well as you know the engine rebuild adventure continues... the block as been cleaned and new pistons shall be installed by the end of jan. the next step is headwork. My goal is to have 450-500hp and the engine will be turbocharged eventually. so the question is should i invest the money into boring out the intake manifold to i think 60mm and the head as well to match and buy a 240sx t/b? the local guy says i shouldnt bother but i thought i'd get a second opinion. the other question is for cams. should i bother with the performance cam from msa or buy a new stock replacement, in the end i'll be buying a new cam so should i just buy the performance part? thanks

 

Scrap the stock intake and get a Lone Wolf...it has larger diameter and shorter length runners....get a 60mm or larger TB. Hell yes get a performance cam, something with a longer duration so those valves stay open longer to let the extra air in that you will need to hit 450-500hp. 3-5 angle valve job, port and polish that head!!! If possible gasket match the intake ports on the head to the gasket (port them to the same size as the gasket) Remember this, the more air in the more air out...so I hope you have the exhaust planed out also. Fuel...bigger injectors...higher rate fuel pump and so on. Spark Spark Spark!!! You will need more fire to burn that A/F mixture!!!

 

yup dont worry i got the fuel/exhaust/ignition systems worked out i justed needed to know if its worth spendin the money on all the work... (well lone wolf head i guess) and cam

 

As I am sure most people in here will tell you, it is going to be hard to hit those numbers...though not impossible. With all the labor cost involved with the factory parts I would go with the aftermarket stuff that is already larger. MSA has some pretty mean cams, also you can check out Jim Wolfs site:

http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/

If you are gonna do it, don't let us change your mind or tell you it can't be done...it's a matter of how far you are willing to go...good luck.

 

the most important thing in building any motor is balance and flow. get that bottom end balanced, and get the lonewolf intake, its worth the 600 bones. and get that head flowbenched, not just ported and polished, the guy at a flowbench actually knows his stuff, the morons porting it dont get real numbers from a machine, they just guess! use an intercooler, and make sure your system for fuel spark is good. you can do it, just how much $$$ do you wanna spend. trying to build a turbo motor little at a time sucks, you get no power till ya get the whole system built, otherwise you got a weak na motor

 

well you see this car for me is a long term project so that means that plenty of money will be dumped... no invested into it so i understand that to go fast you need the money but as you know what im looking for is a mean drag strip car and yet a dd... with crappy milage:P I figured that it would be better to just buy the intake manifold from jim wolf but now i need to know if i should bother with the performance cam or just buy a new stock turbo one. in the end ill be getting the rocker arms of course and while im at it i may as well get lash pads and all that junk. msa offers all this for about 450 or sumthin like that i cant remember and that comes with a performance cam. so the question is should i go with msa or do some more looking around. and how will the cam(as well as all the other parts) affect the cars ability to travel long distances. im hoping it will be able to with-out overheating correct?

 

With more power comes more heat, a nice aluminum radiator and the proper coolant mix should be good...and a better or electric water pump. Oil also gets hot so an oil cooler would be prudent. With a larger cam the powerband moves up in the rpm range so lower rpm "daily driving" might suffer a little as well as fuel economy. If properly built, I personally would not be afraid to drive a more powerful car daily as the engine should be stronger than stock anyway...the launches from a red light would be a little more spirited though and that's what it's all about, having more fun. There is an easier way to hit those numbers though...like a 383 small block Chevy V8, they will already be 400+hp, gobbs of Tq and strong as hell. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and a mean *** mouse motor would do the trick.

 

Yeah, but there's nothing like hitting those numbers reliably with an L28 block.

 

hamsters run harder.......
or squirrels................

 

I have never heard of a Chevy 383 small block. 350, and if you bore that, it turns into a 396. Last time I checked, a 383 is a Mopar, (Dodge) motor. Correct me if I am wrong. And of course all in all, doing a v-8 is too common, and takes away the original sound. I still say if you want to bastardize the Z with a v-8. Throw in a 327 Vette motor, and be done with it.

 

Chevy 383 is a common stroker motor.... http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...en&q=chevy+383

 

when building a really powerful motor on the z cars, they really dont need much cooling help. i put on a electric fan, 3 core high density rad with the stock tanks, thats it! my car does great in 35 deg. celcius temps in traffic. an oil cooler would be nice, specially if its gonna go turbo. and your building must decide now, turbo or n/a, there is no easy way to just convert. you may as well build 2 seperate motors.

 

ok so let me just make sure im understanding this right. the performance cam would help me make the goal of 400hp more achievable as appose to the stock turbo cam. is this right? because im trying to find out whether the stock turbo cam or the performance cam is the one i want to get.

 

You prolly want a more agressive cam if you are going for more than 400hp. You're going fully studded on the engine right?

 

of course nismopick we had this discussion already
im goin with ARP head studs, crank studs, rod bolts.

 

Sweet! Just making sure.

This is a link for L series cam specs ( http://www.geocities.com/bruskiz/ZCamSpecs.htm ) You'll need to do some research on exactly what grind you want, but this will give you an idea of the stock grind.

 

Okay I stand corrected, shows how rusty I am with V-8's. LOL But I would do a 396 to be different. Of course it would never happen to my Z. Just stating what I like. And if I wanted a small light car to V-8. It would be either a Vega, Monza, Javelin, well you get the idea. Something that came with a crappy motor, and drivetrain to begin with.

 

LoL... very well put!