Archives for : 300ZX (Z32)

Montoya’s Fairlady

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : December 26, 2012
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Cesar has been a good customer of ours for over 8 years.  Just this month he had us upgrade his Z32 further by adding Ash Planar Inlet Piping, Ash Intercooler Piping, and Massive Intercoolers followed by a retune.

Cesar’s mod list looks something like this:

  • SZ Shortblock
  • Port & Polished Heads
  • JWT 500 Cams & Valvesprings
  • MSP Manifolds
  • GT2860RS Turbo Kit
  • SZ 3″ 5-Bolt Down Pipes
  • SZ 3″ to 2.5″ Test Pipes
  • HKS 2.5″ Hiper Catback
  • Nismo 740cc Injectors w\ 300Degree Fuel Rails & SZ Fuel Line Kit
  • SZ Flywheel
  • SZ Max 6-Puck Clutch
  • Stock Throttle Bodies

We retained the throttle bodies for this round of modifications.  So we’ll get a good sense of what the piping and intercoolers make.

Massives installed, we removed a set of Godspeed Intercoolers that were previously installed on the Z.

Piping installed and ready for the bumper to go back on.

Here’s the 91 octane dyno results that show the difference of before and after.  We’re able to get away with slightly more boost and gains are had from 3700+ RPMs.  Almost 70 foot pounds of torque at 4500 RPMs.

100 Octane results.  Very nice difference all the way around.  Boost had a small spike at peak torque and where the plot is laid out at 6500 RPMs you’ll see boost is the same.  Right there we gained 60 foot pounds of torque and 74 rear wheel horsepower.  Peak numbers were also very impressive.

Dean M. (Trust Your Lust) Part II

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : December 19, 2012
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In our last post about Dean M. we had done a few upgrades and talked about the future.  Well, the future has come and gone.

We did add the SZ 3″ 4-Bolt Down Pipes to the existing JWT Sport 500 turbos (still on stock exhaust manifolds), SZ 3″ Aluminized High Flow Cat Pipes, SZ 3″ SS Dual Tip Catback,  Ash Intercooler Piping & Massive Intercoolers, Z1 58mm Throttle Bodies, Nismo 740cc Fuel Injectors & 300Degree Fuel Rails.  The old Greddy Profec-B was also replaced in favor of the Blitz boost controller.  We also went in and replaced any and all parts that were in the way to upgrading.

I didn’t take any pictures due to time constraints (again).  In any case I think the results were superb from before and after.

The before and after on 91 octane.  Look at how much more response we gained down low (blue run)!  The turbo is able to make more boost from 4200RPM and below.

Same thing with 100 octane.  The new run (blue) can now more effectively make use of the higher boost pressures.  Whereas before power didn’t go up dramatically with the increased pressures.  Love the HUGE torque gains!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

GTXed-60 Style

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : October 3, 2012
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Kevin took his 95′ SMZ to another level this summer.  We pulled his low mileage stock motor out to add a set of JWT GTX 60 turbos, MS Manifolds, BDE (Low Pro) Motor Mounts, Nismo 740cc Injectors, Ash Inlet & IC Piping along with Massive Intercoolers, SZ 5-Bolt 3″ downpipes, SZ 3″ test pipes,  and SZ catback, Blitz sbc -iD Spec-R Boost Controller.  We also added our map selector to switch between tunes.

This was our first encounter with a GTX and although it was the same size as the regular GT2860RS turbo we would be able to get a better idea of how the GTX compressor wheel stacks up against the regular compressor wheel without changing its size (turbine wheel remains unchanged).

 

 The GTX 60 modified by JWT to accept the Z32 style 2-bolt inlet flanges.  A perfect time to upgrade to Ash inlets to allow it to breathe better.  You can also see the anti-surge is retained even when modifying the inlet.

A set of Ash Massive (v3s).  The factory washer reservoir fits (late style models).

Equipped with the 90-s style in car cell phone.  Balla!

22,196 original miles.

Mounted to the manifold\engine.

We modified the inlet pipes for the larger inlet flange provided by JWT.  Ash makes the inlets modifiable by using a smaller inlet that can be opened up for larger inlet turbos.

Ready to go to war.  We retained the factory TBs on this build.

91 octane tune (this one gets away with high boost).  Boost being equal (14-15 psi) to its counterpart (standard GT2860RS) we found that there wasn’t any difference between the two turbos.  We compared the results to a few other Sport 700 (GT2860RS) builds we had done in the past.

Q16 tune, this is where the GTX shined.  It blows past the standard 60RS!  This was done on a completely stock engine (no cams, no head work, nothing!)  Typical big build (built engine, cams, etc.) 60RS’ make anywhere from 630 to 698 whp.  So the power output of this wheel at high boost levels is most impressive (on a stock engine to boot).

The cherry on top.  A Safeguard to protect the investment.

Return of the Sutton

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : August 14, 2012
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Bill came back to us after a year of running around on this setup: click me!

This automatic Z32 is now equipped with GT2860RS turbos, MS Manifolds, SZ 3″ 5- Bolt Down Pipes, and SZ 3″ to 2.5″ Test Pipes.  The stock “JDM” cams remained the same.  The methanol system was deleted in favor of race fuel.

On 91 octane fuel compared to his best on his stock turbos.  Some low end was sacrificed for top end power.  One thing holding back the low end and top end is cams and cam tuning.

His old meth on 91 octane (blue) versus his now Q16 tune.  Great numbers for a stock-cammed automatic Z32!

Rude Boy!

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : July 24, 2012
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Mike from British Columbia has the appropriate name for his Z, “Rude Boy”.  Mike sent down his Z32 for some tender lovin’ care.  He knew his Z wasn’t running as well as it could have and wanted to give it the best shot it has.

Beautifully modified on the outside.

It came to us with the following power mods:

  • Built Engine
  • JWT 400 Cams
  • Border 850cc Fuel Injector\Rail Kit
  • Long Tube Exhaust Manifolds
  • HKS GT-RS Turbos (similar to 2871s)\Externally Gated w\ Tials
  • Custom 2.5″ Down Pipes & Test Pipes
  • SZ 2.5″ Single Oval Catback
  • Custom FMIC with some 2″ and 2.5″ Piping
  • Stock Throttle Bodies
  • Autronic SM2 Standalone ECU
  • Dual Fuel Pumps
  • Blitz sbc -iD Spec-R Boost Controller

We added and modified:

  • JWT 500 Cams
  • Tomei Adjustable Exhaust Cam Gears
  • Late Style BDE Adjustable Intake Cam Gears
  • Z1 Throttle Bodies
  • Replace existing custom 2″ Intercooler Piping with 2.5″
  • SZ Custom 3″ Down Pipes & Test Pipes
  • SZ 3″ Single Oval Catback
  • Haltech Pro-Plugin ECU
  • Tune it!

We added a set of custom 3″ downpipes to fit the altered location of the HKS turbos and external wastegates.

Out with the old……. this ECU is actually pretty powerful but 8 years later there are new and improved ECUs available.  We yanked out the old harness and installed a brand new harness in its place.

Haltech’d!  We went with a Haltech in place of the Autronic.  Packed with great features and adjustments.  We installed a 4-bar MAP sensor, Intake Air Temp, Dual Widebands, I\O Box, Clutch Switch for flat shifting, and Anti-Lag Launch.  Contact us if your looking to get a Haltech for your Z.

Cleaned up.  We moved alot of wiring around from how it came to us.  Rerouted the catch can setup.  New cam gears are visible.

Ready to get the job done.

The blue run is the baseline we did as soon as it showed up to our doors.  We kept the MAX boost level pressures the same.  We gained 108 lb\ft of torque and 82 whp at 4000 RPM.  Much better drivability and response!  We also made alot more top end power.  This is Rude Boy’s 94 Canadian Octane Tune.

For the final tune Rude Boy will run Q16 fuel down the drag strip for 851 whp & 650 lb\ft of torque.  Maxing out its 850cc injectors with ease.

Saved from Mishap

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : July 1, 2012
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A very good customer of ours had a small mishap at a local track not long ago.  Amazing to see what losing control and hitting nothing can do (other than going over a ditch).  What was a shame was seeing the Z getting towed hurt and somewhat destroyed from what was supposed to be a fun day at the circuit.

A majority of the front and rear suspension were destroyed along with some body damage.  I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked but here are some from the rebuild process.

The subframe suffered catastrophic  failure along with the upper control arms and HICAS tie rod.

This rear coilover located on the driver side wasn’t so lucky either.

Damage caused by this ditch.  Due to poor drainage planning at the track.  tisk tisk

To the rescue KW!  We opted to go with KW’s newly released V3s for the suspenion rebuild.

Nice case for the manual and wrench.

The V3s reuse the factory top mounts (fronts shown here) to keep things more comfortable and quiet for the street.  The Clubsports use pillowball mounts.

The top mounts need to be modified for them to be used on the V3s.  A simple drill was all that was required to separate the bottom flange from the top hat.

Ready to go on the Z.

The brand new subframe, SPL rear upper arms, lower arms and other misc. suspension bits.

Not shown in the picture is the damaged rear driver fender.  Damage to the Z was highlighted.  The entire car ended up getting repainted and 3 out of 4 wheels needed repairing.

The Z done in not so glamorous lighting.  Impressions of the KW V3s were very good.  My biggest pet peeve is comfort for everyday driving and these are amazingly comfortable (the most comfortable I’ve ever ridden) for an ultimate coilover.  KW V3s are available from us here.

Back For More

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : June 16, 2012
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Mr. Smith dropped of his 94Z32TT for some more upgrades.  You can read about his last visit here.

This time we added a set of adjustable BDE Intake Cam Gears and performed cam tuning on all four cams.  A Blitz boost controller was installed to replace the obsolete and non-functioning Greddy Profec-B.

Covers off and ready to tune.  Once we finished we installed the covers.

A boost controller worth every penny it costs.

Our patient tied down and hooked up to monitoring equipment.

The blue run was his previous best from its last visit.  Red is with the new boost controller and cam tuning.  This is on 91 octane.  Look at how much sooner our boost comes in.

100 octane

Q16.  So close to the that magical number.  What’s even more impressive is Scott is still leaving alot on the table.  He’s still on the stock intercooler piping of 2″!  Although peak power may not be greatly affected its the low & mid-range that will see the greatest benefit.  Now he just needs to working on driving down that 1320. 😉

Green Goblin-Z

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : May 24, 2012
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James brought by his Green Goblin Z for some tuning action.

His main mod list:

  • 88mm Wiseco Pistons
  • Eagle Connecting Rods
  • Garrett GT28R Turbos
  • 2.5″ Downpipes
  • Specialty Z Test Pipes & Catback
  • 740cc Nismo Injectors
  • 5 Angle Valve Job
  • Southbend Stage 3 Clutch
  • 99 JDM Transmission
  • Larger Side Mount Intercoolers
  • Dual HKS SSQV4 BOVs
  • Blitz sbc-iD Spec-R Boost Controller
  • Innovative Wideband
  • Koyo Radiator
  • Selin Dual POP Kit
  • Nismo Oil Cooler

91 Octane Tune

100 Octane Tune

Q16 Tune

ZONAZ-Crash

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : April 5, 2012
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Over the past weekend John Garrison was racing his red Z32TT at the road course and ended up upside down.  Thankfully John came out with no injuries.

Here’s what John had to say about the incident:

hey guys,  wanted to let you know that I am ok, aside from some soreness.  Last session of the night event, got off line.  There was no run off area, just about 10 feet of sand then a tire wall.  The Z hit the tire wall and caught, then just launched it.  People say 3 1/2 flips, did not feel like it, crazy.  Ended up upside down, the partial roll bar keep the whole top of collapsing on me.  Won’t go back on track without a full rollbar.  Engine, drive train, exhaust all seem to be ok (still have to dig into it), have a rolling chassis that I am going to transfer everything into.

He also added:

no problem, stress the importance of safety gear if anyone goes on track.  I had a partial roll cage but will not go on track without a full one again even though I walked away from it without any injury.  thanks

Its a miracle John walked away clean.  Thank God!  Safety first.

 

A previous blog post about ZONAZ.

 

Rode Hard Put Away Wet

Posted by : Sebastian Chacoff On : March 28, 2012
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Cons’ 2nd Z and (track) beater is this NA Z32 that graces its presence on our blog.  Its a slicktop that serves its purpose as a road race Z so that his pretty white TT can sleep peacefully knowing no rock chips or deadly oil starving corners await ready to pounce.

On its first stop to SZ we fixed a major oil leak, rerouted\fixed his PCV system, added an Unorthodox Crank Pulley, HI OD Water Pump Pulley, fixed some suspension issues, and finally strapped it on the dyno to see what this little NA VG had in it.  Engine mods are limited to a catback, UD pulley, and pop filter.  Rotora Brakes, Powertrix Coilovers, strut tower braces (F&R) and a mix of other adjustable rods and arms round up the braking & suspension mods.

We made one pull and found that it was running extremely lean (blue run).  This confirmed my thinking on how far off the NA programs are off stock or tuned.  Fuel changes over the years has really adversely affected mixtures.  This is the 4th NA that’s come in this way.  Making 2 pulls we were able to richen up the mixture (red run) to be safer and add some much needed power that the VG30DEs need.  Any will help even if its +7 HP.  Ignition timing was not adjusted since this was a quick and dirty pull just to see how much power it made.  No intentions on tuning.  So there maybe some more left in it, however Cons will wait until he pulls the trigger on a set of cams and headers.  Stay tuned for more from this little NA.

Must….. not….. let….. the….. Honda …..pass……