I just purchased the vortech SC for my 2004 350Z and was wondering. What do I need to do to make this kit completly safe and reliable for my stock 350Z. My only mods at this time is Injen cold air intake (which I won't need anymore), Greddy exhuast. Purchased but not yet installed, the ApexI-AFAC II Air fuel controller, Styrup headers. How Safe and reliable will my car be with this kit?? The car is a daily driver. Not looking to make loads of power, but just a really fun car to drive!! Can anyone please help me with this?? Thanks

 

You can't make it completely safe (as with any other item) but wrt reliability you can reassure yourself (as I have done myself) by referring to all the other Vortech users on here.

As an aside and as a safety consultant, the best you can ever hope to achieve in terms of safety is to reduce the risk ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) -where the 'P' equates to $$.

 

get a good tune, thats is what blows engines. i see that you are in n.o. LA, i know it's a long way from you, but im in destin florida, and i drove to cpracing, car doesn't even feel the same as before, it was 100% completely worth the drive up there, drove right past z1motorsports in atl (carrollton ga actually), who installed the sc to begin with. nothing but trouble from the car, kept going into limp mode, running pic rich, and that was with a tune. cpracing took car of all that, installed a smaller pulley and did a tune. great group of guys too. u should bring the car over to FL once it's all up and running, and hang out with all the panhandlez's.

 

If you cant find anyone in your area that knows the R4 program and has a good rep in tuning . You could go over to Houston . SGP is there and they have a great rep. John Isbel is in Houston area also [ Rabbid ] on this forum

 

Stick with the stock pulley. Anything at or under 8 psi and around 380 HP should be very safe. The tune straight out of the box will be safer than any tune you'll get afterwards. Vortech tunes the kit very conservatively. The purpose for a post-installation tune is to optimize power at the expense of safety (because the A/F will be leaned out and timing may be advanced--these alterations bring the engine closer to detonation but increase power and fuel economy). Just be sure to tell the tuner that you want safe over powerful. Most of us try to get the A/F between 11 and 12 under boost. I did not touch my timing, just leaned out the A/F a bit, yet got a full 380 HP/310 torque out of the stock pulley at redline.

 

Thanks guys for all your help. Lots of good info here. BTW has anyone had any trouble with there engine at idle?? My car's idle is terrible. The RPM will dip from about 900 rpm to around 200 RPM and the engine makes this knocking sound. I've had this trouble in the past. The engine was throwing trouble codes (Multi cyclinder misfire and fuel system lean). I had leaking fuel injectors, bad coils, they changed the Mass air flow meter, plentum, and the ECU. The car seemed fine after all that but now it;s starting it all over again. Has anyone had these problems and if so what was the fix?

 

Look to see if they used clips to hook up the SS box wires to the ECU ? CLips can work but will end up being moved around or vibrated and not make good connections . Thats what they did on my Zetronix datalogger and the car didnt run right after

 

O.K. latest update!! I took it to Nissan, and they said the car was throwing another code (can comm failure). They are not sure what it is yet but I will keep you guys updated. I also called Nissan North America and filed for Arbitration. This couldn't have come at a worse time for me since I just picked up my first sponser for the car. If Nissan agrees to give me another Z I think I am going to swap all my parts and take it.

 

if i was u and had the money i would get a Turbo XS UTEC and get a tune.....u'll run real strong and it will be easier to tune and will probably get a better tune with the UTEC especially with the ability to have different maps and on the fly map selector....u'll also be able to run a race gas map, which will make the car run completely different ......like an animal....have fun i want to supercharge my Z this spring.....cant wait

 

Thanks again for all the info!!