Fortunately drag racing is not my aim, or goal in this. I know what you mean and considering my circumstances I am in no position to be pouring money into something only to get a quicker 1/4 mile time or beat other 300ZXs. The performance of my Z on the strip got me thinking as to ways to improve its performance off boost. It turns out it was mostly my inexperience that resulted in the figures that made me ask the question, but it still proved to show how I could improve it on the street. One day, if I am in a position to, I'll pursue my goal of a 125mph trap speed. For now I'll stick to things that will improve my everyday/weekend experience
if you do mods like higher comp ratio, efficient intake/dumps etc. will improve low-end torque and fuel economy im sure that will help you save for future mods to hit the 125mpg trap
Just get a Nistune chip and get it tuned. Alot of power is to be had by tuning the stock rich fuel map.
im not a real fan of stall convertors for any street car with an exhaust, thier loud they drone and who here wants thier zed to sound like a toyota soarer, they have some thing like a 2500rpm one and my sisters boyfreinds one just annoys the hell out of me when you get to drive it. its like go ,go ,go ,wait because it dosnt move until you give it real juice. but any way. less restriction builds up boost quicker so high flow air intake, or two, and a less restrictive exhaust. you could try and be creative and make it a seqentual twin turbo like my liberty b4, but id reackon thats near on impossible on a 300zx.
2500 is to small , 2500 will stall at 1800, 1900 , in an auto ( ie engine ) 3200 will be ideal this will turn at 2700 2800 . .. note :: keep in mind when running a 3200 stall you would need to use only 3rd gear @ 100 k's ( freeway ) 3200 will not lock up on the freeway ( leader gears may help on lock up stage ) . 4th gear 120 130 k's for lock up with 3200 con ... stall converter is the way to go .. in my old auto zed i had the 2500 ( also a big auto ). ( 2500 was to small ) the 2500 or 2800 stall would be good for 4th gear freeway driving , so you would get the best of both worlds ,, make sure you do research on stalls before you just go out there and say i want this and that , ask the pros for there opinion.. ( ALSO MAKE 100% SURE YOU GET AN AUTO OIL COOLER BEFORE DRIVING THE CAR ) If you want to use the car everyday driving with no problems 2500 2800 would be good , you will not notice the car react different but you will feel more revs come up on take of and push you in the seat a little more , reason for lock up:::::::: if you do not use lock up , its lick your trying to slip the clutch at 100K's not GOOD THING IT WILL NOT LAST at all , and create so much heat in the auto , you will cook it in no time , this is why many people like the 2500 2800 con ( unless your running a 3 speed box ) in this case you not .. you must not run ON and OF the converter it must either be locked in or not ... because you are running a 2500 con , dose NOT mean you car will start to take of at 2500 revs , it will slowly kick in say 1800 rpm or less.... you just need to look at you lock up so you dont over heat the box .. stall are the best thing you can not beat them . if i had an auto zed it would consist of a 3 speed trimatic ( old Holden vb vc box ) and a 4000 con , .. there is more to say , but i got to go ,, hope this helps with you auto people .. i believe every auto zed should have a 2500 with a cooler ( 100%)
being an auto, improving responsiveness with pulleys etc is more or less irrelevant for daily driving and strip work. until the torque converter locks, your engine is really spinning a barrel of oil, which turns the gearbox through its viscosity. so until the staller locks, lightweight pulleys are doing f' all coz you're full throttle anyway. like everybody has said - your cheapest gains would be from intake mods(see Autospeed article here) like rerouted/more efficient single or cool twin intake with a tune. and exhaust mods like better dump pipes, high flow cats, etc. get a tune. if you always run 98, a bit of ignition advance wont hurt. after that, you're looking at stuff like high comp pistons, BB turbos but keep the wheel size small for fast spool. if only i could go direct injection...
everything is in relation to boost ... well maybe its time to do some reading on why a 5 or 600$ product will help you . as appose to 2 or 3000$ turbos . your revs will go up a lot faster. and way more push .. just my 2 cen anyway ,. many of our people have mentioned what you need to do to improve low end and good ideas have been presented ... you can all ways eliminate the low boost as well, this will help .. stall all the way . you will love it . just read up on it and everything else before you commit yourself , by the look of it your not very mechanically minded so reading everything and anything will help you out in a big way , many people have different ways of building a good set up ..
I have a stage 2 shift kit, but won't be getting a stall convertor in the forseeable future as I want to keep it comfortable around town. If I was building a drag car I'd get a proper high stall convertor without hesitation.
Lets clear a few things up here. Badxtc is right in what he is saying about boost and convertors. It is all relevant. The zed convertor is rated at 2450-2650rpm from nissan. A 3200rpm convertor will not require driving around in 3rd gear, it can still retain the lock up clutch, our na is setup like this. 3200 flash speed, 2500 at 100km/h with the convertor locked, although saying that it takes very little extra load to unlock it and then the trans is slipping again. It will stall to 300rpm on the brakes before pushing the car. High stalls around town are a pita, trans is almost always slipping creating lots of heat and they just seem to drag through rather than a nice strong pull. Stick with a stock convertor for your needs.
