Ideal power for a S30

[kamikaZeS30]

This scares me because my suspension mods are limited to the toyota caliper upgrade, sway bars and the tokico non adjustables with SS technique springs.

 

Rear discs wouldn't hurt, you'll need to swap in the ZX master cylinder while you're at it. I'm running Tokico HP with Eibach springs and adjustable collar. It's a nice, stiff, set-up. I need to get the Suspension Techniques sway-bars, myself, because the ones I'm running won't work in the rear with my new rails. The Wilwood big brake kit is nice, but you could build something functionally similar for less, the toyota four-pistons are good calipers, regardless of what the aftermarket crowd says (yeah, who would've thought that aftermarket companies would try to bad-mouth home-brew solutions?). Pair that with a set of ZX calipers in the rear, some good maxima rotors and pads, plenty of breaking power for a car that weighs less than 2400lbs--even with a V8 in it.

 

Order the bad dog rails and take out your rusty ones. Unless you mean the engine bay rails are rusty, too? That's considerably more work, but can be done. How are you planning on mounting your diff? I recommend the mustache bar from Arizona Z car, and the billet diff brace. I will be running that set-up and "strapping" the nose. Not right away, because I need to save up the $560 to get the AZC parts, but they're worth it. Functional and instant bling.

 

As far as everything instantly breaking upon completion of your swap: just baby it while you build it back up, again. I, personally, don't plan on dragging mine, maybe the occasional AutoX on the weekend, mostly just spirited driving around town and on the freeway. In reality, as long as your original unibody is in decent condition, the amount of reinforcement needed to handle up to 350HP is relatively minor. You're talking maybe like $700 in parts (rails+good front/rear braces).

[2eighTZ4me]

"I got tired of re-tuning the Webers every two weeks (because it's my daily driver). I had an L28 bored and stroked to 3.2, running 280 degree cam .460 lift, with Triple 45DCOE Webers (I HATE tuning them, but they scream)."

 

 

Wow - you must live in an area with major altitude or pressure changes. I DD my 3.2L with an even larger cam (.500 / 294) on a race ported head with Mikuni 44's for the past 9 months and haven't touched a thing. Fire up and go to work. I guess the difference must be Weber vs. Mikuni. Usually, once these things are set (and you don't go thousands of feet in elevation changes) - you can pretty much forget 'em. Something isn't/wasn't right if you were having to muck with them every 2 weeks.

[FlatBlack]

I"m shooting for 300WHP with my Turbo L6. It's probably a bit overkill for what my car is mainly used for. My main motivation is keeping up with my friends with F-Body/LSX cars. On our cruises we go on, my 78 is just about right where I'm at right now. [L28>T @ 10 psi] I would imagine I have about 200-220RWHP.

 

I didn't even touch power mods before the car was reliable and had a decent suspension on it. [Poly bushing, tokico red springs, HP blue struts, ST front sway] Get to know the car and make sure it handles well. Like the guys are saying, 200WHP is "just right" for most street applications, it's just the speed junky in us that wants more.

[kamikaZeS30]

I live in San Diego, we don't get a whole lot of "weather" but it is prone to rapid barometric pressure changes. Screws with my sinuses all the time.

 

I guess the difference must be Weber vs. Mikuni.

 

That's part of it, there's a lot I've been finding out about the Webers over the past two years or so since I got them. One, mine are solid-mounted, which they apparently shouldn't be, and I don't have the extended venturis that protrude into the inside of the air-cleaner. A lot of the flat-spots I get are related to these two issues-- not the jetting, which is why I was tuning them every two weeks, before. Basically, once I get the engine above 4500, it starts to pull really freaking hard, but I have to **** with the throttle to keep it from sputtering. Because the carbs are solid mounted, the vibrations cause aeration of the fuel in the bowl, therefore, you get air-bubbles while the fuel is trying to travel uninterrupted through the jets. Also, without the venturi extensions, air tends to stall as it is slammed into the carb. The problem being, I know not enough about Webers to source the parts to fix these issues. I had no idea that there was even a spring used for mounting these, nor did I know about longer venturis.

 

I would have swapped for Mikunis a long time ago if they weren't as expensive as just building a V8.

 

The Webers do have a leg over the Mikunis in finite tuning capability, but I don't race professionally, so it's kind of a moot-point.

 

I also prefer FI to carburetion, it's a generational thing I guess, give me an ECU, some sensors and a laptop any day. But, good EFI systems will run more than an engine. :/

 

Edelbrock should do just fine, very little to adjust, from my understanding.

[JMortensen]

Air horns/velocity stacks/bells for Webers should be easy to find. TWM will have them but theirs are $$$. You can also try wolfcreekracing.com, Todd over there is very helpful, and I believe the Weber and Mikuni bolt pattern is the same. There are probably a lot more sources than that, ebay, etc. You can even make your own. I had a situation where I was running a medium length air filter and there were no velocity stacks that fit it very well. I bought a piece of 3/4" aluminum and gave it to a machinist friend. He drilled 6 holes in it and then used a carbide router bit to round the edge. Last he countersunk some holes to attach the stack to the carb. I cut them out on a band saw and bolted them on. A bit crude maybe, but I thought they looked absolutely bitchin in a backyard engineering sort of way. I think I paid $150 for the metal, the carbide router bit, and the labor, but that was pretty close to 10 years ago and I know metal prices have gone up and the machinist did me a favor.