phobiarg

I have wanted a 350z since I saw my first one way back when I was 17 years old. I worked my butt off for over a year saving every penny I could to get one. When the time came to make the purchase my parents had other ideas. They refused to allow me to get one, which in hindsight was probably a pretty good idea as I got into plenty of trouble with the WRX they allowed me to get (they didn't realize that a 4 cyl sedan was as fast as it was).

Fast forward 14 years and 5 cars later getting progressively less and less performance oriented and more and more family oriented I finally have the means and the space to buy the car I have wanted for oh so long. The wife has given me the green light to build a "fun" car. So with all the boxes checked I have started doing my homework. I have all but decided on an 07-08 6MT 350z. I am looking for a stock car that has a decent service history. I am not too concerned with mileage as I will explain in a sec.

My goal is around 500whp that will be little more than a weekend toy, it will probably see little to no track/drag time and will spend most if not all of its life on the street. This will not be a primary driver and will not need to be built on a shoestring budget. I am ultimately looking for a reasonably modified FI setup that is overbuilt enough to not have significant reliability issues. The plan is to go with the 07-08 for the HR motor and overbuild it enough as to not have issues every few months. I want to do just about all of the work myself including fab work, as this is more of fun weekend hobby than a stop and shop project. This build may very well take a year or longer to finish and that's fine by me.

I plan to pull it and have it overbored 0.020. I want to run Wiseco 96mm 8.8 pistons with Crower Sportman H-Beam rods and getting the stock crank balanced. I believe this is all that is really needed for the bottom end, please let me know if I should make changes or add anything else.

For the heads I was thinking of just rebuilding the stockers with new bearings and valves and reusing the cams so long as they are in good shape.

Finally for the fun parts I am thinking that with some luck and a lot of trial and error a single turbo setup would do what I want it to do. I am almost positive I want to build the setup myself rather than going with a kit.

Ultimately I know I will need to address the fuel and intake systems and this is where I am kind of stuck. Would 650cc injectors be enough? Is a 255 Walboro enough? Is a CJM S0 system enough or should I just go for a S1?

I have read multiple builds and have seen many suggestions by people. I know that I am missing a lot and will have a lot more research to do but I am looking for input on how realistic my goal of reliability and performance is.

Thanks for your time!

iideadeyeii

iTrader: (6)

What 500whp build has 8.8 compression?

Buy a car already done and save yourself time/money

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Welcome, and good on ya for asking for a reality check. The brutal truth is the mods you propose for a future HR build are not realistic for a target of 500 WHP. Keep searching and you'll probably find the little list that Trav always posts on what FI costs are for the VQ (they're astronomical). The reality is that Nissan never engineered the award winning VQ-series engines to be FI, but instead put most of the efforts into building a masterful NA engine.

I'm sure a lot of the FI crowd will jump on here and talk about the "reliability" of their builds. But that is a term that really only applies between rebuilds, and the Z offers so much more than that. My advice would be to turn some of that pent-up energy into learning to drive your Z dream machine at the track or a solo event. You can go as mild or as wild as you like, and places like Lime Rock Park will test you like nothing you ever dreamed of.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

when i had my HR the only option was GTM, it looks like greddy has one at the low low cost of almost $11k. without fuel, install, or tuning

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

What? No list on the costs to get to 500 WHP?

travlee

iTrader: (8)

I mean you can buy a ls7 crate motor...bam, 505 horses right there for about a grand more than the greddy turbo kit. $11900

phobiarg

Well thank you for the insight, it looks like I was grossly under estimating what it would take to make a VQ competitive with its domestic competition. Ill check into my options further.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

most do.... now my go to video

MicVelo

OK, folks, indulge me here. Haven't said it in a long time, c'mon!!

#drivingschool

Not underestimating your skills behind the wheel, OP. Just that I'm a BIG proponent of driver upgrades over mechanical. I can easily get in and get out of trouble with 287 flywheel ponies - and that's on a good day. I have NEVER felt the need to add more power to any of my Z33s or 34. When I can approached driving my car beyond 80% of its capability - which I did once and upgraded the suspension to match my familiarity with the car - then I'd go with power. (And honestly, don't think I'm even at 80% so guilty as charged....nice excuse to build in some extra suspension SAFETY. )

Put this way, I have a verified 443hp available at the pavement in my other car. Great fun, great acceleration but.... Still more viscerally pleasing to push the Z in the hills at the same speeds as the big power car. (Despite being not as "nice". Laff)

Get used to hearing me preach this if you stick around. But put this way, that $2500 I spent in 1980 (and a few subsequent dollars on refreshers) has paid me back (and continues to) many many times over in being able to extract what's already in a given car than trying to overcome my own lack of skills by mechanical enhancement. I'm NOT against modifications at all - have them, have done them all my life - but why put money into a given car when driver improvement carries over to EVERY CAR you'll own. Hence why I said, when you can drive your car to at least 80% of ITS potential, then it's time to start thinking upgrades.

Your car though when you get one. Just my devalued $0.02