Shop Talk for
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The high-flow catalytic convertors had failed so we replaced them ART pipes from Motordyne:
HFCs vs ART pipes:
Enjoy The Ride Ruben!
Three for Thursday! Here are 3 owners that visited Z Car Garage for upgrades so they could Enjoy The Ride. Thomas C was experiencing brake fade/overheating with the Akebono caliper setup on his G37 Sedan. We installed a Stoptech Sport Kit with our favorite SS309 pads:
Slotted rotors also help shed heat, before/after shown below:
We also UPREV tuned the G now making 291hp/247tq to the wheels:
Rich M wanted firmer shifts from his automatic-equipped G37 Coupe. We installed a TransGo shift kit followed by UPREV tuning:
TransGO kit:
The dyno plot reveals the benefits of UPREV tuning and the TransGo kit. Firmer shifts are evident by the absence of the “loop” (blue curves) seen with OEM automatic-equipped Z/Gs. Huge peak gains of 20hp/18tq to the wheels and increased area under the curve everywhere means this is power you can feel!
Garth J brought his 2003 350z to us for Stoptech lines, 5/16″ plenum spacer and MREV2 lower intake, and new Bridgestone PP S-04 tires:
With the intake mods and UPREV tuning Garth’s Z picked up 7hp/5tq to the wheels. More importantly are the mid-range and top-end gains:
Just over a year ago Brian K visited Z Car Garage for several bolt-on parts on his 2006 350z including a JWT Pop charger, Motordyne 5/16″ plenum spacer, Bassani cat-back exhaust system and UPREV tuning.
As we all know it is hard to resist adding upgrades to your sportscar and after enjoying the Z with its new mods Brian came back to ZCG for full 60k services, Hotchkis sway bars and Brembo brakes. The OEM Brembo calipers were sourced from Gabe V’s G35 coupe. Gabe upgraded to a Stoptech Trophy setup, full report on his build soon:
Looking good through the ’06 wheels!
In 2012 Erik M. came to Z Car Garage with his bonestock G35 Coupe. With 100k miles on the odometer Erik was confronted with every enthusiast’s dilemma: sell it off or keep it? Z’s and G’s are hard to let go and Erik chose to modify his car so we gave him the ZCG essentials: JWT POP charger intake, Motordyne plenum spacer, Bassani cat-back exhaust system, JWT clutch/flywheel, Koni shocks, and Hotchkis sway bars:
Here is the stock exhaust vs the sweet sounding Bassani system:
JWT intake, JWT heavy duty clutch and flywheel (a prudent upgrade for future power mods!)
Stock vs Koni dampers plus Hotchkis sways:
We also performed full 90k services and Erik was off enjoying his G…until he came back for a Stoptech Sport Kit to improve braking. Early last year he stopped by ZCG to consult with Rob on Forced Induction…Erik wanted boost and it would be in the form of a Vortech V-3 supercharger kit!
The build started in Fall ’13, with upgrades like an oil cooler, 900cc Bosch injectors, Aeromotive 340 fuel pump and everything powdercoated satin black-Erik wanted things low profile. This Vortech build was far from ordinary as we planned to run E85 (ethanol) to make more power. What’s the deal with E85? Tuners have been using this “alternative” fuel for years to extract power from forced induction setups. Specifically, E85 has an octane rating approaching 105; a significant jump from your typical 91-octane premium pump gas, but for about the same price. This higher octane rating allows wider tuning capabilities, increasing power and reducing the chance of detonation with high compression or boosted applications.
Here are few key benefits of E85:
Running E85 is straightforward but critical components are needed as well as tuning. First, E85 requires larger injectors to compensate for 40-50% increase in fuel demand. Second, an aftermarket ECU allows tuning of fuel/timing maps. We used 900c injectors, a Haltech ECU and Flex Fuel Sensor from Zeitronix:
Playing with ethanol-to-gasoline mixtures or periodically switching from gasoline to E85 requires changes in fuel pressures. Switching over isn’t a simple run-to-the-pump-and-fill scenario and that’s the beauty of the Haltech…Erik can run 91 octane, E85, E70, E30 etc. without worrying about manually adjusting timing and A/F!
Erik keeps tabs on engine and air/fuel vitals with a gauge display from Zeitronix. We mounted it stealthily in place of the OEM retractable unit:
So does E85 really make a difference? The answer is a resounding YES! The G35 baseline dyno’d at 249hp/226tq and the Vortech helped increase power to 422hp/342tq to the wheels on 91 octane:
With the Haltech and E85, were able to extract 30hp/26tq at the same boost level! Final numbers are 462hp/368tq:
We think Erik loves the newfound power…he already took his G35 to the Wednesday Night Fun Drags at Sears Point recently with great results. Before and after the Vortech/E85. Erik ran a 14.6@97mph vs 13.6@111mph:
With some drag radials and urethane differential bushings Erik is hoping to cure wheel hop issues and dip into the 12’s! Maybe even lower as he plans to do a high compression built engine…of course using E85!
Enjoy the Ride Erik!
Josh R called us up for some free Z Car Garage swag. Rob happily sent out a few things but they never reached Josh. This was unacceptable so Rob sent him a care package with key chains, shirts, lanyards and ensured delivery with the boys in brown.
Josh got finally got his swag and mentioned that he’d be back with his Z33 if he needed some tuning and we are happy to report that we worked on his Z recently! We installed ART pipes, Motordyne MREV manifold /plenum spacer and finished the bolt-ons off with an UPREV tune.
Here are the ART pipes in place of the factory cats:
Baseline to plenum spacer/manifold shows slight peak gains but significantly more midrange power:
UPREV tuning maximizes these bolt-ons yielding +6hp/7tq. Also note the increased rev limit:
The ART pipes really help in upper rev range increasing hp by 12hp. A final UPREV tuning session adds even more hp/tq:
