GrooveStyle's Build

[GrooveStyle]

Hey guys, I'm on the verge of starting my turbo build, so thought it would be a good time to start a thread outlining my plans and tracking progress on the install of my Gamma V3 Turbo kit. Having had some time waiting for the kit, I had already installed some supporting mods, but not all. See below:

Car:
2012 370z 6MT

Goals:
I'd like to hit 500whp at around 10 psi on pump gas and without building the motor. Haven't seen a ton of data on this kit, but I think I should be able to get into the ballpark? I also want to do all the work myself except tuning. Bonus points if I can do it without dropping the motor!

Already installed (in order of installation):
-Motordyne E370 catback
-Swift springs
-20mm H&R spacers all around
-Whiteline front/rear swaybars
-Defi red racer boost, oil temp, and oil pressure gauges (powered only)
-Custom pillar gauge pod for Innovate AFR gauge (not wired yet)
-ZSpeed Stage III daily clutch kit with 19lb flywheel, HD CSC
-Whiteline diff bushings

Progress from those components were logged on a local Iowa forum:
Luke's 370z Journal


Now for the turbo plans, muahahahahahaaaaa

Gamma V3 Turbo Kit:
-Turn-key kit
-GT2860RS Turbos, 0.86 turbine housings
-Internal wastegates
-Uprev Tuned

Purchased supporting mods:
-GTR spark plugs (1 step colder than stock)
-Z1 test pipes
-Z1 urethane motor mounts
-48 Row Tru-Cool Oil Cooler / Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate
-Summit fuel pump relay kit
-Greddy Profec OLED boost controller

Lots of pictures to come!

Kit staged to start:


More pics of packaging:

[SwissCheese]

Aw man, I'm subbing for this!

How much did you end up paying for the kit altogether (with the initial payment plus whatever Gamma charged afterwards)? Also, what's the diameter of the exhaust piping on the Motordyne? Will that need to be upgraded for the turbo kit?

Good luck with everything! Keep us updated!

[GrooveStyle]

Originally Posted by SwissCheese

Aw man, I'm subbing for this!

How much did you end up paying for the kit altogether (with the initial payment plus whatever Gamma charged afterwards)? Also, what's the diameter of the exhaust piping on the Motordyne? Will that need to be upgraded for the turbo kit?

Good luck with everything! Keep us updated!

Thanks! Soooo I paid $6700+$1500 = $8200 for the kit. It is what it is. Feel like I overpaid given the 2.5 years of effort it took to get it, but after all the frustration, it's best to just keep looking forward.... my wife is still married to me, so I take that as a win.

The motordyne is a progressive exhaust, so it starts at 2.5 and goes to 3". I just have standard test pipes... decided not to spring for a full 3" exhaust since I'm staying in the 500 range. I think it's free flowing enough to get the numbers I want. If I want to go higher I'll switch out for the 3" motordyne turbo tdx midpipe and do a full 3" system I 'spose.

[jaytirbhaw]

very nice, who's doing the ecutek e tune?

[GrooveStyle]

Gamma is. They're planning on doing a full e-tune. Still ironing out their base map. That's why they sent me Uprev initially. I told them I'd wait until they finished their base tune and have them ship me ECUtek instead. Can't pass up launch control and adjustable traction control....

[Memphis370Z]

Sub'd. Good luck with your build!

[zguynate]

You should be able to reach 500whp easy easy. Good luck with everything! I'll be watching this. I want to know how it is trying to do this without pulling the motor.

[YzGyz]

500 should be easy with all that. You are missing clutch kit to sold the power. South Bend it. My SpecZ works but had to do a lot if back and forth fiddling to get it to work right. As for the $ overall, it's more than the initial group buy price but relatively cheap for a TT kit. Then again, you still need sparks but, you get ECUtech.


YzGyz

[GrooveStyle]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I installed a south bend full face kit from Z speed performance about a year ago to get ready for the build. If that doesn't hold, I'll go with a puck style disk. And yeah, all things considered, still not bad for a full TT kit.

[SwissCheese]

Sooooo . . . did you start yet?

[GrooveStyle]

Per the instructions, I realized that you have to do some stuff with the tuning software prior to starting your build. So I'm still waiting to get my ECUtek cable from Gamma, and cannot start. Heard back from them today saying they will ship early next week. Might do the fuel pump relay upgrade or something in the meantime, but pretty much stuck at step 1 till I can get my cable. Once I have that and get the software out of the way I'll be going full-bore. If I get everything ready to start next weekend, I'll take some additional days off to try and crank it out. Too bad, too, since it's gonna be such a nice weekend.

Oh well, I'd rather get sent something that they have confidence in rather than something they kicked out the door that might kill my engine.... Lol

Sounds like Jayhovah and I might be in a turbo-building race this Christmas!

[GrooveStyle]

Quick update. Gamma said that they still haven't figured out the ECUtek tune for the kit, that they were fighting with some errors this week and it may be until mid Jan or so before they nail it down.

I decided to have them just ship me the uprev cable back now so I can get started. It should arrive on Tuesday. I'd rather get started on the kit and have a base tune that I can have some more confidence in than something brand new that has been causing issues. I may switch over to ECUtek at some point when it's more widely adopted, but I think that uprev may be nice to have since I can adjust parameters myself and also don't have to Etune everything or drive 9hrs to Louisville for the closest tuner.

Tuesday night, gonna get started! (for real this time)

[GrooveStyle]

Ok, sorry I haven't been posting yet, had some great progress but long last two days.

Day 1 - 12/23
After getting my base tune for uprev late the night before, I was able to get started. I had a few hours before I had to leave for holiday stuff. Got as far as the intake manifold removed and called it for the day:




Day 2 - 12/28
This was the teardown day. Got the bumper, crash bar, power steering lines, windshield washer tank, air cleaner ducts, cats and headers off!





I also installed the Z1 urethane motor mounts. They are supposed to be height adjustable, but I don't think they were able to give me the full 6.25 mm of lift that I needed to compensate for the supplied spacers. In the end I used the motor mounts at stock height with the engine mount spacers. Overall things went pretty smoothly:



Day 3 - 12/29
Now things get interesting. I heeded Jayhovah's advice on pretty much everything he's said in his build thread, and things have worked out pretty well in my favor so far. It was slow going, but I installed the fuel line extension first, then the heater hose, then the heat shields onto the exhaust manifolds, and then the manifolds into the car.



It took a fair amount of bending and tweaking of the water pipe on the driver side to get wrench clearance to the manifold nuts.

The passenger side had it's own issues, requiring the removal of the black plastic electronic box that holds the main harness to get clearance between the wires and the manifold. I ended up removing the box and heat wrapping the harness (Jayhovah confirmed that this is standard practice as per Gamma tech support).



I also had to remove the rear two engine studs to get the passenger exhaust manifold on, then put them back in with the manifold in place. Man, those manifolds are tight in there! Should be good now.

I ended the day with the headers on, but not torqued.

[SwissCheese]

Sounds like you've had a busy few days! Reading all that makes me realize that I would have no idea wtf I would be doing, lol.

[GrooveStyle]

Day 4 - 12/30

Holy crap the clearances to some of those exhaust manifold bolts are tight! I had to get a little creative to get one nut on the driver side (proud but not proud of it at the same time):


Should give me points for creativity, right? getting the manifolds on and tight took a while, but I was able to get the turbos prepped and the passenger turbo mounted:





A buddy of mine stopped by to check out the build and gave me a hand with getting the passenger turbo bolted up. Going to take care of the driver side turbo and do plumbing for them next!