ok guys, i have recently decided to go FI with my g. Its a 2004 AT coupe. as of right now i have stillen intake, motodyne 5/16 spacer, and topspeed headers. 95% of my driving is done in the city, so im looking for an application that gives me INSTANT power and torque. i dont wanna wait for higher rpm's to hit boost. now before anyone says to search, i have done that but i get more and more confused. so ive decided to choose between the stillen stage 2 (i believe thats the one thats warrantied, and more "reliable") and the vortech. i honestly just want a extra boost in power in the car, and dont wanna spend more on parts or tune (closest tuner is 6hrs away). just wanna bolt it on and go. i hope to keep the setup that i have now aswell. i might add an exhaust, buts thats probably it.

ok so between the two, which one do you think would be easier to install? (wanna do it myself).

which one would satisfy my want for an extra boost in power for mostly city driving?

i know it sounds like im leaning towards the stillen, but its just the hood and noise is holding me back. ive always been a fan of the BOV sound and the whoosh of the vortech. im not sure if ill like the whine of the stillen...

please help me decide!! thanks!

 

bump

 

Vortech, hands down. Stillen will almost certainly be a let down, its waaaay to mild of a setup, you'll be lucky to lay down 300whp with that thing.


Oh, and not to be a ****, but if you're not wanting to get a tune after you install a supercharger, the FI forum might not be the place for you.

 

i was always under the impression that these kits came with some sort of pre tuned base maps for stock cars. is that not so? and if it is true, why would i need to tune if i remove my headers and spacer and am satisfied with the standard power output of the kits?

 

If you go supercharger, Vortech is arguably the best way to go.

 

You'll never be 'satisfied with the power of the kit'. It starts off simple enough but it never seems to stay that way

But seriously, have you looked at the ATI Procharger. In the comparasions between the Vortech and the ATI, the ATI brings on it's power at a lower rpm but it does not make as much at the higher end. The kit is fairly complete and can be installed by the average DYI'er without drilling holes in the crankcase. This might suit your needs better than the Vortech (and certainly better than the Stillen).

As to not using a tuner, I think that is taking too big a risk on a stock block (or any block for that matter). Gone are the days of changing out a few carb jets, ignition points, plugs, and the condenser, adjust the timing then go cruising on a Saturday night. Our cars are too finely engineered to 'tune by ear' like we used to do.

We have a Vortech setup and did extensive changes to the fuel system, the ECU, cooling, exhaust, etc. to finally meet our needs. The Vortech allows for lots of individualization to build 'the car of your dreams' but all of this requires planning, work, time and MONEY. You get out what you put in

Good Luck!

 

ok but heres my point....i really am not concerned with future power potential. im gonna sell the car this time next year, but i wanna enjoy it even more while i can. its not recommended to just use the pretuned map that comes with the kits? like for example, the stillen is supposed to come pretuned. why wouldnt it be safe to just use what they send? and thanks for mentioning the procharger...ill look into that.

 

If you are selling the car next year and for mainly city driving then the Stillen is true plug-N-play kit. In a city driving, Stillen will be fun but on a freeway race then Vortech will own you. Also with Vortech you will need to tap into the Oil Pan unless you get a spacer. Also you said you want power down and not on the upper RPM, if this is the case then Vortech will feel weak to you since you have to drive the car to the Redline just to get all the power (Vortech feel like stock under 4000rpm).

I'm answering your question base only on your need, for me Stillen is a waste of money coz it won't give you any power above 350whp.

 

a $500 tune is better than a 3,000 new motor. If your going to sell the car next year I wouldn't bother with FI on a Z. You wont get your money back and you will be dissapointed with the power you would get off a pre-tuned map.

 

More like 300whp on stage 2

 

I'm interested in seeing why you need "instant" power and torque, but if you do, go with the JWT 530bb kit. Later if you decide you want more power you can simply up the turbos and make whatever you want.

 

I was talking about the Max potential of Stillen (Stage 4)

 

other option is to sell or trade in the car, get a car with a bigger engine...

I can't imagine the money lost on a trade in being any worse than buying a stillen or any FI kit just to sell it all in 2 years

 

i was under the impression that the stillen is untunable. isnt the ss box locked? i might be getting a good deal on stillen stage 2 from a forum member so its not gonna be too much...i dont mind losing some money when it comes time to sell the sc. i wanna enjoy this car more than i do now for the remaining time i can. and someone asked why i wanted instant power, the answer is cause of where i live. i live in a small border city in texas, and there are highways here but i would only use them when leaving the city. seeing as i usually fly, my car rarely see's the highway. i drive my car 95% of the time in the city, and i dont wanna have to take my car up to 4000 rpm just to feel the power of the sc/tc. that would be a waste imo, cause like i said, i do stop light to stop light city driving. looks like stillen is probably the way to go. thanks guys for all the help

 

the stillen SS box is locked and by locked, I mean LOCKED

I have one right here in front of me that some jerk named Tony from Nissan/infinity sold me a long time ago saying it was from a stillen stage2 kit, but was fully programmable if I took it to someone to tune it. Then told me I was SOL about getting my money back saying that "stillen can custom tune it how you want to" yeah right, whatever dumbass

It has NO connectors whatsoever. In fact when you unscrew it and open it up it's ALL covered in black silicon. It's totally stupid - it has to be hard on the electonics trapping heat the in. I mean literally someone just covered the circuit boards and wiring with silicon and there's probably no way you'll get it off without risk damaging the unit because it's on there that good

 

you're the same guy helping me out on g35driver right?

 

Turbonetics maybe, I'm just throwing it out there. It for sure wouldn't be what I put on my car, but it might be an option for you to explore.

 

yeah I'm on a ton of Z/G boards

I'm burning a bunch of CD's for someone as a xmas present so I'm all over the boards today for a bit

 

i really appreciate all your help sentry. thanks!

 

Don't worry bout the the 6 hours drive time, besides it will make for a sweet road trip home. I drive about 4 hours to get to SGP and I just make sure I have my music with me. I think I once read "No tune and KABOOM!!" on this forum before.

JAMEZ pointed out a good option or you may want wait for the Power Lab ST kit to come out.

From my research I found that when buy a kit such as the Stillen you may be happy with the increased power at first but eventually you will want more and the Stillen simply doesn't have that much headroom, Thats why I waited and got a GReddy but was just my preference.