Alright an issue has come up. I want to beef up the internals of the engine. I have the 370CC injectors.

What will I need to build an engine?
Pistons? rods?
a new beefy headgasket?

The problem is that since this is a maxima not a Honda or acura or a supra where they sell the stuff already made, how do I go about doing all this?

I am one lost soul when it comes to the actual internals. I know by lowering my compression I will lose about 20HP NA. No problem I will boost 2 PSI to make up for that. I think I am good at 15PSI which may equal 13PSI on beefed internals. That is all I need for power no more no less. I know with more power comes more headaches.

 

Get low compression pistons (slightly larger...at least 1mm more in size), and go to Pauter machine company and get custom rods. It's expensive, but that **** will hold together. Then have your block decked and O-ringed with copper gaskets (you could still use regular Nissan gaskets, but since you're building your internals up, might as well beef up the head gaskets as well). Also, while you've got the engine apart, get the heads reworked (ported/polished, vavle job, stiffer springs) and get those suckers matched with the block. Also, use ARP head studs/bolts...nothing else. If you have to, adapt existing ones to your application (I think there are some that would work with either very little or no mods). Next, you will have to build the tranny! The stock internals will NEVER hold up to the kind of abuse you're thinking about. One redline run to 3rd or 4th and that sucker will come apart quicker than you can blink an eye.

I have plenty of ideas for you Jaime, but it's not cheap by any means...

 

I really would like to see how this turns out. 15 psi is going to be LOTS of power under the hood of that max

 

Talk to Nigel. Also, talk to on alert. He was selling a lot of things to build up a maxima engine.

 

I have been thinking they same lines as jaime.

So you think the tranny will melt justin???

I was thinking just the quaife or whatever or whereever the drive gear meets the axles would be the BIG problem.

I could see the "teeth" just popping off..lol

I may be incorrect or not looking at the big picture.


I need to do more reasearch, but I thought copper gaskets were bad for daily driving?

Leaked oil, radiator fluid or something. I'll look for that post on the ford forums.

Also, a FLUIDINE radiator would be in order with a 140 deg. Thermostat IMHO.

Or would it be best to find a different platform?

I SERIOUSLY want 450 WHP. However, I am willing to have that with race gas/toulene and @ 16 PSI, 12-13 PSI is what I want daily.

I have desktop dyno. I am about to start plugging in numbers.. Maybe I should post on the general forum and see what area under the curve man has..lol

 

Here is the link for the parts he is selling. Check it out.

Link: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=258877

 

I just bought on alerts engine parts for the custom build up. But he was selling custom Arias Pistons and Eagle rods. Ill be working on the whole thing when I get back from iraq, gonna throw in some nismo 555 injectors and port the head although I have heard that the VQ head flows pretty good
Anyone know were I can get me a nice custom head gasket done at?

 

According to Mardi the STOCK 350Z head gaskets mate up pretty close and they've been holding up to 400+whp. If that's not enough, just look around for aftermarket 350Z gaskets by SGP, Top Secret, etc..

 

Hey Jay if you would like i am thinking of selling my det pistons 9:1 compression for 350. please let me know by thursday if you want them otherwise they are going in my car

 

Heres the deal I just bought another motor with 28K. The screws the fell off from the MEVI damaged my engine. How do I know? well my compression is 105 on one of my cylinders. When EJJ dropped a bolt into his engine his compression was 100. the rest of my cylinders read about 170-180PSI I know I dont boost my car alot for this to even happen. Mardigrasmax has boosting 10.5PSI plus nitrous and no JS and he didnt blow his engine. I have been boostin 9.5 and just cranked it up to 9.7PSI.

 

Damn J-dog......so your motor is gone? Or.....just needs work?

I'm here if you need help.

 

Damn I think that would hold alot more than 15 psi! I think that is more like 25-30 psi! I think a VQ can hold 15 psi without pistons or rods. I think the headgasket need to be cooper and use arp studs and with proper tuning you can squeeze out 15 psi. But I really don't know anything about cars. Haha, I saw pictures of VQ rods man they are really weak and skinny. I think you should get some stronger h-beam rods before pistons. The increased compression will help the turbo spool faster. I think with proper tuning you won't get as much detonation and won't scar a piston. I think the vq should be good.... Differnet turbos at 15 psi create different stresses on the engine!

 

I am going with a guess....

$5k plus for this to be done effectively.

I say...put the new motor in a chill out on the modding for a bit. Your new turbo is PLENTY of fun.

A motor build is going to take time....get that car back on the road!! some time from now if you are still interested buy another motor and beef that one....

 

That sucks...however, that screw coming off has nothing to do with boost...just a bad/install and ****ty luck. Mine fell in because I didn't use locktite.

I would be ALL OVER on_alert's deal. $1700 for brand new custom pistions and rods, plus a slightly used (14k) engine for free...its a killer deal if you want to go that way. Add in ARP head & main studs, and you could probably boost as much as you'd like.


Engine swaps are fun.

 

I contacted him already, too late though, desertmaxima bought the stuff. Hes got big bucks since hes in Iraq. If he doesnt go thru with this rebuild Ill see if desertmaxima is willing to sell me the stuff. If not Ill go ask one of these shops whos willing to assist me with this install etc..I wont do this until next summer. Want to pay off these credit cards.

 

Are you going to replace your blown motor before that?

I drove on mine with that one cylinder down for a few months...and towards the end it start to have problems...really hard starting, bad idle, stalling, etc.

 

Seriously I am going to turn up the boost to 10PSI. Weather is about to get pretty bad and thats when I will do the swap. Nothing to do but to work in the garage. I am not blowing up that motor with 28K. I am going to take my time putting that in. I will build a motor thats in my car right now if its not too damaged. I am also getting a 2k tranny to install. It is slightly different size wise. Internals may be different. The only reason I found out my engine was shot because of the autozone meet I held this weekend. One of the guys
I work with knows his stuff engine wise and told me your engine is shot. I was like you sure? he said yes! So I borrowed Bags533 brand new compression kit and sure enough the first cylinder I check which is number two just read 105PSI. Dixit rides over to ensure I am doing it right. I am almost done by the time he gets back. The rest of my cylinders were reading good. 170-180PSI. Why is it that one is at 105PSI and its #2? The screws fell off that one butterfly that leads to cylinder two. You got the same compression number after the screws fell in. I know I monitor my engine very well. The good thing is that I will place the EGT probe in the rear of the engine to monitor the rear cylinders.

 

I was in about the same boat. I monitor my front bank with the EGT, and blew cylinder 3 (all my pics say 5...I don't know why I thought it was 5) on the back so didn't know my EGT's.

I would assume the head on that side of the engine is screwed up. One of my intake valves got chewed up, which caused my problems. A valve job may make it useable again, or you could just swap on another stock head on that side. However, if you're going to build an engine, a valve job + new valves would make sense anyways. Either way, you have to pull the engine.

 

am I the only one going to build an engine? Aside from I30Krab, Mardigrasmax and Qnpark, who has successfully completed a engine rebuild and running some great times and putting out good numbers? Is ii that sad that only a couple of people are willing to do this?

 

my car has been down for a while now , i am getting my motor built now. i am getting bigger bearings nitroding the crank adding the det pistons, head studs valve spring, custom head gasket.

 

Sorry about that man. But yea I paid my car off and Ive been in the good ole middle east since feb so when I saw the stuff for sale I had to jump on it. Ill be doing the build up once I get back to the states in April. I was gonna buy a sentra ser and build it up and just go with the turbo kit for my maxima on stock motor and call it a day but saw that stuff he had plus a full longblock was too good to pass up. Hopefully ill have it done about 6 months after I get back, looking at about 20psi and with some good tuning 600 hp if not more. Im just glad to see that sx7r got his emanage running good cause I really didnt want to try and mess with a standalone, but then again I am from san diego and JWT is right down the road from my moms. Im looking at the nismo 555 injectors to handle the fuel. I just hate when I see these good deals on here cause having all that money I keep spending it. But dont worry when I get home and start work on the maxima ill keep everyone posted on everything and im sure I will be on here asking a ton of questions. Hey Redmax what size head gasket are you getting done, copper I assume. Think ya can get me a hook up on it when ya get it done

 

Yes it will be a copper haed gasket , the gasket will be slightly thicker than normal to lower the compression to 8.5 to 1

 

Personally, I'd have JWT dyno tune you a custom map at their shop.

Not sure how much they charge for that though.

 

Of for JWT doing that custom stuff an arm a leg and yer first born, they are really expensive when ya come get custom stuff done unless you work for a magazine, ie sport compact. I may get them to look at my setup when im all done but ill get a buddy of mine that use to wkr for super street to go with me so they dont think im some punk kid that is trying to blow stuff up and street race ya know san diego has a little kid problem going on.
Hey redmax how much is that head gasket gonna run ya think you could get two of em made and ill paypal ya the money to pay for the cost plus whatever to ship it to me, well my moms house

 

If I know Jaime, then he wants to run 15 PSi every day! There's no way in hell the stock internals of the VQ will hold up to his kind of driving at 15 PSi every single day. That's why the engine MUST be built bulletproof. Pauter Rods are the only ones I trust...period! I've used them in my GTO, my turboed '68 & '70 VW bugs, and I just purchased them recently for my future VQ35DE-T project . The damn things are as close to indestructable as can be made...and can even be made of titanium if you really have the cash to flash. Parts of my engine plan could be overkill, but I know it would/will hold up...

 

Copper can be run everyday...and I highly doubt it would be a problem if he had everything decked/matched and used ARP studs...

The one problem with running copper is that if there is some kind of boost problem, then usually the gasket blows out and it limits the damage done to the pistons and valvetrain. Copper gaskets will not blow out, and the damage will be transferred to the pistons and valvetrain. In this case, for an every day driver, I'd truly consider a better non-metallic gasket. That's one part that would be overkill.


baggy, the gears in the stock tranny are only meant to hold xxx TQ maximum in 5th gear at redline. The lower gears never have that problem due to the TQ multiplication factor of the heavier and lower numbered ratios. The higher gears will literally start shearing teeth off when you add a bunch of TQ (via any forced induction system or N2O system), and I'm not even sure the stock driveshafts could handle the extra stress overall, either. The gears you'd have to worry about are 4th and 5th...

Any LSD unit would only prolong the enevitable self-destruction of the tranny by splitting the damage in half (half to each driveshaft/halfshaft)...

 

Couldn't thicker headgaskets mess with cam timing? It would seem to me that altering headgasket thickness isn't the right way to alter compression...

 

That's what I've heard from SR20DEN.

IIRC, the VQ35 350Z headgasket *SHOULD* work according to Mardi and Tilley.

I've seen aftermarket 350Z headgaskets, but don't remember where.

 

see right there with the headgasket issue, cam timing right there thats where you guys lose me. I am one lost soul. Maybe a just minor things like pistons, rods, ARP head studs and possibley the 350Z head gasket would do the trick. Will the crank hold all that power? or do I have to do the 3.5L bottom end build as well?

 

Not if he's getting the block/heads decked and matched. Then you have to have a slightly thicker gasket to equal the original height...

Jaime, we blowing your mind yet?

 

That makes sense....but just using a head gasket to decrease compression doesn't make sense to me.

 

My understanding of the problem (I'm no expert either) is that putting a thicker headgasket on will move the heads physically UP, meaning that the distance between the crank and cam gears is greater. Because of the chain setup, the gears will turn a little, even a fraction of a degree, to make up for that change in distance. That will, in turn, alter cam timing a tad.

I think...

 

caught on with the decking part. thicker headgasket=cut down the block(decking out)

equals OEM size =lower compression

 

If you deck the block enough to equal the additional thickness of the head gasket, you end up with the SAME compression.

If you intend to lower the compression by using a thicker then OEM headgasket, the heads must move AWAY from the piston, hence the cam timing issue.

 

Right Icy...

Jay, I might have been slightly unclear as to what I was saying, but if you deck the block/heads and then go exactly back to the same overall head height, the compression will not change. You'll just have a slightly thicker gaslet overall (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but then I can think of pressure issues with that as well...)

The only real way to lower compression ratio effectively and safely, whilst still maintaining great every day drivability is to massage the combustion chambers and get lower CR pistons. You could use slightly longer rods if you want to raise the deck height over it's stock position as well...but you might have to use lash caps for the cams (it'd be kinda like using regrinds, I think...)...

I need to go home and play on my computer models to fully check this...

 

damm I thought I had it but it didnt register. I just spoke w/master Jedi and pleaded my case. He gave me 3 choices instead of building a motor. I been @ 320HP for quite a long time and never seeked any less or any more. I only wanted more torque and got that. I will be more then happy @ 350HP/330TQ. I dont need much to get there. I have spoke to three other .org members who know alot and they said the same thing. I look at Mardigrasmax, nigel, and SX7R. These guys put alot thru their engines and have not broken either of them. I may be over reacting but dont want to do another engine swap. Thanks to this MEVI BS I have to do it. In the end Ill build my spare motor but I am not in no rush. I just need something solid to let me keep my current setup and boost 10PSI safely. I got the 370s, dont need much more but to retard ignition/timing.

 

Hi folks...

Rarely come here any more or post much been real busy recently ...

Well, Jay if you are only running 15 psi, I would recommend ARP studs and a thicker headgasket would be enough for the job. I'd have to do some calculations, but probably a 2 to 3 mm gasket would do the trick If you can find someone who does an MLS gasket rather than just copper, that would be better. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper and easier to do than pistons and rods. The pistons and rods that on_alert has are good for over 20 psi. They are also better for winding up to higher rpm (lower reciprocating mass) and less side to side movement of the piston in the wall. All of this is good if you're running a lot of boost.

I originally wanted to build my engine to these specs but have put it on hold temporarily while I do my other car. I plan on doing something a little more radical.

Someone saying $5k for a complete build is probably not far from accurate if you want to do a complete job $4K would get you close enough. A headgasket and ARP studs would cost you less than $800 (inclusive of ny other miscelaneous gaskets and seals etc... that you would replace anyway)

 

Right that makes sense.

But what about cryo treating every gear, including the final drive gear.

Also cryo treating the ENTIRE drive shafts, minus the rubber boots.

Justin, are you busy this sunday?

Maybe you could come by where my car is for a few hours and share your knowledge with me and jaime.

I'll even buy lunch

And daily driving is the GOAL.

That is why I was think 10 PSI on pump gas and maybe 16 or so on 104+.. ofr those APU supra/VENOM viper/100 shot z06 moments

 

heheh.. BTW YGM

 

Hey stranger wassup. What new car are you toying with now. And I have on alerts parts now, well not now seeing that im still in iraq. But that is the plan once I get home is to build the motor up for 20psi plus. I had an old Sport compact out here that was talking about their project 300Z that was running a ECU programed by jwt to run on either pump gas or race gas. Sounded pretty cool to me. Hey Nigel for the arp studs would I just call them up and have em do some custom studs for me or do the 350Z head studs and main bolt work for the VQ30 engine. Oh and ill be calling upon ya at a later time for that turbo kit, just not as soon as I thought with me buying this new motor and internals