Jim Jones

My N/A mods are nearly done now. The crowning touch was the TechnoSquare ECU custom flash, which I got this afternoon. It is truly the electronic brain that adds muscle to all that brawn bolted onto the engine. It really pulls everything together and makes it work in true synergy.

The peformance is just astonishing. Tadashi, the main guy at TechnoSquare drove my Z right after he flashed the ECU. He came back and I asked him what he thought. He said "WEIRD." Repeated it a couple of times. "WEIRD." I said what do you mean. He said, "IT PULLS HARDER THAN ANY ONE I HAVE EVER DRIVEN." Now that's a compliment coming from the master.

I know a lot of you have enjoyed the advice of another member here who has done a lot of research and writes very long posts to share what he has learned, and that is certainly admirable.

If you care, here is my advice. It will cost you about $8,000 to do what I did to my car, but you will not be sorry. You will be ecstatic. Peas.

apex locator

iTrader: (5)

so how does it feel to YOU though.

noticeable increase just from the ecu flash?

are you gonna dyno it now?

Jim Jones

The difference is enormous with the ECU flash. I don't think it would make that much difference in a stock engine. But with all the bolt ons I have, plus the cams and flywheel, the fuel delivery remapping and increase in rev limiter (to 7100) are incredible. I honestly believe this car will do 0 - 60 in 4.5 seconds. I know people will scoff at that. But I have driven it. It will run circles around a stock E46 M3 or N/A 911. I'm sure.

I know I'll get flamed here. I always do. Still, glutton for punishment that I am, I am posting here to share what I have learned from personal experience.

Yes, I will dyno somtime in the next few weeks, when I get around to it. Whether I post the dyno sheet here depends on how I am treated in the interim.

Happy Thanksgiving.

MY350Z.COM

iTrader: (2)

Happy Thanksgiving Richard....Caryl.......I mean Jim!

Another new owner eh?

Victor

________________

Glad you like the ECU. Do you know what they did different with yours since you have the NISMO cams?

Are you going to a dynojet this time or back to the Mustang dyno? Just a question. No flames here.

Jim Jones

Victor -

You forgot Grandma. You all know who I am. It's no big deal. My car screams now, due in small part to what I have learned here, and in large part to my Visa card.

Anyone who follows my lead will be glad they did

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mr Twisted

JJ do the dyno at Powertrain in Huntington beach, thats where the So cal boys all dynoed earlier this year. Its $75 for 3 pulls with a/f #s And when you go let me know and I'll be your witness. and run mine again with some new mods

Jim Jones

Mr. Twisted -

R&D in Gardena is much closer to me, because I live in Redondo Beach. But thanks for the offer of being my witness. Peas.

zland

Jim/Richard:

1. I would love a ride in it when we get together in March. Hopefully, Cheston will be there in his PE TT. I am sure others will have tons of mods by then too. Heck, i might surpize others by then and get the ***** to mod my motor.

2. On the dyno pull you will do. Just so you dont have to go through the fury of public/site cruxifiction, pls consider selecting a dyno type that most will accept as being accurate. I would hate to see the skeptics question your post and based on what you are saying your Z does now, it just might shock some people and get the highest pull of all NA 350Z's out there.

3. What changes did TS do? Could you list them such as raise rev limiter etc....

4. Have you done any suspension or wheels and tire purchases yet? I know you were checking mine out and thinking of upgrading. You are putting out some hp so you might want to upgrade those things before your next track visit, you might need the extra traction.

Thanks and happy to see you are really pleased with your NA and last mod,

Jeff - zland

Jim Jones

zland -

I hope we can get together before March 2004. You are welcome to drive my monster. PM me and we can arrange something. I know it is a long drive for you, but the LA club has a monthly meet and drive. Look at the "11/23 LA drive" thread on the Southern Cal regional forum for pics of last sunday's canyon drive. 11 Zs, a G35C and a 911 Turbo participated. It was great fun.

slay2k

Daaaaaaamn Jim,

I've read through your list of mods... that's insane ;D

I'm *REALLY* curious to see what your output will be with all that good stuff.... please don't disappoint us !! Some might take your path, with all the FI bull going on nowadays...

Thanks for sharing, take care.

-slay

Mr Twisted

JJ do the dyno at Power Train The last thing you want is to go thru a second round of unpleasantness. Take my advise. Lets end the speculation on dyno numbers and dyno accuracy. I'll be your witness or if you insist on going to RD, Ill dyno to give a comparison on dynos. Let me know time and date.

Sosa

iTrader: (1)

I think it'd be cool to go back to the same dyno as before, just to COMPARE the readings. After all, almost all that matters truely with the dyno testing is relativity to the baseline dyno, or the previous one.

Jim Jones

Using the same dyno machine kind of puts me in a bind. I got my baseline dyno (233 rwhp), and my dyno after all the mods EXCEPT the Crawford Plenum, RT Hi-flow Cats, TS ECU flash, and grounding kit on that same machine (301 rwhp). It is a Mustang Dynometer that is portable, and was set up at Mossy Nissan in Oceanside when I was there.

A lot of the members here questioned the Mustang Dyno, and there was a lot of unpleasantness directed towards me. I have no intention of going through that again. I don't even know where to go to find that machine, and if it is in San Deigo County, that is a long way for me to drive just to satisfy everyone's curiosity.

I have an appointment for a dyno at R&D in Gardena. Since I might have to cancel due to my work schedule, I won't say when it is yet.

VR3

Please keep us posted if possible on your dyno results, as well as, any 1/4 mile times...if you do usual visit the drag strip. As I'm very interested in this set-up if I decide not to go TT or SC.

How's the drivability with the JWT flywheel?

Thanks.

Jim Jones

The flywheel does affect driveability, but not seriously. The car is a little harder to shift and the throws have a different feel. the 4th to 5th dogleg feels like you are pusing the gearshift lever straight up, and then when you go to shift to 6th, it feel like there is a spring pushing it back into 4th. You have to be careful not to put it in 4th by mistake when trying to shift to 6th.

The hardest thing is driving the car very slowly in bad stop and go rush hour traffic. Once you drop below 8 or 9 mph on the digital speedo, you have to do a 3 legged dance on the clutch, throttle and brake, and move the stick in and out of 1st as well, just to move slowly. It is almost impossilbe to crawl at 5 mph.

I have had the ECU for less than 24 hours, but it seems to improve that low end problem.

zzzya

iTrader: (2)

I am on the same track as you JJ with a slight difference in some product manufacturers. The one mod that I will wait on for a bit are the cams. I would like to see some better options available and I would also like to see where I end up without them since they are the most costly mod to have installed. The rest I have done myself, but do not want to mess with the cams. I have the Crawford headers and High flow cats on route to my house right now, with the intention to have TS flash my ECU after these mods are installed. I too will consider the Evo final drive, but since I have a 5AT I will be waiting for a bit since only the MT version is available. I honestly think this car will be plenty fast for me and my needs by the time my NA mods are completed. Enjoy!!

MY350Z.COM

iTrader: (2)

You need to get a valvebody recalibration and a torque converter. Your AT will really fast with those 2 mods.

zzzya

iTrader: (2)

It may be something that I look into, especially the valvebody recalibration. I think I will wait a while until more torque converter options are on the market before going that route. I really like the feel of the 5AT as it sits. The UR pulleys made a pretty nice improvement in shifting, which was something I was not expecting. The car seems to flow from gear to gear a lot smoother with less hesitation. Around here, Iowa, all the tracks are closed for the winter. I can't wait to get out and see what I will be able to pull off in the 1/4 next year with my "winter" modifications. There is one other mod I will be watching closely and that is the throttle body Evo has worked on. If I see some nice improvements there I might slap that in before getting the TS ECU.

NECurve

I'm sure your car now pulls quite hard, but a NA 996 will also do 4.5s to 60. After 60 it would walk away from your Z like it was standing still.

MY350Z.COM

iTrader: (2)

And this is a troll.