85_z31

Well you guys already know that my big flash turbo didn't work at all so here is the modified turbo i have been promising. I really want my car going so I'm less concerned about making power than just having a nice but fairly quick street car I'm not made of money so i chose to do something to my Factory T3 to improve the flow from the exhaust housing. I will probably have this turbo rebuilt as a t3/t4 at a later date since I already have the t4 front cover and compressor wheel from the turbo which nearly cooked itself. Step 1 was to hacksaw off the horrendous cast rear elbow > see last pic for an OEM disgusting one Step 2 was to fully disassemble the turbo so that the turbine housing could be put on a 3 jaw chuck on the lathe Step 3 is to machine all the crap off the waste gate flange to give us something clean to work with Step 4 once the waste gate housing was fully machined smooth was to slowly taper the flange outward to the edge Step 5 was to make up a new flange to bolt on top of the waste gate flange which would allow us to merge the OD all the way out to 76mm or 3" to allow a really smooth flowing rear housing. Step 6 was to weld a stub onto the new flange to allow for the making of a fully custom high flow down pipe. Step 7 is to build the rest of the exhaust which I have already done, if you want to see what that looks like scroll up a bit This is a far superior to a stock t3 and will flow a shit load better without the dog shit rear housing/elbow 300whp should be easily achievable Keep in mind my engine has a performance valve job, Kelford Cams, ported and flowed heads , Nistune engine management 440cc injectors and now there will be zero parts of the exhaust smaller than 3" and here is the master piece and compared to a random internet pic of a normal t3 you can see straight away what we have done is going to help a lot

Not an actual disaster but the turbo on the car is getting changed over back to the T3 it came with. Improved upon yes, but its a pain in the ass. So what do you thinks think of my custom intake pipe, should flow a bit better than the old POS that was on there.

Started tuning which went well got it running good at light to mid load across most of the fuel map. however it wasn't making any boost before about 4500rpm and the turbo was getting really bad surge. So that turbo has to go. the factory T3 is getting improved slightly by cutting off the horrible cast iron down pipe and boring out the flange to 3" to accept a 3" bit of pipe right off the back of the turbine wheel and even though it looks tiny I'm told by an experienced man that its the best option until i have the rest of the car finished up ( LSD, back shocks , inter cooler etc ) ..... a couple of days has passed since this was posted on Datsun NZ and copied over here..... Well I'm still waiting for the Turbo to be finished, the machinist hoped to have it done by tonight but he has had problems with the carbide cutting tips he is using. So with all this downtime and so much energy I decided to make a "super Intake Pipe" So far i have done this with some offcuts and $15 of unwanted mandrel bend sections from the exhaust shop. Welding this is going to be a bitch because my welding isn't great and the metal is thin. The factory Right Angle Bend.....qualiy........ And the mock up of the super intake bend. ( still needs some tweaks to get it to fit but you can see it steps down smoothly from 3" to 2.5" and then onto the turbo And a comparison of both.

I have dealt directly with Auto bend on many occasions for flanges and merge collectors ( they supply Magoo ) and have been pretty happy, naturally they do EVERYTHING exhaust related and wholesale supply it. but even for the convenience just buying mandrel bends directly from the exhaust shop has served me well in the past.

Since last update * Exhaust Re Fittied * Wide band sensor fitted into Exhaust * Power Wires and fuses run through firewall for data logger * DIY wheel alignment done ( close enough to get me to a proper laser alignment place ) * Fitted a Flash new K&N high performance/race oil filter and dropped the running in oil with cam additives for some mineral 15/40 to finish running in before a switch to synthetic Ams Oil Wired up my new Ignitor module, the old one still works fine but i don't want miss fires under boost in 5th gear at high rpm when something could easily be ruined from it. This car has also been fitted with a brand new crank angle sensor and other "prone to failure" on old cars kind of stuff Bled the clutch up & bypassed the stupid clutch damper with a 280zx brake hose, clutch still feels a bit light considering its a heavy duty one. Must investigate this further. Picked up my 3pc rims, i love them they are pretty dam 80's bad ass. Center bore needs to be opened up to fit so here is a pic with them held up to the car instead & other misc pics. tomorrow is day 1 of Road tuning. To anybody thinking tuning an EFI system is going to be cheap or easy "cos its a computer and it can just sort itself out" is way off the mark, it seems you need so much crap to do it. *Laptop *ECU which connects to laptop ( http://www.nistune.com is what I used in my original ECU ) *Data Logging unit *wide band Sensor for Data unit *Display gauge so the driver can see the air fuel mix ( and back the hell of if it lean spikes or something ) and the hardest part of all is somebody who knows what they are doing. I don't but my very experienced engineer/fabricator/expert on many things has tuned a lot of cars and is doing this with me. As you can see here I have added a proper spare tire as the space saver requires pumped up by a tiny air compressor to save on space aka supercar style

I was worried about that Z31 RB20 going to a good home, now I can relax I was very temped to buy another Z31 just to get that in between the towers when i saw it on trademe !! Great project, Loving the planned color scheme

10 days to get tuned and WOF on the 300zx, I don't see it happening Can i bring the Trusty old Hilux Surf along just to meet you south island guy anyways ?

Brake Upgrade Time !! These are the pentagon Hubs simialr to many datsun hubs, I have spoken to a certifier and it is cert legal to have the corners turned down on a lathe so it can fit Inside a 280mm R32 GTST brake rotors the 30mm thick rotors ones not the pussy 25mm thick ones you can see here what i mean about the pentagon shape My Awesome Missus got me these for Christmas Last year, as before 280x30mm thick, these can fit under my stock 15" wheels which is a bonus. The old rotors were 276mm x 20mm and for a heavy car that is simply not up to it for track day work. And I have had the R32 GTST 4 pots for quite some time meaning to get around to this, I will be rebuilding them myself ( its easy as , just done the 4 pots in my Hilux the other day ) Probally not doing anything at the back, the fronts will be slotted by the same engineer doing the Hubs

Hey Sparkle A VG30DETT "big box" will bolt up to an older SOHC VG30, you a custom flywheel i think buts that's not too hard to arrange these days. I can provide the conversion information if you need, Otherwise the NA Z31 Box is actually an FS5W71C ( same internals as a Silvia turbo box with a different bell housing i think ) and parts are interchangeable between them. I would not recommend getting a Borg Warner T5 rebuild as I went through total hell to get bearings for it. The later style Borg Warner T5's have a longer input shaft and can not be used on a VG30. So yeah that gives you a few options, I got a engineer to do all the tricky stuff on the box I only really pulled it down to bits. Yeah I;m going to run my factory wheels until I can get proper dish and flush fitment 16x8 is simply not wide enough !! And the stockers are only 15x6.5 this is the type of gold i want to run on the centers I think it will look badass. Got bored with autocad so i made this from a photo, I guess i could put that in the art section.

Hey Snoozin Mine is NZ new I have all the original documents for it too. even have the carbon copy receipt for the trade in on a SSS i think its around one of 10 NZ new models sold by Cockram Nissan. 42k back in 85 which was more than a house, so right now that makes a brand new GTR look cheap. Zeb Thanks for the offer on flares but it takes a lot of work to pull off that look, I kind of like it how it is

I have spoken to the guy that owns that on Z31 Performance forums, that's an 85 body with an 89 front end ( yes they made a Z31 up to 89 ) and datsun 240zg flares on it, drift car setup with s13 suspension and all the other drift goodies. Awesome looking combination but none of these parts are available in NZ

For Road tuning and data logging I have ordered a Wide band oxygen / Data Logging unit This will allow me to do 90% of the tuning myself , and then get final checks and tweaks done on the dyno. I also spent some time to tidy up the turbo intake into the Air Flow Meter

For engine management I am using nistune, which is a modification of the origional ECU to make it fully adjustable with 90% of the features of a Link G3 and the ability to keep wiring stock this is a great product. and it also means if my car is ever worth anything it can be restored to stock easily ( but who would do that ) And you can see the USB port in the old 1985 original ECU

When I got the car it didn't have a front under tray, as far as i Understand it forms part of the radiator cowling system and needs to be in place for it to cool efficiently so i knocked one up out of some panel steel, welded some 5mm rod on the inside to give it some strength and bolted it all up, currently primered to avoid rust but it really need powder coated I think it looks pretty tidy under there and the wheels i am awaiting delivery on, Ellipson 3pc mesh, i believe these are a mid eighties Japanese wheel 16x7 front and 16x8 rear but i have been in contact with arrow wheels so i can get more dish and better offsets looking for 16x 9.5 rear and 16x8 front with the new wheel halves i want to order

Some pics while the gearbox was apart for its full rebuild, Its a Borg Warner T5 as found behind many Ford and GM V8's Clutch industries Heavy Duty Clutch, not a puk but im going to see how it holds up Having a full rebuild of new Bearings, new syncro's and having all the preloads and shim stacks done professionally made the gearbox the best one i have ever felt, and for $1000 it wasn't even that expensive.

Well I figure I will Introduce myself propely here, you can checkout my build in projects I purchased the car in 2006 when I was 17. It sat for a couple years due to lost interest while i modified my E30, the E30 is now sold and i have a hack around Diesel surf and this has motivated me to get onto the Z over the last year. I live In Rangiora North Canterbury and Work with Computer Aided Design for a Power Lines company. I have always been keen on cars more specifically old school ones. so when the old Z31 Came up i knew it was too good to miss. I hope you like the old Z31, they are a bit ugly fat and lazy but I'm doing my best to give it some power and getting it to handle properly. My E30 had a couple grand sunk into suspension and it was amazing to drive so naturally this is my benchmark for the 300zx.

Built my own Mandrel Bent 3" exhaust system 1x Straight through muffler and 1x massive long resonator Spent some time to paint it up with ceramic 1200deg header paint, it wont stay pretty but at least it wont go rusty and look like shit after a week

Some of the Suspension and Steering Work Rebuild and cleaned up Power Steering rack with new boots and tie rods Spent hours getting the engine bay nice and clean ( this all happened before the engine rebuild ) Koni Adjustable Shocks, King Springs, urethane bump stops , machined rotors and new pads New Ball Joints and new bushes in the control arms

The Snail Hotside from a RX7 and a T4 front cover, should do well at a conservative 15psi for a reliable track day car Built some headers but these are more a longer term project and need finishing Getting it all back into the car

Pulling out the old donk SOHC VG30ET single turbo, 7.8 to 1 compression Bottem end is good for 450 Wheel HP as proven by many setups in the USA Rebuilding the bottem end Things Looking sharp Porting and polish on the Cylinder Heads , Kelford Cams and schneider Racing Cams double valve springs

The Car As I got it

Hello I am James This is my 300zx Turbo Build, owned the car for ages, its coming along ok. I would suspect the only modified Z31 in the South Island, If its not I would love to hear from the other ones. Watch this space, pictures didn't work but I will get onto it. Check back later guys. Discussion Here viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23465

Justin Niel Engineering Ltd In brookland is the best place to ge custom gearboxs rebuild and strenghened Justin is a Friend and he used to Work At Durally Gears as head gear cutter making custom gears for heavy equipment and nearly everything custom including many race gearbox's for many diffierent cars Look him up on the telecom website and you will find his info very knolwlagable man, he does many things people have been told could not be done

back to lake pipes On the ZX it looks as if i can have the exhaust running all the way under the car and just exiting in front of the rear wheel under the sill. There looks to be a little bit of distance between that and the door.Would this be likely to pass LLVA cert ? not my car but you get the idea for hoe far it is from the door to the wheel arch