James Z31 Engine Blueprinting

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gman
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by gman »

85_Z31 wrote::badgrin: that would be a dream come true if they VG could spin 7500
Don't laugh have done a lot o VGs back in the day that left 7.5 way behind.
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brocky41
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Re: James Z31 Revival

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brocky41
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by brocky41 »

And another - nice sound - around 500HP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L2Ly62f8L8
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85_Z31
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by 85_Z31 »

Cheers Brocky

Next up is to drop the gearbox and replace the suspected bad input shaft bearing, it has a 4 bolt flange on the front and can be removed fairly easily.

I'm considering building a "gearbox/transmission jack" like cradle to slide into my floor jack. The one i made for the diff worked so well i can't see the point in fighting with it under the car. It has occurred to me that the "Y" pipe on my headers covers the top 2 bell housing bolts, so changing the clutch might be for another day.

T5's have a re moveable bellhousing with the bolts access externally making it much simpler to pop the gearbox off very quickly so im going to run with that method.

In the near future I'm semi interested in changing to 9:1 compression pistons, and i want to fit a higher flowing oil pump from a Turbo automatic with the wide gears. that will be the time to have the flywheel ground, new clutch and shove it all in as one assembly.
The Answer to your Question is NEEDS MORE VG30
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85_Z31
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by 85_Z31 »

The T5 Gearbox jack cradle idea worked really well and saved me from doing it the manly way and ruining my back :badgrin:
t5-2.jpg
Turns out the noisy gearbox that has always been in my car was actually "grinding my gears" into a black powder that mixed with the oil and made sludge.

I have stripped it down, cleaned all the gunk out, put a new input shaft bearing on it. Its getting a new fill of oil and it only has to last 2 Motorkana Events and a Queens Birthday cruise.
t5-1.jpg
A Friend from the USA is sending me a known good Gear set,input, cluster & shift forks so i can do a rebuild set and make up a good box into my existing case.


Here you can see the thick black grinding paste, this was new oil 10,000kms ago. It has ruined all the new bearings that were installed in this gearbox back then.
t5-3.jpg
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The Answer to your Question is NEEDS MORE VG30
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85_Z31
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by 85_Z31 »

Some footage of my Car doing some Hooning at Motorkana , quite tricky but a lot of fun

Mixture of DJ and myself behind the wheel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgxQom0s4Lc&t=1s
The Answer to your Question is NEEDS MORE VG30
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85_Z31
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by 85_Z31 »

Car went well at the Queens Birthday Cruise

After bench testing the data logger i can't get it to recognize the new Wide band sensor for it. This complicates doing any road tuning to pull a bit of fuel out of it. Its very rich across the board. 6km per Litre isn't fantastic. I'm going to have to keep thinking on this one.

Bart was behind the wheel today and it was quite good to get his opinion on some of the noises / clonks i am contending with. He is fairly sure that one of the vibrations is from the Universal Joints in the driveshaft. We know the gearbox is cacked. I have a rotating assembly being removed from a box in the USA to be sent over.

In Terms of the next Autocross i need to make the Power steering perform a lot better. A friend has a Spare RB steering pump that im going to fit to the VG for extra capacity and flow. I am also considering extending the Resivour for more capacity of fluid to reduce the fade i was getting last autocross.

I also need some new Rear brake pads and rotors . The old ones are all scored up and the lack of bite is preventing me from doing a Handbrake to get the care sideways around a cone.

I'm also considering machining a tiny bit off the front Tension arms to increase the caster a touch. The hope is to get a better contact patch on the front tires when the car is leaned over at full lock.
The Answer to your Question is NEEDS MORE VG30
Bartman
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by Bartman »

Thanks for the drive today James.
This thing definately goes hard for what it is!
They don't call me the man with the rubber arm for nothing you know.............
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85_Z31
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Re: James Z31 Long Overdue Update

Post by 85_Z31 »

Hi All

Its been a while but i have been slowly working on the old Z.

Found a Better Gearbox up north so purchased and installed
New Gearbox.jpg
Sent my Data Logger / Wideband to Australlia and got it fixed- now ready for more tuning

Started installing sound Matt in the areas the factory didn't do, and re doing insulation/underlay try and improve the acoustics of this "harmonic Generator"
Insulation-1.jpg
Sound Matt-1.jpg
Sound Matt-2.jpg
Autodec Carpet Kit for the Z, Dark Charchol
Autodec Carpet Set.jpg
Passenger Carpet.jpg
Driver Carpet.jpg
z carpet hatch.jpg
Got some Tidier Seats sorted out, it no longer feels like riding in a Taco
Nicer Seats & Carpet Boot matt.jpg
There was a Crazy Bad exhaust Drone a 3100 RPM, it literally hurt my ears and not being 17 anymore I decided to sort it out with Science.

So rather than adding a muffler or some other kind of restriction i designed , sized and built a Helm Holtz Resonator.

Basically it takes the resonating sound wave spins it around 180 and cancels it out, no loss of flow , still full 3" Exhaust and still sounds like a Dirty Turbo VG
Helm Holz Resonator Installed.jpg
Helm Holtz Resonator - Branch.jpg
Exhaust Improvements Version 5.jpg
I also did a lot of exhaust fitment improvement, now sits up nice and high out of harms way, My Tig welding of thin metal is also improving
Lobster Back Exhaust Tube.jpg
Not Quite an instagram welder.jpg
And Previously installed oil cooler is working a treat, here im stuck in a 20 min traffic jam on Blenheim road 30deg outside, no airflow and the coolant temperature is rock solid stable.
Cooling system operation test- Traffic Jam.jpg
have had the Boost cranked up at 18psi, i think if the clutch hadn't slipped i probably would have smashed 3rd gear ( old gearbox ) I also found the limit of my airflow sensor and it would strange things that never happened at lower boost levels.

Starting to fall in love with this car again, 6 months ago i was wearing ear plugs to drive it around now its at the state where its as quiet as a mid 90's OEM Japanese car. Its probably going to get a basic stereo install soon.

Very proud to say i can Daily drive it very smoothly and tamely, but when you get on it she's still a Boosty, wheelspinng, rapid changes in direction, arsehole puckering angry hard to drive 80's car.
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The Answer to your Question is NEEDS MORE VG30
Otodat
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Re: James Z31 Revival

Post by Otodat »

Looking sharp in there, nice work
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