Robispec’s Street Class Time Attack Nissan 370Z, Simple is Better?

By Mike Kojima

Robispec is a Southern California tuning shop who’s specially is a rather unusual one. Instead of the typical shop in search of speed via the quest for more and more power, Robispec’s game is increasing lateral G’s, of the cornering kind. The proprietor of Robispec is Robert Fuller or Robi, one of our favorite people. Robi is always willing to lend a hand or give advice to whatever project we have asked him, either formally as our Project EVO IX or by helping us swing wrenches at the track. Robi is on our short list of people we call for help if we have a problem that needs solving.

About six weeks ago we got a call from Robi telling us he would have something special, a Nissan 370Z he was building for the SEMA show and the annual Source Interlink Super Lap Battle. As there has been a lack of serious Nissan 370Z parts development due probably to its sluggish sales, we eagerly awaited checking out what Robi could cook up in short order.

G-Spec Braided Steel Brake Lines for the Nissan 370Z Rock!

By Mike Kojima

We recently evaluated a set of G-Spec lines for the Nissan 370Z.  The G-Spec lines also fit the Infiniti G37 Sedan and Coupe. We installed them on the Killer B which is starting to become our official 370Z Project demonstrator vehicle.  The Killer Bee is a Sport Package 370Z with the standard factory big brakes.  Although the Sport Package 370Z has exceptional brakes, some improvement can usually be found by installing braided steel lines.  This is because stiff braided steel lines do not expand with pressure like the stock rubber lines

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Nitto NT05 Tire Review

370Z.com Staff Report

Although the Nitto NT05 was released a few months ago and is now somewhat old news, we would still like to report on it as we were part of the team that help conceptualize the tire from when it was proposed a few years ago.  Because of this attraction we are proud to see it on the market. Although Nitto has always had good product in its DOT Race and street tire market classes, Nitto was notably absent in offerings in the highest niche of ultra high performance near race, street legal tires.

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Testing Jim Wolf Technologies Ultra Light Flywheel and Heavy Duty Clutch- Will it Work With SynchroRev? (New Video!) By Mike Kojima

From a performance standpoint, the Nissan 370Z probably is one of the best candidates for performance improvement from a lightweight flywheel because of it's extremely heavy stock clutch and flywheel. The stock flywheel weights a stout 32 lbs, the pressure plate 16 lbs and the clutch disc 3 lbs. That’s 51 lbs of rotating weight that must be spun to speed at the end of the crankshaft! Why is the stock 370Z’s flywheel so weighty? In an effort to reduce NVH (That’s engineers speak for Noise Vibration and Harshness) to extremely low levels, Nissan made the stock flywheel very heavy. The heaviness of the flywheel helps to smooth out power impulses of the VQ37VHR engine.

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Stillen's Gen 3 Nissan 370Z Air Intake, Tested!

By Mike Kojima

Our test 370Z is a six-speed manual transmission sports package model equipped with a Stillen cat back exhaust, Stillen high flow cats and a Technosquare ECU reflash. For this test we used the Superflow AutoDyn 30 chassis dyno at Technosquare Inc.  As we have explained in previous tests, the AutoDyn 30 is a dyno that uses both inertial and static loading with weighted wheel rollers and an eddy current power absorber.  This is a very different method of measuring power from the common Dynojet dyno which is purely an inertial dyno.

From our sister site www.motoiq,com

We Launch MotoIQ, The high signal to noise ratio on-line  tuner magazine!

I am excited to announce that our sister site www.motoIQ.com is live!  motoIQ is the merge of magazine quality journalism with the nimbleness of the internet. Check out our in depth tech, interesting features and stories from the tuner world like you used to read in Sport Compact Car and Turbo, the stuff that you miss reading and can't find. Best of all its free with no subscription cost. If you are interested in the 370Z you will love motoIQ!  Sign up today

Hope to see you there!

-Mike Kojima Editor motoIQ.com/370Z.com

http://www.motoiq.com/Home/tabid/37/Default.aspx

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Nissan 370Z 6-Speed Manual Transmission Parts Dyno Test, We Test Stillen's Exhaust System and High Flow Cats With Technosquare's ECU Reflash

by Mike Kojima

For our test mule, we used the Killer Bee, the yellow 370Z that was our May feature car. The Killer Bee is a sports package 6-speed manual transmission 370 that was returned to stock for our evaluation. We will be evaluating more parts on the Killer Bee in the near future so stay tuned! In stock trim the Killer Bee slung out 262 whp at 7000 rpm and 210 lb/ft of torque at 4600 rpm. The VQ37VHR engine exhibited the typical wide flat torque curve and nice linear power curve that the VQ37VHR is becoming renowned for.

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New! 370Z.com Upgrades Forums

370Z.com Staff Report

In response to our uses requests, 370Z.com has upgraded our forums to help build our community of hard core 370Z lovers.  To set us apart from the other 370Z forums we will strive to keep our 370Z forum a high signal to noise ratio, friendly place for the 370Z enthusiast.   Our highly qualified and experienced staff will work to give the true no BS answers to a lot of the questions 370Z enthusiasts may raise about a myriad of subjects. Unlike the other forums, we have inside technical connections with Nissan, Nissan Motorsports, Nismo and the Nissan Performance aftermarket.

Our upgraded forum now features the same interactive functions as popular forum formats with a much more intuitive, easy to use format. Please feel free join our community and enjoy!

 -The 370Z.com staff

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Nissan to launch hybrid 370Z sports car in 2011? (updated, new info! 5/28/09)  by Mike Kojima

The Nissan 370Z hybrid will be powered by a version of the VQ engine displacing 3.7 liters and an electric motor. A hybrid drive system will use two separate clutches, one between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor with another clutch between the electric motor and the drive wheels. This system will optimize performance and efficiency depending on operating conditions. The new hybrid system will also feature a full plug in EV mode for city type conditions where charging stations are available to maximize economy.

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Nissan’s 370Z VQ37VHR Cylinder Head and VVEL Continually Variable Cam Timing Technology(NEW VIDEO)  by Mike Kojima

The unique VVEL system completely controls the intake valves opening and closing events. The VVEL system is exceedingly complicated using two separate rotating shafts driving links that operate eccentrics activating a valve activating reciprocating rocker arm that takes the place of the traditional cam lobe.

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Nissan 370Z Bad News Buzz:  High Engine & Diff Oil Temps ~ The $300 Dollar Oil Change ~ Engine Clatter & More!  Hype or Reality?  by Mike Kojima

One of the main issues is that the 370Z and G37 with the VQ37VHR engine experiences high oil temperatures. The high engine oil temps can cause the engines ECU to put it into a limp home mode where the engine rpm is limited, first to around 6000 rpm and if you don’t start to behave, a lower limit of about 3500 rpm is engaged until the oil temperatures drop below around 280 degree and the key is cycled. The VQ37VHR is very prone to suffer from high engine oil temps during any sort of extended high speed driving such as motorsports events, in racing and even non competition events such as track days.

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Nissan 370Z Auto Tranny Performance Part Dyno Thrash-a-thon!  We Test Stillen's cold air intake, exhaust, Berk high flow cats, Technosquare ECU reflash by Mike Kojima

We strove for accuracy and repeatability in our testing. We did all of our testing during one day. We used standard SAE correction. We thoroughly warmed up the VQ37VHR engine and the drivetrain by driving the car on the dyno at speed for about 10 minutes to warm the engine, transmission and differential oil (this car is equipped with Technosquare’s oil cooler kit) as well. 

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Technosquare's Nissan 370Z oil cooler kit solves oil temperature issues!  by Mike Kojima

Since we have actually started to work on and modify the Nissan 370Z we have come to realize that high oil temperatures have the potential to become a problem on these cars. We have recorded oil temperatures of 260 degrees plus on 370Z’s on the dyno, in brisk driving and simply in heavy traffic. Several times we had to stop dyno testing or slow down while driving to allow oil temperatures to drop.

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Technosquare's Nissan 370Z/Infiniti G37 Performance ECU Reflash Released (NEW VIDEO)! by Mike Kojima

Technosquare changes the factory fuel, timing, rev limit and VVEL/VTC cam control maps to get a respectable gain of 11 whp and 10 lb/ft of torque. The gains are pretty much across the board, starting at 2700 rpm and continuing until the rev limiter stops the fun. The gains are large and consistent through the entire rev range, greatly increasing the area under the power curve.

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We Test Jim Wolf Technologies Nissan 370Z Dual Pop Charger (NEW VIDEO)! by Mike Kojima

We used a new six speed sports model Nissan 370Z with a few hundred miles on the odometer as our test subject. Before the installation of the JWT Dual POP, we baselined the car on Technosquare’s AutoDyn 30 Superflow chassis dyno. The Superflow dyno is unique in that it uses both an inertial weighted roller and an eddy current load cell to provide the working load against the engine. 

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