I have decided to do this a bit differently, and save myself a couple hundred bucks or so in the interim.

Anyway, I got a baseline dyno on a Dynojet of 223.9hp/224.0tq. Again, done to a stock car. I was going to add a mod here and there and dyno in between, but it really is a pain in the rear due to my schedule and stuff.

What I am going to do is this: Do a comparo for the budget minded...

Since the baseline, I have now seitched over to synthetic oil, added a JDM cold air intake (really, an AEM with some fancy-shmancy badges) and the Motordyne thermal plenum spacer. I didn't add the valve as I thought that was simply a pain to fool with, but the thermal isolator gasket thing was done (and what a pain that was. I have also just received my Stillen grounding kit and my UR crank pulley and belts. They add up as:

CAI $325 (could get an Injen or AEM for $275)
Plenum Spacer $265
UR Pulley and belts $185 and $20
Grounding Kit $130
That's roughly $925 total, $1,000 with shipping. Any moron can do the install, the the plenum takes patience and is a pain in the ***...

Anyway, I am going to do another dyno after this so we can all see what a basic $1k mod package will do.

I will then add the Strup headers (probably order tomorrow or early next week); I'll have them installed since they would be a royal pain; will then do another dyno for the second $750 investment (install and cost of the part).

From there, I'll do an exhaust this summer, then FI in fall or after Christmas...

Anyway, what do you guys think? I see so many posts about people inquiring for budgetary mods, was thinking I'd be a guinea pig for a basic set-up...

 

i'll be very interested in your results as i'm considering a lot of the same mods. thanks! looking forward to the results...

 

Yeah, but if I drop $9k in a weekend, the wife will have a heart attack--especially right after Christmas and before vacation season!!! Besides, the little stuff if fun to do and building a car is as much fun as simply adding something in one spell. Besides, I'll be going Vortech SC and not turbo when it comes!

 

wow ... from $1000 to $9000 (aps tt , install , gauges and tune)

you gotta crawl before you walk

 

want to see these numbers cause i have some of those mods

 

Get the TN Single Turbo, Wideband and Boost Gauge and be done with it. Simple as that.

 

Okay, $6k instead of $9k...hmmm....

I have a wife and kids and stuff and just dropping that kinda jack would mess up my whole personal life! Besides, I carry zero credit card debt, and dumping out that kinda jack at once would freak my other half out. Saving up several hundred a month and then dumping the balance won't be so bad...

 

Then wait. You will wind up spending the same amount over a 2 year span and only wind up with 15-20whp at the end and a much louder car than the ST.

 

Since you're asking for opinions . . . don't do it!

I started down this same path, including multiple dynos, and have actually ended up removing most of my mods and going back to stock with three exceptions: I'm keeping the hypergrounding, the ECU reflash, and the HKS muffler. In my opinion you lose driveability, comfort, reliability, and have a very poor bang for the buck when either doing alot of N/A mods or even going FI. If you want alot more power, then buy a car already engineered with it from the beginning, plus it's under warranty.

Don't get me wrong, modding is fun, but you will get more pleasure and spend less with a more balanced approach. My brake, suspension, and tire/rim mods create more driving fun than any engine mod I did. Now I'm saving up for a new audio system for more pleasure.

I know America is a free country and I totally respect and support whatever you or anyone wants to do or not do with their ride, but this is my opinion based on my own experience.

 

Huh? You lost me here...I think you mean I'll still spend $9k after two years and only get another 15-20hp with the s/c set-up as opposed to the single turbo. If so, then you are right, but it isn't the same all in one, huge outlay of cash that freaks most wives out of their skin! Besides, building the car is fun...

MIAMIG35SEDAN:
I understand your point, but have a converse point. I do not enjoy driving a stock car of any kind. Why do I want to be like someone else? Why can't I make it better? Hell, if I had the money to buy an E55, I'd mod it too (and there's a boatload of $$$ that go into MB mods)!!! I mean, even my Wrangler has big ol' tires and wheels and interior stuff, daylighters, blah blah blah. My Sequioa has 20's, DVD player/PS2 and headrest monitors...It's just in my blood to make something a bit different...

As far as suspension/tires mods and such, I love the 19" stock wheels. Just love 'em. And because I am modding the car, it'll look stock with the stock wheels. I will get sways, but no springs as I like the stock ride height just fine and am getting quite used to the car as is and enjoy it's limits. I will get some good summer tires when I wear these out, but sways and tires will be it.

Lastly, and by no means am I into kill stories for the sake of them, a guy I drive next to every day on the way to work has a new(er) Blue Nissan 350Z track edition with the nice new Volks (or look-alikes). I found myself running beside him two days in a row with total ease--me in my AT...Modding makes that fun...

 

Welp, installed and dyno'd...
I'll post the map later tonight since 'big brother' here at work blocks photobucket...
Anyway, car hit 246.0hp and 222.5tq. That being said, the useable power has been TREMENDOUSLY AFFECTED. You will really have to see the graphs to fully tell, but here's a tease of what you will see:
car makes 200hp at 4650rpm (compared to 200hp at 5050 before)
car makes 225hp at 5500rpm (compared to 220hp at 5700 before)
car stays over 200tq until 6400rpm (compared to car above 198tq until 5700)
car stays over 210tq from dip at 3250 until 5800rpm (compared to falling below at 3000 and never getting back to it)
In all, the torque curve is extremely linear and fat and is often 15-20ft/lbs greater than stock. The hp gain is smoother and more linear for sure, and is a solid 7hp or so greater than stock until about 5700 when it really increases to its max of 22hp over stock.
My impressions from the seat of my pants? Well, the CAI and Motordyne were done at the same time, and honestly, I felt little if anything at all. However, I did just install the UR pulley and grounding kit, and I immediately felt a noticeable difference in the car. It just seems to climb more easily and freer into the powerband and I really feel the torque difference now. My friend drove my car—but only since ALL mods were done after having driven the stock car. Needless to say, he loves it and can’t believe the difference for only $1k in mods. .
My headers should be here any day. I'll get them installed and dyno again in the next 2 of 3 weeks after my trial…Maybe I’ll pop back down to OSW to see what times it’s now running.
For those who asked privately, and to explain these further, these were NOT SAE numbers. I got the original SAE numbers, but the chart is totally screwed up. The original SAE numbers were 216.8hp/217.1tq. The SAE numbers for this run are 238.5hp/215.7tq. The above comparo is done with uncorrected numbers only because the two graphs I have are for the uncorrected numbers. Either way, standard or SAE, the gains are relatively the same…
I hope to pick up 10hp/10tq from the headers, but we’ll see…I’m very pleased with the results so far and will keep you posted on more…

 

rofl...I had to get my wife to get these from .pdf to .jpg so I could get these up...




Now that you see these, and now I have had time to really look and think of them, what's everyone's opinion on my a/f? Over 13 with mods??? Seems awfully high to me...

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I need help!!!

Anyway, I've had my Strup headers on for a week and a half. Had the car dyno'd and it was disappointing to say the least. That said, I swear there is a problem. Even more of a problem, my dyno guy had massive computer problems and the email file he sent me of my plot I am having a hard time getting translated to post here.

Suffice is to say, the plot shows a peak gain of 3.7hp to 249.7 and a peak torque gain of 2.2tq to 227.2. However, in some areas I have dropped torque--especially around 3500 rpm's down to 205tq and the curve has gotten more wavy. However, the hp is still entirely steady and peaking, not losing power, and is at least one or two hp higher throughout the range until the peak. Further, the a/f is well over 14 until higher rpm's where it is back to where it was before, though it dips in the 3200-3750 range where my tq curve is dipping, too.

Now, I SWEAR I HERE A PROBLEM, but the car is not throwing a code at all and it isn't a massive 'wooshing' air leak kind of sound. To me, and now maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, the left side of the exhaust sounds louder than the right.

When my shop did my headers, they ordered a whole new gasket from Infiniti and they did tell me one of the header studs gave them massive amounts of trouble on the passenger rear--to the point of having to back it out or something. I guess my questions come in where I have no code present to alert of an issue, and secondly, I don't hear a typical leak one would normally hear, it just sounds really odd at lower rpms--almost like a coffee can with air running through it. Not raspy or anything, just weird in a not good kind of way. I've had headers in other cars of various iterations, this just sounds odd.

Now about the dyno: I only got two pulls in 3rd because the third he wanted to do in 4th for his own edification flapped up his machine in some way (still odd to me, but the car made 212hp/261tq in 4th!!!). Both were virtually identical. My VDC was off, but the slip light (LSD)came on for the second run and stayed on until the car left the machine and I drove it down the street and it then reset. It was 79 degrees outside per the weatherman though the car showed 84 in the shop and it was near 100% humidity. This was almost 20 degrees warmer and I know this makes a difference. Also, the dyno was over 25 miles in stop and go traffic from when I left my office to have it done, contrasting with the 5 miles I drove straight over early in the mornings the last 2 times. It was virtually boiling when dyno'd this last time as opposed to pretty cool the last times.

Now, I did not expect huge gains, but I would have thought to have seen more--especially in the torque gains. I can also say post install, the car felt roughly the same as it did before the install, and it was cold as a welldigger in the 50's almost every day afterward. Now with it pretty darn warm, it still feels just as good as before the install was done when it stayed pretty cold--as if the heat hasn't affected the power.

Now I also have to say the guys at Stage 6 are awesome. Dwight did the install and he also does Titan's work in Orlando on their supra(s). He has done a couple of Z's, just not a G, but is more of the supra guru. My dyno guy is a Mustang man and is the Vortech distributor here, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Both have not deeply looked into the car post install because the car has been hot, but neither sees or hears and obvious problem and both think the code would cause the engine light to come on.

Any thoughts from you guys? Lastly, my only other planned mod until FI is going to be an exhaust (and I plan to go with the Vortech s/c kit), so I will want an exhaust to work with the s/c. I really wanted to keep the Strup headers with the s/c install, so my question is: before FI, do you see an exhaust opening up more gains post header install--as if the stock exhaust is limiting the benefits of the aftermarket headers as is? I was thinking the Borla or Stillen exhaust--any thoughts???

Sorry about the ramblings and sorry for the lack of the dyno plot, but thinking of all this is driving me nuts this morning...Just needed to unload.

In all, I am really thinking this is a dyno variance issue, but the sound has me all flapped up as does the wavy torque curve with some loss here and there, and the really high a/f (I would have thought it higher when cooler, not warmer).

 

Are you driving a 5AT?

If so you should be dyno'ed in 4th