chimmike

iTrader: (7)

you go to all that trouble and at the end of the day you sweat your ***** off because you have no AC. No thanks.

I ran a 12.5 in full street trim on street tires at 30psi pressure, on the stock reflash and 8psi boost.

I pulled out of the track, cranked the a/c on and drove home. No problems.

Oh, I have a full TN warranty, too. So that if a part breaks, or the turbo goes, or something happens, it's covered. Don't have that with a homemade kit.

I'd say this might be worth looking into if the aftermarket was sparse for the Z......but obviously it isn't.

the turbo placement for the TN isn't optimal, but it's not harmful either. I think you'd have a hard time placing the turbo EXACTLY where you want it in a ST setup in the 350z without major modification somewhere. Sorry, but it's just the way it is.

I say if anything, buy a tuner kit version of one of the kits, and modify it to your tastes. Otherwise, I think you're going to waste a lot of time and money, hard work, and heartache, to achieve the same ends as any other kit on the market.

Quamen

iTrader: (14)

chimmike-

By no means was I saying it would be easier to do this than to by a tuner kit. I was just saying that if someone were to do a DIY kit you might as well do it this way (IMO) or as you said you should just by the production kit. I mean why replicate something that is already tried and true and will not require so much work.

I for one have the resources avalible (which I did not obviously the first time around) where if I really wanted to I could make a sweet a$$ setup. Now whether I ever will or not i don't know. For me, if it was in my budget it would definitly be a fun winter project. I also really don't mind not having the A/C.

chimmike

iTrader: (7)

i say, unless you've got a motor built to take 800whp, why bother with a custom one-off setup? I mean, at the end of the day it doesn't matter how badass your setup is or how custom it is if your motor is stock and limits you.

sq40

iTrader: (4)

I think what we are all hoping for is the Magic $1.5-$2K Turbo Set-up that will put at least 100whp down over stock. On the ouside it doesn't really look that difficult, just add some plumbing, a turbo and maybe an IC and call it a day.. the reality of it might be a bit more difficult.

So really a Turbo needs only 4 things, Exhaust In-Out and Air In-Out.. How hard can it really be to fab up a 100hp kit?

bacalhau16

iTrader: (32)

sorry sq40, wasnt sure if you were trying to be condensending or something, but i have been to aps site and now go there probably once a night to look over their kits. Their ST kit, really just doesnt look that hard to fab up. I was wondering if they could just sell me the pipe that goes from the passenger side to the header and the y-pipe that comes of the drivers side header and mates to the turbo. From there, i feel everything would be a snap.

Does anyone feel though, that those pieces would really be all that difficult for a muffler shop to duplicate? The guy is pretty good and has well over 25 years welding up exhausts. I think that we can all agree that the hardest part of this project is the location of the turbo and the manifold for it. Once those two things are done, and i feel they will be sufficient. The rest should be pretty simple.

As far as cost goes. Again, i realize that this is not going to be cheap. But for me, neither is a used kit for $4k. If i can create a kit for $2k-$2500, and it make an additional 100whp or more, then i'll be happy. I understand that it wont have a warranty, but thats why i would be trying to do this using some quality stuff. The turbo i buy will most likely be under some warranty as will the bov or injectors and so forth. So the only real worry would be the manifold, but thats why i would take the extra precaution and get it heat treated if possible.

Again, thanks for the ideas, keep it coming!

S12 driver

This might not be optimal for performance, but check out STS's rear mounted turbo kit. I think that kit would be easiest to copy, but you might need alcohol injection since it doesn't have an intercooler.

nareg

iTrader: (1)

i know someone with an altima SE-R whos putting together a turbo kit like the STS way so he doesnt have to change the manifold and i want to see how that turns out to be

bacalhau16

iTrader: (32)

really would prefer a setup with an intercooler, but do you have the link for this kit? i would like to atleast compare it to the others.

S12 driver

Here's an article and some picture of the STS kit (for the Firebird).

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...48_0502_turbo/

sq40

iTrader: (4)

STS claims the long piping has a similar effect as an IC since the exhasut gas is a bit cooler going in and the air has so far to travel back to the engine.

There is a lot of room behind the Z's bumper for an Air Cleaner too..

Quamen

iTrader: (14)

I think that the STS will have quite a bit of lag and if I remember correctly will cause a ton of back pressure due to the increased area needed to be filled by the exhaust gas. I would also thing that things such as headers and y-pipes could hurt performance in that they would increase lag.

Quamen

iTrader: (14)

Not to mention that long piping to intake adds to lag. I am not saying this will not work just that it will not be very effecient and you may get your 100hp but how useable it will be may not be what you want. STS has more than likely had to put a ton of time into R&D to get the resaults they want. Things such as turbo size, pipe diameter and routing will have a larger affect on this setup then a normal turbo setup will more than likely. Just think of the differnce between say a 2.5" exhaust pipe and a 2.75" exhaust pipe. Only a .25". But the cross sectional area is greater and the fact that it is over a long period could have a huge difference in lag between the two pipe diameter. Just food for thought.

Quamen

iTrader: (14)

But I guess if you have a suitable turbo sitting around take the muffler off and make the piping for the stock exhaust setup and for a couple of hundered in fab work plus the cost of EMU and fuel system you could be up and running.

chimmike

iTrader: (7)

the STS setup inherently lends itself to lag. It doesn't seem that bad on the big V8s because they have an extra 2+ L of displacement on us.

Read the May motor trend (or june, not sure) where they put up a bunch of modified cars against a stock C6. One is an STS powered GTO. Their first comment about it is the lag. And if they notice it.......it's gonna be worse on a Z.

Another thing is, fabbing up the intake piping will not be easy, as you'll be running it RIGHT by the header and hot exhaust piping if not using an intercooler. Aside from that entire length of pipe for the charge air lends itself to even more lag as it has to fill all that extra space......it's like weaving IC piping all over an engine bay unnecessarily.

S12 driver

Yeah, it will not be an optimal set up, but it should work. The lag would probably be a bit worse than TN kit. but tecnically you can use the existing exhaust piping until after the Y-pipe (well, you probably want to run test pipe to reduce the lag), then you just fab the piping after that. The intake piping should be relatively ez because of the lack of IC. And you can heat wrap the section of the intake pipe that goes pass the header. So with a smaller turbo (maybe even a bit smaller than TN's turbo. It should help reduce the lag and still make 400whp.

pushing4wardbac

iTrader: (4)

bacalhau16 Do you really go to dartmouth? You have some terrible grammar.

chimmike

iTrader: (7)

bahahaha, called out! I didn't go to an Ivy league school, but the one thing I have going for me is that I can spell decently well.

bacalhau16

iTrader: (32)

easy guys, i live in dartmouth, dartmouth massachusetts that is. Not up at that college in New hampshire. Sorry if my grammar sucks sometimes, but i'm not too concerned!

The STS setup looks kinda cool, but definitly dont want excessive lag like that.

I'm really just trying to sort out my options. The ST idea will placing the turbo on the passenger side, sounds kinda cool. But i'm really liking the APS ST kit, and feel that if there is a kit that could be the easiest to duplicate, it would probably be this one.

I'm still also waiting to speak with the guy from megan racing to see if they will be willing to fabricate something. Thanks for all the help so far, i'll keep you updated!

Quamen

iTrader: (14)

While the STS setup seems like a cheap alternative it really is not. It would be cheaper and more beneficial to do the APS ST I think based on the fact that you can still use most of the exhaust piping as you are trying to. Again, the main problem I see with the long piping of the STS is that it will more than likely be negatively affected by any exhuast modifications other than switching to from cats to test pipes (minimal diameter) and the intake piping diameter will be tricky since it will have a large affect on lag. Essentially you will have about what, 15ft of piping from the turbo to the intake if you mount the turbo in the back end of the car like STS. Find the area of a 3 inch circle and subtract the area of a 2.75" circle and multiply that by 15 and that is about how much more cubic feet you have to fill.

chimmike

iTrader: (7)

either way with an ST setup you've got a ton of plumbing to run.

with a TT setup you either have to buy manifolds or fab something up to mount turbos off the stock headers, then route all that plumbing.

It's becoming more obvious to you that this won't be easy, isn't it?