Going Turbo

[S742DUS7]

Alright well i picked up a t3 turbo , Nice size intercooler that can flow 400 + , exhaust manifold and a few other small things from matthunter1448 .

I do need a few more things please add to this list if you know or think i will need any thing else.

Intercooler piping 3" ebay 100+
o2 housing
custom exhaust
all new gaskets
Adding an oil drain in the oil pan ( Getting turbo oil pan is not an option )
turbo injectors and and ecu

Im going to rebuilt the turbo also , Would this kit work for that ?

http://www.treadstoneperformance.com...bo+Rebuild+Kit


And as for the oil drain i was looking around and i saw this and i looks perfect because i have no clue how to weld and i dont have the tools for it.



Thats on honda pan but what is i called and where could buy one from ?
because all i would have to is use a dremal and cut into the pan and place that on there with gasket sealent.

Also what should i get for sending oil into the turbo ? Is there some kinda plate or some thing i need?

sorry for the noob questions but i gotta ask.

[craZed]

Thats an interesting oil drain.Looks to be a turbo drain flange that has
been bolted and RTVd to an oil pan.Thats slick.

[Chris86NA2T]

S742DUS7 wrote:
Also what should i get for sending oil into the turbo ? Is there some kinda plate or some thing i need?

that question as well as most others are covered in this article i wrote a while back. i started revising it earlier this year so jason could post it but i got delayed with retarded things like school and work. read through it completly...... just one question, why would you want to hack up your oil pan when you can get a turbo one for next to nothing. it only takes a couple hours to change it and you dont need any special tools. i guarantee that adding a hole in the NA pan will be incredibly annoying. anyways, happy reading

How to Make a Non Turbo Engine a Turbo


This article covers the parts and procedures needed to make a non-turbo vg30 a turbo. It does not include the 88 and 89 engines, which have a smaller turbo and higher compression. I have no hands on experience with these engines, but I’m sure the procedures and parts will be similar. This process takes a lot of time and some specialized equipment. This should be considered before the project is started. Many people decide to sell their NA and buy a turbo car. This would be advised if you don’t think you can handle the conversion, but I was attached to my car and didn’t have the money to buy a turbo up front and hope that my NA sold for enough. If you can obtain an entire turbo engine then your job is much simpler. This write-up will explain the pieces necessary to convert the non-turbo engine, and how to make it work in your car.

The main difference between these engines is the compression. This is addressed by using lower compression pistons. These can be obtained from a turbo engine, or you can invest in aftermarket forged pistons if you plan on making a seriously powerful engine in the future. Or you could just use the NA pistons with the higher compression, which a lot of people are doing with great success. The other differences in these engines are as follows:

1) Detonation sensor – This is a safety device and is not necessary. It can be used, but the engine will run fine without it. In order to use it you will need the turbo wire harness for the engine compartment, or sift through the service manual reading pinouts and running new wires to the computer. I’d just ignore the thing

2) Pop off valve – This is an emergency pressure relief valve that is screwed into the intake manifold right near the “V” on the cover plate. Your NA (naturally aspirated) should have a plug in there right now. If you would like the added safety of the POV then it will bolt right in. Be advised, it will vent intake pressure to the atmosphere if the boost goes more than a couple psi above stock. So if you plan on turning up the boost then you will either have to modify it to open at higher boost, or keep it plugged. This is another great item to ignore.

3) Auxiliary air control valve – This device is what the turbo cars use to control the idle. The NA’s use a FICD or fast idle control device. This is located on the passenger’s side of the intake plenum. To use it you will need the engine wire harness. I am using the NA’s idle control on my turbo conversion and the only problem I am experiencing is a very slight loop in my idle. Aside from that it is working just fine. A few people have had success rewiring the NA harness to make this work properly. I hate doing stuff like that and have never tried it, you are on your own here




Parts you will NEED

1. All intake plumbing from a turbo car.

2. The driver’s side engine mount bracket (bolted to drivers side of turbo engine block. This is needed to clear the turbo. (you will understand it when you look down there)

3. The front crossmember from a turbo car. This is required to clear the turbo and line up with the turbo engine mount bracket.

4. Of course you will also need a turbocharger! Grab one from any pre 88 turbo car. Be advised, the 84’s had oil cooled turbos and were supposedly more prone to failure than the 85-87 water-cooled turbos. You can get a turbo from an 88 or 89, but it’s a tiny little T25, and it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as a T3. be sure to get all the associated oil and water lines that are attached to the turbo, as well as the banjo bolt that attaches the oil feed line to the block.

5. You also need the drivers side exhaust manifold. It will mate up with the NA’s crossover pipe with no problems.

6. Turbo injectors have a larger flow rate over the NA injectors. These are required, as the NA injectors will max out very quickly with the higher fuel demands of the turbo engine.

7. The engine computer is important as it controls the injectors and needs to know the size of them to control the mixture properly. It is very important to have turbo fuel rails from the year computer you are using. If you get an 87-turbo computer, then get injectors/fuel rails from an 87 turbo. Certain years may be compatible, but if they are not then the fuel pump will remain on and the pressure will not be correct. It is easiest to get fuel injectors used and fully intact on their rails from a turbo parts car. (I wrote this part a while back. I don’t remember how how I came to this conclusion or how accurate this is)

8. The oxygen sensor has to match the computer. Refer to http://www.Redz31.com for computer-O2 sensor compatibility.

9. If your alternator is on the drivers side then it will need to be moved to the passengers side to make room for the turbo. This is quite easy, it only requires the turbo alternator bracket and tensioner. Just grab these from a turbo car and bolt them on. The alternator wire harness may not reach across, so you might have to extend it. I needed to do this, it wasn’t a problem, just a few splices. A different belt may also be required. The number I needed was a 17395. Im not sure if this is the stock belt or if my old belt was just to stretched out to reuse, but either way that’s the belt you need. Just a note, the AC bracket on the NA car doubles as the alternator bracket. This may get in the way of the intake pipes that go through there, so you MAY need to use the bracket from a turbo car.

10. Also grab the metal water hose that crosses the front of the engine. Its going to be different if you car had the alternator on the drivers side. It can probably be coaxed into fitting, but if you are already at the junkyard pick it up, it makes life a bit easier.

11. You will need the downpipe that goes from the turbo to the catalytic converter. It will bolt right in.

12. The turbo oil pan has a nipple on it for the turbos oil return line. You will need either the oil pan, or have a piece welded on.

Other Information

Now that you have everything you need I will try to explain everything else you will need to do to make this work, and address any other problems you may encounter.

-The NA transmission can be used, but the strongest tranny is from the 87-89 turbos. Plenty of people have put a lot of power to the NA tranny and it has held.

-The clutch will also not be as strong and may not hold if you turn up the boost.

-The upper intake pipe has one less hole on the turbo model. On the NA’s this is the return for the crankcase ventilation. It is now routed to the metal S pipe that goes between the airflow meter and the turbo.

-You will need to route engine coolant to the turbo if you used a water-cooled turbo. The coolant lines that attach to the throttle body can be removed and spliced into. All you would need for this is coolant hose and some clamps.

-If you need to change the oxygen sensor to a different year then it may need the adapter for that year. The adapter is a 1 1/8 inch plug with a threaded hole in the middle for the sensor to fit into. It can be a pain to get this plug out, but all you need to do is use the adapter from the year of the o2 sensor you are using.

-Turbo cars have an injector cooling fan. Most people seem to think it is worthless. I have no factual information on this topic, but it can be installed if it makes you feel more comfortable. The wires are there on the NA harness so all you would have to do is bolt it on and plug it in. I am not using one right now and don’t plan on it.

-Im sure it would be a very good idea to install some of the heat shields from a turbo car.

-The oil pressure line for the turbo attaches to the engine block. On the NA block the hole is there but it is plugged. It is located on the front of the block on the drivers side. Be sure that this line is either brand new, or cleaned thoroughly. This line is so critical that turbo builders will not warranty a turbo unless the customer buys a new oil supply line.


FAQ’s

Q - Can I just bolt a turbo to my NA engine without going through the trouble of changing the pistons?
A – Yes, plenty of people have done it and made a lot of power, but compression and high boost do not mix very well. You would probably have no problem running stock boost with the NA pistons, but an engine set up like that will detonate if you add much more boost than stock. The NA compression is 9.0:1 and the turbo is 7.8:1. Be sure to address the detonation problem before increasing boost

Q – So I can use everything from my NA engine except the stuff that you listed above?
A – Yes, the engines are very similar. The heads, manifolds, even the engine blocks are identical, they just have pieces bolted on in different spaces.

Q – How much does this cost on average?
A – Well that really depends on how you go about getting the parts and if you do the labor yourself. My conversion was nearly free. I bought a turbo parts car for $200 and used everything that I needed from that. Then I sold all the parts I didn’t need and I actually ended up making my $200 back and then some

By the way, for pictures you can reference the following sites:

http://www.redz31.com/pages/turbo.html

http://tboz.no-ip.com:10000/300ZX/Turbo ... oSwap.html

[MikeZ]

3inch IC piping is too big. Go with 2.25 inch.

[S742DUS7]

The reason im going to do that is because i dont feel like spending the money on one when i can just make one within an hour or two... and the second reason is there is no 300zx turbos in the yunkyards around here.
thanks for the info.


Why should i use 2.5 ?

[MikeZ]

S742DUS7 wrote: Why should i use 2.5 ?

Not 2.5, but 2.25 inch.

3 inch is just entirely too big and you will have a rediculous amount of lag with the boost produced from a T3 trying to find it's way to your engine. The smaller the diameter pipes, the quicker boost response you will have. Even if you upgrade to a larger turbo, the 2.25 inch pipes are fine.

Tons of people use 2.25 inch intercooler piping and are making over 500rwhp (Jason for example). It is not too small.

[SteveZ]

[quote]MikeZ wrote:

Why should i use 2.5 ?
Not 2.5, but 2.25 inch.

3 inch is just entirely too big and you will have a rediculous amount of lag with the boost produced from a T3 trying to find it's way to your engine. The smaller the diameter pipes, the quicker boost response you will have. Even if you upgrade to a larger turbo, the 2.25 inch pipes are fine.

I agree completly
Unless you a running insane amounts of Boost Pressures on a Turbo the flows some serious CFM 2.25 Inch is fine

[S742DUS7]

Also what bov could i use without the stalling issue ?


and Is there any way around relocating the alt to the drivers side ?

[MikeZ]

S742DUS7 wrote: Also what bov could i use without the stalling issue ?


and Is there any way around relocating the alt to the drivers side ?

You shouldn't have stalling issues with any BOV to begin with. Secondly, the altenator needs to be on the passensger side if you are converting to turbo. If you have an NA, then it should already be on the driver's side. Please read here: http://www.redz31.com/ for the NA to turbo swap info and TONS of other info on the z31.

[S742DUS7]

I see people saying they are having issues with stalling when going with a after market BOV that pushes into the the atmosphere

[S742DUS7]

[quote]MikeZ wrote:

Also what bov could i use without the stalling issue ?


and Is there any way around relocating the alt to the drivers side ?
You shouldn't have stalling issues with any BOV to begin with. Secondly, the altenator needs to be on the passensger side if you are converting to turbo. If you have an NA, then it should already be on the driver's side. Please read here: http://www.redz31.com/ for the NA to turbo swap info and TONS of other info on the z31.

yeah sorry thats what i meant , what is the reason you need to move the alt ?

Is there any way around moving it?

[matthunter1448]

S742DUS7 wrote:

yeah sorry thats what i meant , what is the reason you need to move the alt ?

Is there any way around moving it?

the reason is for the placement of the turbo inlet pipes and such
and if u have a 87 or later z31 the turbo shouldn't need moved it should already be on the passenger side.

[MrwassmanNA2T]

S742DUS7 wrote: I see people saying they are having issues with stalling when going with a after market BOV that pushes into the the atmosphere

Yeah if you hit full boost and let of the gas and push in the clutch it MIGHT stall.

[84z31]

i just picked up my turbo set up.

the only things i couldn't get was the crossmember (easily modified with a torch and welder), and the turbo piping(again easily made with a welder). and i think i got all the alternator brackets. but i'm not sure if my chevy alternator will fit on the passenger side. if not i'll say good bye to power steering or mount it on the air conditioning bracket.

[300zxt]

Goodbye to powersteering? LOL Have fun with that!