Archives for : Dyno

Rude Boy!

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : July 24, 2012
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Mike from British Columbia has the appropriate name for his Z, “Rude Boy”.  Mike sent down his Z32 for some tender lovin’ care.  He knew his Z wasn’t running as well as it could have and wanted to give it the best shot it has.

Beautifully modified on the outside.

It came to us with the following power mods:

  • Built Engine
  • JWT 400 Cams
  • Border 850cc Fuel Injector\Rail Kit
  • Long Tube Exhaust Manifolds
  • HKS GT-RS Turbos (similar to 2871s)\Externally Gated w\ Tials
  • Custom 2.5″ Down Pipes & Test Pipes
  • SZ 2.5″ Single Oval Catback
  • Custom FMIC with some 2″ and 2.5″ Piping
  • Stock Throttle Bodies
  • Autronic SM2 Standalone ECU
  • Dual Fuel Pumps
  • Blitz sbc -iD Spec-R Boost Controller

We added and modified:

  • JWT 500 Cams
  • Tomei Adjustable Exhaust Cam Gears
  • Late Style BDE Adjustable Intake Cam Gears
  • Z1 Throttle Bodies
  • Replace existing custom 2″ Intercooler Piping with 2.5″
  • SZ Custom 3″ Down Pipes & Test Pipes
  • SZ 3″ Single Oval Catback
  • Haltech Pro-Plugin ECU
  • Tune it!

We added a set of custom 3″ downpipes to fit the altered location of the HKS turbos and external wastegates.

Out with the old……. this ECU is actually pretty powerful but 8 years later there are new and improved ECUs available.  We yanked out the old harness and installed a brand new harness in its place.

Haltech’d!  We went with a Haltech in place of the Autronic.  Packed with great features and adjustments.  We installed a 4-bar MAP sensor, Intake Air Temp, Dual Widebands, I\O Box, Clutch Switch for flat shifting, and Anti-Lag Launch.  Contact us if your looking to get a Haltech for your Z.

Cleaned up.  We moved alot of wiring around from how it came to us.  Rerouted the catch can setup.  New cam gears are visible.

Ready to get the job done.

The blue run is the baseline we did as soon as it showed up to our doors.  We kept the MAX boost level pressures the same.  We gained 108 lb\ft of torque and 82 whp at 4000 RPM.  Much better drivability and response!  We also made alot more top end power.  This is Rude Boy’s 94 Canadian Octane Tune.

For the final tune Rude Boy will run Q16 fuel down the drag strip for 851 whp & 650 lb\ft of torque.  Maxing out its 850cc injectors with ease.

370Z Dyno Tuning Action

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : July 11, 2012
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Just a tiny fraction of some of the dyno tuning on Z34s.

Back For More

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : June 16, 2012
12

Mr. Smith dropped of his 94Z32TT for some more upgrades.  You can read about his last visit here.

This time we added a set of adjustable BDE Intake Cam Gears and performed cam tuning on all four cams.  A Blitz boost controller was installed to replace the obsolete and non-functioning Greddy Profec-B.

Covers off and ready to tune.  Once we finished we installed the covers.

A boost controller worth every penny it costs.

Our patient tied down and hooked up to monitoring equipment.

The blue run was his previous best from its last visit.  Red is with the new boost controller and cam tuning.  This is on 91 octane.  Look at how much sooner our boost comes in.

100 octane

Q16.  So close to the that magical number.  What’s even more impressive is Scott is still leaving alot on the table.  He’s still on the stock intercooler piping of 2″!  Although peak power may not be greatly affected its the low & mid-range that will see the greatest benefit.  Now he just needs to working on driving down that 1320. 😉

Green Goblin-Z

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 24, 2012
4

James brought by his Green Goblin Z for some tuning action.

His main mod list:

  • 88mm Wiseco Pistons
  • Eagle Connecting Rods
  • Garrett GT28R Turbos
  • 2.5″ Downpipes
  • Specialty Z Test Pipes & Catback
  • 740cc Nismo Injectors
  • 5 Angle Valve Job
  • Southbend Stage 3 Clutch
  • 99 JDM Transmission
  • Larger Side Mount Intercoolers
  • Dual HKS SSQV4 BOVs
  • Blitz sbc-iD Spec-R Boost Controller
  • Innovative Wideband
  • Koyo Radiator
  • Selin Dual POP Kit
  • Nismo Oil Cooler

91 Octane Tune

100 Octane Tune

Q16 Tune

ESS Tuning M3

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 14, 2012
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Not Z related but this one is worthy of blog mention!

Winters NISMO

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : April 16, 2012
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This black Z34 NISMO came to us in need of a few things.  The owner complained of high oil temps even with his 25 row aftermarket oil cooler in city driving.  We designed and fabbed up a nice worry free solution to this.  We upgraded to a Stillen Gen 3 Intake, tuned the Z, and finally upgrade the rear end gearing to 4.08s.  Everything went smoothly and all the upgrades made nice improvements in the Z’s daily activities.

We had a few hurdles to conquer.  The first was getting by the front (NISMO only) brace.  You can see it in this picture running along side the front of the oil cooler and behind the fan.  Done with a little magic 😉  We used a very high quality SPAL pusher fan controlled by a thermostatic switch.  We opted to go with an 190 degree ON.  So as soon as the oil temps hit 190 degrees, the fan will automatically turn itself on.  We installed the temp sensor for the oil control directly into the oil pan (bung welded).

Looks almost factory.

Stillen Gen 3’s powdercoated wrinkle red (from Z1).

Short video of the fan running.

NISMO factory tune with only the Stillen Gen 3 for mods.  Already running extremely lean.  This would only get worse with an aftermarket exhaust.

Tuned run.

The owner of this NISMO is happy to report that with the e-fan mod the oil temps are much cooler.  Here’s what he had to say:

Wow. Just wow.  The fan works great! Driving around West LA yesterday in stop and go traffic the temp got to about 200. That is vs. the 220-230 that I would normally see in that traffic in 70 degree weather. At a long stop light the the temp (as you mentioned) went down. That little fan must really move some air.

The new final drive gearing also helped give more kick in the pants feel, accelerating the Z quicker.

Rode Hard Put Away Wet

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 28, 2012
7

Cons’ 2nd Z and (track) beater is this NA Z32 that graces its presence on our blog.  Its a slicktop that serves its purpose as a road race Z so that his pretty white TT can sleep peacefully knowing no rock chips or deadly oil starving corners await ready to pounce.

On its first stop to SZ we fixed a major oil leak, rerouted\fixed his PCV system, added an Unorthodox Crank Pulley, HI OD Water Pump Pulley, fixed some suspension issues, and finally strapped it on the dyno to see what this little NA VG had in it.  Engine mods are limited to a catback, UD pulley, and pop filter.  Rotora Brakes, Powertrix Coilovers, strut tower braces (F&R) and a mix of other adjustable rods and arms round up the braking & suspension mods.

We made one pull and found that it was running extremely lean (blue run).  This confirmed my thinking on how far off the NA programs are off stock or tuned.  Fuel changes over the years has really adversely affected mixtures.  This is the 4th NA that’s come in this way.  Making 2 pulls we were able to richen up the mixture (red run) to be safer and add some much needed power that the VG30DEs need.  Any will help even if its +7 HP.  Ignition timing was not adjusted since this was a quick and dirty pull just to see how much power it made.  No intentions on tuning.  So there maybe some more left in it, however Cons will wait until he pulls the trigger on a set of cams and headers.  Stay tuned for more from this little NA.

Must….. not….. let….. the….. Honda …..pass……

Wilken Z

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 20, 2012
2

Paul came to us from Arizona to tune his beautiful red Z32TT.  Already sporting our SZ ECU Switcher we went to work tuning for 91 and 100 octane fuels.  An overview of this red Z’s engine performance mods:

  • IPP Built Engine
  • Stock Cams
  • Stock IC Piping
  • MSP Manifolds
  • JWT Sport 500 Turbos
  • 3″ Downpipes & Test Pipes
  • B&B 2.5″ Catback
  • Greddy Profec-B Spec 2 EBC
  • SZ Max Street Clutch & Flywheel
  • Nismo 615cc Injectors

First up is the 91 tune.  Strong #s for 91 octane, boost peaked to 16+ psi around 4400 RPM and tapering down as RPMs climbed.  Gotta love small turbo torque.

100 Octane tune for an impressive 500+whp.  Two runs are shown, the blue run it slipped the drum roller from 4100 RPMs to 5200 RPMs.  The cold tires couldn’t grip the roller very well with all that instant torque.  The red run displays a clean pull once the tires heated up.

Against All Odds and a Monster Awakens

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 8, 2012
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Jon’s Z story is sadly alot like the other doom and gloom stories.  Thankfully after much love and a heavy therapy session at Specialty-Z there are no longer clouds looming over this Z.

Mods are as follows:

  • Built Engine
  • JWT 400 Cams
  • HKS Turbos (unknown size, possibly 2530s)
  • Tubular Exhaust Manifolds (mid-length)
  • ASH 2.5″ IC Piping & Massives
  • Larger Throttle Bodies
  • ASH Inlet Pipe Kit
  • Border 850cc Fuel Kit
  • SZ modified 2.5″ SS Downpipes
  • Custom 3″ Test Pipes & Catback
  • Twin Disc Clutch

After fixing the tremendous amount of issues we began to tackle this Z on the dyno for some data logging and tuning.   After a few pulls we uncovered more issues that needed addressing.  The Z came us with solid intake cam gears.  We installed a set of BDE Intake Cam Gears to revive Nissan’s VTC system.  Unfortunately we found that the VTCs were still not working.  We pulled the valve covers and found that the check valves were not installed in the back of the cams.  Adding the much needed check valves did the trick.  We also found that the fuel pressure was abnormal, very abnormal.  It was causing tuning grief and running too lean at 3300 RPM up until 4200 RPM.  This was remedied by untangling old bad work.

Fuel pressure reading on the lowest graph.  You can see how its running base fuel pressure up until 4200+RPM.  This is not good as you can see how lean it gets.  You can also see how it hurts power causing a nice dip.

Here is the graph (red run) after we fixed the fuel pressure issues.  The old bad run (blue) is displayed to show the obvious differences.  35 torque and 35 whp gain.

This graph shows the dramatic difference that a working VTC system can make.  The blue run was prior to fixing the VTCs.  Red is after with the VTC system working.  75 torque and 57 whp gain!!!!!!  Look at how the turbos react (boost curve).

The most impressive thing about this Z is its ability to make power on 91 octane and its strength against the evil California fuel.  You can’t hold it back.  It will go all the way.

If you can’t see it clearly enough, that graph says 564 whp & 501 torque.  It also says peak boost pressure of 20 psi.  All this on 91 octane.  A freak, an anomaly, a monster.  This Z gets to have its cake and eat it too.  It also takes other people’s cakes and eats it too!  It has amazing low end response, top end power, and makes a shit load of safe reliable power on 91 octane.  So much power that Jon declined to make any higher octane tuning.  Really?  Too much for you eh, Jon?

S14 VQ’ed

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : February 26, 2012
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Tyler came back to us after having us tune his Z31 track car.  This time he brought us his newly acquired S14 with a built turbocharged VQ35DE.  This car was built with a purpose and made to hit the drift circuits and road courses.  The turbo portion of this car comes from the old 350Z\G35 Turbonetics Kit.  A custom intake manifold was made with top end power in mind.  Controlling this moniacal setup is an AEM Standalone.  We reached the limits of both the fuel injectors and fuel pump so we did what we could with what we had to work with.  We also found ourselves performing some wiring fixes before we tuned to get the car to run properly.

For a test we removed that terrible intake on the front of the turbo.

Here are some tuned results.  The red run was performed with that terrible intake I mentioned above.  This is how the car will be running for now on the circuit.  As it is the injectors and pump are on the raggedy edge.  For a test we removed the terrible intake and made a pull.  We changed NOTHING else.  We came up with a great difference.  Look at the boost curve!  This poor turbo is working hard to make power with the terrible intake.  For now it serves a basic function of a restriction.