STILLEN Exhaust & Gen 3 Intake Dynos - 18hp Each!

Denny McLain

Hi Josh and your welcome for the post. Watch what ya ask for regarding independent testing.

The car goes on the dyno tomorrow for baseline testing with 150 miles on the car. High flow cats, Y pipe and high flow intake filters have already been ordered and dyno time scheduled for Saturday to see how they work. Each will be tested individually and as a combo. Consistent cool down, consistent water/oil temps, etc. etc.

Trying to figure out the tuning as it is different, but next step will be tuning software/more dyno time to optimize the system. The majority of people leave a lot on the table due to lack of optimization of what they already have.

Maybe headers, full exhaust after that to see if there is any additional gains to be had. Intake?? We'll see how the mop flops, but I've owned three turbo cars and for sure, that works.

Even though there is a big difference between a small block Chevy and a Nissan motor, the same basics apply. Air in - air out - optimal fuel ratio - optimal timing = Horsepower. The good ol boy school of hot rodding still applies and dynos don't lie......Operators of the dyno do. It's a science and sound clips/butt dyno's don't work. Don't tell me it "feels faster", measure it under controlled condition and tell me then.

I have zero financial nor special interest in anything, just a passion for fast cars and what really works. Don't mind spending a few bucks nor letting others know.

Josh@STILLEN

Denny,

Glad to see you're putting in the dyno time and willing to release results for the benefit of the group here. Information from an independent sources is what they want to see, and we at STILLEN are excited when that takes place, because every part we build is tested and performs, so there isn't a concern when someone is taking the part to the dyno, we know what to expect.

I just wish the exhaust was available now as you're obviously in full mod mode.

HFC's of the parts you list should give you the largest gains. These cars react well to them.

If you're looking for a strong tuner, I would recommend COBB, the only problem is they haven't released their tuning software to tuning shops just yet, they are still working on it, but they are spot on with their abilities and control of the Nissan ECU.

Good luck with your results, we hope you'll give the Gen 3 Intake a consideration upon it's release.

Denny McLain

Josh

And I thank you.

It's a clean sheet of paper comming into this and if it works......it works! As they say in the car business, "I ain't married to any of them" and if your intake/exhaust can work to optimise a setup.....hey, great. It's just in the literally years and years, and car after car of doing this, typically the bark is worse than the bite when it comes to aftermarket claims. Learned through the school of hard knocks to be skeptical until proven different. Wish that wasn't true, believe me.

Thanks foe the heads up on the tuning software. Cobb evidently is located close to me and I may drop by for a chat but you're the second person to recommend them.

Man.......I just love this stuff, sure puts a grin on my face.

Scribe

I've dealt with Stillen products before during my decade long love affair with DSMs. They produce good quality products and are sincere about their efforts.

Josh, the best way to overcome the skeptics is to be as thorough in what you post when you guys get your dyno time (obviously you know this). I'd hate to have to wait for more results after your product goes on sale AND someone buys AND they get to a dyno. Here's what I think would satisfy the community:

Not all of us are like Denny, looking for a single high point to justify our purchases. Those of us looking for maximum area under the curve want a better ability to evaluate your product. So, for the rest of us, a full dyno pull readout, from 0-redline would be fantastic. This will help those that are looking for the kinds of results I am to really assess your intake and whether it meets our specific needs. Being a long tube style, I expect that the ability of the tubes to breathe at higher rpms may cost a little down low whereas a shorter, ram style intake may sacrifice high rpm gains for more area under the curve elsewhere.

I think the A/F is key as well. Therefore, I would greatly apprecieate the A/F readings for all pulls.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to the results.

LiquidZ

Well said.

Minicobra1

I'll be paying attention to this thread I almost bought the JWT pop charger Intake this weekend, but they are only claiming a 6-10hp gain,
which sounds about right for an intake.
Interested to see what Stillen can do with their intake.

I've go the Nismo exhaust installed and will be looking to do an intake and some HFC's next.

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Denny McLain

If you read Lingenfilters book, he emphases maximizing horsepower within the intended rpm range in which the car will be utilized. That said, have a spreadsheet that I plug the dyno numbers into that replicates a quarter mile run. I get both average hp within each gear and an average hp over what the entire quarter mile run would be.

Then shame on me.....back it up at the track typically looking at the mph vs time taking in consideration the weather conditions. Don't have a true weather station, but sure do look at the barometric pressure, humidity, temp and 60' time for track prep.

Peak hp or peak gains are nice, but it's the average hp gain that wins races. Again, new to this list, not new to doing mods.

In 100% agreement about preproduction dyno numbers vs real word user numbers. Was the first person to purchase and paid $2k for a set of stepped headers with merge pipe that were hyped to produce a 25 hp gain over my Hookers. Would have been happy with a 5-8 hp gain.

They didn't fit, leaked, rusted and after a year and dozens of dyno runs to make then work, I sent them back. The gains were ZERO on the dyno vs a set of conventional headers. I then called Larry Meaux who writes racing software and whose cars have over 40 NHRA records. Larry said in his experience, this particular type of header at best would produce a 1% gain. Sometimes none. My experience was none.

So much with premarket hype......this is where any BS ends.

Denny McLain

Getting the Air/Fuel correct is the most important aspect of tuning. Typically you do not see a tremendous amount of gain over a production tune. As a rule of thumb 5 up to 15hp with 15hp being on the high side, however I've seen gains over 30 on occasions. Usually very little is gained in timing adjustment, but we'll see as every car and every brand is different.

The SAE text books tell you 12.7 for max power. In my experience this is not correct and depends upon the particular type of car and even will vary slightly among individual cars. Most tuners today tune for around 13.0 to 1. Pro Stock cars run optimally in the mid 14 to 1 range.

Dynos don't lie and neither do wideband 02 sensors if functioning correctly. We'll see later what these cars like as again.......it's a clean sheet of paper.

Will post later today what a 100% stock 370Z makes with 150 miles on it along with stock Air/Fuel ratio's.

Denny McLain

Fresh from dyno.

Three baseline runs were done to find the sweat spot for testing temp and a 4th run done removing the air filters to see the effects. All runs are SAE corrected utilizing a dynojet dyno.

The first run was with an oil temp of 180 (usually do water temp, but being none are available) which yielded 277/231 torque. After five minutes a second pull was done with an oil temp just under 200 degrees which yielded the best run of the three of 275/240. (fyi 282/246 std) Even though peak is slightly less, the overall power was significantly more. A third run was done with an oil temp of 220 with power going down to 273/236 indicating the car likes oil temps just under 200 degrees. Really wish I could do better water temp readings as this is usually what I go by in establishing a baseline for consistency.

The car was allowed to cool down to 195 oil temps (best run temp), the air filters removed and redynoed. The results were 274/239 which tells me I may have pissed away 90 bucks buying the Corsworth high flow filters making me even more skeptical of an 18 hp gain in just intake.

Air/fuel ratio are pretty rich for a N/A setup mostly in the mid to high 11 to 1 range which tells me one of two things: These care either like it rich, or the factory is sandbagging. Tuning software should answer that question.

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Also for poops n grins we pulled dyno sheet up of a 350Z. No offense to the 350 people, woe....glad I bought a 370.

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If anyone is slicker (probably a ton) than me at embedding images into posts...I send the scanned file and you can add.

Scribe

Thanks for sharing. Send me a link to the pictures and I'll embed them. While viewing the image in your photobucket gallery, right-click the image and copy the address from where it says Address (URL).

This does lend itself to the theory that the gains from the aftermarket intakes may be solely due to the change in tune. If that's the case, as simple 93 specific reflash may be all we need on the intake side (for those of us fortunate enough to live in a 93 octane state).