Archives for : March2011

Backin’ it up! (Stock Turbo Mayhem)

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 29, 2011
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Mr. Evan from NorCal followed in our old boy Adam’s footsteps for another silent stock turbo equipped killer Z32 on the road.  It’s been a few months since Evan’s Z rocked out with its $#@$ out, I apologize for not updating as much as possible.  If I did all our work we’d have a system overload!  Anyways onto Evan’s build and results!

Evan came to us back in November and while he stopped by we added on Ash’s I\C Piping, Massives, and Z1 T.B.s.  I say we (during that time I was battling health issues and having radiation therapy every day), Brooke, Evan and his friend worked on his Z to get it ready to make power.  Greg also installed a set of our inlet accordion replacement pipes to get rid of some of the restrictive inlet (suck side) system.

Minus Adam’s intake piping, Evan had the same overall mods.  After the mods performed at our shop were done, we were all excited to see the results.  Evan had surprisingly enough a Genie 2.5″ Catback too!

91 octane, 15 psi for 417 whp

100 Octane for 447 whp!

Q16 for 479 whp!!

All that with stock turbos!  Congrats to Evan and his lovely lady for being patient with him and his Z! 😉

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.

A day at the drags

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 7, 2011
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Wow!  It’s been over 6 years since we’ve had a private track rental at our local drag strip.  The huge benefits of participating in a private track day is you have nicer cars, nicer people (IQ level seems to be higher as well), better track prep or cars that don’t ruin track prep by breaking or running crappy street tires, and as many runs your heart desires (or your equipment!).  For those in SoCal or anyone for that matter that wants to be a part of the next event, click here.  As usual I had very little time to prep for the even.  Luckily for me and the Z, Dean & Joel were able to get my harnesses’ SFI re-certified just in the knick of time.  A late night tuning session was also in order for my Z on Q16.  For those who have no idea what’s under the hood of my Z32, click here.  The two major differences since that post were Ash Massives I\Cs & 2.5″ I\C Piping.  The best the Z had done previously was an 11.3 E.T. a few years back with slightly fewer mods than what’s done last post and today as it sits.

The night before the event, installing & adjusting the 5-point harnesses.

I was joined by two other Z32 TT friends of ours, Billy and Dr. Dean.  Billy packs Sport 700s while Dean rocks our EXP-90s. Greg’s Z will be under going upgrades for those curious as to why the SZ Blue Monster didn’t make it.  Expect 8s sometime this year.

Beautiful day at the track.

Wild Billy’s Sport 700 Z

Billy’s engine bay. We built this baby back in 2006.

Billy rocking out on the launch getting ready to eat some pony.  He’s running 18″ wheels with some Mickey drag radials out back.  Drive up to the track and racin what he brung!

That’s alot of car lengths!

His goal of running 10s was accomplished.  He ended up running 3x 10 second passes with his best being a 10.8 E.T.

Dean came out with guns blazing.  However he’s been warned by track officials that if he runs 9.99 E.T. or over 135 MPH he will be black listed from the track.  So he dialed down the power and kept it under the limits.  His plan is to attempt breaking into the 9s at a different track further away from home.

Dean’s Z is a complete street car and sees daily use.  Stock chromies with Mickey drag radials.

Smokin’ the tires at the burnout box.  Dean ran an easy 10.2 @ 134 MPH for his best of the day.  What’s even more amazing is he pulled 2x 1.4 60 foots!!!  Incredible.

My pride and joy.

My #1 fan after Sonia.

Cooling off.

My 16″ TE37s with Mickey drag radials.

Safety first.  The rules require anyone running quicker\faster than an 11.5 E.T. needs to have a 5-point roll bar, 5-point harness’ that are within 2 years of being SFI certified, fire jacket, and helmet of course.  There are other rules but these are the most obvious that tech inspectors look for.

He shoots, he……………

Scores!  10 second pass in a Sport 500 car and NO nitrous!  A good example of a properly put together setup with some decent driving.  Look ma!  No hands!  (Automatic)  The Z makes 492 whp.  Got word that April 22nd will be the next private event.

Titan(ic) Power

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 5, 2011
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Mike’s got the thirst for power in his Nissan truck. He hauls heavy loads and wants to rips the tires loose at the same time.  Mike wants to have his cake and eat it too!

This Titan is equipped with Stillen’s Roots Blower for instantaneous boost.  Mike brought his truck to us shortly after having the blower installed by another shop.  He had his concerns about the quality of work performed and good thing he did.  Many things were not installed properly which would have eventually lead to catastrophic engine failure.  Besides fixing major issues we added s set of colder plugs and performed a minor tune thereafter.  Besides having the blower, Mike only has a catback and cold air intake.  Stock Titan dyno anywhere from 270 to 285 whp on a DynoJet.

The blue run was performed to get a baseline and it was scary to find where the A\F was.  After some needed love and tweaks the A\F (red run) now is in a much more comfortable range.  Mike is now thinking about some JWT S1 Cams!  Stay tuned.