Preparation for the STILLEN supercharger
 

OK, so we have been getting A LOT of questions lately about how to properly prepare for the STILLEN supercharger. Rather than having my posts get lost in a 20+ page thread where no one wants to go back through and re-read everything so I'm constantly saying the same things over again, I decided to just start a new thread with updated information:

So, please feel free to ask questions in this thread and I will do my best to answer them and keep this first post updated with the FAQ's and answers:

Will the Gen. 3 intakes fit with my supercharger?
No. The dual throttle body design has complicated the supercharger design and has caused us to relocate some components so that the Gen. 3's will not fit anymore.

Should I install headers now, so that I'm prepared for the supercharger?
No. Until we know what will happen when headers are introduced to the equation, we recommend not buying them. In the past we have found that headers can drop up to a pound of boost and therefore we recommend not installing them until we (STILLEN) have had a chance to test that combination.

I am interested in the supercharger but I also want to get or buy a custom tuner today, what should I do?

That all depends on what you think the value of the tuner is worth to you. If you want to spend a couple hundred dollars on a tuning device today and then in six months sell it or just lose it, then sure, go ahead and do that. But, your tune will be completely different from normally aspirated to supercharged. If you plan on buying the supercharger as soon as it becomes available then I wouldn't bother. If you plan on waiting a year or so before purchasing the supercharger then the cost of the tuner today and being able to use it for the next year and possibly sell it off could be worth it to you.

Just keep in mind that whatever tuner you buy for your normally aspirated car will be 100% different and will need to be re-done when you install the supercharger

What should I install today to prepare my car for the STILLEN supercharger?
There are a lot of different areas that you can improve/prepare for the supercharger.

#1) Cat-back exhaust. You will want a high quality cat-back exhaust system.

#2) Clutch and flywheel- You are going to be increasing the horsepower and torque substantially so you will want to make sure that your clutch and flywheel are up to the job.

#3) Everything else (LOL). I highly doubt that any one is going to do a lot of work on their performance without also modifying their suspension, or wheels and tires or brakes, or exterior, and other parts of the car. Basically what I'm saying is leave the intake and headers alone. Intake for sure won't fit, and the headers may or may not improve your performance.

Should I run 2.5" exhaust or 3" exhaust?

3" is good for turbo cars but for the supercharger the 2.5" exhaust is more than sufficient.

I currently have the G3 intake, are you guys going to use the same enlarged holes for the G3, for the S/C piping (or anything else)?

This is a good question and I don't know exactly what the answer is. I do know that the intercooler does have to be routed to the front of the radiator so I am sure that at least one of those openings will be re-used but I do not know about the other one. I'm sure that will be released soon.

Also will the air to water intercooler use its own water resovior or share it with the engine coolant?

Yes, the intercooler will use its own isolated coolant path.

What about fuel? Does the kit include upgraded rails and pump? stock system?

Yes, just like all of our supercharger kits, this VQ37 supercharger kit will come equipped with all of the necessary modifications to the fuel system. Again, at this time I don't know exactly what all that is but if it is required to run the car safely and operate the supercharger, it will be included in the kit.

Also you mention the intercooler is going in front of the radiator? Is that going to get in the way of your oil cooler

It is our goal to accomodate the engine oil cooler and the intercooler without interferring with one another. We understand completely that one of the big needs for the VQ37 is additional engine oil cooling and that has most definitely been a consideration for this project since day one.

Will this kit be "for off road use only" or will it go through the CARB/street legal process?

It is our goal to achieve CARB legality and receive and exemption order number for the kit. We have already begun talking with a lab that we have used in the past on various other products, all of which have received CARB approval.

When is the estimated release date?

We can't give an estimated release date becaue there are still some final things to work out. For example, although we have a running prototype and tuning is about to begin, we still need to do a lot of drive time real world testing. High altitude, desert (heat), long distance, basically general drivability. These driving steps can sometimes take one week which was the case for the 350Z and G35 kit, and if the car passes everything with no problems, then we're good to go. Or, like the case of our Titan supercharger, we might find that we need to do a lot of endurance testing if something arises during one of the other tests.

When we were developing the supercharger we used my Titan and during the long distance/high temperature test I drove out to Palm Springs. I got about fifty miles out from the shop and the check engine light came on. So, turned around and headed home. The engineer's made a couple changes and I went back out again, this time I made it half way before the check engine lights came on. Came back, made a few changes, then we went back out again. The third time I made it all the way there, had lunch, then took the mountain road home. No lights, no problems, all was good. The next morning I started the truck and began my 5 mile commute into work...Check engine light came on...So, we took another look at it. Basically what was happening is that my over sized (35 inch mud terrain) tires were causing the truck to run at a higher RPM in order to travel the same speed as our test truck which had factory ride height and wheels and tires. The test truck never threw any lights but because we also did the testing on a lifted truck, we learned what would happen. Finally, before releasing that kit I took the truck all the way from Newport Beach, CA. to Ensenada, Mexico. That is about a 200 mile trip each way. We did not experience any problems on that trip so we released the kit and were comfortable that we had done sufficient testing.

I would love to be able to say that we will be releasing the kit in the first quarter of 2010 but we want to focus on the performance of the kit and ensure that everything is perfect before releasing it.

NEW YEARS EVE UPDATE:

Progress is coming along very well. We received some of the castings back from the casting house this week and next week they will go into the machine shop for finishing. From there we will install them on the test cars and will begin tuning. A little bit of cool information that I have found out today. The casting house who is making our intake manifold and some of the other components also makes aluminum heads for Ford, racing speed boats and numerous other forms of race vehicles. They do some amazing work and they're located in USA!

Also, we have some information on some of the stages that we will be offering for the VQ37:

The STILLEN supercharger kit will have 3 options.

Option 1) Tuner kit...All the hardware and equipment minus the fuel management. This kit should be ready in about two months or so. Look for it around the end of February beginning of March.

Option 2) CARB legal kit. This kit will be 50 state legal, yes it won't have as much power as the other stages but it is street legal!!! More than likely this kit will be running around 6 psi. The release of this kit greatly revolves around the amount of time it takes CARB to grant us a test date and review our results. I can't give a solid ETA on this because it really is up to CARB.

Option 3) Race kit...This will be a pre-tuned race kit that will not come with any warranty and will not be street legal but it will be a bolt in kit for the guys looking for a bit more power but don't want to bother with figuring out their own tuning. This kit will be developed along side the Tuner kit so look for it to be released around the beginning of March.

What Gauges would be most beneficial for use with the supercharger?

I am currently working with a company to develop a couple of gauge pods and guages. My ideal situation would be for them to come pre-loaded ready to go.

If you only run a single guage then obviously you'll just want boost.

If you want two guages, then you'll want boost and air/fuel. Air/fuel you won't watch all the time but it won't hurt to have it.

If you want three guages, then I would suggest boost, air/fuel and a good, accurate oil temperature guage with the issues that the VQ37 has with engine oil temperature.

One thing to keep in mind is that you want to buy a boost guage that is appropriate for the amount of boost you plan on running. Basically, don't run out and buy a 30 pound boost guage because it won't be as accurate for you as say a 15 pound boost guage.

If we install headers purposly to lower the boost, can you provide us with more boost or a smaller pulley :) Im just kidding!!!

Actually yes, potentially, it just all needs to be worked out, tested, tuned, etc. More info on that to come later..

Nice - good to see a dedicated thread - Will keep this on watch Kyle - more info the better

That is what I was after. Now the only problem I have is the last statement that Kyle made. How am I going to effectively save up my pennies if I am buying suspension goodies and new wheels/tires. Dilemmas.............................

For the exhaust, would a 3" exhaust offer substantial benefit over 2.5" for use with the supercharger?

No- A 3" exhaust will benefit a turbo system but you won't want to go that large for the supercharger. 2.5" is more than sufficient.

I currently have the G3 intake, are you guys going to use the same enlarged holes for the G3, for the S/C piping (or anything else)?

Correct me if im wrong because im not sure how the 370z handles the size of exhaust. But with my Supercharged Cobalt. Aftermarket exhaust with 2.5" piping was good until 270whp....anything more it was recommend 3". I was making 20psi of boost on a Harrop TVS 1320...ran stock exhaust at 265whp and it restricted alot. Changed to a 3" downpipe and 3" exhaust and it bumped it up to 281whp. No disrespect intended but does your statement still stand or no? Like i said i dont know how the 370z exhaust, since its dual, handles the size. I'm guessing since its dual that theory still applies but to a greater number....for example, 400whp.

Yup...2.5 inch is the right size unless your talking about running a lot more boost and have headers and race pipes to take full advantage of the improved efficiency. Keep in mind the amount of boost your talking about on that cobalt. 20 pounds of boost is HUGE. That is a tremendous amount of air being forced into that motor and therefore it requires a large enough exhaust to allow it to vacate effectively and efficiently. Our standard kit will probably only run around 6 or 7 pounds of boost so the dual 2.5 inch pipes are more than sufficient.

If people decide to bump up their boost pressure A LOT higher than our standard kit and support it with the exhaust components I mentioned then ya 3 inch might be ideal but for 95% of the people who buy our kits the 2.5 inch is the desired size. 3 inch piping would more than likely be too large and decrease your bottom end performance.

Volume of 2 x 2.5" exhaust is 9.8 sq/in.
Volume of single 3" exhaust is 7.0 sq/in.

The dual intake / dual exhaust will carry more air mass with less restriction than the single exhaust on your supercharge 4-cylinder did, regardless of boost level.

Yep, there's basically one less cylinder involved per header.

Inline 4 cylinder = 4 cylinders into header @ 3" = .75" per cylinder
Half of a V-6 = 3 cylinder into header @ .75" = 2.25"

What about fuel Kyle? Does the kit include upgraded rails and pump? stock system?
Also you mention the intercooler is going in front of the radiator? Is that going to get in the way of your oil cooler?

You will not need anything more for the fuel system. Just like our other kits that will be a part of the kit.

We are designing the intercooler to work on a vehicle with the oil cooler installed. I can't confirm 100% yet but it is definitely an important goal of ours.

Great thread, subscribed for updates :tup:

ok thanks for clearing that up. I forgot that your superchargers wont be pushing that much psi due to the compression ratio. Also one other question. Do the superchargers that you are using make a whine sound or a blow off sound?

I think you mean to refer to area, not volume.

^ I hope it whines! Love the sound Cobras make when they pass by. Sounds better than a turbo IMO.

Yes, although cross-sectional area in this case implies volumetric flow.

this has probably been discussed but estimated release date?

So are you going to tell us at LEAST what kind of supercharger it is yet??? Its kind of overdue, and no way someone can steal your design, b/c a supercharger is a supercharger and you have to be using one or the other type of scenario. So please just help us with that?

Someones a little late for the party..

http://www.the370z.com/forced-induct...imates-21.html

in for updates too

RCZ, let me know when you want to sell me your Gen3 :stirthepot:

We can't give an estimated release date becaue there are still some final things to work out. For example, although we have a running prototype and tuning is about to begin, we still need to do a lot of drive time real world testing. High altitude, desert (heat), long distance, basically general drivability. These driving steps can sometimes take one week which was the case for the 350Z and G35 kit, and if the car passes everything with no problems, then we're good to go. Or, like the case of our Titan supercharger, we might find that we need to do a lot of endurance testing if something arises during one of the other tests.

When we were developing the supercharger we used my Titan and during the long distance/high temperature test I drove out to Palm Springs. I got about fifty miles out from the shop and the check engine light came on. So, turned around and headed home. The engineer's made a couple changes and I went back out again, this time I made it half way before the check engine lights came on. Came back, made a few changes, then we went back out again. The third time I made it all the way there, had lunch, then took the mountain road home. No lights, no problems, all was good. The next morning I started the truck and began my 5 mile commute into work...Check engine light came on...So, we took another look at it. Basically what was happening is that my over sized (35 inch mud terrain) tires were causing the truck to run at a higher RPM in order to travel the same speed as our test truck which had factory ride height and wheels and tires. The test truck never threw any lights but because we also did the testing on a lifted truck, we learned what would happen. Finally, before releasing that kit I took the truck all the way from Newport Beach, CA. to Ensenada, Mexico. That is about a 200 mile trip each way. We did not experience any problems on that trip so we released the kit and were comfortable that we had done sufficient testing.

I would love to be able to say that we will be releasing the kit in the first quarter of 2010 but we want to focus on the performance of the kit and ensure that everything is perfect before releasing it.

LOL...everytime I see a post from Kyle I feel like a little puppy getting his hopes up for something special... I can't wait to hear some firm figures and release dates!!!

Thank you for this!

I think someone should post that info about the supercharger here, I dont know how to do it if not it would be done.

Interesting about the Supercharger, definately going to be interesting to see b/c of the twin intakes. I have no doubt that the new plenum i will call it, is probably going to make people that do shows put this kit on b/c itll be so nice. Not saying itll be great performance, but I am sure just the pure eye candy will be nuts.

Yeah, I'm all for the testing :tup: Thanks for the updates. Anyway of giving us a ballpark price range, we won't hold you too it :icon17: $5K-$7K, $6K-$8K, $7K-$9K. ??? Just want to know which child I have to sell on the black market in order to afford this. :icon17:

This statement made me lol while our office was quiet. Damn, busted by the boss while reading the forums........


For me cost, as well as release date will be the determining factors for me. I don't really people (with a few exceptions) working on my machine. I have had to un-f___ my S13 at least 2 times because I decided to take it to a shop and have work done and the mechanics sucked or sabatoged me (I think the latter). I guess my main concerns are will this kit be about the same skill level install as a turbo kit and what will the tuning/ecu/piggyback be like. I had a Power FC in my S13 and the 1JZ setup has an AEM-EMS (Zerolift Autolabs installed my 1JZ). If I have to do the installation, that is fine. Tuning is a different animal all together If a piggyback is all that is offered, then I would rather wait until a better option is available.

I could be wrong, but I think he said something like it will come with a base tune that will satisfy 95% of the customers.

suscribed for updates

Why don't you guys 'test drive' that car up to Chicago so I can check it out :)

Stillen, any intentions of testing the S/C kit on some sort of road course to see how well the engine and kit handle the stress?

I can guarantee you we'll have supercharged 370Z's out on the track.. a definite plan for STILLEN in 2010.. :)

VTalumni:
Thanks for the clarification. I think I missed the post that detailed that info.

Stillen:
Will the kit include an ECU or some sort of ECU reflash? That is really the only thing that concerns me at this point.

Stillen has mentioned they are working on providing a hand held tuner with their kit.

Will this kit be "for off road use only" or will it go through the CARB/street legal process?

Stillen will offer different stages. At least one of those will be CARB legal, and it will probably be the stage producing the least power.

It is our goal to achieve CARB legality and we have already been in contact with a testing lab that has tested numerous other products for us. All of which have passed with flying colors.