Although it always seemed odd to me that someone would cross an international border to have work done when there were ample, competent people within a 30min drive, I suppose you had your reasons. You asked for advice and you got it from some heavy hitters telling you to take your car out of the country. I suppose it's like Black Jack. You can stand on 12 when the dealer is showing 16. The advice says to stand on 12. But sometimes that dealer draws a 5 and you still get screwed.
It seems like NAFTA should be doing something for you, here. I know that goods "made in usa" are exempt from your spending limits so I would tend to think that services are obviously "made" in America. I don't get why you're being screwed on that.
As for the blow, anyone that has handled a reasonable amount of US $hundreds will show coke residue. Too bad they got on that trail. $9,300 ...WtFF!!!¡ That's enough money to pay an attorney to chase after, IMO.
Glad it's running well, but is it just that you don't update this often or have you been without your car for almost the entire summer?

 

Eh Dave... yeah- the decision to go south is what it is and as you have said there were a lot of very convincing recommendations that guys on the island were NOT ready to tune (5252 continues to have a horrible reputation amongst the import community- though I don't have any direct experience with them) Rocket Rally- who were highly recommended- didn't do anything but Subies and I was getting some very cautionary notes about a couple of the shops in the Vancouver area. Ztune was by far the most recommended early- but they shut down. MNR (the guys doing my work now who have proven to be awesome) didn't exist until 2 months after I went down for my tune. In fact, they're a couple of guys from Ztune who went off to start over again.

So yes- very difficult to stay in BC. Keep in mind- the only work I intended for Intec to do was a safe tune since the 700bb was considered a bit on the heavy side for a stock AT. I bought some 600cc injectors and paid for a tune... I think my total bill was supposed to be 1300 (osiris license, tune and injectors.) So for THAT, the evaluation to go down south for a couple of days seems more reasonable. Especially given that one of the only (if not THE only) Uprev Pro tuner on the West Coast was at Intec... seemed like a responsible decision.

As for the updates- the car was in various states of limbo throughout the end of the process and from July to end of August it was in varying stages of completion. There was a 3 week period there where the Quaife was being installed and it was bumped to the last minute... as a result I didn't get the car back for 3 weeks (I work out of town.)

Now the hunt is on for a set of RE-11s for the back... but my rims are only 9.5 so I'm thinking the 265s may be too narrow to justify and the 285s may look too bulbous. I guess that's a discussion for another thread.

And yeah- that whole NAFTA thing just confounds me and if someone has anything definitive to add as to why services would have been included I'm all ears (eyes).

 

so sorry to hear this. I used to work in Richmond, BC and lived in Seattle...that border crossing was always a nerve wracking *****.

In my job i deal with customs a lot and i find them to be some of the meanest, dumbest ****'s out there....

Overtrained underachievers.

I still am working on my G but in the mean time i bot a 96 Miata....the car is a blast and fun as hell...I thrash it everyday and it just takes it. The fact that it is under powered means I can rev the snot out of it every time I shift and it stays docile and controllable. + It is cheap cheap cheap.

still love the G though.

 

damn kicked in the nuts all the way til the bitter end.

it is just money but thats quite a still fine. did they impound the car or were you able to leave with the fine?

at least you are pretty much done. So enjoy the car before you get snowed in!

 

They did a full seizure on the car so if I hadn't paid for it then I'd have had to find another way home. So basically I just started handing cards over until I reached 9k. Fortunately I'd just put down some money on both of them and I was in good standing.

But yeah- I think the car has a bit of an ugly streak. Guess I am now TRULY FI.

lol

 

woah, so you have to come up with 9k on the spot? thats insane. no wonder why that guy made that comment about it coulda stung less. Sounds like he could fined as little or as much as he wanted. what a crazy experience!!

 

I guess this is what it's all about...

Intec passed on the dyno sheets and though I'd seen the "raw" version at 518... once it was smoothed out I guess the peak dropped to 516 and change.

Anyway- here are the high and low settings- or basically my A and B on my boost controller: The low is 12psi and the high is 18.






Sorry about the one sideways... I've tried resizing it and all sorts but it keeps showing up sideways.

 

Have you considered going with a larger exhaust?

 

I have researched exhausts a bit but at this point I think unless something lands in my lap I'm going to be staying out of modsville for a bit. Sylvan's running the same exhaust as me and he's almost at 6- well, now he's beyond that with his new 3.8 build... but up until then he was running some pretty mad numbers with the Stillen.

If I were to update anything at this point- I think wheels are first on the agenda (looking at the volk winnings 9.5f-10.5r with a lip). Tough to get those used up here though. Exhaust would come after that I think.



Oh yes- and the black cozie.

 

Eh guys. Merry Christmas.

Well I lied about the exhaust. Txfire sold me his Greddy Turbo Ti-C exhaust which I'm learning is a premium exhaust for TT with our cars. That was a great score and I'm really looking forward to the result.

I was a bit hesitant to go to the 3" because I'm still trying to keep the build quiet until the bomb drops. Don't want it to get TOO loud for normal driving, and the 2.75 seemed like a nice balance between form and function. Nitrouz gave me some good information regarding the exhaust and really swayed my initial thoughts that it could wait. The guys at Z1 were also very helpful in getting my head around some of the concepts relating to improved exhaust flow and the turbos- so a credit to them to helping the new guy out and being patient with me. It seems obvious to me now but it took some direction before I could do the research where it really became clear HOW it helps- not just that it helps. APS' site has some great info for the entry level guy and explain multiple levels about turbo efficiency and exhaust.

I've been looking for 3-3.5" downpipes and I've seen the flowmax 3" with the open dumps (700 bucks?)... and I've seen some VERY interesting 3.5 from the APS system but they say that they're only made for the APS setup. Is this true or is that just advertising to promote their own turbo kits?

Are there other options? Most of the pipes I'm seeing are < 3"

I also had a cusco catchcan installed- as can be seen in the included photo. Not much new to see other than that. When that exhaust gets installed in the next couple weeks I'll post more- and with any luck we might be able to get some pre-post dyno runs while we're at it.

 

i doubt you would even see a difference if you had 2.5" downpipes. your exhaust wheels are pretty small, probably only ~2". 3" is adequate/overkill as it is on those turbos.

Do you find that TiC as quiet as you hoped? I was surprised how loud it was and how it droned. It was on a NA car so maybe that made it louder though.

 

i have the TiC on mine we removed all the 2.75" bottle necks and resonators and its 3" all the way out now. doesnt drone at all though. running the gtm 3" downpipes aswell. love the sound of it

 

I gained 28rwhp on stock block at >9psi (APS TT) back when i switched from 2.5"tp to 3.5". There really is no such thing as "overkill" as far as exhaust flow on the backside of the turbine.

Ian, I'm not sure that the APS downpipes would fit your application, but you can rule those out anyway. They are nearly impossible to find since they have been discontinued along with all other APS products.

 

GTM makes some but i believe they are even more expensive

 

I don't have it on there yet. Shipped a few days ago and will be about a week before it arrives. Then a little time will go by before it goes on because I work a week in, week out routine.

I've been told about my .64 AR turbos being on the small-ish side and wondered what my limits would be in terms of discharge sizes-

I'm familiar with friction loss as it applies to water and can appreciate the benefits that even small changes in diameter can have on flow. I'm not sure that the same rule applies as significantly with air or not but if anyone has "detailed files" I invite you to chime in.

3.5" was on the large side and I'll more than likely end up with something 3". I'd like to ensure that there is lots of room for the gases when they are at their hottest and most expanded.

Anyone have any feedback on the AAM Flowmax 3" with the open dump? I was reading some material on another open dump product on here somewhere that rattled horribly and it doesn't sound like it was worthwhile. I saw the GTM had a wastegate (tial?) as well but said it's for "greddy" kits. I suspect the turbos themselves are the same but is the fit different?

Anyway- doesn't sound like I'm in a rush to swap out my TPs- but if someone knows of some reasonable options let me know!

 

28whp for 500++$ downpipes. You coulda had 28 hp more for free with 1-2psi more boost.

If you have tons of money just burning a hole in your pocket, sure there's no reason not to get as big as you can afford.

An open dump that rattles? come on. Its a couple inch long pipe. There is absolutely no way you will hear a dump tube rattle over the exhaust noise. That sounds like user/installer error.

3" pipes are 3" pipes. There is only 1 shape that fits, so there is no difference between makers, esp on open dumps. But you do have to have the correct flange, which the JWT I dont think is standard. Greddy is 3 bolt. Not sure about the JWT. Personally, I'd just make new downpipes out of your old ones. Cut off the flange, weld on an expanding cone to 3.5" and have a shop make them for you. Probably end up costing 1/2 the price as pre-made ones. Boosted performance could make them for ya in 30 mins.

 

https://my350z.com/forum/forced-indu...eo-inside.html

Looks like a different kind of device but anyway this is what I was talking about.


As for BP doing something up for me- that may be the best idea in this whole thread! I'll drop him a line and see where he's at with the thought.

Thanks!

 

thats an exhaust cutout, not a dump tube. you def dont need that with a TiC.

mine doesnt rattle like that.

 

Once I looked back the half dozen pages or so and found it I realized it was a different concept. I've sent BP a note and expect I'll hear from him at some point after the holidays. Great suggestion!

 

If fabriaction was so simple/easy/quick, I would think that a lot of others would have learned how to do it. If I was making the same things over and over (like a turbo kit) yes, it does go quicker. That is because I have a system in place with jigs, and already know where to make each cut and at what angle.

Just getting the car on a lift, and removing the old pipes would take more than 30 minutes, let alone fabrication and perfect fitment. Duplicating a smaller size set is the same way, I would have to make a jig first, and that alone will take one hour per side.

Ian, PM'd you back.