Nissan 370Z Forum - Preparation for the STILLEN supercharger

OK, so we have been getting A LOT of questions lately about how to properly prepare for the STILLEN supercharger. Rather than having my posts get lost in a 20+ page thread where no one wants to go back through and re-read everything so I'm constantly saying the same things over again, I decided to just start a new thread with updated information:

So, please feel free to ask questions in this thread and I will do my best to answer them and keep this first post updated with the FAQ's and answers:

Will the Gen. 3 intakes fit with my supercharger?
No. The dual throttle body design has complicated the supercharger design and has caused us to relocate some components so that the Gen. 3's will not fit anymore.

Should I install headers now, so that I'm prepared for the supercharger?
No. Until we know what will happen when headers are introduced to the equation, we recommend not buying them. In the past we have found that headers can drop up to a pound of boost and therefore we recommend not installing them until we (STILLEN) have had a chance to test that combination.

I am interested in the supercharger but I also want to get or buy a custom tuner today, what should I do?

That all depends on what you think the value of the tuner is worth to you. If you want to spend a couple hundred dollars on a tuning device today and then in six months sell it or just lose it, then sure, go ahead and do that. But, your tune will be completely different from normally aspirated to supercharged. If you plan on buying the supercharger as soon as it becomes available then I wouldn't bother. If you plan on waiting a year or so before purchasing the supercharger then the cost of the tuner today and being able to use it for the next year and possibly sell it off could be worth it to you.

Just keep in mind that whatever tuner you buy for your normally aspirated car will be 100% different and will need to be re-done when you install the supercharger

What should I install today to prepare my car for the STILLEN supercharger?
There are a lot of different areas that you can improve/prepare for the supercharger.

#1) Cat-back exhaust. You will want a high quality cat-back exhaust system.

#2) Clutch and flywheel- You are going to be increasing the horsepower and torque substantially so you will want to make sure that your clutch and flywheel are up to the job.

#3) Everything else (LOL). I highly doubt that any one is going to do a lot of work on their performance without also modifying their suspension, or wheels and tires or brakes, or exterior, and other parts of the car. Basically what I'm saying is leave the intake and headers alone. Intake for sure won't fit, and the headers may or may not improve your performance.

Should I run 2.5" exhaust or 3" exhaust?

3" is good for turbo cars but for the supercharger the 2.5" exhaust is more than sufficient.

I currently have the G3 intake, are you guys going to use the same enlarged holes for the G3, for the S/C piping (or anything else)?

This is a good question and I don't know exactly what the answer is. I do know that the intercooler does have to be routed to the front of the radiator so I am sure that at least one of those openings will be re-used but I do not know about the other one. I'm sure that will be released soon.

Also will the air to water intercooler use its own water resovior or share it with the engine coolant?

Yes, the intercooler will use its own isolated coolant path.

What about fuel? Does the kit include upgraded rails and pump? stock system?

Yes, just like all of our supercharger kits, this VQ37 supercharger kit will come equipped with all of the necessary modifications to the fuel system. Again, at this time I don't know exactly what all that is but if it is required to run the car safely and operate the supercharger, it will be included in the kit.

Also you mention the intercooler is going in front of the radiator? Is that going to get in the way of your oil cooler

It is our goal to accomodate the engine oil cooler and the intercooler without interferring with one another. We understand completely that one of the big needs for the VQ37 is additional engine oil cooling and that has most definitely been a consideration for this project since day one.

Will this kit be "for off road use only" or will it go through the CARB/street legal process?

It is our goal to achieve CARB legality and receive and exemption order number for the kit. We have already begun talking with a lab that we have used in the past on various other products, all of which have received CARB approval.

When is the estimated release date?

We can't give an estimated release date becaue there are still some final things to work out. For example, although we have a running prototype and tuning is about to begin, we still need to do a lot of drive time real world testing. High altitude, desert (heat), long distance, basically general drivability. These driving steps can sometimes take one week which was the case for the 350Z and G35 kit, and if the car passes everything with no problems, then we're good to go. Or, like the case of our Titan supercharger, we might find that we need to do a lot of endurance testing if something arises during one of the other tests.

When we were developing the supercharger we used my Titan and during the long distance/high temperature test I drove out to Palm Springs. I got about fifty miles out from the shop and the check engine light came on. So, turned around and headed home. The engineer's made a couple changes and I went back out again, this time I made it half way before the check engine lights came on. Came back, made a few changes, then we went back out again. The third time I made it all the way there, had lunch, then took the mountain road home. No lights, no problems, all was good. The next morning I started the truck and began my 5 mile commute into work...Check engine light came on...So, we took another look at it. Basically what was happening is that my over sized (35 inch mud terrain) tires were causing the truck to run at a higher RPM in order to travel the same speed as our test truck which had factory ride height and wheels and tires. The test truck never threw any lights but because we also did the testing on a lifted truck, we learned what would happen. Finally, before releasing that kit I took the truck all the way from Newport Beach, CA. to Ensenada, Mexico. That is about a 200 mile trip each way. We did not experience any problems on that trip so we released the kit and were comfortable that we had done sufficient testing.

I would love to be able to say that we will be releasing the kit in the first quarter of 2010 but we want to focus on the performance of the kit and ensure that everything is perfect before releasing it.

NEW YEARS EVE UPDATE:

Progress is coming along very well. We received some of the castings back from the casting house this week and next week they will go into the machine shop for finishing. From there we will install them on the test cars and will begin tuning. A little bit of cool information that I have found out today. The casting house who is making our intake manifold and some of the other components also makes aluminum heads for Ford, racing speed boats and numerous other forms of race vehicles. They do some amazing work and they're located in USA!

Also, we have some information on some of the stages that we will be offering for the VQ37:

The STILLEN supercharger kit will have 3 options.

Option 1) Tuner kit...All the hardware and equipment minus the fuel management. This kit should be ready in about two months or so. Look for it around the end of February beginning of March.

Option 2) CARB legal kit. This kit will be 50 state legal, yes it won't have as much power as the other stages but it is street legal!!! More than likely this kit will be running around 6 psi. The release of this kit greatly revolves around the amount of time it takes CARB to grant us a test date and review our results. I can't give a solid ETA on this because it really is up to CARB.

Option 3) Race kit...This will be a pre-tuned race kit that will not come with any warranty and will not be street legal but it will be a bolt in kit for the guys looking for a bit more power but don't want to bother with figuring out their own tuning. This kit will be developed along side the Tuner kit so look for it to be released around the beginning of March.

What Gauges would be most beneficial for use with the supercharger?

I am currently working with a company to develop a couple of gauge pods and guages. My ideal situation would be for them to come pre-loaded ready to go.

If you only run a single guage then obviously you'll just want boost.

If you want two guages, then you'll want boost and air/fuel. Air/fuel you won't watch all the time but it won't hurt to have it.

If you want three guages, then I would suggest boost, air/fuel and a good, accurate oil temperature guage with the issues that the VQ37 has with engine oil temperature.

One thing to keep in mind is that you want to buy a boost guage that is appropriate for the amount of boost you plan on running. Basically, don't run out and buy a 30 pound boost guage because it won't be as accurate for you as say a 15 pound boost guage.