Stillen FI Kit Review
 

I am posting this separately from the Stillen thread so it does not get lost in the hoopla. I want people to know that are some cars with the Stillen FI kit that have been working well with no real issues since day one and I have put about 3200 miles on this kit including one track day at Hallet Motor Speedway.

My car is a 2009 A7 and the FI kit has been installed since September 1st. The kit was installed with about 6,800 miles on it by Chris Cartwright with Failsafe Performance in Tulsa, OK.

The car was originally dyno’d prior to the FI install and produced 272 rwhp and 227 rwtq. Two weeks later after the install the car was dyno’d again on the same dyno under similar conditions and the car produced 389 rwhp and 290 rwtq. That’s a difference of 117 rwhp and 63 rwtq on 91 octane.

The results may not be what Stillen advertised but drivability is excellent and the increase in performance is very noticeable. First gear is almost useless and second gear has major traction issues. I love swinging out the rear in second gear as I am going through a turn in a very nice controllable fashion and then accelerating out of the turn.

The only noticeable issues are 1) when the motor is heat saturated and I stop the car and then get back in it, at times, it will not start without giving it a bit of throttle. At first I was like what the heck? But now that I am familiar with it I am prepared to give it a little throttle if it does not start right off as normal. It’s really not that big a deal now that I know what to expect and what to do. 2) When the temperatures dropped recently I started to experience some tip-in knock (detonation) when giving throttle under load. This happens mostly when at cruise and the trans is in a higher gear and the motor is in the lower rpm’s. To ensure I was experiencing knock I went to one of the few stations left in OKC that has 93 octane fuel, turns out that they had 101 octane for all the high end cars in the area (Porches, Lambos, Ferrari’s, etc.). I had half a tank of 91 octane in the car so I decided to fill up the 101 octane since the very next day I was participating in a track day. Once the fuel was mixed in, later that day I noticed a very noticeable increase in power across the board. I was surprised that increasing the octane would not only eliminate the tip-in knock but also increase the power as much as it did. I later found out talking to a friend of mine who was a Mercedes/Audi mechanic that Nissan’s VQ37 platform has a really nice knock sensing strategy that advances timing to maximize performance until knock is experienced and then adjusts accordingly. Wow! Is all I can say and now I try to fill up with the 93 octane (since the station is by my office) for the increased performance.

Does the Stillen kit produce as promised and without any issues? Well, not entirely but, performance is a bit subjective based on dyno’s, conditions, octane fuel, etc. and quite frankly I am very happy with the performance and the drivability of the car. The issues I am experiencing are minor and easily dealt with. So, overall I am very pleased with the Stillen FI kit and I am very, very pleased with my 370Z overall. My experience at the track day a week ago today was awesome. Unfortunately the weather sucked and we experience rain most of the day. However, the first two sessions of the day were dry (though chilly/cold track) and I was able to easily hang with a supercharged Corvette Z06 putting down 650 rwhp. We both kept our VDC systems activated since track conditions were not ideal. I actually had fun and enjoyed learning to drive with the VDC activated. With the track wet and cold without the VDC the rear would just come around and the car would spin out (I know, I tried it). With the VDC on it would intervene and keep the car from loosing the rear but would allow me to still swing out the rear and push the tires to their traction limits in the corners. I got tot the point I was literally drifting the car through corners. Though the conditions were not ideal and I could not go as fast as I would have liked, it was a blast and I came to appreciate the VDC system and enjoyed experiencing a track day under those conditions.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Thanks for the review.

To me, 8 grand to get to less than 400whp and have starting/drivability issues is simply unacceptable. More and more it looks like a twin turbo kit is the only way to make reliable and decent power from these cars. It's unfortunate because its more points of failure, more items to maintain, etc.

^+1

Nice review, stating both the cons and pros of regular driving. And yes, laying down 8k for less than 400whp is a bit discouraging. Can you give us more details on your setup? Any other bolt on's? Maybe a valve body upgrade, oil cooler, trans cooler?

Also, hope to see you around Oklahoma, not that many VQs around here that mod!

You hung with a corvette that had 650whp with a 370z with 389whp.....Interesting

There's no drivability issues, drivability is spot on.

That's still 450 flywheel horsepower which works well and complete transformed the car.

I also have the Stillen cat-back exhaust, FSM oil cooler and GTM trans cooler.

Hallet Motor Speedway is a very tight track and I was able to get my power to the ground. There is such thing as too much HP if you can't get it to the ground.

Thank God and 6lb 7oz Baby Jesus I did not purchase the Stillen product.

Nice results and good to see that it held up to the track duty.

Odd comment, considering this guy is actually real happy?

i will post a review or update if I can get a break from work and school

Actually I think his hp is pretty damn good and I drive a twin turbo. For all my mods I spent over 10k and thats not counting installation cost. Also I am at 460 rwhp 400 tq. So factor in installation cost of about 3k and your at
13k for what, 70 more ponies to the wheel. Thats about a 5k difference. Yea I can get 533 out of my car but thats max boost and I really don't want to run my car that high. So needless to say he has a very nice power increase, that is safe and reliable. It boils down to your goals and I think for 8k it is very acceptable. It just might not be what you want so there for twin turbo should be the route your looking into. I think SC is fast easy and most bang for buck for a quick boost, so please refrain from silly post like that. Especially since the OP is giving a very detailed and honest review and he is happy with the product he recieved. As for the starting issues he gets every once in a while that should be a easy fix, just need to adjust the fuel trim on start up. Sam had to do that for me and took him 5 mins and never had a problem again.

TO OP: Congrats I am glade you are enjoying it and getting out of it what you wanted. Sounds impressive to me and I am glade we got another Stillen kit on the board working. Happy boosting and please keep us up to date as the miles increase. Thank you for the honest review.
Frank

Thanks for the post...Can you please do some more track days and give us feedback...I have yet to hear successfull consistent track days from FI on these engines.

Nice honest review

Exactly, it was honest. Thank you for that. Enjoy the kit. Its your money, and if at the end of the day your tracking it and having fun thats all that matters. Certainly 100+wheel hp makes a difference so I'm sure its no slouch. Good luck with it.

almost 6k miles since the SC and no major problems here! like the OP, my car also has some hot starting issues and my idle isn't stable but Stillen fixed it.

great and honest review! great job!

oh rly! :tup: gluck with your reliable TT set up @8k, specially if you are gonna track like the op.

:shakes head:

I predict this thread will disintegrate rapidly into another morass of :barf:

Which is pretty stupid considering the guy is HAPPY with his setup. :rolleyes:

Reccomend a mod Lock it so the threads integrity can be spared. Really good write up, if the power gain/loss was within his accepted margin of error in relation to his cost, and the minor issues that are specific to his situation are controllable and he has a good fix in place then so what. Not every applicant wants 500+ HP. Congrats OP and enjoy your product! Now we just need pics/vids! :happydance:

Great review, but I have to agree with some of the other guys. For 8k your only making 50-60 whp more then a fully bolted and tuned 370Z. Yea the TT set-up is alot more (a local shop by me is offering a GTM TT kit installed with a new clutch oil cooler tune etc for around $11,800) but your gonna be good for a little under 500 wheel. I dont know, I really like Stillen but I'm not really feeling there system. Good luck with it anyway

What do you think that "fully bolted" setup cost? You have to subtract that from the 8K and realise there isn't any other way to get that 60 hp w/o paying more. For me SC's kinda hit a sweet spot where you can get away without a lot of extra drivetrain mods simply because they tend to fall somewhere in between twin turbos and full bolt-ons.

superchargers give you low end grunt..very linear all the way up to redline..it feels great!

Yeah but a couple G's more and your pimping a Turbo ;)

true..turbos are pimpin!!..haha

:ugh2::ugh2: it's all about pimpin and dyno queen numbers! :p


OP have you gotten a custom tune or are you running the stillen reflash?

I'm gonna make a big review thread soon too with videos so people can see how the Stillen kit works.

RCZ: I still owe you a review, got to find time soon to do one as well.

I need writers man, been too busy to keep up and do want to really work on that site. I just can't handle it all on my own, so its on hold.

fixed!:p

:facepalm:

:iagree:

It just keeps getting funnier and funnier, doesn't it? :rolleyes:

Didn't mean to thread jack, I'll post something if I have time.

My full bolt-on setup cost me about $2800. So for another $5200 you get about 50-60hp... Whats your point????

The mid-range power and torque (where it really matters on street driven cars) w/ bolt-ons are a lot less, though.

Totally agree... And a SC Z would bend my Z over a guard rail with no prob... But the price does not justify the added power. TT will deff be my choice in the future (hopefully in about a year or two) dont tell the gf LOL.

Can you get that 60 hp above bolt-ons any other way that cheaper than an SC is my point. A twin turbo setup is gonna run about 11K and you are gonna need a lot of supporting mods (transmission upgrades, etc) to support the power levels. If you limit the power on a TT to what the stock stuff can handle, you've spent a lot more money to get the same performance. So, if your target is just around a 100 hp boost, an SC setup makes the most sense.

Right now no, unless you do nitrous LOL...

SC at the limit of your engine will produce less power than an tt kit at the limit of the engine. Simply because it takes power to run the sc. I think we're sacrificing around 5-7% power with the SC.

What I've heard, from several sources now, the limit of the what the car can "safely" run is ~500whp. Taking parasitic power loss on the sc into account, we're looking at around 465-475whp. To be safe I'd put the WHP level based on something between a dynojet and a mustangdyne. In other words, by my guesstimations, the Stillen SC kit should be able to push around 500whp on a dynojet and 450whp on a mustangdyne on the stock block. Translating that into what we know the kit makes at certain PSI levels...I'd say we (Stillen kit owners) can safely run 10.5 psi with good quality 93oct gas.

There are pros and there are con's to having a turbo vs sc. It shouldn't all come down to power like you guys are making it out to be. Peak power should only account for like 25% of your buying decision, if that. Specially so when the difference isn't that big at the limit of the stock block. It all depends on what you want to do with the car too. I don't seem to understand why turbo's are so much cooler, is it a status thing? That you spent $5000 more than I did for 25-50 more whp?

That is it.
I love TT kits and almost went with one, but really power is a side result of what I wanted. There are a number of other factors to consider when choosing between a TT or SC setup.

^^true..peak hp isnt the only factor...i prefer the sc setups due to the bottom end pull and linear power band..also its less stressful on the motor/trans without having to deal with the sudden boost you get with turbos...sc's also generate much less heat as compared with turbos which will prolong engine/tranny life as well..