JLarson's build thread

[Hotrodz]

Originally Posted by JLarson

Vince just got back to me. I have enough fuel to run around 10 psi, only about 80% IDC right now. So I can definitely make more power if/when I am ready (which I think we all know is an inevitable desire).

LOL, you will be ready for more power in three months or less!

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by Hotrodz

LOL, you will be ready for more power in three months or less!

I think Rusty pegged me at 30 days, tops I appreciate your faith in my self control!

[solidus]

Just a suggestion, I have my vacuum lines all plumbed with nylon braided an fittings now. But push connect fittings with 1/4 pneumatic line and firesleeved is not that expensive and probably a better option than silicon and looks much cleaner. The lines and connections support meth injection so our levels of boost aren't even in practice range since I believe this stuff supports 600psi. Prior to my switch some of my silicone was intact but had hardened from heat to the point that it literally broke on the tee fitting above the transmission.

[Ghostvette]

Originally Posted by JLarson

Vince just got back to me. I have enough fuel to run around 10 psi, only about 80% IDC right now. So I can definitely make more power if/when I am ready (which I think we all know is an inevitable desire).

Originally Posted by Hotrodz

LOL, you will be ready for more power in three months or less!

Originally Posted by JLarson

I think Rusty pegged me at 30 days, tops I appreciate your faith in my self control!

Just go ahead and change the spring....

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by Ghostvette

Just go ahead and change the spring....

"Megan, I know I told you I was done for a while, but Ghost had this great idea..."

[Spooler]

We have officially raised another Boost junky. He is in his infancy stag but coming along nicely. I would say this to turning it up. Wait a little while to experience the car and what it will do under different circumstances. You have plenty of time to turn it up later. Right now the most important thing is gaining experience. You don't want to get out there and break something right off the bat. The wife won't be happy. Just make sure you take her for a ride first.

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by Spooler

We have officially raised another Boost junky. He is in his infancy stag but coming along nicely. I would say this to turning it up. Wait a little while to experience the car and what it will do under different circumstances. You have plenty of time to turn it up later. Right now the most important thing is gaining experience. You don't want to get out there and break something right off the bat. The wife won't be happy. Just make sure you take her for a ride first.

This is good advice, and as much as I joke, I'm working on doing this wisely. I push it a little harder every time I drive it. Funnily enough it kind of panics my wife... she's a skittish creature by nature once she adjusts to it, it'll be fine. She does love cars, but for her the Kia Stinger was exactly the kind of power/spool speed she'd enjoy.

[JLarson]

Having had the chance to install this and drive it for a few weeks, it's probably a good time to review the kit and the process from start to finish.

1. Fabrication and Fitment
A lot of others have talked about receiving a a top notch kit without any issues, and it sounds like generally everyone feels pretty good about what they've gotten. Generally, yes, this was a good kit; but I can't say my experience was quite as positive and most of my issues were here.

-If you've read my previous posts, you know that my intercooler arrived with brackets welded backwards. And although I didn't bitch about it as much here, my ports for the MAF sensors also required the use of a file so that the passenger side MAF sensor could even be installed, and the fitment was bad enough that to prevent a boost leak, we silicon caulked around the area where the MAF sensor is seated. Most of the issues were Treadstone related, so take that for what it's worth.

-Expect that hot side piping which mates to the headers may require some adjustment, by which I mean bolting up one side and pushing on the other side enough to flex it to mate up with the headers.

-Welds were decent. Not great, but decent. Don't expect the grinding to be top notch when you look inside the pipes.

-The kit does not provide a solution for eliminating the factory oil cooler for the 2012+ models. You will need to source that yourself, and you will not find any guidance with the kit for doing so.

-AN lines that come with the oil cooler may or may not leak on you. I had issues with mine immediately.

-My Bosch fuel injector plug-n-play pigtails were not for a 370z. I don't know what they were for, but it wasn't my car. Confirmed this when Madwi sent me his to test out. His fit my injectors.

-The charge piping was great, once received. The couplers are good quality. The intake filter is great. The oil cooler keeps my temperatures low. The BOV sounds awesome, as do the wastegates. The turbo is top notch.

3/5


2. Instructions & Ease of Install
-This is a very strong point for the kit. The instructions are very good, with a lot of decent pictures. Other than the fabrication issues I ran into, the kit went together the way it was supposed to.

-Be aware that some of the components for the kit have undergone changes from their suppliers. This may or may not be documented, because Sasha may not be aware of it. In the revision of the instructions I had, the fuel kit assembly components are totally different from what is currently supplied. The turbo also requires a 1/8 NPT block-off because of a newly tapped port in the side. In both cases, Sasha got me the info I needed very quickly.

-The Frankenstein pipe is the lone exception to the "ease of install" thing. If you've got a CMAK, be aware that getting Frank into place will require a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of 4-letter words. Absolutely Windex the silicon couplers, do not think to yourself 'hey I'll be ok without it' - you won't.

-Can you do this with no prior mechanical experience and basic hand tools? Maybe, but I wouldn't recommend it. You won't have the diagnostic knowledge to be able to rule out potential problems. I can't say enough about how much I appreciated having you gents here on the forums giving advice and suggestions on troubleshooting.

4/5

3. Customer Service
-Generally, very good. Sasha is amazingly responsive considering the number of messages he must receive, and I mean he'll get back to you at midnight. He remained friendly and patient throughout the process, fielding the barrage of questions I sent his way.
-That said, it would help this kit tremendously if it came with a packing list. I asked for one of these repeatedly, and never got it, so I ended up assembling my kit in my living room on the floor like a bunch of adult legos. Fortunately I have no children, and my wife is very patient with me. It was during this assembly I discovered I was missing the majority of my charge piping, which was supposed to ship to me from a separate vendor.
-There were communication issues at first, and I was not originally shipped my oil cooler or any components for it. It took a long time to get this resolved (1.5 months).

4/5


4. Performance
-This is my first turbo kit of any kind. I don't have a lot of experience with them. I've driven my brother's Genesis 2.0T (2nd gen), been a passenger in the Kia Stinger and Q60 Red Sport, and that's pretty much it. I'm giving this to you so that if you possess vast experience with turbos, you'll know my limitations as a reviewer.
-That said, this is awesome. Driving the car is a joy. Compared to FBO NA, it's night and day. The turbo is very responsive, the car hauls serious ***, and I absolutely love it. It's enough power to instill a butt-clenching sense of terror in both my wife and my father, and if that doesn't tell you what you need to know to pull the trigger, I don't know what will!
-You can drive it like a NA car. If you need to go slow and cruise through neighborhoods, you'll be fine. It remains suitable for use as a DD. This was important for me, because I bought the car to drive it, not park it.

5/5


YMMV.

[Rusty]

Nice thought out write up.

[NecioVato]

@OP
Great writeup and while I hear that the BP kit is something that one can install etc - I'm thinking if I go this route (probably any route) that I might be forced to go with a shop. I'm still on the fence bc the more I read about going FI - the more I realize that you can take the advice of people on this forum and realize that it isn't just the cost of the kit - but there are a lot of hidden costs and that doesn't guarantee something can't go wrong.

That being said - I'm wondering (if you don't mind sharing) - about how much did the supporting mods and the the cost of the kit run you? Also to anyone reading this - typically what can install range roughly and what should one look for when looking for a shop to do an install like this (granted it is different in different areas).

It's interesting bc right now -bc of cost as well as supposedly ease of install I'm leaning toward either the BP kit or the TopGunz supercharger kit and that is what kinda got me reading into your build - seeing the thought of going supercharger (thinking FI LTHs as well) and then going with the BP kit. I might have missed it - but was there a reason why you decided to go BP over the Topgunz supercharger kit - I believe the costs are similar and since you were already with the LTHs, I am just wondering what changed your mind.

Thanks in advance

[JARblue]

$10-15K is probably about the least you can get away with in terms of a kit and supporting mods. The more power you want the more cost. An FI kit will easily push $20-25K to do it properly. That's for parts. Add 30+ hours of labor at book rate ($80-120/hr).

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by NecioVato

@OP
Great writeup and while I hear that the BP kit is something that one can install etc - I'm thinking if I go this route (probably any route) that I might be forced to go with a shop. I'm still on the fence bc the more I read about going FI - the more I realize that you can take the advice of people on this forum and realize that it isn't just the cost of the kit - but there are a lot of hidden costs and that doesn't guarantee something can't go wrong.

That being said - I'm wondering (if you don't mind sharing) - about how much did the supporting mods and the the cost of the kit run you? Also to anyone reading this - typically what can install range roughly and what should one look for when looking for a shop to do an install like this (granted it is different in different areas).

It's interesting bc right now -bc of cost as well as supposedly ease of install I'm leaning toward either the BP kit or the TopGunz supercharger kit and that is what kinda got me reading into your build - seeing the thought of going supercharger (thinking FI LTHs as well) and then going with the BP kit. I might have missed it - but was there a reason why you decided to go BP over the Topgunz supercharger kit - I believe the costs are similar and since you were already with the LTHs, I am just wondering what changed your mind.

Thanks in advance

I'm going to start with your last question first - why a turbo vs sc. The answer is "a lot of reasons".

-As a complete n00b to forced induction, I'd initially planned to go the SC route, but as an obsessive researcher, I did a metric assload of reading first. I see a lot of supercharger kits for sale and supercharged Z's being sold off in general. When I'd talk with a lot of the guys selling them, they liked the car well enough, but even with the added power they still wanted more, and didn't have the low end torquey feel they wanted. That led me to look at torque curves on a turbo vs a supercharger. SC is very linear, drives like an NA car only "more so". With the BP Turbo, torque ramps up very abruptly, with power early in the power band. I hit 400wtq around 3k rpms. To me that seemed like more fun, especially with my commute (my Z is a dd). I can't run out to 7500 rpms most of the time, but I can certainly get to 4500.

-The turbo is also quite fuel efficient, considering what it is. Tooling around I still get over 20 mpg. That didn't sell me on it, but it certainly helped convince my wife free, exhaust driven power vs parasitic power.

-The Comp 6467 turbo is 900 hp capable. I know myself. I know eventually, 506 whp won't be enough, I'll want 550. Or 600. Or 700. It gives me room to keep growing.

-Madwi had a good experience. This is a huge selling point. I know Madwi from Zdayz, we shoot the **** on a regular basis, and he's picky about his car. He knows what he likes, what he doesn't like, and he has very similar taste to my own, right down to car color. His very real enjoyment of the kit sold me more than just about anything else. At that point the only other real contender was FI, and I didn't want to pay the extra money, or have to drop the motor for the install. BP was within reach.

-Supporting mods... ok this gets a bit convoluted. The kit itself comes with everything you'll need, sort of. You'll want a bunch of other small stuff, like the omni map 4 bar sensor, a lot of heat wrap, sleeving for the waste gate lines, but depending on your intended application, your entry level cost could be about $9k if you do the work. (Around here, RT Tuning is selling the kits + install for $13k. They've always done a good job for me, so I'll pimp them here.
https://www.rttuning.com/boosted-per...r-nissan-370z/)

However what you can get away with vs what you'll want to really push the car are two separate things. As you know if you've read through this whole thread, I did a a bit more than just the basics, including Poly Trans Mount, Poly Diff Bushings, upgraded diff cover, fast intentions exhaust, ported z1 upper mani, stage 3 clutch, etc. Nothing was impulse, every mod had a purpose. Most of it I managed to get used. As I've found local partouts, I've bought and resold parts for a profit, which helps to offset my cost. For me, all in, I'm around $10,500, which is pretty awesomely low. If I'd bought everything new or full price though, it'd have cost me easily $20,000, and it'd have been a LOT more if I paid a shop to install it all.

Feel free to PM me if you have other questions or if I missed something. I've driven about 1500 miles so far, and have thoroughly enjoyed the kit.

[NecioVato]

@JLarson
TY man for answering my questions. Right now, I'm just trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with the car; at the moment it's all about getting it PIF and then kinda going from there. I figure by doing that at the moment and doing small mods - and mods that will/can still be applied to FI - it's a win-win till I figure out exactly what I want to do.

So far your build is really selling me on the BP kit (again, while I would love to go FI twins - I just can't do something like that financially - as the saying goes 'Ballin on a Budget') haha. But I am starting to lean more toward going FI then going FBO first and then realizing that I should have done that to begin. Again, thanks for the input and appreciate the response. I'm sure as I get closer to starting something - I'll make sure to reach out.

Thanks again.

[gbrettin]

This is probably one of the better write-ups ive seen on why people want to go turbo (with out being terrible technical). And yeah, those price points are very accurate after everything is said and done. All the little stuff adds up.

Originally Posted by JLarson

I'm going to start with your last question first - why a turbo vs sc. The answer is "a lot of reasons".

-As a complete n00b to forced induction, I'd initially planned to go the SC route, but as an obsessive researcher, I did a metric assload of reading first. I see a lot of supercharger kits for sale and supercharged Z's being sold off in general. When I'd talk with a lot of the guys selling them, they liked the car well enough, but even with the added power they still wanted more, and didn't have the low end torquey feel they wanted. That led me to look at torque curves on a turbo vs a supercharger. SC is very linear, drives like an NA car only "more so". With the BP Turbo, torque ramps up very abruptly, with power early in the power band. I hit 400wtq around 3k rpms. To me that seemed like more fun, especially with my commute (my Z is a dd). I can't run out to 7500 rpms most of the time, but I can certainly get to 4500.

-The turbo is also quite fuel efficient, considering what it is. Tooling around I still get over 20 mpg. That didn't sell me on it, but it certainly helped convince my wife free, exhaust driven power vs parasitic power.

-The Comp 6467 turbo is 900 hp capable. I know myself. I know eventually, 506 whp won't be enough, I'll want 550. Or 600. Or 700. It gives me room to keep growing.

-Madwi had a good experience. This is a huge selling point. I know Madwi from Zdayz, we shoot the **** on a regular basis, and he's picky about his car. He knows what he likes, what he doesn't like, and he has very similar taste to my own, right down to car color. His very real enjoyment of the kit sold me more than just about anything else. At that point the only other real contender was FI, and I didn't want to pay the extra money, or have to drop the motor for the install. BP was within reach.

-Supporting mods... ok this gets a bit convoluted. The kit itself comes with everything you'll need, sort of. You'll want a bunch of other small stuff, like the omni map 4 bar sensor, a lot of heat wrap, sleeving for the waste gate lines, but depending on your intended application, your entry level cost could be about $9k if you do the work. (Around here, RT Tuning is selling the kits + install for $13k. They've always done a good job for me, so I'll pimp them here.
https://www.rttuning.com/boosted-per...r-nissan-370z/)

However what you can get away with vs what you'll want to really push the car are two separate things. As you know if you've read through this whole thread, I did a a bit more than just the basics, including Poly Trans Mount, Poly Diff Bushings, upgraded diff cover, fast intentions exhaust, ported z1 upper mani, stage 3 clutch, etc. Nothing was impulse, every mod had a purpose. Most of it I managed to get used. As I've found local partouts, I've bought and resold parts for a profit, which helps to offset my cost. For me, all in, I'm around $10,500, which is pretty awesomely low. If I'd bought everything new or full price though, it'd have cost me easily $20,000, and it'd have been a LOT more if I paid a shop to install it all.

Feel free to PM me if you have other questions or if I missed something. I've driven about 1500 miles so far, and have thoroughly enjoyed the kit.

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by gbrettin

This is probably one of the better write-ups ive seen on why people want to go turbo (with out being terrible technical). And yeah, those price points are very accurate after everything is said and done. All the little stuff adds up.

Appreciate the good feedback, and yeah I tracked most of my costs through Excel so they're fairly accurate.