Supercharger/Cold Air Intake/ other HP gains

[NickD85]

I'm sure its been discussed before... but has anyone tried supercharging their Q/Pathy? Has anyone installed a cold air intake, made tuning adjustments, messed with the exhaust etc...? I'm interested in hearing what you guys have done, and the kind of horsepower/ performance gains you've seen.-Nick

[K03sport]

Yes, it has been done. I would suggest using the search feature and typing in the exact phrases you said in your post, one at at time, and see what comes up in the PF/Q forum.

Supercharging - nice noises, available from dealer, hope you have stock in oil company.

Air filter - drop in, short ram (pop charger), custom intake all equal minimum gains. Oiled filters (K&N) could cause problems with the MAF especially if over oiled.

Exhaust - 1999-2004, no one makes replacements that are worth anything...best to custom fab your own w/ muffler of your choice

other gains - there are 4 catalytic conv, 2 in each bank, so replacing with headers will give you gains, but good luck finding them...

ECU reflash, not too sure.

the PF VQ35 does not have the same intake mani as a 350Z.

In the end, it is hard to make a 4,000+ lbs vehicle with limited aftermarket support fast. I say you should add lightness to get the most performance. That is what Colin Chapman would do.

[NickD85]

thanks for the input- I'm in love with the lotus's by the way, and the spartan mindset behind them. I realize that this car wasn't meant to be a speed demon, and I also don't think that there is a huge amount of superfluous weight floating around. I've heard about guys removing spare tires, roof racks, running boards etc... but I don't think thats where the real weight holding the car back lies. Plus, I don't think the benefits compensate for the drawbacks associated with say, not having back seats. I'm just looking for that little extra something- I feel like the supercharger might be the way to go. Thoughts on strapping a supercharger to a (well maintained) engine with 130,000 miles on it ?

[NickD85]

and there's four cats??? I've replaced most of the exhaust, and have only ever seen two... one per bank. Are the other two further upstream, closer to the engine where i might not see them?

[W O T]

Yeah there are 4 cats, 2 pretty tight to the first collector

I would IN AN A INSTANT, buy a delete pipe for them, a set of headers and cutsom piping back would make my day, if I could get rid of those cats and somehow have the car still run good. Id be the happiest kid in the world

[K03sport]

I'm still trying to get over the whole 4 cat thing. Unless the VQ35 has a horrible time meeting the emissions of 2000-2004, why would they use 4 when 2 would have been plenty.

I know in the earlier WRXs there is a cat pre turbo in the up-pipe and 2 after in the down-pipe. I believe the 1 in the up-pipe was put there just to limit turbo spool to keep the HP numbers down for the N. American market. of course, this problem can be easily delt with.

If nothing else, make the cat longer, but don't keep adding little ones ever few feet. Talk about choking exhaust flow.

I wonder if removing the first cats would cause the first O2 sensor to see some whacked out reading and that the differential between front/rear O2s would be too great and cause a CEL.

[screwinitupagain]

Heres a link to pics of a supercharged R50:http://www.pcoa.org.au/forum/v...=2498

And heres a turbo:http://www.u-shonan.com/myterr...9.htm

All courtesy of Adam (Fueler) at some point in time

[screwinitupagain]

if I could get rid of those cats and somehow have the car still run good. Id be the happiest kid in the world

You don't need cats for the engine to run well or the exhaust to perform well. You need cats because the EPA says you do for the "enviorment"

[JonathanPrem]

Heres a link to pics of a supercharged R50:http://www.pcoa.org.au/forum/v...=2498

And heres a turbo:http://www.u-shonan.com/myterr...9.htm

All courtesy of Adam (Fueler) at some point in time

That's some Crazy Sh1T but just image the mileage you get with those. You'll probably be living at the gas station.

[screwinitupagain]

I only get 14mpg anyway, I'm sure it wouldn't be mych difference. I'd take the gain in horsepower.

[fueler]

i would think that under normal driving, you'd probably GAIN mpg with such a setup on a 3.3 (you wont have to redline the 3.3L just to pass a garbage truck anymore)

[Fisherdude]

You don't need cats if you live where I live!! however if you live in or near a city it is required. A cool trick my buddy taught me is to take your cats off and just smash or drill out the insides so its just an open tube, thus causing 0 resistance and it still looks like the cats are still on

[W O T]

Ya I have hollowed out cats before, gives your car a mean smell lol

I really dont care if my care wouldnt pass emissions to be honest, I know some people that can get me past that.

Its that would the car run properly with all 4 cats removed/gutted? Would the 02 sensors go crazy etc without them there.

I really wish they made a set of bolt on headers for the 3.5

[N2mesnob]

check out http://www.4x4parts.com/catalog/

[longhornsqx4]

You don't need cats if you live where I live!! however if you live in or near a city it is required. A cool trick my buddy taught me is to take your cats off and just smash or drill out the insides so its just an open tube, thus causing 0 resistance and it still looks like the cats are still on

Would the 02 sensors not be going crazy though and possibly fail VERY fast and make your car run like poop, Id love to ditch the cats myself