Did anyone read the new issue of Sport compact car yet?

They have an article about the Borla exhaust for the 350Z.

They flowtested it and found that it flowed much better than
the stock exhaust. Yet it made no HP gains on the dyno.

They also have a picture of the stock Y-pipe, you can clearly
see where the 2 pipes are pinched in the bend. An obvious
restriction.

Exhausts not making much power seem to be a common thing
on the 350z. What gives?

 

modern engineering.

 

nissan actually took the time to make a great exhaust, to bad they didn't do that with the y-pipe.

 

SCC is so full of Sh*t!!!!!!!!!! When they tested the nismo Z with cams, exhaust and Headers, they only gained like ten horsepower. When I put on my borla exhaust and nismo cams in, and did back to back dyno's, I gained 19 rwhp at peak.

 

Impies that the Borla TD is a good choice for those adding TTs. More flow is always better for Turbos, with NA applications the gains are small and sometimes negative except in the example with CAMs and high RPM.

 

Yeah it looks like the Borla is a good choice for forced induction.
The Injen is probably a good choice for FI as well. In general,
the louder the exhaust, the better the flow.

It's disappointing that the exhaust doesn't add much to the
naturally aspirated car though. Everyone is basically spending
$1000 on an exhaust for a change in tone rather than performance.

 

I spent ALOT less than $1000 on mine. IIRC it was in the $650 - $700 range.

 

,

 

borla is $650-$750
and ya they my be spending $1000 for a change in tone, but people drop $3000+ for rims that just look good so maybe its justifiable

 

i only glanced at the article but didn't it say something like it could be due to california's crap gas and others with 93 octane may fair better?

 

Correct. The folks at SCC currently believe that the low quality 91 octane California gas to be the root of their power problems across the board. They've stated that in just about ever 350Z mod article they've written. They often say that the engine is constantly pulling back timing due to knock. If they were to run some higher octane gas I'm sure they'd see the gains they are expecting. They seem to believe this, too, based on what they say in their articles.

 

They also need to drive a bunch of miles after installing the exhaust or the ECU will not have enough time to adapt (within its range) to the new airflow. That, combined with higher octane gas, should add some power.

 

**BINGO**

 

pretty sad that a publication like that cant get its story straight...flows better but makes no power???WTF

 

I have Borla and Crawford CATs.
I have definately noted the ECU pulling base timing over several days.
I regularly (once a weeks) reset the ECU to get the timing back.
It's pretty easy via the ingnition switch once you know the "dance".

With this exhaust on 91, it runs lean in the mid range and
predominately on hot days it will pull timing. If I run a can of NOS "race" booster = red can, it does not pull timing. But 12 bucks a can is ridiculous.

I expected this phenomena, but my reasons to upgrade are in prep for a TT install.

For those remaining NA , a TS type reflash will help.

 

Actually, SCC blames 91 octane CA gas in *every* single article
about aftermarket parts, especially for turbo cars, not just
the 350z articles.

I really don't think the 91 octane plays THAT much of a role
in the 350Z/G35. It's naturally aspirated and I've read that
the ECU actually runs the car rich at higher RPM's for safety.
So when you slap on all those parts, it might lean out the car
a little, but it shouldn't lean it so drastically that the ECU
constantly pulls timing. From reading the posts from the
Golden Gate G35 club's dyno day, the Technosquare ECU
"upgrade" actually made the car run even MORE lean, causing
massive timing pulls. But then again, I haven't
actually modified my car yet, so what do I know?

I came from a highly modified, turbocharged Eclipse, so I know
all about the **** water gas we get. I'm just not used to the
low HP gain on naturally aspirated cars, since I could gain
10-20hp just from doing free mods on the Eclipse. My ECU
constantly pulled timing on 91 octane, from one dyno to the
next, I would see a fluctuation of 10-20whp.

 

maybe partailly correct...if I'm not mistaken...backpressure ("less flow") does add to some of a cars torque figure...so if it flows better ("less backpressure") may reduce some torque/power

 

the Z was built to run 93 octane, not 91, thats why they are having trouble making power. As stated before, they are having this problem with all their current project cars. STi, SRT4, EVO and Z, none of the mods they put on them make anywhere close to what they are supposed to because of the **** gas. Hell, they installed a Vortec S/C on the Z and it only made about 80 whp at peak.

 

the Z was built to run 93 octane, not 91, thats why they are having trouble making power. As stated before, they are having this problem with all their current project cars. STi, SRT4, EVO and Z, none of the mods they put on them make anywhere close to what they are supposed to because of the **** gas. Hell, they installed a Vortec S/C on the Z and it only made about 80 whp at peak.


I feel bad for you poor guys that are stuck with 91 oct, here in FL some places even sell 94!

 

You guys in CA need to stop whining. Down here we only get 90 octane rat ****.