Supercharging The V35

[WazR32GTSt]

Hi everyone,

well i'm considering a nice power upgrade for my V35 with the intention to keep it for quite a few years rather than upgrading to the V36 when it arrives

i am considering a supercharger kit for the car for a number of reasons

- excellent low-rpm torque

- no tubo lag, extra intercooler piping, new exhaust manifolds, engine heat issues with a turbo

- easy install

- great on emissions

if i decide to go with a s/c kit i will be getting it engineered and fully street-legal

so i have been considering the stillen supercharger kit with its screw-type supercharger. in stage 2 form it comes with a air-water intercooler. it comes in a form VERY easy to install, and does not require any form of ECU tuning (comes with a pre-tuned ECU to plug in).

what i really want to hear is from anyone who has gone the supercharging route and any info they may have

i also want to hear whether you went screw or centrifugal and why

i also want to hear how the car drives etc

my only concern with the stillen supercharger is that it does not fit into the engine bay. i would not go with an aftermarket hood, but i would try and get some kind of hood bulge introduced into the standard hood to allow clearance

i would appreciate anyone's advice!

cheers,

Warren

[Chris Rogers]

if I can find it I'll take a few snaps of the HKS one I know of. it ALL fits under the stock lines. and it HELL scary to ride in.

[NISMO]

The newly re-released HKS Supercharger seems to be a much better option than some of the existing ones. It delivers power apparently close to what a basic turbo set up could, which a lot of the other superchargers don't do.

My biggest gripe with any of the kits, is the price you pay.

Although i haven't priced it up, I honestly believe you could greatly reduce your cost by doing it separately. e.g - Buy supercharger, go to an exhaust shop to fabricate piping, and get a UTEC or something similar for fuel etc etc.

Also I'm pretty sure the stillen ECU will be tuned to US conditions including fuel, and not to sure how flexible it would be for re tuning.

I've also been looking at FI if i keep the car, but am thinking of a used turbo set up from the US. There are twin turbo kits including new turbo's for around $4000.

The other option I'm thinking of is trying to locate just the manifolds to house the turbo's and get the rest here.

As i said a lot of the parts are easily done here in Aus. Turbo's are plentiful, intercoolers even more so, ECU's no problem, piping no worries, your local exhaust shop should be able to do it. Fuel pumps/injectors, again no worries.

Have you had it all priced up yet Waz?

Remember there is also CAPA Superchargers here in Aus, who I'm pretty sure do a 350z kit. Maybe give them a try.

[WazR32GTSt]

thanks guys, some interesting points

my thoughts are this though..

i like the screw type / traditional supercharger because of its instant low-rpm torque delivery. while centrifugal kits (like the HKS/vortech etc) are nice, they operate more like a conventional turbo in terms of power delivery

the reasons i don't want a turbo kit

- labour to install

- requires tuning (extensive!)

- new manifold and turbos = $$

- tight fit in the engine bay

- custom piping including cutting of hte frame to get the piping to fit

the thing with kits like the stillen kit is that they require no extra piping of any kind and use the OEM intake and AFM. it used a water-air intercooler so only requires 2 small hoses to go to the intercooler at the front of hte car. this means that it costs less than 1k to install basically bolt on and walk away. there are no space issues in terms of squeezing hot turbos in tight places and there are no issues with oil and water lines

the stillen kit is supposedly very conservative at 6-7psi and is a very safe setup form what i have read. it basically gives the engine the same characteristics but makes it feel like its a 5L engine, not a 3.5L

and NEW the basic stillen kit RRP is USD$3700 and requires NO tuning, just a simple install. the only downside? it requires a bonnet scoop to clear the supercharger, and it does NOT look OEM

compare this to the CAPA kit (which is the vortech kit sold through CAPA and is a centrifugal setup) and its RRP is 8.5k plus install and tuning!!

i am keeping my eye out for a second hand stillen setup and if i can get one for cheap i am seriously considering it.

anyone know what the HKS kit goes for?

[MaXiMuS007]

That Stillen Kit sounds awesome Waz. How do you modify the bonnet to fit? Do you need to buy a new one or just get the hammer out ?

[GEXer]

Hey Warren,

have u got a quote for insurance yet? just wondering how much the premium will jump with mods like this...

[WazR32GTSt]

i haven'g looked at insurance yet, that is not something that will stop me doing anything...

[Chris Rogers]

I'll see if I can tee up a ride for you. speak more on wednesday about it. that *may* change your mind.

HKS item I saw was everything down to the last bolt. purpose made brackets.pipes , ECU and coolers. they did move a few things around in the bay to make it fit.

[NISMO]

The HKS kit is fantastic from what I've read, but I also believe it is well over $10k Aus installed.

I think from memory it was around $8k or so US for the kit.

There's a decent debate about it on G35Driver, as a few people were saying pricing is the same as a twin turbo kit, which offers everything the HKS Supercharger does, with a lot more power.

[WazR32GTSt]

i should re-iterate that i drive an auto and that i am not chasing huge numbers..

i am also after something with proven reliability

these are adding to the reasons i don't want a TT or even a single turbo setup

if i do go FI it will be a supercharger

if people arent familiar with hte types of superchargers and how they work they shouldresearch this as i am hesitant to go with a centrifugal setup (eg HKS, vortech/CAPA, etc) because they make most power >4000rpm and in an auto i will spend my time below 4000rpm. the low rpm range is where the stillen poos on everything else!

can i stand the aftermarket hood though?

still waiting to hear back from stillen on whether this will work on the V35 that will be a big factor in what i decide to do

also, i have yet to hear from any of hte known V35 owners who have gone FI already.. "jaik" and "R34" and some that spring to mind

[OzCarImports]

Sounds like the go, when are you planning to do this?

I would love to see what it loks like done.

I have a Nissan Skyline 350GT Six Speed, might tempt me.

Last year I had a nice Skyline 350gt8 with full impul kit got it when I was in Japan had some engine work done it was alot quicker than my 6 Speed coupe had no idea what the d done to the engine but it was very quick.

Anyway good luck keep us all updated

[WazR32GTSt]

when am i planning to do this?

well i'm not even set on doing this as yet! haha

its just something i'm playing with in my head and it will all come down to whether i can get a cheap setup. i will not dump over 7k into a car even if i was guaranteed 1000hp. just not interested.

really what i was askign stillen in my correspondence is whether their plug-in ECU is compatible with the V35. if it is then i am firming on the idea. if its not, then this idea might just fizzle out a little bit

and if all works out well i would probably look at going in this direction sometime early next year

[scathing]

There's someone in NSW with the Stillen Stage 1 kit (no intercooler, I don't think) and from I've heard its shit. The thing heat soaks so badly on the track that it loses most of its gains after a few laps, and the owner was having issues engineering it due to emissions.

I know someone who fitted the original HKS supercharger (with the Rotrex) on their 350Z, and when I drove it I thought it was OK. The linear power gain means you barely notice any increase (it didn't feel any better than my NA) even though it made 50rwkW more than my car. I did rev it out to redline, so its not that I was just driving it outside the centrifugal supercharger's boost range.

[scathing]

This is a little out of left field, but the guys on Nissan Z Tech keep going on about how good the STS Turbos are (rear mounted turbocharger, basically replacing the rear muffler).

You retain your extractors etc, and its not even intercooled, but apparently its defies common beliefs on thermodynamics and it isn't horribly laggy or making no power.

Its non-invasive, although it will require tuning, and provides a mild power increase.

Something to consider, at least.

[WazR32GTSt]

no, 100000000000000000% never a rear-mounted turbo. end of discussion!

stage 1 stillen kit does not include an intercooler.. i can't imagine how bad that would be, like taking an itnercooler off a GTR, intake temps would be horrific!

also, i find it very difficult to believe there was emissions issues.. this is one of the reasons i prefer the thought of a supercharger kit.

the exhaust is not modified (eg new manifold with a turbo in it) and as such the cat converter heats up immediately and works as OEM

all my research indicates that superchargers are 10x more emissions freindly than a turbo kit

i will be getting this engineered if i go with it

[WazR32GTSt]

ok i've heard back from stillen, and apparently they have sold heaps of their supercharger kits to japan, and are quite sure that it fits the V35 perfectly.

i am clarifying the ECU side of things with them to make sure.

they quote 5.7k for the stage 2 kit which includes charger, intercooler, ECU, and all accessories, plus a new fibreglass hood to clear the supercharger

not bad, but i might see if something pops up second hand in the meantime

also, here's a video of steve millen (aka owner of stillen) talking about his supercharger setup:

part 1 -

part 2 -

anyone else have any ideas or comments on this kind of setup?

[GEXer]

they quote 5.7k for the stage 2 kit which includes charger, intercooler, ECU, and all accessories, plus a new fibreglass hood to clear the supercharger

Hood included? if so then thats a bargain... if u r gettin one please let me know, im interested, may be we can split the shipping cost or something...

[MaXiMuS007]

What sort of power do you get with the Stillen Kit?

[Sydneykid]

I have also done the research and I have ended up with the HKS twin GTRS as my upgrade of choice. Why;

1. The larger turbos build boost slower and so don't hit the conrods and pistons with lots of torque loading at low rpm, which is their weakness

2. Ditto the tailshft, gearbox, diff and driveshafts

3. It won't need a heavy clutch capable of holding the torque, it's a much gentler operation for the turboed engine

4. I don't like choking an engine that revs freely standard, if I use a supercharger that gives low rpm boost then it limits the effective engine rpm.

5. I am not a big fan of no intercoolers when running petrol, it's OK for methanol, but for a road car in Australia you need an intercooler. Water to air intercoolers are efficient in their cooling but they are heavy, and all of that weight is in the front of the car.

6. If an R35GTR passes Euro 3 emmissions then there is no reason why a twin turbo V35 won't do the same

7. I don't like the supercharger sucking up power (and petrol) all of the time, a turbo consumes almost no extra power to run it. A supercharger uses more power (and fuel) than airconditioning.

8. Due to #7, for the same amount of boost a turboed engine will make more horsepower and use less fuel than a supercharged one.

9. The HKS kit only has the necessary parts, the rest I can source myself locally.

10 The turbo kit will give better weight distribution (lower and further back) than a supercharger

11. I get to tune it for local fuel and conditions. Japanese tunes are usually a bit too ignition advanced (they tune for 100 ron) and US tunes are too dull and unresponsive due to their very low octane fuel availability (they tune for 91 ron).

I'm comfortable with my choice.

Cheers

Gary

[WazR32GTSt]

apparently USA uses 91 octane which when converted to RON works out to be 98 RON

also, reliability is a big issue in my mind

gary, do you believe that a TT setup will work reliably on a stock motor with an auto transmission? the stillen kit is designed to do so and has proven to do so before

also, the stillen kit is CARB approved, which means it meats californian emissions standards. this to me means it will easily pass aussie testing

is supercharging the easiest way to make the most power?

no, its not. but in my eyes its a reliable way to make more power on a stock engine with an auto trans and to meet aussie standards

also, imagine the low-rpm torque!!

thoughts gary?

specifically on the stillen kit?