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It's been a long time since I've posted anything of significance at HybridZ. I took my Z apart for a turbo upgrade in 2012 then in the middle of the project my wife and I decided to move. After getting settled into the new house, I got distracted with other projects and just never found the time to finish the turbo upgrade. About a year ago found a local tuner/fabricator that was interested in helping me get my Z back on the road. He was mostly a Toyota expert, but he was a superb fabricator and did quality work so I hired him for the project. The turbo I chose was a GTX3576R with a .63 turbine. I heard from a few friends that they thought this turbo was too small, but so far it seems perfect. My old turbo was a T4/T3 hybrid that made 455 rwhp. At that power it was well out of the compressor efficiency map. I wanted a more modern turbo that would improve power under curve and a maybe bit more peak power. All with less boost. Reducing turbo lag was may main goal. I could write a book on the project so I will try to keep it short. Here's a bit about the car as it was in 2012. http://fstrnu.net/z/ The new turbo external size was a bit larger than the T4/T3. I need to find a way to fit it on the original L28ET manifold in addition to adding an external wastegate. The answer was an adapter that used v-band fittings for both the turbine and the wastegate. The below picture was a test fit so you can see the design aspects. The adapter was designed in Solidworks then CnC'd from a brick of steel. Here's a picture before the downpipe was installed. I ceramic coated the adapter, manifold and downpipe. Here's a picture with everything installed. This is the engine as it is today. I added a coolant bypass on cyl 4,5,6 and I added an IAC for idle control. I also removed the AC since I never really needed it and the compressor got in the way of my air cleaner. Oh and the wiring has been tidy'd up since this photo. Overall I could not be happier with the project. The new turbo and the various components have made a big difference in the turbo lag and bottom/mid range power. The car was fast before (11.30 @ 124mph), but it is even better now. I can't wait to get it back to the track for some fun. It's good to be back. -John

I think part of the reason I spend so much time here is that I enjoy the spirit of the board. The "there is no best" rule comes to mind. There really isn't, depending on your geographic location, your skill level, your support group, the best is highly variable. Throw in things like the activity and we find a different "best" emerges for each one and at that point there is no best. I think once you grasp that you realize on the other hand, there is no worst, something really might be an option for someone given their walk in life. You apply that to real life and to hate a group of people or to blindly follow another just isn't an option. I love the ridiculously intricate discussions we can have. I even enjoy it when people argue even with me. Maybe not in the moment, as it is hard to look at where someone is coming from, to peel back the red or to calm your heart rate when someone points out you are wrong or has a vastly different opinion, but I think being able to calm down and maybe adopt someone else's perspective for a moment is something I learned on this board and am deeply thankful for. Also you have to realize when people argue with you it means they care, maybe not for you, but they care about the topic enough to take a moment out of their day to point something out. Sometimes it isn't welcome for sure, but I think in the context of the forum where we refer to the FSM, diagrams, charts, tables, and manuals I appreciate that there are people who care who take the time to interject and even spend the time to back up their opinion whether I agree with it or not. Just knowing that there are people who aren't just mindless dolls puts a smile on my face as silly as that may be.