Hey Abogada I'm in Miami too. Sorry to hear about your car. I was wondering where you got the procharger installed at? Dynamic turbo (never been there, but i'v heard bout it)? I haven't been able to find any good shops around here. I plan on doing some sort of FI in the future, and I need a good shop for the install and tuning. BTW where in Miami are you located? PM me if you like.

 

Sorry to hear about your disaster Robin. I have an '04 G35c and will be ordering the TT kit in the Summer of '04. I plan on installing the 8.5:1 compression ratio pistons in order to put well over 7psi in the engine. Even with fine tuning the FI kits to perfection, don't you still run the risk of damaging a connecting rod or other components pounding 7psi into an engine that has a compression ratio of 10.3:1 while revving the heck outta the engine?

Sorry for all that mumbo jumbo. I helped my friend design a custom Supercharger application for his Mercedes ML55 and since we wanted so much power, we ended up having his motor taken apart and having the pistons and rods changed.

I know the set of pistons only cost $1300, but it's the installation and removal of the motor that's going to make the price soar through the roof.

 

this is a damn shame.......my detonation gets really bad at 6488 rpms......i'd probably be in your shoes too if i had ever went to 6500........i think daking350 is looking for a spare motor that he can build......maybe he'll buy your block

 

Hey EJ, serious question here. Could you describe the sound from your car. I've never heard detonation from my 350Z yet, and I'm curious as to what it sounds like on our car. Is it just your typical "plastic bottle of ball bearings" sound or something different?

 

with the hood up it's kind of a crackling kind of sound from the engine bay.......with the hood down on the street i've heard "bb's in a tin can"

 

K, just makin sure thanks.

 

no problem

 

When people blow their motors with the ATI kit... are they throwing rods theu the block or are they melting pistons?

There is a big difference.

I am curious.

 

I know of more than 10 cars that have detonated with the ATI. This is fact not fiction. I have logged every person on every board that has a blown engine while running a ATI. I would not hesitate to think that a lawyer might want to represent 10 or more Z owners in a class action suit on a contingency basis. Please e-mail me at silverdiscdjs@yahoo.com ONLY if you have had your engine blown. Please don't email for chat. Again ONLY if YOU have had your engine detonate.

 

I know lawyers who would represent a plaintiff sueing their own mothers for the right amount of money!!!

 

I think all the ones I've read about have had holes in the pistons.

 

Well, this one she says has a hole on the side of the engine, but all others from what I have seen have been melted pistons so I don't think it has to do with compression ratio and the engine not being able to take it, hell the dealer car that blew an engine ran 300 shot of NOS before it broke, so most seem to be due to running lean or maybe due to that timing issue people have mentioned at high RPM's. It just seems like ATI jumped the gun in releasing their kit an not knowing all of the parameters involved.

 

The sad thing about this is that ATI will blame it solely on the Crawford Plenum. I guarantee it.

--Steve

 

Robin, I'm sorry to here about your z.

zimbo,
You can't possibly expect to have a case against a company's product when you throw other variables into the mix, unless, you can proove that it isn't even safe for a stock z to run.

E_J, on the other hand, (from what I know) has a strong case against a "100% complete bolt-on kit" that won't work on a stock z without detonation.

If there are more consumers like E-J, that do file a complaint, and possibly expose flaws in the systems through legal means, then regardless of aftermarket applications added to the stock ATI kit, it was never "safe" to run in the first place.

 

Yep, I agree with that. Believe me, I don't proclaim to know all the details about all the cars with blown engines. But from what I do know, EJ is the only one that has a truly valid complaint. Just IMHO, yada, yada....

 

well where is the problem coming in?

what kind of A/F are the ATI cars running?

How much boost at stock timing are you guys running? Not only that, but why isnt anyone retarding their timing? I have turbocharged so many NA cars I cant even begin to count... but I would never try much boost on stock ignition timing, especially on the newer motors that run tons of timing... i have seen civics with perfect A/F curves blow motors at 7 psi... its just part of puting FI on a NA car without getting more in depth with the tuning... is anyone running a piggy back timing controller?

 

Disclaimer: I do not claim to have all the details on the blown engines. What I say is only based on what I personally know.

I think the actual cause of all these blown motors may not be consistent. I know that some were just tuned too lean, plain and simple. There is at least one that was tuned to 12.6 on a dyno, which could end up at around 12.7 or 12.8 with a real load on it....that is just too lean, its a ticking time bomb and the timer isn't very long. Some had further mods beyond the kit, and even with safe a/f ratios they were pushed out of the safe zone since timing wasn't addressed.

I think the guys that are using their heads are keeping a/f ratios around 11.5. Running leaner than that, knowing you have the stock timing maps egging on the possibility of det, is just taking too much of a chance.

There are a ton of these cars running around on stock timing with the kit at ~7psi. Some of us have decided to run a J&S Safeguard to address the timing concerns, I already have mine installed. Before the kit even came out, I had planned to add timing control to it. I ran for a while without it, but generally took it easy and short shifted because of my concerns. The factory ecu is capable of pulling timing back a little if knock is detected, but I think it just isn't enough on some cars. There are also some guys running a reflashed ecu with altered timing maps. Right now, the J&S or the ecu reflash are the main options.

 

.Has anyone considered that, no matter how much fuel you put into this motor, it may still need additional timing control

 

yep, that's why some of us are going with the J&S Ultrasafeguard. While others are going with the Technosquare ECU flash as mentioned in the post directly above yours.

 

actually i've heard of 2 others on this board that have the same thing as i do........noahbuddy, and swinke have both mentioned that they have detonation also.......not sure what their other mods are, if any

the difference about my car is that i'm completely stock.......if there's any car that this kit should work well on, it's mine.......until this matter is resolved, i intend on leaving my car completely stock........just so there is no mistake about whats really going on here