Forced induction insight and advice needed

tchertel · 10-17-2020, 06:45 PM

If the car is a good, reliable car and you want to continue to use it as a daily driver then I would recommend not touching it. Installing Stillen's supercharger kit was the biggest mistake I made with my Z. The kit went on at 21k miles I have only had about 7 months trouble free, beyond that modifying this car turned it into the biggest piece of s**t! If you want something reliable that you don't have the mess with every freaking weekend trying to fix issues then don't touch it. If you want a turbo'd or supercharged car I would recommend buying one that has a turbo or SC from the factory. Right now, I am wasting money on insurance for this car because it is in garage with the hood up more than it is on the road.

If you go FI all I can say is good luck and have a backup vehicle to drive. Luckily I have my '98 Ram 1500 that is a thousand times for reliable than this POS Nissan with no thanks to Stillen.

redondoaveb · 10-17-2020, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchertel

If the car is a good, reliable car and you want to continue to use it as a daily driver then I would recommend not touching it. Installing Stillen's supercharger kit was the biggest mistake I made with my Z. The kit went on at 21k miles I have only had about 7 months trouble free, beyond that modifying this car turned it into the biggest piece of s**t! If you want something reliable that you don't have the mess with every freaking weekend trying to fix issues then don't touch it. If you want a turbo'd or supercharged car I would recommend buying one that has a turbo or SC from the factory. Right now, I am wasting money on insurance for this car because it is in garage with the hood up more than it is on the road.

If you go FI all I can say is good luck and have a backup vehicle to drive. Luckily I have my '98 Ram 1500 that is a thousand times for reliable than this POS Nissan with no thanks to Stillen.

If you have the Stillen w2a kit then yes, it was a big mistake. A reputable aftermarket turbo or a2a supercharger kit is dependable.

tchertel · 10-19-2020, 10:33 PM

Yep, buying from Stillen was a mistake but since I live here in Komifornia I did not have much of a choice as I need that freaking sticker. However, that sticker does me no good right now as I cannot keep the check engine lights away long enough for the I/M Monitors to become ready. Not sure what I will do when May rolls around and is time for the Z's first smog check. Stillen completely mis-represents their kits so anyone who does not need to worry about smog inspections don't go with the Stillen kit.

I am currently working with a tuner to see what we can find and clean up the cold idle to not pop anymore P0300s.

TopgunZ · 10-20-2020, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchertel

Yep, buying from Stillen was a mistake but since I live here in Komifornia I did not have much of a choice as I need that freaking sticker. However, that sticker does me no good right now as I cannot keep the check engine lights away long enough for the I/M Monitors to become ready. Not sure what I will do when May rolls around and is time for the Z's first smog check. Stillen completely mis-represents their kits so anyone who does not need to worry about smog inspections don't go with the Stillen kit.

I am currently working with a tuner to see what we can find and clean up the cold idle to not pop anymore P0300s.

Not sure who your tuner is but I would look up either Sebastian from Spec Z or Eugene from Infinity Auto Care. Both of those guys should be able to get your car tuned properly to pass smog.

OMGWTFBBQ · 11-26-2020, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchertel

Yep, buying from Stillen was a mistake but since I live here in Komifornia I did not have much of a choice as I need that freaking sticker. However, that sticker does me no good right now as I cannot keep the check engine lights away long enough for the I/M Monitors to become ready. Not sure what I will do when May rolls around and is time for the Z's first smog check. Stillen completely mis-represents their kits so anyone who does not need to worry about smog inspections don't go with the Stillen kit.

I am currently working with a tuner to see what we can find and clean up the cold idle to not pop anymore P0300s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopgunZ

Not sure who your tuner is but I would look up either Sebastian from Spec Z or Eugene from Infinity Auto Care. Both of those guys should be able to get your car tuned properly to pass smog.

+9000000000000

To tchertel, send your car to Seb at Specialty Z. He will get you squared away.

Take it from me who's been through hell and back. Mickey Mouse Racing hack job install + sh!t tune = my Z sat abandoned on the street for three years untouched because I didn't want to deal with the headaches. I finally sucked it up and towed my Z 90 miles one way to Seb. After tuning my custom supercharger setup, I've been dailying it for the past year and a half at ~400hp/380ftlb with absolutely no issues. I'm going twins soon so that'll be fun.

To the OP, go with the Fast Intentions kit. But the most important part is finding a solid tuner. This is make or break.

TopgunZ · 10-17-2020, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchertel

If the car is a good, reliable car and you want to continue to use it as a daily driver then I would recommend not touching it. Installing Stillen's supercharger kit was the biggest mistake I made with my Z. The kit went on at 21k miles I have only had about 7 months trouble free, beyond that modifying this car turned it into the biggest piece of s**t! If you want something reliable that you don't have the mess with every freaking weekend trying to fix issues then don't touch it. If you want a turbo'd or supercharged car I would recommend buying one that has a turbo or SC from the factory. Right now, I am wasting money on insurance for this car because it is in garage with the hood up more than it is on the road.

If you go FI all I can say is good luck and have a backup vehicle to drive. Luckily I have my '98 Ram 1500 that is a thousand times for reliable than this POS Nissan with no thanks to Stillen.

The original Stillen kit can be extremely reliable as long as the install is done correctly and your are after very modest gains. Upgrading to eliminate the shortfalls allows that Vortech based kit to make both very high power and be reliable. Again, do it right the first time and you will have a headache free car. Cutting corners or having a poor install and tune can definitely result in a bad experience.

Most of the guys that have done their homework and put in the time, effort, maintenance and extra money to ensure its done right have left the forum. But there's lots of guys with 10s of thousands of miles on these platforms without an issue.

If you want a "built not bought" car that has supercar performance then do it right. If you want a car that you don't care to know how it works and take it to pennzoil for maintenance then buy an untouched C7 or CTSV, just don't cry when a tuner Z gaps you.

cgr406 · 10-17-2020, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchertel

If the car is a good, reliable car and you want to continue to use it as a daily driver then I would recommend not touching it. Installing Stillen's supercharger kit was the biggest mistake I made with my Z. The kit went on at 21k miles I have only had about 7 months trouble free, beyond that modifying this car turned it into the biggest piece of s**t! If you want something reliable that you don't have the mess with every freaking weekend trying to fix issues then don't touch it. If you want a turbo'd or supercharged car I would recommend buying one that has a turbo or SC from the factory. Right now, I am wasting money on insurance for this car because it is in garage with the hood up more than it is on the road.

If you go FI all I can say is good luck and have a backup vehicle to drive. Luckily I have my '98 Ram 1500 that is a thousand times for reliable than this POS Nissan with no thanks to Stillen.

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, but I'm not sure what to say other than I completely disagree w/ your conclusion / advice. There are lots of folks on here, myself included, who have had very good, reliable performance from boosted applications.

Vex · 10-19-2020, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchertel

If the car is a good, reliable car and you want to continue to use it as a daily driver then I would recommend not touching it. Installing Stillen's supercharger kit was the biggest mistake I made with my Z. The kit went on at 21k miles I have only had about 7 months trouble free, beyond that modifying this car turned it into the biggest piece of s**t! If you want something reliable that you don't have the mess with every freaking weekend trying to fix issues then don't touch it. If you want a turbo'd or supercharged car I would recommend buying one that has a turbo or SC from the factory. Right now, I am wasting money on insurance for this car because it is in garage with the hood up more than it is on the road.

If you go FI all I can say is good luck and have a backup vehicle to drive. Luckily I have my '98 Ram 1500 that is a thousand times for reliable than this POS Nissan with no thanks to Stillen.

I appreciate the advice Tchertel, I understand where you are coming from and before I bought the Z I considered a number of more expensive cars that where fast from the factory as well. I've done the whole buy a fast car and don't touch it thing before and the feeling of building the car myself versus buying something already fast is just a better feeling for me. I do have my truck which has reliably gotten me around for multiple years so if I do have to put some work into the Z, its not my only vehicle. I don't mind spending time in the garage, in fact its almost like therapy to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchammond

Vex, check with your tuner & ensure that the ecm on the 2020 model will be tunable with any of these kits first

At one time there were storage issues on the newer models

I did talk with my tuner and everything seems to check out well on the tuning side. The plan is to run ecutek tuning wise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by takemorepills

I modified my Nissan Titan with SUPPOSEDLY good parts. I have had nothing but problems, and regret the thousands I spent on it. After the problems appeared, more thorough research turned up that for a few people, they also encountered the exact same issues and after spending tremendous effort and money to solve the problems, they all just cut their losses and sold their trucks. I'm going to need to reinstall expensive OEM parts back on to my truck to get her running right again.
This experience is what keeps me from modifying my Q60, I really don't like how torqueless the VQ is, but I am loving the reliability of the Q60.

Did Vex say he was going to modify a 2020? If he did I would strongly advise him to wait for the new 300Z TT. It will have the VR motor in it. If Vex buys a new 370Z and then drops $18K on it...he'll be way over the buy-in for a new VR powered Z.

Heck, I watched a YouTube channel that had a story about 3 great "sports cars" for under $10K. One of them was a 2009 370Z. They paid $10K for it and it was in excellent condition. I tried to find a 370Z in my area (WA State) for near that price, and the lowest I could find was $15K. I had an idea that at $10K plus the $18K for boost would make for a decent turbo Z project, but if I can't get one under $15K then I need to drop at least another $18K that would be up to $33K for a car over a decade old. Some of the older 370Zs may need extra money to repair issues like rear diff bushing, steering column lock, wear and tear, etc.
Or I could wait until the new VR powered Z drops and just buy a factory turbo car for little more. The new VR powered Q60's are getting sorted, there's people running low 10's and high 9's....that's with 7AT and weighing 650 pounds more than a Z.

That is correct, I am modifying a 2020 370Z Sport. The new Z does look promising and who knows maybe in another few years I'll pick one up. However I do believe in waiting past the first year to avoid any potential first year issues. That makes it 2 to 3 years down the line before I would even consider getting one (Depending on how it looks on final release). I did consider a used one for cheaper but I never plan to get rid of this Z and for a car that I plan to keep for as long as I am around a new one just made sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91

IMO.
All those kits are good, but I think with a 600WHP goal the FI kit would be easiest to reach that number, a single turbo or SC wouldn't be as simple unless your going E85. Also your budget looks fine for everything outside the motor, with 600WHP and the associated amount of TQ you may want to consider work on the internals?

Thanks for the input! The plan is without a doubt to go E85. I live within 15 minutes of multiple E85 stations. I did decide that I will put aside a spare block to either serve as a stock replacement block if anything should go wrong or if everything goes well then a spare block to be built on the side.

Vex · 10-19-2020, 12:50 PM

I appreciate everyone whos been chiming in, It's good to hear from everyone. This is including those who have had great success and those who, unfortunately, have had poor experiences. All the advice and insight has been helpful in some way, shape, or form.

10-17-2020, 06:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
tchertel Base Member Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: California Posts: 66 Drives: 2014 SC 370z Rep Power: 7	If the car is a good, reliable car and you want to continue to use it as a daily driver then I would recommend not touching it. Installing Stillen's supercharger kit was the biggest mistake I made with my Z. The kit went on at 21k miles I have only had about 7 months trouble free, beyond that modifying this car turned it into the biggest piece of s**t! If you want something reliable that you don't have the mess with every freaking weekend trying to fix issues then don't touch it. If you want a turbo'd or supercharged car I would recommend buying one that has a turbo or SC from the factory. Right now, I am wasting money on insurance for this car because it is in garage with the hood up more than it is on the road. If you go FI all I can say is good luck and have a backup vehicle to drive. Luckily I have my '98 Ram 1500 that is a thousand times for reliable than this POS Nissan with no thanks to Stillen. __________________ 2014 370z Touring Sport, Stillen supercharger, cat-back and oil cooler

10-19-2020, 10:33 PM	#3 (permalink)
tchertel Base Member Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: California Posts: 66 Drives: 2014 SC 370z Rep Power: 7	Yep, buying from Stillen was a mistake but since I live here in Komifornia I did not have much of a choice as I need that freaking sticker. However, that sticker does me no good right now as I cannot keep the check engine lights away long enough for the I/M Monitors to become ready. Not sure what I will do when May rolls around and is time for the Z's first smog check. Stillen completely mis-represents their kits so anyone who does not need to worry about smog inspections don't go with the Stillen kit. I am currently working with a tuner to see what we can find and clean up the cold idle to not pop anymore P0300s. __________________ 2014 370z Touring Sport, Stillen supercharger, cat-back and oil cooler

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Insight Needed From Boosted Owners/Builders - Need Advice	AstatenateZ	Forced Induction	94	01-08-2020 11:09 AM
Forced induction	Sneakernturbo	Northern California Region	1	08-08-2016 05:53 PM
Forced Induction at last !	Optimiser	Forced Induction	4	12-31-2015 07:39 AM
Is forced Induction for me?	G6JPM	Forced Induction	17	04-05-2015 09:10 PM
[WTB] Forced induction!!!	Business Kat	Parts for sale (Private Classifieds)	30	10-16-2014 05:55 PM

10-19-2020, 12:50 PM	#9 (permalink)
Vex Base Member Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Colorado Posts: 7 Drives: 2020 370Z 6m/t Rep Power: 7	I appreciate everyone whos been chiming in, It's good to hear from everyone. This is including those who have had great success and those who, unfortunately, have had poor experiences. All the advice and insight has been helpful in some way, shape, or form.