New User, but lifetime lover of cars. My hopes and aspirations to come with my Z

[peteheat]

Hi there, my names Peter, though most call me pete or pedro. Ive always had a love of cars-I used to get tons of those matchbox cars when i was little, when i was 12 i started getting into hobby r/c cars and had fun with that for around 5 years. when i hit 16, my younger brother and I started saving for a car of our own. At that time we didnt know for sure what we wanted, and when we started looking we only had 700 bucks to our name. We looked at alot of cars-the ones i remember the most were a civic hatch with 200,000 miles on it, with so little power left that it would die at idle when the A/C was turned on, as well as a saab 900 from '87 that had a crack in the exhaust headers (leading to a crapton of smoke in the car that got you lightheaded within 30 secs lol). Then we started looking on wheels deals, and found something interesting.

Before i found my Z, i will admit it, I didnt know too much about them. But once i saw the picture, i was instantly hooked. At that time i was living at home in spokane, WA and there was a guy 30 miles away (courdelane, ID) who was selling a 1987 Nissan 300zx. It was manual, N/A, and had some body damage, along with all those little things you would find on a 18 year old sports car. He was selling it for 1500 obo (this was 3.5 years ago), so we thought something major had to be wrong-could he really be selling this car for so little?

Well, we decided we would look at it anyways. My father came along because at that time my bro and I didnt know how to drive a manual . When i was standing in front of it for the first time...wow. I knew that this car would be with me for a very long time. Im sure you Z lovers can understand, your first Z is like a first love, it hits you hard and stays XD. We talked for awhile, then my father had a test drive. He came back, told us how it was running (perfect! woot!), and we bought it right then and there for 1350. My father loaned us what we didnt have (i think at that time we owed him 500).

The car had 160,000 miles, so it had alot of little things to be done, but at that point in time we had no money, and no time. So the car was simply maintained throughout our highschool. When i went to college, i gave my bro the half of the money of the car, making it all my own. Just last summer, i had about 500 extra dollars to my name. I started thinking of what i could do to the car, and i realized that the paint was starting to sunspot. So I bought some body damage kits and worked on it for about a month. There were around 8 different areas of the Z that needed either fiberglassing, bondo, or both. Im sure i poured over 40 hours total including sanding. With 400 left, I started out to see my options for paint. I went to the local Maaco and looked over their options for painting-luckily the guy at the counter was also a lover of Z's. He looked over it, gave me some extra sandpaper and showed me the areas that still needed work. He also told me once i had it ready, he would give me the 550 dollar paint for 400. Such an awesome deal .

I had it painted a darker blue metallic, and i love it. Its completely changed the attitude of the car. So far i have yet to find the money to further invest in the Z, but when i do, im planning on going all-out. In 2 and a half years i will graduate with an undergrad in mechanical engineering, and when i get my first job from that, thats when i plan on doing some major modification. I want a completely unique Z...something that nobody else has. Ive been strongly considering the possibility of doing a TT engine drop, though i know this will take alot of modification (the TT engine is taller i believe, so I dont know quite yet on how to fit it). My ultimate goal is to make this a 'weekend warrior' car, something to go to the track or out on the street when i just want to have some fun. My goal (if i can manage the TT swap) is 500WHP, if i have to stick with the older single turbo, then it will be 400WHP. Making it a corvette killer would be pretty fun as well

[evildky]

Welcome, I have to warn against the DE swap,it's just not worth the drama IMHO, you can still make 500 whp with the VG it'll actually ost less than doing it with the DE, you only have to buy one big turbo and it's easier to adapt and a heck of a lot easier to work on, and the HG's are stronger on the VG

[Perrenial Badass]

Got any pics? I love me some '87 Z31s.

But yea, you'd probably be better off sticking with the VG30E already in the car than going with a VG30DETT out of a Z32. If you haven't ever had to work on a Z32, make an opportunity. I really can't see how anybody with a degree in mechanical engineering would want to make the already crowded Z31 engine bay any worse. Besides, it's capable of making the power you want, and doing it pretty well.

[peteheat]

hehe yea thats what i was thinking, ive seen a couple vids on youtube of pre 90 300z's with stock engines above 440 whp, and considering i dont want to pour tons of money into it with no gain i will probably keep the same engine. Well, probably a swap to the VG30 turbo version then go from there. Besides the fact that mines N/A, and converting it to a turbo doesnt sound like too much fun, that specific engine itself has some issues. One of the cylinders is at low compression, it burns oil, basically its acting just as an engine with 170,000 miles should

Ill try and get some pics on soon. The last ones i had were on an old phone, which i replaced lol.

[evildky]

http://www.vg30et.com/members/kennethho ... utts.htmlI have no idea why satan woudn't dyno his setup, he's a fabricator you'd think he'd want dyno charts to track various gains

also look at the torque numbers, you won't get that fomr the DE

[peteheat]

Thanks for the dyno sheets! Puts it in perspective, shows that it is truly possible. I wonder how much that would cost though...i guess it would vary greatly depending on what you install yourself, etc etc

[evildky]

a big fatty turbo will cost $800-1500, custom pipeing can cost a small fortune, but if you have basic fab skills a few hundred dollars if pipes flanges and couplers, a capable intercooler can be had for around $500m, fuel injectors can be had cheap if you get one fo the o-ring rails, then it's all about engine managment, the later ecu's can be used with programs like zemulator, or you can go stand alone like megasquirt whcish is under $500 or something liek the SDS which costs around $1500

might sound expensive but many fo the same things woudl be needed to get the twin cam to that power level, you's spend $3000 on turbo's and injectors and thats nto to ecven think abotu the fact that you now have twice the custom piping to be done

[Perrenial Badass]

then it's all about engine managment, the later ecu's can be used with programs like zemulator, or you can go stand alone like megasquirt whcish is under $500 or something liek the SDS which costs around $1500

Screw that noise, just get Nistune.

[sek8031]

In 2 and a half years i will graduate with an undergrad in mechanical engineering, and when i get my first job from that, thats when i plan on doing some major modification.

Provided the receding world economy hasn't reduced us to some kind of Mad Max-like scenario.

[evildky]

nistune and zemulator are pretty much the same thing right?

[Perrenial Badass]

Um... I really don't know what "zemulator" is actually... If they are the same thing, then it's the first I've heard of it being referred to by that name.http://www.nistune.com/

[evildky]

I meant that they work the same, zemulator is ashpec's brand and works the same way

[PalmerWMD]

Pete,

what a beautiful introductionWelcome to the boards!!

Fred..