First Drive: Nissan 350Z GT-S Concept and its flickable supercharger
The Nissan 350Z GT-S is a labor of love for seven engineers at Nissan's European technical facility who built the one-off in their own time. Their only restraint was to keep the Z usable, but beyond that the team went hog wild in crafting a concept that held its own running up the hill at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The editors of CAR magazine recently took the 350Z GT-S out for a spin and revealed a few things about the concept of which we were unaware. For instance, a switch next to the gear lever can disengage the supercharger used on the Z's 3.5-liter V6. This means that at the flick of a switch, the car transforms from a snarling 380 bhp beast into the same mild-mannered 298 bhp Z coupe everyone else is driving. Very trick.
There's also a butterfly valve on the exhaust that opens up at high revs, which not only allows the engine to breathe better, but also makes for a soul shaking soundtrack at WOT.
While it's unlikely the 350Z GT-S Concept will ever be mass produced, Nissan is exploring whether or to sell its components in various packages that can be retrofitted to any 350Z.
[Source: CAR Magazing]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ligor Manushi 11:05AM (8/29/2006)
Maybe Nissan out to think of putting this in the G35 so that it can counter the M3
But then again, maybe Nissan is thinking of having the 4.5L V8 under the hood of a "G45-S" to go against the M3, tuned for ~415HP
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k0an 12:25PM (8/29/2006)
Sorry, but an increase of 82 HP is pretty pitiful considering a bunch of engineers got together and put a lot of time and money into this. The average garage mechanic can spend $5-6k with Stillen or Greddy and get 100HP+ increase.
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RacetrackOwner 12:49PM (8/29/2006)
Not to mention, 380 HP is hardly "snarling beast" territory. Hell, you can buy a $39,000 *Jeep* that makes 420 HP right off the showroom floor. And to date, nobody has made a V6 that makes a "soul shaking" sound. The best sixes make no sound at all, and preferably push around Porsche 962s and the like.
All of which is irrelevant next to the obvious question: why on earth would you bother to disengage the supercharger? With the flick of a switch, you can instantly move from mediocre sportscar territory to the realm of the embarassingly slow! Incredible!
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MikeW 1:17PM (8/29/2006)
Crossplane crank V8s make more noise than power.
It is due to the crankshaft design the balance mechanism requires.
The firing order is LRLLRLRR repeat.
So the firing on the bank is uneven, LxLLxLxx, xRxxRxRR.
The only other engine that does this is the boxing8 (but can be eliminated via exhaust manifold design)
The Ford GT of the 1960's did just this, two cylinders from each bank went over to the other side to have an even firing exhaust manifold for exhaust resonance, hence power.
1 cylinder, thumper, motorcycle engine-no
2 cylinder, boxing-BMW no, 360 crank parallel twin no.
3 cylinder, triumphs, etc.-no
4 cylinder, inline-no, boxing, close, due to unique firing, LLRR, but 'constant pulsation' exhaust manifold eliminates that.
5 cylinder, no
6 cylinder, inline-no (front I3, then rear I3), boxing-no (left I3 then right I3), even firing Vee-no(left I3, then right I3)
8 cylinder, inline-no (two I4s built around each other to cancel out 2nd order force imbalance), flat plane crank-no (left I4, then right I4)
10 cylinder, boxing-no (left I5, then right I5), even firing Vee-no (left I5, then right I5)
12 cylinder, even firing Vee-no. (left I6, then right I6)
bugatti veyron W16-no
Maybe the supercharger is before the throttle and by manually decoupling it, that reduces fuel consumption.
Maybe this is emissions legal and meets long term durability standards, so the boost is way down from what aftermarket providers offer.
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Justin 3:15PM (8/29/2006)
if you "flick" the switch, chances are it won't even have the power of a stock z. unless there is a clutch on the blower to disengage it, there will be a crapload of parasitic forces, probably more than the intake and exhaust mods gives the car. so you just have a really slow expensive z.
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Ford Mustangs 4:39PM (8/29/2006)
I love the idea of being able to turn the supercharger on and off. It reminds me of the car in Mad Max.
I agree with Justin though, hopefully the supercharger has some sort of clutch (sort of like an AC compressor) that disengages it.
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Toecutter 4:55PM (8/29/2006)
Quote: "And to date, nobody has made a V6 that makes a "soul shaking" sound."
Another ignorant comment my one who's obviously never driven a 350Z.
As if mentioning a Porsche 962 gives your comments credence?
I spent more than 3 years tooling around the 'bahn in BMWs, Porsches and Audis while serving Uncle Sam and I can tell you: You hear the Porsches long before you see their HID lights crawling up your ass at ridiculous speeds.
I never owned anything that sounded nearly as impressive as my 350Z. I was so impressed with it, I traded in an aging '97 BMW 540i to drive it home. It's also the fastest 6 cylinder I've ever owned.
Drop by sometime and I'll show how to drive a Z, seeing as how you can't figure out how to do so without being "embarrassing slow"...
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spdracerut 6:33PM (8/29/2006)
The 'switch' should be for a clutch. How else would you disengage a blower? Mercedes used clutches on their supercharged cars; no point in spinning the blower and increasing gas consumption while idling around.
As for the power output, the car had to be reliable. The stock internals on that generation of VQ aren't exactly the most robust. I personally would not go for more than 400hp on that motor without building up the internals.
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Lee 8:52PM (8/29/2006)
The idea of a supercharger that can be engaged and disengaged at will is appealing, assuming it actually improves fuel economy.
A feature like this would be particularly nice on a more entry-level sporty car, such as a GTI or Civic Si, where people are looking for at least some degree of practicality.
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Steven 11:52AM (9/18/2006)
Well, I know for a fact that the V6 in the 350Z sounds nice. A few of my friends have them. I prefer the sound of an Inline-6 the most as I believe it sounds the best. However, having a switch to turn the supercharger on or off is a good idea. Some idiot in mustang or one of those ugly STi's pulls up next to you and wants to go, flip the switch and you've got them, and in the high rpms, you'll be loving the sound you'll be hearing from the exhaust. I may be young, but I know that Z-cars are top name. I drive one myself, not a 350Z, but I love my 280ZX.
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Grebby 9:13AM (10/28/2006)
"With the flick of a switch, you can instantly move from mediocre sportscar territory to the realm of the embarassingly slow!"
Wow- alot of talk from where the gas expels. I can turn 5.5-6 second 0-60's in my 350Z. I can also stick a corner so hard that a face might be seen stuck to the inside of the window. How many $30K cars can boast this kind of acceleration or 1G cornering stock out of the Cereal box?
Sounds like alot of sour grapes being eaten.
Keep the revs between 3500 and 5500 and you are in for one heck of a ride!
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