# Need help with improving my new '88 300zx



## sphighend (Feb 9, 2005)

Greetings everyone.

First off if there are guides to helping n00bs (and oh dear gosh am I a n00b when it comes to upgrading and maintaining my 300zx) Please point me in the direction of the post, guide or site. 

I am looking for help and information about what I can do to better take care of my engine and even upgrade certain areas on a limited budget.

I currently have an 86 300zx with an 88 engine on the way. I want to make some inexpensive but worth the time upgrades to the engine and/or entire car that arn't going to cost me $1000s of dollars per upgrade. Im looking to slowly make the car a nice cruiser that has better speed then an average 80s 300zx but not a vehicle that I will be professionally racing or anything. It is my daily driver and I dont plan on keeping it forever 

From what I have gathered thus far there are a few things I can do; 
and for the love of my sanity please correct me if I have been steered wrong in any of these modifications!!! I want to make sure that the things I am doing work well with 300zx engines, so I get the best bang for my buck.

1. I will need to replace the timing belt, other belts and head gasket once the thing gets here and before I put into the car. *per suggestion of the seller, since the engine has about 75,000 miles on it, and since the head gasket is much easier to replace while the engine is not in the car.*
2. a Full tune up which should include the following:
a. 6 new spark plugs *anyone have any suggestions for good ones?*
b. new cap and rotor
c. new spark plug wires
d. oil change * I will be running 92 octance gas in this lady, anyone have any suggestions on a brand and or type of oil and oil filter? does the octane level of my gas even matter when it comes to types of oil and oil filters?*
e. new fuel filter *again anyone have any suggestions of type and brand of filter? and yes i know octane matters with this filter  Im a n00b not a moron*
f. Any other things I notice need replacing *hoses with holes, other obvious stuff* 
g. Anything I missed that needs to be included with the tune up besides an air filter? *I will be getting to that here in one sec*

3. After the full tune up I want to slap on a cold air intake with a cone shaped K&N filter. *I have found cold air intakes on ebay for around $50 bucks -- well not for my specific year, but yeah -- Anyone have any suggestions for good brands that are not really expensive? I woud like to know if differnt pipes, brackets, hoses or whatever else I need make a large difference or not. Is a kit the best way to go?*

4. I want to add exhaust headers. I am wondering about this though. I have found headers that will fit on 1990+ models but not for the 84-89 series. If i can buy ones made for it and slap them on great. Anyone know if these exist and if they do anyone a place where I can buy these at a reasonable price? 
a. If I put headers on I would definately would like to run a dual exhaust setup. I am assuming the local muffler shop that slapped on my flowmaster that I already own can hook me up with this modification.

That is my list of things to get done thus far. I have basically decided not to mess with chips for sale on ebay or with a throttle body spacer (too many conflicting opinions to mess with these imo)

This sound like a good plan to those of you who know about 300zx's?

Any help/advice/bashing (along with help on why its retarded) for being retarded would be appriciated 

Thanks again!!


Scott


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## 0341TODD (Nov 15, 2003)

Refer up to the stickys man and do searches........they are going to bombard you with crazy posts yelling at you for not searching...........search noob....search

Some quick answers to your questions though. When you put the new motor in....redo your entire cooling system...sans the radiator-- only if it needs it. But, new water pump and thermostat. New timing belt.......replace the igniton system entirely.........new cap, rotor, plugs, wires........the throttle body thing....no spacer, but you can do a 240 throttle body....... There is all kinds of stuff you can do man, just look around......cams ......headers if its n/a. Just search around and youll find all kinds of good stuff


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## JAMESZ (Mar 12, 2004)

http://www.nissanparts.cc/catalog/?section=247 thats the headers. Dual exhaust is a NONO. All it will do is add weight and you will have to screw up the rear bumper; it won't look right.

Those chips on Ebay are a fraud they will hurt your car. There are no conflicting opinions they simply do not work. And there are no spacers only the Stanza and KA24 throttle bodies that can be swapped and again unless your in hte 350rwhp range it won't make a difference.

Intake wise http://www.z31.com/kn.shtml

You could of bought a Turbo motor for the same price. Basically unless you want to spend gobs of money to try to make the NA motor perform you might as well go turbo it is cheap and easy power.

As far as oil it depends on whether it has been running Synthetic or Dino. I run Mobile 1 10W30. As far as plugs factory plugs will be just fine. Also 92 octane for your car will be a waste. Run what the manual says (87).


Yeah and search. Many of your questions have been answered previously. If you want there is a massive "best oil" thread...http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=66726&page=2&pp=15

There is another oil thread in the Z32 section. As far as filters it depends in fact in one of the oil threads filters were discussed also.


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## sphighend (Feb 9, 2005)

Thanks for the help, especially the advice on dual exhaust. I didnt realize it would just add weight and not help performance.

Since these questions are up in the stickys, let this one die.


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## sphighend (Feb 9, 2005)

Actually I have a few more questions.

TODD, you say to redo the entire cooling system. What does "sans the radiator" mean? Sorry for the newb questions, I am just getting into the scene here, trying to learn what I can.

I will look into putting a new thermostat and waterpump on it though. Ack, another newb question, does the ignition system also include the starter? Or is it just the cap, rotor, plugs and wires?

JAMESZ, Im really glad you said something about the dual exhaust idea...thats why I posted, to find out if it was worth doing or not. My question now is are the headers even worth buying and putting on? I dont want to spend $300+ on them, take the time to put them on and have it not make a difference.

I would have loved to buy a turbo engine but I couldnt find one at the time.
It was just recently I realized that online forums were popular in the automotive world, otherwise I would have hit these first when my engine started knocking like some giant creature was trying to crawl out of it.

Also your suggestion on the fuel, it goes against everything I have ever heard. Which doenst make it wrong, just new to me...running a higher octane gas wont do me any good whatsoever? I have been told (not by anyone who has any experience specifically with Zs though) that it will burn cleaner and give better gas miliage...is this not the case?

Thanks again for any help.

Scott


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

sphighend said:


> Also your suggestion on the fuel, it goes against everything I have ever heard. Which doenst make it wrong, just new to me...running a higher octane gas wont do me any good whatsoever? I have been told (not by anyone who has any experience specifically with Zs though) that it will burn cleaner and give better gas miliage...is this not the case?
> 
> Thanks again for any help.
> 
> Scott


 In a nutshell, beyond whats required for the engine, higher octane gas is a waste of money. If it improves engine performance and fuel mileage, then that means the engine was old enough and had enough piston deposits to make good use of the higher octane. With NA cars, running higher octane won't do you much good beyond what I mentioned above. It's when you get into turbo cars and running higher boost levels that octane becomes important. Becomes one of the single most important things, in fact. 

Higher octane simply means the gasoline contains more of certain chemicals that slow down the power explosion in the engine. Slows it down enough to turn it into useable power instead of a "knock" explosion, which provides little power and causes damaging vibrations and unequal heating of the piston face. Which can lead to partial melting if it goes on long enough. The funny thing is, higher octane gas actually provides less "power" than lower octane gas does, but it is more useable by the engine, which gives the sensation of more power. 
An NA engine has a fairly constant compression throughout it's rpm range, so unless you have piston deposits, which effectively increases your compression ratio, you won't really need or be able to use the extra useable power provided by higher octane gas. Turbo engines, the compression increases greatly due to the pressure provided by the turbo, so high octane gas is needed to keep the "knock" effect in check. 

Sorry, that was a pretty big nutshell........


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## JAMESZ (Mar 12, 2004)

The headers will still make power. You could keep your NA shortblock and just throw the turbo components on it. http://www.redz31.com/pages/turbo.html

It isn't that hard and it is pretty cheap.

If you want to stay the NA route and just get alittle bit more power headers are a good idea.


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