Slow 180sx VQ30DETT

[30ed32]

I know it's not a skyline but I've owned a and built a few so I thought I'd put this here.  At the rate I'm going I'll be lucky to finish this project in my lifetime, maybe this will keep me going..

Anyway unfortunately I don't have all fancy pictures like other threads, everything looks rough and dirty now because it is.

I got some parts last week so that's why I thought I'd get on here and make some progress.  Just a bunch of random stuff in no order.

Gearbox (Z33) crossmember, just finished welding this, needs to be cleaned up and painted.

350z DBW pedal and VQ37VHR throttle bodies.

As you can probably tell from the above picture I am going dual throttle, this came about because the stock inlet plenum won't fit under the bonnet/hood (for you Americans) and it looks ugly as hell.  So I've decided to go for for something similar to the R35 GTR plenum.  Here is the flange for the inlet manifold and exhaust flanges as well, I'll start working on the inlet soon.

And here's the part that makes it TT, I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointed here by these small turbos (R33 GTR), but they're really just to use for test fitting and I will get some gtr upgrade turbos later.

My next step is inlet/exhaust manifolds.

[GTSBoy]

PLAN AHEAD.  And by that, I mean don't plan to use -7 -9 -5 -10 whatever GTR "upgrade turbos".  Plan on something decent, like a pair of Garrett's G25s or a pair of the small BW EFRs.

[30ed32]

Ah yeah the "upgrade turbos" was because I was going to put this on another forum that wouldn't understand -5, as -5s was my plan now I may have to rethink that.

[Leroy Peterson]

Whats the VQ from? Z33 or is it a legit Y series? What ECU are you going to run?

Someone on this forum did a VQ30DET into an S15 really nicely, build thread is floating around.

 

[30ed32]

It's from a Y33, anything from a z33 or y34 has VTC of some sort.  I could have gone with a z33 engine as I did an engine swap on one (see below) and had the engine laying around but I already started with this, so I will carry on with the 3 litre.  At this stage I'm looking at a link g4 thunder unless I can find some else/more suitable.  The g4 thunder is the only ecu I've found so far that can run dual DBW throttles, I'm sure there are others but I think link is the best fit.

I've seen the s15, it's a nice build.

The z33 I did the swap on:

 

[30ed32]

Small update, I've been buying a few more things and started work on the inlet manifolds.

 

There is absolutely no science behind these before anyone asks, I just had some 3 inch stainless pipe and started working on these.  The one with the blue tape on is the more complete one.

 

I can't for the life of me get my phone to take a decent picture from this angle with the lights on in my workshop, but here they are resting on the engine sitting roughly where they will be in the end.

 

Got a 350z gearbox.

 

The gearbox came as a package, I got a whole bunch of stuff from the guy including the driveshaft I got in the back of the gearbox, he said he has no idea what it's for but it has the yolk for this gearbox which is all I'm interested in.  Also got a new maxima clutch setup and flywheel but I won't be using that, ARP flywheel bolts which I will be using.  A generic chinese short shifter which I'll need to get a reverse lockout plate for or a better shifter as this one is very sloppy.

 

The package also came with a complete vq30det, I guess it never hurts to have a spare.

 

And the last thing I bought which was not part of the package, a second hand lightweight nismo 350z flywheel.

Edited August 9, 2018 by 30ed32

[GTSBoy]

Your science free plenae look like they will do fine.

[30ed32]

I've been busy with work lately so progress has been slow and plans changed a little bit.

I decided to go single turbo for now as I didn't want to fork out the money for the twins I want and I won't be doing all the supporting mods right now for big power, a super responsive 300kw will keep me happy for a bit.

So here is where the single turbo will live, this turbo was chosen due to cost and I have used it on a RB30 build previously where it performs well.

I also started working on some exhaust manifolds, I bought some 3-1 merge collectors as I could never make some this nice.

The start of my manifolds:

 

 

 

First side is pretty much done just need to finish up all the welds, I've bolted it to some RHS and started finishing it up, then I'll finish the other side

I also changed my mind on the inlet manifolds for a few reasons, so I revised the design a bit

 

That's pretty much it for now, the plan is to finish the exhaust manifolds all the way up to the turbo asap and then start on the inlet manifolds which at this rate will take me a while.  Until next time..

 

[30ed32]

Small update, I finished the exhaust manifolds, ages ago actually maybe February and for whatever reason I don't have photos of them but I'm sure you can all use your imagination.  I still need to make the pipe work that connects from the exhaust manifolds to the turbo and wastegate though.

I have been working on my inlet manifold and it's pretty much done now.

 

Next is to make some top feed fuel rails with short top feed injectors, finish exhaust piping to turbo and order some r35 gtr coils.

See you in a few months..

[30ed32]

Very small update, nothing too exciting unfortunately. I just got back from holiday and I'm trying to find time where I can.

I knew I had to get bigger injectors and unfortunately the VQ30 comes with side feeds, the biggest stock ones I could find were 550cc I think and possibly 700cc de-capped and neither of those really fit my needs or what I wanted.  So I decided to go for top feed and I chose 1000cc Xspurts.  This also meant making sme top feed fuel rails, so I ordered 1 meter of blank fuel rail, cut it to length and so far I have only center punch the holes for the injectors.  I need to go buy a 13.5mm drill bit tomorrow to drill the holes.

 

 

After a small lapse in judgement I am back on track, I bought some twins that came off a GTR.  I got the dyno sheet for the car these came off, it did 631hp on 1.4bar and apparently they had more left in them.  I just had to rotate the CHRA around to make it work as it was pretty much 180 degrees out being off a gtr.

[30ed32]

I've been doing a lot of boring work on the car.. like getting the handbrake to work and modifying the cd009 shifter, I'll put some pictures of this work up later.

Anyway to give myself some motivation I quickly tacked on the rest of the piping needed for the turbos and bolted them on.. they look small in the engine bay

[30ed32]

Exhaust manifolds done

And everything is purge welded for the extra 50hp

[MBS206]

On 6/26/2019 at 6:27 PM, 30ed32 said:

Very small update, nothing too exciting unfortunately. I just got back from holiday and I'm trying to find time where I can.

I knew I had to get bigger injectors and unfortunately the VQ30 comes with side feeds, the biggest stock ones I could find were 550cc I think and possibly 700cc de-capped and neither of those really fit my needs or what I wanted.  So I decided to go for top feed and I chose 1000cc Xspurts.  This also meant making sme top feed fuel rails, so I ordered 1 meter of blank fuel rail, cut it to length and so far I have only center punch the holes for the injectors.  I need to go buy a 13.5mm drill bit tomorrow to drill the holes.

 

Can I ask, where did you buy the raw rail from? 

Also the alu you have that is shaped for the intake, did you start from flat alu and shaped it, or did you buy that from somewhere? 

[30ed32]

18 minutes ago, MBS206 said:

Can I ask, where did you buy the raw rail from? 

Also the alu you have that is shaped for the intake, did you start from flat alu and shaped it, or did you buy that from somewhere? 

Rail from: http://www.vpw.com.au/Category/Index/473109

The intake is stainless and I made it.

[MBS206]

Just now, 30ed32 said:

Rail from: http://www.vpw.com.au/Category/Index/473109

The intake is stainless and I made it.

How did you get it all so nicely shaped and rolled? Are you a sheet metal worker? 

[30ed32]

32 minutes ago, MBS206 said:

How did you get it all so nicely shaped and rolled? Are you a sheet metal worker? 

Hopefully these pictures make sense.  Basically it all started out as 3inch stainless pipe and some flat sheet, the pipe was cut in half down the length of the pipe and the sheets filled in the top and bottom gap.  While it takes time, not a huge amount of skill is required, I am definitely not a metal sheet worker.

[MBS206]

10 hours ago, 30ed32 said:

Hopefully these pictures make sense.  Basically it all started out as 3inch stainless pipe and some flat sheet, the pipe was cut in half down the length of the pipe and the sheets filled in the top and bottom gap.  While it takes time, not a huge amount of skill is required, I am definitely not a metal sheet worker.

That's awesome! Makes perfect sense, I didn't think you'd made it that way as I couldn't see a single weld mark on it! 

Great finish on the product, I was hoping you had a magical source to buy them from as my welding on sheet steel is no where near that good! 

I'm assuming it was all TIG welded?

I only have my MIG and it's currently setup as flux core, I really need to get a bottle for it and change to a 0.6mm wire for doing sheet

[KiwiRS4T]

12 hours ago, 30ed32 said:

Hopefully these pictures make sense.  Basically it all started out as 3inch stainless pipe and some flat sheet, the pipe was cut in half down the length of the pipe and the sheets filled in the top and bottom gap.  While it takes time, not a huge amount of skill is required, I am definitely not a metal sheet worker.

You are definitely skilled! I thought you were on the right track with the single turbo but clearly you have the ability to follow through with your decisions. With the amount of original fabrication I can see it will not be completed soon but looking forward to the finished product!

[30ed32]

1 hour ago, MBS206 said:

That's awesome! Makes perfect sense, I didn't think you'd made it that way as I couldn't see a single weld mark on it! 

Great finish on the product, I was hoping you had a magical source to buy them from as my welding on sheet steel is no where near that good! 

I'm assuming it was all TIG welded?

I only have my MIG and it's currently setup as flux core, I really need to get a bottle for it and change to a 0.6mm wire for doing sheet

Lots of sanding and polishing and touching up the welds to get the smooth look.

Thanks, I wish a had a magical source as well.  The more I work on this thing and the more custom bits I make I really just wish I could buy some of this stuff off the shelf.  It would make more sense to spend the money on something rather than the huge amount of time it takes.

Yes all tig welded, I also have a gas/gasless mig which is also setup for flux core at the moment.  It's good for the more industrial stuff and it's a lot quicker as well, too bad it's so messy and a bit annoying when you have the clean the weld if you want to weld over a section again.  A bottle and .6mm will definitely be a step in the right direction, tig is too much of an investment unless you're going to be using it all the time.

[30ed32]

21 minutes ago, KiwiRS4T said:

You are definitely skilled! I thought you were on the right track with the single turbo but clearly you have the ability to follow through with your decisions. With the amount of original fabrication I can see it will not be completed soon but looking forward to the finished product!

Thanks I appreciate it.  I knew the single would give me the power I wanted, but it wouldn't have looked as nice and I would of had to make some holes and chop up things on the body to run the piping.  That's why I call it the slow 180sx.. mainly because of how slow the build is, hopefully it's not too slow when it's on the road.  If I can get it running and tuned by the end of the year I'll be very happy, unfortunately my work will take me out the country off and on for 3 months at the end of the year so maybe I won't see it running this year.