Guest bastaad525 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Been thinking about this one for a while. It seemed that turbo ZX donor cars could be had on the cheap pretty easily not that long ago but have gotten pretty uncommon recently, so I was wondering.... would there be anything inherently wrong with 'building' a turbo motor from parts? I mean, if you can find the F54 block (I think it was F54... whatever block was the latest L28 block) put in the 280Z-ZX crank, rods, and dished pistons, put on a P90 head, and then turbo exhaust manifold and stock or aftermarket turbo, would this be okay? Could you use a non turbo intake manifold? I know this still leaves the electrical out but if and when I could finally do this I'm thinking of going SDS anyways. If you use an SDS what stock EFI components do you need to retain, if any? And can the SDS be used with the stock injectors and intake mani (N/A or turbo)? Just wondering if this would be a good setup or would it be a timebomb waiting to explode.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo2001 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 F54 block from turbo and N/A is little different. The PCV pipe is different and the turbo block has a thread for a knock sensor. I don't think the N/A F54 had those. I could be wrong it has been long time since I seen a F54 N/A block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonfly Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Just my opinion here but if you are thinking about taking that route I would follow JeffP or Zgad and build a turbo stroker. If you are going to start from scratch anyway and you are going to use an sds or similar system why not shoot for the top of the ladder instead of the middle. BTW the F54 is the correct block. Dragonfly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 Heheh well I wouldn't MIND building a stroker that's for sure!! Pretty sure that would be way out of my price range though.... So far I've been pricing parts just to build a 'regular' turbo motor and have found that parts like the stock F54 block and P90 can be had for relatively cheap and are not hard to find. Parts for the stroker conversion aren't too hard to find either I suppose but I know that building a stroker and building it right can be very costly. Here are the prices I've gotten so far on the parts I'm looking at: F54 block completely with crank rods and pistons (though it may be with flat tops so these may cost extra): $300 P90 head, complete: $100 Intake manifold: free if I can use the N/A, if not, $50 Turbo exhaust manifold: $50-100 Throttle body: $25-$100 depending Turbo: $??? stock one is pretty cheap but I'm thinking T03/04 Injectors: $??? again free if I can use the N/A injectors as I have two sets of good ones This is just a list of the parts that I would be taking from a donor car if I had one, the EFI stuff is left out as I would be buying that stuff seperately either way, though I have been offered a complete turbo wiring harnes, ECU and most of the other EFI parts for about $300. To get the block and head rebuilt would cost roughly $1-1.5k. Could I go the extra step and build a stroker for close to this cost? Everytime I read from someone who's built one they make it sound terribly expensive.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 aw damn... see that's stuff I need to know though. Oh well turbo intake mani isn't too expensive anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest empracing Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 hey i hope building a turbo from f54 na parts works cos thats what im doing .we dont have much of a choice over here in au.those tasty turbo bits are real hard to get and if i could the freight would kill it.i had an idea about putting twin throtals and injectors on the old su manifold wonder if it would work flow wise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eric-z Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 hey,emp, I was thinking about that exact same thing a while back. I think I'll post it for a topic of discution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 Originally posted by eric-z:hey, I was just going to mention that the NA intake manifold ports are something like 17% smaller than the turbo intake manifold. eric No. sorry. They are exactly the same size. I am using an N42 intake, and I compared it to my old turbo manifold - same port size and runner length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eric-z Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 sleeperZ, I guess the guy from zhome.com could be wrong but thats where I got the information from. If you want to read it go to www.zhome.com then scrol down to where it says "How To Modify Your Z Car For More Horsepower." * Turbocharging The L28 - Stealth Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eric-z Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 sorry guys my keyboard screwed up or something... you click on where it says "Turbocharging The L28-Z stealth" then check out part 1.5 and about halfway down the page it talks about the diffrence in manifold. eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo2001 Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 But there are less humps inside of the turbo manifold. So it can have more flow than N42. (I know nobody really have tested on flow bench so I just assuming) I've heard ppl picking up couple pounds of boost from swapping intakes from N42 to a turbo manifold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eric-z Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 hey, I was just going to mention that the NA intake manifold ports are something like 17% smaller than the turbo intake manifold. eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie-GNZ Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 If you use an SDS what stock EFI components do you need to retain, if any? Unless you are planning on building a bone-stock or very low-HP engine, you need absolutely none of the stock EFI components. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 Originally posted by eric-z:sleeperZ, I guess the guy from zhome.com could be wrong but thats where I got the information from. If you want to read it go to www.zhome.com then scrol down to where it says "How To Modify Your Z Car For More Horsepower." * Turbocharging The L28 - Stealth Z I've read that before and it didn't stick in my head. I looked at them side by side and found it not to be true, at least for my manifolds. The intake port diameters were identical compared to my intake gasket, and I just ported my N42 to match. The N42 has some bumps inside it, but nothing that would pose any serious flow impediment, especially since I ground them out where I could reach them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbobluestreak Posted November 16, 2002 Share Posted November 16, 2002 sleeper do you have an 82-83 intake manifold because I have the 81 intake manifold and mine are smaller than the gasket but the head is close to the gasket size. tbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted November 17, 2002 Share Posted November 17, 2002 Originally posted by turbobluestreak:sleeper do you have an 82-83 intake manifold because I have the 81 intake manifold and mine are smaller than the gasket but the head is close to the gasket size. tbs Yes, I have 2 turbo intake manifolds now One an '82, one an '83. And I see the same thing - the gasket matches the cylinder head port quite closely, and the manifold ports are a bit smaller than the gasket (perhaps as much as 2 mm smaller in diameter.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 It could be that way for anti reversion, as long as its not the other way around its probably not a big performance hit, especially on a street car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 Scottie (or anyone) about using the SDS system and not having to retain any of the stock EFI parts... this may be a stupid question, but does that include the stock EFI knock sensor? I'm asking as I know this is the one part I would have trouble with if I built a turbo from a non turbo block, so I'm wondering if I need to worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie-GNZ Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 Been awhile, but the knock sensor comes with the SDS but might be a low-cost option. ECM has sensitivity adjustment which is a nice feature considering where the L28 sensor is located. False knock can be a real pain with forged pistons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 kewl deal... well it seems this could be very 'do-able'... not that I have the cash right this moment but I'm saving up for it and at least now i don't gotta knock myself out trying to find a good turbo donor car just to have to do that much extra work and still have to rebuild the thing anyways! Scottie, by the way... don't know if I've said this yet but man I LOVE your CAR!!! Dude I have probably 10,000 questions about it but never wanted to ask because I'm sure that setup will always be out of my reach. Definately the most impressive and one of the most innovative HybridZ I've had the pleasure of reading about and it looks kick-ass too I'm just glad you didn't kill it or yourself during that one hairy run you have the video of... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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