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So...if you're at all familiar with my build (fully built bottom end and heads, lots of custom stuff, lot of breather stuff, twin gt3071's, etc) then you might be a little shocked to hear that the build has been (mostly) parted out. Why, you ask? Because of this...
The dowel from the sprocket adapter kit (jwt r5 cams with Jun adjustable sprockets) on my DS intake cam sheared off causing all 6 intake valves to kiss the pistons and bend. How did this happen? Simply idling and warming up in the garage. I heard a nice little top end rattle, the car started missing, so I turned it off. I immediately started looking to see if I could see anything and noticed some oil pooling on the lip of the intake sprocket. I ripped everything apart and above is what I found. (Now before someone says it or asks...yes the gears were torqued to fsm spec when they were installed) To me, it looks like the pin was slightly undersized and worked itself back and forth in the dowel hole until it weakened and ultimately sheared, causing the sprocket to spin free of the cam. So what happens next? Well that's the fun part. After spending about 2 years building the vg setup, another 5 trouble shooting everything, and the finally driving it for a whopping less than 200 miles, big changes are happening. I always told myself if anything happened to this setup I was going to swap a vh45 in...so, that's the plan..with a twist. I will be building a twin turbo vh45 setup. I already have the turbos for this...two fp hta 3586 turbos with tial housings and billet wheels (rated at ~750whp each).
(And for fun, the 3586's mixed with the 3071s from my VG setup
I found a nice low mile (62k) vh45 about 5 hours away in NY, that I am hoping to pick up in 2 weeks, along with a performance vh oil pan, motor mounts, and hopefully a vh45 harness. The beauty of going this route is I can still use the majority of my setup from the VG build. My fuel setup (minus the rails and injectors...only had 1000cc, will need 1600cc for this), hks triple disc clutch, haltech ps2000, and everything else I did that was not VG specific, can just be worked right into this new build. As of right now, my plans are to fab up some manifolds that put the turbos up front behind the bumper. I would love to put the turbo inlets right behind the fog light ducts, but we will have to see where I actually have room to put those guys. Initially I will be running a stock vh45 while simultaneously building another one (forged bottom end, cams head work, etc ). I will probably keep the stock motor on wastegate pressure (maybe 700-800whp?)and see how long the vh lasts..then whenever it is done (or the stock one blows), I will swap in the built one. This project will probably be somewhat slow, as we are currently trying to sell our townhouse and move into a nice single family home...but if that happens soon, and I get a real garage to work in, it will definitely pick up speed. As of right now, I'm expecting this to take until late next summer/fall unless I run into any major setbacks or speed-ups. So here's hoping! But wait...there's more! Let's just preface this next part with Z owner logic..."my Z never wants to work so I bought a second one!" Z #2 (well technically Z #3, but its first one ive owned at the same time as another) is a 1991 NA (I know I know) with 142k mIles on it. I picked her up locally for 4200, and I gotta say...aside from a rub/small tear on the drivers seat bolster, the interior is immaculate (and the clock and AC both work!). The exterior is also pretty damn clean (aside from a door ding and some scuffs here and there...which honestly is kind of to be expected for a 25 year old car). My plans for this guy are to just do house keeping on it for reliability (fresh set of plugs, ptu subharness delete, and a few other little bypass/deletes), and hopefully just drive it happily until the VH stuff is done. AFTER the vh is done, I MAY (read: probably will) do an NA-T setup with a moderate size single turbo, on the stock block (no morethan 500-550whp). Anyways, that's just a distant thought. The mods that I can tell (or was told about) are stillen headers, stillen catback, intake, chipped ecu, an safc, kyb shocks, lowering springs, 30mm drilled/slotted rotors, a TT front bumper and rear wing, and 350z anniversary wheels. The car also has a pretty nice sound system as it was supposedly a demo car for some alpine products. The timing belt, water pump, etc, was just done at 133k miles, so once im done my few house keeping things, it should be good to go until my vh is all done (and beyind).
I gotta say...driving this NA really gives a completely different feel than my built TT did. Switching from big injectors, big turbos, big cams, no idle assistance, triple disc clutch, and manual steering rack, to a stock feeling Z sure makes it feel ridiculously easy and simple to drive. Anyways, sorry for it being do long, but thanks for reading (if you did)..and stay tuned for VH updates in the near (and not so near) future!
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