Hello all
My name is Robert I am a new member and glad to be here. I own a 1987 300ZX turbo coupe I have owned it since 2004 and loving it every (summer) day since.

Hi Robert! It's been a distracting week here, with many things going on at once. Sorry to have been delayed answering when you rang the doorbell ~ come on in!

Tell us a little abt your '87 Turbo car and where you found it. (For that matter, tell us how you found US!).

The 300ZX cars are very popular in this Club. We have well over 100 of them in here, so just about ANYTHING you need to talk about will be familiar to someone.

We have our first Club Autocross tomorrow morning (08Aug) and you're welcome to empty out your Turbo car and come play if you want!

Frank

Rob ~ I just viewed your photos in our MEMBER RIDES gallery and saw your engine rebuild. You did a really clean job on that!
Who makes your chrome shock tower strut bar?
Frank

Welcome Robert, I too, have an '87 Turbo. Gotta love the Z31s

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"As time moves on friends come and go.....but as you race, you'll definitely begin to hear new voices."

I bought my Z in 2004 I worked at a junk yard at the time. I had gotten T-boned at a trafficlight one week before and had just cashed a $6000 insurance check when in walks a customer and friend braging about his awsome sports car so i go and take a look. To my suprise there in the driveway was the car of my dreams. So i start looking it over checking the usual spots for rust and leaks he asked what im doing i said im going to buy the car from you. he says i never told you it was for sale. I looked him right in the eye and said how much cash do i need to pull out of my pocket to make it happen (he knew me well enough to know i was usually broke) he replied $1500 so i reached into my pocket and counted the money out he was very upset because he planed to get more for it but he is an honorable man agreed i was so excited i didnt even let him take it home i punched out and drove him home (cruised the rest of the day). the car lasted that summer but in the fall the oil pump went and i hurt it pretty bad limping it home so i parked it then. I found a JDM engine with 30k and had it shipped to me just dropped that one in (big mistake) should have gone through it first but i got a summer out of that one to. until i got stupid and greedy again put a boost controller on ot and maxed it for a weeked. that broke piston rings in three cylinders. So she sat again finally got the time and money to get back to her a couple weeks befor the middletown car show now it is the JDm enginen ree-built bottom up re-man turbo, basicaly every thing in front of the firewall is re-man thats it up till now i have big plans for the car my goal is at least 400whp (well see) oh my strut bar is actually a ebay generic i bout it on a whim and i liked the way it looks i wanted the straight acrooss type but this one is so different ill keep it (it does the job it was intended to do) thanks for looking and noticing

OK, so here's yet another bona fide Z nut, who has been bitten HARD by the Z Bug. (You're in the right place, pal )

Good story, and I'm glad to see you entitled it, "the story SO FAR", because Z stories never end. Many of us have been smitten the first moment we see "OUR" Z car. It's hard to describe, but sometimes you just KNOW this car was made for you.

I don't own a Z31, so I'm speaking out of turn here, but ~
the Z31 3.0L V6 is capable of loads of horsepower. We've all heard stories about big numbers being pushed out of it, especially with good turbos. But reliability falls away as HP increases, until you end up with a "one-race" engine which has to be rebuilt each time you bring it home.

Do you think you can get 400 reliable HP out of yours, without having to rebuild it every year?

I believe he can. There are two widely used setups, both involving similar parts, different ECUs and a few others.
Nistune offers the capability to self-tune your car on the fly via laptop and software. I've heard alot of good things about them from other Z31 owners.
Second, and the personal way I'm going is with the Jim Wolf Technologies 450 upgrade package for the Z31. Its specific for this car. Parts needed can be found on their website, although Nistune can use many of the same parts as well, and the tuning is even better due to the ability to adjust your timing, fuel, etc electronically.
Common parts for both are 1993 Ford Cobra MAF and harness, 1975 Mercedes450sel injectors(420cc), you need top-feed fuel rails from an '84-'85 ZX, adjustable FPR, dropping resistors($3eachx6), those who had the injector "campaign" done need to reverse it back to stock due to how the injectors fire(bank by bank), and an ECU from an 88-89 zx(turbo or n/a), and some form of boost controller.

Its just easier to source all these parts yourself. I've talked to some running both...the VG engines will support 450rwhp @10psi safely, as the JWT tune tends to run a tad rich. I'd sacrifice gas mileage for safety any day! Ok...I rambled on.

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"As time moves on friends come and go.....but as you race, you'll definitely begin to hear new voices."

robert.sayles says:

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:12 pm Post subject: there ya go

Cool you just saved me a bunch of typing. I was trying to figure out how I was going to explain my plans. Iv been doing a lot of research and Iv come to the same places although I didn't know that I had to get the older fuel rail I thought I would have to mod the merc. one to make it fit. That's the plan though, but for now we are still working out the kinks from the re-build. On my way home from work today noticed the boost was a little low and exhaust was a little louder. so I did the poor mans test and stuffed a rag in the tail pipe to listed for leaks. followed the exhaust all the way to pass side manifold and found it barley attached to the head. All six bolts had backed out (forgot the lock tite on those) OOPS I will probably start on the major up-grades over the winter or spring I think from what Iv seen out there 400hp is enough to compete

I agree. 400 hp from one of these cars would be very quick indeed. I had plans for that HP goal myself, however, I am now forced to sell my Z31. If you decide you want to go that route, you can buy the parts I have collected for the upgrade.

Hopefully I will be back in a Z of some sort in the near future...preferably an S30 chassis.

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"As time moves on friends come and go.....but as you race, you'll definitely begin to hear new voices."

Welcome to the greatest Z car club in the world!!

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Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

Welcom Robert. The 87 Turbo is cool Z. What's the color combo?