bascelik

Another Update

We took the blower off and sent it back to Stillen, along with the belt they sent me a week ago (it was already worn after only 25 miles of driving).

Blower was faulty, a bearing was seizing up. They are sending new blower, gasket, belt and some locktite, overnight for Saturday.

Couple of good things to add:
* they offered to reimburse me for overnight shipping of the blower to them (I paid this to date)
* they offered to reimburse me for labour to take the blower off (I paid this to date)
* they offered to reimburse me for labour to put the blower back on (probably will be done early next week)
* I'll still have to pay for another dyno (at this point, it is a necessity)

So, if they live up to their offer, bottom line costs will be...

* Compression test and basic inspection @ $102.68 (me)
* Dyno @ $75 (me)
* Return belt and tensioner to Stillen (shipping) @ $10 (me)
* Ship new belt and tensioner overnight @ $?? (Stillen)
* SC tensioner and belt re-install @ $67.25 (me)
* Blower removal @ $271.95 (Stillen -- offered)
* Blower overnight shipping TO Stillen @ $138.44 (Stillen -- offered)
* Blower (new) overnight shipping FROM Stillen @ $??? (Stillen)
* Blower re-install @ $??? (Stillen -- offered)
* Another dyno @ $75 (me)

So, bottom line, if they live up to their offer, it may turn out okay for both parties.

Unfortunately, there is no way for them to compensate me for: a) not having a car for about two weeks, and b) ruining my 2-week vacation plans (yeah, I'm on vacation till after Labour Day).

Another unfortunate thing is that this whole thing feels like it had to pulled out of them, not unlike pulling teeth.

I'll keep you guys informed, as usual...

bascelik

The new blower was installed with belt, gasket, etc. The belt was still quealing and (most likely) slipping. We applied belt dressing to it, per instructions from Marshall@Stillen and the squealing seems to be gone. However, most likely, belt is still slipping.

I measured 2.84psi immediate boost, and 4.26psi boost at redline. Again, too low.

They (Stillen) will send new drive pulley assembly (yup, the pulley attached to the drive belt) in a week or so, and then we'll replace that, as well as put back my stock cats (oh, well, was gonna do that anyway). I'm even considering putting back the stock airbox (still got the AEM) in hopes of reducing the whine noise.

Another thing we'll try is measuring boost with another gauge, just to remove the possibility of a faulty gauge/sensor (however, dyno number don't lie -- but I'll go with what Stillen says).

That'd be it for now... will be back in few weeks with another update.

wick3d350Z

**** i just bought stillen test pipes

Racerbmx87

I ordered a strut tower brace for my brothers christmas present last year, it still hasnt come from stillen yet. All they did when i called was tell me taht the machine shop was putting it off. I called back a month later and they transfered me to customer service. It was horrible, i still dont have the strut bar.

axxizzer

you cant just say that stillen is horrible based on one isolated incident, maybe the RT cats have failed?

Have you checked?

Maybe it is a bad blowaaahh

Zmego1985

iTrader: (1)

Hey Stillen sucks big time if you feel this is the only complaint they have had so far your wrong. Half of maxima.org got ripped off by them with headers for a 2002-2003 maxima including me. The customer support is good until you have a problem, and their so called techs cant tell a hole in the engine from a hole in their a$$. Thats why nothing gets fixed by them ever while they guess for a answer.

Thanks Glen

Glenn (San Jose)

Wow, I just read this thread for the first time am truly amused again. I am the owner and creator of the website - www.stillensucks.com

Bascelik - I think your wife contacted me about Steve Millen's email address. Unfotunately, I did not have it and was not able to help out. If I had that address, I sure would be using it a lot.

I hope that everything works out for you, but it sure looks like it is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth.

In regards to the BBB complaint; I cannot absolutely verify it at the moment, but one 300ZXTT member on www.twinturbo.net, did reach a settlement with Stillen. I am not sure whether the BBB was involved in that case, but they may have been. I've had a chance to meet this guy, Jo Wynn and he is my hero based on actually taking some serious action against Stillen and getting a settlement out of it. See the pasted post below from twinturbo.net.

Oh and btw, Jo was one of Stillen's better customers as I believe he spent over $100K with them. I think he bought a fully loaded SUV from them as well as a ton of mods for his 300ZXTT.





Subject REMEMBER ME?! .......Stillen's biggest sucker.

Posted by KingRameZX on March 17, 2003 at 7:30 PM
This message has been viewed 531 times.


Message

Actually, I think I fall into the legend catagory floating around in the Z community as being the guy that got hosed by Stillen the most.
Well it's been almost a year and a half now since my "ordeal" with my Nissan Nemesis (Stillen), and with a phone call to Consumer Affairs, a couple months of investigation, four citations on my case alone, a hefty check for my pain and suffering, and a healthy baby girl, I finally have the Z out of the shop of my choice shop...A different shop of course. As it turned out I had a bad valve in the #1 cylinder, and a scorned wall in the #5 cylinder. Apparently the scorned wall was there for a while, probably before I bought the car, but I never had any bad engine vibrations. Stillen never told me about it when they built it, nor did they tell me about the free-spinning Camgear they reinstalled that was attached by the bolt, and not catching the groove of the inset pin on the inside. Other than that, everything else seemed okay. There was also the BIG question of them installing everything I payed for, seeing that I caught TWO different parts not installed on different occasions. After my mechanic inspected the block, it looks like the JE Pistons were in place, along with the other things I payed for.

As for my transmission problem, it turned out that the spleen (inside the torque converter) was stripped to high heaven. Stillen didn't catch it, nor did Level 10, and they were the guys that built it for me. It's kind of funny though when it happened, because all my problems started when I was on my way to Stillen to have them install the tranny cooler they didn't install in the first place. Some time later, Gregg Dupree referred me to a transmission guy out in Simi Valley that did great work. He found the problem and fixed it in a week.

For the engine rebuild, I went with Japanese Engine Racing. Lihn imports all types of engines, and can import anything, including other high performance engine parts, much like speedlab did. Anyway, it took less than a week to get it back together, and I managed to install my additional injector kit. I also had the EVC IV installed, but there was a problem with the harness, so I need to get that fixed before I can install it.

Now I have to put some miles on it, bleed in the brakes, and get another color sanding done. Next'll be a redo on the interior and rims. After I get the EVC and additional injectors tuned, I'll take it to the track with you SoCal regulars.

Until then, see you at the Motorsport show in April.

bascelik

I'm trying to post exactly what I see. I may have gotten emotional in few posts, but I think I'm keeping as objective as I can. The "bad blowaaahh" has been replaced and problem persists. Stock cats will be re-installed. I guess we'll see next week...

As Glenn says, no matter what, I'll have bad taste in my mouth after the ordeal. To those that are purchasing Stillen SC, my objective bottom line on it, is that it is not mod-friendly. Even if it works fine, you cannot replace headers, nor cats, for fear of losing boost. You cannot put CAI on, for fear of horrible sound on acceleration. I'm even wondering whether SAFC2 is causing problems with the piggy-back unit from Stillen's kit... Basically, I'm now afraid to add anything else but higher boost pulley. An aftermarket mod should not be like that.

Ask yourself these: What would it take for Stillen SC to make 400whp? How early on the tach would it achieve max torque/hp in such case? How much would the torque drop off by the time you are in 4K-6.5K RPM range (which is where you are when you're shifting gears)? How would it react to other mods? How would it react to an NO2 application? Where can one purchase higher boost pulleys -- well, say I want 9psi now, obviously I'm stuck with Stillen -- or, am I?

Now that you've pondered those, I think you'll come to the conclusion that Stillen is for those wishing simple, bolt-on, almost care-free application, which adds just enough power for a better power-cruiser. It will never stand up to turbo or centrifugal SCs, as their power is realized where it is needed (high RPM). But it's ideal for cruising -- kinda like Harley of the Z mods. Which is why this ordeal is bothering me -- I got something that's least intended to be a problem, actually become a problem.

bascelik

Alright, here comes another update on this issue. Per talk with Stillen support (Marshal), I got new lower pulley from them, new belt, and was instructed to replace stock cats back on. I did all of that just yesterday.

The result is: back at square one. Yes, belt slippage is less, but still audible. Yes, redline boost is now at 5.4-5.8psi (0.38-0.41kg/cm3), but immediate boost is still at only 2.84psi (0.2kg/cm3). Car dynoed at 260rwhp/240rwtq after tuning with SAFC2. Probably worse (acc'ding to the shop, running VERY rich) on first pull (untuned).

Weird.

At this point, I only have: Stillen SC, AEM short-ram intake, Borla TD cat-back, SAFC2, and 2 gauges (A/F & boost). I also have larger radiator (Blitz), but cannot see how that relates.

On the SC, we replaced: blower, belt, tensioner, lower pulley.

Reimbursement: As you may recall, Stillen offered to reimburse me for this troubleshooting (I listed the items in previous post). So far, I was only reimbursed for original blower removal. Shipping orig. blower to them, new blower install, lower pulley install, any other items... I'm still waiting...

FYI, RT cats were fine when we took them off. See through and all...

I'll be talking to Stillen to find out what the next step is, since I exhausted all options. I'm thinking the engine was damaged at some point, that could be the only reason kit is not working at this point. However, since it was stock motor prior to the kit install, only the kit itself could have damaged the motor. Hence, it still remains problem with Stillen and their solution.

C5DEMON

I'm not a greedy man. My vette was pushing a little over 300 at the wheels and I was plenty happy. My only change for the Z (besides the f'ing rattles) is more power. I would love to be back at 300 to 320 rwhp.

My understanding is that is what the Stillen is supposed to do. I am really interested to see how yours turns out. I would rather have a worry free set up with less power -300 to 320rwhp, than the costs and troubles of building a 375+rwhp monster.

I really hope your F/I situation works out. I would hate to have to fight the same battle. Keep us posted!

Good luck buddy!

QikTimez

Better luck to you and this B.S. you are dealing with. From the sounds of things I will NOT be a stillen customer. Thanks for warning the rest of us about their $hi*y customer service. Keep us posted.

Zmego1985

iTrader: (1)

I have said it before and i will say it again Stillen is over priced and suck!!!!!!!! Their lucky the maxima members and i did not file a class action against them. For their headers on my 2002 maxima i had. They don't give a sh$t about anyone except money. All i can say is don't listen to their claims. If i did i would have had a 500 whp maxima lol, and that was not true.

Thanks Glen

bascelik

Hey all, here's an update after long time indeed!

Ok, let's see... after I posted here, we went back and tried to figure out what is wrong with my setup. We tested with different boost gauge. I replaced stock intake. I disconnected SAFC2. We could not get boost up there, much beyond 5psi... still at 260whp/240wtq...

So, somehow we got in talking about my car's production year & month (oh, I remember, I was asking to test with Stage 3 pulley). Now, my car is a 2003. Even the VIN # says so. But, low and behold, Stillen sends slightly different parts for 2004 Zs than for 2003s. So, we agreed they'd send me the most obvious: 2004 so-called 'Blue' pulley.

We installed the 'blue' pulley (which was smaller, BTW) and, would you know it, I dynoed 292whp/273wtq! Boost was up to about 6.3-6.5psi. So:

Bottom line #1: Maybe your car needs the 'blue' pulley. Mine was June 2003 production.
Bottom line #2: Siren noise is reduced with Stock intake box. Bad news for CAI on my car...
Bottom line #3: Stillen did reimburse me, per what we agreed, but did not offer any further reimbursement on work done.
Bottom line #4: Belts are still wearing out, but no slippage after replacing lower pulley.
Bottom line #5: Kit not mod-friendly. Stocks cats, stock headers, stock airbox, all are almost required.

Parts that were faulty in the original kit (or became faulty):
* blower (bearings seizing)
* lower pulley (caused belt whistling and slippage)
* wrong front pulley (2003, needed 2004 pulley)
So, the above is proof I had a bad kit delivered to me. 3 parts bad/wrong. Although, one could've caused another to fail...

I'm dynoing 292 with 13:1 -- lean. So, next step is to replace the controller and see if new controller will improve things. If it does not, we verify whether I have 2003 or 2004 controller (there may be a difference). If I have 2003 controller, we go with 2004 controller. If that does not work, I reconnet SAFC2 and do some dyno tuning the old-fashioned way and live with it.

I hope that everyone who has problems with their aftermarket mods tries to post for all of us here, so we can benefit from other's experience and troubleshooting. It cost me $$$ to run these last several months of troubleshooting, dynos, tuning, etc., so I'd like to know someone else may benefit from my findings.

ImportPartsPro

iTrader: (512)

Damn Stan....that sucks but I am glad to see you are making a little progress

bascelik

Heck, 300whp would be within advertised specs, I guess. With a bit of tuning, I can get there. It'd be nice if someone posted their stage II dyno, so I can compare the whole torque/hp curve and see if I'm only lacking top-end, or perhaps mid-range, or low-end power as well. Thanks in advance.

Correction: Actually, advertised specs are +79whp, so I should be at 309whp.

rands

thanks so much for posting your story. i've been thinking of getting a stillen sc for the exact same reasons you were (good cruising hp increase, minimum maintainance, reliability). i do not think i will be buying anything from them now.

bascelik

We installed new fuel/timing controller, sent to me by Stillen, and we saw an increase in both hp and torque (about 7-8 on each) to where I'm making just around 300whp and 280wtq at about 6.3-6.5psi. Dyno sheet is here:

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/bc/605a5cd4...glRpBBFwO75PxP

I had to pay for the install of the new controller, dyno, and will have to ship it back at my expense as well. If I get a refund for this, I'll post accordingly. If you see no further posts, I got no refund .

Overall impressions: a kit that'll cost you as much as a turbo (yup, don't forget new hood and painting it) and produce about 50whp less (assuming 6.3-6.5psi on TT kit yields around 350whp on the low end). All that, just so you can be 'street legal'.

Overall gain: just under 70whp and around 50wtq.

axxizzer

...wow

uuhhhh

go APS?

bascelik

Now you tell me?

I plan to, but not until I've recovered the costs for this. At that point, it'll be a built motor, custom-tuned for 8+psi TT. Few years from now...

bascelik

I the link isn't working, try http://briefcase.yahoo.com/~bashcelik/, then go to 350Zdynos folder and choose the latest (bottom) dyno JPG.