Congrats EJ! Glad everything went smoothly for you. Welcome to the darkside

 

keep it a sleeper doc!

 

There's really no way to stay a sleeper with this thing......the compressor is awesome sounding........ever seen that old movie "The Wraith"?.......where that guy comes back from the dead after street racing and somehow got himself a supercharged chrysler concept car?.......this sound reminds me of that car.


Thanks Dave for a job well done.......i really love this thing......even untuned i was able to show an SL 500 a little something last night

 

As the insaller, I would love to hear your impressions of the kit....quality, craftsmanship.....overall impressions and if possible a little background on where you are coming from tuner wise. I'm interested in like and dislikes of the setup. More and more the perormance is being proven......but I'm curious about the product itself........documentation, finish, liveability, supportability.....that sort of thing...

Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide. I'm actually really interested in doing this as soon as I reload the money gun a bit.

 

Dave/E_J,

I realize that install prices & times vary from shop to shop, but I'm curious how many hours of install time were billed total. I'd like to estimate my install cost with my local installers hourly install rate.

Also, what additional costs were incurred (ie gauges, etc.)?

 

My opinion of the ATI kit is as follows...

I have installed ATI's kit for the LS1 Camaro and Firebird before doing the Z installation. The kits were pretty similar in two respects. First, the hardware and product itself is first rate, the only blower set up I'd ever run on a newer style car. Second, the instruction manual and some of the fitment problems were enough to **** even Mary Poppins off!


The instructions that come with the 350Z kit are poor to moderate. They'll get you through the installation, assuming you have a thorough knowledge of your car already and a strong background in working on cars. For me it wasn't that bad, but I did have to talk to EJ a few times about some choices, which we worked out.

I would recommend the kit to anyone with the means to get it. I am a huge fan of ATI products. Next time I install one, I'll make some modifications to the parts before I put them in the car. Some of the brackets need to be modified so there is more adjustablity when installing the compressor itself. The exit side of the blower actually hit the frame rail and wouldn't even bolt up to the bracket. I made the holes in the bracket bigger which seemed to help more than I expecteed. I think I only opened them up 1/64 of an inch bigger, but it helped a lot. When I put the main bracket on next time, I'll open those holes up bigger also. This will allow the entire blower assembly to shift up enough to clear the frame rail. You only need to get another 1/4 inch of movement, so it's not really all that much.

But like I said, the instructions were shitty. The pictures rarely helped. They also were out of order. For instance, they should tell you to do the PCV hoses before you put the blower in. Instead they leave that for last. They should tell you to put the compressor in before you install any brackets. If you wait, you'll probably scratch the heck out of your nice shiney new compressor when trying to slide it into place. I can probably say I did the install on EJ's car no less than three times with all the times I'd put it together and then have to take it back off so I could do the next step.

My install costs are by the job. I don't charge by the hour. So I wasn't concerned how long it took, and EJ reassured me time wasn't a problem as long as the job was done right. As far as I am concerned, the job was done perfectly, so a few extra hours was well worth it. But it took me too many hours to count. EJ dropped the car off last Tuesday. I had quite a bit taken apart by Tuesday night. Wednesday was doing the brackets, Thursday was the blower install itself, and Saturday was spent finishing it up. If EJ wouldn't have helped out Saturday, it would have taken one more day. I alone spent 22 hours on Saturday, plus maybe another 20 the previous days. I work slow I admit (the reason I charge by the job, not by the hour). But, there were no mistakes made, the final product is very very pretty to look at, and the car runs perfectly except for dyno tuning yet to come. So, like EJ said, a little extra time was OK for the results.

As far as my background, I have been building race cars for the last twenty years, even before I had my license. I've mostly dabbled in American V8's. Some of my latest cars to leave my shop are a 200 MPH daily driven LS1 Camaro, a Firebird that eats Lamborghini Murcielagos and Yamaha R1's for lunch, a 10 second LS1 Camaro, and now I am the main wrench on an eight second '70 Camaro. I also have a bit of experience with road racing, recently finishing up a '65 Mustang built for open road racing with a 375 HP 302. I also have a '71 Corvette with a 550 HP/650 TQ 454 in it. I used to work as an airline mechanic, but decided to open my own place working on cars. Like I said, my main clientele are the LS1 based cars. But, hopefully this is my entrance into your guys' world. I really did enjoy working on the Z. But then again, my attitude is more about me just enjoying working on fast cars than it is on the brand. Also, I love to see the enthusiasm of the owners when they see their finished product. EJ was jumping around with the grin of a little boy when we finally finished it up. That's what makes my job fun, and makes me want to go the extra mile. It's not business at that point, it's friendship.

So, thumbs up on this kit. Longevity of these kits is good as well. One of the ATI kits I did three years ago is still running well. I like supercharged applications more than turbos. The intercooler makes this set up a class act. And, the kit just looks so damn good sitting there! It's neat to listen to it whine while watching the belts spinning around and around and around and around...

Hope this helps... Like I said, if anyone needs tips or pointers, feel free to ask.

Dave

 

Excellent post Dave, thanks! I would be willing to wager that your shop is soon to be overrun with Z owners looking for Procharger installs. I think it is awesome that you charge by the job and not the hour. Great policy IMHO. That takes out the need to rush a job for the sake of keeping cost down while at the same time doing away with a HUGE labor bill in order to take your time and do it right.

That being said, Altered Atmosphere did my install and their install costs were more than fair IMO. Mike quoted my a $68 per hour labor fee and the cost of my install (minus the extras for the gauges etc) was $680.00. I'm pretty sure they put more than 10 hours into my install.

Looks like we have two winners here.

 

Like Dave was saying, i was billed for the job, not hourly.......i gave him some examples of what other shops were charging, and he gave me a price range based on that......the manual says 8-10 hour job, but that's not realistic if you want it done well

I'd have to say it seems common for about $1K installed and tuned......this is about what my total costs are

As far as gauges go, you might think i'm crazy, but i didn't get any gauges........i have other plans........once i get on the dyno, i'm probably gonna swap out the FMU set-up for an Apex'i SAFC-II, and let that run all my fuel management right through the stock ECM.......then i will have the ability to monitor my engine and what it's doing.

 

Dave,


Great install post.

I wish I lived near you...I'd have my Z there ASAP for the Procharger install. I don't know of any tuner here in Las Vegas who could offer such quality, pride of workmanship, and expertise. If you can recommend anyone, please let me know.

 

So your here close to me!! Hmmm, makes me wish I wanted a procharger and actually had the cash. D'oh

 

Why can't you bring it up here?? I drove to L.A. for dyno tuning on my LS1 because there was only guy on this coast that I felt was qualified enough to do as good of a job as I needed. I actually have one car here right now from Texas I am redoing his engine for. To be honest, I think that's quite an honor. When you start out doing this stuff, you never even consider people shipping their cars to you to have work done.

But, a bit closer to you are the guys others have mentioned in the So Cal area. That's probably a better bet for you. But, I'm here if you decide to make the trek!!

 

Dammit!!!!!!!! You guys are going to get me divorced making posts like this!!!! I'm gonna sneak out now and spend $6K more on my $44K Z, that puts me at $50K!!!!!!!!!!! Oh god, I'm not gonna get any for the next 10 years!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Nothing a couple dozen roses can't fix!

 

Heck, give the wife a ride after the install of the SC and you might get lucky that night!

 

 

Dave, Thanks so much for the excellent post. That was exactly what I was looking for (and from the sounds of it, others were as well). I hope you didn't feel I was "calling you out" by asking for background and what not.........I just wanted opinions and prefer to know where they are coming from.

Thanks again, sounds like the Cali guys are pretty lucky to be near you.


I will say, it is posts like these that will solidify my decision to go with the ATI.

take care

 

Awesome post, mucho quality!

Thanks,
Victor

 

Congrats man!

 

Thanks