skyline4ever

hello all, I'm looking to go forced induction and want to get around 420 to 440 whp.

I have a $11000 budget for everything including labor and am wondering which rout to go. I want good reliable power but I don't have unlimited funds.

is the stillen super charger the best as far as sc's go for the money and how much does a comparable in power turbo charger kit cost?

also what about ease of installation and time can any one give me estimates on what an average shop might charge for either system.

please advise me the cheapest way to go about doing this while still being reliable and getting the best for my money.

with any luck I hope to have enough money left over for some lowering springs too but that's for another time.


Thanks guys.

milkcow500

I would wait around and see if you can get a used gtm/stillen sc kit. The stillen runs on low torque, so it will obviously be the most reliable route. I've had mine on for a year and I haven't had any issues dailying the car. Expect ~$1500 for install and then ~$500 for dyno tuning on uprev/ecutek.

chuckie311

iTrader: (3)

this should give you a good idea on the difference of boost

370Z Forced Induction: Boost is not created equal |

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Cheap. Reliable. Fast.

You may choose only two of these. Doing that will help to determine what route you want to take.

jwick

If you only have $11k then I would say you aren't ready to play in the FI pool. A typical number is $15-20k to do it correctly. That doesn't included the emergency 'I popped my motor' fund either. Now you might get lucky and pick a used kit up that drops you kit entry price by a few thousand dollars but it still won't leave you with emergency funding. Boosting is not cheap and you should never cut corners.


There will probably be people that think they can do it cheaper but they aren't the ones that have actually walked that path. Those that have boosted a Z/G will agree with the funding.


Betty speaks truth. That's the business triangle. Been around for years.

skyline4ever

would it be correct in assuming the super charger is cheaper then the twin tirbo set up though?

I only assume this know that ingeneral there are less parts to a supercharger and the few people I know that have done mods like this say super's take less time to instal.

just looking for specifics of doing this with this car, all things I should know before jumping in head first you know.

skyline4ever

ok I read somewhere that the stilen kit runs around 6000 1500 for instal plus 500 for a tune that's not bad still under budget.


do you have any other supporting mods such as tranny cooler or valve body replacement? how much power are you running?

I've read that for automatics all bets are off after 450 hp unless you do valve body replacement, trying to stay just under that so I wont have issues, but if I have enough money left over I might just upgrade the tranny too depending on cost.

milkcow500

I'm running around 420awhp right now. I got my kit used with the Stillen oil cooler and frozenboost cooler. The only other supporting mods I have are the torque converter and valve body from Level Ten. You won't get anywhere near 450 unless you upgrade the pulley/impeller for more boost, which I suggest you not do unless you do some heavy modifications.

chuckie311

iTrader: (3)

the basic stillen tuner kit is 6500.. install is anywhere from 1500-2000 and tuning will probably run another 1000..
your best bet is to find a used kit if you want to save some money..
they pop up on here from time to time for a pretty good price..
with the 7AT anything over 400whp can give you an issue just depends on how hard you push the car..
if you going to upgrade the transmission your looking at about 4k
boost in not cheap dont let it fool you.. if you blow the engine you starting all over again..so you'll need a lot more than 11k
if it was me i wouldnt go boosted unless i had another 10k sitting around

milkcow500

I think he has enough if he just wants to do the Stillen kit without modifying it. My setup was under 8k for a used kit with coolers, transmission work, install labor, and dyno tune. The Stillen kit is very tame, but anything could happen, so you'll def need money sitting around just in case you blow anything.

skyline4ever

thanks alot milkcow, this is exactly the information I was looking for, I'll have it tuned to no more then 420hp then like your car and get the level 10 transmission upgrade.

if anyone knows of a used stillen kit around here let me know in this thread or pm me.


Thanks again guys for the help.

jwick

Not necessarily. You can get the single turbo kit I installed for the same price as the Stillen and mine came with the oil cooler included and everything (minus tools) that you need to install it. I installed it myself in two weekends. I could easily do it in one but I took my time and also spent most of the second weekend doing mostly electrical/gauge work.


The beauty of a turbo kit is you can control the amount of power you want by changing the pressure in the WG.

milkcow500

I think it's safe to assume that he does not want to be doing the install himself. Even so, I think a turbo option would be out of his budget unless he ran it very conservative. The stillen kit only pushes 300trq, so it's pretty reliable unless you start messing with it/have a bad tuner.

jwick

He hasn't stated that and my turbo kit installation was very straight forward. Turbo is the best option. There are more popped Stillen SC motors then all other FI options combined, I wouldn't call that reliable. The only safe way to have a Stillen kit is to leave the kit exactly as designed.

milkcow500

If he is up to it then it's obviously a better choice, but from reading his posts, I doubt he is willing to. The kit is very reliable as long as you don't try to mess with the design and have a good custom tune. Most of the popped motors I see are from people trying to upgrade the kit, run Stillen's tune, or have a terrible tuner. I can't really say much, since I've only had the kit for a year, but I've yet to have an issue.

Chances are if he wants to push more torque with a turbo setup, he will have to do Level Ten's complete transmission build, which will run over 4k alone.