How's it going everyone. I've been a Z31 owner for almost 10 years now. I've had 3 including, 2 N/A and 1 turbo......my baby , I've tried the other forums but they've all died down throughout the years. On to the stalking of the buy/sell part of the forum.



Mingo Sierra

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Z31 88 turbo.......nonshiro :'(

Hello, Mingo! Welcome aboard. Glad to have yet another Texan on here. We just met a bunch of you at the National ZCon in Nashua NH last week and had a bunch of fun with you. A whole passel of Z CLUB OF TEXAS members cooked us chili and served free margaritas.

Would enjoy seeing pictures of your Z and hearing more about it.

Glad you found us, brother. We welcome input from Z owners of all experience levels, so something you know about your Z will be of interest to us. Sad that other Z forums are dying out. I personally suspect that's because they are not monitored for 'poison'. If a website allows people to yell and swear at each other and argue all the time, people walk away. We are an actual Z Club. We know each other ("Most of us know most of us") and meet monthly. We cruise together, help each other with our Zs, etc. So it's easy for us to show common respect to our friends here on our Club's website. We can put a face and voice to almost every screen name on our Members List. So we strive to keep our website clean and not offend each other. If we would not want our family to read a forum post, it gets modified or deleted. I suspect other internet websites would benefit from doing that too, but it's not my business. All I know is that the CTZCC has increased steadily in membership population over the past 5 years and everybody seems happy together. Sort of one big goofy family.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing more from you and yes, there are other Texans on our membership rolls and you might be near some.

Z ya
Frank

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1970 240Z

Wow ~ I just looked up Weslaco, and you're like the southernmost point in the whole state I'll bet you can almost kick a football into Mexico?

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1970 240Z

Hey Mingo,
Welcome to the group. This is about the most welcoming bunch you can find anywhere. I'm at the top of the state in Richardson - a Dallas 'burb. Although I've not yet been lucky enough to personally meet the CTZCC folks (my problem, not theirs), the forum conversations and help will make you think you're right across the table with a favorite beverage of choice while you swap tales and describe problems.

Looking forward to your posts and pics. You can check out my ride and a lot of other fine Z's in the Member Rides section.

Jim

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Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

Welcome distant member. Nice cars the Z32's. Have you had any dealings with the Texas Z car club down there? Great bunch of people I've met at the zcon's and they do quite the chili party.

Hey guys thanks for the big welcome. My guess about the other sites is probably together with yours, a lot of people did get on each other's face and things of that sort, but oh well. To answer some of your questions: if I was close enough I probably could kick a ball into Mexico, since I live about 10 minutes from the border. I have a pic of the ol broad on my phone I'll post one up as soon as I get a chance. I've been busy lately with my oldest starting Pre-k and all ^_^..........excited, yet nervous. Also, I used to be a part of Z Factor Performance out of Harlingen, TX. We were a great bunch and were actually growing pretty quick, but with a fast rise comes a quick fall. I'm pretty familiar with the Z31 since I've owned 3 in almost a 10 year span, right now I'm still debating on designing my own exhaust manifold or simply rerouting the turbo up to where the a/c compressor was located. Anyway, I'll be on as much as I can and will post pics later today. Hopefully one day we'll do a meet somewhere in the middle of the country .

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Z31 88 turbo.......nonshiro :'(

["... or simply rerouting the turbo up to where the a/c compressor was located"].

Now THAT sounds like a fascinating project! Would really like to hear more about that when you get a moment ~ how, why, what advantages you expect, etc.

Frank

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1970 240Z

Welcome Mingo! Great to have another distant voice on our forum. We love hearing stories from our far away members. I think you will find this to be a very welcoming, friendly and active forum.

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

As for the rerouting I've been looking at some examples and have come up with a few alternatives. One consists of using the existing manifolds and simply add piping to run it up. Another is one I saw and liked a lot but I'd have to start from scratch and build my own manifolds.

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Z31 88 turbo.......nonshiro :'(

Sitting patiently in the garage

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Z31 88 turbo.......nonshiro :'(

["Sitting patiently in the garage"]. You forgot to add the word, "appreciating". Every day your Z sits quietly in the garage and doesn't get dented or rusted, it's worth more than it was the day before. So it should read, "Sitting patiently in the garage, appreciating". It appreciates *at least* as much as inflation, but probably more.

I will play devil's advocate here and play with your mind a little. Turbos generate huge amounts of heat (we've all seen them glow, even in broad daylight). That heat must be dealt with when engineers design a car's engine and engine bay. On the Z, they punch holes in the hood and locate the turbo below the exhaust, then shield it in several directions to keep it from damaging anything nearby. On the L28T oil pan for example, there are actually sheet metal flanges which protect nearby gaskets from turbo heat. Where the hot pipes passed the pan gasket, the heat melted the gasket and could actually set it on fire, so Nissan placed a protective flange there.

Protecting the fuel system is even more important. The old 240s and some 260s actually afterboiled and vapor-locked because of excessive underhood heat. Being from Texas, I guess I don't have to tell you what a problem that can be. The fuel actually boiled inside the fuel lines before it reached the carbs, and carbs aren't designed to run on vapors. Or else the heat made the fuel in the float bowls boil while the car sat idle, causing it to bubble out of the bowl and into the carb throat. Whether it went inside and loaded ("flooded") the engine, or went outside and dribbled out the mouth of the carbs (and onto the hot exhaust manifold) depended on which side of the hill you parked on that day. Your Fuel Injection won't have all those problems, but it is still susceptible to excessive heat.


So if you relocate your turbo to another area, what components are you then gonna cook? Can you isolate the unit so it doesn't effect any fuel or electrical components? Would relocation allow you to funnel cold(er) air onto the turbo from outside? If you effectively move a turbo to the opposite side of the engine, is there a difference in insulation btwn left and right sides? Does a Twin Turbo have the same problems?

And has anyone else done what you want to do before, without setting their world on fire?

Just curious.

Frank

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1970 240Z

Fair question Frank. The location I want to use is very close to some wiring and hoses. Heat can be isolated, not completely but a great amount using wrap and insulation. I've seen others place it either where the a/c compressor sits or further back, between the a/c compressor and throttle body. Maneuvering it to fit is the point to the word "custom" or "modification" and its the point to every vehicle being unique. I completely understand what you mean about catching fire, considering it is pretty hot down here, but one mod always leads to another. Maybe fan delete and installing electric fans on the radiator is a proper solution to a quicker cool, plus intercooler, and so forth. Thanks for the input anyways, anything is better than nothing.

thanks,
mingo

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Z31 88 turbo.......nonshiro :'(