ok guys, im having a little trouble here deciding to go NA or FI. The problem with NA is that headers and cams and stuff like that cost a lot for install. But with FI i dont want a system thats gonna blow up my motor, i wanted to run a good 350 with a good A/F but i dont know which FI kit to get SC or TT or even the Turbonetics single turbo. Could you help me out with what i should do please?...

 

If you are only looking for 350whp, then a supercharger would suit your needs just fine and should be pretty reliable with proper install and tuning. Most of them hit that hp out of the box and you dont need to modify internals to get there. I'm planning on going vortech

 

yeah, i wouldn't go past 350 to the wheels. the vq is turnin out to b not as strong as once thought. i'm plannin on doin a 75 shot, but that's about it.

 

Go N/A... Intake, Test Pipes, Exh., Plenum, Headers, and Cams and if that isn't enough add a 100shot to it. There is a 350z on the board that got 400whp with a similar setup. This is probably the way I will go. It would be a daily driven (safe) low 13 second car and then for the track a mid to low 12 second car at the very least.

Your probably looking at $2500 worth of bolt ons/cams and another $1000 for proper Nitrous setup.

$3500 is still cheaper than any form of Turbo/SC

 

absolutely depends on what brand of parts you get

my setup for intake, throttlebody, plenum, cams, headers, cats, exhaust was just under $4400 just for the parts alone. Labor is probably in the $1100-1200 range for just those parts.

Even so, I'm probably putting out about 280rwhp and 340-350ish at the crank - and that's with a technosquared ECU


If you want the cheapest setup that'll get you the most for your money for NA, get these parts

popcharger
crawford or kinetix plenum (I prefer crawford, no worries of cracking or exploding)
skip cams
skip throttlebody
DC headers
test pipes (i'd recomend the kinetix resononated ones to kill the rasp)
borla exhaust - same gains as most others for 3/4 the price (hey i'll even sell you mine for cheap!)

that'll put you in the $2200 range for parts with about $600-700 for install if you install the plenum and intake yourself. You'd be in the 255rwhp range after that

 

I hope your making more than 280rwhp with that setup. But you are correct in terms of it's all in what you want to spend. I was just trying to list a basic price for the mods. Either way you go: N/A or FI you are going to have to pay for install on some items, so I didn't figure that into the mix.

Here is a guy with the basic mods I was talking about and dynoed at 280whp, this is the same guy that was making around 400whp on a 100shot.

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=69913

 

yeah I don't really know for sure what rwhp i'm making, I'm hoping 285 or higher. Every dyno is different so even if i go dyno, there's still a lot of play. I know my acceleration power is huge - too huge for the stock tires.

I figured it's maybe better to underguess than overguess my rwhp
need to find a dyno after i get some decent tires

 

A hidden cost of staying NA is legality......and the need to sell the car eventually. A CARB-certified blower is 50-state legal and easy to sell - a cobbled together, illegal NA setup is a ticket waiting to happen, and most buyers will want a car they can legally register....you won't be able to legally register your NA car in California, and neither will the car's new owner. That $1500 you save going NA can easily be lost when you go to sell the car. Most buyers want a close-to-stock car that they "believe" will be more toruble-free. Plus the blower head can be removed before you sell the car and used on your next one (assuming it is near the same displacement). Will those 3.5 headers fit that Lexus or Chevy? The Vortech blower head probably will.

 

Only the Stillen is CARB! Everything else is pending, and who knows if they ever will be CARB approved. When it is time to sell or get a smog done, put your stock cats back on and you'll be fine! Will cost only about 30-40 dollars or just do it yourself.

 

I don't understand, why would I get a ticket for having aftermarket bolt on parts and why couldn't I register my car? of course I'm in AZ too, not CA.

Seems to me, the entire aftermarket industry would really come to a halt if it's really the case.


A lot of people combine FI and standard bolt parts on their car

 

You have that backwards. A basic bolt-on car will be way more carb certified than a FI car. Secondly if I was a buyer I would be more interested in a car that only had an intake and exhaust vs. a car that had a TT setup. Not to mention most people take off their bolt-ons and return the car to stock before selling it. This is a lot easier to do then spend the $2,000 to have a Greddy Turbo taken off.

 

I would go with Vortech. It will give you the amount of HP you want. You can spend a little more for NA mods but not be close to the hp. If you ask me I would rather have a SC then to deal with Nitrous. As far as CARB goes. I'm in Ohio and we don't even have emissions testing in my county.

 

I've posted about this on other boards, not sure if i have in here or not, so i'll just reply here again for you. This is purely IMO:

Supercharger vs turbo:
If you plan on doing upgrades to the motor, say internals, etc... Then I would highly recomend a turbo kit over supercharger, mainly due to the fact that the turbo kit is very versatile and upgradeable based on increased boost. However, increased boost over the initial recomended settings on the kits will damage a motor more than likely, so to gain full potential of a turbo kit, you must upgrade the engine's internals to be stronger. A supercharger kit on the other hand is not as upgradeable, because you can only increase boost in the future with a different pully. That limits how much you can tweak the FI system. However, with that said, if you plan on keeping the motor stock, and not building it up, a supercharger kit is probably the way to go for you, since most of these kits are fairly easy to do, and tuned at an optimum level for the stock motor. Turbos need to be pushed to their peak efficiency range to give the best amount of response and power, but unfortunately, most kits for our cars do not do this simply because the kit is designed for low boost. Funning 5-6psi on an 18G from greddy for example is not pushing that turbo anywhere near what it's designed to boost, and can be kind of a waste IMO. Good gains, don't get me wrong, but that's just my opinion.

FI VS NA:
If 350 HP is your goal, without breaking the piggy bank on labor costs for cams and headers etc... then FI is your only choice. BUt bear in mind that labor on the FI kits is not cheap, and can range anywhere on average about $900 and up depending on the shop and kit, and options you add. Tuning is also dependant on whatever kit you go with, some kits benefit more from tuning after install such as the vortech kits, than say the greddy kits or HKS rotrex kit. So there are lots of things to consider. I personally love FI, and like the HKS and stillen kits, but I am going to stay NA to see what kinds of power gains i can pull from mainly basic upgrades, and proper tuning.

Long answer for a short questions I know, I just throw all of my eggs in one basket for ya.....