Ok there let me put a view point for consideration, there is an all too common thread with big engine builds and that is reliability, I strongly avoided this where I could during my time in the 300zx arena, there is so many factors going on here and far from been the least is the unrealistic figures owners want to attain and to this end the owner`s / customer does have a role to play in the blame game now I know that might seem harsh but please read on before judging.
With added pressure from pub talk figures, various forum's and Facebook "bragging" / "mine is better than yours" the real picture has become twisted ever so slightly, not so long ago we were would talk of how lucky we all were to be driving near 300 bhp cars that not only would kick the ass of most other cars on the road but would do it in its stride. Add to this the sheer drive-ability Nissan engineer's had spent countless hours perfecting along with a well balanced chassis and a host of then advanced electronics was a near automotive miracle in the late Eighties. Yet...... we / you and tuners think they all knew better!
So where has this demand for more power come from? well films, meets , and magazines, this is not a new thing been going on for years and all models have been tuned to within a hairs breath of failure, I have to ask though Why?, why take a perfectly good engine and thrash the arse out of it on a rolling road?? it proves nothing, rolling road results are at best not accurate way of knowing how a car will drive on the road and at worse total fabrication ! figures get manipulated by RR operators and if you think that does not happen then you may need to wake up to what is going on.
I have been in the unique position to have driven almost every type of zed in the UK and every level of tune, from auto non turbo standard right up to a serious imported race track version twin turbo`s that was mental, just mental !!
So given the wide range of zeds I have extensively driven over the past 20 years there have been some that really made a real mark on me in their superb drive and power delivery with near standard service and reliability and right up to the afore mentioned mental cars that are like pedigree poodles that need attention and fettling after every run out, then of course there is the myriad of zeds that have been rolling road \ tuned that have been provided with 500 / 600 bhp power run charts that basically run like crap on the road despite the readouts on the RR.
This is were the biggest figure you can get rather than drive-ability is the issue, what happens is the true focus of the car is lost, you end up with a high boosting zed that has massive power mid range and high revs but can be dragged off the lights to 60 mph by a well healed hot hatch back, this is not progress guys this is going backwards!! the US scene provides us with a mass of inspiration and a whole load of B.shit too, they operate on a different level than the UK, near new zeds were bought by teenagers with bags of cash to throw at it continually until such time they come to their senses and go buy a standard 500 bhp car not a 300 bhp been forced to run 500 bhp.
So back to the tuner main thread point, tuners have varied technical knowledge and highly varied facilities and kit, black smoking on high boost / revs seems to be a common factor and maybe a safety thing, or just bad mapping, black smoke is unburnt fuel as we all know.... this I have seen on every map done by the tuner in question that I have come across, this seems at odds with efficiency and sure leads to other issues, lets be honest here, you do not see many AMG mercs black smoking down the motorway do we?
So back to Paulzx, can I ask if you got a detailed receipt for the work? did you pay cash or by card ( guessing cash ) reason I ask is many, many do not get receipts of any kind and this is your recourse, any mapper worth his salt will not walk away from a bad map and will get it right until its correct and not at your cost, if you have paid once that is it, but then the difference between a boni-fida trader and well ..................not.
We always displayed our Insurance, Vat registration and Fire Certificates in the reception area, we were also subject to random visits by health and safety to ensure we were complaint in every way. Add to this our dedication to paper work with worksheets and detailed invoicing all backed up on the office hard drive data base.
So if you thinking of letting your pride and joy go to a tuner who ever it is do your own homework, check them out, see if they have insurance, see if the are fiscally sound ( many are not ) and see if they actually know what they are doing. But most of all stay real and stay safe, we had a customer who regular ran his zed at the pod and saw off 1000 bhp skylines and the like, he had a mild boost upgrade and a stock car with automatic box, used to drive the other guys mad !!
Enjoy what is now a classic bit of automotive history and please resist the temptation to blow them up, rebuilds are fine and dandy and sometimes a necessity but keep it close to standard power and I can guarantee your will love it more, either that or just go and buy a BMW M6 like I did 500 bhp / 200 mph out of the box, drive-ability to die for and massive power all in a sub £20k car, then again the US guys are happily tuning them to mad figures and guess what? yes they break!!
Jeff
Just to add some relative clarification here , has anyone here had a catastrophic failure with a metal one piece prop shaft? and has anyone had any kind of failure with carbon fibre prop shaft. In either case has anyone pictures or information on the failure? Jeff
