I asked this question before and the answer is in first post :tiphat:

Chris, absolutely loving the progress being made and assuming I don't have to kill too many babies to afford this, I will be taking one myself.

I do have a big question though.

Have you looked into ways to get the strut bar back? I know the factory one will no longer work with this setup and will require modification at the very least, but just wondering if you had given that any thought.

Thanks, keep up the great work!!!! :happydance:

I wonder if the dip around 5300 rpms is related to a resonance at that rpm. I think seeing whether it is persistent after a tune will give a good indication.

there might be little bit more gains with slightly bigger intake plumbing.

But, hats off to OP for taking the time to do this.

Looks like I might be keeping my GTR intake collector since no one want it. ;-)

Put it on. Tune it. Show us what it will do with boost. I'd imagine it would really shine. I want this, but I'm not going to be the guinea pig.

:iagree:

thank you all for the good feedback !

as I have already installed the STILLEN intake piping which is slightly larger than stock there should be enough air flow.

for the strut bar this is one of the next things on the todo list 2gether with getting the car tuned via OSIRIS.

as for pricing I have not yet calculated anything. The only thing I can tell currently is that I have paid well over US$6000 (not taking my time into account) in total to make this conversion happen so I fear it will not go for 200 bucks but is well in the 4digit area.

To be honest this mod is from my opinion for people who have done every possible mod you can do to an NA car or even super/turbocharged it and just want this icing on the cake to make it perfect.

Just to give you an idea only the welding took about 2 hours plus about 3 hours of hand-polish/grind the runners for perfect flow. This part even though it is "only" an adapter to make a plenum from another car fit is very complex (5 axis CNC for radius conversion) and not just a cheap "3 flange plates plus 6 pipes".

Please bear with me with the pricing as my current goal is to make the tune perfect and proof what gain can actually be achieved - after everything is 100% finished, tested and discussed I will offer you a group buy no question.

Thank you !

Chris

No Sir, thank you!

It is icing on the top. I've shared this with my club and a couple other Nissan sites. Interest is there especially since it's not "just pipes" and damn near OEM! I can say about 10-15people I know would go in on something like this if it's not too much from my suggested number aka groupbuy scenario! That's just 07/08 folks!

Nice!

I think depending on price, on the amount of spare GTR manifolds laying around, and the amount of Z's with boost in their future, this has a lot of potential to sell well if you beat competition to market.

Will wait to see if there is a group buy pricing. 4 digits, I just don't think I can swallow that lol.

Group buy!?!? God damnit... There's goes the last of my fun money for the year...

If you can managed to maintain the 20-30ft-lb at 5 to 6K RPM after the tune I'm in!

innn

interested - awaiting details following tune :tup:

I would like to see the results compared to a M370!!!

Given we have pretty good data now on M370-vs-Stock, it won't be all that hard to compare the new data to the M370 even if the mfg doesn't have an M370 to play with. Based on his preliminary results, I suspect this is going to be a pretty decent intake setup. My main concern at this point is the strut bar stuff. I don't see how you fit a strut bar over that thing, and I'd rather give up these intake gains that give up that strut bar's stiffness (I'm sure most others would make the opposite tradeoff, though, so I'm sure the product will sell).

This is where I stand too. The car comes with a nice triangulated bar from the factory. I don't want to lose that. I'm sure he'll address this issue. It can't be harder than the work he's done so far.

I'd love to, but various priorities is keeping me from doing much with my car for the next 1-2 years. Double income would be nice by now lol. The next major phase short of building the motor is 3' exhaust, new fuel upgrades, and possibly change out the intake manifold.

For the strut bar issue, I am curious if something like this can work well.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/7...1591f03b_z.jpg

Was thinking keep the rear part of the triangular bar, cut off the center piece and use a bar like this to wrap around the front. Don't see why there wouldn't be room in front of the manifold for something like this.

As for strength compared to what we currently have, I won't even begin to guess. Most engineering I have ever done is on a phone app. :D

Yeah, the strut bar is my concren too.

I'm in FTW:tup:

Keep us posted when this starts going to production and if you can do a complete write up for install and post it in DIY section.

I'll definately be getting this.

Nuttin new to report as yet? :(

Room to do it this way would not be my concern. A U-shaped bar like that would not be as stiff as the stock 370z brace which runs straight across. That big U is much more flexible out of plane than a straight across brace. You give up more mechanical advantage by not going straight across and would signifficantly reduce the out of plane stiffness unless you increased the thickness of the new brace enough to add back enough flexural and torsional rigidity which is just more weight and less efficient.

yesterday I started the work on the strut bar issue. First of all we cut the horizontal connection as this will definitely never fit due to height.

The connection between strut tower and firewall is a no brainer - nothing changed there. Now we have to weld something strong enough to compensate for the missing direct link which runs in front of the plenum.

here is the link how it looks currently:
http://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.ne...32432380_o.jpg

apart from that I have now driven about 2,000 miles with the new setup without any issues - no CEL, no bad behaviour, no idling issues, no nothing. From the current point of view you can simply change your stock plastic intake manifold to the GTR manifold and will have no issues, worries or need for ECU tuning.

Of course, ECU tuning is highly recommended to take full advantage of the new setup but I think its good news you can install it in your garage, drive the car when you need it daily and do the math whenever you have time to and drive the car to your tuner without worries.

Does the bar have to be on top of the engine bay? Why not under the car?

You want to tie the strut tops together. There's more flex at the top than the bottom since there's a lot more stuff on the underside of the car.

Right, it's a matter of geometry. In many ways the bottom corners are already connected (through the suspension, subframes, crash bar, etc) to each other. The tops, however, can flex around bit as the body twists and rolls. The point of the strut bar is to stiffen the front of the car against that flex/twist.

All things considered though, I don't see how he's going to maintain exactly the stock rigidity with this taller plenum. If it were me, I'd probably go for a compromise between the current hack (remove horizontal bar) and the photo above with the bar angling out to the front. Do a single wide bar like the one in the photo, but angle it around the back tying to the base of the windshield like the small bars do on the stock system. At least then the center of that angled flat bar will be fixated at the center.

Gotcha

yea, so we G's are gonna need a strut bar... I can be your guinea pig, I just need to take the plenum as payment for my G's time... LOL!

What if you cut away some of the support bracing on the underside of the hood, only in the area where a taller strut brace would go.

Would this give enough clearance for a taller brace to fit above the new manifold and still not touch the bonnet? Would it weaken the structural integrity of the hood too much if you removed some of its bracing?

heck cut the hood and let the world see your bar! When they ask why, you say "because GTR"

Too much talk about the strut bar.. Honestly get this thing into production and worry about the bar later.:hello:

That bar plays no factor for me in deciding to buy this.

1. This thing is a metal intake and is sexy as phuck. +:tup:

2. This thing has proven gains. (More than expected IMO) +:tup::tup:

3. This opens up the engine more and tests were only on a N/A app. Imagine TT/SC or Direct Port:happydance:

I'm ready to pull the trigger. All the talk of strut bar issues or the need for one or fabrication of one can come later.

That should be the next venture after this goes into production and should not be the reason for delay of this.

Lets do this Chris! I'm ready:tiphat:

lol JC671 is right down to business! lets get those price tags showing. Im ready to want something else I can't afford!

Good points. There needn't be a straight across bar when a pair of shorter triangulating bars (shock tower to firewall) braces could be fab'd later if at all. Just priced a GTR IM at the dealer here and they want $800.

Exactly..... Unles auto-xing or drifiting a hardcore bar IMO is not needed. As far as the actual GTR manifold it can be had for less online. The key to all this that Chris has tested and fabbed is the lower plenum. :tup:

LOL sorry man:icon18: That's the old school Sgt in me kicking in. Quit all the non-sense and streamline the end goal lol:bowrofl: Lets get this thing rolling. :happydance:

Different priorities I suppose :tup:

I would like to see more results to validate the gains. Preferably, on a car that's already tuned with full boltons.

That would be cool but being that this is only a prototype and the guy who is innovating here is not some big company with endless money for R&D.

If he had all the bolt ons and tune people would as for gains with just the intake maniold and nothing else. You have to take what he gained with what he has as the starting point.

He's not fully tuned with it so gains are only gonna get better and he has minimal mods so that's a great gauge of what may come or is possible.


Unless this goes into production no one will know what other gains are to be had unless you get one or fabbed one yourself.

Take what he has done, know that it fits, it works, and do some innovating and be the first with TT with it or SC or in my case Direct Port Nitrous.

I know this manifold will perform and will not be just some engine bling that decreases power.:tup:

The work is done thanks to Chris:tiphat: just need this in production