December 2007 Z Car of the Month: phxZ31's 1985 N/A Project
This is my 1985 300ZX non-turbo.The purpose of this project is to attempt to obtain 200+WHP from a naturally aspirated Z31. Many people like to say N/A VG30e will never make decent power. This engine is severely under-powered by today's standards, but there is plenty of un-tapped power to be found. I feel with the right modifications, 200 or more horsepower at the wheels seems more than possible.
So basically, over the past 18 months the cars been sitting on jackstands, not running. I've been chipping away at it slowly, but recently just decided to pour some real time and money into her.
I'll update this thread from now on as i make more progress. Comments, questions, suggestions are all welcome.
Current mods:
- ported/polished heads
- Schneider cams (Stage III NA: 270 degrees in/ex, .440" lift in/ex)
- Schneider valve springs
- 3 angle valve job
- Electic fan conversion
- K&N 12" cone filter
- Underdrive pulley
- Fidanza Flywheel
- ACT 6 puck clutch (DXD performance clutch going in)
- Z31 turbo fuel injectors
- NIStune ECU
- MSA headers w/ Jethot coating
- MGP performance upper intake manifold
Mods coming soon:
- rebuilt bottom end
- knife edged, balanced crankshaft
- oversized pistons, brings to 3.1L @ 10.5:1 compression
- rebuild tranny
- Russ' adjustable VG30E cam gears
- Certified Muffler 2.5" exhaust system
- Test pipe
- Repaint original factory color
Currently looks like:
Heads come back from machine shop!
-Mild port/polish
-Schneider cams; [in/ex] dur:270/270 lift:.440"/.440"
-Schneider valve springs
-3 angle valve job:
Installing the heads:
Lower intake goes back on:
All done! At least! This is how it looked on first fire up:
Began to relocate vacuum canister:
All done! After I verified it ran, and flushed the cooling system and oil system, I put the the timing belt covers back on and had it ready for the road:
More toys come:
Installation:
All done! (again)
Removed the PCV system, also removed the Air Regulator.
Pics as always:
Used epoxy resin to fill in the PCV & air regulator holes:
Then I painted it, reinstalled, and detailed:
This is pretty much, for the most part, how it looks right now. I've done a few other small things around to tidy up the engine bay a little more, but nothing worth posting..
You can barely see it in this picture, but I fabbed up a little plate to cover the hole where the air regulator was and screwed it over the hole:
oops.
NEWEST TOYS!(June '07)
Finally got my Fidanza flywheel and U/R Underdrive pulley over mid-June. Just waiting on a few random parts needed still (water pump pulley, Maxima alternator, DXD Clutch) before all these parts go in.
anyways, I'll post more pics once I get around to installing all this stuff, but for now this should hold you over:
btw, the U/R pulley is tiny. Its roughly the same diameter as the P/S pulley part of the main crank. I'm looking at getting a Z32 overdrive pulley for the water pump which will keep it moving along and closer to Nissan spec'd speeds. Here's a pic of the UR pulley next to the p/s pulley, removed from the crank pulley:
That is one sweet 85 N/A Andy !! You do nice clean work...
Damn Andy it's been a while since i've seen your car.
Looks good
Hey thanks for the compliments, guys.
Jon, yeah man I've been working on the car non stop now for awhile. I decided awhile back that I was gonna keep it N/A just to see how far I could push the VG30E. My goal is set to 200WHP on stock internals. Once I've hit that (not far off) I'm going to rebuild the bottom end and keep going.
I am in the process of scrambling to get the car back on the road for Midwest Z Fest. It would be awesome if you could make the trip too. We need to get as many Z's as possible to represent the AZ Z owners!
hey man a have the same car and tryin the same thing only i can't find parts anywhere. where did you get your cams and where can i find a full exhaust system? any help you can offer would be awesome. thanks.
Cams are from Schneider Racing Cams, I got the 270H grind for N/A cars.
http://www.schneidercams.com/cams/50a.htm
Currently I'm using a stock N/A exhaust from the headers back including the stock cat. I'm going to be going fully custom 2.5" as soon as I get around to it. I recommend you try to get a custom mandrel exhaust, there aren't many aftermarket exhausts for the Z31 anymore. Certified Muffler still sells the 2.5" for N/As, but they haven't produced the 3" for turbos in a long time.
Yeah it would be fun but due to the car I always seem to be broke! you should come out and meet with us some time.
I'd be happy to meet you guys, once I pull the car down off jackstands again...
Just let me know when you guys meet up again and i'll do my best to make it out, but my schedule is always pretty hit or miss...
yup i hear ya. Well whenever you want. for the mostpart we met up every month at least once.
all that work, and you still havnt done the Hood struts... looks great
Very clean and unfortunatly alot of people will know the effort to make it look and drive the way it does.
No I have the hood struts... its just that they constantly got in my way while working on it.. I often remove the hood entirely from the vehicle when working on it, and so I've just decided to not put the struts back on until after its finished for good. :)
tight!
Very nice. Did the car run when you purchased it? Are those rims orginals? Are you keeping a stock look for the extrior.
When I purchased the car, the whole thing was in relatively decent shape. It was all one color, and it ran OK..
The front was damaged after my wheels locked up in an emergency stop situation, about 6 months or so after I purchased the car. About a year after the accident, after I'd began putting it all back together, the timing belt broke leaving the engine toasted, and the pictures in this thread kinda document from that point to present.
Also, these rims are the original rims. I spent a lot of time cleaning them up, and other than a few light scratches that you can only see upon close inspection, they are pretty much in mint condition.
As far as the exterior, I haven't fully made up my mind on it yet. I'm definitely gonna repaint the whole car in the original color. I have however been tossing around the idea of updating the front air dam and the sides with side skirts from Style Auto.
I'd just get the front and side skirts. Let me know what you think about the idea. The alternative would be leaving the body completely stock. I am not considering any other kits. Here is a pic of JocKeWe's Z31 which has the full Style Auto kit.
http://jocke.z31turbo.com/fairlady10.htm
WOW .. that's a lot of work .. but looks great!
I finally installed the U/R underdrive pulley. Also installed a higher output Nissan Maxima alternator.
Honestly, I am surprised how much difference this pulley made.
Here's some pics as always:
DAMN what a project. What's next?
Next?
Transmission rebuild, install the Fidanza flywheel, DXD Rally clutch, NisTune ECU, Z31 Turbo fuel injectors, adjustable cam gears.
Eventually, I want to rebuild the bottom end. Balanced crank, lightweight rods, oversized pistons to raise the displacement to ~3.2L and compression to around 10.5:1.
i think you should go turbo.
I probably will, after I'm done as much as possible without one first.
your car is awesome! how long did it take you to be very familiarized with your car? what steps can i take in order to accomplish the same? ive had my z for a month and have barely even learned anything about the car or how the engine works and parts too for that matter but i want to be able to fix it myself.i cant find any z owners in my south san diego area so its hard and most mechanics down here are kind of shady!
I recommend you get yourself the Haynes repair manual and familiarize yourself with the FSM. As long as you have the right tools, do everything you can on your own. If you don't have the right tools, don't attempt the job until you get them, or just let a competent mechanic do it.
I learned how to work on my car out of necessity. Cause this car is my daily driver, and you'll find that these cars will last forever but there always seems to be something wrong. And when you fix it there will eventually be something else.. it just happens with a 22 year old car.
What I started with:
Clean, mostly bone stock, but broken.
I was replacing a leaky crank/cam seals. Basically, I was an idiot and didn't torque down the camshaft pulleys, I just tightened them to what seemed "enough"... then right after I started it up and went to drive off.. Bang!
It also ripped the tensioner pulley and stud clear off the block and tore a few teeth out of the timing belt.
Jack it up!
Next I began removing stuff:
The engine had some over-heating problems when I converted to the e-fan. baked oil was the result. one side only apparently??
Bye bye lower intake:
Then, bye bye heads:
This one looks pretty good, for having 138,000 miles on it, and being totally original.
Just a small crack, right? It'll have to do for now, headers haven't arrived yet:
This one... not as good.
Carbon build-up anybody??
The engine bay actually looks large with most of the engine missing:
