At this point I would rather run a stock block with about 400hp. Why pay 5k to build a block. More power more problems = more money.

 

personally, i would by a used shortblock, then just build that one up little by little. sure that goes against the "instant gratification, buy it all on credit so i could go fast now" attitude, but better safe than sorry (and broke )

 

I'm at 445whp/420tq on stock internals(i have cams though). I drive it 2 to three times a week. I have about 10,000 on the motor with the turbo. Probably build the motor later on this year or if it blows. which ever comes first.

 

G352NV, 400hp isn't very impressive though. In an area dominated by 'stangs and vettes if you don't have 500whp you have nothing. A built VQ is a far cry from a built Z06, but it can still hang with mildly modified domestics.

I would agree that >420whp is asking for trouble, but done right it CAN work. The smallest error though, and the motor is done for.

N1ck, I did something very similar to what you are talking about. I bought all the parts first (turbo kit, pistons, rods, cams, exhaust, etc) and once I finally had everything in hand and paid for then I pulled the motor and had the work done. The whole time I had a complete long block sitting in my garage, but I wanted to use it as a back up, as downtime for the motor build wasn't a concern at the time. No one should go FI if they can't afford to blow the motor, as no matter what happens anything can go wrong and the results can be catostrophic.

 

Heres the thing, it will never end! Be happy with 400hp 400 TQ. If you have lots of time for down time and deep pockets go for that extra 100 or so HP. But even then you wont be happy. After a few months you'll want more. You'll up the boost and then you'll get into the headlift problem. Yes I know they are working on a solution for it(headstuds ect). But its not a sealed deal yet. In the end your chasing something with no end.

 

i just don't think you could be "ballin' on a budget" if you go FI. too many things can go wrong, and you have such a small margin for error.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KPierson

I would agree that >420whp is asking for trouble, but done right it CAN work. The smallest error though, and the motor is done for.

i can't afford for something that "can" work, i need something that "will" work. you might as well do it right the first time if at all possible, just to save you the headache down the road.

beside that, nothing says you can't build it yourself. i mean, sure you a high dollar company wouldn't be doing it for you, but what's the fun of just dropping it off and picking it up? besides, i could read a book and follow procedure as well as anybody, and believe me, i'm pretty dumb

you could drive the sh*t out our stock car. it will probably take the abuse for a long time. but eventually it will fail. FI will just make it fail sooner.

 

Wannabez06driver.com

 

FI on a VQ35 isn't for you.

People have blown motors using every kind of FI on stock bottom ends. The only way to boost a VQ is with the assumption that it will fail within 25K miles. If it doesn't, great, if it does, at least you are prepared.

Like I said, I myself have a complete long block sitting in my garage. When this motor blows up, the spare will go in, and I'll most likely part out the parts that survived.

 

no no, tha'ts what i'm sayin' kevin. if i do go FI, i will build up a motor first. i can't afford to have the downtime that can happen if something goes wrong because of my unwillingness to build it up right.

 

Gotcha, that makes perfect sense. Just remember that a built bottom end is necesarrily bulletproof!

 

Golly gee, you got me there.

 

Kevin, how's the UTEC running on your navi screen?

 

but that still doesn't mean it won't take me a millenia to get it built

 

It works great. I've since got a Cypher and I can display it on the Navi screen, too. The only major disadvantage is that I have to have a laptop in the car at all times. I was thinking about building a cheap carputer to dedicate to the display but I don't drive the car enough to warrant spending the time and money on something like that.

Mine still isn't finished (tuned for high boost), and I've been working on it for years. It's rough when you have other higher prioritites in life (wife, house, job, etc). It seems like when I run in to one little problem it turns in to a 3 month ordeal to get everything figured out and fixed. My latest adventure involved dropping fuel pressure at high boost. I just got my fuel pressure regulator replaced, but I haven't even had time to see if it fixed the problem.

 

I'm not exactly sure if you were asking for how as in 'how to' or how as in 'how's it working out'.

To answer the 'how to' part I'm using a software program written by a 3rd party that reads in the data log from the UTEC and displays it on the screen. It also has the ability to read in a few different widebands and display that info as well (my AEM is one that it works with).

www.mpsav.com

I have my UTEC hooked up through USB, my AEM hooked up through my serial port, and the navi is being converted using an unbranded Nav2tV converter (I imported it directly from the manufacturer in China). I am then using a KPtechnologies Nav 'OK' bypass module to switch between Navi and Laptop (pressing the 'OK' button twice toggles the screen input).