Customers build + I get free dsm :)

[KRRZ350]

YES I searched & spent some time on here first! But my technical expertise is a little above the power increase faq's, and some of these questions are a bit more technical AND weren't easy to find in any of the tuning sections. Plus, I wanted to introduce myself (Yes, I know there's a thread for that)

Hey my name is Kevin Goodwin and I run a small auto repair business in Middleboro, Ma

The majority of my work is on Nissan Maxima's, and most of my business I got initially from Maxima.org where I have a killer rep.

One of my best customers, whicked cool guy, he's got 2 I30's & an I35 that I work on on a regular basis.......... Well he just dropped off dsm #1 for me to get started on

DSM #1 is an awd 1g 6-bolt 5-speed w/high miles. DSM #2 is a 1G 6-bolt 5-speed fwd w/cams & an upgraded exhaust turbine (something about a ### spec dsm?? ne1??) Well his best time was a 13.5, with horrid 60ft's obviously.

So he just dropped off DSM #2 for me to get started on. (Again DSM#1 = 1g 5mt 6bolt fwd, DSM#2= Same but AWD) ) He wants me to 'go through it'. aka fix the suspension, brakes, upgrade bushings, and anything else I can find wrong (already did, more in a second)

Than, once dsm #2 is sound chassis wise, he will drop off DSM #1 so that I can pull the built engine from to install into DSM # 2 (awd) And hopefully we can churn out something better than a 13.5

Now, the cool part, is I get to keep DSM #1, and the beat-up engine from dsm #2 But I don't have any questions regarding my soon-to-be-mine jelopy just yet, I'm sure by the time I get to play around with that (disapointed/jealousy over non awd anyways, I might as well stick with my 250fwhp infiniti, allthough I do have a thing for boost)

So ANYWAYS. DSM #2 needs some work. I haven't gotten underneath it yet (just got dropped off the other day, drove it = you'll be seeing me alot, me likey dsm's )


I'm going to end up needing to rebuild SOMETHING in the drivetrain. Still yet to determine if it's front dif/transaxle or transfercase related, but I've got some wining that is definitly not good.

SO, while I'm in there.....................

Asides from welding the middle dif, what are some other power limitations of the awd drivetrain that I may be able to beef-up if I end up doing a trans or transfer rebuild etc?

Also, man I HATE to be the guy to ask this............ But.......... How much boost can I run and what kind of power can I make? Haha, yes, I'm THAT guy. But basically, without internals, on a 1G 6-bolt 5mt AWD, what are my limiting factors regarding different power & boost levels? For example am I going to max out xxxcc stock injectors at xxx hp, or am I going to hit the limits of maf at xxx hp first? Or once I get past the limit of X (injectotrs etc) Am I going to shatter xx at xxx hp levels?

Once dsm#1 recieves the ??'built'?? engine from DSM#2 I was thinking an HX35 would probably go on as well................

Thanks a bunch guys! Expect to see me on here alot......... Eventually owning joo

 

[winterftbl]

Well not to be mean but searching will give you all the information you need. As far as boost, what turbo is on the car, is it stock or aftermarket?

 

[Rex2342]

The whining noise your talking about could be a number of things. Start with the simplest things first. Off the top of my head Id say check the carrier bearings for the driveshaft. Then move on to the t-case and rear end. There isn't much that i know of you can do to beef up a t-case. They are however notorious for leaky seals and will whine without any fluid in them. If you do have to get into the transmission take a look at shepracing.com. He builds the best transmissions for awd DSM's and knows all the ins and out of them.

As far as horse power goes you haven't really exceeded anything that can't be found in the upgrade paths in the tech sections. It's not uncommon for people to see 300+ hp with basically stock engines while following the upgrade paths. Some have even seen 400+ with stock internals and supporting mods. The only real limit is the two valve design these cars use. At about 20-23lbs of boost the valve heads can melt and separate from the stems causing massive internal failure. Everything else is just basic fuel, turbo, exhaust, and intercooler upgrades. Follow the upgrade paths first and get a feel for how these cars make power. Then take it further if you feel the need to. A 13.5 with a built engine tells me something is wrong with either the setup or the tuning. We really need more information about the engine like what internals are used, valvetrain, ect... Also what turbo is being used and what type of fuel upgrades it has. If he's running 650's and a 255lph with the stock fpr we need to know about it to better help you get it running to its full potential.

 

[Street_Killer]

Since when does that happen on 20-23lbs of boost? Im pretty sure people have ran 30 lbs of boost on the stock internals. It's all in the tune. The engine can take the beating. Depending on what your looking for power wise, you could just get some arp head studs, and a mls head gasket.

Let's say you wanted 400hp. I would go with some 750cc injectors, a walbro 255 fuel pump and a fuel regualtor. Get dsmlink and then your good for fuel/fuel control. Although if you do get dsmlink for fuel control, you might as well just get some 1000cc injectors for that extra room.

Turbo will need to be upgrade. You can find tons of info on here on what turbo to get.

I have seen a lot of people have problems with there tranny. So a nice tight rebuild, and a few upgraded parts, like syncros/forks would work out just fine.

 

[Rex2342]

Since when does that happen on 20-23lbs of boost? Im pretty sure people have ran 30 lbs of boost on the stock internals.

I thought it was common knowledge? The stock valves cannot handle that high of boost due to there design. They will separate and destroy everything. The stock rotating assembly maybe but not the valves.

 

[Street_Killer]

I know countless people running 20+psi on stock valves. I dont think I can count, if we had a poll. Then you would see what im saying.

 

[luvmygst]

I thought it was common knowledge? The stock valves cannot handle that high of boost due to there design. They will separate and destroy everything. The stock rotating assembly maybe but not the valves.

Where are you getting this info?? I know people that run 25+psi(or more) with supporting mods on a stock motor and head. I have never heard of a valve"head" melting and causing motor failure.

 

[JayRolla]

I thought it was common knowledge? The stock valves cannot handle that high of boost due to there design. They will separate and destroy everything. The stock rotating assembly maybe but not the valves.

EvilEagle is running 9sec 1/4 miles on stock valves. Just look at his profile. My brother is running 26psi on stock valves. I know people running 30+psi with t67's(700+whp turbo) on stock valves.

To the OP if you are thinking of a tranny build I would not go with a welded diff. It causes a lot more stress on all other drivetrain parts. You also get less tire life and driving slow and turning like in parking lots can be annoying with the tires churping all the time.

I would go with a 4 spider gear center diff. Its not as strong as a welded diff but is a very strong diff compared to stock and keeps the car a DD. Check out this website www.jackstransmissions.com, he builds some very nice trannys at great prices. Many people have said they are the best shifting DSM trannys made.

 

[spendone]

I am on a bone stock motor aside from cams and head studs. I run 32 psi daily on my car with no issues. The motor has about 100k on the clock.

 

[Afroclipse]

Just because it hasn't happened to you won't mean it won't happen at least the man now knows that there is a possibility, I don't have crankwalk on my 95 but someone else might, every car is different. Just tell the man what he needs and stop argueing amongst yourselves

 

[Rex2342]

Where are you getting this info?? I know people that run 25+psi(or more) with supporting mods on a stock motor and head. I have never heard of a valve"head" melting and causing motor failure.

I've always been told this since day one. I've read a few threads around here about it and have even seen valves at slowboy that were claimed to have had this happen? Maybe my numbers were off or I misunderstood but i always thought this was a common problem with the stock valves at higher boost levels.

 

[JayRolla]

Just because it hasn't happened to you won't mean it won't happen at least the man now knows that there is a possibility, I don't have crankwalk on my 95 but someone else might, every car is different. Just tell the man what he needs and stop argueing amongst yourselves

Thats why we where trying to tell him stock valves are fine so he didnt think it was a weak spot. Only time Ive seen stock valves break at the head is when a timing belt breaks.

 

[KRRZ350]

Thanks alot guys, some of that info is very helpful, the response about bone stock w/studs & cams @ 32psi was one of the answers I was looking (and hoping ) for. Couldn't really find the simple answer to the simple question in any of the tech stickies.

I'm still waiting to here back from him regarding exactly what brand head gaskets + hardwar, cams, and any other internal mods on the other motor, as well as balance shaft removal.

I haven't had a chance to get the awd one up in the air yet, but he mentioned that he suspects transfer case fluid is nil, apparantly there is a yoke and seal kit for $50 and something about it being a recall , someone else touched on that, but again I haven't gotten this one up in the air yet.

As for the turbo, I'm not terribly concerned with gettting the info from him about the different hot wheel (I like how this forum asterics over jdm japanese domestic market, that's SOOOO cool!) As like I mentioned in post one, I will probably run an HX35, they are dirt cheap & I would preferably find a trashed one & send parts out for balancing & rebuild it at my shop.

What seems to be the general concenses on fuel/injector/maf limitations & preferred tuning methods? I have a safc going unused right now, probably install it on his car. Thoughts.

Again, thanks a bunch guys. Your forum is run much better than maxima.org, and you guys seem to be much more freindly.

 

[dave99gst]

What seems to be the general concenses on fuel/injector/maf limitations & preferred tuning methods? I have a safc going unused right now

Preferred tunning method is dont really exist. everone likes different things/methods.

when you say maf limitations.. do you mean Maf-t ? of the stock MASS ?

 

[KRRZ350]

do you mean Maf-t ? of the stock MASS ?

yeah see, I'm lost there. But don't worry, no anwer needed, I need to do my own research on this aspect, I just got my hands on the FSM so I'm going to spend some time learning in there first and doing some more research on here. I don't want to come across like "spoonfeed me please". It's just that running a garage eats up alot of my time so it's going to be a slow learning curve here for me.

Anyways, I've gotten some more info on the goodies & engine that will be trannsfered to the AWD model............................

"My blue car has HKS 272 intake and exhaust cams, Walbro 190 fuel pump, manual boost controller, and I did my own tuning with DSMlink. It has the Evolution 3 turbo, 2.5" downpipe and exhaust with high flow cat. The downpipe and cat should bolt up to the AWD, but the exhuast won't. The fuel pump is different as well, so I can't use that. I also have boost and O2 gauges in my fwd which I'll need transferred over.

It also has an ACT 2100 clutch kit, and ACT light flywheel. The flywheel won't bolt up to the AWD, but the clutch set will. The car also has Eibach pro springs, and AGX shocks. I don't want these on the AWD--keeping stock or as close to stock as I can. Getting too old for a bumpy ride.


The heads are not studded and has neither have ever been of the block. Balance shafts are in both motors. I'll probably remove them and the belt form the fed motor before it goes into the awd. There is a kit for this. I'll order that once I place the order for all the other parts we'll need."

 

[SCDSM]

I've always been told this since day one. I've read a few threads around here about it and have even seen valves at slowboy that were claimed to have had this happen? Maybe my numbers were off or I misunderstood but i always thought this was a common problem with the stock valves at higher boost levels.

20psi- stock intercooler, turbo, no tuning+ water injection

valves were fine

I'd actually like to hear about a car that this is actually a problem on.

 

[KRRZ350]

""All fluid levels were ok, changing didn't help with the whining either, I'm sure this is somehow related to the front dif & the fact that the tranny has a new outer case w/butchered gasket maker (excessive, , I've seen trannies fail 50k later from that stuff plugging up oil passages). The whining sounds like the backlash is horribly off, it's a whirring grinding sound just off coast/vy light throttle (I'm sure you're familiar with what a blown dif sounds like )

The rear dif is fubar'd also, when I pulled the magnetic drain plug on the rear dif there was a nice sized chunk of a pinion gear stuck to it :bawling:

SO, here's my plan of attack & here's what I need from you/need done.

I'd like to pull the tranny out & apart, remove the front dif, and send just the dif assembly out to you guys. For the rear, I'll probably send out the entire pumpkin. I'm sure you guys have tons of stuff in stock & so much experience with DSM's that you could get this all taken care of & built up properly a hell of a lot quicker than I could.""

Sent this to a guy on the maxima forums that works at tre, but he doesn't take dsm sidejobs. So I'm going to call TRE & shep tomorrow and see what kind of service, estimated, & knowledge I get than send some stuff out to one of them

But YEAH, as you can see......... Bad news

 

[eldiabloz13]

Well no shit. Another dsmtuner.com member thats 30 min away from me. I dont have any answers for you now because, as soon as I saw your from middleboro i jumped to this post. If you got any questions just PM me. Or you can ask me to stop by to look at anything you will need. You will see my 1g awd soon as well. My engine comes back to me next week and then it will be done by january but when you have need anything PM me.