STILLEN 370Z Supercharger System - Announcement!!!

stormcrow · 05-27-2010, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyle@STILLEN

Hey Guys,

There are actually a couple of things coming into play here.

#1) Mike received a very early fascia (actually Mike's fascia shipped before we even finished ours) because his car was in the body shop and he needed one ASAP. Unfortunately, we found the same thing on our car that we will be changing after we already shipped Mike's fascia out. The main cause of the bubble is actually the mounting points. We developed our fascia using a factory fascia, which also means that we use the factory fascia mounting points. We saw on our car that the mounting flange underneath the headlight does not extend all the way to the end of the headlight. So we end the flange right at the end of the factory flange. We are in the process of fixing the mold right now to add an extra support flange in that area to prevent the part from flexing in that area. Basically there was not enough support in that particular section of the part.

#2) We are also going to analyze our urethane and verify its rigidity. We are concerned that our latest batch of urethane from a relatively new vendor may be too "soft" and is having issues with holding its original shape. We are going to have it sent out for testing and will know soon. Either way, we have notified our suppliers and we will be working to correct this immediately.

In the mean time, no 370Z fascias will ship until this issue has been resolved. The 370Z fascia is the only that we have seen this happen with so we are halting production on these fascias until we can resolve these imperfections.

Major manufacturer's like Nissan, Toyota, and everyone else who utilize "urethane" body components use a material that is substantially harder than our urethane. For example, if you were to drop a factory fascia and our fascia from the same height, chances are that the factory fascia would crack whereas the STILLEN fascia would bend. With that being said, there is a fine line between too soft and too hard.

The bubble or warp in the material is in no way a result of outside temperature. Keep in mind that when the poly-urethane material is injected into the mold it is around 120 degrees. The chemical reaction between the two chemicals skyrockets that temperature to well over 200 degrees. When these parts cure, they are curing at over 200 degrees! It would take a lot more than outside air temperatures to have a significant effect on the material.

I will notify everyone when the molds have been finished and of course will follow up with our results after testing.

Thanks for the response. But, I have to call shenanigans to the emboldened above. My 350Z Stillen front bumper did the VERY SAME thing as what is pictured in the snapshots of Mike's car. And it seems that Supra guys had the same issue with Stillen bumpers as far back as 2003. Are you saying that the individuals who documented their experience in the past, as well as myself, noting that the issue ABSOLUTELY happened when the Stillen front bumpers were in contact with direct sunlight and warmer temperatures, are all lying? Or was it just that we all had the luxury of having improper mounting points and possible bad urethane from a new vendor but not the luxury of improvement?

It seems you guys deny history and customer experience to save face. Why not just say "Hey, we used an inferior urethane and we are going to make it right" instead of trying to misdirect the community?

Mike · 05-27-2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caravanshaka

hope you are replacing Mike's bumper if it is indeed a manufacturer defect.

I dont want a replacement. That would mean a lot more expense on my part replacing and repainting, and its good enough for the track use I intend for the car. It looks pretty and shiny now, but thats just because its fresh from the body shop. Up close you can see all the chips from the track on the one rear fender that wasn't repainted, and everything else will be that way soon too.

One day when I am ready to sell the car and repaint the front end, I may go back to a Nissan bumper, but although there is a flaw in it and I prefer there wasn't, its really not that bad.

NewYorkJon34 · 05-27-2010, 06:14 PM

This topic can turn pretty ugly if my friend & I told about our stillen urethane Horror storys!

earwicker7 · 05-27-2010, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkJon34

Before we get back on topic, what's NSFW stand for anyway?

Now Show your Friends at Work!

At least that's what I was told before I got fired

Knives · 05-27-2010, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkJon34

This topic can turn pretty ugly if my friend & I told about our stillen urethane Horror storys!

This thread is off topic, but damn is it interesting.

ChrisSlicks · 05-27-2010, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyle@STILLEN

P.S.- Sorry Josh and I haven't been on the forum much over the past few days. I've been working on a few projects including 370Z brake cooling, and many others, as well as trying to write the owner's manual for the supercharger. Josh has been buried in a lot of other projects as well including organizing some exciting magazine tests and working on updating some online stuff.

Yay brake cooling!

Power from the Z seems to vary with the weather more than I remember before. Some days it is rather anemic. I could be in the market for added power pretty soon.

travisjb · 05-28-2010, 01:14 AM

good progress Kyle!

I'd really like some more detail on the brake cooling... i'm going to go with a custom job in the next couple days unless you guys tell me you're building a kit... will the brake cooling solution only work with the Stillen fascia?

BTW, if you have some of the 'flawed' Stillen fascias that are left over from the 'bad urethane batch', I'd be willing to take a couple off your hands as spares... drop me a PM please if interested

thanks

g37mobbin · 05-29-2010, 12:40 PM

not sure if this is true or not. Seen a thread on myg37 that Stillen sent out their first kit? Person has 4 posts...curious to know if any 370z got their kits out? because if i not mistaken that is the whole thing Stillen was doing was serving the 370z first right?

Josh@STILLEN · 05-29-2010, 01:21 PM

Yes.. GREAT NEWS!!!

We are proud to announce that we have begun shipping supercharger systems!!! We started with the G37 7AT cars. We have been able to finalize the tune on the 7AT cars and the instructions for the G happened to be done first. We will begin to ship Z 7AT kits next week and the 6MT and G 5AT kits will be shipping very shortly as well.

It took a little while to get some of the ROM's back from customers and they are beginning to come in steadily now. There might be some delays initially on shipping kits due to uncracked ROM’s that UpRev needs to go through and setup. Then we need to complete the tuning process on those particular ROM’s but we aren’t expecting huge delays.

REMEMBER, if we don’t have your ROM we’re not going to ship your supercharger! We want to make sure that everything is ready for you before we ship your kit!

Look for customer reviews and installs soon!!!!

Q8y_drifter · 05-29-2010, 01:56 PM

Awesome!

Josh, have you tested the installation on a G35/G37 sedan yet?

Josh@STILLEN · 05-29-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q8y_drifter

Awesome!

Josh, have you tested the installation on a G35/G37 sedan yet?

We've looked at them, but haven't done the final fitment tests necessary, and will look at the ECU's and tuning as well. These are planned just after the coupes and Z's, but won't be long.

Josh@STILLEN · 05-29-2010, 02:31 PM

As promised, here is pictures of the main supercharger assembly both assembled and disassembled.

We assemble this here at STILLEN, which reduces the labor by easily 2-3 hours, saving you money on the installation.

RCZ · 05-29-2010, 03:42 PM

Damn that looks nice! Good to hear things are shipping! Awesome.

jmlenz · 05-29-2010, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyle@STILLEN

Hey Guys,

There are actually a couple of things coming into play here.

#1) Mike received a very early fascia (actually Mike's fascia shipped before we even finished ours) because his car was in the body shop and he needed one ASAP. Unfortunately, we found the same thing on our car that we will be changing after we already shipped Mike's fascia out. The main cause of the bubble is actually the mounting points. We developed our fascia using a factory fascia, which also means that we use the factory fascia mounting points. We saw on our car that the mounting flange underneath the headlight does not extend all the way to the end of the headlight. So we end the flange right at the end of the factory flange. We are in the process of fixing the mold right now to add an extra support flange in that area to prevent the part from flexing in that area. Basically there was not enough support in that particular section of the part.

#2) We are also going to analyze our urethane and verify its rigidity. We are concerned that our latest batch of urethane from a relatively new vendor may be too "soft" and is having issues with holding its original shape. We are going to have it sent out for testing and will know soon. Either way, we have notified our suppliers and we will be working to correct this immediately.

In the mean time, no 370Z fascias will ship until this issue has been resolved. The 370Z fascia is the only that we have seen this happen with so we are halting production on these fascias until we can resolve these imperfections.

Major manufacturer's like Nissan, Toyota, and everyone else who utilize "urethane" body components use a material that is substantially harder than our urethane. For example, if you were to drop a factory fascia and our fascia from the same height, chances are that the factory fascia would crack whereas the STILLEN fascia would bend. With that being said, there is a fine line between too soft and too hard.

The bubble or warp in the material is in no way a result of outside temperature. Keep in mind that when the poly-urethane material is injected into the mold it is around 120 degrees. The chemical reaction between the two chemicals skyrockets that temperature to well over 200 degrees. When these parts cure, they are curing at over 200 degrees! It would take a lot more than outside air temperatures to have a significant effect on the material.

I will notify everyone when the molds have been finished and of course will follow up with our results after testing.

Not to derail this thread any further, but...Awesome news Kyle! This is the response I would expect from a reputable vendor that realized there was a defect with their product. Your back in the running for my business when you get this issue squared away.

Jamaica · 05-30-2010, 01:56 AM

I have the bumper nothing yet came up

05-28-2010, 01:14 AM	#682 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	good progress Kyle! I'd really like some more detail on the brake cooling... i'm going to go with a custom job in the next couple days unless you guys tell me you're building a kit... will the brake cooling solution only work with the Stillen fascia? BTW, if you have some of the 'flawed' Stillen fascias that are left over from the 'bad urethane batch', I'd be willing to take a couple off your hands as spares... drop me a PM please if interested thanks __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

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05-27-2010, 06:14 PM	#678 (permalink)
NewYorkJon34 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Naples, Florida Posts: 3,041 Drives: 09 Fairlady Z Rep Power: 1064	This topic can turn pretty ugly if my friend & I told about our stillen urethane Horror storys!

05-29-2010, 12:40 PM	#683 (permalink)
g37mobbin Base Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: san jose Posts: 106 Drives: 09 g37s sedan Rep Power: 15	not sure if this is true or not. Seen a thread on myg37 that Stillen sent out their first kit? Person has 4 posts...curious to know if any 370z got their kits out? because if i not mistaken that is the whole thing Stillen was doing was serving the 370z first right?

05-29-2010, 01:21 PM	#684 (permalink)
Josh@STILLEN The370Z.com Sponsor Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Costa Mesa, CA Posts: 1,197 Drives: 2004 G35 Coupe 6MT Rep Power: 533	Yes.. GREAT NEWS!!! We are proud to announce that we have begun shipping supercharger systems!!! We started with the G37 7AT cars. We have been able to finalize the tune on the 7AT cars and the instructions for the G happened to be done first. We will begin to ship Z 7AT kits next week and the 6MT and G 5AT kits will be shipping very shortly as well. It took a little while to get some of the ROM's back from customers and they are beginning to come in steadily now. There might be some delays initially on shipping kits due to uncracked ROM’s that UpRev needs to go through and setup. Then we need to complete the tuning process on those particular ROM’s but we aren’t expecting huge delays. REMEMBER, if we don’t have your ROM we’re not going to ship your supercharger! We want to make sure that everything is ready for you before we ship your kit! Look for customer reviews and installs soon!!!!

05-29-2010, 01:56 PM	#685 (permalink)
Q8y_drifter Enthusiast Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Kuwait Posts: 306 Drives: 08 Infiniti G35 5AT Rep Power: 15	Awesome! Josh, have you tested the installation on a G35/G37 sedan yet?

05-29-2010, 02:31 PM	#687 (permalink)
Josh@STILLEN The370Z.com Sponsor Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Costa Mesa, CA Posts: 1,197 Drives: 2004 G35 Coupe 6MT Rep Power: 533	As promised, here is pictures of the main supercharger assembly both assembled and disassembled. We assemble this here at STILLEN, which reduces the labor by easily 2-3 hours, saving you money on the installation.

05-29-2010, 03:42 PM	#688 (permalink)
RCZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami Posts: 6,403 Drives: '09 370Z Rep Power: 1118	Damn that looks nice! Good to hear things are shipping! Awesome.

05-30-2010, 01:56 AM	#690 (permalink)
Jamaica A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: SoCal Posts: 15,362 Drives: Under boost Rep Power: 73	I have the bumper nothing yet came up