Think you'll ever make it up to 20 PSI?? ;-) lol

 

NICE Numbers Mike..

 

so when do you get to do a 15psi run? seems like the tq numbers are off a bit... maybe its just me... either way that is awesome! i'd be lucky to put down 250 on 10psi...

 

I will do the 15 lb run once I put some more miles on it. That torque curve is awesome, what are you talking about? It never drops below 300wtq...

 

sure on race gas... lol, but i think whats throwing me is i've always seen higher tq than hp numbers... like i said maybe its me...

whats nice is you hit your previous peak hp by 3500 and it just keeps climbing...

 

Actually after this run they tried to turn it up to 13 lbs. of boost and it wouldn't go past 9.7 lbs. Upon further investigation they found out that there was a wastegate problem. Just found that out. Its getting fixed right now and then its back to JWT in the morning. This is starting to get frustrating. I want my Z back!

 

Ok I can't wait any longer to tell you guys... My car made another dyno run this morning and guess what...

532.6 whp and 626.3 wtq!!! This was on 110 octane. The map was for 13.5 lbs. of boost, but it actually got up to 14.1 max.

Dyno chart coming any minute.

 

HOLY F-ING S.H.I.T!!!!!

Pope - when you get the numbers back from VRT, let me know so I can start saving!

 

Mike, is everything still on for your house tomorrow? Not sure if you will have your car there then. If so, could you pm your address please.

 

Here's the latest dyno sheet! Enjoy...



I am not keeping it at this level of course, this is just to see what it can do.

Keep in mind this dyno chart uses icriments of 200 rpms so on a different dyno chart, the torque band would smooth out quite a bit. 440wtq and above from 2850rpms to redline!!!!

 

I think so, but I am not making any promises until that car is on the road. As of right now it should leave in a few hours.

 

thats insane. traction is going to own you on race gas/high boost. all that torque = new tires with every tank of race gas

cant wait to read your giddy review of your first drive

 

now thats the torque i was talking about!!!! kick ***!

 

Chapter 5: The First Impression

Wow! That’s all I can say. This car is amazing. Scott from VRT left late at night on Friday January 27th and arrived at my house around 3:30am on Saturday. The car, although very uncomfortable, drove really well according to Scott. No issues at all during the drive from San Diego to Las Vegas. As soon as he got here we took the car out for the first test drive. This is the first time I have driven it since I had even taken the interior out so it was a completely different car.

The car is loud in every way. There is no interior or sound deadener so you hear EVERYTHING. The rocks on the road, the limited slip differential, the tires, the turbos, everything. The JWT clutch feels a lot nicer than what I was expecting it to. Although different from stock, it is very smooth and the pedal feel is good. The Momo steering wheel also feels awesome. The JIC coilovers are very stiff in the rear since most of the weight was taken out of the back. The struts are set to full soft, and still the rear end bounces all over the place. I am hoping that re-locating the battery to the back and getting the car corner balanced will tame that a little bit, otherwise I am going to get some custom springs made. Now onto the good stuff…

The car right now is tuned at the 8.5 lbs. of boost on 91 octane pump gas. This configuration puts out 443.6 whp and 431 wtq and man is it awesome. It will take some getting used to, but its fun. First gear is pretty much useless, second is fun, but easy to break those 315s loose, and third gear is really fun. I can’t believe the pull this thing has and how fast those RPMs climb. This is a good tune for right now, but I think I will get used to it rather quickly. I am going to keep it at 8.5 lbs. right now and probably try a track day at that level. After that I will probably be ready to up it to 10 lbs. of boost. I drove the car for about 20 minutes and then headed back home.

I also noticed some other things on my quick drive around Las Vegas in the wee hours of the morning. Rev matching on the downshifts with the JWT flywheel is awesome. I have never driven a car with a lightweight flywheel before so I was unaware that it would make that much of a difference. Also with those 285/30/18 tires on the front, turn in at slow speeds is noticeably slower, but that was expected. Another thing is the AP Racing brakes are the best feeling brakes I have ever driven on. The initial bite on these things is second to none. I fee like I am being lifted out of the seat under hard braking lol.

Now it is almost 6:00am here in Vegas and I can’t sleep I am so excited. Scott and this poor girl he drug along for the grueling ride from San Diego to Vegas are asleep upstairs and all I want to do is listen to those JWT Twin Turbos spool up! Tomorrow I am going to start working on the other things I have sitting in my garage for this thing so check back for more updates.

 

Congrats mang!!!!

 

awwright! congrats on your new baby!

 

Some pictures I took this morning...

The car is pretty dirty, but oh well. How do you like my custom gauge pod for my wideband gauge lol?

 

Man, that car is sick! See you in a few.

 

The wife and I just went for a ride and we both shat our pants. Thanks for the thrill Mike!

 

Man this sucks! I always have to work when cool **** is going on. Oh well, I see Mike around town all the time....I'll see if I can't get a ride in it later.

 

AWESOME Mike. I can't wait to see it run.


Here are a few good videos of some other guys who are working on a Z project car. http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/

 

So far, Mike's built motor is making the most power out of the other VRT installed JWT TT vehicles! This is sick.

Mike, new pictures on the NV350Z website with your current setup! Impess the masses!

Oh yeah, what happened to your other sponsors, i.e. Royal Purple, Mothers, etc.?

 

I know, I have to update my member page on the club website, I forgot all about that lol. As for my other sponsors, I dropped Optima Batteries and Royal Purple because they were too "corporate", meaning, if they saw my car at an event, they wouldn't even know that it was one of their sponsored vehicles. Mother's is a pretty good sponsor, but they are re-configuring their sponsorship program for 2006. They are supposed to contact me when they are done and I can re-apply.

 

Chapter 6: The Work Continues

The more I drive this car the more I love it. I have driven it for long periods of time, in traffic, at high speeds, you name it. In every situation the car is awesome. The suspension in the rear is definitely STIFF because that’s where most of the weight came out of. I am hoping that corner balancing and re-locating the battery back there will help a little, but if its still too stiff, I am going to have to get some custom springs made. Since I have had the car back I keep telling myself I need to get going on putting the rest of the parts on, but I end up driving the car and giving rides instead.

I did work on it for a little bit the other day though. While Scott from VRT was here he gave me a hand in putting on my Seibon TS vented carbon fiber hood. We couldn’t get it to latch and we had to leave so we just left it. After dropping him off at the airport, I messed with the hood for a few hours before getting frustrated and putting the stock one back on. No matter what I tried, I could not get the hood to latch. I tried adjusting the hood and adjusting the latch all night. I even tried removing the strut bar, battery cover, brake fluid cover, and the surrounding rubber and plastic. On one attempt, I loosened both the hood and the latch and with a little force, it latched! I popped the hood back opened, tightened everything and then it wouldn’t latch again. I loosened everything again and I still couldn’t get it to latch. That’s about when I decided to go back to the stock hood for now so I can drive it.

I did install the new Corbeau FX1 Pro seat though! At least that went in without a problem. It looks really good in the car and matches the CR1 that I have in the passenger seat really well. It is surprisingly comfortable also, more so than the CR1 in my opinion. I am still trying to get used to the upright position that the fixed back seat forces you to sit in, but it doesn’t bother me too bad. The harness position also feels a lot better since they run a little differently through the FX1 Pro than the CR1.

I also got around to fabricating a plate out of aluminum to fill the hole where the stereo used to be. It just pressure fits in there and I cut a hole out to fit my new Defi Control Unit. I also owe a HUGE thank you to the user Zillinois for fabricating a piece for me that fits where the NAV cubby used to be. This piece will house a Defi-Link Imperial boost gauge, exhaust temp gauge, and oil temp gauge as well as the pull handle for my Fire Bottle fire suppression system. Zillinois is truly a stand up member of the 350Z community.

I still have a ton of work to do that hopefully I can get done by the end of this coming weekend. I will have pictures of my new installs as well as a quick video that my friend took while riding passenger in the Z, so check back tomorrow for those.

 

lemme know if you wanna sell those JICs!