Hey guys, I have been spending hours looking through threads and I am hoping that you guys will help me like I help ppl in my forum.

I currently have an Audi S4, its modded a bit. It is my daily driver, that is I drive it to work everyday, drive the wife's car on weekends and my truck in the snow (NJ). I have put many, many thousands into it - it is just shy of 600hp, ~450whp/465wtq running 26psi (Stock bottom end). I have suspension, stoptechs, and way too many other mods to list. I have a great JL sound system, a Euro NAV unit, and other toys inside. I run mid 11's on street tires and just started to do a bit of road racing, which my heavy *** Audi did not exactly impress me.

Ever since I bought my wife an I35 back in 2003, I have LOVED the G35 coupe. I recently blew a turbo seal after running at VIR and now I have a tough decision to make. My wife HATES my car, and I kinda want something a bit more impractical and newer inside. I have a better truck now and I really do not need a sedan. I also love her latest car - a loaded MDX. I kinda want the whole bluetooth, NAV, 2005ish feel that my 2001 lacks. My car is starting to look dated to me. I can part out and pay cash for a 2005 G35 with every option. And prolly dig up some more to mod the new ride.

I recently test drove a G35 and I really like the car. *ducks* The only problem was that I kept thinking the e-brake was still on when I punched it. Hehe - I am still thinking of getting one, but me thinks that I have to supercharge or even better - twin turbo it. So - coming from am AWD factory turbo car - am I gonna hate life in a G35?

I spoke to a local shop that only does G35/350z's tells me that it will never be reliable like mine and traction is a nightmare. I can deal with the traction problems - but I do want my car to be reliable. I hear that some VQ motors take the power, and some - well some get rebuilt. I will certainly be in a budget, unike the last time.

I would love to see 400whp maybe a bit less. Is this realistic? I would love to hear your thoughts...

 

i purchased the turbonetics single turbo and i'm at about 380 whp right now, completely stock other than the turbo. there's a night and day difference as far as speed, and the car is much more fun to drive. traction isn't that big of a problem. i dropped about $6500 into the car including gauges, the turbo, and installation.

 

Most will say the stock bottom end can hold up to 400 rwhp. You may be ok.

The stock rods have reportedly failed even below that threshold, so it's always going to be a risk unless you put in a new shortblock ($4k+$2k install). Then you still have to pay for the turbo, which will cost anywhere from $6-10k for kit + install depending on the setup.

If you do go this route, you could probably expect to put down 450-500 rwhp (paired with a new exhaust). You could go beyond that, but then the fuel system would need a major upgrade for most kits.

If you get a 5AT, then you'd need at least a VB ($1k) to go over 360 rwhp (by report).

 

I have seen ppl talk about the 400whp safe limit. I am a part-time mechanic, so labor is not a big deal. It is downtime and farting around with the car that I wanna avoid. If I pull the motor, I would sleeve the block, go return fuel system and then get tempted to go crazy - which is exactly what I wanna avoid.

I think my concern is also tuning. I currently use the OEM computer, with a chip and a laptop utility that helps me tweak my fuel and timing settings. The only non-stock electronics I have is an AVC-R to control my boost. Do all the turbos setups use piggy-backs? Are they reliable? How about driveability??

areddy14 - how many miles do you have on your setup?

 

Howdy.
If you did most of your own work on the S4. You should be fine with a FI'ed G35. Most of your knowledge of the S4 will be extremely useful when you add the turbocharger(s) or supercharger onto the G35. As far as you going 'crazy' with the modding... that's going to be a personality thing . We can't help you with that... and I think that will bite you irregardless of the car you choose.

The room to play around the engine bay... is an entirely different story. There's not much clearance and everything is so cramped WITHOUT the turbos. There's no fun to be had when you operate on the engines.

The tuning will depend on the setup you go with. I hear a lot of nagging about the stock ECU... and since the ecu probably isn't focused on load-based air... you might opt to wait for the AEM EMS. There are plenty of piggyback alternatives out there... and plenty of people using them without any problems. The reliability of the setups depend entirely on the knowledge of the person installing/tuning it.

Driveability? Compared to your S4? You'd probably need to get used to the RWD dynamics... different car, different beast.

 

UTEC = user tuneable, from turboxs.com. Does act as a piggyback for drive by wire controls but as a standalone at load with full control of fuel and timing.

 

By driveability, I mean idle issues, part throttle issues, Surging, CEL's, cold starts, etc. In other words, my car basically is like it was stock, but with mad powah. Will this car be like that too? Piggyback's scare me...

 

Oh... i don't think you will suffer any of that kinda stuff... but again it depends on the tuning.

Audi tuning is quite a bit different because of the 'chips'... and the fully programmable ones still gave you a base template to work with. Everything was pretty much written out for you... and you knew what would happen and didn't have to fight any stock ecu programming.

Piggybacks will inevitably run into some problem spots with stock ECUs. But all that will depend on how good the tuner is: how aware of parameters, and variables that the stock ECU expects... and how that is affected by the piggyback.

I helped my brother wire up his G35 with the e-Manage for the GReddy kit. Everything was fairly straight-forward. And his car idles and drives perfectly fine. Just like stock... but it does have the occassional stall issue if he lifts the throttle/clutch without changing into gear enough (I'm sure you are aware of this problem, coming from the VW/Audi platform)... BOV needs to be configured properly since it blows off to the atmosphere.

 

If you are looking for under 400whp than I would seriously look into a Stillen or Vortech supercharger. One of my close friends had a 01' S4. The Vortech lag would be about the same as your Audi so not a problem. I think the Stillen is awesome. A TT set-up will cost you quite a bit more money but if you have it then they are worth it.

 

Check this thread on VQ in general regarding FI

http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194430

Now who do you blame here? Tuner or Engine? This really breaks my heart No wonder there is so many built engine on MY350Z

Note: both are under 400WHP

 

That was one very depressing thread.

 

LOL - That is the Tuner in my hometown! I can walk there from my house...


Depressing indeed.

 

Truly sad. There's only so much give those engines can take with those stock compression numbers... but I figured they'd be a lil better than that. The twin setup... I take it they were running more than wastegate pressure? No FPR installed?