Coming from a long history of big time domestic turbo drag cars - (one 60s Camaro with twin 106mm Turbos ) - Dons first import, a 2003 350Z, naturally needed a boost. After a little too much one day , Don quickly found out about the weak points of the VQ. So he came to us looking to build a reliable 450whp import with cats and without stepping outside the contents of the GReddy kit and the modifications he already had on his car. So we sourced him a VQ and CNC machined, sleeved, assembled, and tuned it right to his goals.

Ouch! Motor he came to us with:



NEW AAM MOTOR:



BUILD DETAILS:

AAM CNC STG III Sleeved VQ
- Custom 9:0:1 JE Pistons
- Eagle Rods
- Darton Sleeves
- HKS Head Gasket
- L19s
GReddy Twin Kit
- 440cc Injectors
- E-Manage
AAM STG I Fuel
AAM Oil Pan and TB Spacer
Injen Dual Exhaust
AAM 2.5in High Flow Cats
Stoptech Brakes
JWT Clutch & Flywheel
HKS EVC IV



11psi

 

Very nice!

 

Holy crap at what was in that pan.........nice build.

 

I'm confused.. is this the before or after pic?

 

probably the excess metal machined off.

 

Funny

As I stated in the original post - BEFORE.

Thanks!

Rods, girdle and pistons bits. Had a couple holes in the block too.

 

oh lol... i just got that. haha but sick build!

 

A motor is electrical, you mean a AAM built Engine. I see a bunch of ring chunks in their. Somebody must have gotten alittle to happy with the boost controller on that thing LOL!

 

LMAO-so you "advised" him to run sleeves for a measly 450whp? I see things havent changed. Do you recommend newbs to run stage 1 fuel systems with bolt-ons as well? I wonder what the duty cycle on the injectors is being so "small" for the power...also LOL @ 2.5" HF cats running into 2" piping, I see many things that could have been purchased had he not sleeved the engine that would have been more beneficial.

 

No.

With his background, he could have handled the build himself. He came to us, however, specifically to have his block sleeved - something he was not equipped to do on his own. The GReddy Kit, cats and exhaust were on the car and could easily support the power output he wanted. When your coming from 2200hp domestics, 700rwhp in a Z for him was pointless - no need for him to upgrade the rest of the car. IMO, and I'm sure for many others, 450rwhp on a street car isn't "measly". End result, the customer was more than satisfied.

 

considering all the machining and honing that went into this, the 450whp does sound measly..

 

for the price of a sleeved motor, 450rwhp is pretty weaksauce. But hey to each his own. As long as hes satisfied who cares what others think. Its his money that hes blowin away. I can care less what he does with his car. Car looks nice and clean but having some mixed feelings about his wheels

 

Wonder how long it will be before this thread gets locked too...

 

im still chucklin at the before and after comment u made lol.

 

yeah, for 450 - 500 whp on dynodynamics (uncorrected) I'd just go with that one GTM long block below stage 0, the basic long block somethingorother. For me, there is no need for huge HP, I'd just go with a build for a reliable 12 psi tune.

 

HA thats what you say now.

 

nah, I'm sticking to that. When I have the money to go built it's just going to be a basic build with cams and springs so I can rev to 7000 rpms and handle 12 psi with no problems. All I need is close to 500 hp, anything faster than that is overkill. I don't want to be like one of those guys that can't go full throttle until 80+ mph to avoid spinning. Then again, the autronic with variable boost for each gear sounds like a good upgrade in the future. (Driven1 convinced me of that when I rode in his car)

 

nice what did the motor build and labor cost? Throw out a good est?

 

Nice build looks sick...!!!

 

His first born child ....