to supercharge or not to supercharge, that is the question....
 

ok, so im trying to decide how i want to mod my new nismo z. part of me wants to keep it simple and go with a injen or stillen intake, hfc, and underdrive pulley.....BUT the other part of me wants to wait and go for the supercharger. another thing i have to consider is there isn't anywhere i know of within a days drive of where i live here in west virginia that does tuning of anykind. thats another problem i face. so if i did just go with an intake, hfc, and underdrive pulley i really have no way to tune the car and the s/c kits come with a tune, which is a plus! i don't know...just wanted to get some input from people who have mods and get some pros cons and overall thoughts.....also does anyone know of any places that can tune my car near west virginia?

the other thing i am curious about is reliability with either one of these mods.

umm, there are some good shops near you man. Get the Stillen SC and have it custom tuned! That's what I did and couldn't be happier.

Oh and reliability wise, its rock solid.

Make your Nismo a sleeper.... like meeeeeeww :)

I wouldn't rely to much on the tunes that come with the chargers. People have been having trouble with them. Get a custom tune and you're set.

If you are willing to drive, AAM Competition in MD can do it for you. They can also build you a nice TT setup if you are willing to spend that kind of coin. :)

Altered Atmosphere in Gaithersburg MD isn't that far away, they specialize on the Nissan platform.

Don't do it. I did my last two cars and shouldn't have. 350 and c6

^^^^ elaborate plz

Interested in hearing Mike's opinion too. Remember that he tracks his car frequently. If you just show your car and drive around town, you could add rocket boosters and have minimal problems. However, tracking your car regularly will reveal any shortcomings of your forced induction system.

Probably like me he got tired of the quirks that come with taking ONE component out of the matrix.

The suspension, frame, engine, trans, rear-end, ENTIRE car has had LOTS of money spent on making it work well all-togather.

Either you modify ALL components with equally well-researched upgrades at the same level, or you will end up with something that isn't nearly as useable, fun, or reliable as it was in stock form. In short, it is like an athlete with huge quads and no hams. He's going to tear his legs up the first time he plays in the ball game.

I did that with my 5.0 GT. I hated that car when I was done, and have never wanted more than exhaust on any other car I have owned. If you want something with 450+whp, buy a car designed for it or accept that you won't be able to pull it off nearly as balanced as one that was.

exactly!

Actually, the Stillen supercharger I had on my 350z gave me no real problems, other than having to replace the electric water pump for the intercooler three times.

I had a preorder 350 and it always burned oil. It gradually got worse and after the supercharger was on for about a year it got to where it burned a qt. every 600 miles. I removed the supercharger and had the engine replaced, and when I put it on the new engine, belts kept shredding. I replaced just about every part of the supercharger belt system and the entire lower intake manifold on the engine and never could figure out where the problem was, so I traded the car in.

On the C6, the car ran too hot for track events because the intercooler was blocking the radiator and oil cooler. I tried a new radiator/oil cooler combo, a heat extracting hood, but it didn't help and I was just plain tired of throwing money at the problem, so I removed the supercharger and sold it.

For me, unless the car was designed for it, I am through with FI. I guess thats what happens when you get older. If I wanted a twin turbo, I would just buy a GTR, it would probably even cost less in the long run.

And actually, now that I think about it, I do have a twins, just in my wife's Z4.

Don't waste your time with a supercharger, go turbo. More power and more reliable.

well thanks for all ur input guys...i guess there are a lot of pros and cons i need to consider and i'm still a little torn on what to do....but i think i'm starting to lean towards getting a new cbe and hfc, gen 3 intake, and underdrive pulley. seems like it may be best option for now....then if i feel i need more i can supercharge later on....thanks again for all the input guys!!!

:iagree:

If there were a Twin Screw supercharger kit available (or perhaps some other positive displacement) that is the route I would go, but since there isn't Turbo's would be my next choice. I know people have been debating them since they came out but I like the remote mount turbo idea STS has, seems like a good option to me from what I have seen