IMO, if you add a fuel return solution, fuel pump, oil pan, timing solution, shielded crank wire, and BOV the greddy would not blow motors either. Why is ok for the APS to go with out a built motor and not the greddy?...maybe because the APS comes with all of the above already. Also, there are only a handful of tuners in the US for the APS kit. The APS piggy back comes locked so you can't fuc with it. Unlike the greddy where everyone and their grandma thinks they are tuners, the APS is only tuned by a handful of very experienced tuners. I am sure that a lot of the greddy blow ups are due to bad tunes.

 

You do have a valid argument there . . . if Greddy included all the above, then its reasonable to expect it to be a somewhat safe option (matter of fact, I'm trying to get to that point myself). I actually like the fact that APS limits the end-user's ability to tinker with the $10K toy. It simply eliminates finger pointing and lowers the probability of a former muffler shop technician (who calls himself a "tuner") blowing up the engine.

Personally, I trust that only 10% of "tuners" are thorough and cautious to err on the safe side. It's an expensive hobby with miniscule margins. No reason to open the door to liability and its errosive nature on profits. Combine that with the fact that APS is already at a disadvantage by being halfway around the world (shipping costs, exchange rates on a weak dollar, etc) and you've got one thorough, cautious company willing to take the Z to another level.

Who knows? Perhaps a domestic company will copy their designs, but I highly doubt it--this is an industry of pride riddled testosterone that begs to be different (not a bad thing necessarily).

 

I agree with you guys the greddy kit has the same potential as the aps. You need to buy a few more parts but all said and done your in the ballpark of the same price. If nobody ever unlocked the greddy kits tune or tinkered with it I would bet there would be 90 % less blown motors and then about 8 % of the rest would be bad installs. Its a matter of knowing what ur doing and getting the right parts. Im my opinion etx did all the right stuff he just was boosted for a long time. I think well see in time the true test of aps kits. Wait till every joe shmoe figures out how to tune em.

 

i agree that most of the failed engines are most likely caused by bad tuning. Both these kits are realitively newer, and it will be a while before people figure out what is the best way to keep the engine from blowing.

hell, the greddy kit i had on my red mr2 would boost creep like mad...... and it took a long time for people to get it right... main things were an external wastegate and a dual solenoid boost controller. I wouldn't knock greddy because they don't come with all the extras...... and i would actually prefer to be able to mix and match parts of the kits that i feel are best. including BOV, computers, and even the fuel pump.

APS has a great kit. but i like the versatility, of the greddy. everyone has their own reasons with going with the kit they went with. but in years of running turbo charged cars, 90% of the problems all come back to tuning.

 

Can you tell me more about this. My car is in the shop right now for the TT install. I have the profec II (dual solenoid) but what did you do about the wastegate. I plan on having my low setting at 5.6lbs and my high at 8.5lb and I don't want to have boost spikes.

 

The Greedy kit for the 350z already has external wastegates.

 

beer is correct. the greddy TD06 kit for the MR2 came with internal wastegates, we ahd to switch them to external, which are far superior to any internal wastegate. The profec II is a great boost controller, and as applications vary, we found the blitz SBC worked best for the mr2. just one of those picky things i guess.

what surprises me is that more people aren't running an EGT sensor/gauge. those are very handy to monitor, and along with oil pressure, probably one of the more import things to monitor a turbo application. again this is all personal opinion.

 

What I find wierd is that people put the EGT probe down by the cats. Every other turbo car I had you put it in the exhaust manifold, close to the engine, on the hottest cylinder. Does having two banks matter? If that was the case shouldn't people run dual EGT gauges?

Either way, I was always told putting the probe downstream post turbo was a bad idea.

 

that is correct. you typically want to install it on the manifold, on the runner leading from the hottest cylinder (#3 on the MR2) to get the best and most accurate results.
i dont know how much info there is on exhaust temps, and what is safe the with Z, but as long as someone places the probe in the same spot as the data they are comparing their car too, they should be ok...

 

With all due to respect to Peter and APS, keep in mind that APS had the hindsight advantage of having a PE kit and Greddy kit in front of them, as they did their R&D. It's a lot easier to refine, adapt, and perfect a kit, rather than create one from scratch, as PE and Greddy did. The APS guys are smart engineers and business/marketing people, no doubt about that, and they created the most complete out of the box TT experience for the 350Z user. At this point, I wish PE and Greddy would go back and refine their kits as well, to make them safer, and more competitive in the marketplace...out of the box. A multitude of good F/I choices will only benefit the entire 350Z community.

That said, If given $7500 for the APS kit, or $7500 for the Greddy kit with add ons, I think you would see they produce very similar results.

Sorry if this is offtopic..Nis..feel free to delete if this post is not relavent.

ETX, hope the car gets running again soon.

Regarding the question about the rods, rods can break at idle or off-boost for many reasons, one of which would be an oil problem...especially if the car had been sitting for many many months, or scattered timing can also do it.

 

Gq I absolutely agree with you as usual. Its a lot easier to build something the second time around. As for the engine failure I'm curious because etx had taken most if not all the precautions

 

I agree too I would never knock the greddy kit but it sounds like a lot of the FI early adopters want the APS kits to break engines at the same rate as older kits do.

 

Truely how safe are supercharged and turbocharged Z motors? NA engines never seemed to be reliable when turboed from what I hear but I may be wrong. I want to get a Z and I want to up the power but I'm not sure if I really want to go with TT or supercharging it because of the reliability problems. How much hp can a Z NA engine make while still being nice and drivable? (where hp is pretty constant and doesn't just rapidly come on all of a sudden)

 

Wow, you guys need to stop the bickering. Simple fact is I knew it would happen. I didn't expect it to happen so soon, but I knew it was coming as soon as I saw the pictures of those rods. Anyone who is running FI on a stock VQ is gonna blow it up, No question. It's just a matter of when.

I was running the std 5.5 psi regularly. I would go weeks without boosting and only bumped it up to 8 psi a handful of times when I was bored. I was pulling timing, I have the Walbro 255 FP with the modified fuel pump jet to equal out the pressure. I still haven't touched it cause I'm looking for a trans jack. But when I tear the motor down the cause will be apparent and ill be sure to post what I find. I'm almost positive without even looking at it that I snaped a rod. It could have been damaged last year and finally just gave out, Im not sure but I've seen that happen before. I consider myself an experianced EFI tuner, I've done a lot of things with other cars but I kept it on the mild/safe side with the Z cause it was my daily whip. The motor just can't hold the power in stock form, plain and simple.

So, to people who pulled the motor without a hoist, any tips for me? I'm thinking I can pull the motor out the front with a cherry picker instead of tring to unbolt and drop the trans? I really wish I had a lift in the shop now heh. I can't wait to run a bar on this turd.

Sharif, check your Inbox. This guy needs a core to start working on asap. I just need to sell my bike to pay for parts.

 

Im very sorry to hear that your motor has finally gave ETX.

What i want to know is, how many miles have you driven it since you took it out of winter storage? If you were'nt boosting, then maybe its the bearings that gave out from last year's abuse and sititng in storage somehow made it worse to the point where she seize at idle or low loads? Just wanted to toss more stuff at you before you examined the internals.

Best of luck with your build up.

 

when did you get it tuned?

 

money and time consume and it make me wonder:

What is the primary reason for people to go TT? (beside showing off)

 

Uh, maybe to make the car faster.....so you can drive it faster.

 

unless bring to the track then i can understand the purpose of put in TT. Daily drive at local street or freeway, how faster could you go?

 

TT will give you supercar HP, just not as reliable. You can keep up with car that cost 3x as much for $7k.