I have the following excerpt from the recent Nizpro newsletter. They outline a N/A 350Z project hey have been working on (something which very few on this board have attempted) with some decent results.

The first job that caught our attention this year was a carry-over from last year; Richard's Nissan 350Z. As many of you may know the 350Z is fitted with a N/A 3.5 litre DOHC V6 engine and although Nissan claim 206 engine kW, they only make around the 145rwkW, we normally allow 22% power difference between wheels and engine, so this gives us a figure of around 177 engine kW. This is quite unusual as Nissan are normally very good with their figures.

The modifications to this car had all been done last year and had included extractors; exhaust system, a change of camshafts, valve springs, larger intake pipe and a MoTeC M600 PCM. Late last year Richard had decided to up the anti with an engine rebuild, increase the compression ratio and add some stronger connecting rods. He had booked the car in to be done as the first job back this year. One thing lead to another and he asked if we could get it done before Christmas, we decided that it was possible so off we went.

The engine was stripped down, machined and balanced. A new set of Carrillo A beam conrods were installed with a lighter set of higher compression 11.5 to 1 forged pistons, these were Teflon coated and it was then reassembled. Now Richard not only wants the fastest N/A Z in the country he wants it super nice and quiet. This becomes a little hard when you are starting with a Nissan donk, as the things are nearly silent to begin with so extra noise is very apparent. Anyway we and another company not far from us have been making inroads with clearance over the last 12 months and if any of you hear some of our racy XR6T engine they are now very quite. The Nissan engine is all alloy and of course this doesn’t help when it comes to a forged piston rattling around.

Anyway, we finalised the engine build and got it running the weekend before we knocked off for the break and the thing is silent, largely due to our clearance being very tight. Dave and I started dynoing it on the Saturday and the power levels were terrific, over 200rwkW at 7400rpm and the power was still climbing. Next pull I ran it to 7800rpm and we heard a noise, of course the first thought was I had stuffed up running the clearances so tight. A close inspection told the story. At 7800 it touched the rpm limiter which causes a small back fire. This in turn tends to hold the exhaust valve open and at these revs and the original step 1 Nismo springs helped leave the valve open just a touch and clipped an exhaust valve. The noise was excessive tappet clearance due to the valve not fully shutting. So that was the end of Richard using his car over Christmas.

During the break Richard sourced some lightweight valves and heavy-duty valve springs out of the US. So as it turned out this was the first job of '06.

After stripping the engine we found one valve with a 7 thou bend. This was a little concerning as a bend this small we believed was not enough, although there was no other sign of damage. It did however give me a chance to check how the engine and our clearances were behaving, so I totally stripped it. All were great. So this was a good coming from some agro.

Now for the good news; we reassembled the engine and finished with a great result. Two hundred and twelve rear wheel kilowatts @ 7800rpm with a red line of 8000, translating into approximately 260 engine kW or 344 engine horse power, nearly the magic 100hp per litre and still beautifully drivable and quiet. Needless to say Richard loves it.

P.S. Richard is not finished yet, I’ll keep you posted.

 

That is Richie's car, Z350Lover on this forum.

He has posted all of his findings in threads, on this forum, for all of us to learn from... what a guy.

 

Thanks Murray,

That was my car in that newsletter... didn't know people in the States actually subscribed to that too... you can get that newsletter by subscribing to nizpro's newsletter @ www.nizpro.com.au... and its free!

cheers,

richie

 

Thanks, I just subscribed.

 

wow, rich you are def one of the pioneers in the n/a crowd! if not the only one... =)

good luck with the car and we know you're enjoyin it.

 

how did you exactly make your car quiet? how quiet may i add?

 

quieter and smoother than stock engine I would say.... but that was before my Ferrea valvetrain kit..... with the Ferrea valves, there are slightly more tapping noise, but still, it is quieter or similar to the stock engine

 

Love u ppl from OZ. You rock. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge accumulated at such a price.

 

just to clearify, when you say smoother and quiter than stock, you mean engine noise right? or you mean the car as the whole including the exhaust. Could you possibablly do some vids to show how it sounds.

I going NA route too but since my exhaust and TP's i really dont want my car and louder that it is right now.

 

i think hes talking about the engine noise.

 

yup... we are talking about the engine noise... the car is going back tomorrow to get more fine tunings and will put a larger cats on the car (if they fit) to get better flow! I will post some videos later when I get the car back!

cheers,

richie

 

And rear wheel horsepower looks to be where?

Also what cam shafts are you guys running? If it was said above, I apologize but I don't remember seeing a name mentioned.

 

it has around 284.5rwHP on our Aussie dyno... said to have 22% power loss from the drivetrain... so it reads lower than the US dyno machines... we are running Nismo Spec1 cams with Nismo 55 degrees VTCs.

cheers,

richie

 

Cool, What cats did you get? Metal Cat?

 

Hey Richie,

Sweet Z. Where are you getting Nismo Parts from in Australia?

No one has a Clue in Brisbane.

MJ

 

Murray,

I am not using metal cats though... but 3" cats instead... I would love to use metal cats, but they are at the expensive side... and guess what?! got the car back... no gains whatsoever on those cats... I reckon my car is already maxed out to the N/A tune already... very freaking hard for me to get more HP now actually

MIB,

You can order those parts from www.hypertech.com.au or from rmsmotorsport.net

Those cams are at the wild side, and you will only be able to operate them with motec computer so far... or you can wait for the utec to release the cam control module.... the lead time for those cams parts are around 2 months or so...

cheers,

richie

 

Hey Richie,

That link is for a Security firm?

Are you getting the parts from an Australian Based company, or USA?

MJ

 

Sorry MJ,

Here you go.... http://www.hyper-tech.com.au/store/

Speak to Arnold or Andy (he is the boss) and mention Richard's 350z setup, they will know what to get you and how much all together!

Those links that I gave you are Aussie based companies!

cheers,

richie

 

Thanks R,

I spoke to Arnold, he put me onto jason@accessauto.com

I spoke to jason and he told me to put it in an email and he would hunt down the Nismo parts for me.

From what I am seeing its probably cheaper and easier just to order them direct from the states.

They are telling me crazy prices like $8,000 AUD for Nismo exhaust here.

On the board I see them for $850 USD.

The $tealers here are incompetent.

MJ

 

are you serious???? they told you that??? that's way too stupid.... but most likely that's quoted from stupid australian nissan dealers I think.... they charge like 4500 easily!

But I was told by Andy that those nismo parts are very hard for them to get as well, so you might want to get those from the states since Jason has good relationship with nismo japan best of luck, it will be a good project for ya and if you need a motec to tune those cams which you really need to have one since it is the only stand alone that has the cam control module, let me know!

cheers,

richie