Tiburon

So I am in cruising around Santa Cruz, CA...I have the day off from the dreaded daily grind and I want to go and find some friends and have some fun. As I pull up to an intersection of a busy main street the traffic light turns red and I slowly come to a halt, the idle is loping and the shifter shakes to the rythm of the engine and it is sounding good....(I always drive with the windows down to keep the teary eyes at bay...it's almost like one is chopping onions!!) All of a sudden, this young guy in a Chevelle pulls up and asks if I have a SBC under the hood.....After looking at his cute, smiling girlfriend (sitting in the passenger seat) and smiling back, I shake my head and confess that I do not have a small block v8..... The smiling at his GF part obviously irrititates him and he revvs his motor up challenging me to a stop light to stop light race....Once more I shook my head and waited for the long awaited green traffic light.....As I release the clutch I hear the Chevelle's rear tires cutting loose, melting the asphalt as he covers the rear of his car along with the three cars to his rear with white tire smoke....stinking up the place with the smell of burning rubber. I slowly made my way through the smoke, across the intersection softly shifting my way up the gears and as the smoke clears I see an all white police cruiser plowing through the cloud of smoke, lights on at full throttle. He caught up to the Chevy and quickly pulled him over... It wasn't until the stoplight that I learned from another driver, that the cop had been right behind him the whole time. I laughed my @ss off nonetheless.... I leanred two things that day.... 1.keep your cool because you never know when a cop may be behind you. 2.always check your rear view mirror I saved myself about a thousand bucks in fines that day.

Gav just an afterthought, If you used Painless wiring's electric fan wiring kit along with temp switches, you wouldn't have the problems you experienced... The power freed up by intermittent use alone is worth the little trouble of wiring the fan up!!! Oh..instant difference!!! mileage improves too! Ever think of running an aluminum driveshaft? lighter rotating mass means quicker spools!!

Ok, now that you know which head and block to go for, I would definitely think about going with a custom fuel rail.... NIssan makes off the shelf pistons for the turbo.... if going forged (which I recommend for the HP you want) JE, Ross, Arias, CP, Wiseco all make excellent pistons. I would recommend a dished piston as the flat tops may cause pinging...Plus dished pistons are best for forced induction anway. The very best rods in the industry are as follows, Oliver, Pauter and Crower, Carillo Rods, then you have Eagle, Scat etc....these are all high dollar rods and will hold up well up to 700hp. Polishing the beams and journals and balancing the weight of the rods really helps the stock type rods handle a bit more power but I wouldn't chance an engine build up on stock rods (especially a turbo). BY going custom rods and custom pistons, you can go longer rods and shorter comp height pistons reducing the outter most rotating weight, helping the engine spool up quicker. I would also recommend going with Ferrea or manley stainless valves (Ferrea are pricey but light, Manley are more reasonable but are durable and both allow excellent flow) Hardened seats are a must if using the N42 head. Cylinder head and intake portworkk are also crucial power adders in this arena as are thermal coatings to help control thermal energy. The stock turbo crank can be reworked.....I would recommend a lightening, knife edging and polishing of the crank along with proper rotating assembly balancing. (less rotational weight means more power and quicker spooling) The intercooler allows for you to run higher boost pressures and a more aggressive timing advance without preignition and or pinging. I have seen some non intercooled turbo cars run up to 10-12 psi without too many problems....the intercooler can help get you into the 14-16psi (depending on the intercooler type, efficiency and location of it) heck I have seen some cars with engine coatings and coated intercooler run just over 18psi and the motor pushed some BIG power. The tailpipe was indeed glowing red as a cherry after that dyno pull.... :nervous: the question here is how much are you willing to spend to get to 450 hp?

Blitzkraig, we gotta get together and check on my options here..... Where would you take the car for a smog? Know of any spacey smog techs that wouldn't notice? Heck the way it runs now, the techs smile and shake their heads as soon as I pull up for a smog. I know it wouldn't be so obvious since the I-6's look pretty much the same.

Well, it sounds like you'll have to spend some money to get where you want to go.... YEs the 1/4 mile racing requires the stock flywheel, I like the lighter one because the spooling effect is instant. I would seriously consider getting the best conditioned shortblock and getting the block rehoned and some total seal piston rings on some flat top pistons. Also go with clevite 77 bearings...have the crank and journal surfaces micropolished and oil feed holes chamfered. if you're gonna spend some money, then it will best be spent building a stout bottom end. then concentrate on getting the carbs tuned into the cam. I would get the bottom half of the intake thermal barrier coated, and the top half heat dispersant coated. Have the interior ports of the intake bead blasted after portwork to better allow any heat to escape. Have the exhaust portes polished to a mirror like shine. Also look at your rear end gearing the more aggressive gears (numerically higher) will give you more bite....sacrificing your top end but kicking rear ends in the 1/4 mile. I would also consider stiffening the suspension for better weight transfer during acceleration. (the less the car squats, the better) time is wasted when the car takes the time to squat while transfering the power to the wheels. The stiffer the rear, the shorter the power transfer time, this means the wheel starts to turn sooner, making the car move sooner.

The consensus around here seems to be Turbocharging by using the 81-83 turbocharged inline six and performing aftermarket mods like: hybrid turbo, intercooler, aftermarket ignition and or ECMS. along with exhaust, intake, cylinder head porting, aftermarket rods, pistons, valves and camshafts (although the stock cam seems to be enough to run 350 hp) other mods can include tubular header and downpipe with coatings external wastegates, pop off valves, etc etc.... Do use the T5 with this mod as the early 5 speeds won't hold up.

Gav, the pistons would have to be flat tops in order to get 10:1, given this, I would seriously consoder going with Total seal rings, these cut down on blowby and are stout rings thus giving you the power you're supposed to get. I would recommend getting the piston skirt dry film lubricant coated I would also get the piston crown coated with thermal barrier coating so the heat doesn't bleed through the piston....the better you control thermal energy in an engine, the more efficient it will be. port the intake and have it heat dispersant coated. Also have the intake port matched to the cylinder head. The dispersant coating cools the A/F charge down so much that frost formas at the base of the carbs on V8 engines...so you can see the cooling effect your intae can experience. I would seriously consider an MSD ignition system....it does make a difference. Then focus on getting an electric fuel pump/regulator along with an upgraded fuel line (to supply the extra fuel it needs to revv higher. Get the SU's tuned in for the extra revving (tuning these is one of the most crucial tasks so go with an SU guru) and take that aircleaner housing and attach a good sized hose and extend it into the tunnel in the radiator support to suck cold air in. Get some nice extractors and have them thermal barrier coated inside and out. The coating keeps the heat inside the header (Xtractor) and brings under bonnet temps down by at least 100 degrees F (it is a well known fact that for every 3 degrees dropped under the bonnet, the power to be gaine can be as much as 1 hp. IE:denser air charge Call or email Schneidercams and ask them to fabricate a custom grind to suit your needs. keep in mind that streetable cam means the LSA stays above 112 degrees and the duration stays below 220, the lift on street friendly cams usually sits at or just below .500 inches anything over and you will need flycut pistons. Loosing weight on the car can also gain power...an aluminum radiator will help mitigate the extra cooling requirement the car needs and shed some weight as would a space saver spare tire. Fiberglass front fenders, hood, bumpers would also shed weight. Now let's think about unsprung weight, an aluminum flywheel would allow the engine to spool up much quicker and makes for a VERY noticeable performance gain. SLotted or crossdrilled rotors also help get the car going faster, as would lighter wheels....ie:less rotational mass to get moving. If you have cast rear drums for brakes, go aluminum or do a disc brake swap. An electric cooling fan would also free up some ponies. recurving the distributor is a good idea, Rebello racing herein California does this task for a reasonable amount of money. Now that you have a good idea on how to make power, I would start thinking chassis work to put that hp or as you folks say KW's to the ground.

Well believe it or not, it is the torque curve that gets you there....and if you have a flat torque curve, you're gonna put some nice power down to the pavement. the 347 240z is running just above 5 lbs of boost.....I think f he ran any higher, he'd need to tub the Z and run some fat slicks....popping wheelies. he got the 9.8 running the BFgoodrich 245/50 16 tires. One thing is for sure, the faster you go, the limitations of chassis design sure do stick out like a sore thumb....tubular subframe bars are in the works to keep the body from flexing too much. He is thinking about doing a semi cylindrical type frame rail that hoks up to the originals and extends all the way back to some custom built torque boxes for rigidity. Trailing bars and pinion angle supports will also be in the works. these are the chassis bugs that still need to be worked out I'd like to see how fast I can get my 280 with the L28ET it would be interesting

Well here is the dilemma.....I live in Lovely California and the smog nazis will scrutinize my 76 280z until 2005 (rolling 29 year old vehicles become exempt) So.....should i stick with the planned mild rebuild and buildup? or should I get that zx turbo engine and T5 5 speed swap and go nuts and build up a 300+ hp turbo car? (and wait to drive it until the car is exempt?) V8's are out of the question as good handling and not butchering the body of the car are key. provided I can find the turbo power plant(which I have).....how much would I look to spend in getting this car up there? LSD and intercooler are in the plans too. I would like some opinions from those who actually have running and fine tuned L28ET series turbo powerplants. thanks R

Well, I may just have the answer here..... because your old brakes in the rear are drums....they needed a RESIDUAL pressure valve in order to help keep the rear wheel cylinders on the verge of being engaged....(because the reservoir is so small and he run to the rear so long) If switching to rear disks, it is recommended to switch to a master cylinder with the provision with for both front and rear discs....it is also recommended to install an adjustable pressure valve like theunit wilwood uses... How do I know this? Well the Mustang crowd also like going 4 wheels discs...this is something often talked about and a whole bunch of them blue oval lovers have run into this problem....did I? nope....I saw the tough time they were having and researched it. It could be as easy as removing the pressure residual valve and adding the adjustable regulator for the rear. call Nissan Motorsports tech line...they may have a kit for this. hope this helps R

Jim Sykes from Prunedale, CA has a 71 240z, he has a supercharged 347 stroker in his car along with a G force T5 and a solid rear end (ford 9 inch) he dynoed at 755hp, his engine block weighs a mere 92 lbs!!!! (alum SVO block) Canfield ported cyl heads, EFI GT40 intake (extrude honed), MSD IGN system, Roller everything and an alum driveshaft. He managed a 9.8 1/4 mile at 137mph and ran street legal slicks. THe hood, front fenders, doors and even dash are fiberglass, the hood and front fenders are all on the same bracket and open forward like a corvette... pretty neat car. It looks stock too....until he pops the hood or until you see the roll cage. I dread to think what his top end would be like. I guess I should mention a trip to the Bonneville salt flats eh?

You really don't need the triple webers...just get the more streetable dual weber carbs....and get the intake and cylinder head ported.... I would also think about installing 280z sized stainless valves...(go for the manley stainless as they are more durable) Then get the head flowbenched and based on thee #'s get a camshaft custom grind....and tune the carbs to it. I would consider electronic ignition (Have Rebello recurve your distributor to optimize timing) I would also consider some flat top pistons along with the stroker kit (more displacement keeps the car streetable and the cam a bit more conservative), total seal piston rings and a good balance job to keep things smooth. (streetable comp ratio is 9.5-10:1) on 91 octane gasoline. A nice coated header and tuned exhaust would round this package out nicely. This setup would definitely put you in the 250hp at the crankshaft range... A good Datsun engine builder in the bay area would be Rebello (pricey but good) Another is a guy named Darrel, an older guy used to be a Datsun tech before opening his own shop. again, you may want to look for people in your area....these are just some guys in the SF bay area...

I doubt the I.D. of a TB assy has anything to do with the emissions, as long as the TB assembly has all of the vacuum lines used by the stock vehicle and something equivalent to the BCDD device located under the stock TB, you should be fine...at least in CA, where the visual inspection would definitely get you to fail the test.

The flowmaster has lots of resonance due to the interior baffles and no form of packing.... So it is on the obnoxious side....I have the FM muffler and the idle and high revvs are awesome sounding....with the pipes @ 2.5inches My hopes of dealing with some of the resonance is to reduce the pipe diameter after the resonator (this tightens up the resonance to an acceptable level)....with a smaller pipe diameter custom ordered flowmaster.(I attend school in Santa Rosa so I can go to FMstr) The Dynomax has much less baffling....it has a perforated tube going through the muffler....with alot of packing behind the perforated tube the raspiness goes away....but it is still loud. My experience has been that if you get a quieter muffler, WOT will bring the bark out of the Z anyway.... as with anything else you need to give and take when it comes to idle and midrange exh sound. I am trying to tweak it so I go to bed at night without the humming in my head. To do this I will have to restrict the flow of exhaust.....which is ok...because the little added back pressure will add throttle response and off the line grunt with the added benefit of a less resonant midrange. I speculate the power won't be affected that much... I will report on the power/torque loss and reduction in sound as time permits. R

Has anyone performed this mod on their car? I have heard it gives a smoother throttle response/transition ????