My 450ZX Project

[Redbeauty84ZX]

Very cool! Keep us updated

[Loch Ness]

let me kno when u twin turbo ur Z

[Chrispy300]

let me kno when u twin turbo ur Z

Aint gonna happen. TT is too hard compared to a big single. Been thinking pretty hard about selling this once it's done and getting a R34 GT-T and wacking in a RB30 bottom end with the 25 head. RB30 bottom ends go for a carton of piss over here, not like you poor suckers

[Loch Ness]

its only hard if you pay someone to do it.........if you can weld it make the whole swap 75% easier.........routing the turbo pipe takes some thinking about........it can definitely be done though

[Chrispy300]

Yes, I can weld. And I'm sure it could be done but I don't think that the results would justify the effort.

Big single would be easier on all counts and still make stupid power.

[Aus450zx]

Loch ness; how about sharing some pics of your car in a seperate thread showing turbo placement and plumbing/manifold design?

Chris, go drive an R34 and stare at one for a good 20 mins, you'll change your mind. GTR kit and dumped on some tough offset TE37's is a different story...

[Chrispy300]

Haha Anton, I quite like the R34's and they are getting cheap enough these days. Might make a good daily

Update time!

Got some silicone and mucked about with the intake a bit. Got the filter in the pass side SMIC position with a 3" silicone 45deg elbow up under the headlight. I have an adapter to go off the AFM and reduce down to 3" to connect to the filter. Smaller than the stock 3.5" but still enormous. 3.5" wouldn't fit through under the headlight without hacking it to pieces and I' rather avoid copping a defect for that :



Also got my R33 Skyline clutch master.

Compared to standard Z32 NA. Actual stroke length is the same. Will need to extend the rod thing a bit though, easy as.

From the front showing the difference in bolt spacing

Sitting against the firewall, HEAPS of room And I can reuse the standard hardline with some gentle persuasion.

From inside the footwell, you can see the rod has to be extended a touch.

New oil pickup done. VH45 block flange, VG30 pickup and bends just extended in the middle. Much nicer than my last attempt. I just MIG'd it, just tacks all the way around, doesn't leak under pressure so we'll see how it goes...



Extractors painted.

[Chrispy300]

Got the radiator in along with the electric water pump and all that. Takes over 12L of coolant, has a slight weep from the drain plug in the radiator though

Oil system is about 6L too, which is a decent wack more than I was expecting.

It's running real sweet too, WAAAYYY better than in the vid above, turns out that ECU was rooted and running in limp mode. Got another one in with Nistune now. Roars into life easy, no weird noises, cold fast idle oil pressure of about 60PSI. I only have the extractors on at the moment, but at idle it's nice and quite. It revs real nice too, nice and clean with a great noise to it Vid up on Tuesday I think.

I'm having clutch issues at the moment (see other thread), but once that is sorted I should be able to go for a sneaky fang around the block, I live in woop woop so no hassles with cops or anything.

I'ma bit worried about cooling though, radiator is a 42mm twin pass, but the core is only 600mm wide or so. I'll be making up some air guides for it, but I can't fit pullers on the rad. I'm thinking maybe two 12" pushers and a vent in the bonnet behind the radiator.

More piccies to come when photodump starts working again!

[Chrispy300]

Some piccies!

Clutch master cylinder adapter



After it's first bath while I've owned it for over a year



And a quick vid of it idling and a bit of a rev

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXixMPyPfMA

[Chrispy300]

Had a busy weekend, but got most of the exhaust done. Wasn't too hard, just fiddly and awkward tacking things up upside down under the car.

All the bits. About $1300 worth, so I've saved around $800 by putting it together myself, which is always nice.



My drivers side extractor comes out in a stupid spot :



Sitting pretty level, but the pass side muffler sort of points to the side a bit. Will fix it up on Tuesday. Just need to add 20mm or pipe to push it back a bit.

All done except two hangers. Will grind some of the welds back a bit as they are a bit ugly, then pickle all the welds.

[Chrispy300]

Update time...

Exhaust is done

The transport department here is very strict with engine conversions and modifications. They have to have one of their independant inspectors come and have a look to make sure it's all within their rules and regulations and that the work is to a suffeciant standard. It also gives a nice bit of paper to wave under the nose of coppers to avoid getting a defect...

Mine covers the big brakes, the Recaro's and the engine swap. Got it no hassles.

Here's a quick vid of the exhaust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG4r8SQYybY

And here are some piccies from my mate who isn't too bad with the bodywork.

If we have to have a bulge in the bonnet to fit the engine in it has to be made from the same material as the original bonnet. So Al made up a ally bulge, glued it on and glassed over the top. It's a bit more function over form, but I don't mind the shape.

And here are the Powertrix fog light guides getting molded in.

Painted!



It looks orange as it't under fluro's, the colour match is actually really very good.

Qucikly chucked them on to see how it looks. Front bar only has 4 bolts holding it o, that's why it doesn't fit

The silicone elbow off the throttle nudges the main support on the bonnet so I will lower the crossmember a touch to make it all clear. It holds the bonnet up a few mm and looks crap.

I can only fit a single 14" thermo on the front of the radiator as the engine gets in the way of fitting a 16" puller. I let it idle the other day for half an hour or so and it didn't get over 80deg which is what the electric water pump is set to. We'll see how it goes in traffic though... I'm a little worried about that.

But it's coming along nicely, not much left at all

[Chrispy300]

Bit of a update!

Been having ECU issues, but they are mostly sorted now I think it was something to do with using a 91-93 tune in a 90 ECU with my ecu tune, would go into limp mode after a minute or so. No hassles with the original Impul tune.

Fixed my oil pressure issues too, bypassed the accusump and oil cooler now pressures are nice and high as expected I will have to get the accusump hooked up again soon, got scary low under heavy braking on a quick drive.

Temps are fine too, didn't get over 80 and was generally around 75. Will have to see what it's like in traffic though!

Here is a quick piccy of the undertray. I've since added another bit on the drivers side of the radiator to plug up a 100mm gap.



And some more piccies



And gratuitous arse shot! Shiny bits

Just need a road worthy certificate and then I can get rego and rip up the streets

[maxnix]

Very nicely done!

Just wish the early pictures weren't MIA and this was a LHD.

[TurboSauce]

wider tires. End of suggestion.

[Chrispy300]

Very nicely done!

Just wish the early pictures weren't MIA and this was a LHD.

I will rehost the piccies and fix them all up soon enough

[Chrispy300]

wider tires. End of suggestion.

Lol! Got a set of 17x10" Work's to go on when I can afford the tyres :p Probably go a 285, can't really get any bigger in a 17", next size up is 335's for old Lambo's.

[Mettler]

Nice Z dude, you've done a mint job on the conversion!