spork Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Hey guys, I've searched through a lot of info in the archives and now I've got some questions. I've got an 83 280zxt that I need to build a new motor for. I currently have a t3/t04e hybrid pushing 23psi, intercooler, cold air intake, 3 inch exhaust, 370cc injectors, water/methanol injection and so on. I plan on using forged pistons (not sure which ones yet), I've prepped the block casting material per the how to modify your datsun book. I'm polishing all my rods and then balancing them to withing .1 gram of each other. I'll be doing the same with the pistons. I've already got arp head studs and figured I'd go with arp rod bolts, but are the arp mains neccissary? And if not, just buy new nissan ones, right? I figure I'll have the rods and crank shotpeened too. (do I need to have the pistons done?) Is it worth having the piston tops jet coated or something similar? What else should I do to this motor while I'm building it. I figure I'm a little over 300hp to the ground now, and I'd like to see this car around the 400hp mark with this engine eventually. I've got plenty of time and lots of tools to do most of the work myself so let me hear the ideas. Money as usual is an issue, but if I need to do something, I'm willing to wait that much longer till I get the car back on the road. Thanks, Oh, forgot to mention, I'm port matching my manifolds and head and polishing the combustions chambers. I've also been thinking about having my exhaust manifold treat with jet hot to help keep temps down under the hood. Should the intake manifold be done too? Also, this car will be driven on the street, but I go to the track about 10 times a year. I can live with quarks if it means the car will perform better at the track. Last of all, how much nitrous could a guy safely run on a setup like this? I figure I'd go with a wet setup if I even do it, but I've got a high 11 second honda that I'm going after and he's going down! James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted October 18, 2003 Author Share Posted October 18, 2003 no one has any advice??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 with that stuff you have already you should be past the 300hp mark and well past that high 11sec honda.. seems like you have a nice setup though.. any pics? any info and pics on the water/methanol injection? mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted October 18, 2003 Author Share Posted October 18, 2003 My biggest problem is he's 2200lbs and I'm 3000lbs. So hes got 8 tenths of a second on me in just weight (hp to hp) (he put 315 to the ground last month). I just purchased an SDS engine management system too so I'll have to get that figured out too. As far as the water/methanol injection goes, what kind of info are you after? I can get pics of anything you want, but I don't have any place good to host the files. About the engine build, I just want to make sure I'm on the right path. No one out here in Kansas seems to know anything about these engines. Its sad when I've only been into z's for about 4 years and I'm the resident expert...lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 well yiu can host the pics on here in your photo album.. im really interested in the water/methanol injection... i think thats a path i would like to go down the road. about the civic though.. remember he might be lighter then you but its gonna be hard for him to put down all that power to the ground. he'll spin, you'll pass... simple as that. what T-body you have? that could make more power, as will bigger injectors, say 55lbs or soming bigger then what you have. what rear end you have also on your Z? mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted October 18, 2003 Author Share Posted October 18, 2003 I guess I never paid any attention to the photo album on this site. I'll post pics later tonight. As far as him not getting traction...he's pulling low 1.7's on the 60ft (quaffe diff [sp?]). That's gettin it done in my book. Also as far as the diff goes...I have a welded 3.54. I tried a 3.9 and lost time and MPH so I went back with the 3.54's. I've been told it's gotta do with the resistance and building boost quicker and thats why I did better with the 3.54's. I dohave just the stock throttle body and had been thinking about uypgrading to something like the 240sx one but I've heard a lot of it is just hype and all that it does is get a little quicker throttle response and not actually help in power. About the bigger injectors, I've been thinking about upgrading because when the motor is done, I'll likely raise boost some more. Anyways, when I post pics, what do you want to see? the water injection kit? anything else? I'll forewarn you...my car is pretty ugly so theres mot much to see. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 yeah i wanna see the water/methanol injection kit. im really thinking about doing that. i dunno about the t-body but ive been heard it gives you power that you really feel, like it helps pretty good. you can always go with a custom intake manifold with a 70 or bigger webber t-body. i think James on here sells something like that. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted October 18, 2003 Author Share Posted October 18, 2003 Heres a few pics of the system and the car. It's just a basic spearco water injection kit. If I had the chance to do it over again, I would've made my own with a high pressure setup using a shurflow pump and so on. either way, this kit does work pretty well. I can run 20 psi (never tried the 23) on the street with 91 pump gas. Without the water injection I'd ping pretty hard. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zcarsmakemyheadhurt Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Hey Spork, cars looking good and neat stuff going on under the hood. On your engine build you can use deisel L6 main bolts or ARP units for around $77.00, but it may be a bit over kill. I have never seen our engines strech main bolts at all. Coating the piston wouldn't hurt but I would be sure to coat the combustion chamber in the head also to keep heat from concentrating on that area and producing hot spots. But in total honesty that is all overkill for the horsepower you looking to make. You should be able to produce good safe horsepower with the SDS, the pistons should last you forever. I have a set of ROSS pistons at home, I will shoot you a PM with the part number off of them if it helps. So my suggestion would be run a larger injector, do the T-body, and make sure everything flows correctly. Have fun on that thing. Alex C P.S: Don't forget to resize rods and alighn bore the block if you use the ARP fasteners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 You best path to more power is a great intercooler... what are you using now? (even with the methenol injection I'd have a killer IC) What size is your IC piping? Sounds like you are well on your way to 400hp with the mods you are listing... The SDS will be a huge help as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifton Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 Oh' date=' forgot to mention, I'm port matching my manifolds and head and polishing the combustions chambers. I've also been thinking about having my exhaust manifold treat with jet hot to help keep temps down under the hood. Should the intake manifold be done too? Also, this car will be driven on the street, but I go to the track about 10 times a year. I can live with quarks if it means the car will perform better at the track. Last of all, how much nitrous could a guy safely run on a setup like this? I figure I'd go with a wet setup if I even do it, but I've got a high 11 second honda that I'm going after and he's going down! James[/quote'] I would also unshroud the valves while you're in there. I don't think jet hot will help with temps as much as it helps with looks. You also need to get some larger injectors if you want to make more power. Some day people will stop buying these 370cc HP limiters. I would think that at the psi you a running you should be atleast 350+ to the wheels. Nitrous is similar to boost in that if it knocks you are running to much, less timing and you can run more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 well, I just purchased a used spearco 18x6x3.5 (it flows 1080cfm)I believe. My current intercooler pipes are only 2 inch as that was easiest since thats the size that comes off the turbo. I could use the same pipes very easily with the new intercooler, but do I need to go bigger, and if so, how much bigger(2.25-2.5)? As far as the injectors, I figured I needed larger ones but I haven't had time to do the math to figure out what cc I need for the hp I'm looking at. I only had the 370's because from what I was told thats as big as you could and still get it to idle with the stock 83 fuel injection. Also how big of a TB? Stick with the common 60mm swap? Anyways, thanks for all the advice so far, and keep it coming. One last thing, on the head, are bigger valves benifcial in my situation, or are they not worth the money at my hp level? James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NorCalZ Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 larger valves maybe but the p90 already has the biggest available i think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mack Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 I am assuming you have already done all the bolt on stuff, such as a cold air intake, high flow cat, custom (better) downpipe and a 3 inch exhaust... well, I would think about having your manifolds (both intake and exhaust) extrude honed. not the cheapest mod, but they almost doubled the flow on a mustang 5.0 manifold of a freind of mines. perhaps a custom turbo manifold? I dunno, I'm just throwing out ideas here. They key here will be flow. Go up to the 60mm throttle body and port match it to your intake. a 60mm TB will outflow a 50mm tb by about 40%. perhaps a mild port/polish job in your head? Also, I think about 2.5in is as big as you want to go on the IC pipes. as someone suggested earlier, unshrouding the valves will help. how about a bigger camshaft? from what I know, the P90 had a pretty wimpy camshaft stock, and the NA P79 was wimpy as well, but better than the P90, as you could still be safe with a turbo as it didn't have much overlap. unless you have the P90 hydraulic head, then a custom grind is the only way for you. On the injectors note, generally on a 6 cylinder, the CC's is about rougly equal to the horsepower they are capable of throwing down, thus a set of 550's will net you about 550 hp maxed. with the power you are looking for, I would suggest some mistubishi talon GSX 450cc squirters, as you can get them form the J/Y and they will be cheap. sorry for the long post, hope some of it helps, lol McAdam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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