GMT stage 1 or 2
 

It looks like I will be going SC in April/May. I need a daily driver as it is 55 miles to work (ONE WAY) and I will log 15K miles per year on the system. Has anyone ran ther SC system this much? Should I go Stage 1 or 2? I do not want TT.

Most of the road is 65 MPH open highway and a small 15 miles in town.

I need inputs as to the reliability of the GMT systems.
If the car can be made stage 2 and a dailly driver; that is what I would like, around 500 RWHP

i was looking at the stage 1 system but you only get like 400rwhp, and i thought if i am spending the money might as well get the stage 2 and get like 480rwhp. i am planning on doing this as my DD but i only live like 5 miles from my work so i wont be running it that much. i was tossing up between the stillen on and the GTM and the GTM one just seemed like less problems and more reliable, also the people from GTM as just awesome. and a side note you dont have to change/alter that much of the car to fit the stage 2, where the stage 1 and the stillen kit you have to cut and remove some things.

500whp is a lot of power. It's more than I would want to run in a 370Z for daily driving just from a reliability standpoint. I'd be very comfortable, however, pushing around 400whp. For the weight of the car it's a really good balance and isn't "omg too damn fast for the street" and is going to be easier on the car which is a good thing since you are going to be driving it every day.

I would drop theDreamer a PM with some questions... I think he was one of the first to have the GTM Stage 1 done, and he's right at around 400whp.

I'd go with stage 2. That way if you need the power it's there. Reliability is in your foot and how much you get into it. It's not like your going to be boosting every moment. When your FI DD shouldn't be any different from stock.

Exactly. How often do you see yourself redlining the car right now? Surely it can't be off every stop light. I know I only get into my car once or twice a week.

What? You should be WOT all the time... :p

:iagree: Go BIG or:gtfo2:

I just don't like pushing power on a DD. Weekend car I'd be all for 500whp, but for the daily I want something more conservative. Yes you can take it easy with the stage 2 build, but the stage 1 will still be easier on the car.

My job is about managing risk (investments) so I guess that's just how I am wired to think.

Always go for that stage 2.

I think along the same lines as you, the Z is not my DD but if it's nice out it comes out. I am looking to run a TT setup in the near future and will probably look for 425-450rwhp (so what 5psi?! LOL) and call it a day. I want something that can keep the Z a good driving car and hold reliability. I really don't have any doubts on the stock internals holding up well with a good canned tune from GTM around the power lvl. Good luck on your decision OP!

Again, has anyone put 15K miles on a SC car last year? Did you have any problems? Stage 1 or 2?

If I want go big or say home, I'll go port nitrous til the motor pops!!!! Way more BANG for the buck!!!!

There is a middle ground. Go for stage 2 and run a bigger pulley for less PSI. That way you have the potential to go bigger but you can detune to your comfort level.

I put my stage I GTM SC kit on around 19k miles and currently the car has around 35k miles.
No problems so far other than I have burned through tires faster. I keep up with regular maintenance and check the car out as often as I can to verify everything is working 100%. At the end of the day, your tune and maintenance will determine how well the kit/car last. Does not matter if you drive 5k or 35k a year.

Currently at 400whp.

even at 400whp is alot. 500whp on the z is really amazing. Only a few guys running 500whp on a SC. It good power. You can always try stage one sc. Then want more power upgrade to the stage 2. Stage 2 is a whole different ball game.

I've been running the stage 1 GTM kit with custom tune on my DD for about 10,000 miles and this thing puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. I still have two years to pay my car off, so I am very comfortable with a very reliable 400whp for now. You can always get the stage 2 and run less boost, which is also an excellent option!

Right, because a motor is cheap. :-\

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i put around 33 000 km a year on my stage one and no issues so far. Want to change my SC oil though now that I think about it.

And my wife puts most of those miles on it 300KM round trip to work. Stage 1 has been a nice reliable DD for me. Not saying the 2 would not be just telling you how my 1 has held up. Car has 70 000+ km on it now

Damn Shumby, I thought I had the most miles on the stage 1, but 300km daily.

ya thats the wifes round trip. It gets a break over the winter. Our 09 FX50 has 100 000+km on it now and no issues (shumby quickly touches wood)

Someone in this thread repped me about my avatar... but they didn't leave their name. Whodunnit? :icon17:

I'm stage 1 with 13k miles on it now. I put down 430whp and 340 tq

You could always get the stage.1 & upgrade it with the GTM stg.1 upgrade kit for alil extra power. You can't run long tube headers with the stage.2 which is is a "con" of the kit. For a DD I'd go stage.1

It would be a huge pain you'd have to modify the headers to fit and then find a way to deal with the heat via coating or wrap.

Would be a pain to upgrade from
Stg 1 to 2?

have you guys noticed the stage 1 upgrades utilizes the stage 2 intake piping and air filter? which means you probably still cannot run LTH?

^you see the pricing on the stg 2 upgrade?

ya a lot of people dont realize it. Thats been a topic discussed.

Ha price to upgrade....5500 oh my..

That was me. Ran out of room to type. Haha

So did you try a Z face and mustang rear?

Shumby your alive.

I would never rep a Mustang owner. :bowrofl:

Answer in your rep :tup:

:p:p:p

Have 12 K on mine since I installed the GTM kit. Still running strong, only issue I have had is a boost leak that turned out to be a coupler that was loose. 10 minutes and fixed.

Mine is a DD of 100 miles +

K

How much boost are you running? I plan to do 7-8psi daily....

Kirkster,

how much boost did you lose when you had the leak?

If I could do it over again I would go stg2. Even tho the press release for stg1 says power expansion is a simple 20 minute pulley change, I was informed by sam this isn't true and stg1 kit is already maxed out. 400hp is fun but I'm sure 500hp is a lot more fun

To say that the Stage 1 Kit is maxed out isn’t exactly true.

We designed the Stage 1 kit with certain goals and it is exactly what we wanted it to be. We wanted a responsive system that has a clean under-hood appearance and we built the system around the car.

The thing that people often forget is that engineering is the art of balancing science with practicality and cost.

Practically, it is not possible to make a supercharger kit look as clean as ours and not modify the car in some way to achieve maximum power (other than adding brackets of course). The Stage 2 Supercharger Kit has that ability because it requires the use of polyurethane motor mounts specifically designed to give enough clearance to have an intake system that optimizes airflow into the supercharger.

The Stage 1 on the other hand had a parameter that had to be accounted for: have as little impact on the car as possible. That meant that there were some compromises we had to make and there were actually some advantages that came from those compromises. The Stage 1 is very responsive because the intake is not as optimized as the Stage 2 and must be spun to high rpm to make our power goal for the kit.

There is a brand new Nismo that we just got here in the shop that is getting our Stage 1 Supercharger kit with the Stage 2 compressor housing and intake. We’ll just call it Stage 1.5 for now. The results will show that the C38-81 supercharger unit is NOT maxed out in terms of horsepower.

It is true that our Supercharger kit allows the pulley to be changed easily. I did notice that the original wording in our press release might be interpreted as the Stage 1 supercharger having more power potential than supplied with a simple pulley swap. Well, with everyone and their brother wanting eleventy billion horsepower for $5 we eventually caved and put the smallest pulley on there that could be run safely. That said, I’ll edit the website and press release to make it less confusing.

Ultimately, however, the Stage 1 has a lot of area under the curve...even if it doesn't make as much power as the Stage 2.

I am running 8.5psi in the summer and 9.8psi (10.3 max psi that I have seen) since the temps dropped below 55°

My boost would not go above 5.5psi with the coupler slipping partway off of the intercooler input. So roughly 3psi

^ how the hell do you make 9-10psi on the stage 1 kit? The most I made was 8.4 and sometimes it won't even get to 8psi.

Mike or someone, please throw a link up here where the dyno plots for the S1 and S2 are posted... for those too lazy to search ;) thx!

Speaking of which, it would be great to have a posted STG 1 v STG 2 dyno plot to assess differences in area under the curve!