Since hearing a few stories being banded about about engines going bang etc. I am starting to think that it's not all it's cracked up to be!

 

My car looks good now and to be honest I think they are fast enough as stock...Twin Tubs I mean. I've done the zorst, intake and ECU but am seriously going off the idea of big engine work and fuck off big hairdryers!!!

 

I know that it's all about 0-100 and 1/4 mile times etc. but why spend 20K to get your time down by about a second?

 

I'm not slagging here, just my opinion but am interested to see what other people reckon.

 

Or is it just that there aren't enough decent tuners in this shite arse country to set them up properly once you've done the works! Forged pistons? Car has them as stock, Blueprinted crank etc. Recircs that are more upto the job than most BOV's to around 500/600 bhp...I dunno...just that after all the money I have spent on getting my car right I think spending another 10K or so on big turbos, injectors, intercoolers just to have it blow up in spectacular style is not my cup of typhoo...get me drift?

 

 

 

------------------

your right timmy with the mods you have on it already that should be plenty of power most people would dream of you could spend the money on mrs tt instead lol

thing is m8 mach 2(ya car)

has got to be faster than mac1.lol

Originally posted by alan barker:

your right timmy with the mods you have on it already that should be plenty of power most people would dream of you could spend the money on mrs tt instead lol

 

Shhhhhh, LOL, it's her Birthday tomorrow and I forgot! Gulp! World of pain is on its way I reckon...however I am paying to mod her nags, she's looking forward to having the farrier out on Wednesday to shoe the lazy buggers. 1 bhp with shoes on! Pukka! LMFAO

 

 

 

------------------

I'm pretty much with you on this one Tim. For an everyday road car remove the restrictions and maybe some minor tweaks, but 300bhp or so at the wheels is pretty healthy. Of course if your passion is quarter mileing etc then you'll need more, but for everything you gain there is always something to lose and it's usually a) cash and b) reliability in ever increasing amounts. Some of these cars have done a few miles now and it's a testament to the design and maintenance that they are still pushing out pretty much the same amount of power as when they were first built 10 or more years ago.

Originally posted by jaylox:

thing is m8 mach 2(ya car)

has got to be faster than mac1.lol

 

LOL

 

No Jay mate, trust me when I say that I am more than chuffed with the looks...not that overly bothered with blistering performance anymore! Feel that I've reached the end of the line now after having the engine rebuilt, gearbox etc. Just wanna enjoy it and look after it now bud.

 

 

 

 

------------------

I think if I was going to chuck 20k at modifying a car it would be on the RB26 not the VG30

 

------------------

->Glen

I can honestly say its not worth it in my opinion. I have an addiction to it and chasing horespower is not a very realistic thing. I find you get to a point and thne its still not enough as you get used to it ect.

In hindsite i would have just kept it at around 300bhp.

 

Originally posted by senna:

I think if I was going to chuck 20k at modifying a car it would be on the RB26 not the VG30

 

 

I concurr mate! Skylark engines are so detuned it's rediculous. Anyone who buys one of them stock and doesn't treat it to Crimbo Presleys on a daily basis is stark raving mate IMHO!

 

Come on Glenski, you and me chop the Jap Dustbins in against an R34 each at Middlehurst...buy one and nick one free! ROFL

 

 

 

------------------

I agree with you there.

Things like

Exhaust (Why spend £350 on a Nissan exhaust which rusts after 3 years when you can get a SS one for £100 more an will last 10 times as long),

Filter (2 at £14 each, every other oil change or one for £150 which will improve air flow and last for £10 years not 6 months)

De-Cat (Make your engine run better, and mechanics say improve your MPG by upto 10%)

Even

Chipping it makes the car run at the potential it was designed for before they had to detune it for Japanese law.

But spending close to £20,000 on modding it, is for me too far. I say that now, but if £20,000 wasnt too much money for me I would probably would, but at the moment, £20,000 is a nice deposit on a house and furniture for me.

We are talking about a 170+mph car, 0-60 in 5.2 seconds, how much faster do we want it to go? As stock they beat Boxters, some 911s, Z3s, Audi TTs and even the new Z350. Especially with all the speed cameras now, the only real place you can really drive is on a track or 1/4 mile run, and even then you get battered by a some strange turbo Mini or something.

I know people like doing a car up and when they get so far, sell it and start again. I can see how that if challenging and fun, if you can afford it.

Maybe it jealousy talking, or maybe I dont think I will ever have the money like that to mod a car I dont know. But spending close to 4 times the cars value is not on my mind. Nor is modding a car so ever time I plant my foot down, it just wheel spins.

Just my 2 cents worth

 

Stuart

yo!!! mac2 how r u bud still wating 4 your address so i can see this monstrous creation, ive got to be honest guys ive got used to the awsome power of the z so im allways wanting more, but the more hp you pile on the more other components get stressed 2, i.e engine, suspention,tyres oh yes!! countless tyres, so what to do??

buy a 1.0L fiesta and drive it all week & use zx at weekend can u imagine the difference ??????????? then u would appreceate the power more!!!!!!!!!

I upgraded my car over the years as you get used to anything after a while. I decided that to get a car I would like more I'd have to spend a good 10-15k which I don't have. So I'd rather stick with what I've got and tweak it every now and then to keep it interesting.

 

When it gets to new turbos, engine work, cams, clyinders the money can get scary!

 

So far I'm pleased with all my mods and not to board with my car.

 

Jez.

Well I just feel deeply sorry for people like John who has put JWT Turbos, 555 injectors etc. on and then a short while later the engine goes tits up!

 

But I know for a fact that Andy Elephants car is permanently parked at SE and has an engine build every year from what I can make out! So yeah, it has 600hp but does he use it every day? NO!

 

Nice car though! LMFAO

 

 

 

------------------

Originally posted by Timmy_Turbo:

Well I just feel deeply sorry for people like John who has put JWT Turbos, 555 injectors etc. on and then a short while later the engine goes tits up!

 

But I know for a fact that Andy Elephants car is permanently parked at SE and has an engine build every year from what I can make out! So yeah, it has 600hp but does he use it every day? NO!

 

Nice car though! LMFAO

 

yeah but it all depends on how its setup. There are many many 600 wheel horespower zeds running around in the states as everyday cars. I just somehow think the nature of the ripoff industry in this country wont ever allow that.

every tom dick and harry in this place thinks they know what they are doing yet dont.

And dont let the skyline thing fool you iether. They need serious internal work approaching 500 bhp so they are not that underdevelopped, and why do you think Nissan is going back to the V6 block for the New skyline, because its a stronger design. (that was quoted on the Japan GT series by one of the drivers)

 

 

well im glad im probably the only z thats still restricted cos after seeing those plugs and the other poorly z on a flatbed and other cars that had safety boost im thinky of gettin a swith for when i mod mine to stop me putting my foot down cos if it blows im gonna put it in the nearest pond and claim on the insurance

Nope, tooley, mine's still restricted too. Still paranoid about any odd noises though.

 

The only way I would go off down the full-on bhp route is to be rich enough to have two Zs. One stock for driving and one to play on. Still sympathetic to the boys who have problems, tho - must be gutting.

Personally I am happy with my zeds performance, it is totally stock at the moment and the only plans I have for it are new exhaust and an induction kit.

 

personally i would have much more enjoyment out of buying a mini and whacking a metro turbo engine in that and tuning it to the max and taking it down santapod, at least if it blows you've only wasted a few grand max, you could even put NOS and traction control on the beast :O) now that would be fun.

 

 

 

Well timmy does have a very very valid point ( First time for everything i guess LMAO )

 

I would not recommend 99% of the people on here upgrade their car to have more power than Stage 3 (chip ,pipes and Intake)

 

I Do most of the work on my car myself and enjoy the challenge of properly tuning the car - unfortunalty it is a very large money and time thing - time being more of a problem for me unfortunatly as you all know my car has undergone extensive work but been off the road for over two years - now it is back and i still have a list of kit longer than a babies arm that is still sitting at home waiting to go on with no time to do it !

 

Another good point is IMO most places over here have no idea on how to make a High HP car that you can use every day - Its just silly the lack of knowhow that is floating around the Jap tuning scene.

 

RB26 motor is more tunable - Yup it sure is but Fuck me do you have to pay for it Pistons , Crank , and blowers - there goes 15K then what happens that nice complicated tranny goes up in smoke - bye bye another 15K you wanna get a 600bhp Skyline - have fun !!! you will actually find that the VG30 is a lot more detuned than the RB26 in stock form !

 

As for supras - the JZ is not a radically stronger motor for tuning. But they come with two very important things that Z engine dont have - Forged pistons and 550 injectors ! that is why stock cars can run 21 psi !!! - They dont get as much HP per PSI as the Z tho so it balances out in a way.

 

Another serious issue with tuning the Z is the Parallel turbo setup - It means that Single turboing is not a option - it also means that we have buy two of fuckin everything when we upgrade - 2 Expensive turbos, two dump valves, 2 exhuasts, 2 intercoolerse, 2 intakes + the price of forged pistons and injectors - you can see why a lot of people dont get the balance rite and end up blowing a lump ! Money per mod is a lot more compared to JZ or 16b and you need to buy a lot of things to get reliable HP !

 

The other issue here is traction on our 80% of the year wet roads with more speed cameras than decent tarmac you rarely do get the chance to enjoy your moneysworth.

 

My car is toy - nothin more - a expensive one but a toy and even tho it is well tuned for everyday use - I still prefer to drive my Clio around town on a day to day basis !

 

In short get a reliable Stage 3 car and stick with it other wise you will have a money gobbling workshop queen !

 

 

 

------------------

Z ya

 

Nico91TT

 

 

God is coming ...and he dont have stock turbos . . .

Originally posted by 300z:

 

And dont let the skyline thing fool you iether. They need serious internal work approaching 500 bhp so they are not that underdevelopped, and why do you think Nissan is going back to the V6 block for the New skyline, because its a stronger design.

 

[/b]

Not true Warren Mike Smith with a R33 GT-R in June/July Banzai 520bhp 0-60 in 3.56,1/4 in 11.8 STOCK INTERNALS I was talking to him on Sunday.

 

 

 

------------------

I bought my 300zxTT and love it. I upgraded mine to the best of my ability and with what i thought was sound advice from people on here and from talking directly to people at Stillen and JWT, in fact many hours of it. I failed to create a reliable, strong and powerful car due to over enthusiasm and a lack of enough technical knowledge. I am using a local and helpful Nissan dealer (for which I am lucky) to do my work to gain a warranty on the work but they are not(and they admit it freely) a "performance upgrade" company they just fit what I give them whilst reminding me that it may have consequences. They have had parts that I have bought, delivered to them from suppliers in the UK, US and Japan and having listened to some of you and also taking advice from people on here and also from repeating other peoples adventures and speaking to Stillen and Jim Wolf I make my own judgement call on money and expected benefits.

Obviously I am unlike many owners, I became bored with the power in my 300zxTT and whenever it broke down I replaced each part with an upgraded version with as much care as I could. This however was not the reason why I ended up with a damaged engine! The problem was that you get lots of different advice and whereas a technical person can sort through it, sometimes you just have to make a best guess at it. All of the jigsaw pieces (turbos, injectors, evc) that made up my upgrades were correct, it was in the lack of a performance guru/tuner to bring it all together and balance it to make it not only work well but be safe that made it fail. That was not Nissan's fault, not Stiilens nor JWT nor the tuner that didn't know his job - it was my fault! Upgrading your car should be a pleasure but I find that it is something on a 300zx that can be destructive and expensive. Not because the car is the problem but because upgrading any car inheritantly removes the reliability the manufacturer built in. Otherwise all of these clever bits we fit on would have been added by Nissan or Subaru, etc in the first place. Why didn't they? Well that is because they either cost too much, make the car less economical or worse and most likely as we all find out eventually when we break the 350bhp barrier it makes the whole car unreliable and a garage magnet! That is not to say that upgraduing the 300 is a bad thing, as long as you understand it can/will happen. When people honestly believe the car can sustain these mods and not be tweaked week in/week out by a mechanic, it ruins the ownership experience. I am lucky, I wanted a sportscar to enhance and play with in my latter years and I don't have any vices other than paying the garage to keep the car on the road. This repair isn't going to be the last, I have a good job and can afford to repair it again, but most can't afford that sort of expense. What I learned from this experience is that not all good advice should be taken or followed, not everyone on here who answers a query knows what they are talking about and most importantly YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELF TO BLAME IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG! And I would not have it any other way.

 

If you buy a 300 and keep it basically stock great! If you want to upgrade it then get yourself a mentor! Be it Nico, JeffTT or someone else off here, but get someone to guide you through your upgrade stages.

 

I didn't and I am paying for it now. I intend to go no further with my upgrades now, I think that it would be silly. The engine will be rebuilt and raced/dragged again in the future, because that is why I bought it originally, to have fun in it my way. I get between 10/15 emails a week from 300 owners around the world and I tell them what I have done, why I chose to do it and what I gained/lost adn then I point everyone here to ask the same question of this forum as some of you know what you are talking about better than I do.

 

But to the people who like to answer some questions on here but don't really know what they are talking about, be aware that sometimes some of us listen to you and do what you suggest. The owner pays the consequences for following your bad advice and you don't, be careful to only give advice if you know the answer and that it is correct. It is not clever to give bad advice. I could blame some people on here that I followed bad advice from but I don't, I made the decisions to setup my car the way I did and I will pay for those mistakes. It won't stop me moving forward in the future either, I will just be a lot more careful.

 

Sorry to write so much but I felt it had to be said.

Could not agree more with all that John,see ya around,good luck,TonyC

Sorry you had all the probs, JN - looking at your other posts at least it's not as bad as it could have been.

Glad you're sticking with the Z. I think you're right - this could have happened to any make / model. Without either being a guru or having one close at hand, pushing performance of anything is risky the farther you go.

And it helps to have a full wallet!

Me - although with great respect to the gurus and the power seekers - I'm sticking to stock. Or at least mostly stock (just Mongoose so far).

Let's face it, it's faster than most other things, I reach my performance envelope before it does and it's better looking than just about anything else.

Anyhow, this was only supposed to say I agree with Timmy, Nico and am glad JN is still a Z-head.

Must agree that some Skylines at the moment are running 500+ bhp without mods to the internals.

 

It is a balance up with all motors on how much you want/can spend to the returns. Especially when you get to the big bhp where the point of diminshing returns comes into play.

 

2 cars ran at North Weald the other Sunday. One was a 670bhp customers car (my friend) and the other a tuners 750bhp car. The customers car ran 11.05 and the tuners ran 11.40. I reckon this was probably down to the driver so its a bit like the old story of "tune the driver before the engine".

 

Something I think you guys are definetly lacking is a tuner that knows everything about your Z's. We are lucky in the Skyline world to have a few good tuners around us and you guys definetly need one.

 

As for the RB26 being replaced by the supposed V6 in either turbo or supercharged form. The RB26 cannot pass the future emmissions for sale worldwide. Therefore Nissan have had to totally re think their strategy on the new GTR(the Skyline name is being used only on their saloon car range) especially where the engine is concerned. A few of us were at the Nurburgring 24hr race last Bank Holiday and were questioned by their head of development, Mr. Tamura, on our thoughts re the new/old GTR and our reasons for maybe buying the new one. We all said about how the RB26 has been such a phenomenum and should stay but he even said that emmission rulings could not allow it to continue. This is probably why the next generation GTR is taking soooooo long to be unveiled.

 

Sorry guys got a bit carried away their.

 

It does pi55 me off when you guys have such gorgeous cars but it appears no 100% Z tuners, AT THE MO. Don't lose the faith.

 

See Ya.

 

glen

 

[This message has been edited by T9KYO (edited 25-06-2002).]

G'day glen (why is everyone on this forum called glen?)

Is than T9 KYO as in star of stage, screen, Bolney and page 45 of Banzai?

(And why is everone on this forum not called glen, called Andrew?)

Watcha Gio.

 

Yeah I've had the fortune, some wouldn't agree though, to be in Jap Performance. About bloody time and all. I was wondering how much more dough I had to spend to get in a mag. Phew. Nah kidding.

 

They done it to tie in with the AbbeyMotorsport feature in the same mag.

 

Didn't realise their was many Glen's on here. Only have fleeting visits every now and again. Have met up with 300Z Warren twice. Once on the M23 and once we went for a ride down Abbeys(had to squeeze him in me car though, BIG bloke.)

 

So are we all gonna have a meet one day then. I see on the GTR site we tried but it didn't come off properly, damn.

 

See Ya.

 

glen

T9KYO this was at the Nottingham show on Sunday,was it yours?

 

------------------

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by MAC 1 (edited 25-06-2002).]