Got the Z rolling road tuned today

richiep

richiep

Club Member
Thought I'd share this with anyone who's interested. Finally got the FairladyZ rolling roaded today - and about time too! I spent most of last summer and the last few weeks pottering around in it painfully slowly, partially due to the 1000 mile run-in period I stuck to, but also due to the fact that the triple Dellorto 40s on my car were obviously jetted totally inappropriately for the engine. I think they were jetted for a pretty standard 240z engine, not an L28 with 87mm pistons, quite aggressively skimmed and ported head and stage 3 cam!

So today the car spent the day at Ric Wood Motorsport in Stockport. The results - a different car pretty much! She is now generating 198.1bhp @ 5361rpm at the flywheel, 176 at the rear wheels. Max torque was 194.6 ftlb.

I'm pretty happy with that overall - its a good starting point, given that I'm still running the MSA 6-1 manifold and matching exhaust - I have a Nismo USA comp manifold ready to go on and will be having a JDM-style twin pipe system fabricated during the summer, so hopefully should squeeze a bit more out of it. Ditto if I add one of SKiddell's cold air boxes.

The stage 3 cam is the one thing that is not ideal - for street driving it is a bit wild, i.e. has a big torque hole at about 2250rpm before picking up again (it really takes off above 4000 as shown by the dyno graphs I have). I will see how it goes in the medium term - going for a less aggressive cam is an option in the future I suppose (the stage 3 was an impulse buy due to a silly deal on eBay on a brand new cam set at half price!)

Still, scared myself sh**less on the way home on the nice and empty Manchester Airport link road - from 50-100 was rather too easy! Think I'd better swap my R200 in before I annihilate the R180!

Of course, the day didn't go entirely to plan as the car tried to make me look like a total numpty in front of Ric. First, just as I arrived outside his garage, the frackin' exhaust tried to fall off! The bolts holding it to the manifold had vibrated undone over time, suddenly the Z went from noisy to tractor! (catching the exhaust on the sppedbumps on our road everytime I take the car out can't have helped either)

Then, while on the rolling road, the brakes failed! One of the rear stainless braided hoses to the rear calipers had obviously moved with use and was rubbing on the halfshaft - it failed spectularly. Thank God it happened there however and not on the road...:eek: Very very lucky. All fixed now though with better quality parts than in the original conversion kit, so hopefully no future disasters.

So, not quite the plain sailing I had in mind and consequently rather more pricey ( :eek: ) but much more enjoyable to drive now. Looking forward to its next outing and then the Z009 and Japfest jaunts...
 
Thanks for sharing that (be nice to see the graph too) and you won't believe the difference the Nismo manifold will make (my guess is 20bhp) !
 
Wow they are great figures........I must get mine tuned properly during the summer.......My cam is pretty much the same as yours, I have the stage 4 cam and doesn't come to life until about 4200rpm.

Will you have to get it tuned again when you fit the new manifold and exhaust?
 
jay28 said:
Will you have to get it tuned again when you fit the new manifold and exhaust?
Click to expand...

Shouldn't have to but it would be nice to know the difference wouldn't it ?

Why do you guys with bigger engines want such high revving camshafts - what do you do before 2500rpm - play tiddlywinks ?
 
Really, I had wanted to fit the NISMO manifold and get the new exhaust sorted before having it dyno'ed, but I couldn't live with the performance anymore and wanted it sorted before Z009. Time was too short to get the exhaust sorted out considering my requirements are pretty specific, i.e. a close replica of a JDM (e.g. Spirit Garage) style twin exhaust (same idea as Ian Patmore, that system adapted to fit the NISMO USA manifold).

I'll have to post some pics of the NISMO manifold actually since I got it back from Camcoat in Warrington. It looks stunning in the Cermakrome finish.

If the manifold can add what you suggest Sean, and I seem to remember Skiddell's airbox added something like 10-15bhp, then I'd be getting into pretty damn respectable territory power-wise I think! Next stop - give it a couple of years and I might give ITB FI a go and see what I can get then!

The one thing that I think that is going to have to get tweaked again in short order is the timing. Ric advanced it a couple of degrees based on the dynamometer readings, but its brought back the running on problems I used to have. So if Mark Rayner reads this, can I pop over sometime in the next couple of weeks and avail myself of your skills and timing light? :D

P.S. I'll try and get the graph sheet scanned and posted here.
 
What's the benefit of fitting a twin pipe system then ? I ask because I will be fitting my Nismo manifold shortly & sending the car away for a custom built system, also where are you getting your system made ? I was thinking of using Blue Flame.
 
Has anyone got any pictures of a twin pipe setup to hand? I presume it's the one with the stacked twin exit back box (in my eyes beautiful, most people hate them). I have a great looking 6 into 2 that (I think from what the count was telling me) was designed for said system.

Glad to see the car is more driveable and you've gotten past the run in pain :) All new motorbikes are the same, only up to 4k for the first 1000 miles or something, so hard not to use the revs!

I don't suppose you got a vid of it on the rolling road by any chance?!? Would love to hear it.
 
Ide love to get a close look at a NISMO manifold, Im going to 'try' make my own manifold and twin exhaust setup during the summer.

I love the over and under rear box setup like Ian patmore's.
 
Nice result Richie, So how many of the jets did you need to change to get it running right ?.




Rob
 
Rob - on the jet issue, I have to admit I didn't go into the details with Ric (I wasn't there during the dyno session anyway, so no vid Russ, sorry!). I do know that the choke size has been increased - it was 32mm, restrictive for my engine. I'm assuming it is now sporting 36mm (the biggest the 40 carbs will take). I'm guessing there was a fair amount of tinkering as it had other problems with mixture and the terrible transition from idle to main jets.

The twin pipe system's attraction for me is not purely driven by performance. It is the fact that my car is a JDM S30 Fairlady Z and I want it to really reflect that in as many ways as possible. That was one my core goals when I rebuilt it - restore its JDM heritage lost in its previous rebuilds when it became a bastardized 240z!. I love the look of the over/under back box and the sound. Originally I had planned to buy a manifold from Japan (e.g a Fugitsubo SuperEX or similar, I'm guessing along the lines of what you've got Russ) and possibly a twin system, but the collapsed exhange rate made that undesirable. The NISMO manifold becoming available again at good prices from Courtesy Nissan in Texas made me decide to follow Ian's lead - a replica of the system with adapters to fit the NISMO unit.

For performance, I suspect SKiddell's exploration of the issue of a long y pipe and a single pipe back are probably where it's really at, power-wise. Albrecht might have some knowledge on the relative performance of the twin systems though (if I'm correct the Z432 systems featured 60mm pipes, the aftermarket systems like I am emulating 50mm).

I haven't approached them yet but I am planning to have the system done by JP Exhausts in Macclesfield (where everyone around here gets their Z exhausts made). I have plenty of reference pix and measurements to guide the exercise!!
 
jay28 said:
I love the over and under rear box setup like Ian patmore's.
Click to expand...

I had this setup on my Samuri most people disliked the over under pipes, I loved them. It was a one off stainless manifold & system manufactured by GDS it was a work of art, I only wish I had kept that system.
 
That is EXACTLY the look I want, at least now I know a little more on what to refer to it as, love the slash cut pipes :D

Fujitsubo rings a bell, I can get a photo jay if it helps with your ideas?
 
Hi Russ,

Yeah a photo would be great thanks...........I'm getting a stainess manifold flange cut on the next couple weeks so at least that will be ready.
 
Richie glad to see your back on the road.
Don't be too hasty about swopping out your cam for a smaller one. The specs your quoting are not wild.
Once you have changed your exhaust you should find a big improovment in low down torque, as I did after lenghthening by secondarys by a considerable amount.
 
Russ, there are pictures of my twin pipe system in my engine thread, and a few pics in my gallery. The ones in the gallery are when the exhaust was just loosely fitted and not ceramic coated. System now on the car and looking fab.

Richie, good, keep up the good work in bringing your car back to JDM. I agree with racer, cam not that big , the exhaust system could help, and besides, you have only done a few miles in it. Give it time you will know how the engine works, and how to use it. From that you will be wanting more horse, not less!

Cheers
Ian
 
'So today the car spent the day at Ric Wood Motorsport in Stockport. The results - a different car pretty much! She is now generating 198.1bhp @ 5361rpm at the flywheel, 176 at the rear wheels. Max torque was 194.6 ftlb.'

Hi Rich, was the '176 at the wheels' figure an accurate reading or a conversion from engine power. When I had my car tested (a few years ago) it gave 175 at the wheels, we thought that equated to a bit more than 198 at the flywheel - interesting. So my engine is less powerful than I thought, oh well still good fun :driving:.
 
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