Yeah, I know other people have already done reviews of the ATI kit, but here's mine

The Install:

Installation itself was very straightforward. Nothing too tricky or difficult about it if you are mechanically inclined. There were a couple of hoses that could have been longer and a bracket that was unnecessary, but other than that not too confusing. There were a couple of things that were vague in the manual. What I'm getting at is not everything is spelled out exactly for you and needs a little bit of interpretation. I think the most difficult part about the whole install for me was getting all of the intercooler pipes, intake and bypass valve to fit behind the bumper.

Total install time for me was about 16 hours total time. Finding the recommended plugs were a little difficult, but I ended up buying them from a Yamaha boat dealer.

Test Drive:

Basically the hardest thing to get used to is the sound. It sounds like I've got a jet engine under my hood. It has a very loud whine, but at WOT it gets drowned out by the beautiful Borla Dual Exhaust sound.

Stepping on the gas, for me, doesn't give an automatic kick. If you're at WOT then at around 2500 RPM is when it really starts to kick in. You feel an instant surge in power and about every 1000 RPM after that you feel another kick in the pants. The Procharger uses a stepping Fuel Management Unit. It has 5 steps that kick in at certain levels of boost in your intake manifold. You can definitely tell when you've kicked up to another fuel level. I can only describe it as awe inspiring, I actually got goose bumps. Frankly, when I originally bought my Z, I was a little disappointed. I had previously owned a 300Z TT so I was expecting the same kind of power. I live at 6100 ft elevation so to me the 350Z was a bit sluggish.

Since I don't have a boost gauge, I haven't seen my boost numbers yet, but my tuner (Joule USA) hooked one up while he was tuning and got max of .4 bar or approx 5.8 PSI

This is how the 350Z should have felt from the factory. It now pulls all the way to redline. The first time I got on it in 1st gear after I got it tuned I was absolutely shocked. I hit the rev limiter so fast it was unbelievable. I've got to be very careful now about when I shift because it's easy to hit that redline without realizing it.

The settings that ATI provided as a baseline were VERY rich, especially after the second step on the FMU. The Wideband O2 was pegged 8:1 because it doesn't go any lower than that. After tuning though it made all the difference in the world. My suggestion is to find a tuner who is familiar with the operation of that particular type of FMU. Most of the tuners I talked with weren't familiar with the programmable FMU that comes with this kit.

Summary:

Overall, I love this kit. It has made the car much more fun to drive. I now have the handling and the torque that I originally expected from this car. The SC whine is a bit unnerving at times, but it's the sound of power and I'll gladly make that sacrifice. Plus you get all the old guys at stop lights asking "Is that a blower I hear?"

 

nice review. best of luck with it!!!!

 

Good review Jesse.....my car's supposed to be finished today......i'm expecting to be pleased too

 

Can you give me an estimate on how many MPG you lost after installing the ATI SC?

Thanks, Jeff

 

Excellent review. How many times was your car needed to Dyno to dial in the FMU bro? Some have done none and some have done 15 or more. Can you just plug and play it w/o a Dyno tune using the ATI settings because I know of some who plan just exactly that (plug and play.) I agree on the feel and sound, very accurate and I have Borla too.

 

Zland,

I don't know how many MPG I lost because the ECU doesn't realize there's more pressure in the fuel rail. Because of this extra pressure, the computer doesn't calculate that into it's MPG equation. Basically what I'm saying is that if you're running boost with this setup your MPG will be wrong.

MaxHax,

I didn't have any dyno's done. They're not really needed. A good tuner can do it with a wideband O2 sensor that logs RPM, boost and AF ratios with a simple road test. My tuner Chris Joule of Joule USA is awesome and tuned this sucker up to a perfect 13:1 ratio in about an hour and a half of driving. Only cost me $75 to tune it.

The ATI settings will work, but are very rich in my situation. I'm at a high elevation so it probably has something to with that. I'd suggest bringing the first step up about 5% because mine was running a little lean on that one and super rich on the others.

 

I got to go to a G35 Coupe event in Dallas today and listened to a ATI Procharger equiped Coupe. It sound more like a bearing going bad noice but was not noticeable once the hood was closed and not at all inside the car with the windows shut

 

daddy Z,

did you look at the intercooler on that g35 coupe?
was it a single piece. was it mostly blocked?

thanks,
rob

 

Maxhax got banned. Now this sucks!! Nice review anyways!!

 

N4spd,

I was there as well. The intercooler is a one-piece and is mostly blocked. However the coupe's bumper inlets do allow a descent amount of air into that area and they also have some styrofoam structure behind them, which directs the air towards the center.
But its still not a direct path as the 350Z has.

 

best review I have read.

I understand what I will get into if/when I opt to add one on.

Thanks.

 

Jesse, I agree with your review completely. I wasn't going to write up a "review", but if I did it would say pretty much what you said.

Are you going to run an egt meter, or just the wideband o2? I installed my egt today, so far temps are low.

 

why was maxhax banned??

i hope it wasn't because of the closed thread where he was looking for help and giving his own opinion on the ATI procharger. i mean....it's his opinion, right?

my opinion...the whine is horrible. if that wasn't there...sure, i'd get it. but that whine makes it sound like something is wrong. if i hear a car next to me like that...i'd think some belts were about to go. i like the power...i hate the noise.

 

thanks bellox!

guess I'll have to get an aftermarket bumper to open her up...

thanks,
rob

 

Yeah, I would like to know why max was banned also. I am ready to pull the trigger on FI and was following Max's thread about the potential problems that FI can cause. I thought this was an UINBIASED forum???????????????????

I want to make informed purchasing decisions. I can only do this by reading BOTH good and bad reviews. Isn't that what tis board is about, INFORMATION?

Jeff

 

This thread is about my review of the ATI procharger. Please keep it on topic.

 

Jesse,

With all due respect an UNBIASED review of the Procharger is what I am looking for and I appreciate your input. But inevitably reviews done by individual experiences are biased towards there experiences. To come to an UNBIASED conclusion we need to hear ALL sides of the story including Max's.

Can you offer any down sides to your install? Problems you have with your engine? Problems with installers etc.?

I am not mechanically inclined when it comes to engine work and want as much information as possible to know what I am getting into.

Thanks


Jeff

 

My point was that if you want to discuss MaxHax's banning start yourself a new thread. It's not that big of a deal, but all too often I see threads get hijacked and become a total waste of time and I just wanted to try to stop it before it happened here.

I can't offer up any problems I had with my installer because I was the installer. Problems with the kit.... boost sense hose was about 3 foot too short, PCV valve hose was about 2 foot too short, 10 gauge yellow Power wire from FMU to the battery was about 2 foot too short and bypass valve hoses did not work (I needed to go buy new hoses.

I am reviewing the ease of installation, and the ATI kit performance in general. I think we all know that MaxHax had difficulties with his installers, but they have nothing to do with this review.

 

BRING BACK MAXHAX!

not hijacking thread...just stating an opinion...which i am allowed to do. someone stated something about it in this thread...i'm commenting on it.

seems like ati has to fix up the little "bugs" if i'm ever going to be a customer!

first and foremost....make it sounds good....get rid of the "i have a broken chevy truck" sound. haha.

 

The biggest problem I have with the sound right now is not the whine, that is starting to grow on me. I've got this annoying sound that sounds like a bad bearing at around 1800 rpm. I'm still trying to isolate which pulley it's coming from. I called ATI about it and they said to check the SC impeller blades to make sure they're not rubbing against the housing. I really don't want to have to take the intake off again because then I'll have to take the bumper off. The good thing though is that they'll ship me a new one if it is the impeller blades.