I finally got my car back Monday after not having it for almost 2 weeks due to the install and dealing with Stillen’s poor customer service. I bought the stage 2 kit and after the kit went in the car gained only 24 hp with only 4 lbs. of boost... The installers called Stillen and after 3 days Stillen decided that we needed a smaller pulley. They sent their gold pulley (this is the stage 3 version for the 04 and newer 350s – slightly smaller than their red pulley). After installing the gold pulley my car has now gained a total of 61 hp with only 4.3 lbs. of boost. The dyno that was used was a Superflow dyno, people have told me that this is one of the most conservative dynos out there. Today I decided to take the car to Boulder Nissan (I found out after the fact that they have installed 6 of these units). They went through the install and could not find anything wrong. They said that the car felt as strong as any of the other Stillen supercharged ones they’ve done. The dyno results they were getting for the stage 3 was 317 hp with 7 lbs of boost... They suggested that it is probably the different dynos. The before (factory) dyno results on my car were 201 hp, while Boulder Nissan said that there cars before install were generally around 236 hp. I can not figure out the low boost readings. Any advice is appreciated.

 

Hey Ronnie! where are you getting your psi #s from, gauge in car or dyno readings?
kev.

 

The boost readings are coming from the dyno.

 

Dynos really vary, my before dyno was 235. The delta (or amount you gained) of 61 hp is about correct (but a little low). You need to measure the boost with a boost gauge, that is the only accurate way.

The better question is do you like it. If you forget about the numbers and had never done a dyno, would you be happy?

 

Try using another dyno and maybe installing a boost gauge to see if it reads the same #'s as the dyno.

Best of luck !


Tasso-

 

I know how crazy this can make ya, #s game with rwh, even if you are happy with how the car feels now @ what 261 or so? YOU WILL ALWAYS WANT MORE POWER!!!
Guys with over 500 still are tyring to build more. I think the bottom line is as stand right now, your base #s were a tad low for stock, I think you said 201 so gains of say 60 isn't bad?! Someone told you you could expect 90 to 100 gains through the Stillen kit,,,, I think thats HIGH figures for that kit, maby post or serch gains fron stage 3 stillen, see what others are throwing back. The worst part is trying to find apples to apples, so many diffrent factors, baselines, dyno machines, air temp, altitude on and on.
I can understand how you feel $5k thinking to see 100 hp gain, is one thing,, but 61 is hard to take, but that might be it.
Keep in touch man!!!

 

I am happy with the way the car feels for the most part, I might have been expecting a little more but overall I'm not trying to complain. My biggest concern is with the boost that something could be wrong. I just dont want something bad to happen. Although it probably isn’t that bad to have gained 61rwhp with only 4.3 lbs. of boost. Looking at things this way at least I may not be doing too much if any harm to the engine. I spoke with Stillen today they said that they would do some more investigating into things, however I wouldn’t be surprised if I never hear back from them. I’m just glad I can finally say that my Z is supercharged. Thanks for the help guys!

 

The other thing to consider is that the Stillen heatsoaks very badly, if they did the dyno runs without getting air to the FMIC it could really affect your #'s. That happened to me first time around, the result is you are getting the stage 1 numbers on the dyno, but when you get out into the real world with plenty of airflow, you will have that extra HP.

Also, make sure your IC is working. My installer put an air bubble in the line and the IC wasn't pumping. It took me a week with Stillen to figure the problem (the installer was no help). Just take the cap off the IC reservoir, you should see obvious swirling (make sure the car is cool before unscrewing). If you do not see the swirling you are basically running a stage 1. The fix is really easy, just take the tube off the front passenger side and blow in it to get the air bubbles out, then turn the car back on.

The air bubble will get in if they do not fill the reservoir at the same time as the pump is first turned on. If one guy did the install by himself, he could not have done this and you may have this problem.

Good luck.

 

The IC could be the problem but I was thinking the SC drive pulley could be a problem. Stillen uses an idler pulley on our motor to run the SC & the idler pulley has little weak bearings. Znitro pointed out how fast his bearings wore out with hardly any miles(2000 I think) with the SC. I think this is one of the Stillen SC's flaws, along with a few other things like:
The first production tension pulley sucked cuz it was spring loaded.
The IC pump sucks, it can be upgraded though.
The crappy fuse for the IC pump.
Not only do the idler pulley bearings suck,but there is only an inch of contact with the belt.
A good idea would be to have a billet idler pulley bracket piece machined and/or have a new pulley made with bigger bearings.

 

I finally had the chance to check the intercooler today and it is pumping fluid. Thanks for the advice!

 

I didn't know about the idler pulley, but I will keep track of it now. Thanks

The IC pump was changed and stillen now uses a much better one. If you got your setup in the past year you should have the new pump. The fuse won't be a problem for the new pump either.