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Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
3/28/20 1:10 p.m.

Is it being driven by someone with mechanical sympathy or abused with the intent to destroy the car? Because there are different levels of "track reliable". 

ChrisLS8
ChrisLS8 Reader
3/28/20 1:29 p.m.

The biggest issues outside of cooling I've seen on NCs has been the rods. I'm no expert but from my prior research the 10's and upward have proper forged steel rods and not powder steel "forged" rods. Earlier years also had issues with thrust bearings iirc

_
_ Dork
3/28/20 2:20 p.m.

In reply to ChrisLS8 :

Actually started in '09. (The reason I bought an '09). 
 

Shoot, if you went for 200whp you could just do a 2.5 swap and cams. But it really depends on whether you are track "racing", or doing an occasional track day. Big difference. One needs a fully built motor or a stack of junkyard specials. The other needs cooling mods and brakes and a driver that has common sense. 

amg_rx7
amg_rx7 SuperDork
3/28/20 3:06 p.m.

Forced induction is usually a challenge to cool.  It would probably be easier and more reliable to get a car that has the power to weight ratio you are looking for stock.

Olemiss540
Olemiss540 Reader
3/28/20 3:56 p.m.

Nope. Not worth it. Cooling issues caused me too many reliability problems ended up losing a years worth of track weekends sorting just to strip it all of anyways. Much easier to buy something else if the power gods consume you.

bluej
bluej UberDork
3/28/20 3:56 p.m.

Is the 2.5 no-go because of classing? Seems like starting with more displacement is a good way to run a lower stressed system for a given power goal.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
3/28/20 3:58 p.m.

One more vote for cooling issues.

WonkoTheSane
WonkoTheSane SuperDork
3/28/20 4:43 p.m.
pointofdeparture said:
bluej said:

Is the 2.5 no-go because of classing? Seems like starting with more displacement is a good way to run a lower stressed system for a given power goal.

If I am going to go through the trouble of putting together/swapping a motor into something, I am just going to build a SR20DET 300ZX.

... Define track reliable...

ChrisLS8
ChrisLS8 Reader
3/28/20 4:44 p.m.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

SRs are plenty reliable 

WonkoTheSane
WonkoTheSane SuperDork
3/28/20 4:57 p.m.
ChrisLS8 said:

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

SRs are plenty reliable 

Sure, the internals are,  but swapping one in will lead to chasing all sorts of fun issues when pressed into racing service.. we've had:

Overheating

Turbo to down pipe stud fatigue failure

Coolant system hose problems due to routing requirements

Turbo to manifold stud failure (that cooked the brake booster right before turn 1 at Watkins Glen)

And a few others related to boost generation and control...   Nothing internal so far, though, so it's significantly better than the KA it replaced!

All I'm saying is to define track reliable for your applications before you start dropping 25 year old power plants into equally old chassis..

_
_ Dork
3/28/20 9:12 p.m.

In reply to pointofdeparture :

What car doesn't require more mods to accommodate turbo AND track abuse? Name one? Every track car needs an upgraded cooling system. Brakes. Safety crap. And a slew of other things, because these are road going cars, never designed for track racing. 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
3/28/20 9:19 p.m.

I've gotta say, if 300 hp is legitimately the goal, I'd want more displacement. And I have many miles on turbo track Miatas. Never hurt one because I believe in mechanical empathy.

 But if you need an anvil, get you a big engine. You'll get more torque too, which is useful. 

bluej
bluej UberDork
3/28/20 9:21 p.m.

I hear what you're saying, but the mzr/duratec is practically a bolt in, and an order of magnitude less work than the SR in a z32. I have a b2300 w/ 2.5, and have helped with putting a 2.5 into an NC over a weekend. I also had an S12 hatch (SE) I tried to put a gm 4.8 in.

Having said that, yes you'd have to build it and put in some work. Swap only would be one thing, but adding the turbo and you're not far off your SR swap effort wise. Build the car you really want that makes sense how you'll use it.

ChrisLS8
ChrisLS8 Reader
3/28/20 10:28 p.m.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

I get that. The one thing in 17 years of playing with SRs is always replace all studs lol. I have titanium studs waiting to be installed and Im swapping all my exhaust/turbo/wastegate to v band

STM317
STM317 UltraDork
3/29/20 6:39 a.m.
bluej said:

I have a b2300 w/ 2.5

Sorry to take this on a tangent, but did you get your 2.5 swap running smoothly? I never heard any resolution to your stumbling issues.

_
_ Dork
3/29/20 10:03 a.m.

Hey why'd you pull all of your posts from here? Unless there's a reason I'm not understanding, this would appear to be childish. 

docwyte
docwyte UberDork
3/29/20 3:40 p.m.

In reply to _ :

My 911 Turbo doesn't.  Literally the only car I've run on track that's fine right out of the factory

_
_ Dork
3/29/20 4:13 p.m.

In reply to docwyte :

Yeah, and it's also sort of built for that. 

bluej
bluej UberDork
3/29/20 5:57 p.m.
STM317 said:
bluej said:

I have a b2300 w/ 2.5

Sorry to take this on a tangent, but did you get your 2.5 swap running smoothly? I never heard any resolution to your stumbling issues.

Since the OP bailed, I'm not going to worry about thread jacking. Yeah, I think it was a mix of a loose ground (#+37+$-|€£€^!!!!), and needing the swirl flaps in for the stock tune. Did well enough to barely stay above the bottom 25% at the challenge, too!

This manifold also came in today for this/next year's effort. That's the old motor I kept to use as a mock-up:

Edit: Appx placement:

WonkoTheSane
WonkoTheSane SuperDork
3/29/20 7:31 p.m.
ChrisLS8 said:

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

I get that. The one thing in 17 years of playing with SRs is always replace all studs lol. I have titanium studs waiting to be installed and Im swapping all my exhaust/turbo/wastegate to v band

Yeah, I'm sure if you threw all we know now at it you could set it up for more success out of the box..  we were also using it for endurance racing, and most of our failures happened following a race-long yellow-race pattern, which obviously is hard to manage stud and manifold fatigue in those conditions. 

That's why I wouldn't recommend one for this type of track reliability.  I'd go NA (as we're planning to do).  But man is that a great engine to race with when it's all together!

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
3/30/20 1:05 p.m.

I like the idea of a turbo NC, but don't want to deal with it at the track. Even though I suspect I'll only get to take the NC a few times per year.

I think a 2.5 cams/intake manifold/higher comp pistons and E85 will put it where I want power wise. 

A ~200+whp NC with all that torque, a good suspension/brake setup should be a damn quick track car. Especially my local track.

_
_ Dork
3/30/20 3:54 p.m.

In reply to z31maniac :

Oh yeah! How is your NC? I will answer that for you; it is amazing and you completely love it! 

Floating Doc
Floating Doc UltraDork
3/30/20 4:11 p.m.
_ said:

Hey why'd you pull all of your posts from here? Unless there's a reason I'm not understanding, this would appear to be childish. 

I've been on a lot of forums, and I don't think that I've ever seen that happen.

_
_ Dork
3/30/20 4:27 p.m.

In reply to Floating Doc :

Right? I mean, I guess he could be embarrassed. But nobody should be embarrassed around here. Heck, I've inserted my foot many times. I keep coming back (and wondering why you guys tolerate me,lol.)

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
3/30/20 4:44 p.m.
_ said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Oh yeah! How is your NC? I will answer that for you; it is amazing and you completely love it! 

It's not here yet. :)

I canceled my flight week before last. So I think now in a few more weeks Jeremy is going to deliver it to me. So I'm getting excited. Being able to take a convertible out for a drive in all this madness would be great.

It looks like neither myself or my lady will be in the office before May.

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