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Posted by: AshsZ (Fab Whore, Ph.D) on April 10, 2002 at 01:54 pm
In Reply To: 90 NA to TT conversion - practical? posted by scottkenney on April 10, 2002 at 03:20 am
This message has been viewed 25 times. Some people may say that it is not worth the time or money, and in fact I believe that the FAQ on the subject says something like that unless you're doing a 2+2, slicktop, or convertible.
However, here's how I think of it:
I did the "full blown" conversion. Not just finding a wrecked TT and swapping parts, that would have been too easy. Rather, I found a wrecked NA with 60K miles on it and pulled the engine, trans, ECU, driveshaft, AC compressor, PS pump, Alternator and all of the bolts, nuts, etc etc. I disassembled the NA engine, worked with my local Nissan parts manager (who later became a good friend of mine) and we found all of the differences between the two engines and ordered all of the internal parts that were different like pistons, valves, piston oil jets, bearings, etc etc and all of the other necessary parts for a rebuild. I ported the heads, exhaust manifolds, and port matched everything. I used a set of 550cc injectors I bought from a guy in Japan for $435 that were practically new (slightly used for 3K miles before car was totaled)but were low impedance type, and I learned about the differences and how to make those work with our high-impedance ECU driver. I also bought a set of turbos, exhaust manifolds, and intercoolers from a guy in Canada for $600, bought rebuild kits for the turbos and rebuilt them myself. I managed to acquire the intake piping from various sources, and that was the most difficult part. I have custom mandrel bent pieces made for hardpipes and I fabricated stock recircs into BOVs and machined piping for them and had them tig welded to the hardpipes. It started up on the first turn, but it smoked like a two dollar whore from everywhere for about the first day of running until all residues cooked off. I ran 1000 easy miles on her, changed the oil, and raised the boost to 14psi. At about 1500 miles I took her to the track and ran a 12.7 at 110MPH with plenty of tuning room to go. I'll see 11's with stock turbos and street radials, although a lot of people will contest that possibility. One VERY appealing factor is that I have all of the luxuries of a luxury car; power windows, power doors, PB, PS, AC, heat, etc etc etc. I sacrificed nothing. So you ask, "is it worth it?", hell yeah its worth every minute and dollar spent to me. I have had tons of fun with my Z in this conversion and the knowledge gained is invaluable. So I say, if you have the time, money, resources, etc to make this happen and you dont want to get rid of your Z because all you are finding are ragged out TT's on the market, then do the conversion. People here say that if you dont have a 2+2 or convertible or slicktop, then you shouldn't do the conversion. I say that's BS. Ther's a lot more reason to convert an NA to TT other than to be unique. Hell, the fact alone that it wont have all that HICAS BS is unique enough for me! :)
LOL but true - "I'll take Read the F'ing FAQ for 500 Alex" - DamonZ |
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