Just thought I'd make a post and ask this question to see how you came to your decision, and possibly help me come to mine. What did you consider as your target when acheiving(i know i slaughtered that word) your HP goal? I don't want so much power that I can't keep my tires planted, but I want enough to be able to hang with a Vette and a Cobra at family reunions. I'v been reading and reading while I decide what would be the best direction but I honestly don't know how much power would be appropriate. The car is being purchased to be a show car and not really an all out race car, just looking for that more than stock oomph and enough to run with the big toys at the occasional track day. I know hp isn't all that I have to worry about here but also suspension and built motor and I plan on making sure I have my motor built 1st thing, no matter what # we end up at. My main concern is just the part of knowning what # is right since there are no modded Z's around to give a prespective.

 

400whp is plenty for most people


my criteria is I wanted enough power down low to feel like the car has a lot of ***** and that you get thrown back in your seat a decent amount when you get on it. I'm pushing 445ish whp on my vortech setup but it's a way different setup than a turbo

 

I set mine as anything under 430whp will be ok-currently around 400whp. I know many others run more with no issues, but I rag my car HARD when at the track-including revving to over 7000rpm's on stock block/valve train, and sometimes on the street so imo my whp limit will be slightly lower than the next guy who isnt as hard on his car. So far so good for me...

 

I have kept going up...I base it off of the following premise: if I feel that I am "getting used to my car" or if I am not shocked/scared and smiling when I do a 4th gear pull, it's time to crank it up....

the thing is..at 615rwhp, it always satisfied these requirements, but I'm still going up just to see what she can do!

big numbers coming soon (next week)

TODD

 

I would say that is s tough question to answer. I can tell you that if you ride in a “out of the box” Turbo’d car you will notice the difference right away. I can also say that if you bump the boost to 10 you will notice the difference and I assume this follows with every major bump in boost you give it.

Mine is a show car, but I also enjoy taking it to the strip and I enjoy the hell out of just driving around in her and romping on it at light and on the highway for some speed runs. For me, I know that once I hit about 7.5 PSI and 400 to the wheels, wheelspin does become a big issue. You need to learn better throttle control and less WOT unless you like going sideways in 2nd. But man oh man…. WOT in 3rd or 4th is a wet dream…. LOL

My goal is to have a 600 – 650 whp street tuned car, and a special race tune for 100+ octane gas. I think for normal street use anywhere between 375 – 450 is fine unless you really want to beat the **** out of any car, in which case you might want to exceed 500 – 550whp.
Sharif, BigBri, 350ZDcalB and a many others here that tune these beasts on a regular basis might be better to give you advice on maximum usable whp for the street though.

Good luck and stay safe on the roads man.
--B

 

I test drove a new 06 Z enthusiast for fun this weekend and damn that sucker felt slow, bloated, and soft

It reminds you of how far you've come and gives you some perspective to drive a slower car on occasion. Some people say the best mod ever is a POS slow daily driver car

 

well I'v got the slow taken care of. I stripped my SS, sold it and got a Honda Fit to drive and play with until I can get my Z. I was running over 700hp in that truck and I don't want that kind of power again for a street driven vehicle...and talk about feeling slugging going from the power we had in that truck to a 109hp car is like "ARE WE THERE YET?" I think your right though, it seems like 400 would be a good place to start, and I don't think that what I'm mainly building up to go agaist is pushing that much more. 02 convertable vette is 350hp and he's left this car stock andmy uncles 03 Cobra just has his exhaust/intake changes and a new pully, but I hear those motors put out alot with simple mods and he's too lazy to drive to st. louise to get it dyno'd....and paper racing gets me nowhere anyways. On a side note I read on someones site that Greddy is making a SC'r now, is this true or myth?

 

has greddy ever made a supercharger? sounds like a contradiction almost

 

My bad on the Greddy SC. Its for the Scion and Celica. I saw it on mynismo.com when i looked under their FI but didn't click it and see what car it was for.

 

I just wanted to be respectable. i figured that i would never be able to beat everybody, but if i could keep it daily driven and beat 90 percent of the cars out there, i would be happy.

 

i'm kinda with todd on this one. once you get used to it, time to add more. then there is my shear addiction to cars i have always had. even when it is "done" there is still plenty to do!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by overZealous1

even when it is "done" there is still plenty to do!

Amen to that.

 

Enough for me

Now if I was able to get a second Z, then I would go crazy with wanting more HP.

Honestly when stock coming from a 135 WHP 2002 Honda Civic SI (Factory Claimed 160 HP), then going to a 239 WHP 2004 Nissan 350Z (Factory Clamied 287)...

It was a big difference, then I got the Turbonetics kit... Felt her at 322 WHP, 402 WHP, and now at 378 WHP.

400 is where it is at for my daily driver

 

I wanted as much HP as I could get and still have a reliable daily driven car on the stock block. So I wanted to stay around 360whp to 400whp.

I am not intrested in spending more $$ on a built motor to get big HP numbers. It was not worth it to me with this particualr vehicle. I have owned the 405hp Z06 (miss that car) and that was plenty of power for me. My G35 has HP in that range and I love it as is. I plan to run my car like this for as long as i can.

 

But the question is, how reliable are you without the built motor? and one thing I'v wondered and never asked...has anyone ever blown their motor even with a built motor? things to watch out for is what I still need to read up on as well.

 

people have blown up every type of motor in every config

you will be very less likely to blow up a built motor than the stock one, but that's not to say it'll never happen.

people have blown up the stock engine on the stock car

 

Only time will tell but Mia has over 30k miles on his TN kit which is set up similiar to mine, basically stock. There are also others who have high milage FI set up in that HP range with the stock block.

Will it stay as reliable as in stock N/A form, probally not but if I can put on 30k+ on the stock block with this set up I will be happy. Bottom line is no matter you do your chances of blowing the motor after FI is greater then staying N/A. Its the risk you accept when going FI.

At this point I can't justify the $$ on a built motor for my sub 400whp set up.

 

Hey hey hey!


But I do know what you mean. I drive an infiniti q45 90% of the time. When I hop in my Z it feels like a rocket ship. Then once in a blue moon Ill drive my dad’s 300z that is pushing around 450 whp...and that makes my Z feel like a turtle.

 

sorry, I don't think the stock Z is actually slow cause it's not, but that day it felt slow to me reletive to my car.

oh and when I said "POS slow daily driver car" I was thinking along the lines of some sorta beat up civic or something

 

Haha. I drove my girlfriends '94 V6 Grand Prix and was embaressed because I found it fast since my cavalier is a POS and I havent driven my Z in almost a year.