Review: MAC Autosport Stillen SC Install on G37s
 

I have had some requests to cross post my Stillen SC installation review on myG37.com here. I am happy to oblige as I hang out reading tech threads on the370Z.com often. You guys have a great site. I will do my best to post a review worthy of the site. This review is meant to highlight the performance of the installed parts as well as the shop that performed the installation.

I own a 2008 G37s 5AT which I purchased from Boulder Nissan in May 2010. I dropped it off at MAC Autosport in Parker Colorado, owned by Bill McMahan on Wednesday the 12th of January to have them install the Stillen supercharger kit, Stillen transmission cooler and Stillen cat back exhaust then perform a custom Uprev tune on the finished product. I had pre-ordered my parts through MAC a couple of weeks earlier and they were all in-house ready to go prior to my arrival.

When I got to the shop I was met by Jessie (please forgive my spelling if that is not correct). She welcomed me and escorted me into the back for a tour where I found three lifts, all occupied, an all wheel drive Dynojet, also occupied and various shop owned project cars. Off to the side were my boxes from Stillen. I met Bill's crew (Lead Tech Adam aka Skip, Tech and Lead Fabricator Mike aka Chambo and Tuner Nick). The guys opened up my boxes so we could take a look then I took a few pictures of the shop before I had to get back to work. Everyone in the shop was great and said I could come hang out and watch the work any time I wanted.

A note on this project concerning altitude and air pressure:
The air pressure at our altitude (5815 ft ASL at MAC) is approximately 0.80 to 0.82 of sea level air pressure. Because of our altitude I opted to go with the 9 psi pulley based on my calculation that would yeild around 7.2 psi of boost.


On Thursday the 13th, the MAC crew performed the baseline dyno then got started on the installation work. On Friday the 14th, I stopped by the shop around 2:30 PM to hang out and watch the crew work. They had the blower installed and were working on the tranny cooler installation when I arrived. They had most of the exhaust installation complete by the time I left. Bill and the crew said that the install was going well and they they were really impressed with the quality of the SC kit. I had a blast shooting the shiet with Bill and the guys in the shop. Of course, I was already talking to Bill about my next mod (suspension) that I hope to start next summer or fall. He impressed me because he was not trying to sell me on high dollar parts and a lot of labor. He talked to me about what I wanted to accomplish and then suggested options that would meet what I was looking for, but that is for another time. The time I spent talking with Bill in the shop really reinforced my opinion that these guys have a passion for what they do and really care about getting everything perfect on every project they have.

By the end of the day on Saturday the 15th, most of the install work was complete and they had me scheduled to go on the dyon on Tuesday the 18th to start the tune (they are closed on Sundays and Mondays).

Around 2:30 PM on Tuesday I got a call from Jessie. She told me that they had some trouble communicating with my AT controller and determined that they did not have all the Uprev software required. Uprev was in the process of e-mailing them what they needed and they expected to have the initial update in for the tranny that afternoon and to get started with the tune the first thing in the morning.

Yesteday, Wednesday the 19th I talked to Nick, Mac's tuner. He said that all was good with the tranny but that they had run into a problem. When they started the first of their dyno runs they noticed fluid leaking from something. They pulled the car off the dyno and started checking all the installation work for any problems. What they finally discovered was that the vortec blower had been overfilled with oil (it comes pre-filled from the factory). They had to remove oil until it was at the correct level then run it and check for leaks again. They expected to be back on the tune soon. At 5PM Bill called me and said that everything was going well and they had it dialed in pretty good. The only thing that they had left was to get the final tranny programming completed. He said it was a challenge getting it programmed to a profile that they were happy with and that if I had the MT, I could have been driving it home earlier in the day. Josh and Kyle from Stillen had contacted us and let us know that it was important to perform the tranny programming due to the increased torque. The fact that Bill and his crew were busting their buts to make sure it was right reinforced my feelings that these guys really work until they get everything right.

At 4:15 PM today Jessie called me to let me know that they had just returned from their drivability road test and had confirmed that the AFR was good across the range in street driving conditions and not just on the dyno. The guys that did the test said it drove great and that the power was smooth across the rev range.

Numbers:
As you can see from the attached dyno chart, we got siginificant gains in HP and torque.

Baseline conditions (Bone Stock): 67.83 deg. F, 24.53 in-Hg, Humidity: 16%
baseline numbers were 250 hp, 227 torque

Final power run conditions: (7.2 PSI boost) 71.21 deg. F, 24.31 in-Hg, Humidity: 13%
Final power run numbers: 387 hp, 311 torque

I am very happy with the results which I feel are excellent for our altitude and running a conservative 7.2 psi of boost. I am also very happy with the job Bill and his crew from MAC have done. It was murder waiting for the tuning results but I am very happy that they took their time and did the job right to get me a safe tune with solid gains. I highly recommend MAC Autosport for anyone in our area. Here is the link to their website for anyone who is interested (Welcome to MAC Autosport).

I will be picking the car up tomorrow and I can't wait to get behind the wheel! :eekdance:

I will post additional pics and a first drive review later this weekend.

Regards,
Dave

Very nice and thorough... I'm glad everything worked out according to plan and hope you enjoy the new power!

Thanks bro. It has been he!! on my nerves going through the process but it has been a blast, especially with all you guys around to keep things hopping LOL! :tup:

Very nice! That has to be one of the wierdest looking dyno print-outs I have seen. Some waviness, ok, but a loopty loop!?

I'm wondering the same. Is his A/F good?

Yeah, that loop is bizarre. It is on the baseline run they did. It only shows up in the power and torque at about 3.5 grand and not the AFR.

It looks like they briefly got off the throttle at 6.5 grand. You have to remember that the x axis is RPM and not time so if you increase RPM then decrease RPM you can get that loop look. If you display the graph with time as the x axis you don't see any loops. I attached a graph with time as the X Axis. It is really nice to have the raw files and the WinPEP 7 viewer as I can view any parameters in the file I want.

It is interesting viewing the file with time as the X value. It shows that it took much longer to reach max on the Baseline run than it did on the final run.

+137 HP and +84 ft/lbs, nice. Can you give us a ballpark cost?

Congrats on the boost.

love it and glade you love it. I think that is great performance with the altitude you are at.

NowI was speaking to josh and he mentioned a few good points. Did you get a tune that is you decide to go on a nice road trip and are not on that elvation you will be ok? Also what gas do you use 91 or 93. Reason for asking some places can't get 93 octane so did he also give you a 91 octane tune just incase? Like I said this all depends if you ever planned on road trip out of that elevation. If you never do then I guess these questions really don't matter
Frank

One thing I have to ask is how come they didnt take it to 7500 RPM instead of 6500 RPM it really looks like they let off there.The supercharger needs RPMs to make boost you might of picked up a extra pound or so taking it to 7500.

Other than that glad that you like great review.

Nice numbers! Curious what your power numbers would be if you were 8000 feet lower? Any speculations?

A/F looks good

Nice #'s enjoy your car.

The tune should be good for a large range. It might be a problem if I wanted to go somewhere that was around sea level as I would be making around 9 psi of boost instead of the 7.2 psi here at altitude. I am using 91 as it is virtually impossible to get 93 pump around here. There are a couple of racing fuel outlets but that would require mixing my own. There are maybe 2 stations within a 25 mile radius that have had 93 in the past but that was around 2006 and I don't know if they still carry it. So, I opted to run 91.

My road trips mostly consist of hitting the canyons in our foothills in the summer with some trips up to Winter Park and Breckenridge which are both at higher elevation. I should be good to go.

Awsome great news. Just wanted to make sure because i didn't want you to have something bad happen because you didn't know. Glade everything worked out for you +rep for a good and unbiased review as promised.
Frank

Awesome to hear your review. Nick tuned my Z. What a great bunch of guys! Very professional and they take good care of you.

MAC, I tip my hat. Again ;)

Yes, those guys are the best. I posted this on my G37 thread but have not had a chance to post it here yet. When I got home from work with my car yesterday, after filling up the tank, I noticed a strong smell of gas. I got out in the driveway to check it out and there was definitely a fuel leak. I called MAC and Adam who was my lead tech offered to come out that night and take a look at the issue. He came out that evening and confirmed that the gasket for the fuel pump cover was leaking. He re-installed it and got the leak down to a small trickle then took my car back to the shop that night (Friday night) so they could replace the gasket on Saturday. They got all the work done and called me on my cell around noon on Saturday. I was out with my wife and kids and they agreed to deliver the car after 5 PM. They got the car back to me at 5:30PM. All I can say is that took care of the problem ASAP and gave me exellent customer service. I will definitely be going back to MAC for my future mods and highly recommend them.

Great to hear. Next time I'm back in town, I would like to check out the Stillen kit. Are you planning on getting different maps for different fuels any time? (Nick is your guy) ;)

I was thinking about an E85 map since E85 is readily available around here. I wanted to talk to Nick about it first. :bowrofl:

A couple of picture of the finished product.

Very nice looks clean can you take a pic over top of the engine.want to see how everything fits. Please

Will do tomorrow or later this week and post as soon as I have it. Now, I am wordering if the GTspec shock tower brace will fit?

I say definitely do it if your tuner is comfortable with it, and if it is available in your area... and you should make one for 100 octane too...

I'm pretty sure my tuner is running two separate maps in his 370zTT... 91 and 100 octane...

I think it should fit no problem, Wei was running the Stillen kit with GTspec strut bar. Double check with him, I think it's just tight between the strut bar and charge pipe.

it'll fit but rubs against the hood liner and the charge pipe. Not really worth using it if not necessary

Nice! Congrats on the numbers man! Happy to see someone else getting good results with the kit.

Thanks Raul, Nice pics of your ride in your Journal btw. You are giving me the itch for new wheels and tires!

Did you notice much difference in stiffness with it? I can handle a little rubbing on the hood liner but I don't really want anything rubbing on the charge pipe.

[QUOTE=GraphiteG37S;908918]I say definitely do it if your tuner is comfortable with it, and if it is available in your area... and you should make one for 100 octane too...

I'm pretty sure my tuner is running two separate maps in his 370zTT... 91 and 100 octane...


MAC was doing pretty much the same thing on the Supra that I posted pics of. I believe that they were doing an E85 tune as well as 91 and racing fuel.

Do it :) Just walking up to the car puts me in a good mood.

Not to delve into something I'm not too familiar with here...but I don't think you will benefit much from the strutbar unless you're banging curbs at the track. FWIW and I know its different on the G, but I have about a quarter inch clearance of the strutbar over the charge pipe. As far as rubbing on the hood...nothing a few hits of the ol' rubber mallet can't fix!

You won't benefit much from the fsb. I rather you invest that 200 bucks on a set of sway bar instead, or wheels etc

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on the sways anyway and you just saved me a couple hundred $ :tiphat:

LOL, let me know if you need advice with other stuff

I can see that corresponding with you is going to get expensive! LOL! Must Resist More Mods, Must Resist.......!!!!! :roflpuke2:

I just love how you open the hood and the S/C is in your face. Its good to see that the GTM and Stillen kits are finally moving along and running good. I think S/c is the way to go if you want to keep that stock type of power band.

Quick update. Everything is still great with my kit. I drove around quite a bit today as we had some beautiful weather in the 60s. Went to work and back, ran some errands around town, picked up the kids from school etc. and had no problems with hot starts.

I also calcuated gas mileage when I filled up today. I have gotten 11.6 MPG since my last fillup. I have been romping on the car pretty hard, taking friends from work for rides and also hade a couple of days on this fillup where I warmed the car up in the garage during some really cold weather (15 F) to make sure there were no problems with really cold starts. There was only about 15 or 20 miles of highway driving for this fillup.

I will update with the MPG on my next fillup. It will probably be a while before I get data for normal driving around town or on the highway as I am having so much fun and can't keep my foot out of it!

its hard to not mash the pedal with all the power

how much was the install? I am looking to do something like this too.

Glad to hear you like the Stillen kit, They SUX tho.. .

My install was $1700- dealer installed, Good price IMO.

I guess that is not too bad although my install price was less and included the tranny cooler and cat back exhaust installation.

Sent you a PM.