# Z31 turbo swap help?



## Glen.z31 (Sep 28, 2010)

hey I'm new to the forum and also to the turbo world. I have a 1988 300zx turbo and i'm interested in doing a turbo swap. My question is, what kind of turbo can I swap it to? tO be honest I had the intention of putting the turbo from my dads truck ( 1996 ford e350 7.3l turbo diesel. The turbo was just rebuilt and the truck is being parted out. My question is is this a possible swap? I will also be adding other things such as a fairly large intercooler, hks bov, boost controller throttle body, k&n air intake and turbo timer. I was told by someone that turbos are fairly universal once the setup is there. Any help, suggestions, or critisism are appreciated. Thanks

ps i would also be modifying the exhaust "outlet?" by eldong reducers onto it and joining with the existing exhaust (no cat, performance muffler)


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## Shadao (Aug 14, 2007)

desil truck turbo would not be a good fit for your car...

trucks rev max at like 4000rpm... at 4000rpm you are short shifting your 300zx... you dont want your turbo to spool fully at 2500rpm and stop building boost at 4000rpm...

part out the truck and buy some proper turbo's for your car...

how much power are you looking to make? anything over 450whp and you should start thinking about a full engine rebuild with forged internalls... you can prolly get away with 450whp but keep in mind the engine is 20+yrs old... if you go higher than 450whp you will need a standalone fms... dont bother with a k&n air intake... lol just a waste of money... get yourself a drop in filter or a custom intake and simply pop on a k&n filter.. any CAI gains you would see on a N/A car are negated by the compression from the turbo which super heats the air, which is why you have an intercooler... as for intercooler dont go toooo big as it will just cause you turbo lag...

for example a gtr32 stock intercooler is good for 550whp, once you get around 550whp you will want a bigger one but not too big otherwise you will lose some power and turbo response...


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## Glen.z31 (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks for the help. I thought since the turbo didn't have much to do with rpm, I thought it was the engine. Anyways, I'm lookig to make as much power as possible without having to rebuild my engine ( for now) so 450 would be good. What kind of turbo shud I be using? Any idea? Thanks again for the help.


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## AZ-ZBum (Nov 21, 2004)

And it's your turn to feed bad information. 4000RPMs with a 7.3L motor is still more air than a 3.0L motor at 8000 rpms (which the Z31 doesn't spin anyway).

Original poster: Read: Jason's Z Site - RedZ31.Com REDZ31.NET JASONBUTTS.COM


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## Glen.z31 (Sep 28, 2010)

So in your opinion would I be able to use the turbo


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## Shadao (Aug 14, 2007)

so lets do some very basic math here then shall we...i may have been off on how it works but im still right in regards to the turbo not be suitable for his application...

and the info i gave him basically says " the turbo wont be good for you " yet you give him the impression it will work...

the truck turbo spools at like what 1500-4000rpm and peaks prolly around 3500rpm based on the volume of air the 7.3L engine pushes out the exhaust...

so we can simply double it(it will be a bit off but you will get the idea...)

in the car the turbo which is now being power by less than half the est volume of air will begin to spool at 3000rpm and peak at about 7000rpm and be maxed out at 8000rpm....

so you can see that the turbo will not be a good turbo for his build...

how much power it will make? who knows, for this turbo to work you will need a compelte standalone FMS you will have to map the entire timing and fuel it will be a pain the arse...

OP you are better off following someone elses previous build, the link AZ posted is a good start to get you moving in the right direction...

PS im not a z31 or z32 or s13 14 or 15 guy, im a GTR32 guy i own one i drive it i love it... i also frequent these boards because of the lack of people coming here... i think the only people who come here are those who dont know where to look and google " nissan forum " and this is what they find... how do i know this? because thats how i found this place when i first got my car, and neeedless to say this forum doesnt have the info i needed and it doesnt have the traffic either... so im often giving people a lil bit of info and telling them to go to a dedicated forum for there make/model and talk to people who DO know all the ins and outs for the specific vehicle...

i may give out wrong information from time to time but its few and far between and if i do make a mistake i will admit it and find the solution... can you say the same?


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## AZ-ZBum (Nov 21, 2004)

Yes I can. When I am wrong.



Glen.z31 said:


> So in your opinion would I be able to use the turbo


I don't know. What turbo do you have? Do you have flow maps for it to see if it will be suitable for your application?

What injectors, ECU, exhaust, etc are you planning on using? Will you be running an intercooler or just using low boost settings?

There are people running turbos made for diesels on their Z31s. Search z31performance.com for them. I believe they are using an HX35 (not sure about this number). But without knowing what turbo you have, answering your question is impossible.


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## Glen.z31 (Sep 28, 2010)

To be honest I don't really know anything about the turbo... I believe the housing is a 1.15 A/R but I don't know if that helps at all. I was planning on having an intercooler. As far as injectors and ecu I'm not sure yet either.


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