Stay NA or go to the Dark Side?

[SS_Firehawk]

Edit: Added a new poll up top, please feel free to explain your choice

Alright guys, so I'm at a fork in the road with my Z. I'm in Afghanistan again, this time as a contractor. With that being said, I now have some cash to put into my Z. As you can see from my sig, I have a lot of parts on it already. The problem is, it is not making the power that I thought it would or should. It's currently at 306 whp and 236lb ft of tq. With the Motordyne manifold, it was 304 whp and 243 lb ft of tq. At it's highest (end of march), it was at 316 whp and 248 lb ft of tq. I replaced the precat passenger side 02 sensor because it had some funny readings, or not reading at all. Still, with the mods t has, on a dynojet, I was guesstimating in the 320-330 range in hp after tuning. I know there is something else going on with it that I haven't found yet, I just don't know where to look anymore.

Here are some mods that will be going on the car regardless of what I choose to do. I want it to perform regardless if I take it on a track day or cruise around the streets of Las Vegas.
New flywheel and clutch | new rear diff | new sway bars and coil over setup | brake lines, fluid, and pads.
I do want to replace the front bumper with a Stillen unit or something similar, to improve airflow into my intakes and brakes (Stillens brake cooling kit). I am also looking at a hood replacement to help vent some of the crazy heat coming out of the engine compartment.



Now the big question that I have is should I stay NA, or go some type of forced induction? If I'm sticking NA, I seiously need to find a way to push at least. 350whp. It's not because I want a bigger Z penis, it's because I want it to stay in line with the current and future crop of performance cars coming to market that the Z competes with.

If I were to continue going NA, I'll most likely be looking at the JUN cams. Anything else would cost an astronomical amount of money.If I were to go with a supercharger, I've been taking a serious look at GTM's twincharger setup they've been building. The three big questions with that setup is will my big a$$ oil cooler fit with their intercoolers, and will my headers fit with their system. Lastly, is I have NST pulley's installed, I'm not sure how it would hold up with a SC's running on it. And lastly, if I were to look at a turbo setup, I prefer twins. With dual intakes and a V6, symmetrically it makes sense. Again, big question is will my 72 row oil cooler fit. Problem is, I will have to remove the headers. With the turbo and supercharger option, I'm not chasing numbers. I know they will perform. With the exhaust still being a Y pipe, and having 18" resonators, I'm thinking that would have to be replaced with something else as well.

So what I need from you all and your combined brainpower, expertise, experience, and opinions, is what option should I go with. Anyone can chime in, excluding Trolls and flammers. The build won't happen for a while, but parts would start ordering while I'm out here. At the earliest, the build will start is i January, at the latest, probably in April or May next year. And thanks all in advance for your help with this.

[Nissan370]

if i could do it all over again to save a few pennies that is
id do a gtm supercharger or turbo kit and be done with it more power then you can use. with out displacement its hard getting cars over 3000lb to move fast and its costly less you gut the car to save weight something i cant imagine doing
get a nice kit get the car running properly believe me you will not be mad even thought i am not super happy about the stillen kit i cant be mad with over 400rwhp

bad side is its a little more maintence on your side since the car did not come that way and worst case something goes way bad and the motor pops

good luck and do your research theres a lot of info out there on this stuff

[ANMVQ]

Being out west the GTM is out because they are not CARB legal, For one, Two I still dont trust blocking the whole front of the car with oil coolers and twin intercoolers and you trying to drive around in 100+ temps. If you go FI I would look at the Akuma turbo kit or the Stillen SC, Mine out of the box (Custom tune only) Made 412 WHP. So if your only looking for 350 WHP there you go,

[memorylasts]

Pay the Z down sell it get something with more power. Your in a position where everything is on "hold" other then you paying for it to sit there.

Your going to easily spend another 12-15 into the car. I pesonally if i were in your shoes would just pay it down, or save money which ever work better for you let the car go, and then buy something else. you going to end up spending over 50k all said and done easily. You will never get that return out of the car.

When you get back and drive it the way it is you will feel awkward as it is driving the speed limit. Or at least that how i felt coming back.

If you really are going to keep it, then do as you wish.

[memorylasts]

Originally Posted by ANMVQ

Being out west the GTM is out because they are not CARB legal, For one, Two I still dont trust blocking the whole front of the car with oil coolers and twin intercoolers and you trying to drive around in 100+ temps. If you go FI I would look at the Akuma turbo kit or the Stillen SC, Mine out of the box (Custom tune only) Made 412 WHP. So if your only looking for 350 WHP there you go,

What does carb have to do with Vegas?

CARB is California Air Resource Board. And being he in California, it isnt as bad as people make it out to be. Yeah are there more "rules" sure, dont break the first couple that will get you pulled over and you will be fine. my 2 cents.

[ANMVQ]

Originally Posted by memorylasts

What does carb have to do with Vegas?

CARB is California Air Resource Board. And being he in California, it isnt as bad as people make it out to be. Yeah are there more "rules" sure, dont break the first couple that will get you pulled over and you will be fine. my 2 cents.

Just going off of what I have read on here, Wont he have to pass the same test as the CA guys. I know most of them wont get the GTM kit just for that.

[memorylasts]

Originally Posted by ANMVQ

Just going off of what I have read on here, Wont he have to pass the same test as the CA guys. I know most of them wont get the GTM kit just for that.

No carb is CA only there are other lesser tests nation wide. He is not in California so he should and will be fine.

[anthonyy]

Originally Posted by memorylasts

Pay the Z down sell it get something with more power.

I gotta agree with this.

[anthonyy]

Originally Posted by memorylasts

you going to end up spending over 50k all said and done easily. You will never get that return out of the car.

and this.

[TerribleONE]

TT it... I may be biased though. Look out for fast intentions TT kit coming soon!

[SS_Firehawk]

Regardless, I'm paying the Z off while I'm out here, as well as my Wife's car, doing home upgrades, a disaster fund, etc. I'm getting paid pretty good here. In regards to selling the car, that's probably not going to happen. I love the car, I love that it's purposeful. The only thing I really feel is that it's just down on power compared to the competition. I haven't taken it in for warranty work at all in the year that I've had it besides a checkup where they checked off that I had no check engine light (it did) and that the windshield washer fluid was full an operational (I removed it). I also could care less about a CARB approved kit, That's for the tree huggers in CA. Vegas only checks the engine codes and sticks some sh1t up your pipe. No visual inspection. Most don't get paid enough to care. Please keep in mind that I'm on shift for 12 hours with no forum access (internet is locked tight), so responses will be delayed....

[sfearl1]

Sounds like you love your Z... boost it man

[SS_Firehawk]

Alright so I added a polling system, take note, selling my car was not on the list :P I'm really trying to get a discussion why I should go one route and not the other. I've read most of this forum front to back. I'm just trying to get some relevant feedback from you all. After all this is said and done, I really don't want to have to troubleshoot my car. I just want to know it works, and works reliably.

[370Z JT]

If you got some money to throw around, get the JUN cams and let us know the results. Everyone is waiting to find out the gains on these.

[SS_Firehawk]

Originally Posted by 370Z JT

If you got some money to throw around, get the JUN cams and let us know the results. Everyone is waiting to find out the gains on these.

I kinda like this option because it requires less modification than the others. I can keep my existing parts and install these with some valvetrain upgrades and retune. I would definitely take it to a bigger shop that knows their way around the Z compared to my local place. I would imagine maybe around $4,000 with parts, install, and tune