2.5" I/C piping with stock turbos?


Can I put larger intercoolers that require 2.5" piping onto my stock turbos?

Just purchased 93 TTZ 61,000 miles. Amazing condition. Purchasing from retired older man who purchased from an older retired man. Just had the 60k maint. done and replaced the entire AC unit. And injectors last year ( less then 1,500 miles ago )

Currently has dual intake with the Selin MAF translator and Blitz Boost controller and Power Meter ID.
__

My goals and intentions as of now.
I want to do the basic bolt ons to get some more power. But I want to do it right and not just focus on as much power as fast and cheap as possible. I'm in this for the long haul so there is no rush. But I want to do it once and do it the right time. If that costs me a little more now but saves me the headache and expense in the future so be it.

The car has had much of its service done @ Austin Z Clinic by the owner Kevin.

With the car in TX I will be having it transported up here. But before I do that I would like Kevin @ Austin Z Clinic to do some of the work for me now since the car is there anyway. And I'm more comfortable having him do some of this stuff VS trying to find someone up here. And someone I feel comfortable with and can trust.

He will be putting in a JWT heavy duty clutch for me so might as well do the exhaust etc...

1. BB exhaust. 2.5". Hi-flow cats. And Downpipes.
Specialty Z 3" ( 4 bolt ) DP.s 2. Are stock pre-cats 3" ? Are these a direct bolt on for a stock turbo set-up.
specialty Z 3"-> 2.5" hi-flow cats. We don't have emissions checks here.
2.5" cat back BB.
@@@@@@ I have a BB on my 90 NA and am in love with the sound. So obviously I want BB on my TT.
** If he is pulling the tranny down to do the clutch I might as well do these upgrades now.
** I want as less restriction as possible with the exhaust. I want as much free flow coming out of turbos as possible.
** And I want this BB exhaust to sound as mean as possible.

2. Upgrade the intercoolers.
This is where I'm confused. I want the best possible intercooler for my stock turbo set-up.
2a. Should I go with a larger intercooler which requires 2.5" piping?
2aa. If I go with 2.5" piping will this connect right up to my stock turbos? Or are stock turbos designed for 2" piping? I've seen
them make an adapter to go from 2.5" to 2" so you can still use stock 2" piping. But to me that takes away all the benefit
of having 2.5" piping.
2aaa. Or for my stock turbo set-up should I just getting an intercooler that bolts right up to my stock 2" piping.


Yes I will do the ECU. But I can do that at home myself. I'm just focusing on having Kevin do the work that I'm not comfortable doing. And spare me the headache, stress and costs of finding someone up here.

Yes do the full breather mods, 2.5” pipes and Intercoolers, planer intakes too. This helps too even on stock turbos, plus this will be needed once you want to upgrade turbos. SZ has their own line of pipes and Intercoolers that will bolt up to any turbo made for the z32.
https://www.specialtyz.com/300zx/intercooler.html

With that said, you say new injector were replaced? What size ? If oem370cc, this will limit your power to 350-370 whp.

For reference: I have the full bolt on too minus the planer intake pipes with 740cc and at 400whp and 405 tq. Buddy of mine has all the piping and is at 430whp and 420tq. These examples are tuned by SZ and 94 oct Canadian fuel maps.

Can you clarify for me.
I’ve been doing lots of searches and get conflicting advice.

Stock turbos:
Yes it is safe to go with larger I/C’s and do 2.5” I/C piping ?
Won’t this 2.5” I/C bottleneck at the turbo which is stock and only 2”?
I’m confused how 2.5” I/C piping to 2” turbos will benefit.
My understanding is that the extra air going thru 2.5” pipe will have to go thru a 2” opening at the turbo?
Or do I got this all wrong?

Now what about exhaust manifolds?
Lol.
Is there any benefit to upgrading. Exhaust manifolds and do this all at in once?
How labor intensive is it to do the exhaust manifolds?

Yes it is safe to go 2.5".
Benefits are lower restrictions and cooler charged air into the throttle bodies.
Most off the shelf smaller turbos for the z32 will have about a 2" outlets. Remember it not about psi to make power, VOLUME of air is needed.
My old 2" pipes, had to push 16.9 psi to make 388whp. Now with 2.5", I only needed 15.5psi to make the same whp.

Manifolds yes too. All these intake and exhaust allow the turbos to work easier and less stress. Therefore less heat generated too.

I'd suggest talking to SZ, they are the pros they came help you meet your goals.

Here is a good read if you have not read already

http://twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg.aspx?f ... tSearch=10

Thanks for your info. I’ll ask them tomorrow about updating my exhaust manifold at the same time. I’m assuming all these “breather mods” are the best places to start. Does anybody happen to know how labor-intensive it is to remove the old exhaust manifolds and put new ones on?
Thanks for your info. I’ll ask them tomorrow about updating my exhaust manifold at the same time. I’m assuming all these “breather mods“ are the best places to start. Does anybody happen to know how labor-intensive it is to remove the old exhaust manifolds and put new ones on?

I wonder if this is something that would be easier to do when the clutch is out and he’s doing the downpipe‘s? I wonder if it’s in the same vicinity

They are difficult to I stall, I'd recommend doing them when upgrading turbos and to pull the engine.
A few of the bolts are hard to reach even with the engine out, I couldn't imagine reaching those in the engine bay.

What are planar intakes?

This is what’s in there now.

Sorry for the above posts.
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Planer intake pipes replace the rubber accordion and pipes under the headlamps. (Pipes between the filters and turbo compressor inlet). The SZ linked above shows them.

Great thanks.
I’ll call SZ in he AM.

How difficult is it to have the planar pipes installed?

So the plan is.
1. Upgrade I/C. More air to turbo. Protect turbo some more then stock OEM I/C. ... and more power.

2. Upgrade radiator. Why? It’s 27 years old. And I want some better cooling to protect engine. Plus I figure since the radiator is coming off to do the I/C. Why not just put something newer and maybe more efficient in. Makes sense to me.

3. With radiator off and upgrading I/C might as well do the 2.5 piping.

4. Since radiator is off might as well upgrade the oil cooler. How’s the 25 tow fuller oil cooler (Sefrab) with thermostatic plate.

5. I might just have to talk to SZ about those planar intake pipes.
*How much of a benefit is it to my “breather mods”?
*. How difficult will it be for them to do? With front end off, radiator out and upping to 2.5” I/C piping. Is it gonna add a lot of time to t he labor? Curious how much the install gonna add to my tab.

**** I’m sure this might be overboard. But the plan is do what will benefit my Z for the long haul. Protect my engine and turbos . Give me some power and future proof me kn the event we start doing turbos and engine stuff. If it comes to that.

Thanks.
I appreciate all of this.

Well I just got off the phone with Z1.

We decided to go with the Z1 SMIC with 2" piping. Therefore keep stock piping.

They had said with my needs a Z1 B.A and 2.5" piping would not be needed and not likely see any diferance. Same with upgrading the inlet piping.
I found it strange they steered my away from spending over $1,000 but that's a win for me.

said that kind of piping is more suited for 700+ HP.

Good to hear Z1's customer service is back to where it used to be, they allegedly had some issues in that department recently. They steered you away because the difference would have been minuscule especially with stock turbos which are journal bearing and don't have the spool characteristics to take advantage of the freed up flow.