The $1,600 Body Kit Versus the $5,500 Body Kit: A Comparison of Two Nissan 350z Modifications

We bought two identical Nissan 350z, and we've been modifying them to be fun, daily drivers that you can take to the track. One Z gets expensive parts, while one gets cheap parts. Today, we're installing body kits on both cars. I'm getting a $5,500 C-West body kit, built by the JDM Gods themselves. This kid has pretty much everything you could ever want, except for maybe some mirrors.

So, I went and bought a set of $600 carbon fiber mirrors from Chad's Speed Cause Zach Joereally wanted them, so we had to. Meanwhile, in low car, we're installing a $300 Duraflex N1 Body kit, okay? $300, but it didn't come with a sweet hood or wing like the Hi cars did, so we got ourselves a gigantic Street Faction Wing, and a JGTC inspired Carbon Fiber Hood.

The wing itself was 800 freaking dollars. Which makes the wing officially the most expensive thing on the car. Oh, and also, we got these eBay knockoff Ganador Mirrors for $40 dollars. The money you save in materials, we might end up having to make up the difference in labor. I am so stoked. I cannot imagine what the outcome's gonna be.

This is our kit, it is a C-West N1 kit. C-West is a brand that we have known about since we were little kids and feel so honored that we get to put one on a car that we own. And honestly, I think it's gonna fit really well. It seems really well made, it looks like it is gonna match up, it's already got holes in it.

So, we're a step ahead of low car there. Let's get some done first, let's start with the hood. Getting on I think that'll be nice and easy to get our juices flowing. This is gonna be a painful day for our hands and arm toes. If we come out with all 10, (laughs).

Alright, so it's time to put a body kit on our car. I've never done this before. I've done it before, but not to this extent. Can't be that hard. I don't like when you say that.

I'm thinking we pull off all the old body panels and then kinda just go at it. Here we'll try it. Just keep your hand on the bottom there, 'cause I'm telling you. Yeah, yeah.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first bolt. Dude, look, our hood is see-through. Now that might seem cheap but in reality it's very expensive. It's hard to make something this strong, this thin. So like this stuff looks cool, but I think a big reason we're doing this is for the arrow benefits that we'll get.

And these vents are going to help the engine stay cool. The idea is that all the air that enters through front mouth of our new, big, sexy bumper goes in there, across our inner cooler, across our radiator and out these vents. Hi car probably has a little bit better aerodynamic principles in theory. I wouldn't note the difference.

This is the end? Yeah, okay. Ooh, already chipped it. A lot of the stuff you wanna pay attention to when you're fitting new body panels are the gaps between all the other panels around it. They wanna make sure it's nice and even, like your passenger side gap is the same width as your driver's side gap.

Like there's a fat gap on this side and it's like super close on the other side. Well, you just got to adjust it a little bit. We're gonna have to riser this. Keep it full on the riser. What does that mean? It means that we put in a lot of washers or a full nut on the bottom.

They're so dramatic. So we lift the back end of the hood up. Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- $1,600 body kit versus- $5,500 body kit.- Does more expensive, mean more better?- Let's find out, history tells us yes.(upbeat music)- We bought two identical Nissan 350zand we've been modifying them to be fun,daily drivers that youcan take to the track.- One Z gets expensive partsand one gets cheap parts.Today we're installing body kits.I'm getting a $5,500 C-West body kit,built by the JDM Gods themselves.I'm talking front bumper,(unwrapping sounds)rear bumper, (unwrapping sounds)carbon fiber hood, (unwrapping sounds)Side Skirts (unwrapping sounds).There you go, Carbon Fiber Wing.So this kid has pretty mucheverything you could ever want,except for maybe some mirrors.So I went and bought a setof $600 carbon fiber mirrorsfrom Chad's speed cause Zach Joereally wanted them, so we had to.- Meanwhile in low car,we're installing a $300Duraflex N1 Body kit, okay?$300, but it didn't comewith a sweet hood or winglike Hi cars did, so we got ourselvesa gigantic Street Faction Wing,and a JGTC inspired Carbon Fiber Hood.The wing itself was 800 freaking dollars.Which makes the wing officiallythe most expensive thing on the car.Oh and also, we got theseeBay knockoff Ganador Mirrorsfor 40 dollars.The money you save in materials,we might end up having to makeup the difference in labor.- I am so stoked.- I can't imagine whatthe outcome's gonna be.- This is our kit, it is a C-West N1 kit.C-West is a brand that we have known aboutsince we were little kids andwe feel so honored that we getto put one on a car that we own.- And honestly, I thinkit's gonna fit really well.It seems really well made,it looks like it is gonna match up,it's already got holes in it.So we're a step ahead of low car there.Let's get some done first,let's start with the hood.Getting on I thinkthat'll be nice and easyto get our juices flowing.- This is gonna be a painfulday for our hands and arm toes.- If we come out with all 10, (laughs).Off to a bad start.- Alright, so it's time toput a body kit on our car.I've never done this before.- I've done it before,but not to this extent.Can't be that hard.- I don't like when you say that.- I'm thinking we pull offall the old body panelsand then kinda just go at it.Here we'll try it.Just keep your hand on the bottom there,'cause I'm telling you- Yeah, yeah.(beep sounds)A journey of a thousand milesstarts with the first bolt.Dude, look, our hood is see-through.Now that might seem cheap,but in reality it's very expensive.It's hard to make somethingthis strong, this thin.So like this stuff looks cool,but I think a big reasonthat we're doing this is forthe arrow benefits that we'll get.And these vents are going tohelp the engine stay cool.The idea is that all the airthat enters through front mouthof our new, big, sexy bumper,it goes in there, across our inner cooler,across our radiator and out these vents.- Hi car probably has a little bit betteraerodynamic principles in theory.- I wouldn't note the difference.- This is the end?- Yeah, okay.Ooh, already chipped it.- A lot of the stuff youwanna pay attention towhen you're fitting new body panelsare the gaps between allthe other panels around it.They wanna make sure it's nice and even,like your passenger sidegap is the same widthas your driver's side gap.- Like there's a fat gap on this sideand it's like superclose on the other side.- Well, you just got toadjust it a little bit.- We're gonna have to riser this.Keep it full on the riser.- What does that mean?- It means that we put in a lot of washersor a full nut on the bottom.- They're so dramatic.- So we lift the back end of the hood up.- Yeah, that's what I was thinking."Our hood doesn't close?"I'm like, yeah, but there'sa huge gap right here,and it's really tight over there, riser.- So you do like it?- Well, I don't like the name.- Riser.- Looks like we're gonna haveto hot blow it (mumbles).- No, we're adjusting it to make it fit.That's what we're doing,we're not risering it,just called by different names,so it makes it sound likewe know what we're doing.- All right, we are gonna riser this hood.- No.- Overall, for a carbon fiberhood, this thing fits great.And we've been at it for like 15 minutes.The gaps aren't quite as tight as OEM,and even with the bumpstops extended all the wayon this side, their closesare little tight over here.- So I'm really happy with this.- Dude, this thing is (laughs)really, really cool, dude.I love this guy.- Does it close?- I'm afraid to close it all the way.Well, let's give it a go, ready?- Yup.(beeps)Nope.- Well this is this is the hood,this was supposed to be the easy one.- Damn, Aaron looks coolish, (beeps) dude,you look like a cyberpunk, like rebel dude.- So I made a mark,I've gotta cut justenough to let the latchkinda slide over the hood.If we go too far, we ruining it.(upbeat music)- We're gonna put thatfront bumper on now.So the first thing you gotta do,when you put on a front bumper,is take off the old one.- Oh yeah, there's thatbig old inner cooler.So you can see here,this mouth on the bumpercomes back very far.It looks like it's supposedto made up or somethingthe car had from the factory,which it doesn't have anymore.Now it's got a big oldinner cooler in the way.So most of this is gonna need trimmed off.It's always kind of nervewracking, trimming new stuff,especially new expensive stuff,but we're just gonna do it.(upbeat music)- I'm just gonna bring this in.- Back to the cutting board.(upbeat music)- A little more.(drilling sounds)- Let's go check.- I think that's it.- Seventh time is the charm?- Sixth.- Sixth time's the charm.- F B O O, front bumper officially on.- That's right, dude, I really like it.(soft beat music)- Alright, while Aarontakes care of the hood,I'm gonna move on to the bumper removal.What do you think?Fits just like I thought it would.- Yep (laughs).- Damn, hell yeah, dude.This thing's gonna look tight, James?- Not impressed.The OEM bumper comes inand it kinda contoursand gives that flare look.This just looks like a giant lip.So it's just like...- James, you wanna see our bumper?(upbeat music)- Oh my God.(drilling sounds)- I'm completely honest, Ihave no idea what I'm doing,which isn't a surprise at this point.But the bumper would notfit over the bracketsthat held it on, becausethere was tons of fillerin these corners.It was just here resent that had hardened.So what I had to do, to take the dranoand just get it all out so itcould fit over those brackets.I chipped a little bit of my bumper awayand I feel like a moron,but what else is new?So I'm making a stencil.Since we don't have anyholes in our bumper,I've decided to make astencil out of cardboard,which we can use to findwhere the holes are atin the OEM one andhopefully it'll match upas well as it can.It's probably not gonna goas smoothly as we think,that's just the nature of Low car.But I'm optimistic.- Close, but it certainly ain't no cigar.- That's for 370.- I don't think.So, this big expensive mirror doesn't fitwhere it's supposed to very well.So it's supposed to slip ontothis, the OEM mirror holder.It doesn't, so we'regonna have to trim this,to get these, to fit.- That's car parts, yeap.Not that big a deal.(drilling sounds)- Okay, so that fits nowroughly, that looks awful.Look at that fit man.Something is not right here.I don't know if these mirrors were meantfor some different version,maybe a Japanese market, 350Z.Something not right.(drilling sounds)- Oh, is that it?- Yeah.- Did you get it?- It latched.Okay but then how are we do have to cuta freaking hole in ourbumper so can do that?- Now it'll unlatch,but it's not releasingso that we can actuallyget our fingers in therewhen you pull the latchon the inside of the car.Yeah, rats' nest.So our after marketskirts didn't really comewith any mounting holes drilled.So I'm using the OEM holesand just mirroring themonto each other, making sure they're flushand drawing stencils.Hope that it fits.Go up.It's not only bowed in, it'slike pinching frame rail.So it's not allowingit to come up and over,it's just like, not gonna fit.- What's the plan here, again?- We have to screw it in here.And as you can see right now,this is not lining up with that.So hopefully the heatwill allow us to bend thisa little bit closer and we can screw them.- Are they working?- It's working, it was likeout here at the beginning.(upbeat music)- Well, the mirror is actuallygonna need a little bitmore work than I was anticipating.So I'm gonna think aboutit for a little bitand in the meantime,we're gonna switch gearsand go to the rear bumper.Cause I think that shouldfit without any problembecause the rear is pretty much stock.Let's figure out how to getthe rear bumper off at 350Z,can't be too hard.(upbeat music)I'm working on the car.(upbeat music)So getting ready to putthe new back bumper on,gotta transfer over our lights.I think this is the reverselight and maybe a turn signaland our license plate lightsgotta get that swapped over, so...Oh no, this bracket is very near broken.Not that big of a dealprobably happened inshipping or whatever, but thisbracket is about to come off,so we're gonna mix up someJB weld and solder that on.You know, JB weld gets a bad rap, I think,but it's really handy stuff.- I've kind of forgotten untiljust now, how freaking hardbody work is, no picnic Eddie.I think cardboard wasprobably the wrong material.(drilling sounds)Have I mentioned, I've neverdone this before (laughs).Yeah, no (beep) on (laughs).There we go.My hole is lined up.Dude, we freaking did it really.That was a major pain, I'm glad it's over.We're still going.- Still going.- This side, is not cooperating.All right, go ahead.Just make (groans) just joking.- James hey, it's me over here.And now I'm taking offthe stock side skirt,it's gonna be pretty easy.I think it's just a seriesof clips along the topand a series of 10 millimeterscrews along the bottom.- One ratchet all day.(upbeat music)I'd say I'm pretty ratchet,less and less as I grew older.(upbeat music)350Z, stock side skirts for sale,hit us up in the comments.- 'Cause this looks likeit's color matched already.Can you tell me that that'sa different color then that?That makes the whole visualizationthing so much easier.I mean, I'm really dumb imagining.Yeah, I can't see anything.- S-S-O-O, side skirts officially on.(beep)- Yes, fits.Yes, goes on nice.That was awesome.- Is that side done?No way.- Not bad, right?- No, it looks great.I think that looks really good.The wheel, well it looks great,the panel gaps aren't bad.Not bad, are these on to the spats?- Back's good.- (exclaims) dude.- Good progress, man.- Yeah we're making progress.- It's pretty good, huh?You got to get your little victories.- Our JB Weld is dry enoughto start playing with,so I'm gonna put the lightsback into the rear bumperand then put it on.This came with hardwareand holes in the bumper,where the hardware is supposed to go.So that makes it a lot easier to install,which is really helpful.So we've been kind ofhaving a breeze of a timewhen they are honestly struggling,but nice part seemed to fit.Well, so we got our rearbumper on, that's great.Now we're gonna fight with these mirrorsand get that done.And then the icing on the cake, the Wing.- We go wing.- We go wing.- We go wing.- Ooh, can't wait.- Dude, I got an idea.- I got a job for you.I think we need the key,this car is so funny, man.'Cause the interior isactually pretty nice.And then the outside rightnow, looks like hot garbage.- Dude.Well, our eBay mirrors camewith three wires coming out,which is just like thesingle core cheese wire.And the OEM has, I don't know more.(laughs)So we got Nolan in the driver's seat,he's just gonna hold the buttonsand I'm probably gonna electrocute myself.So we got a voltagereading on the blue wirewhen Nolan hit the up button,so we know that that'sgonna tilt the mirror back,which is gonna go up.Purple's right, yellow is left.I'm kinda going out andjust guessing on this one,I'm gonna say that the whitewire is gonna be ground.Down, left, right.That's not working Jimmy.Up, right, left, that'll work?- Cool.(beep)- Let's do the mirrors first,'cause those are like easy.- All righty, so on the topicof the mirrors yesterday,we trimmed up this baseplate so that it would kindafit with the mirror, but thenour holes didn't line up.So this morning I went to ACE hardwareand then I just got done,basically opening up these holes.It's not that pretty, but it will work.See look, this is okay,it's gonna be all right.So we're done with this one,this thing's ready to go on the car,but first let's get the other mirrormounted into its base plate.Let's go to the drummo.(upbeat music)Was it worth it?No, I'm not sure.So they're on, they look okay.It was a bit of a battle, but they are on.- They do look great.- They do look pretty good.The mirrors don't adjust very far.(laughs)I can see the side of the car,these (beep) is $600mirrors I've ever installed.(beep)- Yeah, true.- All right, I love these mirrors.They're molded in a way thatmake them look very alien,which I think matches the rest of the car.The C-West kit is a veryfish-like, an alien looking kit,so I think this is a real nice touch.It does suck that they aren't functional.Don't be offended, thisis kinda what I thinkyour car looks like right now.- Yeah, fastest animal inthe world, the Blobfish.(laughs)- Nolan, can you comeover here and hold this?Just like another hand towards you James.- Yeah, you guys are almost ready, man.- This is called anautomatic center punch.You push in and thenit spring loads itselfand shoots into the thing.When we go to drill it, thedrill is gonna wanna walk,but with a little, nowwe can drill some holes,and mount some wings.(upbeat music)Hopefully those holesare in the right spots.- Okay, let's try to find that first holealmost long enough.- How's it going boys?- It's going, this hardwareisn't quite long enoughto make it through, so gonna back to ACE.Yeah, we just got back from ACE,I got the longer hardwarebecause I definitely wanna avoidusing a hole saw to cut.Basically, this is twolayers here, the top layerand then this bottom layer.We put our holes on the right place.- We did.- I knew it was gonna be good,but I didn't know it would be this good.These are the end plates,that will help withthe lateral stability of our car.And there might be some peopleout there rolling their eyes,but I do believe that it's true.- I agree with you, James,- All these different holesgive us a lot of adjustabilityover the angle of the wing.- The steeper it is, the moredown force you'll get but,well generally the moredown force you'll get,but you also get a bunch of drags.So it's a little bit of a balancing act.(laughs)That is the icing on the cake,this is why we savedbest for last, so good.- Let's quit talkingand adjust the angles.(children cheering)- Thank you so much Tony, fromSoCalZ for dropping this off.(unwrapping sounds)To take this one, nice and slow, test fit.Yeah, it's not too bad, alittle bit too much right there,but, I think I could workthat out a little bit more.And this side should bepretty close to mounting.I think it's good.Good enough.Do the other side (groaning).Right till there, this isactually gonna work out.That fits off.- You did all the work, you get the honorof closing the trunk.- First impressions on the GT wing.(beep)(children cheering)Dude it looks me man.- Looks really good.Just the ruddiest track beastyou could ever imagine right now.- Yeah, it was not the easiest to install.- You did in a pretty timelyfashion, I think, didn't you?- I mean...(upbeat music)(car engine roaring)- So does more expensive,mean more better?- Yeah.- Yes, absolutely.- It was a lot of workto get the body kit onand still not drilled at all.I think it looks really cool,but like man, it was a pain.- The main difference,is the ease of install.Job and I used one tool.It was honestly the mostrewarding day of working on carsthat I've ever experienced.And I've worked on carsat least four days.- The biggest disappointmentof the $300 body kit was just,there was no holes drilled in it.So we had to figure outeverything ourselves.We had to mock it up with stencilsand keep fitting and refitting,just making minute adjustments.Even if it just had mounting holes,that would have been such a relief,but we had to do it all ourselves.- We have to finish all ofthese projects in a day or two,so we had months or a bunchof weekends to figure it out.I think you could probablymake your kit fit pretty well.- Yeah, it's actually not a bad choicefor someone who wants to take that timeand change up their look.I think it looks pretty freaking good.- Oh yeah it looks prettygood, but time is money, baby.I just made that up.- All right, let's move on to the hoods.- I love it, I love the design of itand it fits really well.Nolan's hood is a carbon fiber,laid on top of a fiberglass frame.So it's a lot heavier than ours.- I think the us having todrill a hole in the hoodfor the latch to latch, was definitelyan engineering oversight on their part.You have to open the hood with aflathead screwdriver with time.- Oh yeah, I forgot aboutthat, your hood does suck.- I don't want thereto be a situation wheresomething catches onfire underneath the hoodand then we have to solve itwith a flathead screwdriver.I think it's prized for usto install the hood pins,before we go out there.Mirrors, I would take mineany day over the ones you...- So would I.Our mirrors were $600, I can'tsee anything out of them.I think they look really cool.- They look amazing.- We're literally like,we're going to a track day,Job is going to AutoZoneto buy one of thoseconvex mirrors that old people have,so we actually see behindus and not be a dangerto everybody else in the track.In this case more expensivedoes not mean more better,in fact, more expensivemeans more crappier.- I think the Low car'swing looks pretty great,really adds to the whole vibe of the car.It's just like a rowdy just hooliganand the fit of the mountingplates onto the trunk itselfis not quite as smooth asthe C-West mounting plates...- They're curves and theycame like little gaskets,like the gaskets lets us fit them up.Dude, yours is taller and wider.So like sometimes I'll look atthem park next to each otherand I'll be a little jealous.- Got winging me.- Yeah well, all in all, if Ihad to buy one of these kits,I would do everything else to it,I would make it fast, Iwould make it stop good,I would make it handle well.Get it to the pointwhere I really loved it,performance wise and then I'dsave up for about six months.And if I wanted to, I woulddefinitely buy the C-West kit.- You know what?I think I have to agree withyou, you've persuaded me.Putting the Duraflex kit on,while it is a decentkit and we made it work,it was a huge pain in the ass.I don't really want togo through that again.I used to look at that bodykit when I was in high school.- Does kinda look likea blob nose fish though.- Thank you so much for watching "HiLow"and everything else on donut media.Got a lot of new stuff coming out.Oh, big episode next week,as you guys probably know,Nolan had a bit of a plastic dip fiasco.- That's why the car looks like crap.- Yeah, next week is"HiLow The Redeption".Speaking of new stuff,if you haven't alreadycheck out our new show,"Money Pit" host by Zach Job.- Yeah, are you team Hi, are you team Low?Show your freakingallegiance with some hashtagsHi and Low stickers, nowavailable on donutmedia.com.- I'm team Hi.- Really?Be kind,- I Love you.- See you next time.- Hallar.(upbeat music)