exactly

this is the wrong car for huge NA power

you can get decently big NA power if you went all out, but a simple corvette C6 and some headers, cams, cats, intake, and exhaust would still probably destroy a huge NA Z anyway and save about $20-25k and still pretty much have a warrenty....

The Z was meant for FI or nitrous has been the conclusion I've come to. You just have to be aware of the parts that need upgrading:

pistons
rods
rod bolts
drive axels
fuel system
93+ octane fuel preferably
crank/cam sensor wires

and you're gold


with NA bolt on parts, you're piece by piece adding parts that were developed by themselves - not as a total packaged solution for a great running Z. After like 50whp more than stock, you gotta upgrade the fuel system. Then you need something to run that new fuel system. You also might have issues with the crank and cam sensor wires to the ECU. who knows

Even the stillen stage 1 supercharger with 300whp added a 7th injector. I'm assuming it's identical to the stock injectors, so even stillen decided that they needed an extra 16% of fuel headroom. Other than the new APS intake manifold which isn't out yet, you can't add injectors, only upgrade to bigger ones. Then you still need something to control those new injectors.

It's a shame nissan's rods and pistons aren't forged, but I guess they had a price point to meet.

The Z is great in stock form and with a few minor bolt ons. After that, I wouldn't go for big NA. Just get NA parts that are reuseable for FI until you can go FI

 

I'm not sure where everyone is getting this idea that NA costs so much more. To run a 350Z, reliably, you need forged internals, the kit, tuning, cooling/preventive mods, etc etc. That's a big chucnk of change to throw down all at once. Look at spending 25k+ for a good setup that you never have to worry about. The little things involved in setting up a turbo 350z will nickel and dime you to death. And after all your hard work and putting down 450-500whp you can still get spanked by someone with a 240SX that spent half as much.

I'm sure you could get a reliable NA setup (325-350whp) for a few thousand less than a turbo Z. All you need is a beefier cam profile, fuel work, and forged rods and rod bolts. I think alot of the "issues" people are running into with the Z are:

Using 91 octane fuel
Receiving an improper tune

What's better? Well no one is better really, each has it's advantages and disadvantages. I decided this car needs to go NA simply because of the numerous issues with FI experienced by board members with Greddy, Power Enterprise, Vortech, etc. All those blown motors really scared the boost bug outta me. Also, NA can be done little by little until you get to the really serious stages. Finally, sentry you have been detonating, misfiring etc etc due to a bad NA tune imagine if you had that little APS setup in there and had even a slight issue.

If I could do it all over again I would probably have just waited and got the HKS supercharger and not done any more power mods to the car. It's a reliable setup that you can flog on and not worry about a boost spike, bad rod, etc.

 

we're all at the mercy of older cheaper used cars with a million mods on them that you can buy for $5000 outdoing a brand new Z with FI...



I look forward to seeing someone do 325-350whp on a Z. IMO I don't think a super aggressive cam profile or forged internals will get you there (along with all normal bolt on parts)

I think you'll need individual throttle bodies as well.

And again, super aggressive cam profiles are not great for street use and neither are individual throttle bodies.

Ultimately the car will become harder to drive unless you're driving at speed in the mid to high rpm range, get worse gase mileage, car will sound like a broken down diesel truck, and you might not pass emissions.

FI kits drive like stock, only get bad gas mileage when you floor it, sound normal at idle, etc

it's a back and forth debate.

There's several reasons my car is acting the way it is. I believe it's a compound issue having to do with my fuel system, TS flash, ECU/tuning, 91 octane fuel, tilton clutch, maybe crank/cam sensor wires, and maybe even UR pulley to some degree

 

I do see where you are coming from... this summer is when I will decide whether to stay NA or sell my pulleys and intake and get the HKS supercharger and just run it at stock boost. UR Pulleys cannot be used with FI, right? Oh, damn and I'll haveta sell my test pipes as well... Blargh.

 

Thanks Sentry for the great info.
I will save my money.

 

+1

 

I think the real point is that for what you spend, NA gains are ridiculously expensive in hp per dollar spent. To get real NA gains, you will have to virtually design and build a completely new engine and get a stand-alone engine management system to control it all.

Bottom line....NA tweaks are fine if you want reliability and are SATISFIED WITH THE BASIC LEVEL OF POWER, but just want subtle changes in the power delivery. If you are truly looking for a faster Z, FI is the only practical solution.