300zx turbo damage

Nissan 300ZX technical discussion forum: Maintenance, performance, installations, modifications, how-to's and troubleshooting.
Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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Hey guys, posted a while ago about my car running rough, hasn’t run well since I bought it.. it stumbles bad at 4000rpm, puffs black smoke and falls completely out of power up top.. however idles fine and runs fine when I stay out of boost with the exception of a slight bog off idle (rpms dip slightly when I crack the throttle)

Thought It was a boost leak so I got a bunch of gaskets and spend the last couple days pulling the engine.. engine is now on a stand and my driver side turbo looks like it may have eaten a nut or something, I’ll post a pic

Question 1: could this damage be causing the stumbling issue? Seems to pull hard up to 4000 rpm but it’s never run right while I’ve had it so I have no comparison

Question 2: where should I go from here.. budget is not endless but keep in mind this is not a daily or a dedicated racecar.. more so a project/ weekend thrasher
Options are to get some new turbo centre sections.. not a fan of having these ones rebuilt as I’ve heard their second life is usually short, maybe you guys have a different opinion? Or, the option I’m leaning to.. some Godspeed turbos off eBay.. ones I’m looking at are comparable to the gt2860, what’s the opinion on those?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/272891355238
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NolimitZ32
Posts: 7112
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 am
Car: 91 AG2 2+0 TTMT swap/E39 BMW 540i6/E53 4.6is Dinan S3
Location: Houston, TX

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Avoid anything not built with a factory fresh Garrett/Honeywell center cartridge. You're safe staying with anything JWT, Z1, Specialty Z. Also check out the offerings from conceptZ but be careful I believe they carry some lower end product as well (not sure, haven't browsed their inventory in a while).

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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Thanks for the reply, I’ve been looking at those kits and ideally that’s what I’d love to get but the only issue is I’m in Canada, and with our dollar being so weak right now I have to take the price of those kits and multiply them by 1.4... makes them significantly more expensive :frown:
That’s the reason I’m leaning towards the ebay turbos.. atleast until I’m ready to make some serious power
Do you guys really think the off brand stuff is still that bad even at a moderate boost level? Seems like everyone hates on them but some people seem to be pushing serious power through them

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brian300zx
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:42 pm
Car: 1990 300zx TT
Location: SoCal

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Engine is already out.. why would you want to pull it again.. Just save up for a good complete turbo kit from z1, you can get the gt525 kit for a little over 1,900 USD if budget is an issue. Do it once and do it right because nothing beats the feeling of your car running right and having the peace of mind of good parts in there

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NolimitZ32
Posts: 7112
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 am
Car: 91 AG2 2+0 TTMT swap/E39 BMW 540i6/E53 4.6is Dinan S3
Location: Houston, TX

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Would you be ok with potentially pulling the engine in another 5k miles or less if the knockoff turbos fail? And onse they fail would you be up to buying another set of turbos because good luck getting the knockoffs warrantied. If the answer is yes then get some of those Chinese units and let us know how it goes. There are plenty of folks on other platforms running the knockoff turbos with varying degrees of success. But other platforms don't require an engine pull to get the turbos off. The thing is its a crap-shoot, are you going to get the one that will last for 50k miles or the one that's going to blow out of the box? Whats for sure is that the knockoffs will NOT last anywhere close to Garrett/Mitsu units.

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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I agree, I decided against them
I honestly didn’t mind the engine pull that much... wasn’t as hard as people claim
But I actually just sent my turbos out to be rebuilt by a very highly recommended shop around here and might have him throw a slightly larger compressor wheel in too

itsa300zx
Posts: 1243
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 9:39 am
Car: 1990 300zx NA W/TT swap
2011 Nissan Rouge S
2008 Highlander SR5
Location: up North

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Christofehrzy wrote:
Tue Apr 14, 2020 12:12 pm
I agree, I decided against them
I honestly didn’t mind the engine pull that much... wasn’t as hard as people claim
But I actually just sent my turbos out to be rebuilt by a very highly recommended shop around here and might have him throw a slightly larger compressor wheel in too
Would you mind sharing the company?

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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Cherry Turbos in st Thomas Ontario
He’s very knowledgeable, I work as an engineer as well so we had a long conversation and geeked out over specs lol

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NolimitZ32
Posts: 7112
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 am
Car: 91 AG2 2+0 TTMT swap/E39 BMW 540i6/E53 4.6is Dinan S3
Location: Houston, TX

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As long as he has the equipment to balance the rotating assembly and uses proven components you should be good. I still don't think they'll last as long as a set of new ones would (based on reading many cases with varying results) but if he does a good job and the car isn't your daily you may never put enough miles on them to find out. I hope all goes well. Keep us updated, I'd love to be able to reference a successful rebuild story.

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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Yeah I have also read varying success with rebuilt turbos.. he is going to balance the turbos as well
Price is reasonable though.. if they do go out down the road hopefully the Canada/US dollars have evened out and I’ll spring for an upgrade, for right now I just want the car to put down some power since it’s run poorly ever since I got
But thanks, I’ll definitely update when I get them back!

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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Alright guys here’s the update

Short story:
Engines back in and the car pulls like it never has... and on a lower boost setting than I was running before. Cherry turbos did awesome work, didn’t take too long, put in a slightly oversized compressor for me and the turbos came back so clean you would think they’re brand new

Long story:
The turbos came back perfectly clocked already so installing the turbo and engine was a breeze
When the engine was out I regasketed everything you possibly could.. valve covers to main seals withought opening up the block... new spark plugs and tested every sensor on the car with a multimeter
Everything said and done car fired up and idled fine, went to do a pull and what do you know.. extreme break up at 4000rpm just like before with the wideband reading off the chart rich everywhere except idle
The maf tested good... and I checked it about a 100 times since I got the car with the consult software and the multimeter but I decided it was time to finally just order a new one and see if it changed anything
Put the new one in, got a Delphi one from an auto store not the oem Nissan one
And it freaking rips, smooth pulls straight up to redline
So in my case it was the maf sensor all along even though all the tests came back good on it
So happy my car is finally driving like I knew it could!
I will update back in a few months on how the rebuilt turbos are holding up but big thanks to cherry turbos and I strongly recommend them to anyone in Canada looking for a shop

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NolimitZ32
Posts: 7112
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 am
Car: 91 AG2 2+0 TTMT swap/E39 BMW 540i6/E53 4.6is Dinan S3
Location: Houston, TX

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Congrats man, happy to hear she's putting a smile on your face instead of making you curse like a sailor!

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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Well here’s the turbo update as promised
I’ve put a few thousand miles on the turbos since they were rebuild and they are still running perfectly.. no oil, no noises, nothing out of the ordinary
This weekend I made 400 mile road trip that included a night at the drag strip with 2 pulls at higher boost than I had been running to this point and plenty of “spirited” back road driving
No issues whatsoever! Man I love this car right now!

itsa300zx
Posts: 1243
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 9:39 am
Car: 1990 300zx NA W/TT swap
2011 Nissan Rouge S
2008 Highlander SR5
Location: up North

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Good to hear, I will keep them in mind for my next turbo needs. What size did you go with? OEM or slightly larger ?

Christofehrzy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:10 pm
Car: 1990 Nissan 300zx TT

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They are very slightly larger.. if I remember correctly it’s like 5% better flow
I have the part numbers somewhere but I’ll have to search for it haha

dchuk
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:23 pm
Car: 1992 Nissan 300ZX TT

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Christofehrzy wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:05 pm
Well here’s the turbo update as promised
I’ve put a few thousand miles on the turbos since they were rebuild and they are still running perfectly.. no oil, no noises, nothing out of the ordinary
This weekend I made 400 mile road trip that included a night at the drag strip with 2 pulls at higher boost than I had been running to this point and plenty of “spirited” back road driving
No issues whatsoever! Man I love this car right now!
I know it’s been a couple years, but are your rebuilt turbos still working well? I’m looking at getting mine rebuilt by Cherry Turbos, but I’m a bit weary of going for a rebuild again. Mine were rebuilt by a local shop, but are already smoking badly after 30 000KM.

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NolimitZ32
Posts: 7112
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 am
Car: 91 AG2 2+0 TTMT swap/E39 BMW 540i6/E53 4.6is Dinan S3
Location: Houston, TX

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Best budget solution is to purchase new CHRAs and swap the housings over yourself, not terribly complicated and saves you a few hunder bucks per turbo vs buying complete new units. Rebuilds are hit or miss especially so if not performed with factory level balancing equipment.


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