Quote:
Originally Posted by RadioFlyer
Team Stillen,
Can you speak to the on-track testing you have done with the supercharger kit? I'm very interested in getting a kit, but I'm also very reluctant about trying to go FI with this platform. In my experience, a day at the track (road course) ferrets out all the weak points in a car. I trust that you have done some on-track testing, so can you speak to the reliability of the car at the track?
Specifically, my reservations surround the cooling (for both the fluids and the brakes), and the stability of the electrical system (in reference to holding the tuned map, and not glitching out and throwing tons of timing/fuel when the sensors/ecu gets hot). Have you datalogged track sessions? Have you seen how much timing gets pulled throughout a session?
I'm not so interested in the longevity of the daily-driven kits you have out there since your kit doesn't see full boost until the top of the RPM range, so a bunch of people racking up miles, shifting at 5K are only seeing a few psi. That's why I'm asking about track sessions where you shift at redline, with your supercharger producing the full 8-9psi, ALL DAY LONG. Can it handle it? Thanks in advance, I appreciate your honest input.
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Radioflyer, I would be the best person to speak to about the track testing as I have done the majority of the test driving. I'd like to address a few of your concerns right off the bat that are somewhat unrelated to the supercharger kit.
As far as fluids and brake temps go. The supercharger will not have an impact on these areas that the car does not already have issues with. Meaning, while the 370Z is a high performance sports car. NISSAN did not build it to spend its life at the track. Therefore it is not uncommon for typical "road car being used on race track" issues to emerge such as; engine oil temp, brake temp, and in some cases coolant temp. You can completely remove the supercharger from this equation as the 370Z from the factory needs enhancements before taking the car to the track and pushing it hard. In my opinion any car hitting the track with a driver capable of pushing the car hard should have the following modifications at a minimum:
engine oil cooler
brake ducts
high performance brake pads
With that being said, whenever you have a vehicle with forced induction you are talking about having higher than ambient air discharge temperatures entering the engine. The vehicles ECU will protect the engine and powertrain to the best of its ability. If the oil temperatures start getting high, the car will go into a limp mode like many early adopter NA owners discovered. If the knock sensors pick up detonation the ECU will pull timing accordingly. It is not possible for any company to say that their product will perform flawlessly in a racing environment because it depends heavily on many factors; quality of the installation, condition of the vehicle prior to forced induction installation, maintenance of the vehicle during ownership, track day weather, track elevation, fuel quality etc. Hence the reason why no OEM manufacturer will warranty a vehicle if it is found to have been used on a race course.
As far as your concerns about holding the tuned map when pushing the car hard. You can rest assured that the UPrev software is a complete replacement for the factory map. Think of it like buying a new computer and removing the Windows 7 operating system and replacing it with Windows 8. If you move houses and unplug the computer, when you set up the computer again and plug it back in...it still has the Windows 8 operating system. If a sensor, wiring harness, or ECU is going to have an issue when being used on the race track. It will have that issue with or without the presence of forced induction.
As far as our track testing goes, here is a video we recorded during our initial testing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPApekHWSE
You can see in this video all of the data logging equipment that our engineers had hooked up to the car to ensure the car would be safe and reliable when pushed hard on the track. We were tracking a whole host of parameters such as:
knock (the head phones are tapped into the knock sensor)
EGT's of all 6 cylinders
Water temp
engine temp
intake air temp
intercooler water temp
and a whole lot more that I can't remember to be honest.
Aside from our testing we always like to direct our potential customers to our current customers who are successfully using these kits at tracks around the world.
If you do plan on tracking the car regularly I would recommend ordering one of our tuner kits and finding a shop and tuner that can support your race track efforts. It is important to work with a local shop that can service, inspect, prepare, and support you and your vehicle in order to give you the best experience possible. This shop should be familiar with the 370Z platform ideally and should have experience in setting up a car for track use. Your local Big O is most likely not the best option. For a list of shops that STILLEN works with please visit our site here:
http://www.stillen.com/authorized-dealers-i-385.html