The "GR3YGHST" Chronicle
 

Hi all,

I picked up my 2011 Gunmetallic (KAD) 6MT in January of 2015 with right around 47k miles. It was mostly stock with the exception of a full Fast Intentions manifold back exhaust (HFCs and catback). From day 1 I knew that this car would be going in to the garage for major modifications, unfortunately, I was on work assignment for another 12 months in Argentina. My brother took care of the car while I was gone. Downside was that I was away from my car for a year. Upside, I was able to read a lot of forum threads and make wise decisions on what parts to buy. So over the past year I amassed parts; brakes, suspension, supercharger kit. With the idea of starting the project when I got home. I drooled over many builds during that time, from mild to wild, and took a lot of inspiration from the great cars on this forum. For now, I am going with very mild exterior mods, and focusing on the performance aspects, starting with the suspension and brakes.

Anyway, I started ripping her apart a couple of weeks ago. I hope folks enjoy the photos and any ramblings I might make.

Modifications being installed currently
Engine/Drivetrain
Fast Intentions HFC & Catback Exhaust
GTM Stage 1.5 Supercharger Kit
EcuTek tuned by AAM
ATI Crankshaft Dampner
CSF 3-row Radiator
Z1 Motorsports 34 Row Oil Cooler
*Dual* Derale 40 row Oil Coolers w/ SPAL fans
Derale 10 row Power Steering Cooler
GTM High Capacity (8 Quart) Oil Pan
Southbend Stage 3 Clutch/Pressure Plate w/ Quiet Disk
Southbend 19lb Steel Flywheel
RJM Clutch Pedal Assembly
Z1 Motorsports Urethane Transmission Mount
Z1 Motorsports High Capacity Diff Cover
Whiteline Differential Bushings

Suspension/Brakes
Stance SS+ True-type Coilovers with 13 Front | 8 Rear Spring Rates
Hotchkis Front Sway Bar
SPL Front A-Arms
SPL Rear Traction, Camber, and Toe Arms
Z1 2-piece Lightweight Rotors
Project Mu HC800 Brake Pads
Z1 Braided Brake lines

Wheels/Tires
Forgestar F14 - 20x9.5 +25 Front | 20x11 +15 Rear
Michelin Sport Cup 2 - 265/35r20 Front | 325/30r20 Rear
Strasse SM7 FS Concave 20x10 Front | 20x12 Rear
Michelin PSS 285/30r20 Front | 335/25r20 Rear
Muteki Extended Lug Nuts Black

Interior
Bride Japan Edition Zeta III Type-L Seat
GRFX Hebi Bebi Knockoff Shift Knob
Gale4ce A-Pillar Mount
Defi 60mm Oil Temp, Water Temp, Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, & Boost Gauge
Innovate DLG-1 Dual Wideband Gauge

Exterior
Auth. Mines CF Add-on Wing
Auth. Fujimura CF Rear Diffuser
CarbonSignal Moonbeam Widebody Kit w/ CF lip, blades, & diffuser
CarbonSignal Vented Fenders
ZStore Upper and Lower CF Fang Cover

Stock Photos
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps8b7ed686.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psa45d6442.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pscd197fcd.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps95118871.jpg

Current Status
The car is currently in the garage undergoing modification. Before going under the knife I was able to get an autoX in. It's completely different than my previous cars; feels very big on an autoX track. Was able to place 2nd in my class with a completely stock suspension, on Hankook v12 evo2s in stock sizes. Gives me a reasonable baseline for future comparison and it felt pretty good to place since it was my first autoX in years and the first time driving the ol' girl hard.

Recent Photos
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psmqrcllng.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pspchr9cyn.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psmue6dbjo.jpg

Brakes and Suspension

Brakes: Z1 2-piece Rotors, Braided Lines, Project Mu HC800 Pads
Suspension: Stance SS+ True-type Coilovers, SPL Arms (Front A-arms, Rear Camber, Toe, and Torque Arms), Hotchkis Front Sway Bar


Front
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psnwgzdii0.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps5ohgglwg.jpg

Rear
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pswybekmjk.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psh5cdxzl2.jpg

Exterior

Headlights: Nothing fancy, just pulled them apart and painted them.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psjie03wcq.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psmivuwj67.jpg

Door Handles: painted by equalme
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pslsowwmvy.jpg

Wheels & Tires

Wheels: OEM Rays with Hankook v12s. Plastidipped (don´t hate, hahah)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psg1ee2ima.jpg

Sneak Peak of the new rear tire size (waiting on my wheels to ship from getyourwheels, should be here soon. Photos to come).
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pszbx1bxx3.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps97s0yuqi.jpg

Interior Mods

Mostly stock except for the seat and a GRFX Hebi Bebi Knock-off Shift Knob. Planning on swapping the 3 gauges for Defi and adding a boost gauge on the a-pillar with one of Gale4ces custom mounts (already sitting in the garage, just waiting for install).

Seats: Bride Zeta III Type L
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psoweo3ypv.jpg

Sound Deadening:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pst2xdkwa9.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pskyp1fjs9.jpg

Drivetrain
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pstvvb9la4.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psmf9gzqqm.jpg

Thanks for sharing

random photo.

car is still currently on stands waiting for the Zspeed/Southbend Stage 3 clutch setup to go in. Hope to get that knocked out this weekend.

trans was easy to get out once i found the hidden 14mm bolt that was holding it in place. i used the DIY by djtodd http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...ed-hd-csc.html but wasn't counting the bolts. i was about to burn the damn car down.

Love the door handle paint, subtle but matching very well with the rest of the car. Very nice suspension pkg as well, among other things.

Thanks for the words. The door handles made a huge difference in the overall look of the car. Once it's out of the garage I will take some good photos (hopefully get some taken by a photographer friend)

I am happy with the suspension components everything is top notch. Kudos to Z1, SPL, etc for putting together some great stuff for our cars.

Favorite photo from this past weekend.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psztoc4hcb.jpg

After this was taken I completed the teardown for the Supercharger install (pulled the PS pump, PS lines, alternator, passenger exhaust manifold, etc) and installed the new injectors. Next step is to begin the installation of the SC bits. I reckon about 2 more full days of work and she will be back together.

subscribed! :tup:

You seem from the few post here very knowledgeable about working on vehicles. My question is why go SC? It seems that most thoughts on this forum anyway state you get more bang for your buck with a Turbo. I don't plan on either of those options anytime soon but I'm always interested when people go against the grain.

Your ride is looking real nice by the way.

I won't claim to be a guru of any sort, but I have definitely been working on cars most, if not all my life (used to help my dad with his, and have always worked on my own). I do the majority of my own work as long as it doesn't require very specialized tools (alignments, tire mounting/balancing, major paint/body work).

Anyway, to the point. I chose to go with a supercharger for the following reasons:
-more linear power delivery. my plan is to autoX (for fun) and track the car, so I wanted very predictable power delivery. since the SC is tied directly to engine RPM there is no boost lag or turbo punch.
-I am comfortable with 500 or so WHP. I am not looking to make a HP beast, trying to keep it balanced. It is more difficult to up the boost on a supercharger (i.e. it isn´t just a touch of a button or a twist of a knob). I want to keep well within the parameters of the stock block
-I didn't go with Stillen because it requires some strange modifications to various components in order to make it fit. It also seems to have some other short comings in terms of performance (cooling, air flow, etc.). Between Stillen and going with a twin turbo setup I would probably have gone turbo.

I will be able to give some further impressions after the install. My brother has a 370z with a Boosted Performance setup (they are single turbo), putting down a similar WHP as what I expect to get. I look forward to some comparison runs, as well as driving them back to back.

edit: I think the reason the forum prefers turbos is two reasons. 1) there are more available turbo kits, and GTM/Gamma is currently on the shunned list. 2) they make more horsepower and are more upgradeable if you want more power. anything beyond 500ft/lbs of torque requires a built block though. Conversely, this would be the cons to the supercharger setup.

also, this is a pretty quick read that explains some pros and cons of both Pros and Cons of Superchargers vs Turbochargers

I used to have a SC Cobra (terminator) and now have the boosted performance Z. As much as I love my turbo set up, sometimes I miss the predictable power of SC.

As antivenom (my brother) mentioned, we are excited to run them side by side at the track and do some honest comparisons. I am sure there are guys on the forum that are turbo experts and can speak for running smaller turbos etc.

This seems to be a good thread on the subject:

http://www.the370z.com/forced-induct...win-turbo.html

I however plan on going up in HP in the future. (600HP range) Guess my old HP junkie days are not out of my system. Antivenom is a far better driver than I am so I have to make myself feel better somehow. :driving:

I recently had to upgrade my tires etc to make the power more manageable.

Well I plan on following your thread because it does sound interesting. Plus what are the chances of two brothers with Zs, one with Turbo and the other with a SC.

Sean1125R, it used to be two brothers, one american muscle and the other RX7 FD :) We will have more fun this way. Heading to ZdayZ in May. Love your car btw. That nismo front end is bada$$

I hope to make it to ZdayZ as well. I think I need to get my brother to get a Z now.

Sean1125R, hopefully we meet you there. Get your brother on the Z team. :happydance:

snuck some garage time in last night. got the oil pan and passenger side motor mount installed (there is no driver's side mount for those wondering). mount is meant to clear the supercharger itself.

some photos of the finished product.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pshw0wprqk.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pslfjo0ge8.jpg

beautiful man!!! :tup:

got some more work done today. i have to admit that this kit is top notch in terms of quality and fit. So far no unforeseen problems or rigging of any sort.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pshljahprj.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps7l2vllkq.jpg

Got some goodies from Z1 (thanks to Jon for the help and lightning delivery) Always impressed with the quality of their products and this is no exception. My only regret is that they are hidden under the car.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psmql9ki4b.jpg

Also got a chance to throw in my CSF radiator. Another upgrade too beautiful to hide
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psaf7k3kfy.jpg

Make sure you keep all your paperwork for the CSF. I've had 2 fail already and I'm being given the run around to get the second one replaced.

What problem are you having? Same thing both times? Thanks for the heads up.

Does anyone make a better radiator?

The first one was some fitting that was screwed up. The shop noticed it from jump street and had it returned. The second one was just recently. It was literally just pissing fluid. Found some kind of tear in the middle of the core I think it is. When I brought it up, the guy at CSF mentioned that there must be something wrong with my car because it's failed more than once and that he doesn't want to send another because it will probably fail again.

I don't know if someone makes a better one, but I have a mishimoto in there and no issues as of yet.

Based on his response to my email when I said that another one of his radiators fail. I don't intend on purchasing or suggesting anyone purchase a radiator from them. I'm sure they have great ones. But if your product fails, twice through no fault of the consumer, I believe as a stand up business you should at the very least replace the product. Even better if you take care of the labor. None of that was done.

I even suggested that if it was the radiator that was found to be the issue and repairing it was less expensive than a replacement that he cover that. No response from him.

I can't support a company like that. Stand behind your product. Good or bad.

Just be careful man. Please. Been over a $1k in labor due to removal and installations of the same part.. I'm in the military...definitely not made of money. That's $1k lost in the ether for something that should have been good from the start.

Crossing my fingers for no problems. I appreciate the heads up. Definitely would suck and I hate supporting companies with questionable customer support.

Thank you, I am saving up to get a radiator so I will keep this in mind

Got a bunch of work done over the past weekend.

Stage 3 Southbend clutch and 19lb flywheel installed.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psiute3i79.jpg

Intercooler, Supercharger Cooler, and Oil Cooler Installed.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pswsoo9caw.jpg

Cranked her for the first time.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psqi3kbcnv.mp4

The 30minutes previous to this were spent panicking because the car wouldn't stay cranked. It wasn't until I strapped on the HFCs that the car fired up. Not entirely sure why that worked, but I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

and the money shot...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...pszbbzmhcw.jpg

Love the new look. Boooooooooost

Finally, the "tragic" part of the story.

Everyone knows about the problems GTM had. I got my supercharger kit BNIB from a forum member here. Going in to it I knew I would have no support from the vendor. However, when the switch to Gamma occurred last year I reached out to them (Sam was still around), and he said he wouldn't have any problem sending me the box tune file for my car. Unfortunately I wasn't in the country and couldn't get to my ECU to get the info needed for him to send me the file. No worries, Gamma was a "new" company and surely they wouldn't mind sending a file to an old GTM customer. Fast forward to the past few weeks. I emailed, called, facebooked, instagrammed and couldn't get a hold of the #@!^%$@$%^ I mean literally a dozen attempts or more to get a hold of them. Seems like the same ol' GTM to me (maybe worse). Anyway, I am only a little heart broken as I knew this was a probable situation when I bought the kit.

Good news, my brother and I are going to AAM next week to get EcuTek'ed and Tuned (including launch and traction control). Excited is not sufficient to describe how I feel. Can hardly wait! Hope to be posting up dyno charts soon.

All of this just under the wire to make it to ZdayZ. May is going to be a good month.

just get Ecutek and start with a good tuner. Forged performance is more than capabale of tuning ecutek.

yea, i agree. we decided on AAM Competition up in Maryland, they are EcuTek Master tuners. my intention was always to wind up on EcuTek, but I was hoping to delay the cost til later this year. alls well that ends well though. stoked about going EcuTek