Ah yes, it turns out you will all have another one amongst your ranks within a week.

My car and the Greddy TT have been dropped off at the shop for install. I'm dealing with Acosta Racing (acostamotorsports.com) in Wallington, NJ, and having them do just the installation, without any kind of tuning or adjustments.

I'd like to ask my FI brethren for some opinions on the following:

1. I have seen and liked the Defi gauges. However, Acosta doesn't have those in stock and so they recommended the Autometer gauges. Any opinion on these ? Also, which gauges should I bother installing... boost, EGT, fuel pressure ? I plan on getting the wideband A/F eventually as well...

2. I want my gauges to be on the left side of the steering wheel. I believe what I need is an "A-Pillar" ? Does that sound about right ? Where would I go about getting one of these ?

3. I'm gonna run the car without a BOV for a few weeks, until I can get the HKS Sequential one in. I'm assuming this shouldn't hurt anything.

4. Trying to decide what to do with the stock cats. The shop tells me they put Magnaflow cats on all their high-HP cars (and they have alot of these cars). For $100 + labor I can have them replace the stock cats with these magnaflow ones... still can't figure out why it's so cheap compared to say, RT... anyone have an idea ?

5. If I don't get the gauges in time, I plan on driving around for a week or two without any gauges at all. I suppose as long as I run a dyno after the install and measure the A/F, this should be okay ?

Take care,
-slay

 

Congrats! I'm green with envy

My business has taken a turn for the worse, so I'm just that much further from some FI solution. I'm still gathering FI knowledge for future reference.

I am very interested in how you mount the guages. I asked about this before, and I got the response that no one makes that kind of mount yet. Hopefully that's changed. I have the factory Navigation, so that's not an option for mounting.

Regarding the cats, I've heard that the Kinetix cats are made by someone called Carsound. If that's true, than their price is marked up to make money. Perhaps Magnaflow also makes high-flow cats and sells them direct to shops?

How much was your install btw?

Good luck with it and enjoy!

 

1. Autometer gauges are good...probably the most mainstream brand around

2. I thinky your looking for an A-pillar guage pod....the A Piller is the part of the interior were the edges of the windsheild are...kinda hard to explain, uh....thge A pillars are on either side of the windsheild before the door window starts...anyway the a pillar pods use double stick tape and stick right over the factory pillar and have 1, 2, or 3 guage pods in them....boost and fuel pressure definitly but whatever afer that does really matter...you can them from just about anywhere that sells gauges

3. Not too sure about the BOV thing, cars that dont have them (ie. factory tubo cars) have pipeing that reroutes the air, the purpose of BOV is to keep pressurized air from slaming into the closed throttle body when you take your foot off the gas, so i'm not how running no BOV and no recircultor would go

4. not sure about the cats

5. You dont need the guages to drive the car, so you'll be fine without them indefinitly. You dont *really* even need them for the dyno, the shop should have all the necessary measureing devices there when they dyno and tune it. Boost guage is nice for this so you can see how its behaving, but not a *must*

just my .02, anyone else?

Nathan

 

Check with Paul at Avalon. They have the double and triple pod pillar style.

 

Congrats on the install..keep us posted.

1) Personally, I have no faith in Autometer mechanical guages. I question their accuracy, based on a couple people that have them. And they tend me be very ugly looking. Usually, you only see them on Mustangs and other American cars. There are plenty of excellent gauges to look at, such as HKS, Greddy, and the Defi mechnical guages. Defi also makes some basic electronic guages as well. Keep looking around.

2) Although I personally dont like autometer guages, I LOVE their a-pillar guage mounts. I have one installed on my car and the quality is A+ and the finish matches perfectly. Check the vendor forum right away....someone in selling them as we speak for a very reasonable price. I think about $60. Until now, they have been nearly impossible to find, but I think more vendors will gradually begin stocking them. They have both a 2 and 3 guage pod.

3) You will have no issues running without a BOV. 350Now has been running without one for over 2 months.

4) I dont have experience with the Magnaflow RT cats, but please be careful. Many high-flow cats dont really flow that much more than stock. I would recommend RT Cats becuase Cheston flowbenched them against a straight pipe and the Kenetics, and the RT cats flowed about 90% of the volume of a straight pipe...very impressive. The kenetics flowed about 75% of a straight pipe. ACP and I got very simiilar peak numbers, and he is running a straight pipe vs. my RT cats....we also have the same Greddy Evo2 exhuast.


5) Yes, the kit is safe right out of the box. As you mentioned, just do a quick dyno run to confirm your A/F is sufficiently rich.

 

Thanks guys!! I love this place, you get responses so fast on here =)

Thanks nezian... and GQ - yer just my hero..

I contacted Avalon about the pods, I'm gonna get that ASAP. I'm curious though - do the holes fit any kind of gauges ? Are they all the same size ? Or do you need a specific kind... I see you're running the Defis... did you get the digital ones ? With that link controller ? How's that working out for ya...

Thanks for all the other info... it looks like I'm gonna let them install it and run it stock form for a while, without a BOV, and put in the gauges when I get a chance.

My friend (SirMikel1) just got his Greddy gauges... and apparently the Greddy AF gauge is wideband... it has the sensor.. so for like $350 that's an option for me I suppose..

GQ, did your AEM Wideband gauge fit into one of these pods ? Does it look good with the Defi ? Maybe you can post a pic

Thanks again guys, you rule. I'll keep everyone posted.

-Slay

PS: Did any of you guys contact your insurance to notify them of your turbo mods, in case of theft/accident ?

 

The great thing about this post is that we have the same opininons on almost everything is scary

before i answer your q's..... I guess youre not going to make it to the atco, NJ meet on Sunday? Theres gonna be like 100Z'z and 100 G35's there and all kinds of other cars..pm me if you have any questions about it.... If you wanna get your turbo installed, I understand...but this thing is HUGE I wouldnt miss it.

1) I actually just got DEFI gauges tonight.... I got the BF link meter.... Im gonna post a topic i need help with in a sec so help me if you can. I got an EGT, a boost, and an oil pressure.... Im gonna replace the stock gauges..

2) Just do a search for A-Pillar gauge pod online.... maybe for the 350z... youll get some.... it will work for the gauges too if you really want DEFI.

3) I have been running the Greddy TT for about 2 full months now without a BOV. The only thing youll notice is a cool sound like that when you blow over a beer bottle when you let off the gas... And I am also bidding right now on an HKS SSQV BOV on EBAY it'll be over tomarrow. Hope I win!!

4) OK...NJ....new car.....no inspection for 4 years.... I went with helix test pipes.. screw the cats.... Ill worry about it in 4 years.... then ill put the cats back on for inspection.... then another 2 years to go 6 years with no cats and you only change them back once!! Just bolting everything on with the helix test pipes I was able to achieve 355WHP... screw the cats

5) like i said I didnt have any gauges at all until tonight...and im getting them installed on friday... Take it to a shop right away to make sure everything is good with boost and A/F... As long as you plan on doing a dyno why not? There should really be no reason for anything to fail after that within a reasonable amount of time for u to get gauges...

It's scary how much we have in common with our cars... I see you live in NJ too. We should meet up one time.

 

Haha hey man... thanks for the post, I seen you posting similar stuff before.

And yeah we're in jersey, I'm up north in Paramus.

Anyway, you plan on boosting your car higher than 5.7 ? Cause I am... and thats my main focus right now... thinking about timing & fuel. Got any ideas ? If you wanna talk send me a PM ill give ya my cellie.

PS: I was planning on Atco for like 10 years now... wouldn't miss it for my life. If my car ain't ready, I'm taking some other car.

 

Why aren't they doing the tuning for you? Is there a better tuner in NJ....

Thanks

 

Because if the 350Z community hasn't really come up with good eManage timing & fuel solutions for the car yet... then I doubt a general racing shop would.

I am very meticulous with who I let do things to my car... so unless they have some proven solution, I will need to do alot more research before I let someone do something.

-slay

 

Autometer gauges are ugly as hell. I would never use them on my Z. I have 4 autometer gauges on my eclipse, they work great but they look like hell. The autometer EGT probe is garbage, so if you use an autometer gauge you will need to replace the thermocouple. I say just get the Defi gauges and be done with it. I have them and they are killer. Go with Boost and EGT at the very least.

No it's NOT ok to run without a bov, unless you like killing your turbos. The compressor surge I was getting at 5 psi was terrible! You will be ok for a week or two, you would be ok for a while without actually. But it will kill your turbo. Just let off the gas pedal slowly until you get the bov installed. I would suggest having the bov installed with the kit. The best location is right after the IC outlet and the only way to get to is would be to remove the fascia again, costing you more in labor.

 

here's my take--

1. i ordered the Fuel Pressure, Oil Temp, and Boost gauges. they arrived today from Z1 Automotive (adam rules!).. along with the VSD concept Headsup display. i will post picts soon. the reason why i chose against the Autometers, which i had on my SC Maxima was the ease of use of the Defi Link. and the daisy chain ability of the Defi and the modular options i could have with it. yes it was more expensive.. but i couldnt have w/o the HUD!!!

if you want the A/F, then i would suggest not getting the autometer A/F meter. that think is just a nite-time LED show- not really accurate.. EGT would probably be better to see if you were lean/rich.. but after you tune the car, how useful is the A/F?? i went with oil temp, so you know when it is time to start pushing the car. once the oil is up to temp, then its all good.. Fuel pressure, so if you know if there was a drop in fuel pressure from a bad pump while under boost, you know when to stop giving it the gas so you can save yourself from a bad position..

2. Autometer's new triple A pillar is out for 2 1/16" (~roughly 52mm. but you can always make the hole bigger for the defi gauges.

3. i've ran my Z hard, w/o a BOV for about two months. and i have no compressor surge problems.. this feels like when you get off the gas the car lunges forward like you hit the brakes.. i dont have any problems with that...some might. but eventually i am going to install the HKS SSQV when i start pushing 1 bar.

4. stock cat are what i have now.... i have test pipes made, but eh.. i want the exhaust quieter.

5. i dont have any installed gauges right now, except for my boost controller.. and i took some readings before during Developmental Test and evaluation of the PE kit.. so i know what i'm at.. i feel a little naked.. but its good i have my defi's now. i will be installing them myself prolly within the week..

 

Thanks Cheston & Etx.

Man, on a side note I'm kinda turned off about the fact that the front brace has to be taken off during the Greddy install. I don't like knowing that a 5mph fender-bender will kill my intercooler (and possibly BOV for that matter). Maybe a shop could custom-weld something there for me, for safety, heh..

 

..you're saying the front metal bumper is removed for the greddy install??

really?

 

So I hear Cheston, yeah

 

I've read through and seen several posts about the greddy kit and its lack of a bov. I don't really understand why they didn't include it other than the price. The noise one guy above hears is the turbo wheel spinning the wrong way. The air, when it builds up in the intercooler pipe, has to escape out from somewhere so it comes out where it came in. This can wear the bearing, shaft and seals in a turbo way to early. If you get a greddy kit, go ahead and get a bov. It will keep you from having to buy 2 rebuild kits for your new turbos after a year.

 

Compressor surge due to lack of a BOV is not a "feeling" so-to-speak...

Compressor surge is when you let off the gas or shift (after boosting) and the compressed air bounces off the closed throttle body back at the turbos and causes the turbo propellers to come to a voilent stop. This is bad because of the how much force that compressed air can really have on those metal blades. I've seen cases where it will break a blade off or cause the turbine to bend all wierd which sucks cause then the turbo wont boost right.

You can identify this surging by listening closely after you let off the gas (or shift). Listen for a nasty "chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi"
sound...

I know I would get a BOV first thing if I got this kit.

Just FYI

 

Well the BOV I want is on crazy backorder... heh, you guys like Tiel ? (or Tile or however you spell it)

 

Tial makes the best WG, not sure about BOV.

Can't go wrong with Tial quality, but any BOVs major difference is sound and it is pretty much personal preference. You might try and hear some in person if possible to pick which you like.

 

Anyone have experience with these guys?
Seem big in the WRX circles.

http://www.gofastbits.com/

Their Stealth FX allows you to easily partition discharge between
Atmosphere(BOV) vs. plumb-back (bypass), so you can easily adjust how much swoosh you want. Of course you woudl also nee to route a hose back to pre-MAF for the bypass.