seattlejester

Hello, Welcome to the forums. It seems like you posted to the FAQ section. I have gone ahead and moved your post to the general brake section. Please make sure to double check before posting to make sure it goes into a section where people can reply.

You generally want as much crank contact as possible. Anything that experiences a lot of load you want more belt wrap as well. I'm running no AC and no power steering which in theory has about a quarter of pulley engagement with tension and it slips on cold starts as an example. Using the power steering pulley as an idler would be a valid option. Or building a bracket and moving the AC up to the power steering area would be another.

^That is very well done. For your concern though, I'm not sure what you think you will be doing, but camber is pretty much a set and forget type situation. Unless you plan on tweaking it often and have toe/camber plates at home you really don't revisit it very often. Even if you did, the 1 degree or so that the bolt in style gives is not the most useful range, adjustable control arms would get you more or adjustable cross member. If you needed to drop it it is 3 bolts plus the sway bar end link. 4 bolts. Not the end of the world really. The T3 ones or the 4 bolt have a larger range so that would make more sense to use. You would have to find out the shock diameter and length. I have the number 14 or 17mm in my head for some reason.

I think you deserve your own thread, it has deviated a bit from the original poster and all. Let me know if you want assistance in copying posts and moving them over. For the record well done. Testing and looking for faults BEFORE putting it out there while gathering feedback by public posting. At a good price point I'm sure you will have people very interested.

I guess you are looking for stick on flares? Unless you are confused and looking for molded flares. Neither will allow your car to return to stock if installed correctly. If you keep your factory arches then you would actually have to raise the car in addition to adding the flare which would be silly.

They are running it through the gauntlet to see what went wrong with it, so hopefully soon. I wouldn't say obsessive as well informed, or at least curious. Lots of people ask about good turbos or turbo recommendations, and you will find some recommend based purely on peak numbers. Characteristics are harder to find out. I had a lot of trouble figuring it out and I asked a friend about it, he gave me the low down and taught me how to look at compressor maps. Once you can read those you can pull the numbers off of the maps. He spec'd his turbo for his motor and it makes too much power almost too quickly. That is the best type of problem to have, so I wanted a piece of that. Looking at the maps I ended up back to the same turbo. I had a lot of issues with my setup, but once everything was working, it is a ridiculous benchmark point one you can compare lots of things to. That is really all bench racing though, it is the application that really speaks to you. If your goals are at that point, and you want to maintain the money you have into the dump, then you have to remember to factor that into the price of the turbo as a "savings." Granted if you had a flange and a u-bend, dump pipes are one of the easiest things to make. I just redid mine to clean my new transmission, cost me $30 for the pipe.

True, you won't really notice if you limit yourself in your projected ball park. You aren't asking a ton from the turbos you are looking at for your power goals. Now the question is when you do ask a lot from it how will it behave. Like the 57 trim you are looking at is a 7566 by common nomenclature. A bw is s200sx-e is a 7670. Similar right? One can support 475hp according to some sites. In my research I've seen real world 420whp at 16lbs and that is reving the nuts off the turbo at 130k+ RPM. The bw will do that at 100k RPM and the max power it will support is 650hp. So same size frame, newer feature you are getting almost 30% more out of it. That translates to lower turbine rpm, which equates to lower charge air temp, which leads to denser air charge, which leads to lower IAT, which leads to higher VE, which leads to more fuel, which leads to even more cooling, which leads to higher VE, which leads to more power, extracted, and so on so on. Turbo will last longer, charge air will be cooler, power will be felt sooner, VE will be higher, thus more fuel, more power, more cooling, more exhaust, more turbine pressure, etc etc. If you are playing down low though you are probably right, you won't really notice unless someone has a very similar setup as you and they pull away, build boost sooner, or what not. Air might be warmer, you may need a psi or more to compensate, your IAT may be higher, your VE will be lower, but still you can keep compensating with higher boost to a point where something doesn't work. For me it was a question of fitment. Frankly a borg warner wouldn't even fit with the manifold that I had, so I was looking at the same turbos on the same website as you are. From my research Himni is a reputable vendor usually focused on rotaries and they have some of the best prices. I entertained ebay turbos, even tried to justify the ball bearing ones, but that seemed silly. Then I found AGP that had a hilariously perfect hotside for me. One they didn't even know if it would fit the newly introduced SX-E line. When I called and asked the guy said no at first then walked up grabbed one and opened a supercore and found that it would indeed fit. Then I had a perfect sized open hotside that would leave me the smallest of room, but room none the less. So for $100 more than what a T3/T04E hybrid was going to cost me I was going to get the best tech for my budget on almost what felt to me was a bespoke hotside. It also helped to know that my order was I think a month or so out, because they were getting these by the pallet and couldn't keep them in stock because they were selling so fast. Also I sound like a huge fan boy because I am. I mean it sucks, but if someone has a knock off that performs just as good as the "real thing" for a 1/3 of the price it would be foolish not to consider it. Just look at the sheer number of those available on ebay and amazon for the T3/T04E. The crazy thing is they make good power, and some for a bit more come with ball bearings and anti-surge porting, some even have warranties that put the factory ones to shame! So better for less, hard to beat, but when something is in almost a class of its own specification, size, and feature wise at a price that is not unreasonable for the features, I'll happily spend my money there. My friend has the earlier version the non E variant, for $50-100 more I could get a freaking billet wheel, improved casting, anti-surge porting, pre drilled pressure port, better bearing. I've been in his car and it was disturbingly quick like the most violent 330hp I have ever felt when we couldn't get the boost solenoid to open correctly. To have a turbo that was going to be that much better, no question at that point.

Last time I did the math I think I'm more than 30 into mine... Older turbos will work, you just miss out on some features that make newer turbos "better." Extended tip, billet wheels, full face journals, pre drilled for boost reference, better matched compressor and wheels etc, and that is just the lower end spectrum, when you get up higher you get things like ball bearings, stainless exhaust housings, V-band inlets and outlets, etc. If you can live without it and just want a target horsepower, at the end any turbo will really get you there whether that is an ebay turbo that will last 1000 miles or an EFR turbo that will get you there fast, maintain power, have room to grow, never rust, etc etc etc. The question is if the price will break a project, if you have more into the turbo then into the entire engine, then it kind of seems silly.

I forget who, but someone on here has a really really good flowing waste gate adapter. It does add to the price overall, adapter plus wastegate, but you can get really good boost control. I was in the same spot as you, wanting the best bang for buck, but being limited by finances, I couldn't swing for it until I had an unexpected amount of overtime to help fund it. You say that now, and it may be the case, but with turbos stepping up isn't hard at all if your other systems (fuel and cooling) are up to the task. I remember when I built my entire car thinking anything over 200hp was silly. Super glad I at least had the tank with 8AN outlets and a cooling setup rated for 4-500hp.

I think room to grow would be the reason. From my recollection a 57 trim t3/t4 hybrid will get up to 400whp with a big displacement engine, so shouldn't be inefficient at the desired 260-290hp range desired. That turbo was exactly what I was looking at before I went with mine, same vendor too. The T3/T4 hybrid is still old tech, newer turbos have billet wheels, full face journal bearings if not ball bearing cartridges, better ratios, BW has extended tips as well, the only requirement that we can't meet here is the internal waste gate unless you start going way up in price, but for a bit more you could swing a pretty gnarly turbo. In the same range there is this offering if money was a concern. https://agpturbo.com/agp-turbo-cw-5257b/ You could also look at the older non sx-e series without the billet wheels for a savings https://agpturbo.com/borg-warner-agp-s251sx-turbocharger/ Or the SX-E series which is pretty nuts as far as journal bearing turbos go https://agpturbo.com/borg-warner-s252-sx-e-52-61-12709095019/ Flows almost 10 more CFM with 1mm more than the standard series with the billet wheel Or you can go full bannanas with an EFR https://agpturbo.com/borg-warner-efr-6258/ Saves you from having to get a blow off valve and it has the integrated waste gate as well as water cooling and has insane specs

That is very interesting to ponder. You are correct, short gears will get up in RPM faster and spool later RPM wise, but will not be as noticeable since you will be in upper RPM most of the time. Taller gears will spool faster RPM wise, but will take longer to get in the higher RPM. If load was so good, then yes one should upshift to basically lug the engine making max load to spool the turbo, but then there is a differential in road speed to RPM that pushes the motor out of the power band. The practice of brake boosting would be a counterpoint, adding load without the penalty of being in the wrong gear for the speed is done quite frequently, the usefulness is limited to roll racing though. Same thing with stalling against a torque converter with an auto for drag racing. Interestingly, I stepped down from a 4.11 to a 3.7 final drive, and now I'm looking to go even lower with my new transmission. Maybe like 3.5 or 3.3. In my situation I can row through the gears almost too fast, making the gears taller via a lower numerical value final drive would lengthen my time in each gear as well as increase the overall speed. My turbo is on the lower portion of the efficiency graph so it would still benefit from load. It is a balancing act, lower it too much and you will shift the power band, raise it too much and the turbo won't be running at its most efficient island. Granted it is not something really discussed as swapping ratios and gearing isn't something most people contend with or is much of an option not in our community. My turbo is a borg warner S257SX-E. Turbo tech is really changing, limiting yourself to certain restrictions may be detrimental as Gollum says.

Anything under 3.5k spool really doesn't feel too much different to me. Cars with full spool/thresh hold super early on though tend to feel like they have a weak top end unless they are employing trickery via QSV or VVG. Honestly the only time you would notice is if you wanted to pass someone without changing gear, granted even in 6th, I can go from vacuum to boost in a second or so since cruising is at 2500rpm. My turbo spools pretty quick, I've data logged a friend's and his spools higher as his turbo is smaller, less efficient, and he has smaller displacement on a less efficient engine, but really no complaints in speed or feel. The only two times I've noticed was when we were in top gear trying purposely to find the spool point and another when we were playing with a turbo miata, granted that may be more of a power to weight scenario. If low end grunt is what you are looking for, bigger displacement or a supercharger might be more apt. I see you are local, happy to meet up and give you a lift sometime if you want to make a more informed decision.

If you tightened the cap down on the offset dowels then you have probably mis-shapen them, unless the connecting rods are softer then you may have made an imprint on the rod cap. If you tightened one side down tightly then you could have bent them. Given their size though it may not be likely. Measure the clearance if it is a friction fit then you may want to start over. If it has a bit of clearance then it is more or less for a rough alignment and once fully seated they won't do anything as the friction of the machined surface will hold it over the alignment of the dowels. They should be more or less fully seated before you start tightening it. You shouldn't be pulling them down with the bolt. While you are in there make sure to do the thrust washer checks and crank alignment.

Bummer to hear that. One step at time, still looking forward to the updates!

^That is funny, I used to do the same on that track carrying too much speed in Gran Turismo. Looks like he is having trouble keeping the car in gear with it popping out. I wonder what transmission is behind it. I think drive did a comparison and found a rotary uses more fuel than a V8 with about the same output. Alex http://s30drifting.blogspot.com/ had a rotary in his drift S30. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTvrwMREOb53ARiCs23q5tg Francisco bought the chassis. is a pretty good one on how to get it into the car http://www.viczcar.com/member-rides/matthew-clemeshas-20b-rotary-powered-73-240z There is another one on viczcar Solid mounting it in theory shouldn't be a problem as it has no piston type movement. You could add isolators via hockey pucks, jaguar mounts, polyurethane mounts etc.

The metal manifolds came stock on the earlier years. They make other options too, but it seems like the engines with the dual intakes seem like the later years that have a plastic intake like most newer cars have like the ford ST's the LS engine, WRX cars, etc. They still feature the vanity cover which is removable. If that removable vanity cover keeps you from wanting a viable engine option then it is pretty much at the top of your list there on priorities. Nothing wrong with that, it is just an exclusion requirement for you that we have to factor in. So priority for you: No vanity cover, even removable ones No plastic intake manifolds No LS engines No RB's No 2jz's Kind of reduces your options a bit. Breaking the "mold" is fine, you just have to be aware that the more you break the mold, the better your skills will have to be as there will be less people who have gone down that route. Your reasons for breaking the mold though have to be really on point at least for you, just because you want some stranger to say "oh I have not seen that before" is not really going to outweigh being broken down on the side of the road because you need a custom serpentine belt that takes 3 days to ship. If it does outweigh it for you then more power to you, that "wow factor" is higher on your list of priorities than serviceability. Keep in mind with the internet, there aren't that many surprises left for those who know how to use google. Not having a halo bar would make this more of a roll bar than a roll cage. You will find terminology is pretty important here. I did remove my door bar after about a month as slipping in the car became an exercise in foot placement and weight management. Think things through. You are as miles pointed out on a swap haven, almost every type of swap has been conceived or witnessed on here and elsewhere, V10, V12, flat 4, rear mount V6, rotary (2, 3, and now even 4 apparently), 4-cylinder (even a 4g63, among SR20, FA22C etc), even electric. The reasons people have done it or started it range from because they had access or they were bored to pointing out the benefits in engineering, serviceability, familiarity, or whatever. Narrow it down, to a couple candidates that have good pros that outweigh any cons and ask specifics. One thing that might help in reality check terms is asking how much people have spent getting the swap into their cars, because in the JZ side of things the average cost is a suggested 7-10k just in getting the engine in and running with minor supporting systems like coolant and fuel, not including chassis, rear end, suspension, brakes.

My situation is unique in that my frame rails come into the cabin. So the frame is welded to that frame rail. I'm not sure if I would just trust welding a plate to the sheet metal on the floor.

Not anything really plastic there? The stock intake pipe is plastic as is for almost all cars. Manifold or collector plenum is big cast aluminum unit I believe, which has short comings in distribution so it usually gets replaced. I've seen people mention this a few times. It really doesn't need mentioning. Who wants a peaky 300hp build? Like who takes an 2jzgte, 1jzgte, rb25det, or even an L28et which all have pretty flat-ish power bands and curves and almost make 300hp, and finds a turbo that doesn't spool until super late and then chokes the crap out of it up top so it limits itself to only 300hp? That is running a massive hotside and then basically an equivalent massive wastegate to open the moment it starts to spool. It really does not merit mentioning. That was a thing when turbo manufacturers didn't make anything for gas cars, now they do. Borg warner, precision, garrett, they all have a performance gas engine division now, so no more borrowing diesel turbos and dealing with their characteristics. I am pedantic so a correction. Unique means singular. If it has been done and done more than once, then by definition no longer unique. I mean if you want a unique car, find the excrement of two singularly unique animals and smear it all over your car, it will be by definition unique, with an minute chance of replication. I went to a junkyard last week, and the guy there said he put together a 4 rotor 280z like a decade ago. 2x12A motors with a custom e-shaft. I thought there was only 1 4-rotor S30, even that is not the case. A caged car really shouldn't be on the road anymore. A minor accident can go from a fender bender to a skull fracture. Sheet metal is a lot more forgiving than DOM tube in a collision. Roll bar with anti-intrusion bars may be sufficient for protection. You can get a cage and have it fit really tight to the body and run impact absorption material, but that would be pretty expensive and still it would take quite a bit of visibility away. I can't really speak on this with authority so I'll let others chime in. Make a list. We'll throw out options and test it: Priority: "Uniqueness" (super vague, maybe something like not-domestic or german, might be more apt a description) "Aesthetics" (in regards to an engine is kind of tough, you have to narrow this down more, you mention not having hoses/wires everywhere, well turbo cars are going to generally have more hoses than NA cars etc) 300hp no 4 cylinder "Useable" power band No transmission tunnel modification Regarding your build, how much do you have budgeted for this? If this in any way feels harsh, here is where I come from. I had a roll bar which I removed it for a couple more inches of leg room. I had a fuel cell which I am replacing with a OEM tank from a camaro because I get fuel starvation on corners. I built my fuel system twice as I went from simple carb only to fuel injected turbo. Plan things out, if your plan can with stand scrutiny then it will be easier to justify going down the road. If someone told me 8 years ago that I would have over $30k in my $500 car, I probably would have reconsidered or done things differently.

I'd prefer if it met up with the rocker and trans tunnel, but it works for now.

My seats are floor mounted (on plates welded to tubular frame rails) and you can see out pretty easily, if Omar is close to 6' than he is taller than me so I'll let him chime in on his experience. Usually they run a broom stick test, although if your car is something like certain convertibles where you are in contact with the bar, with good restraints, they seem to give you a pass if you have the absorption stuff as mentioned. My bar was no where near my head, it sat right in front of the map light, to hit it my seat would have to snap on the cross bar first. If you are using a roll bar just design it so that it angles back.

The S30 engine bay is quite a bit larger than an E30. I used to be able to stand inside the engine bay in front of my engine with my 7mgte. In my friend's E30 I think part of his accessory drive sits offset of the fan because they are so close. If you are precluding an engine choice based on a removable-nonfunctinoal cover than I think aesthetics are a higher priority than performance. It seems maybe ease of install would be a close second over performance as well. Might be worth sitting down and thinking about what is the highest priority and making a list in order. An L28ET seems to be the easiest, aesthetically it is pretty much stock, it is dirt easy to install, and it can definitely make over 300hp. If that is not on the top of your list than you have another priority like wanting a swapped car, or street cred, etc. Hard for us to play the game without you giving us your list of priorities. You mention sound, aesthetics, hp, ease of swap, torque, turbo lag, insurance, tax, etc. Make a list in order of priority. If an engine is suggested that meets the criteria and you still don't like it than you definitely have a different priority order, adjust until it accurately reflects what you want. To start for me my priority was: Ease of install So I went with an L28E that I converted to carbs. That was the easiest to do. Then it switched: Turbo (preferably factory) Cross flow head (preferably with intake on driver side) Similar displacement or larger (I had a 2.8L in my 240z) Ease of service (parts available in the parts store) Low modification (keep factory mounts to make it reversible) That precluded the RB's, SR's, german engines, etc, even the turbo JZ's. Basically left me with the 7mgte. That is what I did. When the 7mgte let go, my priority shifted: Ease of install Turbo R154 compatible That meant either staying with a 7mgte or swapping to a 2jz, or going to a 4g63 with an adapter. Since I still wanted turbo, but I didn't want to have to rely on importing parts or dealing with a new platform, my priority switched with ease of finding parts taking over factory turbo charged so I went with 2jz-ge na-t. Then I decided to swap in a stronger and smoother transmission, priorities were: cheap strong not visible under from the side So low modification fell off the list and cheap while not visible meant I had to do the work and spend a lot of time with getting the fitment right. At each point the priority changes, but looking back I know exactly why I picked each one. There really are no regrets as at the time it made justifiable sense, granted in hindsight I would have done some things different as options weren't available or affordable at the time. Some things to consider: Transmission: Any engine with a decent horsepower output is going to use a bigger transmission. LS, JZ, RB, VQ. They all have fairly big transmissions especially for their strong transmission option. The VQ transmission is I believe the biggest next to the the T56, but the benefit is that all of those mentioned above actually can run the CD009 transmission as it is strong, cheap, and plentiful. You can cut down quite a bit on bulk using the newer adapter plates the require bell housing cutting but it still is large. Even at that large a size with an early Z 70-72, you can probably fit it without any drastic changes other then removing the mounts. The later years you have to remove the whole trans tunnel brace type situation. With that said the R154 from the JZ can fit with custom mounts on the factory points in the early years, I still have my "kit" if you want measurements. Rear end: You are planning on putting out more than double the power the axles are used to seeing if you want the earlier cars you are also going to have the weaker stub axles. That means you need to factor in stronger axles, rear end, etc etc. This can end up costing as much as the engine itself so keep that in mind.

I wouldn't get too caught up in 50/50. There are ways to get there in other ways to get there via moving things around and it also kind of depends on dynamic movement. You can have 2 cars with 50/50, but if one had the engine lifted a foot higher it would raise the center of gravity and behave poorly etc. I would put the VQ back on the table with that kind of power restriction, there are aftermarket intakes available which you may even need to flip the intakes towards the front. It would be torquey, reliable, and be brand loyal if that mattered. Plus the transmission option is really fantastic for that latter years, it really has a lot going for it.

I think with good tires it would be negligible. Most people who do the swaps push the engines further back, it doesn't do anything for the weight split since the engine is still over the front axle, but less leverage on the engine? Hard to compare really since usually the power difference is quite drastic. Best bet would be asking @dexter72 as someone who went from turbo L28 to turbo 2jz. Maybe even @Ben280 as his L28 probably puts out quite a lot and he has driven my Z, although the setups are so different in tires/suspension it may not be a fair comparison.

Fuel pumps down, replacement came in today, so no time to install and head down unfortunately.

The turn signal pads on the combo switch are known to get burnt, bend, or a myriad of other problems. I wonder if you have the fuse box properly powered up, the fuse box also is problematic in that it is poor solder and the terminals can burn off on the back side. Buy a cheap multi-meter, or get one for free with purchase of anything from harbor freight with the coupon. Get a set of long wires with aligator clamps in a heavier gauge and an inline switch and you have the best tool for checking wires. You pretty much only need one setting for this and it is the continuity setting. Learn how to use it, it will take maybe 5 mins and will be super useful the rest of your life. Stop guessing or assuming with this kind of stuff, it is pretty straight forward. Check continuity between the item you are curious about (headlight) and start tracing, leave a clip on the power side of the headlight and keep tracing back until you loose continuity, your break will be between the last place you had continuity and your current location. No need to guess. Test sections at a time and you will be golden. Pull the fuse and test from the fuse box to the light and you can see if there is break from the fuse box to the light, check from the other side of the fuse to the combo switch to find out the same.