Pyro

I'm just repeating what Majestic Turbo told me about not having to run water in a water cooled center section. They built me a hybrid turbo a few years ago and they told me I didn't need to run water through the center section if I didn't want too and to just allow more idle timing before shut down, like if it was a non-water cooled unit. A friend of mine has also been running his water cooled center section this way for years without any problems. Furthermore, a water cooled center section tends to have a better bearing design.

Dan, You don't need to water cool the center section if you don't want to. Just cap the ports and go. However, oil is a must. Call up a turbo shop and send them your old turbo and get it rebuilt. Might be cheaper than you think. I used Majestic Turbo a few times with good results.

Sounds like you are running rich. Turn down that fuel pressure. What intercooler did you install? The stock T3 will max out at 14 or 15 psi and 5500 rpm. It will make good power at that level but mostly likely still slower than a LS1. An external wastegate, T04e 50 trim compressor, custom downpipe, and 17 psi will get your car in the LS1 power range. Using the turbo ecu and turbo injectors, 65 psi on boost should be good for 15 to 16 psi of boost. What transmission and gear are you using?

cygnus, if you use the pressure ratio to determine the required extra fuel pressure then your 65psi is just about perfect. Stock boost is 7.5 psi, 1.54 pressure ratio, and 15 psi has a 2.02 pressure ratio and 2.02/1.54 is 1.344, which means 34% more fuel is needed to run 15 psi from the stock boost level of 7.5. And the FMU will add 34% more fuel with 65 psi, (65psi/36psi)square root = 1.344. The difference is you are using turbo injectors and ecu, so your starting point to add more fuel pressure is 7.5 psi of boost. dosquatto is using nonturbo injectors and nonturbo ecu so his starting point to add more fuel pressure is 0 psi.

Use the pressure ratio to determine how much more fuel you will need. This is how Corky Bell does it in his turbo manual. For example: if you are going to run 8 psi of boost then the pressure ratio is (8 + 14.7) /14.7 = 1.544. So you will be making 54.4% more power and will need 54% more fuel. (In theroy). So.... (pressure ratio x pressure ratio) x 36 psi = FMU pressure needed. FYI, 36 psi is Z full throttle fuel pressure. (1.544 x 1.544) x 36 = 86 psi. 86 psi will be a good starting point, but you need to check a/f during boost and make adjustments. 85 psi doesn't take into account boost acting on the injector or a turbos need for more fuel/hp. Corkey Bell says the FMU is only good for 10 psi because the fuel pressure gets to high after that. You will need a fuel pressure gauge in the car to check the pressure when driving. That pressure may be hard to hold during high fuel rates. I have run as low as 65 psi with 8 psi and 85 psi with 12 psi of boost, but the a/f ratios were about 14:1 which is not the best to make power and reduce detontion. I currently run 11 psi of boost with 95 psi of fuel pressure. I had run 13 to 14 psi of boost with that fuel pressure, but recently turned down the boost a little to get more favorable a/f ratios and haven't noticed a lost of power.

I found a Walbro 255 inline pressure/flow graph and it was flowing about 65 gph (390 lbs/hr) at 30 psi and 45 ghp (270 lbs/hr) at 60 psi.

The fuel pumping volume drops when the pressure goes up. Trying to make 59 psi and flow a decent amount of fuel is tough on a pump. However, only able to hold 30 psi during a load seems a bit low. Why are you running so much fuel pressure? If you tune it with lower pressure the pump will have a better chance to keep up.

Try this. Run the vacuum advance straight to the manifold. This will make the engine idle with 30 degrees of timing (10 initial plus 20 from the vacuum). The extra timing really increase rpms which allows the engine to run at 800rpm with the throttle blades almost completely shut. This will allow the engine to idle in a much leaner state. The exhaust smell will go away, the slots will be covered so no need to drill holes, and vacuum will increase by 3 or 4 inhg.

Try pulling off the carb, fill it with fuel, let sit on the work bench a few days to see if it is leaking out.

Don't forget to take the spacer off the end of the crank. Engines with automatic transmissons use a spacer on the crank to move the flexplate outwards to line up with the starter. Yes, the stock NA transmission with hold up fine. Use a 240 mm clutch for a 2+2.

Yes, the axle were breaking off the line or at the first to second shift. I also broke a few U-joints and made a few diffs real clunky. I haven't done any modifications to the car. I just quit racing it for now. Since then, I got married, the wife had a kid, house needed work, truck needed work, took on a turbo Z project, and got older and slower, so the V8 z took a break from racing. It is a long story. When I first put the car together (over 10 years ago), it was fun to drive and pretty quick (12.7's at 110 on street tires). The engine was nothing special, had slightly modified stock double hump heads, 11:1 cr, block huggers headers, single 2.5 inch exhaust, dynomax muffler, a comp cam 292H (244/244, 0.501"), stock hei, performer rpm intake, and vacuum secondary holley 750 carb. Also had a R200 3.90 gear and a GM T5 5 speed all in a 71 240Z. (I had a 700r but didn't like it). I ran it hard on the street and at the track over and over with no breakage (+50 runs) but with times that were getting boring (mid 12's). So I up the power with some 200cc dart iron eagle heads and some full length headers with dual 2.5" exhaust with hooker areo-chamber mufflers. I also installed some MT street bias ply tires (14's). This lowed my et's to 11.7's at 120mph. Not bad considering the low lift flat tappet hyd cam. At this point, I ran it for a few trips to the drags without any problems but then and started to break things. Not a big deal swaping a u-joints or axle once a month, but I was needing to push the car onto the trailer much more often. But I wanted more power, so..... I installed a N20 system. I placed 4 foggers into the intake right under the carb since a plate wouldn't fit under the hood. And installed a one gallon fuel cell and small electic pump by the radiator for racing fuel to feed the n20 system. Install a set of 26x8 MT drag tires (real drag tires on 15 x8 rims). I would use a brake line lock to take the slack out of the drivetrain and spray N20 out of the hole. Ran 1.5 (60 ft), 6.9 at 110 (1/8 mile), and 10.7 at 135 (1/4 mile). I also shifted the T5 slowly to help not break the transmission or the car. I'm at the point of selling my turbo project and getting back into the V8. However, I would like to live long enough to see my kid grow up so I need to install a ford nine inch or just put it back to running 12's and be happy. Maybe a low 12 with the better heads. Or just stay on skinny, hard, street tires and go for high trap speeds. I don't know yet.

Your setup and times are about like my car. Good job! However, I started breaking wheel axles after every 5 or 6 runs when I started hitting the 175 shot of N02. Off n20 and in the 11's I would break axles every 10 to 15 runs. Either way, your datsun stock rear end setup is going to fail soon at that power level.

13.7 at 107 stock L28et with t04b-h3 compressor and T3 stage 3 turbine. 12 psi, spearco ic, late 5 spd with 3.90 gear, in a 76 280 Z with stock efi and fmu for fuel enrichment. ran 13.7 at 104 with the stock turbo

Big-Phil, did you feel a difference between the turbo and NA cam? I feel the early 280/280zx NA cam is an improvement in high rpm power for a turbo engine. LineC, the P90 and P79 heads have better combustion chambers than the older style heads. The newer heads have a larger quenching area which is used to prevent detonation. However, this design is only effective with flat top pistons. Once a dished pistion or a thicker head gasket is used, all quenching effects are gone. So a N42 or P90 with stock dished pistons will have the same combustion chamber benifits (none). FYI, a dished L28 piston with a 2mm head gasket and N42or N47 head will make 7.94:1 cr. For quenching, there should be no more than 0.040" distance between the flat part of the combustion chamber and the top of the piston. A dish pistion can have quenching if the dish is shaped like a "D" and is not dished under the flat part of the combustion chamber.

Not exactly what you need. I think you bought a boost reference fpr which ramps up fuel pressure at a 1:1 ratio with boost. So, 7 psi of boost will only have a 7 psi fuel pressure increase. You need to be able to change the ratio of pressure increase to 8:1 or more. Stock idle pressure is 28, stock zero vacuum (WOT) is around 35. You will need at least 60 psi for 7 pis of boost, 35 + 7 will not be enough. 60 psi will work, but in theory even more than 60psi of fuel pressure is required for 7 psi of boost. 70 or 80 would be better.

My first conversion I just punched a hole through the stock oil pan, threaded it with a NPT tap, and installed a threaded hose barb fitting with silicone on the threads. I have seem this technique done on vortec super charger installs on V8. I used about a 24 inch long rod, 1/2 or 5/8 diameter (I forget, but use the right size for the tap), with a point ground on the end. The start of the taper to the point was about 2 inches. The only bad part is you must remove the wheel and drill a clearance hole in the tension rod sheet metal bracket for the rod to pass through. This allows you to hit the end of the rod from outside the engine compartment. Hard to generate enough hammer impact in that tight space between the oil pan and frame rail. An impact chisel might work.??? I drilled a 0.25" hole at the stock drain back location then enlarged it with the tapered rod. And make sure the pan bolts are tight on that side of the pan.

Pull out the distributor, remove the cap and rotor, pry up the star wheel with two screwdrivers, remove the two outer screws holding on the electronics plate and remove the plate. You should be able to see the mechanical advance slots. Just fill the slots with silicone and let it dry over night. Yes, a FMU is a rising rate fuel pressure regulator, but is works with the stock FPR unit. You can run the run without any modification to the fuel pressure or timing as long as you stay off of boost. You could run a few psi without any problems but that is about it. Since you have a hybird turbo, boost should be delayed a bit, so keeping the rpms under 3500 and avoiding full throttle should keep you safe. Do you have a boost gage in the car?

You don't need a turbo fuel pump. A stock NA pump will work just fine. On high boost applications, I have used two stock NA pump in parallel with good results. I wouldn't use turbo injectors with a NA ecu. First of all, new injectors are expensive and they will also make your engine run rich off boost. The way to run a turbo on a NA ecu is with a FMU. The FMU goes in the return fuel line after the stock FPR. The stock FPR handles the fuel pressure control off boost then the FMU kicks in with boost. And 7 psi of boost will need about 50 to 55 psi with stock NA injectors. I use a bell engineering FMU and it cost me 200.00. I have been using NA ecu and injectors on my turbo car for years. I have found the stock pump will make about 55 psi during boost. Two stock pumps in parellel can make about 75. If you feed two efi pumps with a good flowing 7 psi carb pump then 85psi is possible. I use two MSD 2225 efi pumps and a Mallory Comp 110 as a feeder pump and make 100 psi of fuel pressure at 15 psi of boost. Corky Bell says to limit fuel pressure to about 100 psi when using a FMU. Did you lock out the mechanical advance yet?

A F54 block with a N42 head is not a stardard N/A engine. You are already making 10:1 cr with that combo. A standard F54 block has flat tops and a N42 is a small chamber head. You will need to install a P79 or P90 head to get the cr down to a least 8.8:1cr (standard 81 to 83 cr). With 7 psi of boost and 8.8:1 cr you will need to lock the mechanical advance, set the timing to 20 degrees, use the vacuum advance, and use a bell engineering fmu set to make 50 to 60 psi of fuel pressure at 7 psi of boost. A stock pump can handle 50 to 60 psi during high flow but that is it. Do you have all the oil feed and drain components for the turbo? If you are using a t04e compressor then you will need a spacer? Do you have a factory wastgate, J-pipe, and down pipe.

Yes the bbc will bolt into the same place as a sbc. However you will have other issues like the larger diameter flywheel and starter clearance. The 158 tooth flywheel is not an option for the 454. I have an engine run stand that mounts using the bell housing bolts and engine mount holes and just last month I pulled off a bbc and installed a sbc without changing a thing. It will be much easy to build another sbc. Besides, bbc are heavy pigs! They do much better in heavy cars. I have a 454 in my 1970 1/2 ton truck and the weight of the engine is amazing. The cylinder heads are 80 pounds each! FYI, an OLDS 455 is smaller and lighter than a 454.

Yes, that is how the timing works. Just lock the mechanical advance and use the vacuum advance. The vacuum advance does help advance the timing off boost but not as much as the mechanical advance. Once the boost comes on, the positive mnaifold pressure will shut down the advance from the vacuum canister. The csv doesn't need to respond quickly (like an injector). During boost, it just comes on and stays on until the boost goes away.

14 inhg with MSA stage 1 turbo cam at 1000rpm. Low vacuum at idle could indicate an improper air/fuel ratio.

I would recommend a complete 5.7 liter LS1 with 6 speed trans. You can pick up a complete, low mile setup for 5000.00 ready to drop in (from fan to tail shaft, complete with ac, belts, puylleys, efi, clutch, ect, ect, ect) Then after you get it installed, worry about making more hp. LS1's respond very nicely to better cylinder heads and longer duration cams. 400 to 500hp is easy to get. Plus the LS1's are light weight.

Look at the compressor map of a T04B-H3 wheel and you will see it is much worst than a T04E 50 trim on a 2.8 liter engine. And, I don't get any surge. I think you will be ok. You can get full boost by 3000 rpms if you use a stock exhaust turbine or maybe just one stage up. The problem is, the stock exhaust turbine will hurt top end power. But it makes much better low speed torque. If I had to do it over again, I would use a exhaust turbine that spools up more like a stock turbo. But maybe that is why my T04b-H3 works because full boost comes in at 3500 rpm instead of 3000. I have read the T04E 50 trim should be the ideal turbo compressor for a 2.8. You will need an 1/2 inch spacer to use that turbo on a stock exhaust manifold.

I'm running a T04B-H3 compressor with boost starting at 3000 and hitting max pressure by 3500 rpms. I really should had used a different compressor but this one was cheap and easier to install. When looking at the compressor maps, this turbo should be surging, but it doesn't. It runs fine so I'm not going to mess with it. The maps aren't always 100% correct. What compressor are you using? My stock T3 would start boosting a little at 2000 rpms and reach full boost by 2800 rpm. The huge low speed torque made the car very fun and easy to drive on the street. Tons of torque in every gear! But the top rpms were limited to around 5300 rpms due to the small turbine. Sure, my new turbo is faster, but I do miss the low speed torque and the instant responce of the smaller turbine. I guess it all depends on your driving style.