other items you should consider:
- oil cooler
- upgrade your MAF
- return fuel system (RFS)

its debatable whether you need to upgrade your MAF and RFS (my tuner says they aren't needed for 400ish hp), but an oil cooler is a really good idea for FI.

 

can any standalone ems be used with a vortech supercharger kit?

also ones that don't use the maf like the vi-pec?

i have a vi-pec in my impreza and i'm pretty happy with it. it's relatively cheap, has lots of options and they say it has a good automatic mapping program.

 

Tranny Oil Cooler is already on the list.. or did u mean Engine oil cooler?

upgraded MAF is a future plan, and not sure about the RFS.

thanks!

 

one more question..

are there engine covers that are made for vortech SC? or the only way is cutting the OEM one?

 

there are a few members on here that use vi-pec and love it. if you do a quick search you can get their user names. I think one posted a huge thread about it. I can't recall their names off the top of my head.

Word on the street is CJM is adjusting their dealer pricing on the stage 0 RFS. It will make it very affordable and will be a great investment for you. With that you can get more out of your system since you won't be running the vortech FMU that increases fuel pressure. I would look into it. Definitely before you get tuned since you will need a retune after adding RFS.

I would just ditch it altogether. I have a g35 so i ditched it. Huge and bulky. I don't have scientific fact but just looking at it one would assume it would hold heat into the plenum and engine. I want as much airflow as possible to cool the engine bay temps.

 

I would put in an engine oil cooler as well. The s/c tends to heat up everything.

 

oil cooler as in engine oil cooler

 

well..... i'll have the RFS added to my future plans as well, cuz for now i just wanna prepare for the worst (blown motor). so, if that happen, i wanna have enough budget to buy a new engine..

and i might just remove the cover like u suggested

I'll look for one.. thanks guys!

 

nah, you shouldn't blow the engine if it's properly setup. Especially if you are keeping the numbers mild at 400's.

 

depends on how good the tuner is!

that's what i'm afraid of. tuning tuning and tuning.. i wish i learned how to tune.

btw, i'm taking my car for compression test this Saturday.. that should give me some indication if i should go ahead or not.

 

if you're doing compression might as well do a leakdown test also. It will give you an idea on the whole what the problem could be if you happen to have a dead cylinder.

 

do you think the dealership should know how to perform both (compression / leakdown)?

and what's leakdown test? can i know a little more about it?

 

warning long story! most is just info.. important part is at the end in bold.

okay i bought my 350z yesterday so it's time to get busssssay!

it's a 2003 track with 27k miles bone stock and in mint condition. got it for a crazy low price so i'm very happy indeed (: wheeeeeee!

my plans have been FI from the start so it's mostdef gonna happen. hell i sold my first 350z because it was too slow... back then (1 year ago ) they were too valuable to tune but now they are much cheaper so it's time for a rematch...

my plans are to take it one step at a time and do everything myself. why, you ask? because i like doing it, because right now i don't have the skills to do a engine swap and tt install, because there are no 350z experts here, because it will be a learning project and because the past teaches me i get bored with a car very quickly once it's "finished". basicly i want to stretch it and get the most fun, knowledge and satisfaction out of it.

okay here are the steps of my plan:

step 0: find car buy car *CHECK*

step 1: appearance: 19" nimso lm gt4's, replace some scratched interior panels and install a radio *IN PROGRESS*

step 2: bolt-ons: nismo exhaust, nismo s-tune suspension, nismo swaybars, berk hfc's, motordyne plennumspacer and oiltemp, afr, boost gauges. (i've done all this stuff on previous cars so no worries)

step 3: 350-400 rwhp: vortech tuner kit with ems and fuel components. (here things will start to get new for me. i will get comfortable with extensive engine bay work and learn how to map/tune the ems)

--- from here on time can only tell if the next stages will actually happen ----

step 4: 450 rwhp: built longblock with same vortech kit pushed further.

step 5: 500+ rwhp: twin turbo kit. time to kill some ferrari's and motorbikes.

stage 4 and 5 may not be certain yet but in the previous stages i will keep it in mind when choosing my parts like injectors, ems, vortech blower etc. i know the nismo exhaust won't do for a twin turbo setup but i love the nismo exhaust so much i will make an exception and only get another exhaust when really needed.

okay now for my question:

what vortech blower will be my best choice for me with a possible step 4 in mind? so basicly a blower that will do 350-400 rwhp on the stock block but can be pushed to 450 rwhp with minor mods like a smaller pully and bigger intercooler.

sorry for the long story but i felt like sharing (;

two pix of my new lady (not my choice of wheels)

 

I would look into T trim or si trim.

 

Leak down test is like, it points any problems. Similar to a compression, you will know how well your cylinders are sealing. I'm not good at writing like you know, I'm sure binder can explain to you much easier or google.

 

A leak down is only needed if you fail your compression test... you usually don't do a leak down for the hell of it

 

i know what you mean.. i've read a little about it here and there..

Took the car to the dealer, appeared that they don't have the leak-down tester, and they didn't do a compression test because they're busy to do it today.. so i'm scheduling it for some day mid week.

 

I do leakdown with compression always. Sometimes prblems can be hidden in a compressin test therefore I do both.

I'm not sure if I would take my car to a shop that doesn't have a simple 60$ leakdown tester.

 

step 4: 450 rwhp: built longblock with same vortech kit pushed further.

step 5: 500+ rwhp: twin turbo kit. time to kill some ferrari's and motorbikes.
stage 4 and 5 may not be certain yet but in the previous stages i will keep it in mind when choosing my parts like injectors, ems, vortech blower etc. i know the nismo exhaust won't do for a twin turbo setup but i love the nismo exhaust so much i will make an exception and only get another exhaust when really needed.

okay now for my question:

what vortech blower will be my best choice for me with a possible step 4 in mind? so basicly a blower that will do 350-400 rwhp on the stock block but can be pushed to 450 rwhp with minor mods like a smaller pully and bigger intercooler.



If you plan on going TT down the road why waste your money on the the Vortech??? Hell even runnin low boost on a TT you can easily go with the stock block and you said you plan on building it later??? Just go with the TT

 

was afraid your argument would come up and that's why i gave many reasons in my original post but here they come again:

- it's entirely unsure right now if there will ever be a step 4 (built engine) so a supercharger is a safer match with the stock block.

- i want to do all the work myself and installing a tt kit right now goes over my head but i'm confident a supercharger install doesn't.

- i need to learn to do the mapping of the ecu myself and mapping a supercharger is a lot simpler than mapping a turbo.

-if i finish the project right away the car will be for sale again 3 months later. unfortunately that's how it works with me.

- i have experience with tuned turbo cars but not with supercharger so it's always nice to do something new.

- the vortech tuner kit will be around 4000usd.. almost all of the other extra parts like ems/ecu, fuel system etc will be reusable for a possible tt tuner kit so the loss on the sc to tt switch will be acceptable.