Stillen SC - put on your seat belts

JWillis72

It seem to me like a lot of people were told by Stillen that they would get 500whp and if I was expecting that I would be pissed I didn't get it. They told me 400-450whp and I got that. Make sure you have a good tuner! Their tune sucked!

theDreamer

Yes, take a look at CSF or GTM radiator options.

Besides the kit itself and a solid tune, the next step to focus on is the supporting mods around the engine. Such as:
-Larger radiator: CSF or GTM
-Radiator fan: GTM makes a kit which pairs with their & CSF radiator, other option is to buy it in pieces
-Oil cooler: Plenty to choose, 25 row or larger would be ideal
-Venting: Hood is solid upgrade to remove heat, fender liner vents
-Oil pan spacer or larger oil pan: Both increases oil capacity while also helping with cooling
-Zspeed undertray: Good safety upgrade to protect the oil pan area plus extra venting to improve cooling
-Transmission upgrades: You seem to be good on this with your cooler & VB upgrade

These are what people are upgrading, not really the kit itself, but engine supporting mods. These will allow the kit to run more efficiently, remember shoving more cold air in is good but you also have to release potential hot air that can sit stagnant in the engine bay.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
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Chuck33079

This is the most important part. If you do not have someone local to you who knows how to tune one of these, abort now before money changes hands or you will be unhappy and poorer.

__________________
2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

Shamrock

So these things you speak of are necessary even if I run the stillen kit stock? Forgive my ignorance but does the GTM kids run cooler? The GTM kit does not need these upgrades? All these questions are to help prevent future damage which like everything here cost a ###load

thanks
Bart

Chuck33079

No, any aftermarket kit you buy is going to require you to spend at least half the cost of the kit in supporting upgrades. No kit comes with all of the supporting mods you need. You can skip them, but you will have a bad time. The GTM kits run much cooler since the intercooler is air-to-air and isn't undersized like the water-to-air unit Stillen uses. Also, MAF location with the Stillen leads it to run hotter than GTM.

Bottom line is you should expect to spend another $2-3k USD plus whatever fees and duty you have to pay regardless of which kit you buy.

__________________
2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

theDreamer

No, no kit "requires" any of this but doing so is more of an opportunity cost.
Spend a little extra now, for you a bit more because of fees & such, but save yourself in the long run. Protecting the engine is key when throwing on this much extra power, heat, and more. Investing a few extra grand now to save your engine in the long run is a much better idea than not spending it now and messing up your engine and dropping 4-5x that much to get it fixed.

On the things listed you can sort of pick/choose how you want to do it.
If you upgrade the radiator consider the fans with it because it all comes out and saves you labor and time. For other items compare and contrast price, install labor, etc and see what you want to do.
Oil cooler I will say is a requirement on this car, even bone stock it runs hot.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

Shamrock

You guys have been great so far with answering the questions. I really appreciate it. Let's just say I was to install the kit as is. I ordered from gtm the larger oil pan and baffler. I could put another fan in front of the radiator as my friend did. In the summertime driving my car very hard with the stillen oil cooler I have never seen temps rising higher than about 95 degrees Celsius. In the winter time here they barely reach 85. Are these engine mods that you speak of something that I could get on a need to use basis? In other words if I'm driving my car and I see that my temps are staying low within the 100 degrees Celsius range than everything is cool; or is it not?

thanks
Bart

theDreamer

Many of the supporting mods can be done as needed, the only negative is redundant cost overtime.
If I throw the car up on the rack to have a new radiator put in, and then down the road I want new fans put in, I spent twice the labor for them to work on essential the same thing. But at the same time, some items can be done whenever you want. So say you put on a new hood, this is by itself, does not really require any other piece to be upgraded down the road with it (other than prep/paint if required).

My suggestion, lay out your plan, make some budgets, and see what you want now and what you will want in the future. If you know you will want some other items and labor cost will be cheaper doing it all now, maybe wait a few months to gather/save for more parts and do it all at once.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

Chuck33079

These cars run uncomfortably high oil temps stock. You need an oil cooler. Period. The oil pan wil help with the increased capacity, but it is not a replacement for the cooler. You should do the radiator and fans at the same time as the kit. If you can't do it at the same time as the kit, you should not install the kit until you get all the supporting mods you need.

__________________
2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

Shamrock

I have the oil cooler. Its already on the car. My question is if I'm driving the car and the car stays within normal temps does that mean that everything is OK. I don't track the car. Haha no tracks here.

thanks
Bart

Shamrock

it's 20 degrees Celsius here and I've been driving my car pretty hard. The stillen cooler so far has done its job

thanks
Bart

theDreamer

Temps are just one of the things to look at.
With adding boost you will want to monitor the following things if you can:
-Water temp
-Intake temp
-AFR
-Boost/PSI
-Oil temp
-Oil pressure

Those are a general few things to keep an eye on to monitor your engine. If oil temps & water temps seem to be good then you are running fairly well temp wise, but at the same time you need to be look at AFR/Boost to make sure the kit and engine are outputting power correctly without harm to the engine.

__________________
theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN
theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY
Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

Chuck33079

Within a few pulls your temps are going to go up dramatically and come back down very slowly. The cooling system is barely adequate for the car stock. You're putting a heat exchanger in front of the radiator so instead of cool air passing over the oil cooler and radiator, it now gets warm air. Your oem cooling system will be performing worse than when it was stock. Sure, if you don't see any temp issues you can skip the cooling mods. My guess is that you'll be ordering them the week you get the car back from the shop.

__________________
2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

JWillis72

Chuck, what kind of temps were you seeing? My car stays around 180 and when I have been pushing it I see 200, were you seeing higher than that?

Chuck33079

Oil or water? My oil temps are rock solid, it's the water temps that fluctuate in the summer.

__________________
2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent