I was at the junkyard the other day and I saw an 84-89 Z turbo.... I asked about the turbo parts and he said I could have all of them for $250. So here's my question... is there a diagram for how this system works? I saw that the crossover is right behind the engine, and I couldn't even see which side the turbo sits on(I think driver's side) If the manifolds have any chance of bolting up to the VE heads, it shouldn't be a prob to run the crossover right above the trans to the front where there is enough room. I think I would have to get a custom downpipe(and maybe crossover/y) to the cat and I would have to (somehow) locate the turbo away from the A/C compressor. There is a lot of room right in front of the trans where the plumbing could be coordinated. Anyways, most of the turbo people have been secretive about their work, so maybe this won't get the response I want, but can somebody link me to some pics of how the turbo works in the Z31 and how they fit them in the max. To the turbo guys, is this something that I am going to have to figure out on my own? I have a spare engine to work on, and I wouldn't actually get the turbo into my car before spring 2002 anyways

 

Just today (In TN no doubt, go figure!?) had the opportunity to actually see a turbo fabrication on an '87 Max w/ N2O. It does intell a bit of re routing of this and redesign of that fitting and a cutting off of this other thing.....but, there is room to do it and the end result is a very big smile on your face and an enormous "what the F@##$" look on the guy you just beat. I don't know, unless there is some secret pact among Boosted Maxs, I'll think about doing a write up on mine, but if I end up dead, you guys'll know why......right?

 

I own a 91 SE with an 87 300Z Turbo motor in it. It fits no prob. Everything was actually copasetic but there was some custom piping to be made. I have a buddy here in Jax., Fl. who will make the piping for $450. Includes a 3" downpipne connecting pipe, boost pipe, and intake pipe. Email me and let me know. The turbo is front mounted by the way.... not on the side.

 

Assuming you get all the hardware bugs out, here is the most important part. You will be limited by the stock injectors and high compression from the VE. Before you even start the car you need at least a boost pressure regulator or a JWT ECU. Then you should run a colder spark plug, maybe upgrade the fuel pump. In others call JWT tell them your running a stock 300ZX turbo. Also check out what year the car is, if its a 85-86 Z it has the slightly more powerful T3 turbo. The 87-89's have the smaller, quicker spooling T25. A T3 at 6psi should net you about a 20-30hp gain at the wheels. I believe the turbo can make power up to 15psi, however I doubt you could get over 8psi without the JWT ECU and/or intercooler. BTW don't even think about buying a boost controller either. Otherwise your motor would die very quickly.

 

If this turbo works.Would a turbo work on a auto VE or would it screw the tranny up?I would like to start a turbo project this summer when I get my other car.I can put my max in the garage and drive the other car.(Dont know what the other car is gonna be)Probably a lifted chevy truck to pull my boat.

Something needs to happen for the VE's.VG's can be turbocharged.And 4th and 5th gens got S/C we need something.

 

Your auto VE will not be able to handle the power of a turbo. Your tranny will be slipping all throughout the gears.

 

Oh it'll handle it you'll just have to shell out the loot.
you need Don's valve body uprade or an equivalent, a new torque converter and clutches that can withstand a turbo or a 100 shot NOS.
Hmm, that made me think, can those clutches be made of kevlar??

 

The lingering question for me is whether the Z ecu is a direct plug in. Okay, JWT makes a Z ecu for the max? Still wondering.

 

I am wondering what most people have had the best experiences with when turbo charging their max time, money, and power wise between putting in the turbo 300zx motor, or adding a turbo to the vg max motor. I am very interested in pursuing a turbo project and am starting to do my research. Any insight or opinions on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

My understanding is that the larger injectors on the Z make it more worthwhile because the injectors are so expensive. You already get the turbo with it and an engine that is set up for the turbo. Adding a turbo to the max engine would gain hp due to forced induction but not as much as a complete Z engine would. Cost benifit? Seems cheaper and of more benifit to just swap engines.

 

HP for a Z31 turbo I thought was 200... I bet if you are putting the turbo on a vg you'd actually get more HP because I would think that the VG has a higher compression ratio..

 

can the engine be damaged by adding the turbo to the vg max engine.??

 

Yes. Turbo adds more stress to the engine internals. #1 rule with Turbo is never to overboost.

 

I think all I am going to buy is the two manifolds and the turbo. I will have to fabricate all the rest. The crossover pipe will have to extend past the water outlet(not ideal) and I will reverse the turbo like turbomax1 did. I don't like the sharp angles that the downpipe has getting around the engine mount. b/c of this I think I will have to move the turbo more towards the tranny and hopefully not interfere with the starter... In other words it will be a challenge. I also need to find out what kind of this I will need to run it, i.e. I am not sure how the wastegate is supposed to work, how to set a safe boost level, boost gauge, a/f meter, FPR, MAF. The way the Z has it the maf is ahead of the turbo so I assume this is standard. I would like to initially set it conservatively enough to work with the stock fuel system and with the stock electronics.

Also I wanted to know how good the stock turbos are... The one I am getting is off an 84-86 and I want to know if I will have a lot of lag etc., how quickly they will spool etc.

 

You will need to upgrade your stock fuel system otherwise you won't be able to increase the boost. The stock Turbo on the 84-86 Z31 is a T3 which is pretty decent. If you were planning to upgrade I would recommend Turbonetics T3/T4 hybrid.. I have 3 friend that have them and it's CRAZY!!! The one guy is only running 4psi of boost and his car is still pretty quick. Since you have a VE, I can't help much with your exhaust manifolds. I know Z manifolds will fit on the VE's but I still need to find out more info from Maximamike. BTW, the wastegate shouldn't be a problem, they are pretty easy to tune.

 

The Stillen N/A Z headers do fit on the heads, but clearence and piping them would be the problem..

 

I did some more research on my nonofficial project (unveiling hopefully summer '02). The Z manifolds will bolt up to the VE heads but the exhaust ports in the manifold are smaller than the port on the VE head so I will have to enlarge it(VE=oval shaped port, VG=round port or so it seems) I have decided that instead of rerouting the crossover pipe I will move the water outlet up and I will relocate some of auxillary air parts bolted to the rear head to accomodate the c/o pipe. I am now spending some time at z31.com to find out what they are doing. This initially will be a low boost project due to the high compression on the VE. The stock T3 doesn't produce very good boost above 10 psi. and the Z's intake manifold's popoff valve is set @ 6.5 psi. The wastegate in the Z configuration is set to open at 5 psi. I am now looking into boost controllers and may initially go with a manual one (cheap) for 4 psi. I think I can run that very safely to get the thing going and then I can tune it and see how it reacts to more boost. The cool thing is that I have that spare engine to toy with rather than messing with my car. I think I will set the goal for this project initially to do a 14.5 1/4 and I think that is going to be no problem.

 

Sam. I would ditch the Z31 manifolds. The VE had some crap bolted to near the tranny(ie.. iac and thermostat housing) that, IMHO, would interfer w/ the cross-over tube. I have thought about this project for some time and could point you in the right direction. The way I would do it uses the oem exhaust manifolds and directs the plumbing in a different way.

We can get together and discuss it sometime. I even have a good shop that would fab all the tubing. Not cheap but quality work.

 

I believe all that junk is part of the auxillary air control for emissions purposes.... I was thinking about relocating that stuff upwards to facilitate the c/o pipe, but do you have a better way? I could probably get just the T3 for $150 if there was a way to run the plumbing with minimal bends using the ve mainfolds. The only thing I can think of is running the rear mainfold under the engine to a location by the tranny; and then the downpipe from the turbo would have to run back along the same route to the cat. Is there room? Also I would like the turbo as close to the engine as poss. to minimize lag. If I have 3-4' of pipe between the exhaust port and the turbo I think I am losing a lot of heat and pressure.

 

Email me

 

I am thinking of relocating all that stuff towards my nearest trash recepticle. When I come back tonight I'll show you guys how Harrison has his 91 SE set up. I believe that will help us all with the plumbing design. I would think it would be easiest to route the rear pipe towards the center/driver side under the tranny and the front pipe to a connector of it. The piping would would similar to this--> http://www.geocities.com/maximamike/...xes/ve-t.jpeg. But the rear cross over would be set further back. Hey Jeff, wanna email me with some of your vast VE knowledge. We can put together like, a huge VE turbo faq or something Thanks boyeees..

 

What about using the Z31 manifolds but cut the flanges off that connect to the c/o pipe and relocate the flanges at about a 45 degree angle to have the c/o run away from the thermostat housing and the AAC stuff? (I am talking about welding it on). I am looking at the stock VE manifolds and it looks like they would be a pain to modify to aim a different way. Another idea would be to get some Z32 NA headers and put them on backwards having the exhaust run up and towards the drivers side(not sure how long they are)It looks like the bolt pattern would work in reverse on the flanges. BTW Maximamike, I think geocities is catching on to the refresh button. I can't get your pic.

 

Shiiiiit. Try pressing shift+return or copy and paste. Anyways, by backwards you mean the left manifold on the right and vice verse, right? Here's a pic of the Z manifolds.. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...nce=0&res=high

 

Forget that.. there's no way...