Good point, you never know though with the CARB requirements.

I have to agree with Chris. It makes more since to get a custom tune than to tear all the gear out and replace it. You obviously don't need to hold out for a Stillen tune for Carb cert considering your other mods. If the tune is the only problem, a new tune will be much cheaper and has already been shown to work. I'm not sure if anyone else is thinking of offering an engine warranty or not, so that could be a deciding issue.

Maybe if you guys live in CA you would know how we feel lol. The CARB is important to us. People gets state ref ticket for having just an intake. I wonder what the cop will say if he sees the blower haha. Probably will tow our cars without carb cert

You mean the CARB makes you live in fear of your own states vehicle laws (just rewording it for you), and it's the number one reason you will never find me living in california, if i ever even work there i'll drive from out of state every day if i had to.

Tom, have you ever had a tune that
has good driveability? I've seen your complaints about driveability and peak hp
with the newer tunes not delivering as well in the upper rev range. What I'm thinking is that if they have given you a tune that drives well, just stick with that, regardless of the peak hp number.

At 400 whp and 15% powertrain losses, you're making 470hp. That's stil 127 hp/liter. In the big scheme of things, this supercharger does work. At 127 hp/liter, that's like getting 635 hp put of a mustang or 787 hp out of a camaro. Basically, the only engines that are making the same power per displacement are cars with factory F/I and lowered compression ratios. Despite what their press release said, i don't expect them to squeeze this engine much tighter without something popping.

Since GTM was more optimistic in their press release, advertising 452.1 whp with their stage 1 kit at 8 psi boost, let's crunch their numbers: 462 whp with 15% drivetrain loss is 532 hp, or 143.75 hp/liter. That's a higher specific output than an F430 scuderia (118 hp/l), Lexus LFA (115 hp/l) or a ZR1 (102.9 hp/l). 530 hp is the same as the $190k GT2 with similar sized engine. Did they really expect to be in GT2 territory with an 11.0:1 engine and a supercharger?

My point is that your expectations are a little too high and if they can get you a tune that performs smoothly, you really are getting your money's worth.

Im not looking for a dyno queen. I would like to be in the same ballpark as the stillen supercharger and be drivable. Looking more for higher torque numbers oppose to higher hp. As for the tunes out of the seven tunes only one has been drivable. Thats the r6 tune. THats what im running now after r7 was just bad and undrivable. The r6 tune is great down low but once the boost comes on it just craps out. Im not sure how much more i should hold out after seven tunes and three months. Everyone that has the stillen tune is having problems with drivabilty and low hp and torque numbers. It seems stillen has given up trying to get a drivable tune so they have starting giving money back so the customer is able to get a custom thats close to stillens numbers and drivable. The only problem with the custom tune is 1) carb compliance 2) i bought the tuner kit for the warranty and for the carb sticker. They havent said they are going to extend the warranty for custom tune. Seems stillen has washed their hands trying to fix this problem and just has passed the buck for someone else to figure it out. I dont think im being unreasonable wanting my car be drivable along with getting close to the advertised numbers.

Its easier to remove the hfc if i get pulled over opposed to having to remove the supercharger because its not carb compliant with a custom tune. I would think the cop would look at the supercharger for a carb sticker instead of getting underneath the car looking for hfc

Stillen is not going to send you the CARB sticker when they get certified if somehow they find out you have a custom tune? How would they find out anyway, and why would they care (the liability is on you for changing the provided tune).

-Mark

Stillen responded to my request to return the supercharger. Chuck called my shop and told them that there is nothing wrong with the supercharger or the 7 tunes and i can return it minus a 10% restocking fee. And they wont refund any money towards a custom tune. What a bunch of clowns down at stillen. They dont stand behind their products and basically told me to **** off . PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS SUPERCHARGER BECAUSE U WILL HAVE NO HELP FROM STILLEN WHEN ALL THE TUNES THEY SEND U FAIL.
F U stillen!

Its pretty typical of warranty to have a restocking fee. I mean I know he has his issues, but he is choosing to return it instead of wait for a fix. He is not even using warranty, he just wants his money back and alot of companies wouldnt even do that. Warranty is placed their so the product can be fixed, not so you can have your money back if it doesnt work properly right away. I KNOW I KNOW, you have waited and waited, but like all things it takes time and you got caught in the middle. Believe me I have been in a similar situation where I bought a turbonetics kit for my old z, and the charge pipe consistently came off on even lower psi then advertised. I ended up selling the kit, but I was offered the same thing you are being offered when I asked for a refund.

This problem will get resolved, and I am seriously hoping this will happen. Stillen is def having some issues, but I would highly doubt they are going to wash their hands and walk away from the customers. This is a big market, and lots of money and expensive cars. I am just wondering like everyone else said, if you have HFC's how in anyway could your car be CARB certified.

I am no pro, but I have no doubt a custom tune would solve this and you would be fine. I guess I will say goodluck and it stinks to see an S/C go bye bye. How is everyone else doing on the tune?

Just to clarify Tom- The information that you received from your source at Z car is inaccurate. It was not discussed during the conversation between Chuck and Z car but yes, we will refund you the difference between the two kits.

Additionally, I'm not sure if you're aware. However, we offered to fly up there, pick up your car, drive it down here for our engineers to tune it and drive back up to you at no cost to you but your tuner said no.

I must of just made up the restocking fee? You guys are just full of bs. Are u calling me a liar or z car garage? U hype your product and then when people have problems u disappear.

I never called anyone a liar. I said the information you received was inaccurate. And it was...Z car garage and Chuck never discussed refunding the difference between the tuner and tuned kits. If you would like to convert your kit to a tuner kit we will refund you the difference in the two kits.

Yes, we did say that there is going to be a 10% restocking fee if you choose to return the kit. We believe that the supercharger is working fine. The reason for the restocking fee is because during this process we have received no information that we could use to refine your car.

I'm not sure how it can be said that if there are problems we disappear. Again, we offered to fly up to you, pick up the car, drive it down to our shop, and return the car back to you with no expense to you or your shop and we were told that this was not an option.

If you have any questions please feel free to call me at 888-222-2702 ext. 173

When i bought this kit there was no mention of having to drive it down to your shop to tune it. In fact i bought this kit because of all the testing u did and how u didnt rush it out onto the market. We have sent u a dyno for every tune u sent me so u have had data about my car and the tune. The reason i didint send it down to u guys for one i dont want some clown driving my car 500 miles to la and 500 miles back when in fact u have had g37mobbin car there and sent him off with a crappy tune and u have had weiboy down there twice and he still is having problems with the tune. It seems u guys cant figure this out and perhaps we should just cut our losses but u have no losses u made money on me by screwing me with your 10% restocking fee and postage. Very profesional of u to come on here and call me out. I guess i cant give an opionon of your kit without u guys calling me at my house twice. I didint buy the kit from u i bought it from z car garage but the first time i say something about this kit u call me at my house. Its been nothing but a joke dealing with u guys. I bought the stillen kit because of the 20 years u guys have dedicated to the import scene. I hope everyone sees how unprofesional u guys are coming on the forum and lying saying nothing is wrong with your kit and calling me out.

Just trying to figure out your logic on hp numbers compared to Porsche or Corvette etc. There are smart cars that burn off on super-cars all day long regardless of hp/l or the cost of the vehicle. And why couldn't a supercharged 370z do just that????? Hp/l is thrown out of the logic as soon as you thrown in "After-Market Forced Induction". This is not a stock car we talking about and hp/l is only half the battle. You can buy a cheap car and throw forced induction in the equation and have a beast. Isn't this why forced induction is so awesome. And GTM does not have a car running 8psi outside of their scope so assumptions can only be made. At this point supercharger tuning is in its infancy stages and time will show more of its capabilities. And there are many other factors to a Porsche GT2 costing $190k than its hp/l factor.

Edit: I am really not trying to start a war here I am just trying to figure out how you are thinking, I might learn something here.

I agree with tomnavone on the fact that he should not be required to send this car over to Stillen. Stillen should not be selling advertised carb legal kits to their authorized dealers if they will need to have it sent down to them at a later date. Furthermore, tomnavone should not be stuck in the middle as Stillen continues to figure it out. If Stillen was still in the development stage their kit should not be on a the open market they should have waited to figure it out. This thread is now 131 pages long with over one thousand posts only to find out that Stillen will not step up and fully refund their kit. Is the 10% really worth the bad press? I'm sure all the other owners out there who are having issues with tunes are worried right now, they will have to either wait until the proper tune comes out for their application which as of now looks to be an indefinite time period or they will have to take a loss in their attempt to return the product. I knew from day one that Stillen has a habit of rushing out their products hence I don't have a single Stillen part on my Z. Good luck tomnavone, I'd read over that invoice real close and see what else they state in there.