turbo on a 87 non-turbo 300zx

[hockey3]

I am going to buy this 87 non-turbo 300zx and I was wondering what needed to be done to prep it for the turbo. Would it be worth it?
thx

[b-28L280zx]

how much boost you planing? if its like 3-5 lbs you dont really need anything. You will need the turbo manifolds from a turbo Z probally. if you going higher then that you will need to add exhaust, intercooler, performance computer, boost controller, adjustable pop off valve, fuel injectors, manifolds, some engine internals if you going really high, boost gauge, and a rising rate fuel pressure regulator and some others i cant remember with right now.

Oh and do your suspension if its stock you gonna be owned bad from all the spinning and turning traction problems you will run into. Like get good tires do the whole suspension about. which you should do before even thinking about moding your engine first.

If your new to driving and plane to race dont go the turbo path just now stay with the N/A they have advangtages over turbo cars stock and you can mod them for alot cheaper. If your just doing it for more boost on the highway stay below the 16 range or it might have trouble passing emissions in some states not that it matter but yeh lol.

Edit: oh yeh dont forget the trans and diff and drive shaft ffrom the turbo's

[DeleriousZ]

uh... yeah, all you need is the turbo and manifolds/piping and you're good to run 23423453245psi of boost... searching would help, this quesiton has been asked many many times before....

[hockey3]

is it the intake manifold or the exhaust manifold?

[MikeMan]

Originally Posted by hockey3

is it the intake manifold or the exhaust manifold?

Both manifolds will need to be changed.
the VG30ET (turbo engine) also has a detonation sensor which you probably won't have to worry about unless you're running below 95 octane.
Keep in mind that the VG30E is running higher compression pistons so if you want to run massive boost, make sure you keep the charge temperature right down, and run around 98 octane at least, or you're going to detonate like crazy.

You'll also need the turbo ecu and injectors or you're going to run lean (big trouble). It might be a good idea at this point to get a proper engine management system, as this will help with tuning later on down the track if you do more mods.

If the engine itself was otherwise stock with the turbo gear thrown on, I'd say maximum boost you should run would be about 6psi on 95 octane. Maybe 8 or 9 psi with an intercooler.

Also, invest in the turbo transmission too. If not now, later on. Its quite a bit stronger and will handle the extra power easily.

-Mike

[DeleriousZ]

mike buddy, unfortunately there's no such thing as 98 octane up here, unless you can find it at a track or something... highest i've seen at the pump is 94... just so ya know... ya know?

[MikeMan]

Yeah I know that, but I don't know where he is. Most other countries in the world have around 98 octane and based on the global population of english speakers, theres more chance of him being outside of the US than in it.

-Mike

[hockey3]

there is no 98 octane at the pumps here if u r wondering

but do you think it would be better to get the turbo model from the start?

whick way would be cheaper?

[MikeMan]

getting the whole turbo engine and swapping that in will probably be more expensive, but its the right way to do it. Throwing a turbo on an otherwise stock NA engine is a cheap hack which is going to come back to bite you later. Do it right the first time and you'll have buckets of fun without having to worry about reliability. Of course, if you really wanted to, you could always swap in the VG30DE...

-Mike

[DeleriousZ]

yes, buying the actual turbo z from the start would be much easier than fooling around with stuff if you're not totally comfortable with doing it. mike is right, flubbing things together the ghetto way isn't going to get you anywhere in the long run, just with a worn out engine.

don't listen to him about the vg30de... he's nuts, he's just got z32 dillusions

[datsunscom]

Originally Posted by MikeMan

getting the whole turbo engine and swapping that in will probably be more expensive, but its the right way to do it. Throwing a turbo on an otherwise stock NA engine is a cheap hack which is going to come back to bite you later. Do it right the first time and you'll have buckets of fun without having to worry about reliability. Of course, if you really wanted to, you could always swap in the VG30DE...

The problem with the VG30DE idea is:
1) a) You need either a custom flywheel to use the Z31 trans with it, or b) swap in the much larger Z32 trans which brings its own host of issues with it's larger size and remote mounted shifter...

2) The VG30ET can be coaxed to 250rhp with the stock T3 turbo and internals whereas the VG30DE tops out at about 210-220rwhp with cams, etc (it's already at 10.5:1 as well).

While I'm a fan of the VG30DE (had one in my car before), the capability of of the ET and DETT to make much bigger power is too alluring IMO to recommend the trouble of the NA VG30DE (it is a wonderful engine if you want to stay NA however!!).

As mentioned by others I think a complete ET swap is the most logical choice, and as as the owner of a turbo car I can tell you you will want more than 7PSI of boost after about an hour (or is that 5 minutes?) of driving.

I went from VG30DE to DETT an I can tell you I would have been disappointed if I was stuck to 7psi of boost, and the difference between 7 and 15psi is absolutely shocking. The VG30ET turbo will support 17psi and put a lof of smiles on your face!

[MikeMan]

Yeah, I threw that comment out because thats exactly what I'm doing at the moment to my z31.

Unfortunately there is nowhere near enough room to fit the two turbos in, so if the plans are to make big hp numbers, we have to start with the vg30de and figure out other ways (apart from turbos) to draw the power out of it.

Turbos are all well and good for making big hp numbers, but by starting with a more powerful base engine, you're going to make their job a whole lot easier, which is going to mean less lag and flatter torque curve in the long run.

-Mike

[datsunscom]

Originally Posted by MikeMan

Yeah, I threw that comment out because thats exactly what I'm doing at the moment to my z31.

Unfortunately there is nowhere near enough room to fit the two turbos in,
-Mike

You sure you can't fit turbos? I'd wager the 510 engine bay is smaller than the Z31 bay and we made the DETT fit. Ok we had to do some massaging of the frame rails...

You'll love the DE, if I wasn't such a power hungry bast@rd I would have stayed with the NA VG30DE. Power everywhere and reasonable fuel mileage to boot. I know of some VG30E guys who built their SOHC to about the same power levels but their power from idle to 4000rpm was weaker, and the cost of the build was more than I paid for the VG30DE back in 1997.

Here's torque corves of a stock VG30E and VG30DE - both engines as fitted into the early 510. http://www.datsuns.com/Tech/sohc-vs-dohc-tq.gif.

Horsepower curves:
http://www.datsuns.com/Tech/sohc-vs-dohc-hp.gif

[MikeMan]

Heh, well my plan the whole time was to supercharge it, so I just use the turbos not fitting as an excuse to reassure myself I did the right thing. The passenger side exhaust header was $400, driver side was $1500

Turns out, theres far too many things on the driver side that the exhaust manifold needs to twist its way around and this is one of the reasons why its not back on the road right now. Ideally I need this header made back up, but I cant bring myself to do it because thats $1500 down the drain. Unfortunately the header shop made it exactly to my specification so I can't just go back and demand they make it again.
Such is life.
Thanks for those torque and power curves, now I can show my friends what sort of figures I'm going to be expecting out of it.

-Mike

[datsunscom]

Originally Posted by MikeMan

Turns out, theres far too many things on the driver side that the exhaust manifold needs to twist its way around and this is one of the reasons why its not back on the road right now. Ideally I need this header made back up, but I cant bring myself to do it because thats $1500 down the drain. Thanks for those torque and power curves, now I can show my friends what sort of figures I'm going to be expecting out of it.-Mike

I hear you about drivers' side issues. I converted the 510 from recirulating ball:
http://tinyurl.com/9gcql

To rack & pinion:
http://tinyurl.com/cnrqs

Then for the DETT we had to modify the rack & pinion so instead of going straight from the firewall to the rack it now has another "bend":
http://tinyurl.com/8j2ad
[Note the notched framerail!]

For every change there seems to be 5 other things that need to be tweaked to go along with those changes...

Sorry to drive so far off topic, next time stop me :-0.