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First up was our automatic transmission sport model. We tested the Automatic in 4th gear to prevent the speed limiter from kicking in on the dyno rollers.  This is no traditional automatic transmission.  The 7-speed automatic aggressively applies the lock up clutch after each shift to stop the power robbing slushy slip typical of automatics.  This was readily apparent on the dyno as the Z felt solid and coupled during its pulls.  The automatic 370Z did not try to upshift or downshift like automatics typically do on dynos and thus gave a very similar power curve to a manual transmission car. The automatic 370Z pulled an impressive 256 wheel hp on the stingy Superflow with 210 lb/ft of torque.  The power curve was impressive and linear from throttle tip in with no major dips until the 7700 rpm fuel cut.  The torque curve was flat across the board.  This is broad, fat meaty power, the stuff that makes a car move.  This is not your father’s automatic transmission!
 

370Z_Automatic_dyno

 





With these impressive results from the automatic we eagerly strapped down the manual transmission equipped 370Z and ran it in to condition the drivetrain for power pulls.  For comparison sake we also ran the manual transmission 370Z in forth gear to try to get the factors between the cars as close as possible. The manual transmission model also impressed us by spinning the rollers to the tune of 261 wheel hp and 212 lb/ft of torque.  The manual 370Z also had the same impressively flat and fat shape to the power and torque curves all the way to a screaming 7700 rpm rev limit.
 

370Z_6_Speed









We were very impressed with the performance of the automatic transmission.  When the graphs of the automatic and manual were laid on top of each other, the automatic for all practical purposes was almost a direct match of the manual, in fact the few horsepower difference in output between the two transmissions might be due to the way the dyno loads the engine with the manual’s 1.271 forth gear ratio vs the automatics 1.412 forth gear.  The automatic does have planetary gears that are slightly less efficient in power transfer and heavy rotating clutch drums that do suck up slightly more power than the manual transmissions lighter more directly geared internals, but the key culprit in automatic transmission power loss, the slush coupler torque converter has been taken out of the loop by the aggressive lock up clutch scheduling.

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Comments

KillerBee370
# KillerBee370
Saturday, March 14, 2009 4:54 AM
Impressive stock numbers! Looking forward to seeing future tuned results!
Steve
# Steve
Monday, March 16, 2009 3:15 AM
I love that power curve, and most of the torque available off 2k rpm - that's a whole tach full of available power you can sink your teeth into.

Based on what I've seen with G37 tunes, I am guessing we're going to see some very interesting Technosquare results with minimal mods.

The AT is very impressive, shades of a well-tuned Z32. The AT in the Z33 disappointed a bit, this one sounds like a winner. Hefting a heavy clutch in stop and go traffic gets old sometimes :)
ken
# ken
Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:58 AM
let's pull it again, with a few mods from Stillen and JWT......
kpower
# kpower
Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:30 PM
Trying to reach Mike Kojima, Hope the nissan guys don't get mad, I'm a honda fan, loved the performance book you published, was wondering if you might consider doing one on the k-series swap, thanks for everyones time!
Charlie Barnes
# Charlie Barnes
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 11:03 PM
Not bad...now i want one more now!

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