spork

I built a very ugly one years ago (and still run it on my car). I've never gotten around to finishing the one that I've started to do for the Lonewolf product line. Even my ugly "weld el" style manifold picked me up 35rwhp over the stock highly ported exhaust manifold. That was with a t3/t4 hybrid turbo. I'm sure there is quite a bit more difference with my T-70, but I never tried bolting it up to a stock style manifold. If you have the resources to find a greddy one and make it work in your application, it can be worth the investment. Can you hit 600hp with a ported out stocker? I'm sure it's possible, but its a good step along the way, and will make your setup more effecient. If heat is an issue, thermal coat it inside and out like I did mine. It made a big difference in under hood temps. If you've got more time than cash and you have some fab skills, build one yourself. The exhaust flanges have been sold around here (and there might still be some available). The other option is to have someone build one. If you go that route, find someone that has built a lot of turbo headers for cars and has a history of doing them for than just a year or 2. Experience is usually worth the extra cost.

Stony, just to make sure I'm hearing you right, you used nutserts to mount your trans mount and driveshaft loop? Nutserts are good for some stuff, but in my opinion, the 2 items above are not them! I deal with them on a regular basis on large trucks (kenworth, pete, mack trucks, etc.). In a high stress area like your trans. mount, I think you'll end up seeing a failure at some point. As for the driveshaft loop, it's there to save your life. Maybe I overbuilt mine but I used rather large bolts and nuts on going through the floor with some added sheetmetal on the inside. In my opinion, they're great for mounting things like methanol tanks, fuel pumps, and misc other objects, but anything under high stress, I would think twice about.

It all depends on the what the paint is like on the car now, is there no body work being done, just paint? I would still suggest a sealer of some sort before painting if you don't end up needing to prime it.

Either head will work fine for a mild turbo build. When starting to look for the bigger hp numbers, then a different head could help along the way. Several guys on here have gotten past the 400hp mark on a stock head and cam. To get to the 400hp mark with less boost, some headowrk and cam will do wonders. (but you're also spending more money. Do some searching and I'm sure you'll find the info you are looking for. Try re phrasing your search and it's amazing the information you can find if you use just the right search terms.

I too run a devils own kit. In fact, I've sold a couple to customers as well. It's a good solid kit with an affordable price tag. The progressive controller works great to dial in the exact amount of meth when you want it. If you have any questions on it, feel free to pm me.

I too am interested in what failed in the trans. I've put over 500hp to the ground through mine. Honestly I kept the shifts reasonable, but I too suspect something was already up with the tranny. That said, The T5 is obviously not the transmission of choice for this engine. I'm not sure I'd pick the z32 trans either. I guess it just depends on how hard you really want to push this set-up after you've done some realiability testing. By the way, what kind of port work was done on these (this) heads(s)? Any flow numbers? It may have been posted before, but I don't recall it. Just curious on the difference between this head and a well ported L-series strictly in terms of flow.

Interesting project. Keep us updated.

I'm running an sds Em4-6F setup on my '83 280zxt. As far as harnesses go, I pulled the engine harness from mine and kept the rest. If you don't already have a few after market guages like oil pressure and water temp, it's a good time to get them. They aren't neccissary to replace, but depending on exactly how you remove your engine harness, you may need to run a couple of new wires from the sender to the gauge. The hardest part of an SDS install is doing the magnets for a crank trigger, and even that isn't difficult, it just requires careful measuring. Measure 3 times, then drill to mount the magnets. Let me know if you have any other questions, and be patient, you only posted a day ago. Not everyone checks here daily.

TimZ- I've done the same to my rockers as well. I never took pictures, but you're on the right track. I've seen fairly high power and constant trips to 8000rpm without any issues. 1fastZ- You're correct in that the time spent elsewhere may be more benificial, but as a Z owner, I've always felt that the attention to detail in a build is what makes one car stand out from another. I know you understand what I'm saying because you are/have built a monster yourself. These little things to a guy like me, just can't be over looked, regardless of how much time is invested.

I'd rather see a restrictor plate used rather than a chunk of wood under the pedal. Even then without a smooth transition, you may not get as accurate results.

I tune for my egt's on my car for around 1600 +-50 degrees. Mine's probably not what is considered an average build, but I still had egt's that high when I was running a milder setup. If you aren't trying to get the last ounce of power out of your setup, then tuning for a lower egt isn't a bad thing, it leaves room for error. As for timing, I have no idea where mine is set at as I'm in the middle of moving, everything is packed up, and my car has no transmission in it...lol

I've successfully welded several diffs with a mig welder before and they survived street driving as well as drag launches, but I never went road racing or anything like that. I even broke a couple axles. The key I found was to just get it as clean as possible, and you can't weld it enough. I had no noticable noise or vibration, but I might've just been lucky. If I pop the cover on the ones I did, I'll be sure to take some pictures.

For your application, the p79 or the p90 will work fine. If you've got much bigger goals down the line, the P90 is probably a good way to go. For 300-350hp, you could use just about whatever head you wanted to as long as you keep your compression ratio reasonable. On a side note related to EGT's - Depending on fuel, the car's use and so on, generally I'll tune street cars for around 1500 F for hot but manageable street cars on pump gas. For the more extreme street cars and drag cars 1600-1650 isn't out of the norm, but they tend to pushing big hp numbers, large amounts of boost, and aren't always running pump gas, or if they are, they're using methanol as well.

I never heard back from you on the shipping costs. I am still interested in the kit. I sent you another PM as well.

Here's my 83 280zxt. I have some other pictures elsewhere, I'll see about posting them later. Major mods are: custom intake, forged internals, custom header, T-70 Turbo, SDS EM4-6F, and direct port alchy injection. Upcoming mods are: Powerglide trans w/ transbrake, larger turbo, nitrous, new header, aftermarket forged rods and crank (undecided on brand at this point), and some re-work of the head and intake.

My forged pistons were .30 over as well. That's what the block needed and so thats what we ordered for pistons (forged)

The 3rd one in the pic looks identical to the one Arizona zcar used to sell. They are currently sold out (atleast thats what the website says) http://www.arizonazcar.com/sprock.html

I used the lokar cable on my car as well as on several customers cars. It's a nice looking acable and can be had for a reasonable price. Not sure what bracket Geez is refering to, but the cable can be had for less than $40 depending on the length you need.

a 45, 90 or even 180 should work fine depending on how you route it. Some route it right along the return line from behind the valve cover to help clean things up on the front of the engine. It's all personal preference.

14035-n3500 is the correct gasket for the turbo manifolds! I went and checked my stash out in the shop.

yes, check the head as well. I've seen the mating flanges warped on the head as well as the manifold on several heads that have come through our shop. It's not always the fault of the manifold or the gasket. I also recoomend the stock nissan gasket. It has worked great for me and I've run some pretty hot exhaust temps in the past

I bought my cam gear from arizona z-car. http://www.arizonazcar.com/sprock.html After just checking the link, I see that they're out of stock. It may be worth checking with him anyways and see if he'll be having anymore made any time soon. I felt like it was excellent quality.

http://www.fiveomotorsport.com/Injector_Sets.html I can't remember if I gave you this link or if I had been talking to someone else, but they are a good source for fuel injectors and with a little searching you'll find they carry almost everything and at reasonable prices.

You know, you really should write those down from time to time... Now, I know you said not to ask...but how can you loose your maps? I've never seen that happen... By the way, I'd post my maps, but they in no way would do you any good what so ever...

I've been considering this myself actually and been doing a lot of research into it. If you follow any of the profession import racing, you may know of Stephane Beauregard with the shelby charger running in one of the FWD classes making some very low 8 second passes and I believe a few high 7's if memory serves me correctly. He's running straight meth and there are a lot of addvantages to it. Much cooler intake charge, in fact some cars aren't even running intercoolers because of it. You can loose a lot of weight by not running a air to water cooler, tank, and pump on a car, and many are finding that it's no longer needed like it is for gasoline. As far as power at the same boost level, you're more likely to make more power actually from the way I understand it. You'll have such a drop in intake temps that you'll be getting much denser charge. I can't comment on the spoolup, but if it's an issue,it may be time for a different turbo combo. As for the 1600cc injectors, what power do you figure on making to make the low 8 second passes. The reason I ask is that stephane has found that his 2 banks of injectors (8 1600cc injectors) is making him run leaner than he'd like under full boost as he was approaching that 7 second pass. If he hasn't already added a 3rd bank, I'm pretty sure he was going to. Just something to think about as well.