Any ideas of the approximate cost of upgrading my G with forged internals.

Rods?
Pistons?
Others?
Install?
Any down side to going forged?

 

Pauter....best out there for the 350Z. Perfect and accurate measurements means no deburring, tweaking, or alterations on necessary. They are perfect and ready to bolt on. Crower are good, but they need quite a bit of TLC and tweaking to get perfect. ($1100)


I like the Arias LC pistons with the black heat coat on them. $650 for the complete set, included pistons, rings, wrist pins....complete. Arias has a terrific reputable in the high performance tuner world, and makes quality stuff.



Depends on your goals. If you are looking at the sub 600whp range, the only thing I would get is beefer head studs ($400), and gaskets. If you plan on going really crazy with the power, then consider closing the deck..or semi-closing the deck, and re-sleeving. It's debatable exactly how much RELIABLE power the VQ block can take. Personally, I dont think many of us want more than 600whp for the street...so I'm passing on decking and sleeving.

Really depends on what you want done. You generally get what you pay for. Plan on at least $2000-$4000 in labor.....this one could be all over the board.



Other than cost? Forged internals, all things being equal, are not designed for longevity. You need slighly greater cylinder wall to ring tolerances to account for the heat expansion of the pistons. So the forged pistons tend to beat up the culinder walls a bit more on a cold start. Obvisouly, your engine will last MUCH longer than a stock motor if you are F/I....so this may be a mute point. Oh, and forged internals tend to be noisier...especially when cold.

 

I am doing the same thing this winter. I am taking out the Vortech and going with a Turbonetics single turbo or the Greddy Twin turbo. I still don't know the total amount yet.

The pistons and rods are around $1900.00. Then you got labor to take the motor out put the rods and piston in and put the motor back in. Also I think you need some type of machine work, but don't quote me on that. I was thinking at least $4000.00 to $5000.00. I hope someone that has done it will post something.

 

GQ,

Thanks.

Any estimate on longevity of 500 rwhp with forged? Do you think I can get this level of performance from my Vortech?
Can you describe the way in which forged internals make the engine sound louder.?Does it make it sound rough and clunky or smooth, but louder?

 

Have you talked to Tom at Lightspeed yet? Maybe we can do this at the same time to simplifiy things. I plan on building the motor up maybe by Dec.

 

We have not done a full motor buildup in a 350z yet, so I cant quote exact labor times... but I can give estimates based on my familiarity with the car.

we typically charge around $1000 to take a motor in/out of a car like this. Thats pretty much about 2 days full labor time.

Of course, before you put it back in you are gonna rebuild it. When we rebuild an engine we dont cut corners so 99% of the time ALL wear items are replaced... So typical costs you see on this would be things like these (rough estimates):

Pistons and Rods around $1900

Motor tear down 2-3 hours

cleaning 1 hour (newer cars like this are easy)

bore&hone block, deck if needed (machine shop costs vary per shop) $150-$400

labor of sizing bearings and building short block (we have our machinist size the bearings since he has more expensive and accurate tools to get this perfect, we assemble some short blocks, but our super high priority shorts are built by my machinst who has all kinds of experience with crazy engines.) I know that if I had him do the bore&hone step above this one, and then also size the bearings and build the shortblock (put in the pistons, rods, crank) he would charge around $1400 on an engine like this. He is on the expensive side of machinsts/builders.

New oil pump $150? Never bought a VQ one yet

New Water Pump $150?

New Timing Chain $100??

Nissan Engine Gasket/Seal Set $250?

Upgraded head and main studs $400?

Misc Crap $200-1000 (This can be anything from worn pully bearings, stubborn water hoses that may have gotten torn or stretched in removal, hydraulic lifter replacement, etc etc.

Resurface flywheel (unless replaced) $50 machine shop charge

New clutch (unless you already have a nice one thats in good shape, when your engine is out you better just do this now)

Then you need to consider all the other stuff that would be so much easier to do while all the rest is getting done... things like low temp thermostat, silicone radiator hoses, any type of head work such as porting, upgraded valves, cams, etc... parts polishing or powercoating, upgraded oil pan, ceramic coating hot parts, the sky is the limit and its always cheaper and easier to do while initially building the engine.

Then on top of whatever choices you make, there is of course labor to assembly the complete long block, which means putting together the rest of the engine until it is ready to go into the car. This can take anywhere from 3-6 hours.

Different shops will charge more/less for certain things. Its also common to get under quoted because sometimes it easy to think you can get something done a lot faster than you can. but in all reality its not doing it that takes the time... its making sure your about to do it right, doing it right, then making sure you just did it right... thats what takes time.

-Charles

 

I vote this, "THE MOST USEFULL ENGINE BUILD POST EVER!"