I just picked up the July/August issue of Road & Tracks Speed Magazine. They have a shootout of Greddy, Jim Wolf, Stillen and Vortech equipped 350Z's. Numbers from the Dyno and track. 1/4 mile, 0-60, Laptimes and more.

Worth the $3.99 for sure. Gotta go, I will be able to respond to posts in a couple of hours.

 

Interesting results!

 

post hi-lites!

 

Great article... they wrote too much to be mentioned.

From what I can remember:
Highlights- the article mentions that a properly balanced N/a Z with no real power adders and different gearing will yield similar lap times, if not better, around the same track as one of the forced induced cars.

The JWT equipped Axis car was the most well-balanced out of all. The vortech car was the most cost-efficient.

Worth a read since they go into alot of variables.

 

thanx zephyr. i gotta buy one.

 

I thought an equally entertaining article in that same issue was the Greddy (turboed) forced induced Rx-8.

With all it's mods it yielded like a 14.2 on the quartermile and less than a stock Z's performance numbers. The modded Rx8 also weighed in at over 3300 lbs.

 

1/4 mile & 0-60 times:
stock 14.2 & 5.5
jim wolf 13.5 & 5.4
greddy 13.4 & 5.0
stillen 13.5 & 4.9
vortech 13.0 & 4.9
It was noted that traction was an issue, times would have been better if they were able to hookup.

RoadCourse (Willow Springs) Lap Times:
stock 1:32.18
greddy 1:31.95
stillen 1:29.46
vortech 1:29.11
jim wolf 1:29.09
All these cars were running street tires.

Track tuned N/A Z, mod list:
Tilton 8lb flywheel and clutch
3.917:1 ring and pinion set
nismo lsd
StopTech 4-wheel brake kit, size? did not say. did say better than stillen AP's
Nismo suspension
Nismo wheels
Hoosier track tires 245/40/18 & 275/35/18
Lap time: 1:28.10

Put track tires on the FI cars and I'm sure they would be faster. The Stillen car had 305/35/18's with fender mods.

Lots more info in this article. Well worth buying it.

 

Good comparison...Vortech faired much better than i thought it would up against the TT kits .

 

why does the Z have such horrible traction issues? maybe it needs more weight in the back?

 

interesting! i gotta get that issue.
thanks for the post!

 

I've heard the LSD is a huge help. Tires play a big role too. As far as the added weight in back, the Z has a great weight distribution, 53/47 something like that. More weight in the rear could help in a straight line, but would increase understeer.

 

your welcome.

 

yeah i know, but there's guys out there with huge sticky street tires, LSD, suspension and still have massive traction problems

many of them are getting the 3.3 gears

I suppose adding the weight of a turbo kit to the front of the car doesn't help much.

Even in video games, the Z is a pretty horrible car to drive once you get it set up with really high HP.

You never hear about ferrari's having traction issues and they often have medium sized tires for the amount of power they have.

Does anyone think the Z's gearbox is just way too aggressive for FI?

 

Does anyone think the Z's gearbox is just way too aggressive for FI?[/QUOTE]

I know I don't like 1st gear in my Z. Hitting the rev limiter at 30mph is annoying. I wish 1st and 2nd were both geared taller.

 

I'm not surprised. I think for a out of the box kit, the Vortech is much better than the TT offerings. 370-380rwhp is not uncommon vs 350-360ish you get with the average TT kit out of the box and tuned safely. The strength of the TT kits is what you can do with them **beyond** just installing the kit. They have a lot more room for growth than the SC offerings. Put built/tuned SC & TT kits in a contest and the TT Zs would probably eat the SC Z's alive.

 

those are some pathetic 1/4 mile times in that article btw.....

 

I wasn't impressed either. How bad could the traction be? Was the driver a hack?

 

what was the tire, suspension and LSD setup of the FI cars????????

that will be very telling.

let me guess they are mostly using 245 and 275 tires with something like toyo T1-s, stock or no LSD, then stock or tame aftermarket suspension?????

 

Finally a magazine that holds the tuners feet to the fire to prove they are more than just show. They are doing more than printing the marketing spiel the companies hand them and really testing them against stock and each other (the one thing we just can't do with an online community).

Speed Magazine called 9 FI companies, 9, and all they got was 4 cars. Where the rest scared of real testing? You be the judge. It had to be running on DOT tires (and even two DOTs were disallowed because they were unrealistic for a street car) and 104 octane or lower (and all the cars came with 100 in the tanks) so these cars could be something you could really build and drive.

Read the sidebar on page 69 about the Nismo suspended car with better lap times than any of the blown cars, albeit on tires the would not have allowed for the test but still, it's interesting.

Bling Factor: Both the Greddy 350Z and RX8 were built to show and their performance suffered because of it. That whole thing about having to disable the ABS for the 6 pot greddy brakes on the RX8 was ridiculous and silly Greddy, 19s aren't for driving, both cars ended up with longer stopping distances than stock. That's not a performance upgrade.

Also on page 30 they have a Nismo R34GT-R Z-Tune (look to page 32 for the Nismo steering wheel some have seen on 350Zs)

On another note, check out the Audi TT 0 to 60 in 3.8sec and the 1/4 in 12.3 (although the rest of the numbers don't look nearly as good as a stock Z).

Chris

 

2nd that...the quarter mile times were gawdaweful...