Japanese Performance Mag in the
UK reviews the APS Intercooled
Twin Turbo system for the 350z
When Nissan launched its £24,000,
3.5"litre V6, two-seater sports coupe, the
350Z, Audi chiefs must have spat their designer
espressos across their chrome- and leather-clad
boardrooms. Suddenly, their all-conquering fashion
victim steed, the TT, looked old and over-priced
(at £27,500) – and was also out-classed,
in all areas.
The 350Z had a better engine (3.5 V6 versus 1.8-litre
four-pot turbo), was faster (0-62mph in 5.9 seconds,
155mph limited V-max), boasted better handling
(thanks to alloy multi-link suspension and rear-drivel
front-engine layout) and, arguably, was better
looking, to boot.
No wonder, then, that, even today (some 18 months
after its UK launch), trying to find and buy a
decent 350Z is a serious mission. Demand has far
outstripped supply, meaning you're doing amazingly
well to find one - even with high miles and in
poor condition - for less than £20K,such
is its popularity, and deservedly so.
However, what Nissan probably didn't know was
that it could have had other big-name flagship
cars quaking in their Iow-profile rubber boots.
But only if they'd spotted the 350Z's untapped
potential.
Australian tuning specialists, APS (Air Power
Systems), realized that there was a whole lot
more to come from the 350Z. Not convinced that
280bhp, 5.9 seconds to 62mph and 155mph was enough,
APS engineers have designed a kit to take the
350Z out of the toddler group to play football
with kids from the big school. But how do they
achieve this? Two turbos, of course - what else?
Official APS UK distributor, G-Force Motorsport,
wasn't slow in seeing the potential for the UK
market.
It must be said that Nissan's 350Z
is extremely good in all areas, straight out of
the box. With 18in Rays rims, a delightful V6
engine coupled to a six-speed close-ratio 'box,
rear-wheel drive, a great interior and neat styling
package, there's little left for the modification
men to get their teeth into. Especially as we
all know that tuning an already well-developed
normally aspirated engine is hard work, expensive
- and usually for minimal gains when compared
with forced-aspiration cars.
So, the decision to develop a bolt-on twin-turbo
kit is pure inspiration, especially as the resulting
400-plus bhp rivals the power levels of a 911
Turbo or a heavily-modified Evo or Scooby. No
normally-aspirated 350Z could achieve this. And,
importantly, the kit itself is so simple. It's
designed to bolt straight onto the VQ35DE Nissan
V6 engine, with no modifications to the engine
internals, no compression ratio changes - not
even a different clutch, such is the engineering
brilliance of both the original car and the kit.
The only engine change, aside from induction,
exhaust and fuelling alterations, is an enlarged
APS sump (and uprated oil pump), giving a six-litre
capacity of synthetic black gold. This provides
the necessary extra fluid required to cope with
additional lubrication of the two turbo units.
The rest of the kit, which is best fitted as
an engine-out job (although it can be done on
the car, you're left with less skin on your knuckles
when it's finished), is all bolt-on.
The turbos themselves are simple, relatively
small (and, therefore, responsive) Garrett units,
bolted onto the side of each bank of cylinders,
using mounting brackets and all associated pipework
provided in the APS kit. It's almost impossible
to see the units from above, with just the actuator
and the edges of the compressor wheels visible
through tight gaps with the bonnet up.
There's very little extra room in this engine
bay, so it's really only the blow-off valve and
hard pipe to the front-mount intercooler you can
observe. Only with the car on a ramp can you catch
sight of the small turbines buried away, while
the extent of the fabulously engineered exhaust
and induction modifications is also revealed.
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2004-2005 AutoTech Engineering