V35 / 350z Na Performance Upgrades

[Munna1]

Hello all wondering if anyone has any information on this. As with any engine I am sure it would benefit from exhaust, intake, and ECU modifications. But does anyone who of places know who sells aftermarket cams or other upgrade packages for these cars? Seen a few turbo and supercharger kits etc for 350Z but I am more interested in the NA side of things at this stage.

thanks

Edited August 25, 2006 by Munna1

[Jimbo2000]

hey budd

dont think you'll get much response here.

try checking out the 350Z forums as theres very little info on modifying the 350GT as of yet but they have the same engine so i dont see why you couldnt apply the same formulas

Jimbo

[Duncan]

well there's a few things you can do, zorst, pod, modified manifold, ditch a couple of the cats etc.

But its nothing like an RB skyline where you can double the power for a couple of grand.....spend a couple of grand on one of these and you'll be lucky to get 10-15rwkw

No turbo...don't bother modifying for power....

[Jimbo2000]

well there's a few things you can do, zorst, pod, modified manifold, ditch a couple of the cats etc.

But its nothing like an RB skyline where you can double the power for a couple of grand.....spend a couple of grand on one of these and you'll be lucky to get 10-15rwkw

No turbo...don't bother modifying for power....

correct

[Munna1]

Thanks guys had a look at the www.my350z.com heaps of info. The Americans certainly have a huge range of parts to choose from but are very expensive to modify for little gain.

From what I can gather they have about 170rwkw as standard. After full exhaust, intake, plenum spacer mod, and ECU tune you only really gain a max of 30rwkw. It seems that the factory systems dont give much room for modification anymore which is disapointing.

The supercharger and twin turbo kits certainly seem to give good gains and if you are in America there are plenty to choose from but again extreemly expensive.

cheers

[Duncan]

Well thats just life without boost....its why they can't make commodores go quick, cheap either Did any of the people that got their extra 30kw say what it cost them? I bet it was over 10k.....

I have put a pod on Kel's Z and it sounds absolutely brilliant, none of this sucky wooshy BOV noise a skyline makes, just a lurvely roar. Give that a go if you like but don't expect it to go any quicker

[Munna1]

No one said what it cost for that but looking at the costs off the parts on the websites id say your spot on 10,000 at least. $2000+ US for a full exhaust.

[scathing]

My car pulls just under 190rwkW on CRD's dyno, with some pretty standard bolt-ons (catback, intake spacer, Unichip, and a pod filter that's more sound than performance).

I'll be looking at replacing the extractors and cats in the near future, and with that power curve I'm also going to bump up my redline since it seems to pull pretty well to the limiter. If the car still pulls solidly to my new limiter I'll find out if I can cheaply have a set of rod bolts installed (the weakest link in the infamously breakable bottom end) and keep pushing the redline up.

Your biggest problem is that these engines are new in a performance application, so parts are rare. That drives costs up.

What are you looking at upgrading? The Z33 or the V35?

[scathing]

It seems that the factory systems dont give much room for modification anymore which is disapointing.

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. You can only extract a certain amount of power from a given volume of fuel at a certain RPM (basic physics).

With NA you can't wind up the boost and cram more fuel in at a certain RPM point, so all you can do is modify until you get closer and closer to the point where you extract 100% of the fuel's stored power.

If bolt-on mods aren't doing as much as they used to, it means its because the OEMs are building their powertrains better than they used to. I can't see why its disappointing that you have to do less to make as much power as the underlying engine architecture will let you, unless you're only interested in bragging about how much more your car makes than stock rather than how much it makes in total.

I think its a good thing that they're not making stupid beancounter decisions to put overly restrictive parts on the car purely because it'll cost them a few bucks less. The car's not perfect (the standard exhaust is very restrictive.

221kW from a NA 3.5L engine with a flat torque curve is nothing to sneeze at. The M3's award-winning inline 6 lacks the bottom end grunt of the VQ (while also costing a f**kload more), and BMW says its at the limits of what a street legal setup of that engine can offer. Rebuild a VQ with a forged bottom end that let you spin it to 8000RPM, and run cams to suit your new redline and sporting focus, and you'll have an engine more torque and more power everywhere.

And with the HR due out next year, which fixes the VQ35's biggest flaws (the glass bottom end and hideous exhaust manifolds), the engine will probably see even fewer gains when you modify it....but then it'll make more power from the factory.

[Munna1]

Thanks Scrathing will be interesting to see if it will crack 200rwkw with the new mods you have planned.

Quote

"If bolt-on mods aren't doing as much as they used to, it means its because the OEMs are building their powertrains better than they used to. I can't see why its disappointing that you have to do less to make as much power as the underlying engine architecture will let you, unless you're only interested in bragging about how much more your car makes than stock rather than how much it makes in total."

Quote

I see your point and agree with you to a certain extent the factory cars are starting to make better use of the factory systems then they used to. Roughly 170rwkw from factory stock 3.5 litre is impressive but its still disapointing that extra power cant be extracted as easily or cheeply as the old RB turbo motors.

I dont have a V35 at this stage but was maybe thinking about a 4 door one in the future as they are a fantastic car and very cheep to import at the moment, 15 grand cheeper than the 2 doors.

cheers

[scathing]

I see your point and agree with you to a certain extent the factory cars are starting to make better use of the factory systems then they used to. Roughly 170rwkw from factory stock 3.5 litre is impressive but its still disapointing that extra power cant be extracted as easily or cheeply as the old RB turbo motors.

Its not particularly fair to compare the powerup possibilities of NA vs FI. Its a lot easier to squeeze more power out of a FI engine by winding up the boost, and you have more "bolt on" things you can do before you have to open the engine. How well does a VQ35DE power up, with aftermarket mods, compared to an RB25DE or a RB30? Or an SR20DE, or a 2JZ-GE?

Or compare a RB turbo motor to a modern one. I wouldn't mind seeing if people have done much tuning on the VQ30DET (I think its in a non-sports car though, so chances are few people do). But if you look at the modern turbo engines, like the 1.8T VAG uses, or the SRi Turbo's, etc, they all make good gains.

I'll bet all the Euro snobs are salivating over the upcoming BMW 3.0L twin turbo I6 petrol engine. Finally a 3 Series BMW that can provide a platform that will keep up with a tuned Japanese car in a straight line.

As an aside, if you're interested in VQ tuning you might find this interesting.

[scathing]

I dont have a V35 at this stage but was maybe thinking about a 4 door one in the future as they are a fantastic car and very cheep to import at the moment, 15 grand cheeper than the 2 doors.

Hopefully VQ parts will have dropped by then. I'm waiting for second hand APS TT kits to hit the market, and then I'm going FI.

I'd also consider buying a 4 door V35 if I had to get a sedan. Most of my bits would carry over (the catback probably won't because the cars don't share the same wheelbase), and APS says they've TT'ed quite a few V35 coupes in the US so hopefully I can get me some of that action too.

Ideally I'd get the 4WD variant of the V35 sedan, and run a HKS Rotrex supercharger on it.

[Munna1]

APS TT read about these they sound really good certainly would be a beast. There website is really good they go into great detail about the kit.

http://www.airpowersystems.com.au/350z/350z.htm

[Jimbo2000]

had a look at this when i first got the V

would be the Shizzle

[scathing]

APS TT read about these they sound really good certainly would be a beast. There website is really good they go into great detail about the kit.

Try this sucker:

http://www.airpowersystems.com.au/350z/aps...ts-09/index.htm

I still remember when APS posted news on their site (which has been removed) and they had that kit up to 750rwhp.

I've ridden in this car, and after that I was sold. The power comes on so progressively, you'd swear it was OEM. It reminds me of a stock R33 GTS-t / S15 in terms of power delivery. It swells from around 2200RPM in a very smooth manner, and it pulls all the way to redline.

The only thing about it that's not stealth is the sound. At low load lift-off it flutters, and when you're giving it a bit more throttle when changing gears it sneezes. With the exhaust it does sound a lot more aggressive, but its not loud and droney so it suits the car's character.

[Munna1]

Very impressive car looks like the interals can take a bit.

cheers

[scathing]

Very impressive car looks like the interals can take a bit.

300rwkW is the accepted limit for what the internals will handle reliably. The APS TT kit pulls that with little effort (that's the number they advertise on the page you linked to), although when you buy it the tuner will set it up to make around 280rwkW at 7-8psi.

Still, 280rwkW is nothing to be sneezed at.

The Extreme kit does recommend a properly built engine of course. I doubt any factory NA, or even turbo, car would handle 3.5 times the OEM power without some serious support modification.

[Munna1]

300rwkw is extreemly impressive for any stock internal factory engine typycal of nissan still over engineering engines got to love it.

[GTRgeoff]

Blower FTW

I must have one (350GT that is, not a POS 350Z)

[Jimbo2000]

Blower FTW

I must have one (350GT that is, not a POS 350Z)

/sings

oh geoff

look in my sig

you know you want it

/end singing