Archives for : New Products

GTX-T28 Style

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : November 5, 2011
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While perusing the new products @ SEMA 2011 we stumbled upon an interesting find.  You couldn’t find this at the main Garrett booth but we managed to do so elsewhere.  At first glance (a really quick glance) it looked like an ordinary GT2860RS.  As soon as we took a look at the compressor wheel and inner housing we knew we had a bird of a different feather.

From the back side not much to look at.

Utilizing Garrett’s new adjustable brackets for the wastegate actuator.  Not sure if this will be standard.

Holy cow Batman!  What do we have here!  The wheel is totally redesigned.  Much more of a straight blade design than what we’re used to seeing.  The standard 2860RS (T04B) housing now adds an anti-surge feature.  We can assume the wheel is 3mm larger besides being billet.  I was tempted to just slip this in my bag…. J\K!  I’d need a 2nd one anyway 😉

The is the compressor map differentiating between the new 2863RX and the 2860RS we’ve come to love.  If this is correct, this turbo can easily make 30+ psi of boost and do it efficiently.  This thing looks like it shits on the RS.  Let’s hope it comes out and translates to be as good in the real world as it does on paper!  I mentioned earlier that these needed to be burst tested but they actually do not.  They are ready to be sold and will be shipping out shortly!  I can only hope and wish they do this for the T25 flanged 30 series.

Some press release from Garrett:

Garrett® GTX wheels feature next-generation aerodynamics, fully machined from forged aluminum alloy. Each wheel is performance tested in stateof-the-art laboratories to insure the best design is used to deliver provable results without guesswork.

Garrett® GTX Turbochargers will be available in several new sizes including GTX2860R, GTX2863R, & GTX2867R.

Dailey Engineering Dry Sump for the VG30DE(TT)

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : October 23, 2011
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Over the last + year Bill Dailey has been working on a dry sump kit in conjunction with Mike from NZ and with some help from SZ.  For this we are proud to be distributors for this high quality, hold nothing back kit.  A must for serious racers that want to keep their engines alive in the rigors of racing.  Do yourself a favor and upgrade the heart of the oiling system!  The VG30DE(TT) suffers from poor oiling under stress due to engine design.  This stems from various things.  Poor oil capacity, hydraulic lifters, VTC system, the latter two suck up oil capacity like crazy and oil has a hard time draining back to the sump (pan).  This is why early on Nissan campaigned wet sump road race Z32s with drain back pumps on each side of the head.  A solid cam and lifter setup like the one JWT now offers is a good step in cutting down blood oil sucking parasites we know as the hydraulic lifters.

The dry sump kit includes the billet pan with integrated pump bracket, oil pump & spacer with optional oil & air separator, ATI damper and pump pulley tensioner assembly.  What’s not included and will be up to the user\installer is the lines and oil tank.  This will depend greatly on the vehicle setup.  Pricing not set yet and look for it starting this week.  It will be available for order on our site.  Any questions on the system can be directed to SZ.

You can see the integrated pump bracket.  Note the groove on the flange for superior sealing to the block.  Reuses the factory front and rear oil pan seals and silicone.

Pump mounted.  The pump will sit in place of the existing factory A\C compressor.  So yes, you will have to delete your A\C to use this system.  The turbo drains have their own scavenging section directly on the pump.

Complete kit shown.  Lines & Oil Tank not included.

Z32 Inlet Pipe Change

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : October 16, 2011
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A few weeks back Mr. John G. from AZ brought his red Z in for some inlet pipe (ASH) dyno comparison among a few other cooling mods.

OK, I want to make this clear!  Please ready carefully and pay attention.  I know the public school system has failed many of the young Z owners.  The RED run was John’s previous best BEFORE the inlet pipes.  This dyno\tune was performed earlier this year.  The inlet pipe dynos are both the BLUE and GREEN runs.  The reason I am showing two runs is that you will notice the top end power is lower on the GREEN run.  The GREEN run I performed with the VTC system ON throughout the ENTIRE RPM range.  I was doing testing for those curious.  The BLUE run was normal but it showed lower power down low and I did NOT want to misrepresent have people think the pipes lost low end power.  You can see that on the GREEN run the low end power is on the par with the OLD RED run.  Hopefully this did not confuse anyone.   Any-who, no changes were made to the tune or boost settings for the sake of keeping things consistent and repeatable.  Between 3800 and 5500 RPMs we saw nice gains which anyone who drives there Z in the street can appreciate.  At 4700 RPMs we gained a sweet 50 ft\lbs of torque!  Horsepower was in the 40-50 whp gain.  This is on 91 octane fuel and Sport 530 Turbos.  Any questions please shoot Greg or myself an e-mail.  Pipes are available through our site here.

HR & VHR Clutch Kits

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : September 27, 2011
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Our final release of our 350Z (07-08 HR), 370Z\G37 clutch kits are now officially available.  Our first iteration involved upgrading the factory CSC.  This time we incorporated the use of a Tilton racing slave.  To achieve the proper release and ensure maximum clutch life the height of the flywheel and clutch pressure plates have been shortened.  In doing so we have saved even more weight from our original version.

Max Street Kit shown installed on a NA VHR.  You can see the two orangish stripes on the pressure plate and flywheel (balancing mark).  We take the time to balance our assemblies for even more engine smoothness.

Our CSC (internal slave) bolts right in with no need for any modifications to the transmission front cover.  All it takes is bolting up our adapter plate and your done.  SS lines are included for a complete install.  We are offering our Max Street, Max 6-Puck, and High 5 clutches.  Kits include the segmented aluminum flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate, racing CSC, pilot bushing, SS lines, and associated hardware.

48 lbs for the factory setup.

31 lbs for a total of 17 lbs saved!

Our segmented flywheel bolted to the engine.

M370 Results

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : June 13, 2011
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Jason brought us his 370Z equipped with an AT for some dyno comparison on the Motordyne M370 Intake Manifold.  Tony @ Motordyne has taken the HR intake manifold that came equipped on the 07-08 Z33s and modified them to work on the VHR engines.  The result is improved power & torque up to 6200 RPMs.  The runner length is one of the largest differences when it comes to the two intake manifold differences.  Results below.

Factory engine cover can be installed for those wondering.

Some nice gains to be had.  We saw an average of 7 HP & Torque with a good amount gained between 3800 and 6200 RPMs.  At 5K we gained 11 torque and 12 whp.

Some 96 Fix

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 24, 2011
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Owning a 1996 300ZX means having to live with OBD-II.  Although OBD-II today is a great tuning tool for newer car models, the 96′ Z was left in the dust.  1996 was the first year OBD-II was implemented in North America and it was also the last year the 300ZX was produced in North America.  This left the 96 a red headed step-child when it came to easy breezy modifications like its younger kind.  The 1996 year had 20 less HP, less aggressive camshafts on both the intake and exhaust for both the MT and AT alike (totally different than any of the other years).  The 90-95 MT cam spec for duration is 248 on the intake and 248 on the exhaust.  The AT 90-95 has a 240 intake and 248 exhaust.  Drum roll for the 96…………  they use a 232 intake and 240 exhaust!  They also have less lift then the earlier Zs.  No VTC system (Nissan’s Variable Cam Timing) also hurts power all around.  The 96s also use their own special OBD-II ECUs which are tougher to tune and throw codes for non emissions friendly mods.  So some have resorted to retro fit their 96s to 95 specs as far as the wiring, ECU, and cam setup goes.  This maybe an easy option for some but in states like California it’s a tough option to go through with.  Talk about some bad odds.

Enter Alex.  He has a 96 Z32 TT and has the mod bug.  Alex has been our customer for almost 10 years now and he’s slowly turned the wick up throughout the years.  This past December he wanted to “bump” it up some with the way of our 3″ 4-Bolt Downpipes (Stock Turbos), 3″to 2.5″ Test Pipes, Ash 2.5″ I\C Piping (w\ SZ Outlet Pipes) & Massives, Selin Dual POP, Nismo 740cc Injectors, Z1 Throttle Bodies, J-Spec Bumper, and some cooling mods for the track (auto-x & road course) duty.

Freshly painted J-Spec & addition of Powertrix C.F. Ducts.

Ash product installed.

Here are his results on 91 octane.  We had to rely on an AFC for fuel tuning……because its a 96.

Here’s where it gets interesting.  Exposing the shortcomings of modifying a 96 TT.  Increasing boost and fuel octane (100) did nothing for it.  Easily seen here are the boost differences between the 91 octane tune on 14.7 psi and 100 octane on almost 19 psi.  Gains are seen early on between the two only until about 5800 RPMs.  After 5800 RPMs the engine cannot efficiently make use of the added boost.  Running the engine at this level will only add stress to it.  The cursor on the graph shows the differences at 6000 RPMs.  Boost is 12.78 psi on 91 octane and 16.74 on 100 octane.  One would expect more power but that is not the case.  On 12 psi the engine is more efficient making power and torque.  It makes 20 more HP & torque on less boost (12 psi).  To make use of the quirky 96 and 100 octane would be to limit boost past 5800 RPMs.

Up next for this 96 will be the addition of pre-96 cams while adding Nissan’s VTC system without modifying the ECU & Harness via SZ funky, fresh mods.  Keeping it California legal.

Momentum Performance Turbo Kits for the 350Z & G35!

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : April 17, 2011
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Momentum came to us with their new single turbo kit out for the 350Z & G35.  We looked at the kit, its design and the components used and its hard to beat it!  High quality parts, great instructions, completeness make for a simple and stress free installation.  Along with reliability, power, and fun to the end user.  Although it looks like a similar kit that came out years ago (that’s where the similarities end), Momentum stepped up the game using larger turbo inlet and outlet piping.  A larger 3″ downpipe is used for better efficiency of the system.  That’s the name of the game when turbocharging, improving efficiency, not more boost to make power (to a certain degree).  Aside from just making a turbo kit, Momentum also offers headers & catback systems to compliment the turbo kit

At the heart of the kit is a Garrett GT35R fed exhaust gases by a Tial SS Cast V-Band Turbine Housing.  Use of this housing allows for a quicker spool by getting more heat (energy) to the turbine wheel versus a standard cast housing.  Excess exhaust energy is released by the use of a Tial MV-R wastegate and compressor source combated by a Tial Q BOV (MAF is blow-thru for no over-rich conditions).

Peek a boo!  GT35R utilizing the Tial V-Band Turbine Housing,  Also pictured is the Tial BOV.

Quality is also the name of the game, beautifully welded piping and exhaust show that its not just about making power but having an overall complete package.  The kit is available as a complete package with fueling (Walbro Fuel Pump & DW 600cc Injectors) and ECU (UpRev Flash) included along with colder spark plugs (6 heat range).  The tuner kit will not include fuel or tuning for those who already have this side of things addressed.  The standard options include polished piping and exhaust or for a little more you can opt to have texture black or gray piping and even have the exhaust ceramic coated.

Texture Black Piping shown above

Just plain sexy.  This kit will produce up to 600whp for those with built VQDEs and a safe 400whp on stock engines.

Tuner Kit pictured above

Available now at our store and also available for in house install.  Please e-mail or call us @ 818.703.6272 for anymore information and pricing.

Sophisticated Knock Control

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 15, 2011
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J&S first introduced their 1st gen of knock control computers back in 1991.  Since then J&S has advanced its knock control listening device with the latest technology while still using the factory Nissan (Bosch) knock sensor.

This unit has the technology to use the factory Nissan knock sensor to control knock per individual cylinder or across all 6 cylinders. Having a dedicated knock “ECU” to listen to certain engine noise (detonation) is an answer to the factory Nissan ECU. The factory’s method for controlling & listening to true knock is very poor and works only below a low RPM range.

The unit has LEDs for each cylinder to display which cylinder’s are getting knock. An optional gauge is available to monitor the amount of knock being retarded. It can retard a maximum of 20 degrees which is adjustable from a max of 10 or 20 degrees.  It has a boost retard feature for anyone looking to retard timing as boost rises.  This feature isn’t necessary on a Z32 TT, but great for a car that has no means of adjusting timing in its ECU and did not come turbocharged from the factory.  Another great feature is the ability to hook up some headphones to listen to knock that can’t be heard otherwise.  A sensitivity control also allows one to dial in the perfect amount of sensitivity to noise.  Even with good tuning certain conditions may occur that this unit can protect your engine against extreme weather conditions (heat), fuel system failures, constant changing racing conditions, and bad fuel.

We put the system to the test as we were very skeptical of its claims from the manufacturer.  We started off by inducing knock on one of our own cars to see if the unit could pick up the knock and also make sure it wasn’t picking up “other” non-knock noises.  Its processor for “listening” to knock is designed to pick up the certain frequencies made by knock and detonation.  In the end we were very surprised to see how well the unit picked up knock while we listened with our head phones and viewed the knock gauge.

This video shows me inducing knock with running higher boost & timing levels than intended to be safe.

Showing the individual cylinder LEDs for which cylinders are knocking.

In this final video I lowered the timing 2 degrees and boost by 1-2 psi, knock was significantly lower.

Two thumbs up from us.  It managed to notify us both visually and audibly, while controlling the knock from getting out of hand.

Available directly from SZ here.

Selin Dual Intake and Dual POP History

Posted by : Greg On : February 16, 2011
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A little history first……
Way back in the day JWT was the only one making larger turbo bolt on solutions for the Z.
The Single factory MAF has a zero to five volt scale and JWT found that the single MAF voltage happened to correspond to about the same HP. So the 5 volt signal was good for about 500 HP.
The JWT solution was to remove the stock intake TEE and used a single MAF on one side and a dummy MAF on the other side…….this measured half the air going into the engine and by splitting the injector size in half in the chip, the ECU could measure 1000HP.
Because the Z32 has a idle air control system that pulls all the air at idle from the left side of the engine where the MAF was placed, It measured all the air at idle causing a rich condition at idle and low speed.
The JWT fix for this was adding, what they called the low speed drive-ability kit.
What this did was cut the idle air hose with a TEE and run the same size hose to the other side, Because the hose was longer going to the other side this was not perfect and JWT added a small restrictor to the driver side to try and provide a better balance.
Well that all worked, but was not perfect and just bolting them on did not always offer a great idle.
What is interesting and why I bring this up, is because the reason JWT developed the dual pop was because of the electronic limit of the MAF.
The limit was 5 volts and this was about 500 HP.
Because of this electronic limit of the meter being 500HP, that got miss-interpreted and people started saying you do not need a dual pop until over 500HP…….
Well, electronically that was true, but power wise it makes a difference completely stock. We found in testing over 11 years ago that getting rid of the stock TEE and completely separating the two sides of the air intake system made great gains…….The only thing we did not know was if some of the gains were in the tuning of the chip that was required to go to dual pop at that time.
Jim Selin came along and decided to create a better solution…….
The Selin translator does not require a low speed hose and it also does not require a chip change to split the ECU value if your under 500HP. The reason it does not need these extra items is because it still measures all the air, Jim’s translator simply takes any air coming into the engine from either side and adds it together and sends it back to the ECU as one signal just like 1 meter does stock.
The reason dual pops work is that stock, the 2 sides are fighting for air in the tee, both sides are pulling from the same center section causing the turbos to work much harder to suck air.
By completely separating the two sides it makes it much easy for air to get into the turbo and the results speak for themselves.
When going over 500HP the Selin translator can be switched to average and this still measures all the air, but adds both sides and sends exactly half of the total it measures back to the ECU. This setting requires a chip change to cut the injector size in half to allow measuring higher HP up to 1000hp.
Jim came to us with a few customers watching to have us help him perform a test before and after going not from stock, but from a single pop to Jim’s dual pop set up.
This was done while strapped to the dyno and no other changes were made except installing the Selin complete dual intake set up.
The car had 2.5″ exhaust and a JWT pop and JWT chip.
We made sure the car was stable before starting the tests.
We then made 3 pulls to make sure the reading was consistent…..We then added the Selin Elbows, a second MAF with second pop, and the Selin translator…..
We then made 3 more pulls.
I believe Jim only posted one before and one after of the dyno work.
I think showing all of them helps people to see that it was not some trick or strange anomaly.
I will show separate Horsepower charts from the torque charts make it easy to read and include Air fuel ratio and Boost readings.
Again, this was all the same chip and only adding the second pop.

Horsepower

Torque

370Z TT…..the way it should be

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : December 13, 2010
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Back in June I picked up a Z34 with intentions that if I bought one it would HAVE to be twin turbo’ed shortly thereafter.  When the new gen Z first came out I wasn’t completely sold on its looks.  I hoped at the least the engine and interior were further improved upon than the Z33.  As time progressed I began to liken the fish hook head lights, although the fangs on the bumper were still undesirable.  In any case, I had the burning desire to feel, drive, and interact with the new generation of Z car.  Having played with some at the shop I was pleasantly surprised as to how much better quality was up over the 350Z.  Handling is superb while retaining a very comfortable ride that doesn’t bring discomfort to  my body.  Having owned various high power Zs the added power of the new Z34 was a benefit, but I was spoiled.  This is why it just had to be turbo’ed.

Older brother Z32 gets to share his bedroom and share stories.  Looking at the rear of the Z34, the only thing I didn’t like was the rear fog light.  Painting the lower portion of the bumper black helped detract attention from it.

It’s almost a shame the front bumper has to hide such a beautiful kit produced by GTM.

The kit selected to power the Z is a high quality GTM Stage 2.  The turbos used are Garrett GT2860RS’ utilizing the .86 turbine housing and Tial external wastegates.  A GTM competition oil cooler was added to combat the already (factory) problematic oil temps.

Engine cover painted to match.

Since the car was to see some drag strip use we selected our flywheel and High 5 Clutch.

6 psi of boost (Boost Controller Off), good for over 400 whp.

9 psi for 488whp.

12 psi (100 octane) for 557 whp.  This is efficiency!  Less boost than a comparable Z32 and making more power for the given boost level.  The one thing lacking versus its older brother Z32 is the torque output.  The VG30DETT is good for matching HP & Torque values.

The blue run was the car BONE Stock compared to the red run force fed by 12 psi of boost from the GT2860RS’.

Power comes on very smoothly unlike a Z32 which can be violent.  Due to in part by the flat torque output.  It feels like the car could have come equipped force fed from the factory, its that good.  The VQ37VHR engine acts as if nothing were different with this amount of power running through its veins.  Something the old VQ35DE could not accomplish on a factory engine.  The bone stock VQ35DE could really only safely muster under 400whp.  Anymore and you risk certain catastrophe on the VQDE engine.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MFxWUu6U3U]

On its first maiden voyage down the 1320 the Z and I (CAR #7293) were able to break into the 11s.  Prior to this it had been over 5 years since I last banged the gears down the track.  I can say this car is limited mainly by my driving and with some practice it should see low to mid 11 E.T.s.