JLarson's build thread

[gbrettin]

This is probably one of the better write-ups ive seen on why people want to go turbo (with out being terrible technical). And yeah, those price points are very accurate after everything is said and done. All the little stuff adds up.

Originally Posted by JLarson

I'm going to start with your last question first - why a turbo vs sc. The answer is "a lot of reasons".

-As a complete n00b to forced induction, I'd initially planned to go the SC route, but as an obsessive researcher, I did a metric assload of reading first. I see a lot of supercharger kits for sale and supercharged Z's being sold off in general. When I'd talk with a lot of the guys selling them, they liked the car well enough, but even with the added power they still wanted more, and didn't have the low end torquey feel they wanted. That led me to look at torque curves on a turbo vs a supercharger. SC is very linear, drives like an NA car only "more so". With the BP Turbo, torque ramps up very abruptly, with power early in the power band. I hit 400wtq around 3k rpms. To me that seemed like more fun, especially with my commute (my Z is a dd). I can't run out to 7500 rpms most of the time, but I can certainly get to 4500.

-The turbo is also quite fuel efficient, considering what it is. Tooling around I still get over 20 mpg. That didn't sell me on it, but it certainly helped convince my wife free, exhaust driven power vs parasitic power.

-The Comp 6467 turbo is 900 hp capable. I know myself. I know eventually, 506 whp won't be enough, I'll want 550. Or 600. Or 700. It gives me room to keep growing.

-Madwi had a good experience. This is a huge selling point. I know Madwi from Zdayz, we shoot the **** on a regular basis, and he's picky about his car. He knows what he likes, what he doesn't like, and he has very similar taste to my own, right down to car color. His very real enjoyment of the kit sold me more than just about anything else. At that point the only other real contender was FI, and I didn't want to pay the extra money, or have to drop the motor for the install. BP was within reach.

-Supporting mods... ok this gets a bit convoluted. The kit itself comes with everything you'll need, sort of. You'll want a bunch of other small stuff, like the omni map 4 bar sensor, a lot of heat wrap, sleeving for the waste gate lines, but depending on your intended application, your entry level cost could be about $9k if you do the work. (Around here, RT Tuning is selling the kits + install for $13k. They've always done a good job for me, so I'll pimp them here.
https://www.rttuning.com/boosted-per...r-nissan-370z/)

However what you can get away with vs what you'll want to really push the car are two separate things. As you know if you've read through this whole thread, I did a a bit more than just the basics, including Poly Trans Mount, Poly Diff Bushings, upgraded diff cover, fast intentions exhaust, ported z1 upper mani, stage 3 clutch, etc. Nothing was impulse, every mod had a purpose. Most of it I managed to get used. As I've found local partouts, I've bought and resold parts for a profit, which helps to offset my cost. For me, all in, I'm around $10,500, which is pretty awesomely low. If I'd bought everything new or full price though, it'd have cost me easily $20,000, and it'd have been a LOT more if I paid a shop to install it all.

Feel free to PM me if you have other questions or if I missed something. I've driven about 1500 miles so far, and have thoroughly enjoyed the kit.

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by gbrettin

This is probably one of the better write-ups ive seen on why people want to go turbo (with out being terrible technical). And yeah, those price points are very accurate after everything is said and done. All the little stuff adds up.

Appreciate the good feedback, and yeah I tracked most of my costs through Excel so they're fairly accurate.

[JARblue]

Originally Posted by JLarson

I tracked most of my costs through Excel so they're fairly accurate.

I did that. That was a stupid decision

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by JARblue

I did that. That was a stupid decision

Lol. For me it was part of a cost/benefits analysis. Since I planned a lot in advance, I was also determining whether or not it was worth it to mod this platform extensively, or just go to another vehicle.

Hard to find a 500+ whp car for what I paid for this one though. Even if I blow an engine or two, I'd still come out ahead.

[ZontheRocks]

Originally Posted by JLarson

Hard to find a 500+ whp car for what I paid for this one though. Especially with adding in maintenance costs.

FTFY

There are plenty of $20-$25k AMG Mercs out there with fat V8s, possibly supercharged. But then maintenance on a larger engine (fluids, spark plugs, etc.) and the cost $$ of all the electrical do-dads that may fail....

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by ZontheRocks

FTFY

There are plenty of $20-$25k AMG Mercs out there with fat V8s, possibly supercharged. But then maintenance on a larger engine (fluids, spark plugs, etc.) and the cost $$ of all the electrical do-dads that may fail....

Good note. I should also add that one of the benefits here was me doing it myself. Learning was a powerful motivator. That's a benefit with a real synergistic appeal - the more I mod, the more maintenance tasks I'm capable of.

[ZontheRocks]

Originally Posted by JLarson

Good note. I should also add that one of the benefits here was me doing it myself. Learning was a powerful motivator. That's a benefit with a real synergistic appeal - the more I mod, the more maintenance tasks I'm capable of.

I agree.

Let me just add that I have no problem with a Gear Head that has a great passion and has the financial means to pay for installs. If $10,000 felt like $100 to me, I'd be dropping my car off all day.