Welp, long story short I ran the dragon at a relative half-*** pace by my standards and the V2 ended up chewing half a quart of oil >.< if it keeps consuming I'll go get another one thrown in I'm sure but I was thinking about maybe trying to solve the problem myself and net 40 or 50 more hp while I'm at it after the ride goes out of warranty in about 8000 miles. I've found a few things that look interesting.

1: a GTM stage 2 valvetrain kit along with someof their stage III N/A cams. I figured the valvetrain kit would prevent any possible oil leaking into the combustion chamber from the heads.

2: GTM Connecting Rod and Main Rod bearings with CT-1 coating. along with Nismo/ARP connecting rod bolts.

3: Can I run 96mm 11.5:1 pistons without modification to the sleeves? I'm aiming to limit the likelihood of oil passing the piston rings and/or valves even when I'm pushing the engine. and is crankshaft work (lighten, balance, blueprint) necessary to rev safely to 7700 RPM? or would the bearings/bolts/rods be able to handle it safely and consistently even when I'm flogging it?

the main aim of this kind of half-build would be to have around 290-295 rwhp and a redline of about 7500-7700 RPM, prevent oil burn, be safe to run hard (obviously I'd do some other things..low temp thermostat and the like) and to be making that peak power for at least 800 RPM straight with no dive.

Obviously I'd have headers, an exhaust sytem and Utec or the like before any of this, but this is all theoretical and a ways down the road. Any input?

 

just get a new engine.

 

I've got the V2 in...right now its still burnin a little when I run it at 3/4 for any period of time. if I get another one dropped in and it doesnt eat any I'll leave it at that. but if Nissan cant give me an engine that WONT burn I was thinking of doing the above.

 

My input= you would be the man if you became the first one to tear into a V2! Assuming of course you took a close look at the 2nd compression ring and filled us in..........

 

Why would you run the Nismo rod bolts? The bolts that come with the GTM rods are better to start with.

 

wasnt really planning on running rods but I looked at the prices for the Wiseco piston/eagle rod kit that z1 offers...pretty cheap so I'd probably do that. didnt even look at the GTM rods.

are the GTM connecting rod bearings and main bearings worth the dough? I read that the stock bearings are lead free in the new engines to be environmentally friendly and its really weakened em, especially as oil temps climb.

 

A little OT, but may I ask a few questions?

1- How did you break in the engine?
2- How many miles on the v2?
3- What oil were you using?

Thanks in advance,

 

went for 3 seperate 30 mile highway cruises. let it cool all the way down. tried to put the engine through as many gentle full heat cycles (probably about 12 or 13 or so before I went up to the gap) as I could. have about 1000 on the V2, I kept it in 3rd at the gap and never went over 5500 and I wasnt at WOT but a couple of times. currently its on the Pennzoil stuff the dealership put in durin the swap. Waitin to see if it chews mobil 1 when I swap out oil.

+I know its over the top lol, it would mainly be an excuse to have an engine safe to 7700 RPM, produce quite a bit more power with a better power band, and get the oil-eatage to stop. I know the break in probably wasnt sufficient but at the time I felt 12 heat cycles from ambient to operating and back would be enough to get the piston rings and all the seals and what not settled in.

 

If you don't get it replaced with another stock engine that will be a real sweet upgrade.

 

yeah. I'd just like to have a build similar to Adam at Z1's but about 80% of his as I'm not gonna have the time or $$$ to spend hours porting the lower intake manifold and heads, I'll probably just have the stock heads cleaned up with a quick port and polish. in concern to the crank, how high can it rev reliably without work? and how much would a it run me to have the crank and the entire rotating assembly lightened/balanced?

 

If you run 96 mm pistons you will need to machine the block 20 over.

 

.020" ? thanks. I was wondering about that. I'm just wondering if Wiseco pistons/rings and a GTM valvetrain setup will stop the oil consumption completely and for good no matter how hard I run it. anybody have any experiences they would like to share?

 

Hey red what do you have your car running out to RPM wise?

can anyone that knows the engine answer this lol.

1: to keep power up when youre revving past 7k do you HAVE to port the lower intake manifold and do quite a bit of head work?

2: will higher compression ratio pistons (with ARP rod bolts and eagle rods) with cams, and a tune end up being worth the money if I run the car hard? or should I just do cams, boltons, UTEC/tune, raise the limiter to 7200 and be happy?

 

1. the valvetrain kit has nothing to do with oil consumption, nor will it solve any such issues

2. the crankshaft work is FAR more important than bigger bore pistons, and far more important than splitting hairs between 11, 11.5:1 compression

3. preventing oil burn is a result of 1 thing....the time spent assembling the bottom end. The more time that is spent here in terms of clearancing, the more compression the engine will retain, and the less oil it will use. In the 4500 miles I've had on my car, for example, since switching to synthetic, I have had to add all of .25 quarts of oil. And that's with me routinely taking the car to redline (8400)

3. to keep the power climbing to redline you need: cams, and ones properly matched to the headers. To keep torque flat, you need alot of port work done by someone worth the price of admission

 

I just have my car running up to 7400.

Adding to Z1 Performance post....Depending on your cam selection higher compression pistons can do wonders...it will also help keep your power up past 7000 rpm. If changing just the cams from stock to a very aggressive cam the dynamic compression will usually go down. Normally it is recommended to also do higher compression pistons to get a greater benefit from a very aggressive cam.

 

well I've just heard people talk about the possibility of oil coming down from the valvetrain on revups.

so if youre runnin cams like GTM stage 3 or JWT C8R's (the only two I know of for revups :/ ) you'll need higher compression pistons and well made headers all working together to make anything worth having? what other headers could you match up? the only header I know of thats really well made are the crawford headers. and if I stick with a 95.5mm bore will the clearancing be tight enough, using OEM specs and the new pistons/rings, to prevent oil burn?

 

the clearancing is something your engine builder worries about, not you It gets built according to the conditions under which it will be run.

I have no idea what headers you would use with either of those cams sorry. I know nothing about either one of those cams.

 

lol gotcha. thanks for the advice though Z1 and red.

btw just out of curiosity what damage can burning oil and runnin the car fairly hard every other weekend do to the engine if I keep adding oil and have it full at all times?

 

well, it's not something that is going to get better that's for sure. You could "try" a thicker oil in it...I doubt it will dramatically solve anything, but it might slow it down. How much oil is it using?

 

has 1000 miles on it right now, I ran it fairly hard Saturday for a couple hours and it's down about a 1/2 or a 1/3 of a quart. was anyhow, I put some in. I take it easy on the car most of the time, I dont give it hell all the time. But when I go up to the gap and I find other quick cars its just too tempting to chase and I end up burning oil. I posted up this thread because 1. the 4.08's are a little too short in 2nd gear, it rockets out of corners but I have to shift for even the shortest straights and shifting at 7700 would help tremendously; and 2. I'd love to stop this thing from eating oil hahaha