40th Anniversary Build Dilemmas (an ongoing series)

[RicerX]

What's up, guys!

I am beginning to plan ahead on some build ideas for my baby Zoe.



(I will post more pictures from my home computer)

I have just recently put an Ark Grip exhaust on it. Lots of fun.

I'm in a bit of a pissing contest with my friends. We are all car guys. But they're all about "MURICAN MUSSEL" and I want to prove that the Z can hang with that crowd. I'm considering a supercharger build as it is the most economical.

I don't really want to do it right away, however, because I'm interested in doing a separate build to do shows and the like with it. I also have some other cosmetic issues that were present with the car when I bought it. The front bumper is something I would like to replace. The bonehead first owner wrecked it with an obvious lack of following distance (there are tons of rock chips) and his ignorant method for drilling the license plate bracket. He also used some kind of heat gun for removing the dealer decal on the back because the paint is virtually gone down to the plastic on the portion below the Z emblem. I have it covered with a goofy aluminum NISMO decal for now until I bite the bullet and get my bumper resprayed.

So I enter this dilemma.

Ideally, I would love to make this thing have 550 hp. That is very doable thanks to a company called GTM. At the same time, I don't really know if I want to build a limited edition car to that kind of spec just to prove a point, but on the other hand the surprise factor would be just as cool.

I have a couple scenarios -

1) Add test pipes, intake, intake manifold, UpRev tune, and oil cooler and call it stage 1. From there, pursue to cosmetic issues in the form of an Amuse body kit or simply OEM replacements - potentially use Nismo products to cover up the front bumper areas that are damaged.

2) Work towards the supercharger kit. Scrap the intake and intake manifold from stage 1 as they will not work with the SC kit anyway. Long tube headers instead of test pipes. The SC build will incorporate various other things, such as an upgraded differential (OS Giken seems to take the cake at the moment), brake upgrades (higher grade pads and rotors - I think the OEM sport package brakes should be fine with those upgrades). Potentially upgrade the radiator depending on cooling issues that are likely to arise.

3) Recondition the 40th and leave as-is with no further modification because it is a limited edition car. Do the basics such as intake and some minor cosmetic niceties and keep it clean. (not likely - this is my toy car and I enjoy modding too much. I could recondition it and sell it for a NISMO edition to beef up, but they don't look anywhere near as good as the 40th).

4) Work toward a twin turbo kit, because Z32 heritage.

This is pretty much the token NICO 40th Anniversary Z. Would be cool to work up a build thread and article based on what NICO thinks I should do with it. I have done a lot of research on each scenario and it just comes down to my own indecisiveness. I know there are a lot of Z folks in here with greater experience than mine, so sound off!

[SanoSuKe]

I'm leaning more towards (1) just because the gorgeous Amuse BK. (2) sounds really good but then (4) beats everything lol.

(sorry, I was here looking for a camber kit for the a/c )

[BusyBadger]

If it's a toy and you don't care about the gas mileage (and top end end hit) you can always modify your final drive. If I didn't commute 450 miles a week I'd already have a 3.9 in mine. You can get a 3.9, 4.1 or even a 4.3 (!) from Central 20, other companies have other ratios, but I really trust C20. Save some installation hassle and put it in once you've got your diff picked out and ready to go in, no need to crack into the pumpkin more than once

Don't even think about doing that with an SC, first gear (and maybe even second) would be unusable. You'll want to add an oil cooler so your engine doesn't go all blue pill on you when the temps rise, and because the aero on the Nismo interferes with the cooling of the brake rotors (Motor Trend crashed one thanks to some heat induced brake failure) you should look into some ducting and Dot 4 fluid.

You can build how you want but I've never thought the Z needed to keep up with muslce cars... At least not in the straights...It's all about the corners. Which still makes me shake my head when I think about Nissan not having the Nismo 370 seam/stitch welded like the Nismo 350 was.

[dasoupdude]

1) Add test pipes, intake, intake manifold, UpRev tune, and oil cooler and call it stage 1.

Don't forget the 4.08 final gears, and lightweight pulley system.

Just the 4.08s alone make a night and day difference on the z33/34s

[RicerX]

The only thing that scares me about changing up final drive is apparently it plays hell with the Synchro Rev Match module. Otherwise it would be a no-brainer. Everything I have read points to taking the Frontier final drive and swapping it in. There is one guy I know that's testing his and he is able to keep SRM for a full lap on his local track before the ECU burps and turns it off.

I do think I want to stay NA for now. JUN is producing a new set of cams. I could integrate that into the build as well.

The first thing I am getting (besides new rear tires) is an oil cooler. From there I'll figure out the rest.

I haven't researched much about the pulleys either. I like the idea of the extra response I'd get out of them.

[RicerX]

I'm leaning more towards (1) just because the gorgeous Amuse BK. (2) sounds really good but then (4) beats everything lol.

(sorry, I was here looking for a camber kit for the a/c )

All good dude! We aren't confined to the Altima playpen

[dasoupdude]

The only thing that scares me about changing up final drive is apparently it plays hell with the Synchro Rev Match module.

It does..but its not 'as' bad as you would think, imagine a slighlty imperfect downshift when the rev jumps. (compared to the buttery smooth srm its the least you would expect )

Good friend of mine owns Jspec automotive here in SoFla and he's worked on a good amount of my friend's 370s. Driven all which had the 4.08 mod and boy, it sure is night and day.

[RicerX]

I have been very curious.

Being a software guy, I would imagine that if the SRM module can be cracked in the ECU, it has to be possible to modify those tables based on the updated gear ratios to retain full functionality with the 4.08s.

Does your friend use the Frontier final drive for his swap or a custom piece?

[RicerX]

Added this little guy this weekend to make oil changes easier:



(I borrowed this picture just to convey the visual).

Really neat part from ZSpeed. Glad I don't have to take the whole panel off for oil changes anymore. Just tedious.

[jerryd1987]

1) if you want real power go for a turbo, you can do super charger but 550 to the wheels with a supercharger is closer to 600 with a turbo. talked to vortech and a t trim sucks up 50 hp at 10 psi, a jb turbo will suck up mayby .5 hp at the same boost level and a bb closer to .2 hp. despite what people say 1st gear wont be unusable you just have to upgrade tires which should be something your doing anyway when looking for performance. you honestly can expect to double power and think the stock tires will hold up. low boost 600 rwhp i get barely any wheel spin in first with road racing tires, drag radials would be none at all.

2) stay away from gtm, do a google search and you will know why, over heating engines, dropped sleeves, supercharger kits dont line up and need to be redrilled by a machine shop, only actually hit the advertised power levels on there dyno and significantly less with others. the dont even show up on z33 forums anymore because of all the issues and most people wont do business with them anymore.(some people have gone through several $10k engines and when they blow with less then 5k miles the best gtm offers is a 1-2k discount and try to blame others. sorry a bad tune dosnt cause a dropped sleeve thats retarded)

3)+1000 on a oil cooler its one of the major reason's i will never purchase a z34 the oil temps stock are absurd people shouldnt be adding 24-36 row oil coolers just to keep it at 200 degrees stock i dont even hit that highly modified, if your building i would consider switching to hr heads.


im a huge supported of boosted performance, great kit thats as high quality as anyone else, supports anything from a stock block turbo to insane sized turbos and the absolute best customer service ive ever encountered except for dynosty who matchs sasha plus he is actually making z34 kits now in a twin scroll config. not to mention the price tends to be alot cheaper then something of similar power levels

[dasoupdude]

Does your friend use the Frontier final drive for his swap or a custom piece?

Yes its from the frontier, I ordered it from z1 auto. (Along with my quaife and installation kits.)

3)+1000 on a oil cooler its one of the major reason's i will never purchase a z34 the oil temps stock are absurd people shouldnt be adding 24-36 row oil coolers just to keep it at 200 degrees stock i dont even hit that highly modified, if your building i would consider switching to hr heads.

No wonder some 370 owners are in talks of ditching vvel.

[RicerX]

I don't have any problems with oil temperatures stock. It gets past 200 degrees when I see spirited driving when it is 100 degrees outside (and fairly humid). Other than that, regular driving for me running Mobil 1 5w30 and my temps are dead level at 200 degrees on a consistent basis.

That said, I will need a cooler for track use, and I'm working toward that.

Soup - caught the final drive kit on Z1 a bit ago when we first started talking about it. Also, is the Quaife a helical or clutch type diff? I'm pretty sure I want to find a good helical setup. I think clutch type will be a bit too aggressive for how I like my car to drive. Still up for debate though. I'm going to do the final drive and diff at the same time whenever I get around to it.

[jerryd1987]

You are one of very very few lucky ones then 9/10 owners I've encountered as well as many more online(not counting 2012 since the come stock with oil cooler) go into limp mode with 2 or 3 highway pulls or 1 or 2 trips around the track(which is 260 oil temp). Even 200 is high imo, my 350 runs about 160, dosnt get above that unless I'm on the dyno for a hour or two or doing several high speed runs(160+ 4-6 times back to back) and even then oil cooler thermostat opens at 180 and sees mayby 190 tops I think once 200 and I'm running 600 to the wheels on low boost.

There's a reason nissan gave em a oil cooler stock now lol.

Soup yah I've seen most the people looking to high power builds swap to hr heads and havnt had any issues. The vvel is apparently the cause of the absurdly high temps, if I was gona do that route though imo better to just go 350z with a stroker since they are cheaper lol

I don't have any problems with oil temperatures stock. It gets past 200 degrees when I see spirited driving when it is 100 degrees outside (and fairly humid). Other than that, regular driving for me running Mobil 1 5w30 and my temps are dead level at 200 degrees on a consistent basis.

That said, I will need a cooler for track use, and I'm working toward that.

Soup - caught the final drive kit on Z1 a bit ago when we first started talking about it. Also, is the Quaife a helical or clutch type diff? I'm pretty sure I want to find a good helical setup. I think clutch type will be a bit too aggressive for how I like my car to drive. Still up for debate though. I'm going to do the final drive and diff at the same time whenever I get around to it.

[BusyBadger]

Also, is the Quaife a helical or clutch type diff? I'm pretty sure I want to find a good helical setup. I think clutch type will be a bit too aggressive for how I like my car to drive. Still up for debate though. I'm going to do the final drive and diff at the same time whenever I get around to it.

Quaife is helical, and next to the stock VLSD its the least noticeable/most transparent LSD you can get.