I have had several forced induced cars, none stock standard, some very modified. I have built engines, wired in ecu's and designed my own turbo kits from scratch so please don't treat me like a total moron.

The 350z has everything I could possibly want except I feel like it is missing out on an extra 80-100hp. I am entertaining the idea of a low boost turn key single turbo kit. My question simply is- running 4-5psi would this be expected to be a somewhat reliable option long term on a stock engine?

This means stock block, stock clutch (initially anyway), stock head gasket, occasional mild weekend abuse but mainly daily driving. Something like the turbonetics turn key kit. I realise this is all chance, if there is a 5% chance of blowing up fine, 35% chance I would give it a miss. If the only reasonable chance of survival means building the engine and getting a standalone I will also give it a miss.

Looking at the blowing up FI thread there was only 1 failure listed at below 10psi when I sorted them by psi and blowing up. That one was at 8psi. There were about 14 cars going strong with less than 8psi being run. These were a mixture of twins, singles and SC.

 

Don't matter how many psi, a shyt tune is a shyt tune.. Check out boosted performance single kit, get it tuned by a reputable tuner n u will have the time of Ur life all stock block....

 

Thanks for the reply. Do you mean the under car single turbo? It looks like amazing workmanship but I am not a fan of having a turbo so low, I would worry about road damage to it, oil drain problems and two wastegates is unnecessary expense.

You are saying the turn key tunes are crap right? I am not sure how easy it would be to find someone in this country to tune the stock ecu, I think standalone might be the only way to do it.

 

Anything other than a custom dyno tune is going to be a significant risk. Every car flows different even from the factory... at WOT some run pig rich some lean. Do you want to take that same chance running a canned tune with a turbo attached? Regarding the 'my tuner won't touch osiris' thing, (other than the tuner has zero VQ experience and you'll blow up with whatever tune he gives you anyways), keep in mind there are Osiris tuners that will do remote E-tuning such as Vince@RTT.

 

Most run at 8lbs stock block. I did with twin turbo and upgraded clutch, fuel, exhaust and a tune. Did pulls in the highway but no extreme track racing at all and wasn't a daily driver. It was a fun car for the time I had it. I had only one "problem" after a year I had a fitting start to drip, $20 later it was fixed. But know, eventually something will happen so be ready for a small leak or blown engine.

I brought it to a reputable tuner and did the other work/installing in my garage.

Keep searching and you'll find everything you need to know though.

 

Your best option is the Vortech supercharger kit. it comes with the SS control box so your not gonna have to worry about tuning the car and your really gonna feel te difference. with the Vortech your gonna get around 7psi or less depends on your breathing mods (exhaust, test pipes etc) I have a 2005 350z with the v2 kit and so far it hasn't give me any problem, I upgraded the pulley and I'm getting around 10psi but once you upgrade the pulley your gonna need a tune, mine got tune with Osiris uprev.

 

If you do not have aspirations of big power in the future, you can make a pretty reliable 400rwhp on a vortech supercharger as long as you have your fuel and tune in order

 

It's safER, but I wouldn't call it all the way to safe. It's torque that kills you, not boost pressure (although there is some relation, here.)
I would be most concerned about a poor tune in your case since you mentioned that there are few tuners available.

 

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet... OP, if you want a "reasonably reliable" or "safe" FI option, the Turbonetics kit should be the absolute last kit you consider. Any of the other single turbo kits or TT kits such as the JWT 530bb would be a superior choice if you decide to go with a turbo instead of a Vortech supercharger.

Edit: Just noticed that you're in New Zealand. Is your Z right hand drive? If so, you may be limited to JDM kits. I'm not sure which kits will or will not fit RHD cars.

 

+1, its all about the tune.

 

There are great tuners here but all of them have their favourite ecu's to work with. The big ones here are Wolf, Link, some do Haltech, AEM etc. Not many have experience with the less well known/used options ie megasquirt and many piggy back systems.

Car is RHD, I figured since most of the single turbo options are on the left side of the car where the airbox is, it probably wont be an issue. Twins I suspect would be a problem with all of the steering and braking systems on the other side of the car. A centrifugal would also likely be fine on the left side. I am also considering making my own since this is quite a lot of fun and there are some excellent fabricators around here, really amazing work.

Sounds like the safest option is going with a standalone with a local dynotune.

 

Buy Boosted Performance Complete Stage 1 Kit - Original (The Twin Scroll Setup is the Dual WG)
Direct Link to info below - Email Sasha for details and pricing
https://my350z.com/forum/members/boo...itor_messaging
Best experience I've ever had buying anything in person or online PERIOD! All others who've dealt with Sasha will agree hands down with me on this. The Kit is the best you'll get for the money you spend.

The Turbo is above Sub-frame so you would have to rub off much of your cars bottom before even touching the kit.

Once you've installed your kit which comes with Uprev Osirus Tuner... just get in touch with Vince/RT and he should get you started with a base tune for the kit. He knows this kit well and is a beast at Tuning. I would run 6 to 8psi spring in your case and do several performance pulls with Uprev Tuner. Vince/RT will let you know how to do this and what parameters to monitor with Uprev. The street will be your Dyno. Then send results back to Vince for final fine tuning. DONE!

You'd obviously want to also buy supporting Gauges to keep track on what's going on with your ride. Let me know if you need help on this depending on whether you plan on having Gauges Exposed or the stealth look like I have where it's all hidden till needed.

At 6psi tuned properly these cars are fun as hell... at 8psi even more fun and at 10psi with a slight rich tune (for safe measure) you'll be spanking most cars out there.

 

Link is a great EMS andif you have that option, thats what I'd suggest

 

I remember seeing a thread on here of this guy who had a momentum turbo kit set at 4-5 psi. To me it's a waste if you're not going to be running a little higher psi to have a turbo. Plus as others have stated before, as soon as you add a turbo you compromise the reliability no matter what amount of boost. It's your choice, in my opinion, if you do a turbo, build rods and pistons and throw about 8+ psi, my .02.

 

The BP kit offers plenty of clearance.. So no worries about scraping, oil return any of that..

I'm not sure y u think u need 2 waste gates on a BP single...

As far as tuning, Hal@Dynosty offers remote tuning. Either Haltech or Uprev..

I have the biggest turbo BP kit out with a 7675 billet under my car. My car is dropped on coils pretty low n still no issues rubbing... Oil return is handled thru an exa-scavenge pump which has a decent life cycle...

 

The BP kit offers plenty of clearance.. So no worries about scraping, oil return any of that..
The original BP kit uses a single WG...

As far as tuning, Hal@Dynosty offers remote tuning. Either Haltech or Uprev..

I have the biggest turbo BP kit out with a 7675 billet under my car. My car is dropped on coils pretty low n still no issues rubbing... Oil return is handled thru an exa-scavenge pump which has a decent life cycle...

 

Thanks for the info. I found a thread with the build info for the twin scroll with dual WG hence 2 wastegates. I didn't realise there was a single as well. That single kit looks very nice I think that would be the one for me. I will strongly consider it next year.

I added up everything I would need to do it properly locally, probably about NZ$10,000, just too much money.... mind you I wasn't exactly skimping on anything, sard injectors, FPR, return fuel setup, garrett gt35, custom manifold and piping, front mount intercooler, tial wastegate and blow off valve, standalone with dyno tune etc.

Good to know about the osirus, I read about this a couple of months ago but it sounded like a cheap DIY disaster so I didn't look much further. I definitely like the stealth look- gauges up the A pilar and across the dash is not really my style. I guess once you scrape off a couple of inches of your chassis you will have other problems than ruining your oil drain.

I think 6psi through a medium frame turbo is enough for me. Sure its not super blistering fast but its still going to give a quick fun street car. I understand you can blow an engine at 2psi, 4psi or 20psi but its all about the risk and likelihood of this happening and 6-8psi seems to be a good compromise. There will always be faster cars than yours, always. That precision turbo is huge, I think a .58 A/R will provide nice spool for a low boost application.

 

hi tw2, you might want to consider a HKS ST kit. There's a few kit floating around in Australia for dirt cheap. Im currently making 250kw atw @ 5psi and all i needed was a 600CC injectors, ECU and fuel pump.

 

^ 250kW * (1hp/0.746kW) = 335hp
Really? Does that sound low to anyone else?

 

He did say 5psi and you'd also have to take into account which dyno was used.