500whp daily driver

[300zxmack]

hey i have a 1991 nissan fairlady z twin turbo ttop pretty much stock. im looking to get 500+ whp reliable and safe for a daily driver. what would be the best way to achieve this without damaging my car and to last if anybody could help me that would be appreciated.

[z.Leinbach]

Support mods are your best friend, bigger injectors, colder plugs, bigger more flowing intercooler and rad, colder thermo, great tune, and more flowing intake and exhaust, Also add better brakes, and suspension to hold it down. Easy way to spend 15k

[DCaff300ZX]

Welcome!
Basically there's no such thing as a safe and reliable 500whp daily driver, it amazes me people think that is something available in ANY flavor. The only safety possible beyond obviously doing things right comes from your own driving ability and restraint, and good maintenance. Boosted motors are already very close to NOT safe and reliable, adding boost HP and removing weight, upgrades, etc. all move in that not safe and not reliable direction, and really that should be obvious...or is to most people.

But, obviously people have built these cars and certainly it's possible to do through the various vendors as mentioned above by researching your vehicle and gaining a good understanding of how it works and can be modified, and the best practices to achieve this within your budget and driving capabilities.
Reading through build threads and seeing what people went through for whatever levels they went for is good info and insights, and there are plenty of places on the 'net that cover more builds than you can possibly study.
Research, research, research, no easy answers here, sorry...and, you'll also want to consider how and where you will be able to unleash 500whp and do it safely regarding others on the roads and keep it in one piece with shiny side up. You need to know if you have the driving capability to control 500whp...which most people do not without a LOT of experience. I've driven powerful cars north of 400HP most of my life, and personally will not move beyond the 400-450 range simply because it's a waste unless there is a real reason for it such as tracking or otherwise.

[300zxmack]

im aware of potential dangers as ive had the car for awhile and have 400+hp truck. im looking to build my car for track purpose but also to cruse around. thats why im looking for the best way to build it to 500whp there are many different ways to approach it, but im looking for the best and most reliable on the car. ive already got and after market exhaust, boost controller, custom intake, the car is making 320+hp now but next step is bigger turbos,injectors bottom end so im trying to find the best way

[NolimitZ32]

This is such an open ended question. My car was fairly reliable when it was on the road and it was at or above 500whp, my car also took 10 years and probably close to $30k to build (thats just parts since I did all my own work). There really are NOT many different ways to approach building a 500whp Z32 it requires bigger turbos, bigger injectors a good tune and lots of small supporting mods, only other way would be to supercharge it.

[300zxmack]

Would I need to do the bottom end? Or will the engine take the power of bigger injectors and bigger turbos?

[NolimitZ32]

Is it possible? Yes, plenty of folks have put up those numbers on factory internals. The accepted safe threshold though is 500hp (crank, not wheel) on stock internals, anything more and I would strongly recommend building the bottom end. At the end of the day, quality injectors, healthy sensors, and a very good tune will be most important.

[300zxmack]

Ok thank you very much. I will start there and research more. Do you have any recommendations of parts I should look into ?

[NolimitZ32]

What parts specifically?

[DCaff300ZX]

im aware of potential dangers as ive had the car for awhile and have 400+hp truck. im looking to build my car for track purpose but also to cruse around. thats why im looking for the best way to build it to 500whp there are many different ways to approach it, but im looking for the best and most reliable on the car. ive already got and after market exhaust, boost controller, custom intake, the car is making 320+hp now but next step is bigger turbos,injectors bottom end so im trying to find the best way

OK, cool...that didn't come across in your post so my apologies, and I see Anton's joined in so there you go- the guy who probably can help you the most here as he's done this himself as he mentioned.
Good Luck!

[NolimitZ32]

BTW, you quote 320+hp, are these dyno numbers or are you just going off calculations?

[300zxmack]

Just guessing really, 300 hp stock. I've got a custom intake. Greddy exhaust. And hks boost controller at 14 psi. So I'm guess that'd add at least 20hp if not more.

[itsa300zx]

Just guessing really, 300 hp stock. I've got a custom intake. Greddy exhaust. And hks boost controller at 14 psi. So I'm guess that'd add at least 20hp if not more.

Stock ecu/tune? Be carful boosting to 14 psi. I wouldn't do it with my car.

[300zxmack]

The cars been set at that for a couple years now no issues yet. I'm pretty sure it's the stock ecu tuned by mines. Do stock ecus come tuned by mines?

[NolimitZ32]

If its a Mines ECU its aftermarket tuned, so it is a stock ECU with the eprom changed for one with Mines mapping on it, what the parameters are will be impossible to tell without getting into it (that is if its not locked out). Also the stock quoted 300hp is crank hp not whp, with a RWD vehicle with standard (means not lightweight carbon fiber racing go fast) components, your drivetrain loss will be between 15% and 25% depending on condition and upkeep. So in reality a stock TT (making 300hp at the crank) would make at best case ~255whp. I'm not busting your balls, just trying to clear things up.

[DCaff300ZX]

And, if you are correct and the car has been boosted at 14psi +/- for two years, quite possibly there is damage waiting to be discovered or will occur soon unless the engine has been set up properly for that boost, etc., etc.
Too often this kind of stuff seems to happen because "my buddy's done it for years" and people lose track of doing things right, especially how to go about that with a Nissan...oh, and owners with big plans that don't understand these things well, like from their own experience.
Hope things work out better than it's looking like from my end...

[Z31toZ32]

I would think some monsterous huge turbos, bigger injectors/fuel rail, full breather mods (3" back, 2.5" front, intercoolers), maybe some under drive pulleys, a nice boost controller, new plugs and a clutch to hold it all should be all you need to get pretty close to 500 at the wheels. also don't forget about all the while you are in there fixes... certainly a nice way to blow a giant wad of cash. anyways sounds fun, i say rock and roll and keep 2 hands on the wheel.

[rgregoryb]

LS7