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Original Wings West Z32 TT for Sale!

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : June 19, 2016

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Ron is the original owner of this beautiful Z and now it is for sale. The Z was the original West Wings advertising car you may have seen it in old issues of Sport Compact Car and the likes of the late 90s and early 2000s. Ron has been a customer of ours since the really late 90s and in 2012 we completed an extensive upgrade\refresh to the Z. The following major parts were installed by us:

New Nissan Shortblock & SZ Stage 1 Heads
MSP Exhaust Manifolds
JWT Sport 700 Turbos
ASH Massive Intercoolers, Ducts, Intercooler Piping, & Z1 Throttle Bodies
300Degree Fuel Rails with NISMO 740cc Fuel Injectors
SZ Max Street Clutch & Aluminum Segmented Flywheel
SZ 3″ Down Pipes
SZ 3″ to 2.5″ Test Pipes
Blitz SBC i-D Spec-R Boost Controller
Selin Dual POP Kit

The car has 87,000 miles on the chassis.

This Z puts down 456 whp on 91 octane and 16 psi of boost (blue run) and 618 whp on 26 psi of boost and Q16 race fuel.

You can contact Ron directly via e-mail here.

Photos of the car back in the day used in the WW advertising.

Sam’s GTR Turbo Upgrade

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 22, 2016

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It didn’t take long after we originally tuned Sam’s 2012 Black Edition GTR on 91 octane and E85 that we upgraded turbos. An oil leak on the passenger side turbo oil feed line helped that decision! Bigger turbos on a stock motor! An option that actually works very well when performed properly. The stock turbos are small and lose their efficiency at the higher RPMs. They have trouble holding boost and terrible back pressure ensues.

With the engine out we went to work pulling off the stock turbos and finding the culprit for the oil leak.

The stock turbos before they go in for surgery.

The passenger side turbo oil feed line pictured above. This portion of the line bolts to the top of the turbo with a banjo bolt and crush washer. If you look closely you can see the red arrow pointing to the crack in the brazing of where the line meets the banjo fitting. This is somewhat of a common issue. Nissan has an updated part for both the oil line and a bracket (2014+).

The “old” bracket on the left and the new on the right. You can see that the new bracket has an additional provision to support the oil feed line. The new line has an additional winglet to bolt to the new bracket.

Our turbo upgrade came from RD Engineering. The anodized blue wheel on the left is the upgraded compressor wheel and the factory GTR compressor wheel on the right. A rather large difference!

Turbine wheel also gets upgraded to help decrease that pesky back pressure.

The only other upgrade performed while we were in there were GTC Turbo Inlets. GTC on the left and the factory DBA inlet on the right which is already larger from the CBA (2009-2011) models.

The upgraded turbos feature Turbosmart actuators.

Above is the 91 octane dyno graph differences. Sam’s GTR has basic bolt-ons so the results can be better with modifications like an upgraded intercooler, intercooler piping, etc.. Blue was the power on stock turbos. Red is the upgraded turbos. This upgrade essentially allows one to run E85 FBO stock turbo power levels on 91 octane. A nice upgrade indeed if you don’t have E85 easily accessible. By 3500 RPMs the larger turbos start to take over on the stock motor and cams. As mentioned previously, more “breather mods” can help this. We’re also forced to limit our torque output with the stock connecting rods.

Our E85 dyno graph. Blue is stock turbos (please excuse the RPM cut) and red our upgraded turbos. Again we are having to severely limit our torque output on E85. The potential with these turbos on a forged motor is much more. One can see that the stock turbos hit rather hard in the beginning. If you look at our cursor pointing at 6500 RPMs you can see how much the stock turbos fall off on boost where the larger turbos shine. This is a reminder that upgrading actuators on the stock turbos is not recommended. Your only increasing your back pressures which are horrendous for the engine. Close to 800 whp on a stock engine and still able to keep the torque level in check which is the achilles heel of the factory GTR shortblock.

Tomei Expreme Ti GTR Exhaust

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : April 8, 2016

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I’ll start off by sincerely apologizing for not staying up with the blog. The shop is super busy and my personal life is much busier with the addition of a second child. We recently had the pleasure of testing the Tomei Expreme Ti exhaust for the R35 GTR. Our test GTR has the following modifications performed:

SZ Built Motor (stock camshafts & stock heads)
USM Turbos
SZ 3″ Intake
Factory Intercooler & Piping
AMS Down Pipes
Fast Intentions Y-Pipe (Mil Spec Cats & Resonator) 3.5″
3″ Aftermarket Catback

The system includes its own y-pipe using 3″ piping coming out of each down pipe outlet merging into the single 4″ pipe. The quality and fitment of the Tomei system is spectacular. Nothing had to be cut or hacked up to make the fitment of the 4″ piping go through the diffusers. Considering the system is made of titanium the MSRP of $3600 is a steal! The weight savings over a conventional SS system is amazing. Tomei says its a 35 lb savings over the factory pieces with the Tomei system weighing in at 32 lbs which includes the y-pipe.

Y-pipe dual 3″ from the down pipes into the massive 4″ sewer pipe.

The system snakes its way perfectly through the diffusers without any problems. No trimming, no modifying. The welds on the titanium are beautiful for a mass produced system.

Straight thru “mufflers”.

The view from right above the carbon diffuser.

Everything exits out the huge 5.1″ tips.

Dyno test before and after done within a few hours of each other. Blue is the old exhaust setup and red is the after with the Tomei system. The largest gains were below 4500 RPMs. At 4k we gained 60 torque and 46 whp. You can see the boost pressure go up due to the exhaust change. We expected to see larger gains at the top than we did but we won’t complain about 20-25 whp gains.

370Z Forced Induction: Boost is not created equal

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : September 28, 2015

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Many times a week I’ve been getting this question asked. What is the difference between a supercharger and turbo kit for the VQ37VHR? For starters most people get the misconception that a supercharger will produce boost faster than a turbocharger. There is much more to that answer. It all starts with properly piecing together a kit and its intended purposes. Turbochargers of today are much more reliable, use more advanced materials, and are manufactured in such a way that all improve the turbo’s quality\reliability and performance. This is why you see more auto manufacturer’s producing their vehicles with more turbos and the fact that gas mileage can be improved without sacrificing power.

The goal of this post is not to give you all the in’s and out’s of how a turbo or supercharger work but to clear up the biggest misconceptions and present to you the visual difference of what a supercharged and turbocharged engine in this case the VQ37VHR look like with two very popular kits out in the market.

This dyno graph comparison plots both a SC’ed and TT’ed VQ37VHR against each other on 91 octane fuel. Red is supercharged and blue is turbocharged. This will definitely clear up the misconception that a supercharger can out spool a turbocharger. This particular supercharger is a centrifugal style which is known for its “lag” although people are unaware of it and differences between it and other supercharger styles. At 3500 RPMs you can see our plot. Boost on the SC’ed engine is 1.66 psi. Boost for the TT’ed engine is 8.5 psi. This correlates directly into power and torque of course! Let’s look at the differences there. We’re producing 274 torque on the SC’ed engine and 403 torque on the TT’ed engine. That’s a difference of 129 torque. I bet you can probably tell me which car would be funner to drive. Horsepower for the supercharged engine is 182 whp and 269 whp for the turbocharged engine. You can also see that peak power is also higher on the turbocharged engine.

A supercharger kit is cost effective to produce and install. There are less parts and much less labor involved to install it. The opposite is true for a turbocharger kit. However you can reap the benefits of turbocharging when you’re all done! It WILL put a bigger smile on your face, this is fact.

Update to Tony’s GTR

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : December 10, 2014

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Tony came back after upgrading to 3″ intakes, Bosch 1300cc fuel injectors, Walbro 485 fuel pump (secondary), and a Fast Intentions catback. Y-pipe has been swapped out for one with high flow cats to keep smell down as well. His previous visit here.

With the addition of the new mods and tuning we were able to extract more power on 91 octane. Over 55 whp and 80 torque gains were realized.

Reza’s 240SX Drifter

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : September 16, 2014

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You won’t find the typical SR engine in this S14. Still powered using a Nissan engine, the sound alone will let you know its packing more under the hood.

Reza had us install a Nistune board in the ECU so we could tune the car. We also cleaned up a few things throughout the car, installing colder spark plugs, replacing coil pack connectors, etc. We also finished up the install of a Nitrous Express nitrous system.

We made a new intake pipe to properly hold the new NX Shark Nozzle. We went with a small 50HP shot to give Reza a nice blast of instant power and torque when needed.

If you couldn’t tell in the previous picture, its a V8! Its the VH45DE found in the 1990’s Infiniti Q45. All aluminum to boot! Engine is practically stock aside from the intake, long tube headers, and exhaust system

Our baseline pull is in blue, note the torque and power drop offs throughout the powerband. We finished up our 91 octane tune in green. Great gains everywhere. We gained as much as 60 lb\ft of torque and 50 whp in certain areas! We installed the Nitrous Express Maximizer 4 controller to make sure our nitrous shot (50HP), would only turn on when it should. This meant turning it on above 3500 RPMs and shutting it off completely by 6500 RPMs. Ensuring that we wouldn’t be too close to the rev limiter. Nitrous and factory rev limiters do not work well together. The controller also allows us to set throttle activation. We made sure that it would come on above 75% throttle openings. Another great feature this controller allows us to do is progressively turn on and off the nitrous. We have it coming on 100% at 3500 RPMs but as we get to 6500 RPMs we taper the nitrous duty cycle. Nitrous run is red if it wasn’t obvious enough. A fantastic way to increase power. Nitrous should only be used in controlled environments where the user can ensure that pressures are correct and regular maintenance is performed.

Richard’s 300ZX TT

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : August 26, 2014

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This red 1990 Z32 TT came to us from Oregon with just an HKS Hyper Catback on it and over 160k on the odometer. We performed some simple upgrades and maintenance to keep it running stronger for another 20 years.

We upgraded to NISMO 740cc fuel injectors, cleaned up the engine bay, replaced all water & air hoses, valve cover seals, etc. Pre-cats were upgraded to SZ 4-Bolt Down Pipes mated to SZ 3″ to 2.5″ HFCs and existing HKS catback. SZ Sport Street Clutch and SZ Flywheel were also installed to hold the new found power. A single JWT POP Charger was also installed and the new colorful Greddy Profec Boost Controller was installed to the left of the steering column.

Baseline pull in blue and our upgraded pull in red. 120+ pound feet of torque at 4500 RPMs!

John’s 370Z TT+

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : August 2, 2014

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Not your run of the mill TT 370Z. John’s Z features a built engine, GTM Stage 3 TT Kit featuring the use of GT3071R (T25) turbochargers on .64 A\R turbine housings and T04B housings. Swapping both the compressor and turbine housing would allow for less back pressure and more power. However, we can’t complain with the results once we straightened this beast out!

We modified a few things in the GTM kit. For one we moved the placement of the BOVs. They were located extremely close to the MAF sensors causing drivability and tuning issues. We also removed the water injection system, improved fitment of a few pipes, and powdercoated the pipes black from their original polished look. Silicone couplers were also all swapped out in favor of Vibrant brand couplers. Fixes are pictures above. Another thing you may or may not have noticed is this Z also sports an R35 GTR intake manifold made possible by GTM.

The custom lower plenum that makes it possible to run a GTR intake manifold. We removed it to weld up the holes (pictured) for the old water injection system. No need to run water\meth now that we converted this Z to ethanol.

GTM fuel rails feed Bosch 1000cc fuel injectors.

Feeding the rails and injectors is the CJ Motorsports twin pump fuel assembly. Two Walbro fuel pumps feed the system. We swapped one of the 255s with a 485.

One of our modified pipes finished in powdercoated black.

The finished product.

Onto the fruits of ours and John’s labor:

Peak boost of 15 psi, average of 14 psi we managed 567 whp. This is for 91 octane. After this we began working on the ethanol tuning.

18 psi for 615 whp (ethanol fuel), we slowly worked our way up.

19 psi for 674 whp.

21 psi for 706 whp.

Fully cranked up we managed a peak boost pressure of 25 psi, dropping past 5500 RPMs in part due to the compressor and turbine housings. Just enough to make 800 whp and 700 pound feet of torque.

Rob’s 300ZX TT

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 30, 2014

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As the availability of ethanol has increased in SoCal (depending where in SoCal you live). Rob’s itched to get the fuel in his Z along with other upgrades performed. This Z32 is using JWT GTX63 Turbos, JWT 500 Cams, MSP Exhaust Manifolds, SZ 3″ Down Pipes, SZ 3″ to 2.5″ T-Pipes, and SZ 2.5″ Catback. For fueling we turned to the BDE Top Feed Fuel Rail Kit with Bosch 1150cc fuel injectors. Currently the Z is running a single Walbro 485 fuel pump which limited us as to how much power we could run. Later on down the road we will add a second fuel pump to get the most out of the engine\turbo hardware. To harmoniously control the engine and all the fueling we turn to the Haltech Platinum Pro-Plug In ECU and supporting sensors. This allows the Z to be a full “flex fuel” vehicle. Rob can pump in any different combination of 91 octane gasoline and ethanol fuel and not worry about having to switch tunes. No guessing or worrying!

To simplify plumbing we fabricated our own metal hard line for the BDE rails. Always after a clean and detail oriented engine bay.

Rob can monitor ethanol content with the use of this Dynosty gauge. Here it shows a content of 46 if you couldn’t tell.

With a fresh engine in place we were able to make great power on terrible CA 91 Octane gasoline.

On an ethanol content of 78% and at this power level our single Walbro fuel pump was dropping fuel pressure. Adding a 2nd fuel pump will get us around 750-800 whp.

For the time being we’ll leave the power level here (613 whp) on about 20 psi of boost. This gives the pump some comfortable working room. Thank you to Rob, BDE, JWT, and Haltech!

Josh’s 370Z TT

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 5, 2014

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How’s that saying go? A little more makes it better? Well, what we have here is Josh’s beautiful black Nismo that has been transformed to be a killer. A Fast Intentions Twin Turbo Kit. This time its armed with HTA-68 Turbos covered by Alpha Compressor Housings. The F.I. kit is all encompassing. Should you ~~need~~ want the ultimate in power you can select from many different turbochargers to fit the bill.

Besides looking good, you’ll find this Z on road courses doing some time and kicking ass.

There really isn’t much to see when the hood is open. Looks better than something the factory could put out.

One very important note to make is we converted the fuel system to a return style, similar to Norman’s Z. In Josh’s Z we went with an Aeromotive 340 fuel pump. We were impressed by its performance, as we ran only ethanol fuel.

9 psi of boost on ethanol.

10+ psi of boost, again on ethanol.

13 psi of boost, yes on ethanol, and also on a stock engine. Could we have gone further? Sure! We have to control ourselves at some point however! What’s that saying go??