High Altitude, heat, tuning and intake/exhaust

_ace_

I'm in Salt Lake City. At an HPDE at Miller Motorsports Park (4400 ft altitude), my car would hit limp mode at about minute 3-4 of each session if I drove hard. The car was stock on stock tires. Most reports from low altitude tracks were saying I would probably hit limp mode towards the end of the run if I kept on it, so I assume the altutude makes it considerably harder on the car to manage heat well.

That said, I've never hit limp mode on the street.

It looks like you're at 5400 ft altitude, so it's a little worse but similar to what I see here. You're also only making ~80-85% of the power you would make at sea level.

BlackZeda

Heh, tell me about it. I had a supercharged Tacoma before my Z and when I traveled down to sea-level I would almost tear the tires off the first time I started from a stop being used to the lesser power at altitude. It is pretty dramatic. I am also suprised how well my Zeda does when going over mountain passes where I know most cars will hit a wall.

I have a sneaking suspicion that FI cars have a huge advantage at altitude, maybe even overcoming a large majority of the power-loss, but I would have to look into that.

It looks like (like me) your first mod will be an oil cooler, which I assume is an attempt to tackle the heat issues. What is your feeling about CAI and CBE? Do you think those will help the Z breath better?

I have had one tuner tell me that the Z will "adjust itself" to the altitude, but conversely the service manager at the dealership and another tuner said that a tune would help significantly. What is your opinion?

Thanks for the reply! And by all means, I will let you know what effect my mods will have regarding these issues.