way more fun
in a slower car that runs,
than a really, really
fast car that doesn't.
- Who could've seen that coming.
I don't know.
- Okay.
So during our only session
where both cars were on track
before both cars got pulled off track,
Team hi in hi car,
Zach Joe managed
a 2:13.9.
- Wow.
- Oh, and Aaron did a
2:16.7, which is slower.
- That is a tremendous difference, yeah'
- But during practice Aaron ran a 2:14.3,
which is basically less than a second,
way less than a second.
That's like half a second slower
- Yeah, four tenths.
- than hi car.
So the rule was fastest lap wins.
So technically hi car won,
but literally by less than a half second.
And it's a shame that we
couldn't put Aaron in hi car
to see if like the driver factor
would have made up for it.
- And I think it would.
I think Aaron probably
would have done at least a
second faster than low car.
I'm very disappointed that
I didn't get the drive it
at the track day, unfortunately.
We were planning on switching our cars
to feel the difference.
So that's unfortunate.
- In hi car, we were
overheating the entire day,
which sucked.
- Yeah.
- And then eventually got
pulled off track for throwing a
bunch of smoke out of the
back, but all in all, a really,
really good car.
And I'm sad that everyone
didn't get to drive it.
- You know, it's how
quickly we build these cars,
and just the issues that we had them
before we took them to the track day.
I kind of had a feeling
that something like this
was gonna happen, unfortunately.
- Yeah.
- Which sucks.
Going to these track days,
just warms its way into your brain.
And you just can't stop
thinking about that feeling of
having the car hook up and
just the sounds and the smells
and everything.
It's just like, I can't
wait to go back out there,
and then I remember that we broke the car.
- And yeah, which brings
back to the other point.
Like I feel the exact same way.
I immediately was like, yo.
I'm going to get a track car.
I don't care how fast it is.
As long as I can take it to the track.
And I don't want to break it.
So if you're going to have a track car,
the best way to have a track
car is to have one that runs
every time you want to go to the track.
I also want to point out that
the point of building
these two cars was to build
- Fun daily drivers
that you can take to the track.
- After trying to do it, I
don't know if it's possible.
- I definitely think we
failed in our ultimate goal.
We're not able to drive them every day
and have fun of the tracks.
I don't want to say that
the show is a waste of time,
'cause it certainly wasn't.
But we still have a lot to learn
when it comes to building cars.
As you might've noticed
watching us build these cars.
- I do think at one point we
did have fun daily drivers that
we could take to the track without turbos.
- That's what I was gonna ask you next is,
where do you think we went wrong?
- Turbocharging.
- Turbo.
- Not to say that you can't daily drive
a turbocharged car and
take it to the track.
I'm saying, if we hadn't
turbocharged our cars,
then we wouldn't have broken them.
- I agree with you a hundred percent.
We have yet to diagnose
what exactly went wrong with low car,
- Or hi car.
- Or hi car.
But had we had those same cars
with the upgraded suspension,
all the tires, the brakes with no turbo.
- We could have really pushed the car
a lot harder because all
day we were overheating.
So knowing which one would you buy?
The $20,000 low car or the $50,000 hi car.
- You know, if I was able to
drive hi car on the track,
my answer would probably be different.
But man, if I had to do it over again,
I would go low car again, minus the turbo.
Even though the parts
we bought were cheap,
we absolutely changed
the character of that car
and it drove amazing, while it worked.
- Yeah, man.
I mean, and I am loyal to my car too.
I think 100%, I'd go with hi car.
May or may not turbocharge it.
But I love that car and
we've been through so much.
So yeah, I got to go with that one too.
- It's amazing how attached you can get.
I don't know, I feel like
I'm getting emotional here.
Thinking about a turquoise Z,
with ugly headlights and
a big old wing on it.
You know, it was a lot of fun.
- It has been a lot of fun,
but we're not stopping anytime soon.
That's right.
We're doing another season of hi, low.
Who's going to be brand new cars.
Let us know down in the comments.
What you guys want to see us build.
We're talking maybe trucks,
maybe some muscle cars.
I want front wheel drive, drag cars.
No one's listening to me.
I also want to build a sand rail,
and no one's listening to me.
We're definitely open to
any and all suggestions.
It's a bittersweet,
and we got a ton of other
shows coming out on Donut.
To make sure you don't miss any of that,
follow Donut @donutmedia
across all social media.
Follow Nolan @nolanjsykes.
Follow me @jamespumphrey.
Just because the Z's are done,
doesn't mean that we won't
always be boost creeps.
We will always be boost
creeps, and hi car and low car
will live on forever.
Let us know if your team hi or team low.
- I just want to thank you
guys for watching this show.
This is like one of the best
experiences of my life and we
couldn't do it without you watching.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for watching.
I love you.
Can't wait to do it again.
Be kind.
- Want to do?
I love you.
- See you next time.
(upbeat music)
