Daking350z

Manufacturer
Air Power Systems
Website
http://www.************************/350z/350z.htm

Price
$7490 USD

Install time
Aproximately 25-30 hours

Average install cost
Aproximately $2000-3000 USD range





Greetings,

This is a product review of the APS twin tubo system for the Nissan 350Z. We were lucky enough to be on the recieving end of the very first APS kit to hit the shores of the USA and to my knowledge are the first ones in the country to install one over the weekend of October 9-12. The install went fairly smoothly and was done at MRC Motorsports on 116 Main street in Spotswood NJ your Import and domestic performance specialists.
The crew consisted of five guys fueled only by the need for speed..And Red Bull and Pizza, lots of it...The crew members were all mechanics either by trade or passion with two of the guys having backgrounds in engineering. The install is definitely best left to the experienced technicians and not the shade tree mechanics as the task rates a difficulty level of about an 8 on a 1-10 scale.
The istructions APS included were on disc and we printed them all out and made notes as we installed the kit for things we need to do next time to make it go more smoothly. Some parts needed a little modifications that APS did not touch on, such as the fitment of the Walbro fuel pump. We found the fuel pump as well as the housing needed several minor modifications to fit right. We made the modifications and noted them for next time.
The Kit itself appears to be of top quality and craftmenship as each part is numbered,labeled and quality inspected prior to shipment from down under. The cast manifolds and down pipes are flawless and bolt up like they were made from the factory. All of the piping going to the intercooler is highly polished for that show car shine. The main intake pipe eliminates the crappy plastic housing for the mass airflow sensor and houses the MAF directly. This accomplishes two things, first it eliminates two connections and the chance for the fittings comming off, and second, it just looks bad ***.. The turbos themselves are high quality Garrett ball bearing , water cooled turbos, small in stature yet huge on performance. After driving the car I can say they mated these turbos perfectly to the VQ motor, with seamless TQ and HP all the way to redline.

The massive front mount intercooler was specifically designed for the 350z and fits in there like a glove, giving the car that menacing "don't mess with me" look. Once again top notch quality and performance. APS even gives you a new highly polished radiator overflow canister!
The only thing I personally did not like was the fuel return system APS supplied. The return system basically has a fuel pressure regulator at the fuel tank with a dump line that dumps excess fuel pressure back to the tank. I thought they could have went the extra step in this area and supplied a new return line and fuel rails, sending the excess fuel directly form the rails back to the tank instead of just dumping the excess back at the tank. No biggie we plan on changing this set up on our two TT monsters we are building anyway.

Driving Impressions
WOW....all I can saty is WOW...My car is currently running an ATI procharger and run mid to low 12's and all I have to say is the APS car is MUCH faster. We will be going to the track Friday if the weather holds out, and I can not see why this car wont go into the 11's with a mad man driving.
The initial impression when you get in the car is that of a stock 350Z, its that smooth and quiet, despite the test pipes and a Bola exhaust. This inital impression QUICKLY disolves at the mash of the throtle in ANY gear. The turbo's spool up amazingly fast and are responsive from 2000 rpms all the way to redline and seem to want to keep pulling. Now keep in mind we are right out of the box, plug and play, no tuning yet. We were running an 11.2-12.0 on the wideband all the way through the rpm band. Peter says the program is tuned for 91 octane and should be putting down over 400 whp as it sits, and it feels to be VERY close to me.
For the few milliseconds I took my eyes off the rapid moving roadway under full throtle, I observed about 6-7 psi on our boost guage near 6000 rpms. This car BEGS to be driven with this kit on. I can only imagine it on a built motor with higher boost and some tuning done, look out.

I must give it to Peter and David and all the staff at APS on this one, it was well worth the wait and delivered as promised. I can honestly say without any bias that the guys at APS talked the talk...Well boys and girls, the walked the walk too... They truely put their TURBOS where their MOUTH was and delivered this product as promised and have just set the new standard for future manufacturers. I would seriously hate to be their competition at this point in time...

I must say I had the pleasure of meeting with David from APS this past spring at the East Coast Z meet in PA and even sat next to him for dinner that evening. I can remember thinking to myself, "man, this guy is talking alot of **** and hyping this product up, he better deliver the goods". Well David old mate!! You truely are "THE MAN" in my eyes. For the first time in my life I met someone in the industry that actually lived up to his words, AMAZING

L.A. Roadster

Thanks for the write up. What other mods were on the car tested? (Borla exhaust and test pipes noted)

Alang

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, I need a new keyboard now for all the drool on it, and that was without pictures.

I can't wait till this thing gets CARB exemption so I can run it in CA.

If you can stop driving it long enough, how about some pics? I espically want to see the fitment of the turbos and the IC.

Any clearance concerns or anything that might get cooked by the turbos?

Daking350z

Thats it..Plug and play with 91 octane maps..No tuning needed..

Jeff@Evolution

Pix Please

Daking350z

linky linky..

http://www.**********.org/forums/inde...=ST&f=9&t=2502

http://www.**********.org/forums/inde...=ST&f=9&t=2596

Jeff@Evolution

It requires a password to log in.

RSX8600

Looking good, time to hit the track. LOL

JeffesonM

go ahead and register, it only takes 2 seconds

GQ 350z

iTrader: (13)

Sweet!

DragonZ

I am impressed...I emailed MRC about the ability to acquire and install an APS turbo kit for me as well...Now that I know the numbers look forward to your track review and hopefully I can get this kit installed during the winter time since I don't plan to drive it anyways. That's what my new Lancer will be for...

damen

if you haven't signed up to the website. it's worth it. the vids are ok as well. good job guys and enjoy.

calimarc

Know the numbers? Do you mean dyno numbers?

APS

Hey Victor how you doing..............long time since we've had a good chat

It would be nice if we could get past some previous misunderstandings and just get on with life.............I know that Strictly Z are the FI forum sponsor and that's cool.........Julian has gone to great lengths to provide the guys with a quick overview of the APS TT system..............hope we can all just get on well with each other

Thanks

Peter

350z4steve

iTrader: (1)

Is that your feelings with VDC or TC or just raw car impressions and no computer assist?

Daking350z

G3po

iTrader: (8)

The TC = traction controlis nearly worthless when boosting, you gotta turn it off, it does not throttle back gracefully at all.

Daking350z

I know what TC is I just did not understand what your asking..I NEVER drive my var with the VDC on..it sucks..

j's350z

This is exactly why I bought the base... My Z has no TC or VDC! The only drivetrain upgrades are a Nismo GTPRO LSD and a CM Stage 3 clutch.....

Daking350z

J,
We going tomorrow??Mustang vs the world?