Rev-up swap in a 2003 z33
05-10-2012, 10:02 PM
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Rev-up swap in a 2003 z33
Alert: Long Post!!!
So I am finally getting around to doing this. I have been a part of this community since 2006 but never joined the site till a few years later. I have been through a few set ups in that time: Full bolt-on na de, stock jwt 530tt, built jwt 700 tt, and now full bolt-on rev-up set to run on E85 in a few weeks.
I wasen't sure to label this a how to or just a na build up. However I did not document the build while it was happening so that kind of rules out the how to, but i will share how i did the swap and got it to work with my particular build.
First off the prologue,
I first purchased this car in 2006 after a deployment. It was a 2003 grand touring with 40,000 miles and stock down to the tires. Then I deployed for another 7 months a month later. I returned to a stock car but proceeded to order about $15,000 in parts. After that I wantedto get into the autocross and time attack. I took my car into a local shop for some drivetrain upgrades and drove away 2 weeks later with a JWT twin turbo and Brembo brakes. After a 2 month track onslaught I upgraded to more aggressive brake pads and Kumho v710 dot-r comps. All was well for another few months before I got the urge for more power, I installed a used boost controller. Unbeknowst to me it had a fulty interface which resulted in it doubling the boost and bending a rod. Hence the built engine and upgraded turbos. The car maxed at 650 whp and 610 lb-ft tq. Long story short the engine was built by a less then qualified shop in local San Diego and was tuned on 116 octaine and not even a mention of it to me. Engine was given to me 180 degree out,fixed then blew a head gasket on 91 oct. 2 weeks later. Had it rebuilt by a different shop then sold literally everything on the car from the engine and turbo kit to the brakes and wheels and interior. I was left with a rolling chassis since 2009 and it sat that way until I returned from about 3 years worth of deployments.
The current story...
I returned to a rolling chassis with a full cage and fuel cell set-up courtesy of John Russakoff at JSP Fab in Vista, Ca. If you don't know him google it! Ae86 with f22 swap in Formula D. Any way he hook me up for a good price and excellent fab work. Next I bought a Rev-up from a 2006 g35 that my friend had laying around. It had 30,xxx miles and was pulled for a built engine. So I ordered a lot of sensors and brackets as well as the engine wiring harness and ecu from a 2006 350z. I had the ecu nats removed and a few other things tuned from a place that will remain unnamed in Tampa Fl. Paid it and had it shipped back. So my friend, who works on more than a few formula drft carsas well as a lot of pro-am cars, and I mounted the tranny, which is also a CD0009 from an 06 to the engine and installed it around March time frame. Over the next week I hooked everything else up like the drive shaft, wiring harness, exhaust etc...
Got everything together to find out the car dosen't start. There is no power to anything with the ecu plugged in, but power to everything but spark with out it plugged in. Will crank mind you, but no spark. I call said shop in Florida for some help or advice and get talked to like I am a 12 year old for several calls. Now I am an easy going guy but for the job I do and the thing I have to do in my job I don't take kindly to this sort of down talk. I really felt like I needed to stab this Mother ****er in the throat for the way he wastalking to me. Support the troops is his motto huh. Doubt it. Any if Ilived in Florida the out come would be different. I don't so I did the next best thing and drove to Long beach to have my ecu checked out by the famous Church automotive. They were busy when I walked in tunning a Honda Challenge Civic.They made time to check out my ecu and reprogram it since it already had a code on it from said Fl shop but they put there own tune on it at my request for $30. Great shop and personnel. Got home installed the ecu. Out come was fairly different. Now spark but no fuel. Looked over my wiring and noticed that my fuel pump power wire was interupted from the fuse box in the kicker pannel from the previous shop wiring in a bigger fuel pump. Which was a Aeromotive Tsunami external pump. So I ended up wiring my current Walbro 255 external from Injected Performance strait to my kill switch with a fuse link. Tried to start again and still crank but no start. On the advice of my friend I traced all the wires from my 03 dash harness to my 06 engine harness. All wires matched except for the triple plug that sits right on the passenger side fender well in the battery compartment. I examined the plugs and noticed that the rear plug did not match entirely. The two front wires Which I believe are white and pink did not match. So I did what any shade tree mech would do and cut them. Tried to start the car. Ignition!!! but Won't idle and dies. So I splice the pink wire back in noticing that it goes to the MAF. Try to start again...Ignition and blast off!! Started and Idled. I set the fuel pressure using the fpr that I got from IP also to 50 psi at idle. I found that the swap seems to work, even in extremely motified chassis with very little effort. So here is my parts list with explainations only engine and drive train:
-2006 Rev-up 30,xxx miles
-JWT 14ilb Flywheel
-LUK Clutch
-stock ignition system
-Fuel safe 12 gal.fuel cell
-Walbro 255 external fuel pump
-stock injectors
-Cosworth fuel rails
-My own fuel return system with steel braided fuel lines from Crown Performance in Vista, Ca
-Fuel pressure regulator from Areomotive
-One step colder NGK spark plugs
-JWT pop charger
-Custom aluminum intake plentum
-Top Speed pro-1 headers.. explanation: Needed headers on the spot, ordered them off E-bay an received them 2 days later. Wasen't expecting much for the price and I didn't get much in return. The header flanges did not line up and was forced to run only 5 studs instead of six. Middle had to lose the sixth. Next the driver side header was bent to low and thus came in contact with the steering linkage. Had to notch it. So I would not recomend these for a novice or some one that is not mechanically inclined. Over all poor quality and would not recomend period. Made in China though so what can you expect.
-Stillen y-pipe.
-Custom 3-in single exhaust with Magnaflow muffler from RPM. Local shop.
-stillen under drive crank pulley and UR alternator pulley with no idler pulley. Took me 4 trips to Napa to get the rigt size belt.
-A/C has been deleted
-Cosworth thermostat
-CZP radiator hoses
-Koyo radiator
-Cosworth oil pan baffle
-Steel braided clutch line
-Stillen test pipes
-z1 solid motor mounts
-Momentum solid tranny mount
-Nismo 1.5 way LSD and diff cover
-350evo 3.9 final drive
I will be at my first track event, hopefully, for the June Extreme Speed track events.
I had originally built the car for modified time attack and TTU. Now I have built it for TTA and hopefully it will be compettive in modified class in time attack and other events. Church auto says its should be a solid 300 whp with E85 so we will see. Anyway, will have pictures up tomorrow due to the fact that I am drinking and am lazy. They should answer all the questions that come up. If not just ask. Hopfully this is a help to those with this swap in mind and what not. I will be also posting dynos in a few weeks time as soon as I get it tuned at Church's for the debut outing at Buttonwillow at the beginning on June.
Update with pics. Ok so the first 2 pictures are of the triple plug in the battery compartment that was the key to getting the swap to run in my application. The black plug is the on that I had to fiddle with. If you were to look at the stock plug from the 03, the female end; the white wire(solid) to the left as you look at it, is the only wire that did not match up to the 06 engine harness ( the black plug). So i snipped and looped the wire on the engine harness sideand had power to everything. The rest off the pics are just a few of the car.
So I am finally getting around to doing this. I have been a part of this community since 2006 but never joined the site till a few years later. I have been through a few set ups in that time: Full bolt-on na de, stock jwt 530tt, built jwt 700 tt, and now full bolt-on rev-up set to run on E85 in a few weeks.
I wasen't sure to label this a how to or just a na build up. However I did not document the build while it was happening so that kind of rules out the how to, but i will share how i did the swap and got it to work with my particular build.
First off the prologue,
I first purchased this car in 2006 after a deployment. It was a 2003 grand touring with 40,000 miles and stock down to the tires. Then I deployed for another 7 months a month later. I returned to a stock car but proceeded to order about $15,000 in parts. After that I wantedto get into the autocross and time attack. I took my car into a local shop for some drivetrain upgrades and drove away 2 weeks later with a JWT twin turbo and Brembo brakes. After a 2 month track onslaught I upgraded to more aggressive brake pads and Kumho v710 dot-r comps. All was well for another few months before I got the urge for more power, I installed a used boost controller. Unbeknowst to me it had a fulty interface which resulted in it doubling the boost and bending a rod. Hence the built engine and upgraded turbos. The car maxed at 650 whp and 610 lb-ft tq. Long story short the engine was built by a less then qualified shop in local San Diego and was tuned on 116 octaine and not even a mention of it to me. Engine was given to me 180 degree out,fixed then blew a head gasket on 91 oct. 2 weeks later. Had it rebuilt by a different shop then sold literally everything on the car from the engine and turbo kit to the brakes and wheels and interior. I was left with a rolling chassis since 2009 and it sat that way until I returned from about 3 years worth of deployments.
The current story...
I returned to a rolling chassis with a full cage and fuel cell set-up courtesy of John Russakoff at JSP Fab in Vista, Ca. If you don't know him google it! Ae86 with f22 swap in Formula D. Any way he hook me up for a good price and excellent fab work. Next I bought a Rev-up from a 2006 g35 that my friend had laying around. It had 30,xxx miles and was pulled for a built engine. So I ordered a lot of sensors and brackets as well as the engine wiring harness and ecu from a 2006 350z. I had the ecu nats removed and a few other things tuned from a place that will remain unnamed in Tampa Fl. Paid it and had it shipped back. So my friend, who works on more than a few formula drft carsas well as a lot of pro-am cars, and I mounted the tranny, which is also a CD0009 from an 06 to the engine and installed it around March time frame. Over the next week I hooked everything else up like the drive shaft, wiring harness, exhaust etc...
Got everything together to find out the car dosen't start. There is no power to anything with the ecu plugged in, but power to everything but spark with out it plugged in. Will crank mind you, but no spark. I call said shop in Florida for some help or advice and get talked to like I am a 12 year old for several calls. Now I am an easy going guy but for the job I do and the thing I have to do in my job I don't take kindly to this sort of down talk. I really felt like I needed to stab this Mother ****er in the throat for the way he wastalking to me. Support the troops is his motto huh. Doubt it. Any if Ilived in Florida the out come would be different. I don't so I did the next best thing and drove to Long beach to have my ecu checked out by the famous Church automotive. They were busy when I walked in tunning a Honda Challenge Civic.They made time to check out my ecu and reprogram it since it already had a code on it from said Fl shop but they put there own tune on it at my request for $30. Great shop and personnel. Got home installed the ecu. Out come was fairly different. Now spark but no fuel. Looked over my wiring and noticed that my fuel pump power wire was interupted from the fuse box in the kicker pannel from the previous shop wiring in a bigger fuel pump. Which was a Aeromotive Tsunami external pump. So I ended up wiring my current Walbro 255 external from Injected Performance strait to my kill switch with a fuse link. Tried to start again and still crank but no start. On the advice of my friend I traced all the wires from my 03 dash harness to my 06 engine harness. All wires matched except for the triple plug that sits right on the passenger side fender well in the battery compartment. I examined the plugs and noticed that the rear plug did not match entirely. The two front wires Which I believe are white and pink did not match. So I did what any shade tree mech would do and cut them. Tried to start the car. Ignition!!! but Won't idle and dies. So I splice the pink wire back in noticing that it goes to the MAF. Try to start again...Ignition and blast off!! Started and Idled. I set the fuel pressure using the fpr that I got from IP also to 50 psi at idle. I found that the swap seems to work, even in extremely motified chassis with very little effort. So here is my parts list with explainations only engine and drive train:
-2006 Rev-up 30,xxx miles
-JWT 14ilb Flywheel
-LUK Clutch
-stock ignition system
-Fuel safe 12 gal.fuel cell
-Walbro 255 external fuel pump
-stock injectors
-Cosworth fuel rails
-My own fuel return system with steel braided fuel lines from Crown Performance in Vista, Ca
-Fuel pressure regulator from Areomotive
-One step colder NGK spark plugs
-JWT pop charger
-Custom aluminum intake plentum
-Top Speed pro-1 headers.. explanation: Needed headers on the spot, ordered them off E-bay an received them 2 days later. Wasen't expecting much for the price and I didn't get much in return. The header flanges did not line up and was forced to run only 5 studs instead of six. Middle had to lose the sixth. Next the driver side header was bent to low and thus came in contact with the steering linkage. Had to notch it. So I would not recomend these for a novice or some one that is not mechanically inclined. Over all poor quality and would not recomend period. Made in China though so what can you expect.
-Stillen y-pipe.
-Custom 3-in single exhaust with Magnaflow muffler from RPM. Local shop.
-stillen under drive crank pulley and UR alternator pulley with no idler pulley. Took me 4 trips to Napa to get the rigt size belt.
-A/C has been deleted
-Cosworth thermostat
-CZP radiator hoses
-Koyo radiator
-Cosworth oil pan baffle
-Steel braided clutch line
-Stillen test pipes
-z1 solid motor mounts
-Momentum solid tranny mount
-Nismo 1.5 way LSD and diff cover
-350evo 3.9 final drive
I will be at my first track event, hopefully, for the June Extreme Speed track events.
I had originally built the car for modified time attack and TTU. Now I have built it for TTA and hopefully it will be compettive in modified class in time attack and other events. Church auto says its should be a solid 300 whp with E85 so we will see. Anyway, will have pictures up tomorrow due to the fact that I am drinking and am lazy. They should answer all the questions that come up. If not just ask. Hopfully this is a help to those with this swap in mind and what not. I will be also posting dynos in a few weeks time as soon as I get it tuned at Church's for the debut outing at Buttonwillow at the beginning on June.
Update with pics. Ok so the first 2 pictures are of the triple plug in the battery compartment that was the key to getting the swap to run in my application. The black plug is the on that I had to fiddle with. If you were to look at the stock plug from the 03, the female end; the white wire(solid) to the left as you look at it, is the only wire that did not match up to the 06 engine harness ( the black plug). So i snipped and looped the wire on the engine harness sideand had power to everything. The rest off the pics are just a few of the car.
Last edited by jwttz; 05-23-2012 at 12:34 PM. Reason: Pics
05-11-2012, 09:32 AM
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Dam, sucks I'll probably run speedventures at big willow that weekend. I would love to come out and play.
05-11-2012, 05:14 PM
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More pics.
Some interior pics. Also of my pulley setup. Oh and the JDM blue ***** is expected to be the biggest power adder. Rated at a 50whp gain. At least thats what the guy that sold me my 240sx told me so it was an obvious choice to swap it in first thing. 
Last edited by jwttz; 05-11-2012 at 05:22 PM.
05-11-2012, 08:25 PM
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My track days could change. I have not been to the track in a few years so I am looking to ease back into it. I am probably even going to be on street tires till I figure out the cars limits and how it reacts now.
Last edited by jwttz; 05-23-2012 at 12:36 PM.
05-12-2012, 10:28 AM
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Hankook RS3 is a great street tire for the track. Some pretty dam fast times have been set on those tires
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05-12-2012, 11:55 AM
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05-14-2012, 09:37 PM
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If you have any questions or need help let me know. One bit of advise I forgot to put out there. It seems that the oil pressure sensor and what ever other sensor is on that pig tail differs from automatic to manual trans.
05-17-2012, 03:34 PM
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Well its the pig tail that conects to those sensors, not to the guages directly. For referance the belt number I used is from Napa 25-060431. This is an extremley short belt and can only be used if you have an under driven crank, and alternator pulley, with no idler pulley.
05-18-2012, 03:09 AM
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05-18-2012, 11:54 AM
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Waiting to get my tune on e85. Right now I will probably get some new tires and wheels before that. Car feels good though. If I had to guess it's around 2500 or 2600 lbs.
01-03-2013, 04:53 PM
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Update to my build. Did not get anything done on time so car has not even been to the track as of yet. Took Aasco about a month or so to make my flywheel. Then I was sent the wrong clutch discs from tilton. Took about all of 3 months to get the car running again. Here is a short vid I took wih my phone of the new setup.
Last edited by jwttz; 01-05-2013 at 09:09 AM.
