So I bought a turbo kit for my car but I furthered my researcher and heard more bad things then good either on stock blocks or built blocks it seems all turbo DEs tend to go so I wanted to know if building a NA motor if it’s possible to build a block to put out 400 whp with no power adders and if anybody has any dyne results of the various 4.2L striker builds and what those put out NA and if anybody has used or ordered any engines from importpartspro (site that sell crate VQ motors) I’ve read in various places that building NA VQ’s tends to be more reliable what motor builds have y’all done how long have they lasted prices and what do y’all recommend I wanna oversized piston bigger cams injectors and see what I can get and if higher compression engine is worth it and what are ups and downs and what dangers I need to look out when doing NA builds

 

building a DE block to hit 400hp is completely possible ... if you have more money than you do sense - Look up Sasha's / On Point Dyno build ...

in reality - dont expect more thank 280 to 300hp from a high rev'ing DE.

A 4.2 liter stroker is going to be expensive building it from scratch (like $40k expensive). Look into the Sleeved 3.8liter block that LifeSimple is selling - quite possibly the best deal you'll find on a sleeved block and you'll get 330 to 350 NA hp out of it.

If you order from IPP make sure you upgrade your bearings and have the block inspected once it arrives. I love IPP but they rolled out some dud-blocks a little while back. IPP, Z1 motorsports and Dynosty are the shops to get a built block from.

Your best bet for 400hp will be a simple turbo kit, pushing 8-10psi, tuned conservatively, maintained well, not neglected/abused and will last a long time.

Read what other guys have done on their builds and repeat what works, eliminate what doesnt work. A DE has been turbo'd or supercharged for 15years now - every question has been answered.

 

to the My350z community and beyond -

Over the past few days I've had conversations with Kyle at IPP about my block, my impressions of IPP(in general), and my post (above).

The following considerations should be noted:

I went back to my build sheet and indeed Kyle did use the 'Race' series bearings in my build. The bearing / bearings that failed (as installed in 2009) looked different than the replacement bearings I recently bought in 2019. Without digging in deeper and (as easy as it sounds) running the part number I assumed (100% on me) it was the 'performance' bearing - to which it wasnt - it was likely an ACL redesign over the years.

Furthermore and lastly - I attribute my failure to many other factors outside of IPPs control and I had 25k to 30k miles on my IPP built engine between 2009 and 2018 running between 450hp and 600hp before it went out.

Next - there is a guy locally that has trashed IPP and the block purchased from IPP - and I only got his side of the story from our local facebook group. Without getting Kyle's / IPP side it seemed like he got scammed off his ***. More reading into it and getting the other half of the story balances things and after reading the steps IPP took seems beyond the expectations, IPP did their due diligence, and offered up solutions to the problem to which I tip my hat to IPP for digging into the problem and offering up solutions.

aside from above the 'stories' I've heard from guys I've come across through the past 5 to 10 years and are essentially second hand - I'm not dismissing anyone but I am acknowledging there is always two sides to every story. My lesson here is that when I hear about a individual or company getting trashed-on I will always remember that there is another side, another story that isnt being told. I hope you consider the same.

I'd invite you to read what Kyle has to say on the topic:
https://www.importpartspro.com/paul.html

If nothing more - remember that there is two sides to any story.

Lastly - as a community and as a whole we owe a small debt of gratitude to the staples in our community ... off the top of my head its been the IPPs, the Z1s, the ConceptZ, and the Dynostys ... if nothing more, we should (and I include myself) patronize these companies as they've continued to keep our platforms relevant.

 

I agree 100% but I don't think I would ever get anything built from anyone other than dynosty. The stories I dismiss most of the time but there is just something about seeing their work that makes me confident they can handle things the right way. On the OP subject I know many local boosted VQs that said they constantly have issues, one thing to keep in mind is boosted cars by nature are less reliable than NA cars, that's why the world wants to LS swap everything lol. Other thing to consider is if you "only" want 400hp your best bet for reliability will most likely be a supercharger as it's much kinder to the engine than a turbocharger. I think Sasha was in the low 300s for the DE until he went with the current monster he has now that's putting out over 500hp, can't even fathom what something like that costs.