If you guys beat GTM to fabricating an adapter for the VR38 plenum that works, more power to you guys. So you guys will either have to fabricate the adapter for the lower manifold or fabricate a new custom intake manifold. Perhaps you guys can emulate the VR38 intake plenum design, but reverse the intake runner orientation and mounting plate just to match up with our lower intake manifold.

So while waiting for my Stage II, I'm waiting for the custom lower manifold and fuel rails as well. [sigh]

Get a meth kit in there and bump the timing/lean it out, sue you could handle another 40 ft/lbs....mind you , looks a handful already...

Great build though, gots love the innovation

NOS injection! :icon17:

Here's a pic I took years ago at Nopi. Maybe it will put some ideas in your head.

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IM000171.jpg

I'd love to do something like ^, but that would require redoing the whole kit...new intercooler, new piping, and a lot more money.

Keep in mind the stillen manifold contains it's own air-to-liquid intercooler, and seeing as you already have an intercooler, it would just be unnecessary pressure drop. Unless you somehow removed that part. I haven't seen inside one, don't know if you can just pop out that heat exchanger.

You can take the it out of the manifold.

I read the thread and here is my take on it, it's not very good.

In my opinion single turbo kits belong on inline motors and a V6 with 2 headers and dual intake inlets belongs to a twin turbo kit which is why it had soo many problems. VQ35DEs have only 1 intake inlet and 1 MAF so they fair better but it still belongs to a TT kit. I have no doubt the people who made the kit are professionals in BMWs, but they let you roll with air in the cooling system which is a notorious nuisance on a VQ without coolant bypass mods, which would be my next mod if it was my car and I believe the only lines to remove are the ones from the throttle bodies on the VQ37, and since you are a former owner of a G35 you should have suspected there was air in it because of the high temps. This could have ended badly. I also noticed the problem with the PS line in the pics before reading the system went, another downside to having crossover pipes and up pipes and such on a V6.

Another thing I will say is that I don't believe in the idea of a single being better or less of an equal to a TT kit in power delivery. Sound Performance was making power from 3K RPMs all the way to 9K RPMs on their shop 350z with a TT kit using the same turbo you have. Another guy with a Greddy TT kit was making power over 8K RPMs a while ago on my350z and I believe it was AAM who built it or GTM.

I might sound like hard *** and a douche bag but that's my take on it. I do like the welds and the kit and the piping and everything, but only if it was on a inline motor.

:welcome:

Wow you made an account just to bash on this build?
oh and :welcome:

Oh, I totally agree with you...twin turbos are much more ideal for this motor than a single turbo. I just prefer the power delivery, sound, and the fact that no one else has it. I like being an innovator and I like being different.

I suspected air in the coolant system from the beginning. It was noted and fixed right away with the addition of a custom overflow tank, since the OEM one had to be removed due to space constraints. Since then, the overheating issues have been solved...except for when the car sits at idle in traffic for more than a few minutes with the AC on. As soon as I get moving, the temps go back down.

I never noticed the PS line being so close, so that's partly my fault I guess. I learned everything from my previous G35. So this car is another learning process. The line was wrapped with what looked to be a DEI cold wrap, but the uppipe burnt through it and the PS line. Now there is a fire retardant wrap on the hose. Hopefully it will be ok. This is something I should check every oil change...and I will.

:iagree:

also, being different ftw.

You can call it constructive criticism. Bashing it would be deploring it without anything to back it all up. It's still better than no boost at all and it works okay now as far as we know. :tup:

I agree...it was constructive criticism and not bashing. I take constructive criticism kindly because I'm here to learn just like everyone else. I like to learn from people and hopefully people can learn from my build as well. I'm by no means an expert.

have you seen a subaru motor? Same concept with 2 less cylinders.

MAF placement is so easy to get around.

Running the MAF's before the turbo is more ideal.

Either way cylinders have nothing to do with running a single turbo.

MAFS blow - Speed Density FTW

Hey Ryan it was nice to meet you at ZdayZ. Just spent the last 2 hours reding the thread. Very awesome build. Hope all your troubles are behind ya.

I am almost done with my gtm supercharger install. Waiting on 2 parts from them so i can fill up the fluids and then i will be another boosted 40th.

[QUOTE=zzdudaka;1176369]Hey Ryan it was nice to meet you at ZdayZ. Just spent the last 2 hours reding the thread. Very awesome build. Hope all your troubles are behind ya.

I am almost done with my gtm supercharger install. Waiting on 2 parts from them so i can fill up the fluids and then i will be another boosted 40th.[/QUOTE

Were you missing stuff from the box?

But that is a flat 4 cylinder with 1 intake inlet. If the car has 2 cylinder banks, 2 intake inlets and 2 MAFs it would be better off with 2 turbos.

Symmetry in my point of view equals reliability and I like the way symmetry looks too. But if it works now it's all that matters.

It was nice to meet you Saturday the car is amazing and I can see you take care and maintain it very well. Dispite the few small problems your having this is a build you should be very proud of.

We will need to hang out sometime in the future.

Nice meeting you, too! Another boosted 40th...how original :bowrofl:
Symmetry shmemetry, haha. If I would have gone off of logic, I'd have a GTM kit on my car right now...and with these headaches, as of now I wish I did go the logical route. But in the end, when all the issues are finally sorted out, I hope to be doing this :eekdance:
Nice meeting you as well. I wish we had more time to talk. If I looked out of it, I was. I was running on 1hr of sleep...sorry about that. I appreciate the kind words :tup: I'll be out again this Saturday at Ultra show or Wheel Tech meet. We'll have to catch up then if you plan on going.

[QUOTE=ryan370zpower;1177504]
Nope. A banjo bolt broke and one of the oil cooler lines was too short. Kit is pretty complete. Not gonna hijack thread pm me for more specifics.


Ryan i was thinking. The stock fans are puller fans if they are on the front of the radiator they would blow air toward the front of the car instead of through the radiator. Just a thought. If you are still having cooling issues.

Thanks for the thought. I'm not using the stock puller fans. I originally was using the OEM fans after having them converted to pushers...but the car would overheat almost immediately. I'm using a 10" Flexalite pusher and a 16" Flexalite pusher. I'll probably be added another 6" Flexalite fan on the oil cooler to help keep temps down.

Absolutely phenomenal!! How did you mount the GoPro? Sorry if you mentioned this already, I just read 32 pages of this thread and just had to comment on this incredible footage.

Edit: just read this in a subsequent post. "Yessir! I got the GoPro HD Motorsports package. The camera was mounted inside the driver's side fang for this video".

some very exciting updates indeed! I just wish I could see it in person! you know you have my thumbs up on your build!

You are making me want to go custom instead of kit............we'll see how it pans out though. I lol at your ninja avoidance every time I watch the vid.....

What updates? Haha...Car has been in the shop for almost a month now:(

I originally dropped it off to have the intake piping redone and have the HKS taken off and have a new 4" exhaust made. It took 2 weeks just to get a quote on the exhaust...which was $800 more than what I was told. So I said to forget about the exhaust. They had to modify the downpipe to get the HKS exhuast off since it had to be welded due to going from a single downpipe to a dual exhaust. I had a buyer lined up for my HKS exhaust, but they welded the original flange of the HKS on crooked, so I couldn't sell it.

I had a photoshoot in Orlando lined up for July 10th. I was told the night of the 6th the car was ready to be picked up. I went to go pick it up on the 7th and the right rear tire was flat due to 2 nails in it. I wasn't too happy because the tire was fine when I dropped it off and the flat wasn't mentioned to me the previous night. I had to cancel the photoshoot.

So I call them Monday and they said the tire would be patched that day. I go to pick up the car Wednesday and the tire was STILL flat. Now I'm pissed! I called Thursday and voiced my opinion how the car had been there for so long and the intake piping wasn't touched, the exhaust quote was over double what I was originally told (the fabricator told me $700 to make me an exhaust for my G35 back in the day. I said as long as the price to make an exhaust for my Z was around that, I'd be happy. He told me not to worry about the price... then I get the actual written quote which was $1500) and I end up with a flat tire (not to mention driving out there twice to pick up the car with the tire still being flat and wasting 80 miles of gas).

They said they didn't patch the tire because they don't deal with wheels/tires and use a 3rd party. They didn't want to take the liability of damaging the wheel/tire without first getting my recommendation of where to take it. So this communication took from Thursday when I found out the tire was flat until the following Thursday when I was finally told this over the phone. They said the best thing to do regarding the intake piping is just to bridge the MAF sensors. The fabricator was out Friday, so that still hasn't been done. So hopefully I can get the car out of there Monday or Tuesday. :mad:

I found a local guy that works out of his garage. He's built a few turbo kits and exhaust for a friend's Integra, Mustand, and M3. So I think I can trust him to make me a 3" exhaust.

This arrived yesterday:tup:
http://i55.tinypic.com/2885vgw.jpg
Don't do it... learn from my mistakes. Just go with a GTM kit and call it a day.

Man dont that **** gripe your a$$ when you say to do **** and you wait patiently and they drop the ball like an a$$ hole. I feel your pain man been there done that but on another note I ordered my gtm stage 2 turbos for my anniversary 370 its going to z1 in 2 weeks we needa make a boosted anniversary thread.

The guys at Z1 are awesome! I wish I lived closer to them...

**** im in new orleans i dont trust nobody around here cuz last time i boosted my 350 i blew a hole thru the oild pan. lesson learned!!!! im just gonna make the drive and fly back home and when the cars done im gonna fly up and drive back. itll be a bitch but i think itll be worth it

see, I am with you on this, I am driving my NISMO to GTM

Damn man.. that DOES suck... but I was talking more about your temp issues... you have to remember I was gone for like 2 weeks lol

and my single turbo is coming together...

So, how much of a pain was it really? I know you had some things to address, but I am certain that your setup brings a smile to your face everytime you drive it. Hell, my CA18DET was a pain to upgrade and was expensive for me in Europe, but when it was complete.....I had the super cheesy grin all the time.......

I am looking at doing this also. So easy to get the oil temps up to 240°, and it takes sooo long to get them back to 220°

How are you looking to mount it to the oil cooler??? You fabbing your own bracket? And how are you going to control the temp it turns on at??? Using the Flexalite thermostat???

Well, the beaches started when the engine knocked the first day it was tuned and the car overheated in a matter of minutes. After adding the 2 custom fans and getting it retuned, I headed to ZDayz. On the way home from ZDayz, I ew the power steering pump, melted a wiring harness, and fried the fuse on the battery terminal. I missed 4 days of work and paid $1600 in repairs. The car still starts to overheat if I sit at a stoplight for more than a few minutes and oil temps get up to 240 if I drive for more than 20 minutes...and that's not getting into boost. Now I haven't driven it in a month.
Kirk,

I'll just have it hooked to a remote switch. I'm sure I'll just end up leaving the switch on until December when we finally start seeing cooler temperatures. For mounting, I'm not exactly sure. I need to check to see how thick the fan is and how much room I have between my oil cooler and bumper (my oil cooler is mounted behind the passenger fang).

Wow. I had no idea that you were having those issues. I guess I am having trouble staying up on the forums out here in HELL. I had Mike (Zerolift) take a look and let me know what he thinks will be best. As I told him, I think the GTM kit would make fore a less painful experience, but custom would be bad ***. We will see though.

Hope everything works out for you man:tup:

Y is the car overheating? Even with an oil cooler its over heating?

Need to cool more than just the oil.
Water temps can jump up really quick at idle especially with his turbo where it is located, plus intake temps will start to rise at idle. All this combined generates a hot engine fairly quickly.

yea i c. probably y nobody wants to attempt the build. the thot of the custom build sounds awsome but the headache just aint worth it to me. with the turbo sitting there proly wont allow a larger radiator either.