Forced Induction Reliability
 

I've been lurking around the GTM site as well as reading about SC and TT kits by other manufacturers. While everyone claims some level of reliability, what has been your real world experience (those of you who have gone TT or SC)?

I love the idea of eventually getting my car to 500 rwhp which would be a blast on track days. But do these kits really behave reliably, or does making the conversion also buy yourself a future of leaks, problems, parts, and fixes? I'd rather dump $80k in a GT-R than spend $30k more to get my Z to 500 whp with appropriate accessory mods only to have it be a 'shop' car getting fixed rather than a track car being driven.

Thoughts?

In my past experience, when ever you make a car that came from the factory N/A into an F/I set up, it always leads to problems of 1 kind or another. Hell, even cars that come from the factory F/I have issues, coughSTiandcough. Also, even without taking F/I into consideration...the more power you add over stock the more issues will want to pop up, weather it be engine, transmission, diff., ect. related.

Just my 2 cents

as long as it aint your daily driver your fine. your car being down for a week because of some mundain problem cant happen if its your only ride.

thats not to say it CANT be reliable, but sh!t happens. hell the guys from my.is who turbo IS300's have lil things that come up here and there.

Shoot I am DD my soon to be TTZ... and will continue to do so after the TT kit. Granted I have Forged performance right down the road so down time will be minimal... Reliability comes in the quality of the kit and the Tune... and also how well you maintain the vehicle... Seeing as my vehicle will be a trifecta of Track ready/Daily Driven/Show Stopper I have to take good care of this daily driver!

It all depends on how you drive your car. Of course, at first you'll have problems you'll have to iron out, but after that it's mostly up to you...

If you beat the crap out of your car every day, and don't have any supporting mods to help sustain that level of performance and reliability, then you're begging for problems.

If it's a daily driver, and you modify your car appropriately for the power levels you're looking for, then it should hold up if you keep to a good preventative maintenance schedule.

+1 on what Robert said. As time moves forward, people will see that the 370Z is a very reliable platform for F/I.

If you have a good install, proper fuel, proper engine management and monitoring devices, a solid tune, an understanding of how to monitor your vehicle, and follow a maintenance schedule, your TT 370Z should provide long-term reliability.

Even on the much weaker DE motors. We've have customers who've put over 70K miles on their cars with twin turbo kits with no issues to date.

whats your professional opinions on turbo vs super charged aftermarket kit's long term reliability? I always figured a supercharger was more of a set it and forget it kit compared to a turbo kit but I also know that if you put alot of money into it any set up can be a DD, you just gotta have the cash.

Shoot I had a turboed rsx-s and it was a DD and I had no problems(313Hp). But then again I drive like a grandma! : ) I put 62,000 miles on it with the turbo and a total of 88,000 miles. I made sure I wraped everything to sheild from heat (heat kills the life of all components: liquids, plastics, rubbers, metals)! I never had any probs though. Just did regular maint. a little sooner than the avg.
Be able to monitor any changes in your system.
Most important (TUNE)
The most important factor after buying a "trusty" kit is a grade A tune. Then retune after every so many miles every kit is diff! You will spend alot of $ keeping a perfect tune. Its not just tune and go! I did a main tune and then 2 or maybe 3 retunes can't remember, but that was also do to adding in new components. But the type-s was very reliable. But all engines are diff so who knows about the VQ. But if you drive like a idot than most likely this thought goes down the drain.

I'm approaching 20K boosted miles on my HR-TT with no issues. UOA on every oil change is still looking good as well. This is a DD with 20 miles one way to work with speeds ranging from stop and go to "fast":rolleyes:.

Like the others have said, it's all about how you drive the car.

BTW ... If you take your GT-R to a track, you can kiss your warranty good-bye.

I have a dealer installed Stage 1GTM kit with Setrab M25 oil cooler. The car now runs as good as it looks which I could not say without the SC. The biggest problem I have is that I am hitting 250 deg F. during normal freeway driving in Houston with an outside temp of 98 deg f. A couple of times now the computer has put it in the "limp home" mode.
I think it is because of the mounting position of the oil cooler. It is mounted agains the drivers side wheel liner. Air can't get to it or flow thru it. Once this problem is sorted the next step for this car will be an exhaust system upgrade.

annyone out there have a stock engine, 500whp tt setup, with lots of hard driving on it :driving:

I have 500 @ the wheel (on meth)and drive it hard but it is SC.:ugh2:

how many km have u put on it

I have only put about 1100 miles on it but they really have been hard since this is not my DD,plus it has 60 dyno pulls on it,not at one time but still 60.

I have 8000 miles of boosted goodness on my 09. Installed the GTM stage I at 12k miles. Stock internals and stock clutch. It's not my daily driver and I am not easy on it when I do drive it. So far so good.

What kind of oil are you running?

hows the clutch holding up?

I think you have answered your own question. 370z stock block was not designed to be blown. All components are stressed when aftermarket parts are bolted on. My stock clutch started to fail withing 8 weeks of going forced induction. Clearly longevity of motor will be compromised. If you can live with size of GTR that would be much better investment. Very few people are will to build 370z forced induction car properly. I count myself in that large crowd as I will run stock motor until it blows and they build up motor truly built to handle forced induction.

I have about 5000 miles on my my SC and no issues at all, No over heating or anything, AC is IC cold :), So guys lately have been having AC issues,

There is no definite answer to that. 500whp Though seems to be the upper limit. The problem is know one knows if your car was the perfectly spec'd engine/drive train when it left the factory or the one that just barely passed quality control. Same is true for a GT-R it can fail on the track unmodded too just like a modded Z could. Only thing is that the stock GT-R would be a warrenty replacement where as a modded Z would not.

When I go the route of FI I will probably looking at the 450whp area and that's what I am comfortable with. And I will have enough money on hand to replace it if it all goes to ****. The only thing you can do in the end is hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

So far it's been ok. It is most definitely at its limit. I don't dare turn the boost up because I know it won't hold.

I went to the drag strip a few weeks ago and that's where I really noticed its limitations. The first couple of runs I wasn't trying to launch hard. Then I decided to give it one good launch. Not a good idea. LOL.

I will be upgrading it over the winter. I was going to do it this year but I spent my mod budget on the exhaust.

yea or you could be like me i drive my car like grandma and still ended up needing an engine rebuild when i was having the car dynoed for water-meth trying to be even safer.
maybe the car came from the factory with slight piston ring defects or maybe the owner before me was driving the car hard i dont know but this was my dd now i drive a crown vic while me car sits in the shop :mad:
only good thing and i mean the only good thing is when i am behind people in the crown vic they move over because they think i am the cops lol

7k miles on the TT setup. Drove it to from TX to NC and back with no issues. It's a DD too.

ok have to change my previous post, No have an issue , Car is at the dealer and the was SC oil all over the engine bay, Even had some on ,windshield?

25k boosted miles. went TT after 5k miles of owning the car. Just replaced the stock clutch a few weeks ago. I got a OS Giken clutch from GTM which I highly recommend. No issues so far.

Whoa, good luck... Stillen Kit IIRC?

If you plan to track the car, don't do it. You will just end up dealing with headaches one after another. Track driving is different than a couple runs at the street light against Vin Diesel. Buy a real car and call it a day

Wrong!
If you prepare a forced induction car it can easily be tracked, will it require more money? Yes, but it is doable.

If I am reading this right, your endgame is not performance on the street, but a lesser opportunity to have more authority on track days.

I'd hardly recommend it. You know (probably better than me) how important driving is on a curvy track to better times. (I am ASSuming roundy-round.)

If you want daily authority on the road, in excess, then yes, it's worth the trouble and the cost and the lessened reliability. (Every HP over stock lessens reliablity.) This curve gets steep up around 500whp.

If you want a dead stock GTR, it will beat the pants off of a modded Z. A bit more money, but then you are in the same predicament: I want even more...

It never ends. But we spend money and modify to create something different.

Reliablity is a mandatory speedlimit sign at the intersection of passion and performance. Who's looking? :rofl2:

Coop

I would be quite interested to see how a turbo Z with a good set of tires would stack up against a stock GTR. Might need a new diff and coil overs as well

Back on topic. I think a turbo Z could be a reliable track vehicle so long as it has supporting mods and a vast amount of cooling. Upgraded radiator and huge *** oil cooler are def a must.

Anything is possible with money. The question is, do you want to blow 15K into the car before you even have a chance to put a competitive run in? It's not just spending money on radiators oil coolers and turbos. There are tons of things to consider once you are actually moving fast. Have you thought about what would happen to your clutch? your diff? your power steering? your suspension? your brakes? There are ton of parts to get into before you can track the car reliably. Buy the right car and call it a day. If catching a GTR is your goal, go buy one or find a slower driver you can pass and call it a day. Btw, look at how many heavily modded guys talking about preparing their car for the track, yet no one ever goes out.

The other poster is correct about you will never be satisfied with the mods.

You just listed the point in modding though, building a car to enjoy. I love the idea of just buying a GT-R and passing people, but I prefer the idea of taking this car and doing something unique with it. I get to put on my SC, modify my suspension, currently deciding on my brakes. It is part of the fun.
Yes I could just go buy a car and run it around and enjoy it, but that is not what I want.
Who said you would never be satisfied with the mods? Coop said it never ends, and that is true but that is the fun and enjoyment. Not that we do not get satisfaction, but we look for the next thing.

Also, look at other people on the track with NA setups, reliability is never something you bet on with any car (factory stock or modified). You want to track you will be dumping money in no matter what, how much is up to the owner and what he/she wants to enjoy.

It's a noble idea except not many people knows what they are doing and they just end up wasting money and time.

Factory cars are almost always more reliable, I am not sure where you are getting the unreliable part from?

Oil temp issue
Fuel starvation
Brake fade

All from a factory car.
Many cars have issues when thrown on the track which cause reliability issues which then require you to mod the car to fix.

how many times have you been to the track? you do know all cars will need some basic stuff right?

Not with the SC because mine is not prepped yet.
I still need better brakes, running on the OEM pads (deciding what level I want) and need Nissan to replace my transmission before I start romping around.
That is my point, you were saying just buy a car and call it a day but all cars need prep (minus a handful). NA or FI neither is reliable so you coming in saying if you want to track do not buy FI is just wrong and since you have not provided any info other than agreeing it cost money then thank you. Also, have you boosted a Z and ran it around the track yet?

what you mentioned are track necessity and car design flaws. what happens when you go fi? everything magnify and become worse. what are my chances blowing an engine, losing a fitting, blowing a hose than you? much less.

and lets not even get into the prep work on brakes and suspension

The bold part is still required for NA.
Also, you still have the same issues with a NA car, you can easily blow a hose or even your engine. VQ is known for having some engine oil issues or you push it to hard in the heat and your radiator gets dinged with road debris you seize up. FI v. NA is not some huge leaping step if prep is done. With a NA car you are still going to have to prepare and be ready the same with FI. At the end of the day I spent more money though though, that is it, we both still prepare.

Which returns me to your original point:

That is wrong.

Damn... guess I better tell Tony to take my TT kit off after he prototypes it... :shakes head: