z32Burns

alright so i was wondering if you guys could send me a link somewhere to where i can find some good ideas towards working my NA engine up. i was going to do the TT swap but after reading through some of the forums i see that it would be just better to go buy a TT z32, and i dont really want to go through selling and buying a new car or anything. if you can help me out id appreciate it. thanks

NismoPick

Welcome to ZDriver!

We have a discussion thread on "How to make the n/a faster": https://www.zdriver.com/forums/300zx-z32-tech-tips-273/how-make-n-faster-swap-mass-merge-thread-658/

KasbeKZ

yep. there it is. put it this way: if you spent 5k to upgrade the n/a, you will get about half of the HP gain that you would if you had spent that 5k on a tt. it's really not worth it. everybody looks into it, and the vast majority of people decide not to. 300hp is a push for the n/a on pump gas or race gas. to even get the crank hp to the wheels (give your car 220 rwhp), you would have to spend pretty near to $5k. it's just not worth it. the n/a is tuned from the factory to be pretty close to the best that it can be.

DropTopTwin

Above pretty much covers it, but what is your budget?

napoleonzheking

eh that depends what you want to do.

http://z32racing.50megs.com/Z/all_drag_lists.html

check out DANpa's time from 2005, NA ALL MOTOR running 13.64 in the quarter mile.....

thats pretty fast for an NA... no thats really fast.. and if your building a track car, this would be the way to go... Non turbo lag when your coming out of the corners... Of course, there's no telling what all danPA did to his motor, but i'm sure it was fully built.

but yes, in general your right, it isn't worth it. The only way i would do it is if i was building an all out track car (i mean stripped interior and everything), and if it was a slicktop.

z32Burns

i appreciate the feedback, as of now my plans are to just make it a little more quicker and to just look good. right now im in iraq so i cant do anything with it right now until july, i just picked the car up on leave for a pretty cheap price to get me by, but im not too concerned about making it the fastest thing alive or anything, id just like some minor mods and for it to just look clean. i wouldnt be able to give a budget til after i get back to the states and see where im sitting.

DropTopTwin

I started out with a NA Z. After spending several thousands the power gain was minimal at best compare to what I could of got out of a turbo Z. I dyno the car with just about everything in the Stillen catalog, I only managed to pull out 211 rwhp and 14 sec on 1/4 mile. Still not satisfied with the hp, I looked into total rebuild. Not only the cost of the project turned me off but the power gain was just not what I was looking for.

After doing the TT drop, I upgraded the turbos and all it's supporting parts. Then few years later, I upgraded the turbos again.

From what I discovered from gaining power is that the more you get the more you want. I started out with the menatality of I just want a Z that is a little quicker then a stock TT. Now I'm running GT600R.

Good luck and take care.

z32Burns

so basically for a real noticeable gain in power, id prolly have to just go ahead and either buy the TT or do the swap pretty much?

does anyone sell the full conversion kit on here or do i have to go look for all the parts and order all over the place?

DropTopTwin

If you want a TT then it would be better financially to just buy the TT car but if you want to keep your NA then the best way to do the coversion is to buy the front clip. This way you would have all the parts you need for the work. It will include the ECU, tranny and the whole front half of the car including the dash. I bought my clip for 2400.

I would do the 60 or 120 kit then and try to replace all the hoses, seals, gaskets and etc.

There are several Z specialists who will offer this service but it's not cheap.

z32Burns

2400 doesnt sound too bad of a price for all of that! when i had my alero i had to get a new engine and that thing cost me 2800 bucks lol. i have a few buddies that love to work on cars and whatnot and actually want me to get this so they can work on it, its just a matter of how much time its going to take. but now when you say that it comes with a new dash and all of that does that include the climate control and headlight switches and everything too? because there numbers on my climate temp. are giving me half the number and i was looking at replacing that too.

and now i just found out that it doesnt start.. my mom just told me that the crank sensor may have come loose or something along those lines.. it was running fine and then it just bogged down and died, and still has full power but it wont turn back over..?

KasbeKZ

you can get that front clip for $2400 and i think that just about the only other thing you need is the fuel pump? anyone want to add anything else? but then you need to ship the clip, and do all the maintenance to make sure your engine is decent. i wouldn't count on getting out any less than 4k for a swap.

your plan to make a few small improvements and make it look nice is a good one. that's what i'm doing since i know i won't be able to afford a swap for a good long while. i recommend a lightweight flywheel if you can find one lightly used (like i did ), and a one piece drive shaft. the ds won't help power that much if any, but it gets rid of the carrier bearing which is pretty unreliable IMO. then intake and exhaust won't run you too terribly much and IMO that's about all that it's worth doing to an N/A. that's me though. it depends on how much money is worth how much power to you.

napoleonzheking

after the clip you will be spending more money on 120k timing belt kit ($600), replacing all kinds of seals (rear main, and other stuff) which can really add up, i spent about 1600 just on misc seals adn stuff, but then again i'm replacing everything. Don't plan on just $2400, bc it will be more.

DropTopTwin

It's not a "new" dash. It's an front clip of an used car from Japan. My clip had 89,---KMs, and yes, it did include the climated control and light control clusters. Basically the whole dash, center piece and shifter area was all included.

For the list of stuff you get, the clip price is hard to beat, but you'll need to replace lot of stuff for precautionary measures. For example, I went on to change the injectors, turbos, intercoolers, clutch, flywheel, 1 piece ds, bigger radiator, ECU upgrade(JWT), fuel pump, bigger oil cooler, 60k timing belt service and I also spent a good chunk of change to replace the gaskets, seals, hoses and whatever else that was rubber/plastic for the swap.

That was about 9 years ago and since then I've had the JDM motor replaced with a built unit from IPP.com and the sport 500s replaced with GT600Rs along with other mods.

Just keep in mind that the 2400 was just to start the swap project and did not include all the extra items that were ordered along with the clip. I hope your buddy can help you with a lot of work because the labor on these cars will make you go crazy, so if you want a turbo car, it would be cheaper on you to sell your NA and buy a TT.

Good luck.

KasbeKZ

the climate control module has a whole computer of it's own and you can adjust how it displays. i expect it is how it is because somebody was playing with the buttons. i forget how to even get into it, but there is a write up for it somewhere. search this forum and tt.net for "climate control diagnostic" and you should find it. i believe it is in the FSM too. that's online if you search google. pretty much, you do something like hold off and auto at the same time for a few seconds, then it's in. then you can toggle between 6 menus and adjust different things in both of them. you can do it.

z32Burns

ok well now that i have that general idea to consider.. about getting the car running. like i said my mom was driving and then it died on her and she couldnt get it started up again. its getting full power and it tries to start but wont turn over.. she had a guy take a look at it and he said it sounds like the CAS isnt sending the signal to turn the car over or something along those lines.. what do you think it could be?

z32Burns

anyone have any input on this? like i said before, im overseas so im cant actually take a look at the car, but if i can give my mom a general idea of what it could be then that would be really helpful..

KasbeKZ

could be the CAS. could be the PTU. could be a coil pack or a bad injector. or a bad connection on any one of those. first step is always (for me anyway) to check the essential connections that i just mentioned. when you're sure all of those are good, then go you into testing those components. the FSM has a procedure for testing each of those with a multi-meter.

z32Burns

ok great ill have her get those tests ran then, would there be a possibility that when a new clutch was put in that a wire could have been pinched causing a short? ive heard that that is another thing to look into..

napoleonzheking

no... there should be no wires in the clutch... if someone did that, wow, i don't even think that is possible, the only wires DOWN there i can think of are speed sensor, reverse, and the the third one on the tranny i can't Recall at the exact moment what it is bc i'm not in z mode but no... i really do not see that ever happening. the starter wires down there which could cause it from starting but.. i don't see the transmission bolting up flush with a wire in it...