It's hard to say. I not driven it much yet. I took it out for a short drive yesterday. I don't really have anywhere to take it WOT to redline in 1st. But merging onto a highway at WOT in 2nd was a ton of fun and when I shifted into third, the power really lurched the car back and the action of the nose lifting up under acceleration was a bit more pronounced than before.

I only took it out for about 15 minutes and I am driving it cautiously. It is sooooooooooo freaking loud when the rasp kicks in at 2500 RPMs with anything more than 15% throttle. I feel like I am paging every cop within a 2-mile radius - alerting them of my location and intentions, sending old people into cardiac arrest, and sending the young people looking for the modified honda.

When I drive normally, I keep the revs at about 3kRPMs so I can stomp on it and get a nice feeling of acceleration, but the rasp is so loud, I just can't drive it like I usually do. I'll get a fix-it ticket within a week like it is now. If I can get the rasp fixed, or at least reduced, then I can drive it like I normally do and give some real-world feedback.

I'll do some more driving tomorrow. I am close to a full tank of gas right now so it's weighing me down a bit. I rarely fill it more than half full unless I am going on a road trip, but I saw gas at 2.25/gal for premium and I filled it up just before the mod installs, which was not a smart idea. I'll go burn off some fuel tomorrow

 

OK, I took it out and beat on it despite the rasp. I must say that 1st gear is just insane. It is really difficult to maintain traction at WOT in 1st and we are talking sticky 275 tires (Eagle F1 GS D3's) warmed up and on dry pavement.

Friggen sweet!

I tried about 4 WOT runs in 1st at various places, but kept getting wheelspin/wheelhop past 5kRPMs . I was lucky enough to find one road surface that could actually hold traction all the way to redline in 1st. What a blast! Before the HFCs and Intakes, I could detect the power increase level off at about 6kRPMs but I'd continue it in the current gear to 7kRPMs or so just to be in the power band when shifting into the next gear.

First gear felt so good, I went WOT through 2nd as well. Dam!!!! The power seems to build all the way to 7k RPMs and does not noticably let up or taper off at all. Plus, the engine feels very eagar to get there. Oh, and when topping out acceleration in 3rd on the highway, I can feel the rear tires lose a bit of traction over any bumps here and there. Very entertaining!


What a beast! I can't wait to quiet down the exhaust a little and get a dyno tune.

I am going to have to step up to some sticky PS2's in a 285 to hold this power. (IMO, PS2's have better straight-line grip than the Eagle F1 GS-D3) also, gas is down to 1/2 a tank. I think the full-tank was helping with traction before

Thanks Z-car Garage! This setup is HAWT!

I'll add these comments to the first post for those that do not read the whole thread.

 

Damn, nice review of your mods. I love my bassani, and would ike to get some HFC, but not a chance in hell will I trade that for the rasp that you're mentioning. I'm wondering if the Injen intakes would help out a bit, because form what it seems like its the HFCs that gave you the most gains I would think.

Or a combination of the two.

 

Congrats on the new found power and very nice driving impressions. Sounds like your enjoying the car very much. Just get a tune now and get ready to eat some stock 370's

 

So this Rasp your talking about.. How can it be fixed? Is changing out the gasket worthy of any noise reduction. Our Z's are hot and arent known for sounding like rice rockets.. not trying to change that.

 

How'd you know that's my goal - eating stock 370's? But I only have hope eating them in a straight line unless I mod my suspension too - which is on the list.

The tune will definitely help but I think the 370 has lower gearing than the 350 too. At least the final drive is shorter. I have not done the math with each transmission gear ratio.

I think a shorter final drive might be in my future. Maybe not as low as a 4.08, but a bit lower than stock. But then that might make 1st gear completely useless.

 

Most of the gains that you see are the HFC's. All that area under the HP and torque curves.

The Injens gave me about 10 HP between 6k-7k RPMs. and about the same torque in that same area.

Now, was the factory airbox the bottle-neck? Or were the cats the bottleneck? Or the exhaust?

If the factory intakes were not a bottleneck on a stock car, then the Injens would not have helped on a stock car. But I don't know. All I know is that once we did exhaust and HFC's. then the factory sirbox seemed to be the next bottleneck (Since we gained 10 HP after that upgrade).

BTW, If my car was stock, I'd do the intakes just for sound. In fact, I'd LOVE to hear the sound of an HR with only Bassani exhaust and Injen intakes. I think that would be an awesome aural combination, Please do it and let us know. We'l need dynos and sound clips

 

Injen intakes are on the way!

Ill do a dyno of them with the hks hi power.

 

Yeah the intakes are def next for me. But I might wait it out and see if stillen comes out with a set over the winter...

Reason y I got bassani, is because you pretty much convinced me lol, and I love the sound.

Thx again

 

Sweet! Before and after, same-day dynos?

 

mmm... Stillen intakes would be tasty. Let us know how that goes. Stillen has a habbit of putting products out there only if they make power. Can't wait to see before and after with those.

 

Probably just a dyno of the HKS and the Injens together. Depends on how much I can get dyno time for. I would do a before and after with just intakes, but I really dont want to pay the shop to install the injen intakes, or try and install them in the parking lot of the shop.

 

Have you gotten the rasp fixed yet? Hopefully its better...

 

Hmmm, Wouldn't you rather have a few more HP throughout your entire rev range than just at 6200?

 

What are you talking about? Are there any intakes that provide gains over the entire power band? If so, please share with us and post dynos.

The HFC's gave me power and torque over the whole power band. Most intakes lose power on these cars. So 10 HP past 6200 RPMs is fine with me

 

Not yet. No time right now.

 

Dual Air Ducts with K&N drop-ins?

 

Bill, do you have any pics, or could you take some pics of the actual Stillen HFC? That would be appreciated. I'm actually thinking about ditching my Strup TP for either Stillen HFC or Berk Metallic HFC. But after hearing problems with Berk, I'm leaning towards Stillen right now. What do you think of the overall quality of the Stillen? Does it come with support brackets?

 

they don't come with support brackets.

 

Zcar garage ordered it and installed it for me so I never got to touch it

But they took a couple nice pics and posted on their blog:

http://www.zcarblog.com/2008/11/26/p....html#more-746

Also, Forbes posted some HFC pics on page 2 of this thread:

https://my350z.com/forum/6615089-post34.html

If we can't quiet this down on mine, I might sell it and go with something else.

What don't you like about your strup TP? What problems have you heard with Berk?