Advice

Good time to install an intercooler?

https://youtu.be/iJa5qr4RIIM


https://youtu.be/d8SLOrp0Wrw


This is N/A motor with over 200k & pistons that had been nicked by valves. It's still running all these years later. It's been running on the same na motor for almost a decade. The 2nd video from last month. Made 450whp on only 15lbs. Just make sure you have supporting mods prior to checking the boost up.

An intercooler was installed 3+ years ago. Guess I forgot to list it in my mods

That's what I'm talking about. Positive juju right there. What is a safe boost range for the NA motor with the mods I have currently?

The only issue with my current setup aside from the jacked up motor is cooling. My lip/spoiler was modified a bit to fit to fit the intercooler in. I believe this modification interrupted airflow to the rad. I'm going to modify the lip to increase airflow to the rad along the way.

Now I'm gonna have to look up flawlez's build for that 450 HP. Volumetric efficiency has to be up there for that much HP on 15 PSI.

Volumetric efficiency? Pfffft.

My *build* thread is really old and not very updated. The whole build thread thing wasnt nearly as common when I started with my car 13 years ago.
https://z31performance.com/forum/z31…-manifolds-mod

What is a safe boost level with the na motor with my listed supporting mods? FMIC, K&N intake, recirc. BOV, ASCO Gutted Plenum,Champion 3 row rad, CM 3". Currently set for 8lbs of boost

If you have the IC you're gonna run out of fuel before anything else. 12psi seemed to be my limit for safe AFRs with stock tune on a VG33, you could probably go a little higher on a VG30. but honestly if you're wanting more than you'll get at 10PSI you should be thinking of upgrading injectors and getting into nistune anyway.

edit: not sure if you did anything with your motor before you went na2t, but my personal experience was that I had my old na2t VG30 running nicely at 7-8 psi for 15k miles and when I went to 10-12 I blew ring seal on two cylinders pretty quick. I'm not 100 per cent sure it was the original motor in the car so I can't say how many miles it had on it, but the compression had been good before. Dunno if this has happened to anyone else.

Motor was described as a 56,000 mile motor at purchase. Leak down test on the VG30 was very good. Were you on stock turbo injectors when you increased boost to 10-12? Appreciate the info. I'm not wanting to push any limits.

Yeah, stock everything except an AFPR, wideband, and a and boost controller.. This wasn't a detonation thing though, this was just a tired motor thing, AFRs were always fine. If a motor's been running under a certain set of mechanical conditions for 80K and 30 years and then you change those conditions significantly, stuff might go wrong. Even the newest junkyard VG30/33 is going to be close to 20 years old at this point and any motor that was ever in a z31 is at least 30. I rebuilt the VG33 I have in my car now when I put it in, and it's been a champ at 12psi for 10K miles.