A quick way to shed some weight to our Nissan 350z and have a reliable starting power was to pick up a XS Power battery. With it’s dry cell technology you can technically mount it anywhere in the car but we opted for the factory battery area for the XS Power installation.

We mounted the XS bracket onto our stock bracket we removed by drilling two holes.

Here is the final installation of the top piece of the battery bracket.

Here we are drilling the stock battery mount after we marked the drill points for the XS power battery.

Here is what the battery looks like with the battery trey mounted back into the vehicle. The placement and mount of the battery is so clean you can hardly tell that it isn’t a stock piece. It is overall a great investment and the easiest installation we have done on the car to date.

I was really excited to get the KW Variant 3 coilovers on the 350z. We decided with the guys at KW  Suspension that it would be cool to take the car down the street to the Rancho Cucamonga UTI campus. The guys at the school were a great help and got right to work on the car.

The Variant 3 suspension offers independent rebound and compression adjustability. I had heard from tons of European guys running the coilovers that they ride like stock and I was dieing to find out if it was true. A true testament to the product is their product is approved by the German Technical Control Board (TÜV) which is a prestige given to very few aftermarket companies in Germany.

The students at UTI got to work on the rear suspension. This is the easier side to tackle so we took apart the rear pieces holding in the suspension and removed the factory pieces.

Within no time we were setting in the rear suspension and bolting the car back together.

Once the rear of the car was put back together I snapped a photo of the KW Suspension V3′s sitting in the rear of the 350z. We dropped and aligned the Z to tuck the factory 18′s preparing us for a super aggressive look once our 20′s get installed.

You can see the old rear suspension sitting on this table. The wheels are going back on the rear suspension of the car to complete the installation.

Ripping out the front suspension we also have to remove the front strut tower bar to get the new front suspension inside.

The students quickly got to work with dismantling the front suspension.

Some of the guys finished up tearing apart the front suspension while some other students removed the hats.

You need to retain the factory suspension hats and the UTI campus has a machine that the students were able to use to take the front factory hats off and place them on the KW suspension.

After we had the factory hat one of the professors showed how to install the factory hat onto the KW suspension.

The whole front suspension has to be put back together including the front strut tower bar we disconnected earlier for access to the front coils.

Finally everything was put back together and putting the front wheels back on was all we had left to complete the suspension install. Once the car was ready to go we put it on the alighnment rack, made some last minute adjustments to the compression/rebound/height on the car and drove off back to the Wrecked Magazine office.

We’ve had the suspension on for a few weeks now and it does in fact ride like a stock setup so mad props to KW Suspension for building such a great piece of suspension that has great ride quality and performance at the same time.

With the help of LS Auto we tackled the Nissan 350z Vortech Supercharger install. Now I know your manly instincts will get the best of you when you get a hold of this kit but don’t throw away the 20 page manual just right away. It has quite useful information for your installation.

Tools/Supply Requirements:
2.5″ Hole Saw
1/8″, 11/64″, 3/16″ Drill Bits
Drill Motor
Stepless Clamp Crimping Pliers
Seal Cutter
Gasket Scraper
Silicone RTV
Factory 350z Manual
3/8″ and 1/2″ Socket & Driver Set
Open End Wrenches
Center Punch
Springlock 5/16″ Fuel Fitting Disconnect Tool
5 Quarts of Oil for Fresh Change
New Oil Filter/Wrench
Flat Head #2 screwdriver
Phillips Head #2 screwdriver
Heavy Grease
Silicone Sealer
Hex Key Wrench Set
Wire Strippers/Crimpers
Utility Knife

We have the supercharger mounting plate sitting in place in front of the throttle body ducting which we just started placing to ensure it wouldn’t get in the way of our supercharger plate.

Here is the same plate for another view. We are securing the air filter in the super tight location behind the drivers side headlight. The two items you see on the supercharger mounting plate here are the grooved idler and smooth idler. Once together they will run a belt connecting the supercharger jackshaft pulley to your motor accessory pulleys.

The Vortech kit comes with a complete fuel management kit to keep your VQ35 in healthy shape.The photo above shows you the mounting locations for the fuel management unit (FMU) and the fuel pump. Once they are securely mounted you will attach a ton of hoses and be on your way.

Here is how the charge cooler is mounted in front of the Nissan 350z. This is also part of the complete Vortech supercharger kit and has an easy installation process in the manual we told you not to throw away! The charge cooler has an aggressive look behind the OEM front bumper and we have an aftermarket one sitting in the garage which will make it look like a much better setup once installed.

This photo is of the Vortech Supercharger bypass valve which is LOUD and we love it. I’ve had my spin around great Vortech kits before and I think they put some extra noise behind the 350z kit for the tuners and anyone who buys it would love it. It’s not overbearing but it’s just loud enough to really enjoy under some aggressive driving.

The Unichip piggyback is seen in the top photograph and fits right next to the factory ECU. You can see both sitting together in the second photo with a wiring harness. These two items we added also come with the Vortech kit for an ease of installation. The factory panel fits snug over the two systems so nobody even knows it’s sitting there and you retain a factory interior.

It was a good chance to flush and put all new fluids in the car and then we cranked her up! The car whistled right off the bat and ran fine. With no tune we took her to the dyno after a few days of enjoyment at UTI so our untuned horsepower numbers will be posted Monday!