- Joined
- 28 November 2009
- Messages
- 997
I will update this post later with pics.
Previously i owned a 300zx for about 6 years, this was my first attempt at building a fast car and took a naive approach of power power power. The car had the power but the setup was awful. The car was savage but didn't put it down and was unpredictable in terms of the delivery.
I learnt along the way the right way of building a fast car.
I started by raising the boost on the stock motor which was getting towards the end of it's life, decided to do a mild forged build that netted 520bhp (Flywheel) and lasted about a month. Basically Scholar Engines who apparently worked with Lotus and the Elise when it came out machined my block and heads and knife edged the crank, they slipped while knife edging and scuffed a main bearing journal, the machine shop assured me this was only cosmetic damage at the time being naive i took their word for it, but... i then couldn't everyone refused to build my engine with that crank, in the end the machine shop built my motor, after a month the motor seized, it blew most the oil out the exhausts. Guessing it was down to the crank! The garage pretty much screwed me over.
Anyway after that i spec'd the motor for 900bhp, i ordered all the parts. I sent the car to Thor Racing in the UK who stripped the car to almost bare shell, they had it well over a year getting on for two over that time they hardly done anything except strip the entire car and the engine itself. Time came where i decided enough was enough, this is never going to get done. So we went up there, after being locked in a office and threatened by the garage staff not to speak of this i returned home with a shell and boxes upon boxes of random parts new and used. Realistically no garage was going to take on this job without big expense. This garage had been charging me over the duration they had the car and not making any real progress, they also stole some of my parts again i got stitched over. The car ended up being weighed in for scrap metal and the parts sold on.
Before scrapping the 300 I started talks with a Rx7 specialist who built my brothers Rx7 about having a quad rotor (26B) built and dropped in, the idea was to sell all my parts and go down this route. Until i really considered what i could buy for the money and admitted that car was just a bad omen. At the time Ferrari 355's, TVR's, Aston's etc were reasonably priced which i considered but i knew it would be a bad idea with my urge for more power, it had to be Japanese. I wanted to go the next step from the 300zx, it came down to 2 options Nsx or R34 GTR.
I bought my Nsx roughly 5 years ago a pretty much stock low mileage Charlotte Green C30A 5 speed Na1.
The car was owned by the family of Walkers crisps in the UK for most it's life and has a comprehensive service history, trailer receipts for services etc. you name it.
The car was spotless, I loved it but wanted something a little different in both power and looks.
So i started doing basic mods, LSD's, body work etc. I went down the NA route initially ticking most options, but was very limited to what i could squeeze out the stock motor. Over the years it went from looking stock to subtly modified to the race car look. I had done allot of mods like STMPO Messiah exhaust system, Downforce intake etc.
I closely followed the forums, anytime anyone had a scare for example the crank pulley failing, water tanks splitting, oil pump gears cracking i straight away ordered the aftermarket upgraded parts. The car was mechanical sound. I covered most basis except the brakes at the time
This is when i started considering turbo kits, i really had my heart set on a single, as previously owning a twin i liked the sound single's produced and wanted to do something different. I looked at all the turbo kits on the market and went with Cody's and pick a few upgrades and custom options, GTX turbo, full ceramic coating of manifolds, turbo and exhaust system. Cody build me a custom exhaust, that had a Cat bolt in option and came straight out the back in the middle as a twin pipe.
Before purchasing Cody asked me to do a compression test, which i did. All cylinders were pretty close to each other with the exception of cylinder 6 which was just within tolerance, so i knew at some point i would need to install new pistons which i decided to purchase at the time along with head gaskets for a mild build. I never got round to installing these due to expense and not being sure if that was to be the spec i wanted to run, so still sitting in their boxes.
The install of the turbo kit was kinda a disaster but rewarding in the end, i saw that Angus kit was DIY and asked Cody could his kit be installed by a normal garage or needed to be a more specialized garage. I couldn't see why not so i arranged with a small one man garage who was a Honda enthusiast to install my turbo kit with my help, the day i got there to start the install he came hopping out the workshop and said chris i don't want to scare you but i've damaged my leg and will assist you with the install. I ended up doing most the install myself, i had done my homework knowing how most of it went together. So off i went, he didn't really help at all. I managed to get it all installed and running on a base map supplied from Cody on the FIC. The car ran fine. He then had the cheek and turned round charging me about half again the initial agreed quote for the install. He said i ran over to which i replied, no shit of course i did. I'm no mechanic, you didn't do the work as agreed with my help, i did it with very little help. that got a little messy. Again i got stitched over by another UK garage.
Anyway, i got the car tuned. It seemed to drive great on the way home and for the next couple of days then after a short while the car kept throwing me out of boost well seemed the car would just kill power mid pull and come back. Replaced loads of parts, Coils, igniters you name it. Went back to Cody who helped me with simply diagnostics. Cody assured me that a guaranteed route to resolve the issue would be going with the AEM Infinity. I was hesitant because it was sold as a kit, how easy would it be to install? who would tune it? Cody said it was pretty easy to install but i still wasn't sure and didn't want to take it to a garage who would charge allot of money per hour, having to spend days on installing it. So i decided the best option was to fly Cody out to install the Ecu and tune it, which is what we did. Install was actually very easy, Cody had the car running on the first day, over the duration we got the car road tuned and then dyno tuned. It drove perfectly the issues had gone that i was experiencing with the FIC. While Cody was here he said "Chris, your oil pressure is a little low." if it wasn't for the Infinity I would of had no idea as the gauge on the dash looked fine, so the Infinity basically kinda saved me, well made me aware of a potential serious issue. When tuning the car we had to slightly lower the oil pressure safety parameters to other cars to stop the infinity going in to safety mode until i resolved the issue. At this time the oil pressure could had been just the oil i was running, maybe the external oil cooler because the lines were crazy long or maybe even a faulty sensor. Cody had set flights to return home, the car done over a 200 mile round trip dropping Cody off at the airport with zero issues, we sat in about an 2 hour traffic jam on a hot day, no issue.
I then changed the oil, for a while it all seemed ok.
Then over the next few weeks/months the car started playing up. Cody talked me through looking in the logs the power cut was the Infinity going in to limp mode due to the oil pressure once again. From there i changed the oil again but removing my billet purepower reusable filter to a normal type, eliminated and tested all oil related things i could externally, bypassing external oil coolers, new sensors. I tested the oil pressure per manual with a mechanical gauge. The issue appeared to be internal.
Now the Dilemma i faced.
UK specialist garages charge crazy money. I didn't want to pay to have the engine removed and stripped just to be inspected as i would had to wait months for any parts or what if it was something major like a crank, full motor build etc. After speaking with Cody and going through different scenarios i decided to go on the basis of worst case. It sounds a little crazy but... it's so hard to get parts here and with the unknown of what was wrong or involved, i opted for a full build because i would have a car that is mechanically sound and trouble free with the peace of mind and confidence to drive. I thought to myself i've been here before!! my 300zx built motor blew up after a month. So i decided to over spec the motor for a element of safety. I can only afford to do this once so do it right. There was a possibility the bearing had gone due to the symptoms and going on worst case i decided the crank had to be replaced to be on the safe side. this meant stroker kits, i spec'd the engine for around 800-1000bhp i wanted to tick every box and dot every I.
I contacted several garages and specialists and decided to take my car to Plans Performance an Nsx specialist in the UK.
As we speak the car is currently in bits and with Plans, they were just as excited as myself when dropping the car off to be working on this project. The motor is apart and with the machine shop as of typing. They found that one of the bearings had gone. They have sent a comprehensive email with a to do list of other things they have found that needs addressing which is good as again I know in the back of my mind that the car will come home completely mechanically sound. So far so good with Plans but a little anxious based on my past experience with garages, time will tell.
I will post a complete spec list later with more details and info but this is a start at least.
I am member of a supercar club and i have ruined several members :tongue: - Lambo's, Ferrari's, Aston's etc. This was when boosted on a stock block running as much power as i safely dared, so i can't wait to see how it will stand with the extra power and the stroker. I have no idea what kind of cars it will be able to sit with. I guess i have that to fine out.
So as you can see i have had my share of bad luck in terms of cars, i'm a decent guy and garages take advantages of this and stitch me up in the past. I'm a little nervous but very excited.
- - - Updated - - -
When i spec'd the motor i wanted to replace everything oem while building.
I ordered the oem motor rebuild kits (these do not contain everything)
I then went online and printed off the exploded diagrams for the motor, oil systems, wiring, throttle body etc. etc.
I then cross referenced what parts i had and ordered every single gasket, seal, grommet and including all brand new sensors for everything... Some sensors were expensive like the knock and crank angle but as mentioned above i could only do this the once and needed it to be trouble free motoring.
I wanted to spend a little extra now to ensure i had a brand new motor for complete reliability and trouble free motoring.
Previously i owned a 300zx for about 6 years, this was my first attempt at building a fast car and took a naive approach of power power power. The car had the power but the setup was awful. The car was savage but didn't put it down and was unpredictable in terms of the delivery.
I learnt along the way the right way of building a fast car.
I started by raising the boost on the stock motor which was getting towards the end of it's life, decided to do a mild forged build that netted 520bhp (Flywheel) and lasted about a month. Basically Scholar Engines who apparently worked with Lotus and the Elise when it came out machined my block and heads and knife edged the crank, they slipped while knife edging and scuffed a main bearing journal, the machine shop assured me this was only cosmetic damage at the time being naive i took their word for it, but... i then couldn't everyone refused to build my engine with that crank, in the end the machine shop built my motor, after a month the motor seized, it blew most the oil out the exhausts. Guessing it was down to the crank! The garage pretty much screwed me over.
Anyway after that i spec'd the motor for 900bhp, i ordered all the parts. I sent the car to Thor Racing in the UK who stripped the car to almost bare shell, they had it well over a year getting on for two over that time they hardly done anything except strip the entire car and the engine itself. Time came where i decided enough was enough, this is never going to get done. So we went up there, after being locked in a office and threatened by the garage staff not to speak of this i returned home with a shell and boxes upon boxes of random parts new and used. Realistically no garage was going to take on this job without big expense. This garage had been charging me over the duration they had the car and not making any real progress, they also stole some of my parts again i got stitched over. The car ended up being weighed in for scrap metal and the parts sold on.
Before scrapping the 300 I started talks with a Rx7 specialist who built my brothers Rx7 about having a quad rotor (26B) built and dropped in, the idea was to sell all my parts and go down this route. Until i really considered what i could buy for the money and admitted that car was just a bad omen. At the time Ferrari 355's, TVR's, Aston's etc were reasonably priced which i considered but i knew it would be a bad idea with my urge for more power, it had to be Japanese. I wanted to go the next step from the 300zx, it came down to 2 options Nsx or R34 GTR.
I bought my Nsx roughly 5 years ago a pretty much stock low mileage Charlotte Green C30A 5 speed Na1.
The car was owned by the family of Walkers crisps in the UK for most it's life and has a comprehensive service history, trailer receipts for services etc. you name it.
The car was spotless, I loved it but wanted something a little different in both power and looks.
So i started doing basic mods, LSD's, body work etc. I went down the NA route initially ticking most options, but was very limited to what i could squeeze out the stock motor. Over the years it went from looking stock to subtly modified to the race car look. I had done allot of mods like STMPO Messiah exhaust system, Downforce intake etc.
I closely followed the forums, anytime anyone had a scare for example the crank pulley failing, water tanks splitting, oil pump gears cracking i straight away ordered the aftermarket upgraded parts. The car was mechanical sound. I covered most basis except the brakes at the time
This is when i started considering turbo kits, i really had my heart set on a single, as previously owning a twin i liked the sound single's produced and wanted to do something different. I looked at all the turbo kits on the market and went with Cody's and pick a few upgrades and custom options, GTX turbo, full ceramic coating of manifolds, turbo and exhaust system. Cody build me a custom exhaust, that had a Cat bolt in option and came straight out the back in the middle as a twin pipe.
Before purchasing Cody asked me to do a compression test, which i did. All cylinders were pretty close to each other with the exception of cylinder 6 which was just within tolerance, so i knew at some point i would need to install new pistons which i decided to purchase at the time along with head gaskets for a mild build. I never got round to installing these due to expense and not being sure if that was to be the spec i wanted to run, so still sitting in their boxes.
The install of the turbo kit was kinda a disaster but rewarding in the end, i saw that Angus kit was DIY and asked Cody could his kit be installed by a normal garage or needed to be a more specialized garage. I couldn't see why not so i arranged with a small one man garage who was a Honda enthusiast to install my turbo kit with my help, the day i got there to start the install he came hopping out the workshop and said chris i don't want to scare you but i've damaged my leg and will assist you with the install. I ended up doing most the install myself, i had done my homework knowing how most of it went together. So off i went, he didn't really help at all. I managed to get it all installed and running on a base map supplied from Cody on the FIC. The car ran fine. He then had the cheek and turned round charging me about half again the initial agreed quote for the install. He said i ran over to which i replied, no shit of course i did. I'm no mechanic, you didn't do the work as agreed with my help, i did it with very little help. that got a little messy. Again i got stitched over by another UK garage.
Anyway, i got the car tuned. It seemed to drive great on the way home and for the next couple of days then after a short while the car kept throwing me out of boost well seemed the car would just kill power mid pull and come back. Replaced loads of parts, Coils, igniters you name it. Went back to Cody who helped me with simply diagnostics. Cody assured me that a guaranteed route to resolve the issue would be going with the AEM Infinity. I was hesitant because it was sold as a kit, how easy would it be to install? who would tune it? Cody said it was pretty easy to install but i still wasn't sure and didn't want to take it to a garage who would charge allot of money per hour, having to spend days on installing it. So i decided the best option was to fly Cody out to install the Ecu and tune it, which is what we did. Install was actually very easy, Cody had the car running on the first day, over the duration we got the car road tuned and then dyno tuned. It drove perfectly the issues had gone that i was experiencing with the FIC. While Cody was here he said "Chris, your oil pressure is a little low." if it wasn't for the Infinity I would of had no idea as the gauge on the dash looked fine, so the Infinity basically kinda saved me, well made me aware of a potential serious issue. When tuning the car we had to slightly lower the oil pressure safety parameters to other cars to stop the infinity going in to safety mode until i resolved the issue. At this time the oil pressure could had been just the oil i was running, maybe the external oil cooler because the lines were crazy long or maybe even a faulty sensor. Cody had set flights to return home, the car done over a 200 mile round trip dropping Cody off at the airport with zero issues, we sat in about an 2 hour traffic jam on a hot day, no issue.
I then changed the oil, for a while it all seemed ok.
Then over the next few weeks/months the car started playing up. Cody talked me through looking in the logs the power cut was the Infinity going in to limp mode due to the oil pressure once again. From there i changed the oil again but removing my billet purepower reusable filter to a normal type, eliminated and tested all oil related things i could externally, bypassing external oil coolers, new sensors. I tested the oil pressure per manual with a mechanical gauge. The issue appeared to be internal.
Now the Dilemma i faced.
UK specialist garages charge crazy money. I didn't want to pay to have the engine removed and stripped just to be inspected as i would had to wait months for any parts or what if it was something major like a crank, full motor build etc. After speaking with Cody and going through different scenarios i decided to go on the basis of worst case. It sounds a little crazy but... it's so hard to get parts here and with the unknown of what was wrong or involved, i opted for a full build because i would have a car that is mechanically sound and trouble free with the peace of mind and confidence to drive. I thought to myself i've been here before!! my 300zx built motor blew up after a month. So i decided to over spec the motor for a element of safety. I can only afford to do this once so do it right. There was a possibility the bearing had gone due to the symptoms and going on worst case i decided the crank had to be replaced to be on the safe side. this meant stroker kits, i spec'd the engine for around 800-1000bhp i wanted to tick every box and dot every I.
I contacted several garages and specialists and decided to take my car to Plans Performance an Nsx specialist in the UK.
As we speak the car is currently in bits and with Plans, they were just as excited as myself when dropping the car off to be working on this project. The motor is apart and with the machine shop as of typing. They found that one of the bearings had gone. They have sent a comprehensive email with a to do list of other things they have found that needs addressing which is good as again I know in the back of my mind that the car will come home completely mechanically sound. So far so good with Plans but a little anxious based on my past experience with garages, time will tell.
I will post a complete spec list later with more details and info but this is a start at least.
I am member of a supercar club and i have ruined several members :tongue: - Lambo's, Ferrari's, Aston's etc. This was when boosted on a stock block running as much power as i safely dared, so i can't wait to see how it will stand with the extra power and the stroker. I have no idea what kind of cars it will be able to sit with. I guess i have that to fine out.
So as you can see i have had my share of bad luck in terms of cars, i'm a decent guy and garages take advantages of this and stitch me up in the past. I'm a little nervous but very excited.
- - - Updated - - -
When i spec'd the motor i wanted to replace everything oem while building.
I ordered the oem motor rebuild kits (these do not contain everything)
I then went online and printed off the exploded diagrams for the motor, oil systems, wiring, throttle body etc. etc.
I then cross referenced what parts i had and ordered every single gasket, seal, grommet and including all brand new sensors for everything... Some sensors were expensive like the knock and crank angle but as mentioned above i could only do this the once and needed it to be trouble free motoring.
I wanted to spend a little extra now to ensure i had a brand new motor for complete reliability and trouble free motoring.
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