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Wanted to pass on some pics and info about a build that I have had been watching and talking to my local shop about. Customer of Project Import in Orange Ca brought in his Purple 350Z with over heating issues. The Z to the customers knowledge is a fully built VQ35DE with a mix match Turbonetics single turbo kit. Mix and match means it has a Precision non water cooled turbo, one OEM manifold and one aftermarket manifold.
So when he brought it into the shop he expressed that the car supposedly had 622HP and 611TQ but he had the car retuned seven times and each times it always had issues. The "Original Auto" shop that had worked on his car had kept telling him that there were things that were wrong and that they had to fix them. In the end the guy was tired of the "Original Auto" shop and took to PI and had them inspect it.
PI told me that when the car was brought the coolant hoses weren't even tight, good reason why it would overheat. They found a lot more issues well to say the least LOL. I saw this car first hand and was following the progress on PI's IG page and attached some of the pics/videos.
Pictures
What it looked like when it was first brought to the shop. Crush bent aluminized piping for the intercooler.
Custom fuel system, what a haggard mess! See they way they sealed the intake manifold.
Silicone all over the Crawford manifold, the fun part is they left the lower holes in the plenum for the stock mani open, can we say huge vacuum leak.
Turbo blow by, catch can used was this little Mishimoto that was attached with several different types of hoses.
Instagram videos really bring light to how bad the build really was.
I met the owner of the car and asked him why he went to the shop and kept going back to the shop with the work that was performed? He said that the "Original Auto" shop had GTR's so he assumed they did good work. Not too sure how owning a GTR really encourages people to feel comfortable to work on their cars. I have seen so many GTR's that look like crap under the hood.
In the end Project Import fixed all the issues with the car. Will have updated pics soon.
How sad. Funny cause I called project import after my fiasco as well. Seems like PI is the place to save the day.
Yeah, I have pics and I think video to post on the finished product the car from PI. I know they dynoed it and came out around 470HP at 16 at psi, but the car was not keeping cool so they backed off on the boost. The owner didn't opt really for cooling updates except for an oil cooler.
PI does a great job educating people on their setups and they don't concentrate on numbers but efficiency. I mean really whats the point of having tons of power under the hood if you can't use it.
the reason why I am collecting all my components...and if it takes 2 more years, it will...so there you have it original auto cutting corners....good luck with the fix
Total Frankenstein build. The front subframe brace missing is incredibly scary.
-Icer
That was the comment that got me to watch the video, can't believe anyone would just remove that entire brace and just stick nuts on the lower suspension arm and call it good... I thought it was just removed so they could work on the car easier haha
Yeah it got worse, melted power wires for the fuel pump relay. Seat belts not installed properly with a harness bar that was in by two threads because they cross threaded the bolts. And the list goes on and on.
So in the end PI repaired almost everything that they found wrong. Here are some pics.
Pulled waste gate from downpipe to dump.
CJ Motorsports twin pump kit for E85.
Fixed stripped oil pan, new aluminum lower radiator pipe because of the radiant heat from the turbo.
More of the CJM trin pump kit, they did away from the complete fuel system. Set up the second pump to come on under boost in the Haltech Platinum ECU
Reworked the front area, new intercooler pipe on the right. New oil cooler to help with the non water cooled turbo boiling the oil.
Completed project.
Completed project
16 psi of boost on 70% E85 content on PI's dream killer dyno.
So in the end PI set the boost to waste gate pressure which was close to 400HP on their dyno. Reason being if they did extended pulls at high boost the car would begin to over heat. Poor parts choices by the previous shop is the reason for this. But really the car needed other parts accessed before really going there, STOCK BRAKES.
PI's dyno is called the dream killer because it reads about 15% lower than most other dyno's. I put down 408HP on their dyno and then through it on a dynopack about a month later at a dyno day and made 465HP.
That's an awful lot of work to correct a poor build. Just for educational purposes, can you give us an idea of what the final bill was to put this Z right? Ballpark figures are fine, but might give some of the noobs what they're getting into...
That's an awful lot of work to correct a poor build. Just for educational purposes, can you give us an idea of what the final bill was to put this Z right? Ballpark figures are fine, but might give some of the noobs what they're getting into...
From what I understood the invoice was nearly $20K. After talking to the guys at PI they said that they urged the customer from the beginning to put the car back to stock or ditch the current build because of the shape it was in. They stated that the invoice was 12 pages long. It included all new whiteline bushings for the front end and the diff. Included the CJM twin pump kit, replacement of gas tank because the fuel pump when came in was held in by 2 bolts. Repair of ECU wiring for Haltech, complete new fuel pump relay wiring, repair of old gauges wiring, repair of seats due to safety, and the list goes on and on. Close to 135 hours of labor.
From what I understood the invoice was nearly $20K. After talking to the guys at PI they said that they urged the customer from the beginning to put the car back to stock or ditch the current build because of the shape it was in. They stated that the invoice was 12 pages long. It included all new whiteline bushings for the front end and the diff. Included the CJM twin pump kit, replacement of gas tank because the fuel pump when came in was held in by 2 bolts. Repair of ECU wiring for Haltech, complete new fuel pump relay wiring, repair of old gauges wiring, repair of seats due to safety, and the list goes on and on. Close to 135 hours of labor.
Should have started over with a new chassis.
Wait so who are you to this car/shop then? I thought you were from proj Import?
Damn that guy really didn't know what he was getting himself into with that car... Nice that they gave a warning and suggested starting fresh with another car.
09-21-2017 | 08:31 AM
350Z Single Turbo Build From Hell
