Gixxer Squid

Either this is the beginning of the damage or the end. I am mechanically challenged:icon44: but I don't know if AFR will cause this, maybe so. I was not in the car when the car was being tuned and I have yet to see the data log. I sent an email to the tuner requesting the file. ktm. I went through 2 turbonetic turbo's before finally getting the Garrett. 1st turbo a butterfly valve got sucked in through vavle. Dropped pan and pulled head, 2mm gasket was back ordered so we put 1mm after necessary adjustments. Bearings went bad on 2nd turbo and not from lack of oil. Now we are with Garrett. James For some reason I do not see the shim under the vavle spring on the bad intake ( bottom pix)like I do in the middle picture and the other 11 valves?? I checked the adjuster and it was tight so it did not loosen itselft up? Just don't know what started the chain reaction. I will pull the head when I have time and post.

No one told me to tune to that. Tuner just said that was what it was set at and I did not read up or question him. There is no other tech3r tuner within 2 hours of me and he a good reputation. Not sure what went wrong. I thought over 12.5 like you mention above is running rich, not lean. Thought below 12-13 was lean. Am I missing something here? Careless. Yes, 91 is the best this great state of California has for us and I think that 10% is corn. We finally got rid of the MTBE additive which sucked as well. Thats why I briefly discussed methanol for extra insurance with KTM If I gotta pull the engine, should I replace with all better pistons to handle the heat if JE has been know to have problems or was it most likely the AFR that caused the issue.

18 psi 8.5 to 1 91 octane most of the time, race gas is a splurge from time to time. so much for the methanol now. The car was assembled in Colorado before I bought it first part of last year. Psi on all cylanders except bad one was between 115-118 psi. Car still runs and I drove it home about two miles away but had to keep foot into gas so it would not die. I will post picture of plug because although something hit it, its not as crushed as I have seen in the past. I got it road tuned but not dyno tuned week before last after putting wide band o2 sensor it. We had it running around 13.3-13.5 on AFR. Back to the drawing board. I did expect to get a bit more than 500 miles out of it total before this happened.

so much money into this thing already :(:(:(

Here is the short list: - Special P90 head designed for optimal turbo performance. The head was completely built and finished at Bowers Racing Engines, Longmont Colorado. -Three angle racing valve job with hand lap and back cut on all valves. High heat coating on all valves. -New valve guides; hardened seats; single groove euro dampner; turbo camshaft -Blanchard grind head surface top and bottom. -Turbo port and polish intake and exhaust runners, (swirl finish on intakes, polish on exhaust) -Moly steel valve retainers; dual race valve springs, rod bolt set and main stud set; - All head components that contact each other had surfaces SuperTech Microfinished to reduce wear points. JE pistons are 88mm pistons pistons are high heat coated on top and moly coated on skirts as well as micropolished total seal gapless rings ARP everything Deck height is zero 1mm head gasket 46mm stainless swirl polished intake valves high heat coated 38mm stainless swirl polished exhaust valves high heat coated dual race valve springs good for 7500 rpms and beyond PAR connecting rods 144mm (finished rotating mass 437.5 - 438.5 grams) Everything is new. Including flywheel/pressure plate bolts. Everything is new from Nissan or aftermarket. New billet turbo camshaft *I believe it has a TEP grind - .480 lift 272 intake x 274 exhaust Crank was race prepped by TEP - index grind, detail weights, enlarge and chamfer oil holes, and nitride harden. 550 cc fuel injectors 500 hp bosch fuel pump Electromotive TEC 3 with trigger wheel ignition system 240mm wide flywheel 16 lbs properly pinned to crank.

No compression at all, I checked it when I pulled the plugs. Engine has only 500 miles on it. Brand new EVERYTHING top to bottom, blue printed, balanced, magnafluxed, high heat coated......

Took car out for my weekly adrenaline rush on the back roads, car popped, black smoke came out and ran like crap. 1. Took home, pulled all plugs, #4 plug was smashed. Car is a turbo t3/t4. Is is possible debris went through this as well and destroyed the turbo? Car has about 500 miles on it. Extensive modifications but apparently not the right ones, 20k+ 2. Is the 2mm tri-metal head gasket available yet as it has been back ordered for quite some time as I only have a 1mm now? Frankly I don't even know where to start. Bummed in Cali:(

Thanks. I will take that into consideration. Thanks for posting this as I have not really gotten a consensus as to what most of the turbo guys are running. Of course it probably depends on their objectives for the most part so I guess its up to me to figure out what mine are......

Great write up and phenominal attention to detail. One question for you though. I was told and have my wide band o2 sensor further down the pipe about 10 inches away from the turbo outlet yet yours is about 2-4 inches away, just curious as to why you put it so close? Maybe mine(car) will be where yours is now in a couple of years. James

a little of this and a lot of that. basically 3.0 oversize valves with the works, gt 30, oil cooler and intercooler, 550 cc injectors and tech 3r running things.

Obviously its not as simple as I thought. I better have a reputable shop do it because it sounds as if it could be a little tricky and I don't want to screw it up. Thanks for the suggestions. After enough mistakes, I know when to have a professional handle the situation

Sounds as if I need to do a little more homework on what I have before I start shelling out $$ and then find that its not quite what I need which I have been NOTORIOUS for that in the past and pissed away more money than I want to admit. 3.36? I am not real sure, that might work real good and then it might not. I have not quite gotten a census as to what most are running as it covers the spectrum with turbo-charging. It would have to be LSD though since I am pushing over 400+ hp to the wheels. Dumping the clutch is definately not what I am into as this usually leads to destruction of some component or the other. However I am trying to build it for trackdays and 3.36 may be a bit low for exit speeds out of corners. What do you guys think? James

Thanks guys. You think a 3.54 is better than a 3.7 gear ratio, I still want to have some pick-up and go. There is one on ebay right now: Do you think just picking this up and selling what I have without taking it apart and such might be a better deal all the way around? What would be the maximum to pay for something like this or should I just go to the junkyards and look and hope for something better. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissan-R200-LSD-240Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem250346857667QQitemZ250346857667QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Thanks guys. You think a 3.54 is better than a 3.7 gear ratio, I still want to have some pick-up and go. There is one on ebay right now: Do you think just picking this up and selling what I have without taking it apart and such might be a better deal all the way around? What would be the maximum to pay for something like this or should I just go to the junkyards and look and hope for something better. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissan-R200-LSD-240Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem250346857667QQitemZ250346857667QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

I have searched around but did not get an exact answer to my question which is this? Can I put new gears only in my R200 differential? Would it be easier and less expensive to do than doing a new swap? I have a R200 LSD but with a 4.11 gear ratio and my car is now turbo'd rather than carburated and 1st and 2nd gear is WORTHLESS as I bounce through these gears in a heartbeat. I wanted to go with a 3.7 gear ratio. I have a 5 speed transmission and when in 5th gear at 72-74 mph the turbo starts to kick in boost and it is not driveable this way. Suggestions? James

I actually was thinking about that but living in a townhouse with no garage and car parked on the street makes this option a bit more difficult. I think I will remove them myself and then take it to a body shop to keep the lines consistent. I am going to shave the front and rear lights and may even weld the headlight bucket seam as I had done on my previous Z 15 years ago. The rims are 9" offset -12 both front and rear. Thanks for suggestions so far. James

Glad someone agrees with me, the bubble is to high on the body in my humble opinion. I could handle the bubble but again, the flare is flared down instead of outwards and I have the car raised 3" higher than normal with the coilovers to try and compensate.

I think they are MSA's. The previous tires rubbed which were 15" and now I have 17 but with a lower profile and they still rub. If you look close enough at the pix the flare should actually flare OUT, not down which is why both set of tires where scraping on big bumps and hard turns. I do have coilovers and they are as high as they will go. 250 lb spring in the back. While I will agree they did a pretty flawless job molding the flare into the body, a 15" tire should not rub and the flares are not the look I am going for( car rides waaaaaayyyyy to high anyhow). As for the paint job, yes it WAS nice but the car is going to be repainted anyhow so I am not concerned so much. I am not asking how to remove them, I will do that with a plasma. I am asking what the best way would be to semi-mold a new metal piece in to attach the new flares that will stay consistant with the body lines of the car.

Bought a Z on ebay and knew it had fender flares that needed to be addressed as they rubbed with 15" tires (I have 17" now and can't drive it because it rubs to bad until I get this addressed). They look tacky and are not functional so I bought the ZG flares. I had orginally thought the flares were fiberglass and were bondo'd into the body for a sleek look. Took the chawzaw to the fender to remove since the zg flares require some cutting of original fender only to find out that the flares are METAL and the jackass that installed them cut the original fenders completely off and tacked the cheesy fender flares directly to the body. My issues are this: These flares are higher on the body than the current ZG flares require so its impossible to mount them over this atrocity. Look at the lines in the pix. Somehow I am going to have to reweld some metal once I cut this crap off but I am not quite sure how to go about this and looking for suggestions. I assume some 20 gauge metal for this. I was going to mount the ZG flares myself but I don't know "jack" about making a freakin fender and maybe its way above my capabilities. Thank goodness they left the front alone. I don't need something perfect since the ZG's are going to cover most of the opening but I can't mount them that high on the back Suggestions on remedies most welcome?! James

I bought this car already built and the previous owner had 4 different people working on the car and such. I finally talked to the mechanic that put it all together and he told me 9.5 to 1 although I find that hard to believe myself. It has a tech3r on it so the person working on it now says that he can work around it somehow by adjusting the advance/retard within the computer system. I personally would just like to know. All I know is it has JE forged pistons and Carillo rods, just trying to fill in the gaps on my end. I ran a compression check and its running around 125 psi on all six cylanders but I know that does not mean a lot. The previous mechanic was going to go through his paperwork from last year and see if he could find the exact specs but if I can adjust it with a custom map than maybe its a moot point. James

gt 30 turbo, p90 head, f54 block JE pistons. Car was built for 6000 altitude, hence the higher compression but now I am at sea level. Looks like I need a 2mm whenever they become available. James

Just found out that my turbo'd z has a compression ratio of 9.5 to 1 which is pretty high in my opinion, however, it has a stock head gasket. I know they are still back ordered but what would be the approximately decrease in compression ratio by adding a 1mm or 2mm head gasket once they become availlable in this millenium if possible? I did a search but could not find the data. Would I have to make other mods/adjustments when putting this head gasket in or just remove the old and in the new, bolt her up and go !!! J

What NGK plugs are you guys running in your highly modified (18psi+) turbo's? I currently am running the BP6ET but am thinking that might not be cold enough. Suggestions? James

Man, I know what you mean, I am feeling that I am never going to get mine on the road in this lifetime, maybe it will be done by the time the grandkids come along:tongue: and they will have something to enjoy. James

So something like this would work then and then plumb it accordingly? http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=BMM%2D70297&N=700+115&autoview=sku or would this kit be better in your opinions???????? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GREDDY-OIL-COOLER-KIT-NISSAN-S13-SR20DET-ENGINE-10-ROW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ46095QQihZ019QQitemZ290241731777QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW I saw some 16 row coolers as well, would that be that much better? Just wondering what the other turbo guys are running if anything? J