So what exactly is wrong with the Stillen SC kit?

luigi90210

see there is no problem with their kit, most of the people who bought their kit live above sea level and their canned tune doesnt compensate for it

if you do not live at or around sea level, you wont make their advertised power, just like you wont make nissan's advertised power of 332hp

their air to water intercooler is perfectly fine as long as you are not doing dyno run after dyno run because a fan cannot cool the intercooler down fast enough unlike driving and if you need a bigger heat exchanger, you can buy one legally since intercoolers are not regulated by CARB(as said on their website) so in theory you could take the car to an intercooler shop and have them install an air to air intercooler legally without losing exemption

if you want to go supercharger, get the stillen(since you live in california) and modify it with stillen and vortech parts(so stillen 9lbs pulley, vortech impeller, ect.), will it void the carb exemption, but no one can or will check that your pulley size, your impeller, ect. and see if it is to spec and ALWAYS get a custom tune for their supercharger, their canned tune is good if you want longevity out of their kit stock(so no modifying the kit) but if you want to actually make good numbers, get a custom tune, i dont know a single person with a stillen supercharger(for the 350zs/G35s and 370zs/G37s) without a custom tune

some people will tell you to register your car in an area with no smog and that will only work for so long, even no smog areas have to conform to CARB standards, regardless if there are smog checks in your area or not

refs can not legally take apart your supercharger without either your permission or a court order so dont worry about modifying the kit and losing exemption, unless you were really doing something stupid(like street racing), you'll be fine

and if you are gonna go the illegal route, you might as well go all the way and get a twin turbo kit

honestly all the hate on stillen is the same on all Z forums, just remember to take everything you read here with a grain of salt(including my post)

__________________
SOLD 370z
New Car:classified
DD:2011 Mini Cooper S stock

brucelidat

which is why i created this thread to clear up stuff regarding the Stillen kit since a lot of the hate wasn't explained

__________________
Works Emotion CR Ultimate - FI CBE w/ 18" resonators - Ecutek - eibach sways - Quaife - FI LTH w/race cats - kw v3 - spl - Topgunz SC - 488whp 398trq

luigi90210

most of the hate stems from the WHP people get when they dyno the car, what a lot of people dont realize is that there are a million factors when it comes to showing WHP, something as little as being 1ft above sea level or 1% less humidity can make a difference on a dyno's whp readings

all a dyno is really good for imo is tuning, you can see your before and after so you can see what you gained with the custom tune and imo dynos are the worst way to measure whp unless your car is in a test environment where everything can be controlled

honestly if you really want to feel the stillen supercharger, i highly suggest heading to stillen and going for a test ride in their car, i went on a test ride and all i can say is it blew my mind, and their car has their carb kit with a different BPV(from what Kyle@stillen told me in person)

go with something you like and not what people on the internet like, just remember numbers are just numbers, who cares if you are making less power on a dyno than john doe and jane doe, if you're happy, thats all that matters

and remember having a well balanced car will always be better than having a high HP car, my uncle would always get **** for his stillen supercharger build on his G35(stage 4 roots blower) because it only made 366whp yet his car would smoke others cars from light to light and on canyon runs when their cars made 400+whp

i guess the main point to my post is dont get caught up with numbers like most people, and just go with what you want

__________________
SOLD 370z
New Car:classified
DD:2011 Mini Cooper S stock

brucelidat

They don't have a 7AT tester car to try out, do they to geta real direct driving experience comparo? Everytime I get talked out of blowing my money on this, people (the forum) plant the seed back in my head, haha.

__________________
Works Emotion CR Ultimate - FI CBE w/ 18" resonators - Ecutek - eibach sways - Quaife - FI LTH w/race cats - kw v3 - spl - Topgunz SC - 488whp 398trq

luigi90210

they dont have a 7AT 370z unfortunately, just the 6MT

since you have the 7AT you might want to look into building the transmission and getting a transmission cooler before you get a supercharger as supporting mods since the 7AT is not as strong as the 6MT

i know GTM has something for the 7AT(i want to say valve bodies but im not sure)

im sure you could get away with the stock tranny but it would be cheaper to build the transmission to support the supercharger now than it would to rebuild the entire thing when it blows up, just remember, supporting mods can make or break your car, literally lol

also you will want to go back to stock gears for the supercharger since you will have traction issues if you keep the 4.08 gears

good luck with build OP

__________________
SOLD 370z
New Car:classified
DD:2011 Mini Cooper S stock

showme99

Wow, I'm actually surprised to hear you say that after all the hassles you've had with that kit.

luigi90210

Don't you have the awd G37?

If you do than you made more power than what they advertised because awd has a greater drive train loss(about 35% give or take) so on their tune, you should have only made 325whp give or take so assuming drive train loss is not that bad, the 342whp you made seems right on track with what stillen advertise for their kit

__________________
SOLD 370z
New Car:classified
DD:2011 Mini Cooper S stock

esfourteen

one of the biggest concerns with the stillen kit is the placement of the MAF. the primary MAF also functions as the intake air temp sensor. the ecu uses IAT's (along with a few other sensors) to adjust timing on the fly, hotter air and the car pulls timing. with every other forced induction kit, the MAF's are placed after the intercooler, which means the ecu gets a true IAT reading and can adjust accordingly. with the stillen kit, the ecu is basically reading ambient air temp as IAT since the maf's are in the bumper before the blower. so during hot summer months when the heat exchanger gets heat soaked and the intake temps are increasing, your ecu is still reading whatever the temp is in the bumper, not the true temp of the air entering the engine.

__________________
Build Thread | GTM TT Install Thread | Engine Build Thread

luigi90210

Heatsoak?

I have talked extensively with stillen kit owners and stillen themselves about this issue and unless you're dynoing your car back to back to back or sitting in traffic(and when you start moving, the intercooler cools down), you wont experience heatsoak.

Any proof of heatsoak outside of those conditions? I can tell you that my intercooler on my eclipse experiences heatsoak in similar conditions and that is an air to air intercooler.

And while I do agree that MAF placement could be better, there is a reason as to why stillen placed the sensors there when designing the kit, and if it were a problem, it wouldnt have been designed that way.

__________________
SOLD 370z
New Car:classified
DD:2011 Mini Cooper S stock

elperuano

esfourteen

thats honestly all I can do after reading his posts in this thread. best of luck to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be persuaded into purchasing the worst designed/least performing FI kit for the 370.

__________________
Build Thread | GTM TT Install Thread | Engine Build Thread

ANMVQ

I do but the AWD is not full time. Car will drive as a RWD till it detects slip.
My finally numbers before cylinder 3 went on vaca LOL was pretty good .
457 was nice but short lived .
Showme99 yea right
I think, KNOW all my issues was cause the dealer were azz clowns and could fix a damn thing , if I either went to my tuner or RT I would still be driving.

__________________
14 Q50 AWD, ARK, ECUTEK (SEB), Takda,

luigi90210

If someone is looking for a supercharger kit and lives in California, there is no reason to not go with the stillen kit, going to GTM supercharger is just going to make it a pain in the *** to smog here and you will only be making like 50hp more over the stillen.

If you're going to be illegal and spend the money every 2 years to be able to drive your illegal car on the streets, you might as well go twin turbo, if not than stillen supercharger.

If OP lived in AZ or any other of the 49 states, and looking at the stillen, I can see why someone would talk them out of it for the GTM but as far as California and CARB goes, stillen would be the way to go just because the extra 50whp the GTM kit offers, is not worth the $400 every time you need to smog and the $600 ref ticket or worse, getting your car crushed.

__________________
SOLD 370z
New Car:classified
DD:2011 Mini Cooper S stock

JWillis72

Stillens tune sucked for me at sea level, it had my car so rich it was blowing black smoke and only 268 whp on the dyno. I can't imaging how it passes any test. With a custom tune it got 406whp. I actually love the kit, it's made the car a blast to drive. I know the kits not popular here but I haven't had anyone in the car that didn't have big eyes and a strong grip on anything they could grab when it went into 4th. I can't wait to get it back on the track at Sebring.

Nissan370

Only thing the stillen kit is good for is it looks good under the hood but so far as
Real function and growth its trash

Imagine getting a supercharger kit with a single pulley option thats a stillen kit
My charge air wss getting so hot my computer was pulling timing and I could fry an egg on the intake
I am not seeing that with my turbo setup and a fmic

__________________
370z vsr motorsports single turbo/built motor 9.1cr 525rwhp/450rwtq @ 10.5psi (stock maf maxed out)