Well the guy who was going to install the motor mounts is now selling them before he even installed them. So much for getting his feedback

 

Some preparation pics. I almost forgot how much I hate taking off the front bumper. The person that designed the bolt under the front of the headlight and behind the headlight deserves to be shot. The rest of it is not too bad.




One way to reduce a little weight. Just don't fire it up yet.




Taking out the bolts under the headlight I noticed the summer tires must rub a little on track!?! Weird since I never heard anything. This is the driver's side. Passenger side was not as bad. Either I corner harder to the right or the weight of a driver is throwing it off.

 

Z1 400hp club here we come!

 

Is there anything special about that ECU?

 

Yes, it has been reflashed by Z1 so now the car has roughly 400hp at the crank.

I also included a picture so people would get the right part (behind the glove box) since 3 different people at Z1 told me it was behind the kick panel on the passenger side. Below is the 1st part I took out and it was a PITA to get the top bolt out. I had previously seen pictures of the ECU and this part was about the same size so I thought that maybe it was metal on the back side. So just a warning to anyone trying to take out their ECU- it is hiding behind the glove box and definitely NOT in the passenger kick panel on the side.

 

Did you go with the pixie dust, or the liquid schwartz? I've heard good things about both.

 

I did both and combined them with topping off the blinker fluid and replacing the muffler bearings for maximum effectiveness.

All in all a very noticeable upgrade in performance according to my butt dyno and I am glad I did it. Definitely a bigger gain that adding the headers, Z1 cats, and Stillen exhaust.

I like the fact that it is not much louder than it was before with the intakes. You were actually the one that warned me about intakes before since yours added a lot of noise. (Maybe you did those before the exhaust?)

You notice a nice increase in low end torque around town so you never feel low on power, like you are in the wrong gear, or that your gears are too long. Much easier to start out smoothly, if that makes sense. You can drive around most of the time without feeling like the car is twitchy due to the extra power. However, when you step on the gas it really pulls hard at higher rpms. It finally feels faster than 99% of the other cars on the road, or simply, finally feels fast if you are used to very quick cars.

And now for something completely different- Rochester, I was going to talk to you about your suspension set up. I might try a hybrid setup like you since I have one road I have to take on the way to work that bounces the car a bit. I usually do not notice it too much until I have someone ride with me, but I was considering trying H&R springs on the stock suspension and just doing the front first. Maybe I would do the same set up all around or maybe get Koni shocks later. Just thinking out loud here.

At the very least I will see if it rides any different when I raise it up since my front fender liners got shredded from one of my track days last year. I had to drive standard cars for a week while I sent in my ECU and intake plenum and waited for the parts to come back so I think initially my car seemed to ride a bit rough. I am definitely starting to get used to it again.

 

I can't believe you're still using OEM muffler bearings. Amateur.

Didn't know Z1 was doing flash updates on a shipped ECU. I'm also kind of surprised... figured you were a dyno-tune kind of guy. Where's the page on that info? IIRC, there was a company that did that for the VQ35DE years ago... Technosquare?

If you go that route, I'm pretty interested in that assessment. I'd hate to get the fronts CO's installed, only to discover I preferred what I had.

 

Rochester, you of all people should know I don't do anything stock. The muffler bearings were custom ordered from Nismo because mad tyte JDM yo!!

Here is the page on the Z1 tune. It is listed on the link to the 400hp package as well.
https://www.z1motorsports.com/engine...ce-p-3294.html

I would say for how you use the car I would just keep the suspension set up that you have. It probably would be a bit bouncier if you switched the front suspension when you are on uneven/wavy pavement roads where the seams are not quite flat. (The roads where everyone's car looks like it is bouncing around)

 

So a 5-map, mail-in UpRev tune. $300 certainly seems fair.

Figure stock, valet, summer, winter and one 93 octane... about right? (I'm still learning this ch1t, BTW)

Their checklist document could sure use some work.

 

Do you plan on getting the Z1 headers + Test Pipes part of the 400hp packagae?

 

And, a before/after dyno graph on a VHR/HR car equipped with their 400hp package of the results.

 

he already has DC Headers EDIT: and Z1 Cats

 

I realize that, but my question if he plans on going with the full Z1 package with their test pipes. By the way he is going, it does not seem like out of reach for him to swap headers and go to a test pipe.

 

How are the OEM headers different from DC, and then different from Z1? I'm sure there's some optimization with length and the collector, and probably reduced weight, but at the end of the day, they're all 3-1 shorties, and you're splitting hairs.

Not trying to be a wiseguy... genuinely curious about the rationale.