Need some advice on getting more power

J

JimmyWang

Member
Location
Chicago, IL
I have been reading this site for about a year and always tried to find an answer by searching first. I do apologize if I missed any previous post. I am new to cars so please bare with me about my possible dumb questions.
Long story short, I am getting this car itch after having this 07 FX35 AWD for a year. Maybe this is part of the mid age crisis as people said it now begins at a guy's mid 30s. I was driving a 99 4 cyl. Accord (still has the car as my daily drive with 153000 miles on it) for 10 yrs and didn't realize I like to be fast until getting my FX35 as our "Family car". The FX35 is a lot faster than my languish 99 Accord, but it also "inspired" me about how much fun I can get with a faster car.
I also got a loaner G37 and like the acceleration it gives me.

As far as I understood, the stock 07 FX35 AWD is roughly a 7.3 sec 0-60 and 16 sec 1/4 mile car. If I want to make it to a flat 5 sec 0-60 and 13.5 sec 1/4 mile car, Is 400whp (and roughly 400wTq) with a turbo kit enough for the job?


I am currently looking at the JWT TT kit, if I need to save a budget, what amount would be reasonable and realistic for installing the kit plus the tuning in a shop in the Chicago area (also if anyone can recommend me a good shop in this area will be highly appreciated). My upper limit is 20k including the kit since I could trade in my car and get an used 09+ FX50 with the money combined. Or should I just do that? Or even go get a used G37 with that 20k and to replace my 99 Accord?

I also believe that I need some kind of upgrade on my tranny to handle the HP, and also the VB to better use the additional power, and here comes my dumb question: A stillen S/C stage 2 gen 1 FX35 AWD runs 6 flat 0-60 mph and high 14s for 1/4 miles with roughly 380 Hp at the fly wheel (my local dealer was trying to get me into installing this, so he showed me a dyno sheet and it peaked at 270HP, so if I count 25% transmission loss for AWD, 270/0.75 ~360 , and he also told me there is ~20HP going to the blower, so 360+20=380...sounds reasonable to me). And the gen 2 FX35 with the VQ35HR engine also runs around that time but with a less HP and Tq. Is this due to the better 7 spd tranny or other things? And is it possible to incorporate the same enhancement into the Gen 1 FX.
Any advice will be highly appreciated...
BTW, I need to get a budget proposal to the GM at home (Wife) for approval before I do anything, so I need a rosy story for her....
 
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I've seen the JWT on a AWD G35 so I know it's possible. JWT doesn't have documentation on it since VRT did the mods to the passenger side turbo pipe.

Sound Performance is in Chicago area, they would be a good start for shops in the area. http://www.spracingonline.com/ GRD is somewhere in Chicago as well, not sure how their rep is from the older days. SP is still active on the Z forums and they are hp whores. :)

Keep it simple and you'll be ok. If you don't mind noises a centrifugal supercharger is a decent option.
 
Also on the budget portion. Give or take a few K for basic parts for any of the power adders. You have a fellow FXer in the area I think that has done the VB mod for other FXers which is a good thing. You can add on as much "stuff" as you want with each kit but fuel/monitoring/engine management varies with each one.

Stillen 7-8k
Vortech 8-9k
HKS 8-9k
Momentum/Powerlab single turbo 9-10k
JWT TT 10-11k
 
JW - I'll throw my two cents in here with Rookie's since I did a single turbo on my 2004 RWD. At 12 psi, my FX makes 400whp at the rear wheels. That equates to somewhere around the 500 hp at the crank of my FX. At that power level or at any higher boost, both the motor and the transmission have to be built stronger if you have any wish for long term reliability. I did my build in stages - prepping each system for an eventual turbo setup. This also allowed me to pay off the cost in installments - smaller payments for the work over a longer period of time.

I personally spent about $2500 on my transmission - shift kit, cooler, aftermarket internals & seals and Torque Converter modified for a higher stall speed. Price included installation.

The motor internals were built with forged pistons & rods and I had all the valve seals replaced. A built longblock package was about $4500 for me - able to hold 650 hp at the crank, again labor/installation included.

Some forced induction kits include engine management and fuel system upgrades, others don't and you need to modify those systems to handle the increased demand. Also, monitoring (gauges, wideband sensor, temp sensors, etc) are not always included. Make sure you know you have all your bases covered before deciding which kit to purchase because the "I forgot" list of parts or the "nicer" parts you find along the way (and just gotta have) will definitely be expensive. Plan on that as part of the total budget.

While the JWT TT might be the most expensive on Rookie's list, I think is is the most complete kit available on the market. It comes with almost everything you need, should be installed by a trained/licensed JWT installer and has proven reliability. Long term it is probably the least expensive way to go. If I had my build to do over again, I might have gone with a JWT instead of a custom setup. There has been a lot of tweaking and adjusting for me - if I didn't have another car during that time, I would have been very frustrated.

Finally, let me say that it's good to have goals to shoot for because it gives your build a direction. 13.5 seconds has been done on the JWT kit with a built motor (member lebron/Min). With my current boost level and launch tune, I'm at a 13.9 1/4. Pretty sure I could hit 13.5 with a couple more psi and a little launch tuning.
 
Sorry, where you at in IL?

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------

Let us know if you go to Sound Performance because i would be interested in meeting you there and seeing what they can do to the FX.
 
lol I know a great mechanic his name is handy Andy from chicago!! lol hahaha jkjk But yeah dude good luck. Maybe you want to trade in for fx45 or fx50 and start from there!!
 
DieselFx said:
lol I know a great mechanic his name is handy Andy from chicago!! lol hahaha jkjk But yeah dude good luck. Maybe you want to trade in for fx45 or fx50 and start from there!!
Click to expand...
Hahahaha, did I say I'm a mechanic? Naw, I'm just a bit handy around cars.
 
psst andy i get 10% okay? i was talking to turbocad about you guys that you, ched and marek should start your own shop!!! You will make mad money!! Then every once awhile you fly turbo in for the big stuff DONE deal! lolz
 
Even though i feel we have a good thing going here...(guna need some capital...any investors out there are welcome) but feel bad taking up this thread for this!

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 PM ----------
la_fx35 said:
Did we digress? I thought we're talking about more power here.:smile (2):
Click to expand...

...we are talking about a money making business! some would argue that money IS power!
 
blueduck1105 said:
Even though i feel we have a good thing going here...(guna need some capital...any investors out there are welcome) but feel bad taking up this thread for this!

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 PM ----------



...we are talking about a money making business! some would argue that money IS power!
Click to expand...



Lol Blueduck... yeah sorry jimmywang maybe blueduck should start another thread and we continue this conversation haha
 
I am in the northern suburb (Grayslake).
I will let you know when I am going.

---------- Post added at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 PM ----------

Thanks Jumbo. I was a follower of your thread and some what intimidated by how complicate the whole process could be. Also I can see that you have good mechanical background and really enjoyed all the details. Even though I also have engineering background (too bad it is electrical/electronics), I know very little about what it takes to make turbo work. What I hope is to get more power while I can treat it as a reliable black box.
I still have a couple of questions:
1. Any extra maintenance needed with the Turbo setup?
2. Is it ok to travel far (say a 2 week 2000 miles trip from Chicago to Yellowstone park) with the turbo setup
3. With your 400rwhp, you should easily hit 13.5 sec mark since FX50 only has 329whp (data from dragtimes.com) but can get 13.6 sec 1/4 (data from car and driver) . Is it due to its new 7 spd tranny?
 
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