I'm on stage 2, I believe 2003z is on stage 3. I really don't check my gas mileage, the car is a weekend car and only has 2000 miles on it. I can tell you what the gas mileage is on my tahoe.

With spring coming I have a feeling that mileage will be increasing.

As for the noise, I am also in my 30's and have a stock exhaust. I like quiet power most of the time. I didn't think the vortech was too bad, the ATI and the HKS are way too loud for me.

 

So if you have mod's like the crawford cats...a Stillen kit will work poorly???? how much boost does there kit run???? for there diffrent stages

 

Alright, gotta put in my vote for the Vortech. I've daily driven it for about 10 months now, about 7,000 miles without any real problems. For better or worse, the car is basically stock upto about 3,000 rpm. If you want the power, just shift so that you stay above 3000. (Pretty easy in the Z, launch at 3k and never look back.)

I get about 19-20 mpg and I'm on the boost pretty often. It's easily tunable, but works fine out of the box if you don't feel like messing with it. It's relatively quiet and the BOV sounds awesome. (pretty loud when it blows off)

TT's are a great option if you have the cash, but the risk increases, especially with the greddy. The Vortech is about 5k cheaper than the TT's if you do it yourself. (Assuming you can't do TT's yourself) The kit is $4500, I installed and tuned it myself for free. Get some gauges for $600 and you good to go.

If you want more power, change the cats, headers, exhaust, plenum or increase the pully size. If you want alot more, go booger's route and build the motor, (cams etc), change the bearings in the SC for more boost (for a nominal fee), beef up the fuel system and ride out with probably 550-600 at the crank.

 

Cane, I see in your sig that you are running the Kinetix plenum with the Vortech. How's that working out for you? Any problems?

 

This thread has been very informative. I'm actually in almost the same boat as EnthuZiast, in that I'd really like to have a boosted Z, but can't afford to blow the motor. I actually purchased zimbo's Vortech kit a while back, but ended up getting cold feet due to all the blown motors that were surfacing at the time, and sold the kit without it even touching my car Now I'm re-thinking the Vortech setup, possibly to make a summer appearance. Seeing a couple daily driver Z's with 16,000 miles on their S/C setup is very encouraging.

Might have to pursue the blown route after all

 

hi-flow cats are iffy with it. I believe they said they would be ok, but recommended against them, I can't remember specifically. definitely not test pipes though.
stage 1 - 6psi, no intercooler
stage 2 - 6 psi, water to air intercooler. only 1 that is carb legal.
stage 3 - 7lb. pulley upgrade. voids warranty.

 

And it has been stated why the decrease in back pressure lowers performance???

 

basically, valve overlap and where the stillen computer picks up its boost reading. increased flow causes the computer to see less boost (.5 to 1 lb less than actual), and add fuel for the lower sensed boost, thus running a little lean and costing power. I think they may also have a fix for it, or will in the future.

 

19K on my Stillen Stage I and still running fat and happy in the Windy City. Stillen is a safe way to go that will retain the resale value of your ride. Don't settle for anything less!

 

I though if you run lean you actually gain a little power????

 

whaaa ?

 

Guys i'm very interested in everything i've been reading. So far I have acquired the following info regarding the vortech:

1)Get boost gauges
2)tune it
3)upgrade to the gates belt

Now my main question is, what gauges are you guys talking about in particular? Also, when you mean tuning it, does that mean an ECU reflash? Or is an ECU reflash also needed on top of the tuning? And lastly, where can the gates belt be purchased? Now since i've already started modding my car (plenum, exhaust etc), the tuning should take care of any problems, correct? I'm very surprised to have read that all this will be at the cost of 6g's.. I thought just the kit + install was already at 6g's (that is, with a professional installer). Anyhow, any more info would be great! Thanks.

Reading all this makes me so excited. Oh well.. earning 9 bucks an hour at 16 hrs a week = 17 months until i'll have enough

 

the head of R&D spent about 15 minutes explaining it all to me a year ago, and I can't remember the details, just the gist of the conversation, mods=bad for stillen.

 

The two most important guages would be a wideband o2 sensor and boost gauge IMO. Some people go with more but they are not really necessary for s/c. I had to go with 3 gauges because I could not find a 2 guage a pillar for the g35. I could only find a tri pod a pillar and I was not going to leave one hole empty.

As far as tuning you could achieve that with just the piggy back computer, but it would be a good idea to get your ecu flashed for your mods and then you can fine tune on the piggy back. This way you won't have to make large corrections on the piggy. Also when you flash the ecu you get the following:


REV limiter modification
A 7100 RPM (stock 6600 RPM) rev limit is set to take advantage of top end horsepower.
The stock rev limit was set way too low. Some of you may be having the problem of hitting the fuel cut at hard acceleration. We found this very annoying as we increased power at the higher rpm range. Hitting the rev limiter too often, could actually damage the engine since it is achieved by cutting fuel. By adding an extra 500 rpm, we can avoid hitting the rev limiter while protecting the motor.

Speed Limiter Removal
The speed limiter is removed. The stock limiter was set at 250Km/h (156 MPH), so for all practical purposes, we could have left it alone. But we decided to remove it, just in case someone feels the need to go beyond that.

Ignition Timing Map Adjusted
There wasnÃÕ much room for improvement at the bottom end since the ECU retards a lot of timing by using a feed back system in stock trim. So, we have added more timing at the higher end to take additional advantage of higher-octane gasoline. This aids in improving torque from 3000 rpm and up.

Fuel Map Adjusted
Stock fuel was set to detune the top end horsepower. We discovered that the car runs extremely rich after 5000 rpm. Air to Fuel ratio (A/F) of 10.5 was found right before the stock rev limiter kicks in. Cleary, Nissan was trying to detune the power output at higher rpm to discourage the driver from hitting the rev limiter. For the performance enthusiasts, however, this is unsatisfactory, so we set the A/F to 12.5 all the way to redline to provide adequate power gain while still maintaining a safe margin.

Drive By Wire Adjustment
Throught our testing we found, the drive by wire system was program to never fully open (throttle flap) when you smash the accelerator pedal. In fact, it actually closes the closer you get to the rev limiter, by as much as 20%. This restricts air into the motor and causes HP and torque numbers to go down. We have remapped this setup so when you go wide open throttle, the throttle flap fully opens and STAYS open, increasing HP and torque.

Adding to above modifications, a few other adjustments were made to other maps to enhance the feedback function which improves power, torque and drivability. The resulting achievement is a remarkable improvement in driving feel, which is more than what numbers alone can tell you. We are very satisfied with the results and are proud to release our TECHNOS ECU for this tuning-challenged ECU, blowing the lid off what was thought to be an automobile already running pretty near its maximum capability.

http://www.technosquareinc.com/g35.htm

TS has a map for vortech kits that are boosting up to 10lbs now.

As far as price you can pick up a vortech for around $4400 and $4800 for the polished version. Installation will run you about $800 and tuning could be anywhere from $250-500. The ecu flash is $595....Wideband $500 and boost guage $150. These prices are not exact but close.

 

Where would we have to send our ECU to have it flashed?
Wow great info on this thread so far!!!!

THANKS TO EVERYONE

 

Does anyone feel a reflash can actually make your FI application more dangerous? Maybe too much power at higher revolutions can increase chances of blowing stock internals?

 

technosquare is the main place, I believe AAM is also doing reflashes, with where you live, I would recommend driving to Torrance and having technosquare custom tune it for you, if you go vortech.

 

oh yeah, the stillen dresses up nicely too! and with the right body accents, I like the hood too.

 

Man the stillen looks way better in an engine compartment than the other options.

How would it take to a CAI as opposed to a short ram???

Can you pop on a blow off valve on the stillen Stage-3???

I would hate to add power w/o the PSSSSSSSSSt sound man....that is like J.Lo with out a rear end!!!!

 

Unfortunately the stillen alone does not make the engine bay look like 2003z's. He has a bit of custom work in there. Mine looks plenty mean, but his just looks damn good.

I don't know if you can add a BOV, but I think it might be a bad idea as they have some sort of vacuum return that might be necessary, I may be wrong.

I just have the stock air box with a K&N filter, it makes things pretty quiet. I think you can use any CAI or short ram, but with the intercooler I don't think it makes a difference performance wise.