MY350Z.COM - Nissan 350Z and 370Z Forum Discussion

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- - Project Astrid (https://my350z.com/forum/forced-induction/623838-project-astrid.html)

Hello Z peoples, been a long time lurker here since I purchased my Z several years ago. I wanted to go ahead and start documenting my project for the forum
To begin with my Z is a 2005 Silverstone 6spd Manual Coup with the standard VQ35DE which I affectionately named Astrid
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....f8c0eb42d5.jpg
So whats this Project all about? Well performance wise the Z has a good chassis but there is much room for improvement power wise, and coming from a fully built 2.2 turbo to the Z's na VQ35 I find myself missing the Torque and Boost! And while a bolt on turbo or supercharger kit could solve the problem, I just didn't like the options or look of whats out there.
Which brings us to a custom turbo/engine/suspension project built around this...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....bb7e24dd98.jpg
My plans or perhaps goals for the car is as follows
Power, I'm looking for between 450-550HP
For Handling I want a stiffer ride and adjust-ability
But before I go into how I'm going to go about all that let me just say that for me this project if like art, I'm taking my time, making things for myself, and having a lot of fun doing it
Ive been researching and planing out the details of this build for about 2 years now buying things here and there along the way

Ok now the fun stuff
The engine and clutch system are going to be built of course in that area this is what I already have
JWT Clutch / Flywheel Combo
Nismo Crankshaft Pilot Bushing
ZSP Tilton Racing Clutch Master Cylinder Upgrade (Already On Car)
RJM Clutch Pedal (Already On Car)
ARP Head Stud Kit
ARP VQ35 Main Studs
ACL Main Bearings
ACL Rod Bearings
Supertech Viton Valve Stem Seal Kit
Clevite Thrust Bearing Set
Eagle Connecting Rod Set
HR Heagaskets
CZP Flat Head Allen Socket Cap Screw (for oil passage)
ATI Super Damper Street Pulley
Wiseco Coated Pistons 96mm 8.8:1
Rev-Up Oil Pump
NGK Iridium Spark Plugs #7 LFR7AIX
2 junkyard VQ35DE's
1 set of aluminum Pathfinder valve covers for the VQ35
all new timing materials
what i still need engine wise
BC Valve Springs
Kinetix Velocity Intake Manifold
ARP Pro Heavy Duty Flywheel Bolts
EXA pump
High Capacity Oil Pan
Oil Cooler Asembly

Turbo Exhaust and Intake what I already have
Borg Warner S362 SX-E with Twin Scroll Turbine Housing
2x Tial MV-S 38mm Wastegates - Red
Treadstone TR10 Intercooler W/Dual Core End Tank Baffles
Ridiculous amounts of Exhaust Fab Materials
what I still need in that section
TiAL QR Recirc BOV
Intercooler piping and couplers

Fuel what I have
FIC 775 injectors
Perrin Fuel Presure Regulator
Holley 12-1200 Dominator In-Line Billet Fuel Pump
2L Fuel Surge Tank
what I need
CJM Fuel Return Correction Kit
CJM Fuel Pump Output Fitting
Treadstone 30 micron fuel filter
Treadstone 10 micron fuel filter
Radium Engineering Fuel Rail Kit
2x Radium Boost Controlled Fuel Pulse Dampener
lots of fittings and hoses

Suspension and Brakes
Drilled and Slotted Rotors Front/Rear (Already On Car)
Performance Brake Pads Front/Rear (Already On Car)
Energy Suspension Control Arm Bushings (Already On Car)
Energy Suspension Steering Rack Bushings (Already On Car)
Whiteline Compression Rod bushing (Already On Car)
Kinetix Front Upper Control Arms Adjustable (Already On Car)
Technafit Stainless Steel Brake Lines (Already On Car)
BC Racing BR Type Coilovers True Coilovers (Already On Car)
Kinetix Racing Rear Camber Arms (Already On Car)
P2M Eccentric Lockout Bolt (Already On Car)
SPD Front Sway Bar End Link Set (Already On Car)
SPD Rear Sway Bar End Link Set (Already On Car)

Additionally electronics and other nick-nacks and eventually a diff build will happen but ill focus on that later

I plan to address each part of the build including things Ive already done with ample pictures in future posts including the fabrication of the turbo manifolds, piping, customizing the suspension, fuel system and so on

Best of luck on the build!

You doing your own turbo fabrication? see you have a twin scroll good luck with piping that, not much room to work with, but looking forward to seeing your build, GL

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subd (Post 11019170)

You doing your own turbo fabrication? see you have a twin scroll good luck with piping that, not much room to work with, but looking forward to seeing your build, GL

yes i was very hesitant about that and the size of the turbo makes things even more difficult

I have already positioned the turbo in the car a few months ago so i could make a bracket to hold the turbo exactly where i want it for fabrication on one of the junkyard engines. there is exactly one place large enough to put that turbo and its where the oem AC goes which will get relocated and a different radiator shroud will be used to free up some room in front of the turbo
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....a0e2186cbe.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....d5c1b37740.jpg

have you thought about doing a mid mount turbo? putting the turbo by the tranny to the left of it? might work out better for you

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subd (Post 11019174)

have you thought about doing a mid mount turbo? putting the turbo by the tranny to the left of it? might work out better for you

I looked into that but the turbo would not physically fit when i tried to position it there, trust me the final turbo position was not my first, second, or third, choice lol

you should have tons of room by the tranny, you going to go with one single wastegate? like a 60mm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subd (Post 11019176)

you should have tons of room by the tranny, you going to go with one single wastegate? like a 60mm

Unfortunately for the twin scroll I needed 2 wastegates which I purchased 2 TiAL MV-S 38mm wastegates

Subbed (to thred lol), nice work on suspension! :thumbup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhc (Post 11019182)

Subbed (to thred lol), nice work on suspension! :thumbup:

Thank You Sir

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conway_160 (Post 11019186)

This is insane!

I will take that as a compliment
Here are the two junkyard engines they were both pulled from G35's
the one on the left is a dead engine I got for $30, what I'm told happened is one of the connecting rod bolts failed for cylinder 2 and the crank knocked the connecting rod through the block. this is my Jig for the turbo fabrication. Ill post some photos of the carnage below. needless to say there are no usable parts from that engine. The engine on the right will be built for the project and at this time has already been completely disassembled down to the bare block

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....bd8a8f295f.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....699983a544.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....f3841dc834.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....3cc6f2e519.jpg

I would ditch the compression rod bushings and get the SPL ones instead, I currently have Whiteline and will be swapping to them soon.

Very interesting thread ... we got some nice FI builds going on

I don’t think you’ll have success mounting the blower like you have it. (I’m not throwing stones)

how do you feed it intake air? Straight from the radiator?

assuming you’re gonna ditch AC?

I don’t think there is enough room between your engine block/crank pulley and your radiator fans to run both your turbo charge pipe to the AC and also your exhaust ducts to the turbo?

how are you getting exhaust out post-turbo ... assuming down the driver side of the block? you won’t have but 2.5” or so to wiggle past/around the subframe and mounts and past the transmission. Consider going Z1 6shooter engine mounts. It’ll open up a ton of room to work with.

if you are dead-set on this setup, consider eliminating AC and going aftermarket radiator and aftermarket fan. you’ll need to custom fab a front end. The OEM shroud & fans soak up too much room.

how does the exhaust headers work? Wrapping drivers side around the back of the engine? Remember that your fuel lines cross back there!

theres a Youtuber by the name of Cheap Intentions, and he attempted a very similar setup on his g37 and it was a massive train wreck. Watch his videos to see what not to do.

consider a different rod than eagle - they are great for NA builds as they are lighter but they’re not your best option for FI builds.

how do you anticipate tuning?

do you have a TIG welding setup?

if you haven’t already, check out AceRacePart . com - they have a great selection of fabrication supplies and they are pretty competitively prices. I bought all my stuff from them and they are legit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bealljk (Post 11019306)

I've been waiting for a post like this lol
with the position of the turbo there is just enough room to route the air intake up under the front left crash bar rail, and have the air filter under the left headlight, which leaves a small amount of room to rout the cold side charge pipe around and over to come up through the hole right next to the headlight. I actually originally didn't have enough room there so I had to cut part of the Headlight bracket out
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....a297efe13b.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....b037fa9431.jpg
now for the A/C the original plan was actually to ditch the power-steering for the Electric Hydraulic Power Steering Unit Infinity uses in there SUV's coupled with a Robotecq commercial BLDC controller and relocate the A/C to the passenger side of the motor. this plan was going well until Robotecq discontinued support for all Sensor-less Brush-less motors on all there products and unable to find a rugged enough controller to power the motor for the pump and deciding it would be to dangerous to run the motor on a consumer grade controller I sadly ditched the idea. so what I am having to do is first the oil filter is getting relocated I plan on using mishimoto parts, that will allow me to move the Alternator down further and make room for the A/C compressor on the passenger side. however there isn't enough room to run both belts and tensioners so I'm ditching the small belt and am going to use a Murano ac compressor that uses the same size belt as the main belt on the 350z, it also uses the same oil grade as the OEM compressor and i will have to do minor fabrication to fit it all in

Now for turbo piping the compressor outlet on the turbo is 2.5" so ill run 2.5" piping over to the passenger side and around the radiator to the intercooler where it will step up to 3" space is defiantly limited and I'm going to have to use an assortment of pie cuts and short radius bends to make it fit but the hole purpose of fitting the turbo into the car was that i needed to know the EXACT position of the turbo co confirm that i could actually do that.

exhaust post turbo will pass along the drivers side block and out from the turbo and will transition from round tube to oval tube to be able to pass around the steering rack. as you might have guessed the outlet of the turbo will interfere with the drivers side engine mount. I want to address this later in the project and the solution is a bit of a hassle but needless to say a new engine mount will need to be fabricated. as for feeding the turbo I did originaly think about passing the turbo crossover pipe behind the engine but ran across the exact issue you pointed out, fuel. and unfortunately fuel and extreme heat don't work so well for safety so the crossover pipe will have to cross in front of the engine. that in itself has issues for heat but between PTP products and ceramic coating i think ill manage and it its still a problem after that ill probably have to include a heat shield

for radiator and fan shroud they are already on the list to be replaced, i would like to do it using the oem radiator support but fabricating my own is definitely on the table

Tuning is the one spot in all of the car modifying process I'm not proficient in, so I will be leaving the tuning to the professions at Joetech

Welding, I have a full Tig welding setup at home with back-purge capabilities. Its actually my welding method of choice lol My personal machine is an EASTWOOD AC/DC 200 I have a full set of gas lenses and Pyrex cups up through #12 numerous types of Tungsten and sizes and an 80 bottle and should I have need of something with more punch, at work I use a Miller Syncrowave 200 and the shop manager has already oked me using it for my project off the clock, I'm lucky that he is also a car nut lol

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who gets parts from AceRaceParts its hard to find good suppliers right now that don't want your soul in payment

I appreciate all the questions Ive got a lot stored up in my head from planing but its hard for me to remember to outright talk about why i did this or that
Later today ill post some pictures of the manifold fabrication the drivers side is almost done except for the wastegate positioning
also I know its a bit off topic but i wanted to share some pictures of the fully built 2.2 I had before the Z. it unfortunately was totaled when I wrapped it around a pole and put it into a ditch

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....5e521bcea1.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....de8d1a856c.jpg

I'm happy to hear you've (at a minimum) thought it through and I hope prove me wrong/dumb/stupid!! I did mine and I thought I would have ample space and that was one of my objectives and space got soaked up very quickly as things got installed! I came from the greddy twin kit where space is minimal to non-existent. I'm jealous of the inline 4 guys where there is plenty of room for turbos/manifolds/exhaust.

It's hard to tell how the turbo will fit in there but obviously extremely tight ... as a backup, you can always push you radiator/IC an inch or so forward to open things up. I completely ditched my OEM radiator/fan setup and fabricated my own front clip. It really opened-up possibilities and I couldnt have done it without. I also did my sizing with a larger radiator and I ended up going with a slightly smaller radiator. And I had to drop down from a 14" spal fan to a 10" fan out of caution of lack of space between my blower and the fan. Dont rule out a universal/high quality/aftermarket radiator and a smaller fan...My radiator is (albeit wide open to ample airflow) way more efficient than an OEM and my car really only reaches 140 to 160degrees during cruising (granted I have a hole in my thermostat element)

I would also pocket the options of deleting both power steering and AC ... You may be able to make it work but it sounds like you are jumping through many hoops to keep them. I dont mind the heat (even our hot / hot'ish weather in colorado) so losing AC wasnt a big thing, the power steering delete did suck and it'll prohibit me from road-coursing this car w/this engine but that ok.

+1 to ace race parts ... I bought all my stuff 18months ago and things werent too bad. Looks like you got Mazworks header flanges?

do you anticipate putting any exhaust flex section in your exhaust headers?

what were you thoughts on your waste gates?

Were you going to reclock / reangle your thermostat housing barb?

I thought about deleting the A/C but I still drive this car very frequently and I live in Texas and that's basically asking to be BBQed in your car lol
Yes on the Mazworks header flanges I wish they had them in stainless but I made due with mild steel just using 309L filler rod for fusing dissimilar steels as the weld els are 304L as for the T4 flange its from Motion Race Works and is 1/2" stainless and had an additional lip for a support bracket
The headers will be free from any flex section but the crossover pipe between the two sides will have one and there will be one after each of the wastegeats and the down pipe will have one after the feed from the wastegate.
I chose my waste gates veary early in the project, when i was choosing the turbo i was using borgwarners matchbot program to make sure i could run the turbo in its efficiency range with the VQ and it calculates the minimum wastegate size you will need and how much exhaust flow in percentage you will be bypassing If i wasnt running dual scroll i could with my power goals run with a single 38mm MVS but i ended up going the duel scroll route. I also wanted a water cooled wastegate so in the end 2 TiAL MVS 38mm wastegates were exactly what I needed and having them in person to look at it is definitely a very well built unit
for my thermostat im still deciding on the path for that, i thought maybe using the Maxima thermostat for the VQ or the Murano version as they both use a side outlet setup and then I would be welding an -AN20 fitting to the end of it but I decided I would wait to finish the crossover pipe before making a final decision. if you use the Bates Thermostat you can remove the thermostat mechanism or swap them between units