little help for a newbie...

[LOCKDOWN1986]

Hi im new to auto forums and just purchased a 93 300zx TT. Its pearl yellow, still exhaust, turbo timer, wolf ecu, eibach springs, KandN pop charger and a body kit.

I'm very pumped up about the car and its extremely fun to toss around. However im a complete newbie to 300zx, especially the turbos. I was very discouraged when i looked under the hood and saw how compact everthing was and i can tell its going to be a biatch to work on. When i test drived it i thought i had some miss shifts but it wasn't, it consistently grinds going into first from a stop (with clutch fully down) and also consistently grinds going into 4th shifting fast. I have found a temporary solution which is letting it drop into gear (adding a little pressure until it falls in by itself, never grinds then) , which sux because i want to be able to shift fast. Im not a newbie to driving manuels, this is my 3rd 5spd in the last year and i am sure that im driving it right. I have taken note that the shifter is very loose, but wouldn't syncronizers prevent that from slipping or whatever it is? Im of course worried because i just bought the car and i cant drive it like it should really be driven, very fun hearing the turbos though.

a few maintence questions and thats it for now, what kind of oil would you fanatics recomend, how often should i change the oil to keep it running perfect. also the car has 96,000 miles on it and has no records of turbo maintence. the car doesn't feel like a 13.8 car but it is old. im not sure if its the turbos or what. when im ready to have the rebuild turbos how much would it cost? please help me as im 17 and dont have any friends who know anything about 300zx TT and i would rather learn to do it myself than pay some damn shop for labor.

-James

[ZedEx]

Welcome to the forums man!

Please read the stickies (not saying you did anything wrong, just for references sake) before you post any further.

As for your Zed questions, the VG30DETT isnt what you would call an easy engine to work on. But get a mechanics book (about $160) and dig in.

Broke as **** is a GREAT member to speak to about Twin Turbos, I would suggest waiting for him to reply.

Anyways, welcome to the forums!

-Wes

[DeleriousZ]

i had that exact same problem with my previous transmission only it was into 2nd not 4th.... does it happen when downshifting from 5th to 4th as well? if it does, i'm afraid it's most likely the syncro's and you're going to need to find yourself a new tranny or someone who's good at rebuilding them.

as for oil, probably synthetic would be your best bet, that is, if the previous owner was using it as well.. i've heard that car's don't like them being switched back and fourth all the time.. that could be total bs tho i'm not 100% sure.

also, you might want to check out if the timing belt/water pump has been done before.. you're supposed to change it every 60k so if this one hasn't had it done, you might want to look into doing that.

if the car has been well maintained the turbo's should still be running strong, maybe check to see what you're boosting, i'd highly recommend installing an aftermarket boost guage when you're boosting anything over stock.. if you're not boosting up to what you think you are, that could be the trouble with the 'lack' of accelleration..

anyway.. welcome to the forums, hope you find what you're looking for

[freakonaleash1187]

welcome to the z world. you have a lot to learn. there is tons to learn about the 300zx, especially the vg (engine name of the z). the engine is really hard to work on if you don't know what you are doing.

like delerious said, change the timing belt if it hasn't been already. if the timing belt breaks, the engine will destroy itself. if any little thing seems wrong, get it fixed as soon as possible, it could escalate into something big.

the turbos should last a good 150k if taken care of. the engine itself should last until 200k if taken care of.

about your tranny, it is most likely your syncros. find somebody that can rebuild it or buy a new tranny and put it in there. buying a new tranny would probably be easier.

about the oil, don't switch back and forth between regular and synthetic. once you go to synthetic, keep on using synthetic. regular motor oil would be fine, but to get the most out of your engine, use synthetic, i will be switching after i get done with the case of oil i just bought.

finally, have fun with your z and take good care of her, if you do, she will take care of you.

[Broke_as_****]

The grinding is most likely, and unfortunately, a set of bad synchros. Mis-shifting and hard shifting at high rpms done by previous owners have probably torn your gear box up. A loose shifter is often a sign of this. I would suggest finding someplace decent shop wise to check it out, might just be the shifter walking around or something but it does sound like your transmission is just worn out. Alot of power, alot of miles, it happens.

As for power...

Well you are already up to a Stage 3 Z with the mods you got there, so getting more out of your engine gets a little trickier from here.

Stage 3 is generally defined as: intake, exhaust, and ECU with slight boost increase, say about 13 psi to the stock 9 psi. You boost may vary. I suggest getting an aftermarket boost gauge as the stock one can be inaccurate and unreliable. If you start seeing spikes in the boost or its going past 14psi on a regular basis, probably need to make some changes as 14-15 psi is the limit of the stock fuel injectors and of the pump gas I'm guessing your running on.

Anyway: To get more out of your car as it sits is not exactly cheap. Your probably already at the limit of what your stock fuel injectors can do so I suggest the following instead doing the natural thing to do with a turbo car, which would be to up the boost:

- Downpipes, they will really help spool your turbos quicker as they replace your pre-cats, which are essentially the same as stuffing a big rock up your tail pipe. Being that they are so close to your turbos, swapping them out for a nice set of split downpipes (just start looking through the sites on the "Z resources" thread) will help alot not so much with top power but spooling up the turbos. Since you have to drop the trans to install them, if you unfortunately have to buy a transmission you can do this at the same time. These will run you about $500.

- Underdrive pulleys, I'm not a big fan of these but they will add some power at the top end, not so much adding power as not draining it at higher rpms. These reduce the speed at which all the other pumps and so on operate, thus, making the engine work less to push them. Not a great mod in my mind but its fairly cheap. Figure about 200 for the crank pulley alone or about twice that for a full set.

- Advance the timing, this again is not a huge upgrade but its fairly cheap. I wouldn't recommend doing it on your own, its best done at a shop with a dyno. Doing this will help your engine run better under boost and make about 10-15 hp. The stock is 15 degrees give or take, I wouldn't suggest running it up to 18-19 degrees as you get into problems off boost and such. Find a local shop with a dyno and get some prices for dyno time. As an added bonus, dyno time can usaully find some of the problems that might develope over time.

- Test pipes, you could do test pipes but they would negate your legality on the road unless you got a set with some high flow cats welded in, which is an option. However, this isn't going to make alot more power and they are just as expensive as downpipes and don't really give you the same boost.

Anyway, go past this, you're starting to get into turbo upgrades, and there, things get really expensive. Especially since its a sad fact of life that the engine must be out of the car for this and that is a pain to do by anyones standards, even mine, and I'm a sick SOB that likes working on the VG. But really, just about all you need to do to upgrade the turbos is:

- Larger fuel injectors and the appropriate ECU chip
- The turbos

But, you start getting into what happened to me, "While the engine is out anyway...". Alot of money later, I'm broke and while my car is now going to be officially classified as a WMD in 33 countries, I'm still broke and still not driving as of yet (target date is January). Know how much you want to, and currently have to, spend and go from there. Think alot before upgrading, its alot of time, money and energy and you can end up with a car that you aren't happy with that you can't sell.

Anyway, after you start getting into turbo swaps, sky, or rather, wallet, is the limit. Exotic metal manifolds, cams, dual intakes, race builds, etc and so on. I didn't mention rebuilt turbos because if you are going to pull the engine and drop 1500 some dollars on rebuilt turbos (you can get them cheaper but...quality...becomes an issue, just sayin) then you might as well drop another grand for a slick set of quick spooling ball bearing turbos or what have you.

"Welcome to the world of speed, leave your sanity at the door."

[ZedEx]

Originally Posted by Samhain

Broke as **** is a GREAT member to speak to about Twin Turbos, I would suggest waiting for him to reply.

Hup, guess I was right

-Wes

[LOCKDOWN1986]

Thanks a lot guys I wish i could upgrade but it looks like all of my money is going to fix the car. WOW this sux for me big. That guy ripped me off, supposedly the car was mechanically perfect At this point screw upgrades I want a reliable car, I'm having to pay $350 dollars a month for full coverage insurance which is enough of a problem, much less now im going to have to have my tranny rebuilt or replaced. shiiit, how much am i looking at to have the tranny fixed?? I definately dont have the tools or mechanical experience to do it on a 300zx, i changed the clutch on a 97 maxima but i have no idea with this car especially the syncros. Is there any chance that i could buy a new shifter kit and get away with it?? I tried double clutching to buypass the syncros and it doesn't seem to work. If it costs too much to get the tranny replaced I may have to kiss my dream car good bye.

[Broke_as_****]

Don't worry too much, look around, you can probably get a 5 spd trans for you car for not much more if not less than your monthly insurance payment. And if you can change a clutch then you can swap a transmission.

[k3smostwanted]

yeah...changing the tranny on the z32 is no harder than any other car. also broke is right. beings you have a manual tranny, check out some local scrap yards to see if they have one or can get you one shipped from a different yard. if i had a manual TT i could have gotten one out of a car that had 20,000 miles on it for 400 bucks when i had my tranny problem (DONT ASK). just look around. buying a new one and then installing yourself will be a very cheap compared to getting it rebuilt. then if your really good you can rebuild your old one with a tranny book and sell it and make money.

also, good idea to maybe upgrade your clutch and flywheel while your down there. OMG....i sound like broke as ****.

[LOCKDOWN1986]

I was able to change the clutch because i have owned two riced out maximas and know them well, and i have a friend (who i bought one from) help me and he has a lot of tools and knows maximas like the back of his hand. I could do it again on a maxima but not sure with the 300.

Anyways, thanks again for all the help guys. broke_as_**** am I correct that your saying that I could get a new or used tranny for around 350 dollars roughly? That would be great if so. I thought tranny's ran around 2k for a new one.

I just got done driving the car and I remembered another more minor issue that I was wondering about.. this only happens the first time I start the car in the day like in the morning, when the engine is completely cold it shudders a lot shifting no matter how hard I try to ease the clutch. All of my other cars didn't do this maybe it just means I need to let the car warm up for a little while, this is going to be annoying though in the winter, it is 90 degress here average so it shouldn't be cold enough to shudder. Thanks a lot,

-James

[DeleriousZ]

for my tranny it was about 495, but that's because it had to be ordered in from a town 11 hours away by road... and i think they're fairly rare... a z32 tranny might be easier to get your hands on given your location... oh.. that's 495 canadian.. so whatever that is american.. probably around $3.75

[LOCKDOWN1986]

Wow thats great! I'll keep my eyes open for a new tranny, if I get one for 500 or cheaper I'll be ok financially so thats real tight. Thats a big relief lol i thought I was shafted. I think this car is not going to be good for my bank account.. too many things I want to upgrade.

Two last things that nobody answered me.. how often on the oil change, will i need to change it more often than 3k miles b/c of the turbos using more oil, and is the shuddering when I start the car normal. Thanks a lot I wasn't expecting all this help so quick. I'll hopefully get some pix of her on here within a month.

-James

[DeleriousZ]

change the oil as often as you like, probably go no more than 3k, i'd go 25-2700 just to be on the safe side... the more you change your oil, as long as you're using the same stuff, it won't hurt your engine, just your wallet. oh, and hopefully your turbo's aren't 'using' any oil.. if they are then you might want to get them checked for leaks.... other than that, it's just increased capacity rather then extra useage

as for the shuddering, my car does it as well, so it's probably nothing to worry about... once it warms up it's all good... same with the transmission.. even when you get a new one it might be a little clunkey before it gets warmed up. most cars do this, so it's pretty normal

ps: wes your avatar is extremely creepy

[k3smostwanted]

i dont think the shuddering when cold is normal but i dont think it is a huge problem. probably just that the fluids arent all moving yet. changing the oil shouldnt be different from any other car. just keep good check on it, along with any other fluid in that engine. tranny, coolant, even the freaking windshield wiper fluid.

when your goin 150, and your hitting bugs the size of golfballs, your gonna be glad that the windshield wiper fluid is full. lol.

[k3smostwanted]

did we post at like the same time there delerious???