Yearly Archives: 2012

Lately, we have been getting a ton of 370z questions regarding when we officially recommend tuning your 370Z after adding a few bolt on’s.  The 370z is a very potent car straight out of the box but as soon as you start adding one too many bolt on’s you can change the car’s optimal air/fuel ratio to actually start to hinder your motor. Instead of boring you with a horribly written “Guide to modding your 370z,” I’ll refer you to the IMPORT TUNER power pages article where they managed to massage an extra 40HP out of the VQ37VHR powerplant.

Nissan 370z with STILLEN Intake System

 
The article can be found here. 2009 Nissan 370Z Touring – Power Pages
Maybe that will help clear up the “what part adds what and when you should tune” debate. As they say in the article… THE DYNO DOESN’T LIE!

 Nissan 370z STILLEN Intake Power Gains Over Stock

For more information on the products that can be found in this article…

STILLEN 370Z DUAL EXHAUST SYSTEM

STILLEN 370Z HIGH FLOW CAT

STILLEN 370Z GENERATION 3 ULTRA LONG TUBE INTAKE KIT

In terms of engine management, we recommend going the UPREV route, which we can also provide in-house tuning for at our STILLEN PERFORMANCE CENTER. 

Plus we have plenty of other 370Z power adding goodies available if you want to step things up a little further than 40hp.

NISSAN 370Z STILLEN PERFORMANCE OPTIONS

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The 2012 Nissan Altima fresh from the factory is already a pretty good looking coupe. It pays homage to its Z big brothers and at the same time has a lot of character of its own. We wanted to keep that character in mind when we were developed our NISSAN ALTIMA STILLEN FRONT LIP. We felt like we accomplished this pretty well, but when we found out this morning that 66MVP was outfitting their ALTIMA’s in their showroom with our LIP KIT we were ecstatic!!! Needless to say, we took this as a HUUUUGE compliment.

 

As you can see from the picture above, the STILLEN equipped ALTIMA coupe looks classy and mean at the same time.

If you happen to be in the New Jersey area, make sure you pay the boys over at 66AUTOMALL a visit. Not only do they have a wide selection of new and pre-owned NISSAN’s, KIA’s, and SUZUKI’s to choose from but they also happen to have a very one of a kind GTR for sale.

Or if you can’t make the drive, do some traveling in cyberspace and check out their website:

 

1-866-664-2222

3401 Route 66, Neptune NJ 07753

Before we dive directly into the crazy action that went down this Saturday in Long Beach, I’d like to first thanks John P and everyone over at Formula D for accomodating us with press passes for the event. We had a wonderful time and we are already stoked for the next one.  Secondly, I’d like to say it’s amazing to see how much the sport has grown over the past six years. Cars are getting faster and faster (even with the new tire size rules) and drivers keep pushing the limits of their vehicles I can’t wait to see how much farther Formula Drift will go before the end of this season.

Our day at the Streets of Long Beach started rather early which gave us a good amount of time to get some test shots in and walk around the event before the mayhem ensued.

Our first destination was the car show area presented by FATLACE / SLAMMED SOCIETY because we wanted to check out as many cars as we could before too many people got in the way.

As soon as we crossed the bridge to the car show area, we noticed a beautiful widebody s2000 that happened to be running some serious AP RACING brakes.

It’s very hard to beat that set up in terms of looks and performance. I especially love the road debris still stuck on the sideskirts from the drive in.
After we were done drooling over the widebody glory we noticed a very clean 350z

The “It’sJDMYO 350z was running an equally as clean Supercharger set up that was tucked in the engine bay very well.
Right in front of the Supercharged Z was a fine example of what happens when you combine the best of two world’s when it comes to car design.

American muscle plus Japanese flavor make for a very clean and mean set up courtesy of JonSibal and Dodge.

After we walked our way through the car show, we noticed something you don’t see at too many car shows and we were extremely stoked to see it.

A sectioned off skate area that had everything from mini ramps to ledges to fun boxes made for some unexpected action. I almost ran to the car to grab my Psycho Stick and join in on the action until I saw this guy bust a Tail Blunt to varial and kill all my confidence. 🙂

There were some AMAZING cars on display that day and there were some cars that made us wonder if the owner just entered the car show for a good parking spot.  After we were done geeking out over show cars we directed our attention and lenses to some practice sessions.

As you could see the guys were wasting no time getting used to the track before qualifying sessions started and the crowds showed up. Darren Macnamara and Frederick Asbo were going hard all day long.

Everyone’s favorite new kid on the Block Daigo Saito was getting used to the car, the track, and judging his gaps all at the same time in a few of his first outings in his new car.

Saito wasn’t the only Japanese Driver laying down some heat early in the day. Daijiro Yoshihara was getting himself warmed up for qualifications as well.

After we were done watching the crazy practice sessions, we took it as a good opportunity to walk the rest of the midway and grab some lunch.

Ever get sick of driving in traffic on your way to work? Why not just drive OVER it?

After we were done stuffing our faces and getting some refuge from the sun, it was time to announce the top 16 drivers.

Everyone’s favorite new kid in town Daigo Saito was getting a lot of attention before it was time for him to strut his stuff.

Chris Forsberg was quite literally taking his driving to a whole new level for the top 16 round.

SPOILER ALERT!!: Justin Pawlak was looking to repeat his success in 2011….. He ended up achieving that goal and taking home the W.

Matt Powers was also looking to repeat last year’s results. He gave it his all against number one qualifier Ryan Tuerck and he ended up securing himself 4th place for the weekend.

Tyler McQuarrie can just about drive the pants off anything and judging by the insanely small gap between him and Ryan Kado I’d say he was wearing his not afraid pants that day.

Ken Gushi was showing off what the new GREDDY built FT86 could do, and it was looking great all weekend.

After all that was said and done with, the 2012 Long Beach Formula Drift podium ended up shaping up like this.

1ST JUSTIN PAWLAK

2ND DAIJIRO YOSHIHARA

3RD DAIGO SAITO

We are extremely excited to see how the rest of the season shapes up and we can’t wait to see our products in action for the rest of the year.

 

 

 

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For the past couple weeks or so, we have been giving you random snapshots of our top-notch Performance Center in action. Although, most people aren’t aware that STILLEN has a full service garage, the people who do know keep coming back because they know this is one place where you can get the right work done at the right price. I could spend an entire week covering a new daily project the Performance Center is working on and I still wouldn’t be able to scratch the service all the services these guys do. From Dyno tuning, to Corner Balancing, to Fab Work, to Routine Oil Changes, we literally can do it all. If you don’t believe me, here are a couple photos that are prime examples of the range of work we can do.

GTR Custom STILLEN roll cage

Sometimes a modded Nissan GTR just isn’t enough for some people, crazy I know, but we salute those who want to take their GTR to the next level. This customer wanted to turn his daily beast into a track ready monster. We helped by upgrading just about every area of the car, including this custom built STILLEN roll cage.

 

Chevy LS1 swap

LS1 swaps are becoming more and more popular these days and people are putting them in just about anything. While I can’t divulge which application this LS1 went into, I can say that we added a “mild” cam and used an aluminum block to save the customer 80lbs off the front end and to give him roughly 500 crank horsepower.

 

To my knowledge there are only two places in the world that are certified to do transmission rebuilds on the FORDGT, we happen to be one of them. Luckily, all this customer needed was a new clutch and throw out bearing which we happily replaced for him.
 

There are very few shops people trust working on their GTR’s.  Needless to say, this customer and plenty of other’s often turn to STILLEN as their first stop as soon as they get one.  This particular GTR is getting a new set of brake pads and new tires installed on his 2011.

 

FordF150dynotune

We offer dyno tuning services on just about any application, from sub compact 4 bangers to Coyote equipped 5.0L F150’s, to everything in-between.  There’s a little surprise under the hood of that bad boy that you can read more about in an upcoming issue of TRUCKIN’ magazine.

 

 

Most people think that once you slam you’re car on a decent set of coil-overs you are ready to attack the street and track but more often than not your car’s alignment actually gets worse in terms of handling. That’s exactly why our Performance Center offers alignment and corner balancing services to keep your car planted to the ground and pointing in the right direction.

We are always working on improving and optimizing our current list of products available through our Performance Center.

The benefits of having a Dyno in-house is that we can always test, and retest simulated road conditions while monitoring the results in real time. Keeping us ahead of the curve when it comes to product development. We can also revisit past products and find room for improvement.

I forgot to mention we are AFTERMARKET FRIENDLY!!! I know that seems rather obvious but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken my car to the WRONG shop for some routine maintenance and they have either broken or taken off my aftermarket parts because they had no idea what they did.

(I once had a dealership rip off my INGS+1 side skirts when I took my Subaru in for an OIL CHANGE!!! I wish I knew about STILLEN before I did that)

 

 

STILLEN Performance Center
(866) 250-5542
sales@stillen.com
3176 Airway Ave.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

G35 Widebody STILLEN Performance Shop Teaser

G35 Widebody STILLEN Performance Shop Teaser

Last week, we put up a little teaser photo of a one-of-a-kind  WideBody mystery car getting some more grunt under the hood by way of a STILLEN Supercharger. We asked our readers to guess what kind of car it is.

To our surprise, most of you guessed what car it was immediately, and said the tail lights where a dead giveaway. I guess we should have cropped more out of the photo. Oh well, the next “guess the car post” will be much more difficult and maybe we will even throw in a prize or two 😉

Supercharged Widebody G35

Supercharged Widebody G35

Since you guessed the car pretty easily, we figured it was a good time to show you the finished product.

The Intercooler of the Stage2 Supercharger kit looks nice and tidy tucked inside the widebody G35 bumper. You might have to look reeeeeeeeeeal hard but it’s in there… trust us.

Keep an eye out for this car on the streets. 🙂

I was sent this article earlier today by Josh in our Marketing department and since we use K&N filters on EVERYTHING we use here at STILLEN, I figured it would be great let our customers know why we do that.

Snagged from K&N’s website:

Spoiler alert – K&N reusable air filters are without a doubt worth every copper filled nickel. The scrutiny that their value is even up for debate becomes increasingly more absurd when you understand the facts.

As a writer for K&N I’ve interviewed hundreds of racers around the world and from every conceivable motorsport. Be it the undisputed Drift Racing Champion of Ukraine, the Mud Nationals mud racing champion, Italian Grand Prix Rookie of the Year Champion, Baja 500 and 1000 champions, monster trucks and snowmobiles, X Games gold, Peaks Pike winners, motocross champions and beyond – every single one credits K&N filters for being a part of their success. I’ve even written stories about K&N filters stopping bolts, bugs and rocks from getting sucked into engines. Are they worth it some may ask? Are you kidding me I retort?

I don’t shop much for birthday presents, especially not for old friends that say “you shouldn’t have bought me anything,” but then would sulk if I don’t. So this year I got my friend Mike Tuohy a K&N air filter for his 2008 Ford F-150. Seriously, it was the only way to stop him from constantly asking for one. I also feel pretty strong about my gift selection being that it’s something he’ll actually use.

K&N Filter

Purchasing a one-time use replacement also makes nothing but common sense. Mike’s Ford dealer claims he should change his air filter every 15,000 miles at a cost of 40 bucks a pop. The Ford manual says change the air filter at 30K, with an average DIY replacement cost of $25.00 for a paper filter. However, check any F-150 online forum and realistically most drivers change their air filters between 15,000 and 20,000 miles.

The K&N high-flow air filter Mike installed cost about $45.00 and took him about 5-minutes to replace, with the first couple of minutes wasted looking for his car keys. Applying some rudimentary ciphering, and using the 20,000 mile filter change timetable, Mike will have already saved money from his K&N filter after only two scheduled air filter changes. Then 10,000 miles later, after a normal 50,000 miles of driving, he can simply wash his cotton gauze K&N reusable filter and slide it back in place for another 50k. In fact he could probably drive more than three F-150 trucks into the ground before he’d ever have to buy another air filter. How is that possible you ask? Because his K&N air filter comes with a Million Mile limited warranty.

Some people have a tough time fathoming an air filter can go up to 50,000 miles between cleaning intervals, or will last for up to 1,000,000 miles, but since 1969 K&N has built a reputation as the world’s foremost leader in high-flow air filter and high-flow air intake system technology. Millions of drivers have made the one-time filter purchase, and when they immediately noticed the improvements in horsepower and acceleration, they told a million more people. Generally positive recommendations among friends are reserved for good movies and restaurants, yet once he installed his K&N air filter, it was like an automotive epiphany, and Mike just couldn’t help from telling the next person.

Above is one of our most popular Intake kits of all time the STILLEN Z-Tube Intake kit for the G35 Sedan and Coupe. We proudly use K&N filters on that as well as every other kit we make.

Think about it, if K&N were purely looking to make money wouldn’t single use filters every 20,000 miles make more sense? The secret to their success lies in the long-term achievement of their filters, and the people that use them.

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It’s safe to say that we are firm believers in the “Form follows function” principal, all the parts we put our name on serve a purpose OTHER than just looking good. Our 370z front bumper is a testament to that. Not only did we want to make sure that it would channel air to crucial areas of the vehicle (As every front bumper SHOULD do) we also wanted to make sure that it looked good while doing it’s job.  We feet as though we combined the two very well with this bumper and apparently so does Tiago’s Drifthobby drift team.

stillen_370z_front_bumper

 

It actually looks pretty good in purple don’t you think?

Well if a picture isn’t enough for you, check out the quick video these guys put together of this car in action…

For more info on the STILLEN 370z front bumper, make sure you cruise over to our site.