N/A UPGRADE BIBLE.

[YOGURT!]

Originally Posted by Bruce Brown

I stopped reading when I finished page 15. Somewhere in there I think a UDP manufacturer made one with dampening...my '94 has 237K on it. Lobsterboy talked about it a lot, but I got tired reading some of the drival and may have missed it. I don't race it, but occasionally exercise it. Should I be concerned at all about the harmonics or wait for a shift in the temporal fabric and trust in the force?
Thanks for the thread Yo. Great job.

buschur racing makes one. its real expensive, just get the unorthodox one. you wont regret it and no, you wont spin a bearing

[QualityTime]

we just bought my son a 95sl with 160k mi. i don't know when the timing belt was last changed, so i assume i should do it soon. what is the cost? and do you recommend high performance belts and tensioners? also, we bought a ralliart intake from e-bay with chrome pipe and filter for a total of $96. is this a good product?

what is a test pipe? my son says he needs one for each cat. his plans are to cut the cats out and replace with test pipes. is this the right thing to do?

[YOGURT!]

your son is possibly mis-guided, you will have 2 cats if you have a california emission car, one of which (front precat) cant be replaced with a testpipe, only with a fedspec rear manifold, tapping THAT for a rear 02 sensor, and getting a fedsec downpipe.
if you have a federal spec car, you will only have 1 cat, and yea, you can cut it out and replace with 2.5'' aluminum tube, or you can order a testpipe from www.maximalperformance.com bout 35 bucks. tell terry yogurt! sent you.

you dont need highperformance belts, ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY one more ONLY, GET OEM MITSU STUFF< MAKE SURE you get an OEM tensioner, if that fails youre doomed, also, make sure you get the idler pulley too, ive seen them go bad at around 130k miles, also make sure you replace the waterpump, mine seized cause the previous owner just changed the belt, not the pump. cost is about 400-500 bucks installed for everything if youre lucky.

The ebay intake is a great idea, only thing is these cars wont respond THAT well to modification, expect a nice increase in sound and a couple ponies on the butt dyno, mostly sound. the testpipe will allow you to use the intake to its fullest, most N/A cars will "fall off" when in upper R's. a testpipe will allow you to pull to an SAFC verified 7330 in 3rd gear with a constant pull and no drop in acceleration.

Just a few things, 150k is alot to have on an N/A motor, make sure to check compression, as your motor could most likely use a refresher on the piston rings and bearings, depending on how the car was cared for previously.

just another tip, go to www.partsexpress.com and order yourselves some 8ga ground wire and some ring connectors, about 6 feet of it will do, cut them into 1 - 1.5 foot strips, put a ring connector on each end, and create a ground wire kit, youll be surprised with the results. bottom line, it will send the ecu a cleaner, more precise signal netting better throttle response.

BEFORE you do anything tho, make sure you get the service points done FIRST, you cant mod an unhealthy car and expect good results. OK im done. good luck!

[QualityTime]

yogurt, thanks for your reply. you may be right, my son is 16 and at times is easily misguided. my friend who just installed a cat back in an n/a rx-7 looked under the car and said he thought there were 3 maybe 4 cats??? i don't know where the car came from, but in SC we do not have emmision control. i will check into the ground wire kits.

you also mentioned i could get an OEM tensioner, idler pulley, and water pump installed for 4-500 bucks. do you know anyone in SC that could do that? and what is the cost of a refresher on the pistons, rings and bearings. we are having a great time working on this car, but it is quickly becoming an expense.

i am also looking for a 16" chrome 7 spoke rim. for some reason i can't post pics.

thanks again.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by QualityTime

yogurt, thanks for your reply. you may be right, my son is 16 and at times is easily misguided. my friend who just installed a cat back in an n/a rx-7 looked under the car and said he thought there were 3 maybe 4 cats??? i don't know where the car came from, but in SC we do not have emmision control. i will check into the ground wire kits.

you also mentioned i could get an OEM tensioner, idler pulley, and water pump installed for 4-500 bucks. do you know anyone in SC that could do that? and what is the cost of a refresher on the pistons, rings and bearings. we are having a great time working on this car, but it is quickly becoming an expense.

i am also looking for a 16" chrome 7 spoke rim. for some reason i can't post pics.

thanks again.

those 3-4 cats are actually the 1-2 main cats with the rest being precats.


the top image is the fed spec exause set up, it only has one main cat that is not show here. the third one down is the cal spec exaust. that big thing at the right is the second main cat on the cal-spec axaust. i do not believe you can buy a test pipe to by pass that.
the main cat connects to the left side of the exaust shown. that is where you can place a test pipe.
all the rest are the pre-cats. most people just gut them.
(p.s. this image is from 3sx, those two other exaust pipes are the 3sx pipe. just dont pay attention to them (the shiny ones))

*edit* just in case you dont know.. this is a test pipe below. its just bolt on.



you can buy them from many places.. i would check out either http://3sxperformance.com or http://www.maximalperformance.com

[TajMan]

I wouldn't worry about refreshing pistons and rings, 160K miles is NOT a lot for an N/A engine. People who think so are spoiled to own low mileage cars their whole life. Even if you were burning a little oil it would probably be valve stem seals before piston rings. Anyway, compression test will tell you everything.

[YOGURT!]

Originally Posted by TajMan

I wouldn't worry about refreshing pistons and rings, 160K miles is NOT a lot for an N/A engine. People who think so are spoiled to own low mileage cars their whole life. Even if you were burning a little oil it would probably be valve stem seals before piston rings. Anyway, compression test will tell you everything.

yea, whens the last time you saw a 3000gt or stealth N/A with a reliable 200k on it...... 160K IS alot to have on ANY car. do a compression test, if youre not burning any oil youre ok. if the purpose of the car is to spend time with your son, an engine refresh for him, so that you KNOW you have a good running, strong compression motor that doesnt burn oil or smoke or spin a rod bearing due to undue wear, is a priceless peace of mind, plus you can spend some QT doin it. thats all i was sayin.

[TajMan]

My old Stealth R/T was up in the 180K range and ran great, didn't smoke. I've seen and heard of many others. It all depends on if the car was treated right previously. Yes its smart to check that stuff out and make sure you don't have a serious engine condition, but that doesn't mean anybody with a higher mileage car should expect to have to replace piston rings, etc just because -- his are most likely fine.

[marcello93]

yea i have a 93 3000gt SL and its got about 183,000 miles on it and its still running great. maybe a little sputtering once in awhile, but nothing too bad.

[TripleR52]

didnt look like it was posted, but what about lowering springs and kyb-gr2's. front and rear strut bars, front and rear sway bars for suspension mods.