BEING A CASUAL ADMIRER IS A GREAT DEAL different from being a fan or zealot. Interestingly, some zealots start off as just admirers. Take Florida resident Gus Martinez for example. As long as he can remember, he always admired the "Z" nameplate. Unfortunately Nissan stopped production of the 300ZX in 1995, so his first new car purchase would be something else. However, when 2002 rolled around and Nissan released the 350Z, Martinez was first in line. Owning the car that he had always admired would turn him into a Z-car Zealot.

A Fanatic Is Born

Martinez thoroughly enjoyed being among the first in his area to sport the new 350Z. Since the US tuning community hadn't had much of an opportunity to experiment with the Z33, very few tuning components were available in 2002. Martinez looked to Japanese tuners for inspiration. He began with many basic bolt-on parts. But soon, every fanatic with a Z had jumped on the tuning band wagon. Taking his fanaticism up a notch, Martinez sourced a new VQ35 block to build upon. He set his sights on differentiating his street Z from the rest by aiming for a higher performance level. With a reliable stock block keeping his commute alive for part of the build, Martinez went to work on the new engine.

Bullet Proofing The VQ35DE

Since the Z served as his daily driver, Martinez considered reliable power to be imperative. With the help of his friends at Japtrix in West Palm Beach, Florida, he went straight to work on the new block. A known weakness of the VQ35DE engine is its connecting rods. Up to 400 horsepower, the stock VQ block performs reliably. Increasing the power output any higher risks sending a rod out the side of the block. Leaving little to chance, Martinez sleeved the new block with Darton International's ductile-iron Modular Integrated Deck (MID) sleeves. The MID sleeves feature an integrated deck, uniting the tops of the sleeves for additional strength. Once the sleeves had been bored to the factory-spec 95.5mm and honed, the block was slugged with Wiseco 8.8:1 compression forged-aluminum pistons. The pistons make the connection to the balanced factory crankshaft by way of Carrillo Super A-beam connecting rods. The cylinder heads were sent to South Florida Crank & Machine to be ported and polished. Once the heads had been prepared, a three-angle valve job preceded the installation of the Jim Wolf Technology (JWT) valvetrain. Ultra-strong ARP L19 head studs were chosen to secure the heads to block with an HKS head gaskets ensuring a positive seal. The heads were topped with JWT 261-degree C2 camshafts to actuate the valvetrain.

Bring On The Boost

Now that the longblock was modified to handle forced induction safely, attention shifted to the turbo system. Martinez chose the GReddy turbo kit for its bolt-on simplicity and its tried-and-true track record. GReddy stainless manifolds channel spent gases to the inlets of the GReddy TD05-18G turbochargers. The exhaust then leaves the turbines through GReddy downpipes to the Japtrix custom 3-inch exhaust piping and HKS titanium mufflers. On the cold side, the compressors draw fresh air through K&N filters before forcing the air through the GReddy front-mount intercooler. The cooled, dense air then flows through hard pipe to the factory throttle body and intake plenum. A Motordyne 5/16-inch plenum spacer adds volume to the plenum and insulates the upper portion of the plenum from the heat soaked lower plenum to ensure cooler intake temperatures. As the air charge reaches the intake ports, a half-dozen RC Engineering 1,000 cc/min fuel injectors spray 93-octane premium fuel into the air stream on the way to the combustion chambers. The thirsty injectors are supplied gasoline by way of a Walbro 255-lph fuel pump and CJ Motorsports fuel return system.

Serious Street Power

Orchestration of the fuel and ignition delivery was entrusted to an HKS F-CON V-Pro engine management system. A GReddy PRofec e-01 electronic boost controller and TiAL Sport wastegates kept the boost pressure to 16 psi. With NGK Iridium spark plugs igniting the mixture, Japtrix's resident tuner Jack Cecil fired up the laptop and tuned the V-Pro. On a Mustang Dynamometer, the Z generated 553 horsepower and 451 lb-ft of torque. Compared to the baseline pull of 230 horsepower, that's a 140% increase in power over stock.

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