Grimvanni25

Hello everyone, long time G35driver lurker here. New to the 350z site! Been on the fence about getting rid of the car for some time but money came in and I've decided to pick the project back up! I've slowly started buying parts to piece together a Rev-Up motor to build outside of the vehicle. I started by buying a non rev up long block motor for $100 on Offerup. The dude didn't know much about it but said it had rod knock. After disassembly it turns out it spun a rod bearing. But being that I was going to take the block and crank to the machine shop I asked if I could get the crank turned and use oversize bearings. The answer was yes and that's where my project began.

I also want to add I am not a mechanic and my day job is I.T. Network Engineer. I turbo'd the G35 with the TN kit and then the rings went bad, which is what prompted the rebuild. Just a guy who's trying to build up his 16 year old self's dream car.

Here are the parts I've ordered so far and what it cost me with taxes/shipping:
Used non rev-up motor - $100
ACL Rod Bearing +.50mm oversize - $88.44
ACL Race Main Bearing +.25mm oversize - $72.21
ACL Thrust Washers STD.- $13.77
ARP Head Studs - $150
ARP Main Studs - $150
Weisco Pistons - $650
Eagle Connecting Rods - $499.95
HR Head gasket set - $62.74
Block bore - $195
Block pressure check - $125
Crank Turning - $140
Reassemble - $400
Cylinder head remaned. Right - $346.30
Cylinder head remaned. Left - $346.30
Intake Timing Sprocket(s) - $83
Revup timing cover - front - $95.39
Oil Pump - $89.03
Timing Kit/Cam Bolts/Gaskets - $254.09
Water Pump - $50.87
Thermostat & Timing cover gasket - $35.18
New crank bolt - $17.64
Valve Covers - $100.35
Intake Gears - $319.21
SR20 GT2560r turbo x2 - $583
GTM VQ35HR turbo manifolds - $617.85
Stillen Oil Pan - $212.93
Gaskets (intake, exhaust, oil pan, turbo) & studs for turbo manifold - $105.78
Oil Cooler - $131.45

Now lets see those progress pics right? Here is the $100 used motor ready for disassembly.


Here is the motor completely disassembled. I used a Ryobi 1/2" impact wrench with a 3ah battery and the crank bolt came off after a few ugga duggas.


Next I took the block and crank to the machine shop. Block was pressure checked to ensure it was in good condition. Then it was bored out to 96mm, the crank mains were turned .010 over and the rods were turned .020 over. I ended up buying the ACL rod and main bearings in +.50mm and +.25mm respectively. Parts off to the machine shop!


They assembled my block and all else out the door was $860. Not too shabby I'd say. So far I've spent $2647.11 for the short block which includes the head bolts and head gasket. With the current setup it's built to handle 600ish HP.


Head studs and gasket put in place. One thing I forgot to capture was the block cooling mod for using HR gaskets. Using standard ARP bolts as I am planning on staying under 600 with a GT25 twin turbo set up.


I managed to snag reworked heads from a guy 4 hours from me. We met in the middle and I purchased a ton of parts off of him. The heads were very hard to find so this came at a good time for me! Now lets see those heads installed.




At this point I ordered the rear main seal, oil pump, water pump and thermostat. I also put the non rev-up rear timing cover since the rev-up timing cover fits. I purchased a rev-up timing cover but it ended up being cracked so I had to send it back. Now I'm waiting for the replacement to arrive.


I also ordered a new timing set, gaskets for the vtc cam timing cover, vtc solenoid on the heads, cam bolts, and a few other bolts I lost during disassembly.... I tried marking the bolts and keeping them grouped but I failed, don't be like me. More pics to follow when more progress is made!

eZg

iTrader: (5)

Looks good Man! You might get a little more traffic over in the forced Induction forum.....

Did I miss aftemarket cams?

I've had my G TT'd for going on 11 years......It's nice to have a back seat sometimes!

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

Looking good -

did you go with L19 Headstuds?

I'd add the Dynosty Main Girdle if its not too late. Your power goals are completely reasonable but it's good to have this as it'll strengthen the bottom end. If you look at the HR and VHR engines, they have significantly bolstered-up girdles. It's about $300 and well worth it.

Do you anticipate running an oil cooler?
Do you anticipate running a harmonic dampening crank pulley?
How are you tuning?
Are you running pump / e85?
Have you done your fuel system yet?

Rinzlark

+1 for L19 ARP head studs just make sure you install them properly, the boosted guys have given up on the regular ARP headstuds, not enough clamping force
+1 for Dynosty Main Girdle (it will save you headaches later)
I always suggest running an oil cooler on turbocharged applications, make sure you use a thermostatic oil cooler adapter
I would look into at minimum a return style upgrade for your fuel system, and injectors based on what ever power goal you have in mind
looks like a fun project keep us posted

Grimvanni25

Yea, I don't plan on pushing it too hard. It's been sitting nearly two years after I went with the single turbonetics kit then it started blowing blue smoke. So this is just to get my education level and experience with rebuilding/fabricating up.

Nah just the standard ARP bolts. And the standard girdle. If something goes south, then oh well I'm just out a bit of money and time. I thought about L19's but just didn't feel that for my goals they were needed. So we shall see! I am only in the early stages of rebuild so I haven't had a chance to look further into the parts once the engine is in. I will say I have considered getting an oil cooler and a fuel system return. Currently i'm running 550cc injectors and a walbro 255. Just plan on using 93 pump. The car is tuned for 8 psi on single turbo with UpRev currently. I will need to find a local tuner to get me going after I've swapped everything over. As far as the crank pulley goes, I haven't looked into it much but i'll do my research on them.

Thanks! I did consider the L19 and Dynosty Girdlle, but I decided against it. My goal is 400-500 rwhp/rwtq. Nothing crazy, just a car that can spool quick and have some fun with. After I got into my F80 M3 I fell in love with twin turbos and the reduced lag time. As far as my fuel system it has some upgrades, see above, but I think with a fuel system return and 750cc injectors I should have enough room for slight growth. Well at least more than I can grow with my current setup.
I have been wanting to do this with a G35 for years, little did I know just how much go fast parts need to be ordered. Damn VQ and their mass production engine, ha. A good project to get my feet wet into the 'built not bought' culture and to see if it's for me or not.

Jim Stephens

Posting to follow this one. Also an IT guy thinking of building one of these from scratch down the road as well. Where did you find the old motor for 100 bucks? What was its condition in terms of why it failed??

Grimvanni25

What’s up fellow IT brethren?! I was scouring OfferUp and they show up from time to time. Most people junk their old one because of knocking or engine seizing up. But since I knew I wanted to take it to a machine shop I took a chance. And it paid off!

my current motor failed after I boosted it. It had 138k miles on the clock and I knew going in it was a bad idea but did it anyways. Not 100% sure what happened but I assume underlying issues came to light after adding boost to the mix. Once I pull it I’ll find out.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

If you ask me - the L19s and girdle are mandatory upgrades for any FI build.

If something goes wrong that could have been prevented by fortifying either the studs or the main caps the time and expense getting back into the engine would have covered the cost of these items.

You are correct that you dont need them for your power goals and your power goals are very modest and completely achievable. I respect that this is your build and you dont have to do it how I'd do it. Regardless - great work and you're on the right track.

I would highly encourage the oil cooler ... even if you buy a used one (clean it out very good and pressure test it), a basic $30 oil filter sandwich plate, and rubber hose/push lock fittings. You have engine coolant that cools the block, but what is cooling the engine internals? and the answer is oil ... oil is lubricating and carrying heat off the internals and what is cooling the oil?

here is a little tech-talk video by HPA about crank dampening pullies.

Rinzlark

Love the HPA stuff, they put out a lot of content and it’s presented in a way that non mechanically inclined people can learn

Grimvanni25

Yea I guess I should add that I’m just wanting to get this motor put back together by just randomly acquiring cost efficient items. I bought the wiseco pistons from a guy who bought them and never installed them. He also had the ARP studs so I figured meh. I bought $1600 worth of things from him which are the remanded heads for revup, the timing gears (intake/exhaust), wiseco pistons, plus the main and head ARP bolts. It was a deal so I decided to run with ARP and get the project going. Which is why I opted for the HR head gasket rather than HKS. I do appreciate the feedback though! If I decide to rebuild the motor currently in it, I’m definitely going to build that one to include decked/sleeved block and all the supporting upgrades to go with it.

I’ll add oil cooler to my parts list so if I see a good one pop up I’ll jump on it.

My budget to beat for the whole build is $7999 or the price of the JWT 530bb TT kit. Let’s see if I can do it!

fullvietFX

iTrader: (1)

Subscribed!

Grimvanni25

I received my turbos I purchased from eBay. Garrett S14 SR20DET turbo GT2560r journal bearing with no shaft play. I got them and they were a bit dirty, I took a brass brush and cleaned them the best I could.



I also got my GTM twin turbo manifolds. I figured for the price I could run these and if they crack/fail I'll look into making my own. The company no longer exists so these were left overs from someone purchasing their remaining stock.


Timing components arrived but it seems the intake cam gear I had from the old motor was broke, but it finally arrived a couple of days ago. So I set the timing, turn the crank a few times to ensure nothing hit and put the front cover back on.



I will be on vacation this coming week so it will slow down my TIG learning. I purchased a TIG welder to begin to learn how to TIG weld so I can make my own intake/exhaust piping. Always wanted to learn and this was just an excuse to be able to buy one. If anyone has tips/tricks on learning that would be greatly appreciated!


I'm generating a list of items still left to purchase. Besides the items needed to complete the build, I have added a few recommendations from here like: oil cooler, damper pulley, and a fuel system return. I'll be adding the most recent purchases to the beginning of the post to track my costs as well.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

I totally get where you're coming from and I economize on plenty of things. I think I spent $12k on my block back in 2010 and I dont regret it but I am wiser now and can do it more cost effectively - I've got a caged g35 coupe that I am going to be building an engine for shortly and aside from pistons and some smaller stuff I'm ready to go on it!

Good on ya for stretching your budget.

I have always trusted Setrab oil coolers ... I dont think I've ever bought a new one! Most recently, I paid $40 for a 42row cooler ...I didnt think the seller was going to take my offer, but he did - it's the current cooler in my car now.

I cant tell you how many hundreds of dollars in steel braided hose and fittings I've spent and I am likely going to go back to simple push-lock fittings and rubber hose ... the highest quality Gates rubber hose, push lock fittings, and fire sleeve...

Very cool on the TIG machine - I did something very similar about 5years ago with an Everlast machine and I've been TIG'ing everything I can. I also started a small performance shop/brand with a buddy and we sell turbo kits. If you play your cards right the TIG machine will pay for itself over and over.

Rinzlark

that Eastwood Tig200 is a wonderful machine, I own one as my personal at home welder and it’s the perfect welder to learn to tig with

Grimvanni25

Ordered a few more parts before I left for vacation and started up working on the motor again today. Got some gaskets that were needed, and some bolts I was missing for the lower intake manifold. I cleaned up the the front timing cover and gave it a fresh new look. What do ya think?



I mocked up the turbos to see how they would be mounted and it looks pretty clean. I still need to order new wastegate actuators and fab up the mounting bracket for them.


I also went ahead and ordered the Stillen oil pan instead of running a spacer. I plan on tapping into the upper oil pan for the oil return as I saw another person do on their 350z. And lastly I got an oil cooler.

I am still needing to source one more exhaust manifold bolt with an allen head that will clear the tight space of the turbo manifold on the passenger side.