It's always the tune! To say NA is not worth it makes me chuckle, not that it's false. We been bambooselased into this mindset that NA is a waste! It's poor tuning...basic fuel table correction is what most tuners do and rarely do it right!

More air, more power

Tune for that and power will be made, I've played with UpRev for a few weeks before being deployed and after looking at my tune, which is doing it's best is holding by car back. Dyno time and tuning cost keeps NA builds from really shining!

To cap my rant, building a NA Z is for the insane and I love it!

It is if your only looking at peak power, I want to say that your mid range Has gone up more than 9whp.

I've spent 3-4k myself on NA mods and my peak power was 284whp!?!

I wanted to light my car on fire after that....

Seen others post higher numbers on the same dyno, I added more air and I pull on all these cars harder to redline, haven't retuned yet!?!

But it hasn't. The red line even dips below the blue a few times. That mess up at 5500 rpm for 700 rpm (5300-6000) I don't think counts.










New game plan. Found a local with some parts and a uprev tune. We are both going to IPS to log our cars fuel, timing, MAF etc and doing 3 pulls each. Theoretically I should make more than he. But his tune done at IPS several months ago is higher than me. So if IPS did recal the dyno we'll know for sure whats going on!

I never said NA isnt worth it. I just said the only real bang for your buck is FI.
you gain more HP/TQ per dollar going FI than if you stay NA. its a fact.

I know u disagreed with me, saying my statement wasnt fair, and the test car is having problems - but dyno'ing a year apart is a problem within itself. if it was any manufacturer saying their product did XXXXX on this dyno and then a year later the results were XXX, everyone would jump on them. if you know the car has problems - that is your solution to this dilemma right off the bat...

All i meant is that I wish you had better results, but allowing the car to breath better via ported throttle bodies, upper intake manifold and intakes/exhaust seems comparable across the board, per your results vs. everyone elses results with basic bolt ons, whether you get it done custom or buy another product already on the market. without FI the car, the car is already performing like a champ so the breather mods arent game changers without FI.

props to all your effort, i just meant i wish you had better results for everything that went into it.

Good thing I built it all my own. I have less in everything than most spend on a CBE. :happydance: I don't know about that though. Whats FI get the average person? I've seen people talk about $15k to do it right!! If I truly gained only 30hp from stock then I have $73 per HP (I really doubt it. Should be like 60hp so $36 per). If a FI gets say 500HP and a max NA can only get 300HP and if FI costs $15k then FI is $75 per HP over NA. But in my case we are talking $12,800 difference.


I don't know the car has problems. Everything I see seems fine. I ported some stuff, I made a little bigger CAI, I tuned. The issue shouldn't be on my end. If it is we'll fix soon. Only testing further will I find out. If IPS changed the dyno then I'll prove my ported parts work by installing them on another car and doing befores and afters the same day to show it. Sucks to do it this way but o well.

I bought my Z to track. I was tired of tuning my WRX and dealing with turbos and pipe and BOV's etc etc. I'd rather drive a 300HP NA all day than a 500HP turbo. Hell I can't even touch the throttle now around a corner, a turbo would kill me. Turboing a Z reminds me racing my super sport ZX6R. My little 600 can kill 1000's because most can't run them to their full potential. NA FTW haha. Give me Shamu's 400HP NA Z. I'll rock that.

Regardless, props to you for trying to find ways to make more power out of this stubborn motor! I'm sure there is a problem somewhere.

My friend with a uprev tune and I will dyno together soon with logs. I'll figure it out. He believes IPS did a recal on the DJ. He was 316hp several months ago. Fingers crossed he's down too since he shouldn't be making more. I guess stand by.

i'm not here to argue with you syno, some single turbo builds are putting out 200+whp gains for 9k installed, brand new. ~45$/whp - even less if you buy a used kit.... stillen intakes, fast intentions hfc/cbe, uprev tune = up to 50whp gains and cost ~$2900 (+install if needed). ~58$/whp. The fact that you are doing more than these mods for less $$$ is great, dont get me wrong. my car is full na too, i don't have the 9k to shell out - but just saying.

knowledge is power. keep testing, providing knowledge and paving the way for others to reference! I legit wanted to do the porting of upper intake manifold and TB's if this had good results. Side by side dyno run with your friend is an awesome idea and will be an awesome reference if you list his exact mods in comparison to yours.

I'm not arguing either. I just know its the dyno. Megan got 68hp NA. That puts me at $32 :). So I win haha. I don't have it either and never would! That's just insane. I'd build my own like I have before. Way I see turbo kits is a few grand for turbos and parts then you end up paying several thousand for the pipe. Just a rip.

I'll keep on it. It can't not show results. Increase air, increase power. Simple as that.

well that 68whp as cost me a lot !
if you take in consideration the amount of time involved in what work and what didn't and redo the test later on to confirm .. it was an expensive one.

I had an edge in the beginning until I blew the engine now that 60+whp is common using normal pump gas and using the right bolt-on available parts.

with all the side cost involve in each mod, the price can get high
so far my estimate is like this
custom CAI 1500$
Oversized TB 625 $
HR intake manifold ( 150$ ) (not good for peak HP )
crank pulley 250$
custom PPE lth 1500$
x-pipe and muffler 1500$
Uprev software 700$

total 6225 for 68whp in the end which mean 1 hp / 92.54$
I could have used cheaper part to make the setup drop 1000$ from the total can bring the Hp/$ ratio down to 76.84$/hp

it could have been cheaper if I was in the US but the shipping cost is a lot thru the border.

that 68whp isn't the minimum that platform can gain and as I said , I believe seeing another 20whp is quite possible still using pump gas 91/93.
I didn't had the VHR intake manifold ported like Z1 started to do after I did showed how badly the intake runner were matching up.

Not completely true.. If you add up everything other than the piping, manifolds, oil lines, vbands, hoses, etc. for the Boosted Performance kit, you are still over $5k. Sasha sells the full kit, ready to run without so much as going to the auto parts store for thread sealant for $7,150 and its capable of a safe 550 HP. Throw in $750 for a tune and you are still less than $30/HP

It's definitely easier to boost for power but I like how people are trying to make power NA

For sure. I would love this car in a 450 HP NA build.

OP, you did an amazing job in all the mods you got. I'm sure something is amiss somewhere in the dyno runs. Any chance you can hit the drag strip and measure out your 1/4 mile runs, atleast they will give out power measurements in an another way.


P.S. There's different kind of fun with NA motor, its less headaches and less OVERALL investment. One thing FI options seem to neglect are the ongoing and increased maintenance, more chances of something going wrong.

I don't see why not. I'll have to go get weighed and run next week.