I'm with you on the Audi warranty issues... and warranty issues in general. I've modded the heck out of my A4, and although I (thankfully) haven't had much of a problem yet, I've read what others have had to go through. I've always got that worry in my mind that if something on my car was to break, I could have some serious trouble convincing Audi it wasn't my mods that did it. That's assuming my mods *didn't* cause the problem. I'm perfectly willing to accept a problem if it was indeed my mods that caused it.

On any new car I get in the future, if I can get serious mods that retain the warranty then I'm probably going to do that. (At least until the warranty ends.)

 

I guess I should say that I'm much less hesitant to buy aftermarket mods for non-engine related items. I'm not particularly worried about mods like suspension, wheels, swaybars, etc. It's the engine stuff that concerns me, since that's usually where mod-related problems occur.

 

i know the case with my maxima (nissan, thats why i think its relevant, still a VQ) JWT charges about $600 for a chip, you can get custom programs if you need it for Nitrous or other needs, but without any REAL power mods, it is almost useles. As far as the other "chip" companies, most people report the gain as worse milage, and no real HP. of course people will defend their purchase, but unless its a stock Turbo where PSI can be turned up like an audi or vw, they are vastly useless.

Hall

 

Has anyone heard the rumor about the NISMO chip for $200? Story goes that Nissan was able to get 305 HP (as reported by Jay), but opted for the 287 number for insuranse reasons. So Nismo will offer the "original" chip for $200 as a dealer installed and warrenteed option.

Sounds reasonable, but its still a rumor.

 

I never did mods before, but I never had Z before... So now I'm thinking on putting turbo, when it'll be available and reliable.

What worries me is what changes into fuel consumption it's going to introduce? I'm doing at least 40 miles every day, and if turbos going to double my gas expences, then I can't afford it in long run.

I'm having 20mph average on rural roads right now.

Any comments apriciated.

 

Another thing about turbos ... someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that at sea level, you get a 100% horsepower increase at 14.7psi (atmospheric pressure is 14.7psi at sea level).

So we'll say 4psi as a safe stock configuration (just a bolt-on turbo kit). You should gain approximately 78.6hp at the crank (for a total of around 367hp at the crank).

Increase the boost to 7psi, which may be possible on this engine stock, or may require minor engine upgrades (maybe some fuel injectors and the like), and you're looking at a 137.6hp increase to a total of around 426hp (again, at the crank).

Obviously, lots of things will affect your overall increases. But that should be a general approximation.

I'm not sure of the exact loss of power through the tranny in a Z, but I'm guessing you'll be putting approximately 340hp - 350hp at the wheels.

Food for thought ...

 

Here you go guys... parts are comin out quick for the Z.. although its not Nismo, it sounds pretty good.

HKS already has a preliminary turbo kit for the new 350Z in testing. Early results are promising, with 354hp and 354ft/lb's of torque at the crank. So far the car has a GT2835 turbine pushing the air through a front-mounted intercooler that fits snugly in the front bumper. An F-con S and EVC IV are employed to run this beast, along with misc. other electronics. Still in testing, HKS is aiming for over 400hp when finished. HKS is also releasing 6-2-1exhaust manifold for the standard 350Z.
Hi-TECH is releasing a ECU swap-in unit for the 350Z that raises the rev-limiter to 7000rpm, bumps overall output to 296hp.... i would stick to NA, running FI is like running a hand grenade, i would never do it no matter how well the setup was tuned.

 

Would any of these mods be restricted to the manual version only, or would they work on automatics as well? FI, especially. Would the gains be less? Would there be trouble with the transmission down the line, on an automatic?

~Berj

 

You just have to be sure the auto tranny can handle whatever torque the engine will make. (Tranny limitations are torque, not horsepower.) I personally don't know what the torque rating of the Z's auto tranny is, but I'm sure someone around here can comment on that.

Along that line, if you want to make big power, you can probably have the auto tranny rebuilt to have a higher stall speed and maybe strengthened. There's a place called Level 10 that the Audi/VW guys use to have their auto trannies modified. Don't know about Nissan, though.

 

Greddy's kit is currently in R&D pushing out 347 hp to the wheels with a twin turbo setup. This eqautes to over 415 at the crank a gain of about 130 hp at the crank. This should have the car running in the low 12's and high 11's easily. Thats enough power in my book.

 

u sure da price for SC and Turbo is right??
I don't think they have a same price....from wat i know.....Turbo is more expensive..u need a boost controller..and u need to upgrade ur inter cooler too!!

 

Any takers on how long the RX7 seals last, or how long to blow on the o-ring (can you say steam engine?)

WTH does this have to do with Z's? Turbo on the Z from NISMO isn't going to make it a 30-40k mile engine like a '93 Mazda Rotary - add in the cost for 2-3 complete rebuilds in your math!

 

On my Alty I found the range of sensor inputs the stock ECU can handle and adjust for is HUGE. The range plus or minus of "median" input is more than enough to allow for more fuel for a cone filter/CAI, etc. Only pissy little sensor is the rear O2 trips once and while when it can't deal with the content. The KA isn't a VQ, but Nissan is pretty consistent in their design philosophy - reuse and many uses for similar parts.

I never had to do more than reset the ECU with every mod, MAYBE Nissan does this on purpose, given the range of vehicles they use engines in like the Q? I respect JWT very much, but never saw the logic in swapping out the stock ECU - w/o a Turbo or similar, the stock ECU has the latitude to handle different setup than stock.

Steve:D