All very important questions.

Team Stillen,

Can you speak to the on-track testing you have done with the supercharger kit? I'm very interested in getting a kit, but I'm also very reluctant about trying to go FI with this platform. In my experience, a day at the track (road course) ferrets out all the weak points in a car. I trust that you have done some on-track testing, so can you speak to the reliability of the car at the track?

Specifically, my reservations surround the cooling (for both the fluids and the brakes), and the stability of the electrical system (in reference to holding the tuned map, and not glitching out and throwing tons of timing/fuel when the sensors/ecu gets hot). Have you datalogged track sessions? Have you seen how much timing gets pulled throughout a session?

I'm not so interested in the longevity of the daily-driven kits you have out there since your kit doesn't see full boost until the top of the RPM range, so a bunch of people racking up miles, shifting at 5K are only seeing a few psi. That's why I'm asking about track sessions where you shift at redline, with your supercharger producing the full 8-9psi, ALL DAY LONG. Can it handle it? Thanks in advance, I appreciate your honest input.

Radioflyer, I would be the best person to speak to about the track testing as I have done the majority of the test driving. I'd like to address a few of your concerns right off the bat that are somewhat unrelated to the supercharger kit.

As far as fluids and brake temps go. The supercharger will not have an impact on these areas that the car does not already have issues with. Meaning, while the 370Z is a high performance sports car. NISSAN did not build it to spend its life at the track. Therefore it is not uncommon for typical "road car being used on race track" issues to emerge such as; engine oil temp, brake temp, and in some cases coolant temp. You can completely remove the supercharger from this equation as the 370Z from the factory needs enhancements before taking the car to the track and pushing it hard. In my opinion any car hitting the track with a driver capable of pushing the car hard should have the following modifications at a minimum:

engine oil cooler
brake ducts
high performance brake pads

With that being said, whenever you have a vehicle with forced induction you are talking about having higher than ambient air discharge temperatures entering the engine. The vehicles ECU will protect the engine and powertrain to the best of its ability. If the oil temperatures start getting high, the car will go into a limp mode like many early adopter NA owners discovered. If the knock sensors pick up detonation the ECU will pull timing accordingly. It is not possible for any company to say that their product will perform flawlessly in a racing environment because it depends heavily on many factors; quality of the installation, condition of the vehicle prior to forced induction installation, maintenance of the vehicle during ownership, track day weather, track elevation, fuel quality etc. Hence the reason why no OEM manufacturer will warranty a vehicle if it is found to have been used on a race course.

As far as your concerns about holding the tuned map when pushing the car hard. You can rest assured that the UPrev software is a complete replacement for the factory map. Think of it like buying a new computer and removing the Windows 7 operating system and replacing it with Windows 8. If you move houses and unplug the computer, when you set up the computer again and plug it back in...it still has the Windows 8 operating system. If a sensor, wiring harness, or ECU is going to have an issue when being used on the race track. It will have that issue with or without the presence of forced induction.

As far as our track testing goes, here is a video we recorded during our initial testing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPApekHWSE

You can see in this video all of the data logging equipment that our engineers had hooked up to the car to ensure the car would be safe and reliable when pushed hard on the track. We were tracking a whole host of parameters such as:

knock (the head phones are tapped into the knock sensor)
EGT's of all 6 cylinders
Water temp
engine temp
intake air temp
intercooler water temp
and a whole lot more that I can't remember to be honest.

Aside from our testing we always like to direct our potential customers to our current customers who are successfully using these kits at tracks around the world.

If you do plan on tracking the car regularly I would recommend ordering one of our tuner kits and finding a shop and tuner that can support your race track efforts. It is important to work with a local shop that can service, inspect, prepare, and support you and your vehicle in order to give you the best experience possible. This shop should be familiar with the 370Z platform ideally and should have experience in setting up a car for track use. Your local Big O is most likely not the best option. For a list of shops that STILLEN works with please visit our site here: http://www.stillen.com/authorized-dealers-i-385.html

While I'm sure Kyle has more experience that I do I have been tracking their supercharger for a 1 1/2 years in Florida. As Kyle said the biggest problem with this car is keeping temperatures under control. My car has been running great lately but don't think you will install the SC and your done, you will need to do a lot to fight heat. It can be done, my oil didn't go over 220 at Sebring 2 weeks ago.


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Thanks guys, I really appreciate the responses. Unfortunately, a video of donuts and drifts on a closed airfield doesn't sell me on the car being able to handle a day of hot lapping. I have a lot of experience building track cars, and I know what goes into building a car that can handle the heat of the track. For example, as a shakedown for the Long Beach, Speed World Challenge event a few years ago, we completed the 25hrs Of Thunderhill event. We didn't win our class, but learned a lot about what will go wrong with the car under race conditions. We ran the car for 25hrs straight under race conditions as a test. I was also an instructor at Auto Club Speedway, and used my personal car for Lead/Follows. That meant a whole day on track and tank after tank of race gas. I know what it takes to make a WRX withstand 8 hrs at the track, running to redline. The question here is, can the VQ motor handle it with a supercharger? If not, what needs to be changed to make it handle a day at the track? Shift at 6,500, run a lower psi pulley that tops out at 6psi or something like that? On a 400whp WRX, assuming you have the braking sorted, you drop the max boost a few pounds, run race gas for safety, and you're good. That leaves you with a ~350ish whp car, but the motor will take it all day long. With the VQ, I'm not so sure.

As for the tune, I understand how tunes work. I've tuned a bunch of other platforms, but just not a Z/G37. So far, since owning this car, the electrical system seems to really be taxed with so many sensors, and they commonly have a battery drain problem. That makes me worry about the general stability of this electrical system, and it supporting a tune on the engine that cuts in to the margin of error that the car was originally engineered with. Afterall, the first thing I check for before tuning a car is to make sure the battery is strong, and the electrical system is stable.

And just so you don't think I'm just speculating for the sake of being a pain, I picked up a G37 because I was interested in a Z, but the G has more grill openings for heat exchangers and duct work. It also makes a hell of a daily driver. And yes, I am very seriously considering picking up a supercharger, so please don't take my concerns as a forum troll who is just armchair quarterbacking, or whatever the phrase is. Thanks again, this is a really helpful discussion!

This ^^^^^

I am also very interested in this kit but worry greatly about reliability. I read a few posts on this forum claiming that the Stillen maps blow up cars. :confused:

I'm running the 8 lb stock kit with a frozen boost cooler ( lots of users here use them with the Stillen sc) to keep the SC cool. I can't say my car could do 25 hours but it does track weekends pushing it to 7000+ rpm with no problem even in the Florida heat.


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Great thread. I stayed n/a (with z1 400 hp kit) because I've watch so many supercharged rides overheat and fall off the pace tracking. (Mostly roushe mustangs, monster Miatas and corvettes.)

I track in Colorado where it's hot (90+) and air is thin (less cooling). Supercharged track cars seem to really struggle up here at the track.

Subd to see what y'all have to say on this one.

Great to hear! And those track days are the usual four, 20-30min sessions broken up as two in the morning and two in the afternoon? Do you have to do anything special to cool the car down between sessions aside from popping the hood and letting it idle in neutral with the wheels chocked for a few minutes? I noticed in your avatar pic that you have a vented hood. That might be the key to everything.

Any other owners want to chime in with their experiences tracking a Stillen Supercharged VQ motor?

The vented hood was one of my first attempts at cooling and it did help a bunch. The more air you can get out of the engine bay the more air you can get through the coolers and the less heat you trap. Most of the track days around here are 4-25 min sessions but some are 5-25 and a 45 min open track at the end. My car is a 7 AT and all I do is stick it in park and pop the hood between sessions. The key was getting all the coolers where they all had good air flow and not near each other . http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...5845f081c3.jpg


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@JWillis72

Looks Great Sir!! :tup::tup::tup::tup:

Thanks,!


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Nice! It's very informative to see what a successful setup looks like. Thanks for posting it up!

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...044102c4bf.jpg we also vented the wheel liners to get the heat out.


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Yup, figured as much! :)

so those of you with this kit, does the car feel noticeably faster across the entire rev range or really only when you get on it and get up into the 5k+ range?

My Kit has the 9lb Pully, Boost for me on the But Dyno is felt around 3,000 RPM

BOOST TEST: Stillen 370Z Supercharger System - Page 4 of 4 - DSPORT Magazine

Mine the stock kit and mine is around 3000 also when it starts pulling. Very stock feeling the first 20-25% of the gas pedal then it's a different car.


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Did you do anything to the tranny , thinking of having Level 10 complete bullet proof upgrade, or do I even need it

Ir doesn't seem like you need it if you are running the stock kit.

if your running the stock kit 8PSI, Trans cooler and oil coolers, Frozenboost heat exchanger are a must You'll also need to make sure your tuner ups the trans line pressure and turns the cooling fans on earlier . Mine started to really pull like everyone else's 3100 RPMs or so all the way till red line. I remember the first few times I made pulls, I hit the rev limiter hard LOL came super fast!

I don't think you need it, I've been waiting for it to give and had plans to do a Level 10 but it's shown no slipping at this point. You will see a lot of post that say you can't use gears 5-7 but I use 5th at WOT all the time at the track. My tuner did adjust the pressures to make it shift faster and it has a cooler but that is all we did.

Any of you guys with this kit regret not going turbo? If so, any reason other than the higher power levels?

I am also reading that centrifugal SCs have a sort of lag as well. Can anyone comment on this? I'm not really gunning too often. Most of my time is spent between 2.5k to 4.5k. I only get into the higher RPMs when driving come open canyons or passing at higher speeds. My concern is that I don't drive aggressively enough to really feel the gains since they come on gradually, whereas with tt, there's massive trq pretty early. On the flip side, tt costs a lot more and I am not sure how often I will actually get to utilize that massive power as well, though it's effects int he low end should be felt more.

I really don't have any regrets other than try to get to 500 WHP. At 420 ish WHP ( I was 412) I should have been happy LOL , and just maybe made it and AIR to AIR kit. I'm still tossing that Idea around if I can find just the SC and engine bracket( Used) I can make the rest :). But for what it was built for mid/low 400's its good. I had no lag issues either. IT woud just build power. You might be feeling heat soak.

you need a turbo kit bro.

If I did this whole build again, I would go turbo in a heart beat.

After driving a 370z with a BP kit, theres no comparison.

the sound, the feeling.. everything.

Agreed.

I have the BP kit and it's about the same cost as going with the Stillen kit. The upside is you don't hit a power wall around 400-420whp.

My boost threshold is around 2,500rpms and turbo lag is just a couple hundred rpms so there shouldn't be any worry that you'll never be in boost. In fact I think you would find it, if so inclined, hard to keep it out of boost under anything other than slight throttle.

There's nothing like the feel of a turbo car. Especially one on the VHR motor. This platform was built for boost. It should of come that way from Nissan.

I agree with guys above just for me having a X and auto my goals were different. Trust me tho this the trans and or TCASE wouldnt blow out of the car with a TT kit I would have went that route. I still wanna get the AAM kit but I know my trans wont last and to build it on top of the TT kit just to much $$ for me know( Looking for another house)

For me and my 7 Speed Auto = S/C. If I had Manual Trans would have = BP. All in all I smile every day driving her! :tiphat:

Oh he has a Auto trans, my bad.

Yah SC is probably the best bet for you.

Yeah. It's nice to not have power limitations due to tranny. Instant torque from a turbo isn't good on the AT

I would upgrade the transmission if I turboed. The question is is the extra power and low end grunt worth double the price of sc and lack of carb peace of mind.

No regrets for me and mine doesn't have lag. I like the lineal power delivery it gives on the track. Unless you drive the car like an 80 year old grandma there is no way your not going to feel the power. I was driving a friends supercharged C5 a couple weeks ago with my wife driving my car behind me, we took of from a stoplight and she went to pass me and hit the gas ( she drives a Veloster turbo so she didn't expect the car to jump) hard, she about crashed both cars when the SC came to life.

There's no lag with any kind of a supercharger. It's just that the centrifugal won't build full boost until the rpms are high.

:eek:
Well a big :tiphat: to you for being the ultimate test mule, and thanks for sharing it all with us. You have helped me decide on going with the Stillen s/c. I find it amusing that some folks bitch about 415WHP in a 3200lb car. :icon17:

I get wanting a monster street car but I always wonder how many people have driven a 400+WHP car, it's not the fastest but it's a ton of fun if you use it.


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It is very fun :)

I think CARB and my bank account are saying SC. I hope things fit okay with the Frozen Boost heat exchanger (just flip the crash bar upside down, right?) Let's see if I have enough patience to wait for a Black Friday special (they had one last year).

I didn't flip my crash bar, we cut off the tow hook mount and bolted a tow strap to the plate that was left. I stuck the strap up in the bumper so it doesn't block any cooling. It has a zip tie on on the strap so I can pull it out of the bumper if I need it.


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Are you on their email list? They have sales several times a year.


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I at one point thought of buying the Stillen but when i read about the wall you hit in hp and the many headaches some people have gone thru with trying to get more out of it i change my mind and went turbo. Best decision i have made cause 430whp at 8psi already is starting to feel slow!