Topgunz - air to air upgrade

TopgunZ · 12-22-2016, 10:19 AM

True. But when you have the kit already with water there is just SO much hp being left on the table. Dollar per pony starts making it a no brainer.

Not to mention how the responsiveness and driveability skyrocket.

Kzonts · 12-22-2016, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopgunZ

True. But when you have the kit already with water there is just SO much hp being left on the table. Dollar per pony starts making it a no brainer.

Not to mention how the responsiveness and driveability skyrocket.

Sure. It's great you provided this option for the folks who were stuck with the limitations of the original kit.

TBatt · 12-23-2016, 03:27 PM

Isn't EVERY car like that? You buy a new car and it depreciates very fast up to a point in which it slows down (depreciation). I consider modding a car the cost of entertainment. At the end you have two choices (1. Return the car back to stock and get book value at the cost of undoing everything (2. Selling the car as is and take a hit on all of the goodies you put on.

At some point in the future a bone stock 370 will have "extra" value but for now they are just a car so why not mod the heck out of it and enjoy. Life is too short to drive a stock car. Enjoy them, like everything else, we are only here for awhile. Enjoy the heck out of it!!!!!

BTW: My mom passed away last Monday the 19th. It has given me a whole new perspective on life.

JWillis72 · 12-23-2016, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBatt

Isn't EVERY car like that? You buy a new car and it depreciates very fast up to a point in which it slows down (depreciation). I consider modding a car the cost of entertainment. At the end you have two choices (1. Return the car back to stock and get book value at the cost of undoing everything (2. Selling the car as is and take a hit on all of the goodies you put on.

At some point in the future a bone stock 370 will have "extra" value but for now they are just a car so why not mod the heck out of it and enjoy. Life is too short to drive a stock car. Enjoy them, like everything else, we are only here for awhile. Enjoy the heck out of it!!!!!

BTW: My mom passed away last Monday the 19th. It has given me a whole new perspective on life.

Sorry to hear about your mom TBatt!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ChaseZ · 12-23-2016, 09:39 PM

Yep, I'm pretty sure anyone who's dealt with Seb would vouch for him, and can add me to that list as well. I'll be need new FI maps in the very near future, and I've been running my parts list and needs past him through the build to make sure they were the best compatible pieces since he's the one that needs to tune it afterwards. He's been extremely helpful and I'm trying to get as many parts as I can from him to help offset that. Figure it's the least I can do.

TopgunZ · 12-25-2016, 02:10 PM

Yup. Stocker goes right back on.

ChaseZ · 12-25-2016, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopgunZ

Yup. Stocker goes right back on.

and make new brackets to replace the ones that were cut off I suppose

BOLIO 671 · 12-25-2016, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopgunZ

Yup. Stocker goes right back on.

Thanks for clarifying Topz....I was thinking of the same thing but didn't see anything about this in the instructions so wanted to confirm before moving forward.

TopgunZ · 12-27-2016, 08:41 PM

I'll have to add that into them.

I have kits ready to go for those interested. PM me if I haven't already hit you up.

dboi941 · 12-28-2016, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopgunZ

I'll have to add that into them.

I have kits ready to go for those interested. PM me if I haven't already hit you up.

Im ready to order PMing now.

BOLIO 671 · 12-29-2016, 01:10 AM

Great news...after months of craziness with life priorities my friend and I finally found time to work on installing the A2A kit at his shop. Here's my review of the install.

Overall the Kit is awesome. Believe it or not we did not find removing the intake manifold as a problem. It was actually one of the easier things to do. I guess maybe because I retained the original tool that Stillen gave me with the kit. On a side note I can't believe how restrictive that heat exchanger in the manifold is. Once we pulled that sucker out I was blown away at how much room the intake manifold had with the internal heat exchanger gone.

Anyways, on to the review, here were the areas that were time consuming for us.

1). The removal of the Supercharger and Lining up of the Volute to make that perfect 45* angle was tough. We initially tried to take the supercharger out with just the 4 bolts on the bracket, but after dealing with everything we figured that it would have been a whole lot easier if we just removed the entire bracket. Also because of the limited space we installed the filter on the supercharger first before remounting it back. I really don't think you can put that filter on with the S/C mounted back in.

2). The Y Pipe was the hardest thing to get set. It was slightly off with the TB's and we didn't have much room to move the Y Pipe around to angle the fit with the IC, so we ended up cutting more than recommended on the instruction manual. (Refer to pics)

After several hours of test fitting and cutting we were finally able to get the Y Pipe to fit. Putting on the 80mm T-Bolt Clamps was also taxing as the space was limited. This also presented challenges with the couplers sliding off the TB's when we were making fitting adjustments. Definitely a 2 man operation. I don't know how my friend or I would have been able to do it alone. He tried one day without me around and gave up. We weren't successful until the two of us were able to work on it together the following day.

3). I went back to this page during the install and noticed that only a total of eight (8) T-Bolt Clamps come with this kit. Four (4) 80mm and Four (4) of the smaller ones. I found that you actually need six (6) 80mm, as four are used on the Y Pipe Throttle Body areas (Top and Bottom) and you need to use one at the bottom end of the Y Pipe that connects to the coupler and one at the end of the volute connecting the volute to the other coupler. (Refer to Pics) This may be a personal preference, but I feel more secure having T-Blot Clamps in place on these areas for extra security. The kit may have came with more, I'm not sure...... but eight (8) T-Bolt clamps were all I got, so I ended up buying two (2) more 80mm T-Bolt Clamps locally to ease my mind. I personally think that the T-Bolt Clamps that come with the kit could be of better quality. Again this could be a personal preference, don't get me wrong, they work......they just seem a little too flimsy for my taste.

4). Also a very minor issue, but during the install the prefabricated holes on the brackets for the IC and the block off plate for the manifold were off so we had to drill and make the holes slightly bigger to line up with my kit.

5). This last part is a cosmetic and personal preference. I personally didn't care to put back the stock radiator overflow container as I wanted to have easy access to the belts in the future, and less clutter in the front, so we went ahead and modified an area to mount the small black one that came with the original Stillen Kit.

I want to point out that these were challenges that we faced during my install and have nothing to do with the performance or reliability of the kit. Every install presents different challenges for different people thanks to "Murphy."

Once the install was complete I went ahead and flashed the map from Seb and fired her up. She was buttoned back up and taken out for some data logging. Seb has me currently at simple idle and highway cruising, but let me just say that this kit makes the Stillen kit feel like a whole different animal. The Z feels so much more responsive. Even at cruising speeds I can see on the boost gauge that the car is closer in going into boost earlier in the RPM range. Throttle response is a whole lot better, and the car feels zippy as though its itching to giddy up and go. Can't wait to do some WOT pulls and stretch her legs out.

Thanks Topz for making this kit and affording me the opportunity to get my hands on one of them. Also a big thanks to everyone else on here that has done the install and has contributed by sharing their experiences.

Optimiser · 12-29-2016, 04:43 AM

My shop, who is currently installing this Air to Air kit now have had issues with its fitment as well, saying, "It's a very DYI kit. Far from professional and not great to install properly".
However I believe it will be a big improvement over the stock Stillen kit. Just saying...

TopgunZ · 12-29-2016, 11:12 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yes, this kit is made to be an affordable way to greatly improve the flaws in the stillen kit and enables it to put a ton more power down while improving safety and responsiveness.

I do make these kits in a garage and am a 1 man team. The kits you purchase from major manufacturers had a team of engineers and countless hours of time invested into them utilizing cad and other tools. And, even those kits still come with issues.

I made these to help the community with a problem that had surfaced, not to make a big profit. However, anyone who has installed the kit, given the minor issues here and there, have a smile from ear to ear when they are done.

I would like to point out that I have made a permanent change in the design off the sc volute. It will be a 60* going into a 2.75" pipe from now on. This will get rid of the tweaking required to the 45* design.

Id like to thank all the guys who have done a review here to help others along the way and glad I can help make your car feel like a whole new machine again.

BOLIO 671 · 12-29-2016, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopgunZ

I do make these kits in a garage and am a 1 man team. The kits you purchase from major manufacturers had a team of engineers and countless hours of time invested into them utilizing cad and other tools. And, even those kits still come with issues.

I made these to help the community with a problem that had surfaced, not to make a big profit. However, anyone who has installed the kit, given the minor issues here and there, have a smile from ear to ear when they are done.

You are so right on these points Topz...and looking at the design of the kit when you first started (The one that StillenZ84 has) and the kit you sent me you can see that the kit has evolved. Only by sharing our experiences and ideas will we be able to improve on your foundation, as we don't have a team of engineers. This was the main reason why I shared my experience. There's always room from improvement with everything. Your new idea of having the volute go from a 60* to a 2.75 pipe is great! Let me know if I will be able to purchase this part alone separately....

I want to absolutely thank you for making this kit available to the rest of us. You could've kept this custom kit to yourself, but you didn't. You made it a reality for some of us. Most especially those of us in remote areas like myself who do not have access to custom shops to get an A2A kit made/fabricated. If it wasn't for you I'd still be stuck on the basic Stillen kit.

Besides the minor challenges during the install, this kit is definitely a win and was well worth it all after the install was done. To feel a difference just at highway cruising was surreal for me. And you're right....I did have a smile from ear to ear after the intall was done....LOL.... Again Thank you.

TopgunZ · 12-29-2016, 01:37 PM

Even though the brackets are cnc machined, it looks like the machinist was slightly off on a hole on each bracket. I have opened them up to allow clearance.

12-22-2016, 10:19 AM	#1 (permalink)
TopgunZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,651 Drives: 06 350Z , 09 370Z MT Rep Power: 6835	True. But when you have the kit already with water there is just SO much hp being left on the table. Dollar per pony starts making it a no brainer. Not to mention how the responsiveness and driveability skyrocket. __________________ ROTREX SUPERCHARGER TUNER KITS - $6799/ CUSTOM STILLEN AIR TO AIR KITS -$2100/ 700+ WHP!! WWW.TOPGUNSPEEDWORKS.COM Last edited by TopgunZ; 12-22-2016 at 10:24 AM.

12-23-2016, 03:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
TBatt Track Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 832 Drives: 2019 GT-R Rep Power: 20170	Isn't EVERY car like that? You buy a new car and it depreciates very fast up to a point in which it slows down (depreciation). I consider modding a car the cost of entertainment. At the end you have two choices (1. Return the car back to stock and get book value at the cost of undoing everything (2. Selling the car as is and take a hit on all of the goodies you put on. At some point in the future a bone stock 370 will have "extra" value but for now they are just a car so why not mod the heck out of it and enjoy. Life is too short to drive a stock car. Enjoy them, like everything else, we are only here for awhile. Enjoy the heck out of it!!!!! BTW: My mom passed away last Monday the 19th. It has given me a whole new perspective on life. __________________ RJM pedal, Hotchkis Sway Bars, FI TDX, FOG Light, Z1 Slotted Drilled rotors, Stillen SC, Quaife ATB, Z1 Oil cooler, AEM Gauge Set, Galeforce gauge mount, Avant Garde M590 Hypersilver w/RE-11, TopgunZ A2A kit., ECUtek tuned by Seb: ROLL TIDE!

12-25-2016, 02:10 PM	#6 (permalink)
TopgunZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,651 Drives: 06 350Z , 09 370Z MT Rep Power: 6835	Yup. Stocker goes right back on. __________________ ROTREX SUPERCHARGER TUNER KITS - $6799/ CUSTOM STILLEN AIR TO AIR KITS -$2100/ 700+ WHP!! WWW.TOPGUNSPEEDWORKS.COM

12-27-2016, 08:41 PM	#9 (permalink)
TopgunZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,651 Drives: 06 350Z , 09 370Z MT Rep Power: 6835	I'll have to add that into them. I have kits ready to go for those interested. PM me if I haven't already hit you up. __________________ ROTREX SUPERCHARGER TUNER KITS - $6799/ CUSTOM STILLEN AIR TO AIR KITS -$2100/ 700+ WHP!! WWW.TOPGUNSPEEDWORKS.COM

12-29-2016, 01:10 AM	#11 (permalink)
BOLIO 671 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: GUAHAN Posts: 1,198 Drives: To & From then Back Rep Power: 3401	A2A Kit Install & Review Great news...after months of craziness with life priorities my friend and I finally found time to work on installing the A2A kit at his shop. Here's my review of the install. Overall the Kit is awesome. Believe it or not we did not find removing the intake manifold as a problem. It was actually one of the easier things to do. I guess maybe because I retained the original tool that Stillen gave me with the kit. On a side note I can't believe how restrictive that heat exchanger in the manifold is. Once we pulled that sucker out I was blown away at how much room the intake manifold had with the internal heat exchanger gone. Anyways, on to the review, here were the areas that were time consuming for us. 1). The removal of the Supercharger and Lining up of the Volute to make that perfect 45* angle was tough. We initially tried to take the supercharger out with just the 4 bolts on the bracket, but after dealing with everything we figured that it would have been a whole lot easier if we just removed the entire bracket. Also because of the limited space we installed the filter on the supercharger first before remounting it back. I really don't think you can put that filter on with the S/C mounted back in. 2). The Y Pipe was the hardest thing to get set. It was slightly off with the TB's and we didn't have much room to move the Y Pipe around to angle the fit with the IC, so we ended up cutting more than recommended on the instruction manual. (Refer to pics) After several hours of test fitting and cutting we were finally able to get the Y Pipe to fit. Putting on the 80mm T-Bolt Clamps was also taxing as the space was limited. This also presented challenges with the couplers sliding off the TB's when we were making fitting adjustments. Definitely a 2 man operation. I don't know how my friend or I would have been able to do it alone. He tried one day without me around and gave up. We weren't successful until the two of us were able to work on it together the following day. 3). I went back to this page during the install and noticed that only a total of eight (8) T-Bolt Clamps come with this kit. Four (4) 80mm and Four (4) of the smaller ones. I found that you actually need six (6) 80mm, as four are used on the Y Pipe Throttle Body areas (Top and Bottom) and you need to use one at the bottom end of the Y Pipe that connects to the coupler and one at the end of the volute connecting the volute to the other coupler. (Refer to Pics) This may be a personal preference, but I feel more secure having T-Blot Clamps in place on these areas for extra security. The kit may have came with more, I'm not sure...... but eight (8) T-Bolt clamps were all I got, so I ended up buying two (2) more 80mm T-Bolt Clamps locally to ease my mind. I personally think that the T-Bolt Clamps that come with the kit could be of better quality. Again this could be a personal preference, don't get me wrong, they work......they just seem a little too flimsy for my taste. 4). Also a very minor issue, but during the install the prefabricated holes on the brackets for the IC and the block off plate for the manifold were off so we had to drill and make the holes slightly bigger to line up with my kit. 5). This last part is a cosmetic and personal preference. I personally didn't care to put back the stock radiator overflow container as I wanted to have easy access to the belts in the future, and less clutter in the front, so we went ahead and modified an area to mount the small black one that came with the original Stillen Kit. I want to point out that these were challenges that we faced during my install and have nothing to do with the performance or reliability of the kit. Every install presents different challenges for different people thanks to "Murphy." Once the install was complete I went ahead and flashed the map from Seb and fired her up. She was buttoned back up and taken out for some data logging. Seb has me currently at simple idle and highway cruising, but let me just say that this kit makes the Stillen kit feel like a whole different animal. The Z feels so much more responsive. Even at cruising speeds I can see on the boost gauge that the car is closer in going into boost earlier in the RPM range. Throttle response is a whole lot better, and the car feels zippy as though its itching to giddy up and go. Can't wait to do some WOT pulls and stretch her legs out. Thanks Topz for making this kit and affording me the opportunity to get my hands on one of them. Also a big thanks to everyone else on here that has done the install and has contributed by sharing their experiences. __________________ 2013 Nismo Z34 / FI TT #091 / IG: @lilzilla_z34

12-23-2016, 09:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
ChaseZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: May 2016 Location: Calgary Posts: 3,799 Drives: 16 370z Rep Power: 94685	Yep, I'm pretty sure anyone who's dealt with Seb would vouch for him, and can add me to that list as well. I'll be need new FI maps in the very near future, and I've been running my parts list and needs past him through the build to make sure they were the best compatible pieces since he's the one that needs to tune it afterwards. He's been extremely helpful and I'm trying to get as many parts as I can from him to help offset that. Figure it's the least I can do.

12-29-2016, 04:43 AM	#12 (permalink)
Optimiser Enthusiast Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Australia Posts: 457 Drives: 2012 Nissan 370Z MT Rep Power: 20146	My shop, who is currently installing this Air to Air kit now have had issues with its fitment as well, saying, "It's a very DYI kit. Far from professional and not great to install properly". However I believe it will be a big improvement over the stock Stillen kit. Just saying...

12-29-2016, 11:12 AM	#13 (permalink)
TopgunZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,651 Drives: 06 350Z , 09 370Z MT Rep Power: 6835	Thanks for the feedback guys. Yes, this kit is made to be an affordable way to greatly improve the flaws in the stillen kit and enables it to put a ton more power down while improving safety and responsiveness. I do make these kits in a garage and am a 1 man team. The kits you purchase from major manufacturers had a team of engineers and countless hours of time invested into them utilizing cad and other tools. And, even those kits still come with issues. I made these to help the community with a problem that had surfaced, not to make a big profit. However, anyone who has installed the kit, given the minor issues here and there, have a smile from ear to ear when they are done. I would like to point out that I have made a permanent change in the design off the sc volute. It will be a 60* going into a 2.75" pipe from now on. This will get rid of the tweaking required to the 45* design. Id like to thank all the guys who have done a review here to help others along the way and glad I can help make your car feel like a whole new machine again. __________________ ROTREX SUPERCHARGER TUNER KITS - $6799/ CUSTOM STILLEN AIR TO AIR KITS -$2100/ 700+ WHP!! WWW.TOPGUNSPEEDWORKS.COM Last edited by TopgunZ; 12-29-2016 at 11:46 AM.

12-29-2016, 01:37 PM	#15 (permalink)
TopgunZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,651 Drives: 06 350Z , 09 370Z MT Rep Power: 6835	Even though the brackets are cnc machined, it looks like the machinist was slightly off on a hole on each bracket. I have opened them up to allow clearance. __________________ ROTREX SUPERCHARGER TUNER KITS - $6799/ CUSTOM STILLEN AIR TO AIR KITS -$2100/ 700+ WHP!! WWW.TOPGUNSPEEDWORKS.COM

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