long block or short block?

[gump87]

hey guys i just bought a 2003 350z with auto trans and was looking into doing a racing engine build. i heard sgp racing was good so i was looking over there but they had long block and short block packages. i'm new to this so bare with me, ne clue on which is the one that matches my engine like i said i am new to this.

[-The Stig-]

a short block consists usually just of the block itself, and the rotating assembly like pistons, connecting rods and crank and not much else.

Long block should come with the short block plus the cylinder heads and valve train along with a few basic things like water pump, oil pump and random pieces. The amount you get in a long block package varies by who supplies it.

You'll notice long blocks cost a decent amount more, so now you know why.

And what's wrong with the VQ35DE you've got now, it's barely 4 years old... shouldn't have any major issues. They're pretty stout motors. Although, being a automatic, you might find that being the weakest link to your racing future. Unless you like drag racing.

[VR43000GT]

[gump87]

i am just trying to get my z to around 500 or so hp not looking to be a racer just for daily street driving was planning on throwing on some mods: turbo, etc. and i kept reading everywhere that vq35 engine without a racing build can't handle that kind of stress. i know what all the packages include i just didn't know if there was a specific one that i needed for my engine.

[-The Stig-]

full bolt ons, with a credible turbo kit and a right tune you should get near 500hp.

450hp shouldn't be out of the question, I mean they make near 300hp stock for that year, so with a bit of massaging shouldn't be hard.

It's a lot of added expense to tear apart a motor.

[gump87]

so if i did a short block package there would be no problems for my application, right? and what i was asking is that it doesn't matter which one i go with either can be applied to my car is what ur saying?

i am just worried about detonation

[-The Stig-]

just modify the engine that's in the car, why replace it?

If it isn't broke, don't fix it. If you turbo the stock engine, and have it properly tuned it won't detonate and it should be reliable for fair amount of time.

Fact of the matter is, any motor you tweak beyond stock spec will eventually wear itself out and require fixing.

Engine durability is all in the tuning. Plain and simple, that's why manufactures tune their cars to run on the rich side. It may use a bit more fuel, but if you constantly mash the gas and/or lug the motor in low gears it'll always have fuel to compensate. This fact can be seen as when people just dyno tune stock performance cars and gain a good amount of 'free' power by just tweaking the stock settings to lean out slightly and be more efficient.

[gump87]

cool man i really appreciate ur help u just saved me a bunch of money . as for the turbo i was thinking of turbonetics single turbo, what is ur opinion on them? also do u have ne recommendations on any other good performance upgrades i could do to the Z ne links would be greatly appreciated. and one other question should i get a torque converter, valve body upgrade, and a transmission cooler to handle the extra torque and heat produced from the mods (especially the turbo) and wouldn't all that eliminate the turbo lag on the auto trans?

[-The Stig-]

Well, I haven't seen much in the way of aftermarket support for the automatic transmissions used in the Nissan FM chassis.

Most people who buy them for racing, opt for the manual transmission as it's more sporty overall.

I'm not sure if anybody makes torque converters for these tranmissions, like they do for say a Chevy transmission.

Ask the boys in the Nissan forum, or fire up a Google search.

[SilentNIght1647]

If you can get a stall, valve body, and cooler do it, I don't think I've ever seen one though. And yes a good stall can severly reduce turbo lag by letting you rev the car with basically no load on it which will make the turbo spool a hell of a lot faster. I see more twin turbo setups for 350Zs than singles but a big single should run just fine what how much boost do you want to spool anyway?