Was curious for you guys who had their Vortech or Stillen stage 2 kit installed, how much did it run you including the cost of the kit itself. I was quoted the following this morning and am trying to decide if the prices are reasonable compared to what others are paying.

Stillen stage 2
stage 2 kit
install
unpainted hood
accessories
baseline dyno
total: $7-$7.3 k
est whp: 290-310

Vortech
vortech kit
install
accessories
baseline dyno
total: $6.7-$7.1 k
est whp: 340-350

I don't know which one I'll go with yet. Hard to decide something like this without actually being able to get a feel for the car first-hand, ya know? Although I do spend 70% of my seat time in stop & go traffic, so I may be leaning towards the stillen.

They also told me the stillen kit is much louder than the vortech kit. I figure they're both loud, just in different ways .

 

On a side note, there were these 2 guys at the install shop this morning when I was there. One guy was looking down at a dyno graph, so I took a look at it and asked him if it was his. He said yeah, that was his car which was dynoed recently. The graph showed 250 hp and 260 tq. I asked him what he drove thinking it was a G or 350z, and he pointed out to the front of the shop. He drives a Scion-TC!! That small 2 door car. I was impressed! Just goes to shows you never know what someone has under the hood.

 

if you want to see how the stillen is let me know and we can meet,but remember mine is a stage 4 so its quite a bit different.shoot me a pm and well set up a meet.

 

go with the vortech, its very sleeperish and isnt as loud. I think it would be better on gas in stop and go traffic since it spikes more like a turbo, where the stillen is there from the start...

-sean

 

I'd think gas mileage would be about the same regardless - unless you drive WOT in traffic a lot. Then the stillen will burn more fuel in lower rpms

 

The main advantage to the Stillen is its off the line near instant boost. If you're in stop and go traffic, you can really use it to your advantage with all that added torque. Remember, unless you go WOT, you're not giving the engine full boost anyway, so it remains extremely drivable. But if you want the power to give you the edge in darting around from the line, Stillen is the way to go. It does maintain a power curve that is fairly similar to stock, just appreciably stronger.

Vortech is going to give you the power higher up in the RPM band, so it'd be faster on the highway than the Stillen. Off the line, response is basically unchanged.

Sound wise between the stock kits, Stillen is dead quiet at idle. I've been around several Stillen SC's and at idle, you can't tell its there. It isn't until they're boosting and the SC spools up that you hear it. Vortech has a swirling noise, wooshing noise to it. Makes you wonder if something is wrong with the car. There are work arounds to the idle noise.

Between the two, if I wanted the the fastest car, I'd go Vortech. But if I wanted to just cruise on the highway and needed the power for acceleration for on-ramps, 60mph highway passing and stoplight acceleration, I'd go Stillen. As long as you're not upset about the looks or cost of the hood, you'll probably be very happy with it.

 

Thanks guys. Appreciate the info. How does the total cost of the 2 kits sound? In my mind, it sounds reasonable, but I wanted to see what others were paying for the kits + install.

 

question: is there a way to mod the stillen to put 400 to the ground like the vortech?

i'm not sure on which to go either...i like the added torque of the stillen since i'm coming from classic muscle cars, but the top end power of the vortech sounds good too....

like, doing a 1/4 mile would the vortech be that much of an advantage or would the stillen help out the 60ft time enough to help you pull away?

 

Aren't you supposed to answer my questions before asking a question?? Just kidding.

From what I've read, even w/ stage 4, you're only going to top out around 350 whp or so. If you want 400, you need something else, vortech, or turbo.