Turbo relocation and corner balance

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  • #16
    Originally posted by zdriver_kado
    There are many hidden costs involved with the VQ swap. I have helped do this particular swap with a friend and would love to have one myself but he swears he would go another route next time. Oil pan and many other small bits need to be sorted before you can see the light at the end of a long tunnel. There are more fitment and driveability problems than you will expect. That being said it can be a really fun project if you want something challenging. Tempting cause it's hard to beat the VQ as far as power/weight. It is also compact but very tall which causes many headaches for a Z31.
    Theres hidden costs in *ALL* swaps. I don't know of anyone who has done a LSx swap for under $7k…without doing an entirely hack-job cutting corners and pulling it off for ~4-5k. VG build is still the best bang for the buck. lol
    - VG30DET (HE341) 86 300ZX - 1982 280ZX Turbo - Headered NA 1986 300ZX 2+2 - 2000 Xterra -
  • #17
    So no one has mounted the turbo on the passenger side?? I might be attempting it.
  • #18
    Just curious - why? "Stock" turbo location swapped to the passenger side will give you a world of frustration with the oil filter and starter and now you'll need custom manifolds on both sides. The "high" location, like the standard a/c compressor replacement that most people (including me) do will take out your power steering pump, which I'm not against, but it will make your intake and i/c piping really long if your throttle body is in the stock location. Plus custom manifolds on both sides instead of just one, and if you're doing two custom manifolds anyway, fuck, equal length headers to a front-mount turbo. There's actually tons of room for that (efan required obviously.)

    I mean, if you're just wanting to do something different, cool, but otherwise is there a specific tradeoff you're hoping to avoid?

    If you really, really just want to keep your a/c there's at least three guys (rick88ss comes to mind) who are doing good power with everything in the stock location, it just gets really tight under the hood.
  • #19
    Originally posted by FrozenZ View Post
    Just curious - why? "Stock" turbo location swapped to the passenger side will give you a world of frustration with the oil filter and starter and now you'll need custom manifolds on both sides. The "high" location, like the standard a/c compressor replacement that most people (including me) do will take out your power steering pump, which I'm not against, but it will make your intake and i/c piping really long if your throttle body is in the stock location. Plus custom manifolds on both sides instead of just one, and if you're doing two custom manifolds anyway, fuck, equal length headers to a front-mount turbo. There's actually tons of room for that (efan required obviously.)

    I mean, if you're just wanting to do something different, cool, but otherwise is there a specific tradeoff you're hoping to avoid?

    If you really, really just want to keep your a/c there's at least three guys (rick88ss comes to mind) who are doing good power with everything in the stock location, it just gets really tight under the hood.
    I made 627 on stock manifolds while keeping the AC
  • #20
    Originally posted by FrozenZ View Post
    Just curious - why? "Stock" turbo location swapped to the passenger side will give you a world of frustration with the oil filter and starter and now you'll need custom manifolds on both sides. The "high" location, like the standard a/c compressor replacement that most people (including me) do will take out your power steering pump, which I'm not against, but it will make your intake and i/c piping really long if your throttle body is in the stock location. Plus custom manifolds on both sides instead of just one, and if you're doing two custom manifolds anyway, fuck, equal length headers to a front-mount turbo. There's actually tons of room for that (efan required obviously.)

    I mean, if you're just wanting to do something different, cool, but otherwise is there a specific tradeoff you're hoping to avoid?

    If you really, really just want to keep your a/c there's at least three guys (rick88ss comes to mind) who are doing good power with everything in the stock location, it just gets really tight under the hood.
    Really tight. It sure takes some pondering. I also kept the a/c (not making gobs of power, compared to other similar builds, maybe 240-250). Think I'm gonna have to reroute IC tubing to get a better set of fans on.
    1986zxt w/ '86, 56k mile, na engine (turbo bits swapped), K&N intake, 3" CM Performance turbo-back exhaust, Eibachs, KYB shocks, Front Mount Intercooler (2.5" plumbing), Turbosmart MBC/9 lbs, recirculating BOV, ASCO plenum, dual fans, Maxima alt, Champion 3 row Radiator.

    2013 Ford Taurus SHO Performance Package
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