🔧 BUILD Single Turbo 300ZX Build

General Information

This will likely be the last z32 car I pickup. I've had the pleasure of experiencing a few different varieties of z32 cars. Stock Twin setup, mild upgraded twin setup, v8 swap and now, in my opinion, the best(i hope) of them all, equal length single turbo setup.

The equal length tubular manifold plays a large role in the sound of the engine. One example I can cite is the RPS turbo manifold for the mkiv supra. It sounds delicious in large part due to its equal length headers.

I also single turbo'd my 3000GT and had similar results. It was the best sounding car I owned ever, till it burned down last year. :(

Here is a sound clip of it in all its glory. I got more vids but whats the point of uploading them now.




Not to get too far off topic, let me introduce you to my newest project. Its a 1990 300ZX which was originally TT that's got a custom made single turbo kit on it. Here is the whole list of goodies.

Engine-
87.5 mm wiseco pistons
Eagle esp high-beam rods
Clevite main and rod bearings
Super tech valvetrain
3 angle valves
Jwt r500 race cams
Under drive crank pulley
Solid aluminum mounts
New harness

Cooling-
Custom aluminum radiator
Custom modified piping and inlet
Electric fan()

Turbo kit-
Precision 6265 billet wheel turbo
Custom forward facing SS manifolds and up pipe
Custom downpipe and straight pipe single exhaust with borla muffler. All v-band.
Tial 44mm external gate v-band
Tial Q model Bov
Custom Garrett fmic core size 24"x12"x4.5"
Custom Single TB intake manifold
75mm strip TB with mustang 5.0 TPS sensor

Fuel-
FIC Hi Z Injectors. Unsure of size, probably 880cc.
Custom top mounted top feed rails
Fuel lab mini fuel pressure regulator
Dual Bosch 044 pumps, one in tank feeding external(kicks on under boost)
Stainless lines from tank and AN fittings throughout
AEM fuel filter
Painless fuel pump rewire kit

Ignition-
AEM Twinfire 4 channel ignition amplifier
NGK-BCPR7EIX plugs
Toyota Coil on plug setup with modified connectors

Driveline-
Aluminum one piece driveshaft
OS Giken triple plate clutch
OS Giken release bearing kit
Solid tranny mount
Hicas eliminated

Engine management-
HKS FCON
AEM 5 bar map sensor
AEM Air intake temp sensor
AEM Wideband
AEM Boost controller and gauge setup

Suspension
Powertrix sport street coilovers with swift spring upgrade
Adjustable arms and bushing upgrades throughout-not sure brands
18" SSR type C wheels

The bad news? Its got low oil pressure from the sound of it and has a hurt bottom end. I have yet to throw a gauge on it but its got a faint knocking sound around 3k RPM's. I purchased it knowing what I was getting myself into. Long story short, I acquired a spare built shortblock which I intend to freshen up and throw into this chassis. I plan to use the current heads which are already on the motor which is already in the car...after getting them inspected and cleaned up by a local machine shop.

For some of the older folks, you may recognize the ancient 6265 PTE turbo and the dinosaur HKS FCON engine management system. Needless to say this car was built a long time ago. The plan of attack for the time being is to get a good healthy motor into the car, then work on getting a more modern ECU into the car with some failsafes to ensure engine longevity and reliability. The current tune on the ECU has made 600whp but I plan to just get the car going again before changing more parts on it.

For now here are some pictures. The car is super fugly. But thats part of the appeal for me, once it gets mechanically squared away, she will be getting the full treatment. Full New paint, wheels, spoiler and proper rubber. It should be pristine when its all done and it will be very unique. When is the last time you heard of a single turbo VG powered z32?

NOMIEZVR4

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NOMIEZVR4

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May 6, 2014
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Cool project, how did the 3000GT burn down?!?!:oops:

IDK man. was on my way to get some e85, was logging did a pull, heard a pop, saw a flame in my cabin near the ECU, shut er off, pulled over and tried to douse it. No luck. Watched 10 years of my life burn to the ground in front of my eyes. Its all good though. life goes on.
 

NOMIEZVR4

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So i finally got a chance to get the car onto a rack and check out the underbody. Thank God for California cars. This thing has no rust on it anywhere. Dirty, yeah. Pinch welds bent? Unfortunately yeah. But rust? Nope. For being a 1990, its got a great foundation. It will clean up real nice on the underbody. Surprisingly no fluid leaks either. No oil or trans fluid leaks. Its got no Power Steering so no PS leaks, rack looks to be in good shape as well. On that note, I do plan to add an electric power steering pump once the car is running again with a fresh engine because the OEM location where the pump sits now has the header running through it.

Here are a few shots of the custom made kit. BTW this car came with nearly 30k in receipts!
Passenger side looking up
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Driver side looking up. The downpipe is routed from the driver side of the engine bay.
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Both headers merge together at the front of the engine bay
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A Twin Turbo 300ZX has nearly 20 FEET of Intercooler piping!! This thing has about 3 maybe 4. I've worked on a few stockish TT cars...depending on what you have to do, some things can be a huge PITA. There literally is no space to get your hands anywhere. Almost as if the car was built as an interference fit setup. Even with the engine out of the car, i had a hard time removing the turbo's off 1 of them cause the setup was just so complicated!
For reference, a stock TT piping setup
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That's all for today folks. I'll begin wrenching soon and I plan to have weekly updates on this thing. The plan is to have this thing ready before the COVID pandemic is called off. Most of it is in my hands aside from when I drop the engine off to the machine shop...so lets see how this goes!
 

greasy

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IDK man. was on my way to get some e85, was logging did a pull, heard a pop, saw a flame in my cabin near the ECU, shut er off, pulled over and tried to douse it. No luck. Watched 10 years of my time burn to the ground in front of my eyes. Its all good though. life goes on.

Damn dude that blows, it looked like you had a lot of time and energy in that car. Good luck with Nissan!
 

v6buicks

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ALRIGHT! This is the the kinda stuff I like to see. I've never particularly been a Nissan guy, but I've always admired these 300s. The styling is awesome, there were turbo options, transmission options, and they were all still fairly cheap and plentiful when I was in high school. It seemed like these became a hot item very suddenly and I'm sad that I don't see as many on the road anymore. I look forward to seeing this beast progress! Good luck.
 

NOMIEZVR4

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Today was the last day she moved around under her own power. I figured I snap a picture or two while the car was still able to maneuver around.
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I was working at a very moderate pace and surprisingly everything was cooperating very well. I was actually shocked how easy it was to undo the entire engine harness. It came off like nothing. Then I moved towards relieving fuel pressure, I simply just undid the SS lines going to each rail and that was that. The filter, FPR and the rest of the lines wont need to be touched as they are out of the way of when the motor will get yanked.
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The trickiest part was removing the turbo, it wasn't terribly bad either, just had to fanagle it out of the way which required me to unbolt the throttle body. Prior to removing the turbo and external WG tube I drained the coolant as this old turbo is still water cooled. It looks like barely has any miles on it despite not having a filter. I would think the fins would look dirty but the compressor fins still look pretty clean too.
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Only thing left for me to do tomorrow is undo the shifter console inside the car, undo the driveshaft, starter and wiring and then the trans can be separated and engine comes out.. Oh and thats another PITA with this car, you can't pull the engine and trans out together. You have to separate the trans first, then pull the engine. I'm really hoping to have the motor to the machine shop this week. Stay tuned.
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail
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IDK man. was on my way to get some e85, was logging did a pull, heard a pop, saw a flame in my cabin near the ECU, shut er off, pulled over and tried to douse it. No luck. Watched 10 years of my life burn to the ground in front of my eyes. Its all good though. life goes on.

ouch... sorry to hear....
 
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10sec

I haz dat teddy bear smile.
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The work you do is excellent, this can only get better than it already is. For all of you that do these build threads, massive kudos to you guys for actually remember to stop and take the time to document and take pictures. I had so much excitement for this s2000 I bought last year to show everyone how you can build a track car on a budget and whilst I have massive amounts of information, I never stopped to take pictures of all the shit my friend and I have done. :picard:

So again, kudos! Keep them coming!
 

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