ktm

Just an upate. I bought a complete set of Speedhut gauges: Tach, speedo, AFR, boost/vacuum, oil pressure, volts, fuel level and water temp.

Wolf is incredibly flexible and very robust for its price point. Here is the link to my write-up on installing the Wolf V500 in my car: Wolf V500 Installation There is no need to copy the entire post here again. I purchased the system from Ron in March 2007 and received it late April 2007. I then spent the better part of 2.5 months soldering, crimping, splicing, etc. in preparation of the Great Day, when the engine went back into the car. I left all of the wires long until I could measure the required lengths. One thing that surprised me was the time and cost to wire up the system. When I finished the installation of Wolf, I probably spent over $400 in wires, connectors, relays, etc., in addition to the harness that comes with Wolf. The $400 does not include all of the beer I was drinking while hunched over soldering all of the connections and making the harnesses. Ron Tyle inspired me to go with the LS-1 coil on plugs and a quasi-distributorless ignition after looking at one of his installations. You can see how I mounted the LS-1 coil on plugs on the engine pictures above.

First, a gratuitous shot of the engine after re-assembly. While researching the build, I started tearing the engine down. I left the block and head alone (dumb) save for a good cleaning. Once the block was cleaned I painted it black with Dupli-color high temp paint. I was simply going to do a good cleaning and drop the engine into the car. However, I once again contracted the "while I am at it" disease and decided that I needed to powder coat all of the parts. Hey, do it once how I want to do it or do it again. The intake manifold, oil pan, valve cover, water pump pully, alternator fan, alternator pulley, alternator bracket, upper and lower t-stat housings, water pump inlet, fuel pump cover, engine lifting brackets, and the little timing cover plate were all powder coated wrinkle black. The exhaust manifold was ceramic coated. I used stainless steel braided lines for all of the cooling and oil lines along with Goodridge AN fittings. I was going to use the stock T3 turbo but wanted it rebuilt. After checking out the costs of rebuilding the T3, I investigated the cost of a brand new hybrid turbo (T03/04). James Thagard was still selling turbos at that time and he had a great deal on a T03/04E 50 trim, 0.63 A/R hotside with a Stage 3 wheel. It was almost twice the cost of a rebuilt T3 ($350 versus $700), but the T03/04E also had 360 degree thrust bearings and water cooling. What's another $350 at this point, eh? The T03/04 turbo would satisfy my future power needs as well. Why spend $350 to rebuild the stock turbo and then drop another $700 later when upgrading? The turbo in the pictures above is the T03/04E. Since I was so far down the rabbit hole already in terms of engine clean up, I decided that I wanted a nice clean look. I was inspired by Austin's (240Hoke's) setup and liked the clean look of the black and "raw" metal scheme. I picked up a fuel rail, 240sx throttle body and throttle body spacer from Pallnet, as well as his exhaust stud kit. Since I was going with O-ring injectors, I researched which injectors I should use for my ultimate power goals. I decided on the ubiquitous Supra 440 cc injectors. I sent them out to Mr. Injector for flow testing and cleaning. The flow bench showed they were all flowing 503 cc/min and were withing 1 cc of each other.

A parting shot of the old work horse before it was turned to glue, er, put out to pasture. I agonized for months about what type of swap I wanted to do. My budget at the time was definitely not infinite and I wanted to stay with the L-series. I was strongly considering a stroker setup because I deemed EFI too daunting to tackle at the time. Once I started pricing out a stroker I realized that the power per dollar ratio was just too low compared to a turbo swap. That sealed the deal for me and I tossed my fears aside and decided to go for a turbo swap. I found an engine locally for sale that looked to be in good condition. I picked up the motor in early February 2007 for $550 and it included everything: long block, manifolds, turbo, ECU, harness, etc. I put the engine on an engine stand and began my research regarding the installation. At first I was going to do a simple swap using stock electronics. The more I read, the more I was convinced that I should go with a stand alone. I was all set on Megasquirt until I did more research on the system. I started at the very last page and look at every page going forward, clicking on every cry for help thread. Talk about scary. I was not going to build my Megasquirt box so after pricing out what a built box and relay board were going to cost I started looking at the other stand alone systems. This is when Wolf caught my eye. I talked to Ron Tyler for quite a while before purchasing the system. Ron did a great job selling the system. I was sold.

Following all of the work (and then some) desribed above, the car was back on the ground and putting a smile on my face in January 2007. However, my joy was to be short lived. One day in late January 2007 while driving to work I noticed that my temperature gauge was not working. No big deal I thought, the wire simply fell off. As soon as I get to the office I put the wire back on and think nothing of it. I go to lunch later that day and notice that the car starts to overheat quickly while idling. Ok, this is not good. I get back to my office and wait for the engine to cool so that I may check the coolant level. I go out after a couple of tense hours to check the coolant and to my dismay, the radiator is nearly empty. I get a coworker to take me down to a parts store and buy some more coolant. I wait a couple more hours before putting it in the car. Once in, I fire it up and look for smoke. Nothing. Maybe I dodged the bullet. The car gets me home that day and I let it sit over night. I check the coolant level the next day and sure enough, I am missing around 1/2-gallon of coolant. Guess my plans for an engine swap were just accelerated by a year!

Here is a picture of what she looked like shortly after I purchased her. Not too long after this picture was taken the modifications began. The car was in dire need of new shocks, springs and bushings. This is how you catch the dreaded "while I'm at it disease". I decided that since I was going to have the suspension apart I might as well strip the parts down and paint them. Well, if the suspension parts get paint so must the brakes. Speaking of brakes, I should really replace the calipers as the driver's side does drag. Hmmmmm, I think I'll install some ST sway bars as well. I should really strip some of the undercoating off as it is beginning to peel. If I am going this far, let's get that crossmember too. Hmmm, there is a lot of oil on the crossmember, time to replace the oil pan gasket. Wow, the pan is looking rough, let's paint it as well! You get the idea. Below are just a few of the semi-finished shots. I was doing all this work after 9 pm at night. My daughter was 1 year old at the time. So up on jacks went the car around September 2006 and she did not hit the ground until January 2007.

Eric, I was just at a few junk yards this past week and only saw 1 S30 up in Long Beach. I saw this thread after I got back. You may try the WTB ad here or wait until someone posts a part out thread. Besides, what are you doing driving your car in the rain, the whole 3 days a year it rains here?

My daily driver is a 2006 Impreza WRX WRB wagon.

Interesting. Rock Auto shows it is applicable to 240sx and 240z.

AC Delco part # 45A0312 is supposedly an inner tie rod that fits the 240z. Has anyone ordered one of these parts? Rock Auto lists them for the 240z. They are also very inexpensive.

Z season is just beginning for me in So Cal. It is too damn hot during the summer to drive the car regularly. I'll drive it in the morning and evenings, but driving it during midday is masochistic. Between no firewall insulation, no inner shift boot (Z32 trans), and some unplugged holes in the firewall the cabin gets awfully freaking hot on a 90 degree day much less 100. Yes, I am a pansy. 310z, I never get any grief in my car down here. It's odd. I am all but invisible to everyone including cops.

Looks great! I know the dilemma about the stock gauges. I tried to keep them as well but ultimately went with a complete set of aftermarket gauges since I need accurate information. Well done.

Phil, I would really try to ditch the linkage altogether. I did that over 1.5 years ago and it makes a world of difference for low speed driveability. The linkage used to stick even though I took it apart, cleaned and greased it. As for the intake, looking good. I was going to pick it up myself before you bought it from Justin. However, I did not like the way the inlet of the intake was finished and realized I would have to do major modifications in order for it to work. Are you still running methanol injection?

The A1000 is my next pump. I am still running a Walbro but have had 2 fail on me. I am going to replace it within the next 6 months with an Aeromotive.

Mark, the coolant temp and intake air temp modifiers are expressed as percentages not ms. Send your map to Hugh and I to take a look at.

Eric, you can't post in the classifieds until you have 40 posts. They changed the rules not too long ago.

I was running the Russell version of the same filter. It is simply a stainless steel mesh disk. After I rebuilt my engine, I installed the filter I mentioned earlier that filters down to 10 microns. I am still running the Russell before the pump and the Aeromotive immediately after it. I strongly recommend running a 10 micron after the pump. You do not want to clog a fuel injector and then go very lean on a cylinder under boost.

I am not running a restrictor on my setup, but I am using a -3 AN line instead of a -4 AN.

That was a brilliant speech.

+1. Check Summit Racing for exhaust cutouts/bypass.

It's not boost that destroys head gaskets, rings, ringlands or pistons. It's detonation. That was Tony's point and he was agreeing with your suggestion about the N42 pistons.

I am personally using a Russell 40 micron SS mesh screen between the tank and the pump and an Aeromotive 12321 (http://www.aeromotiveinc.com/products.php?prod=261) 10 micron after the pump. You can't really go with a "small" filter that is filtering out particles down to 10 microns. Surface area is the key to maximizing flow while filtering out the smallest of particles (10 micron).

I got my ITM pistons from www.coolparts.com. They drop ship directly from ITM. When I bought my set, they were all out of 40 overs and only had stock and 20 overs. This was in June though.