97 gsx big list of spring mods

[dakota_gsx]

alright well im not as smart amout this dsm stuff as i want to be. but here is my list of stuff im buying for my car and am just wondering what i am missing.
already on the car: FMIC, 3' intake w filter, 16g turbo, walbro 255lph, aeromotive afpr, full apexi dunk exhaust, ported exhaust mani, greddy profec b boost controller.
now this is the list of what i am planning to purchase very shortly and need to know what else should be on there.
fp3052, ecm link, aem fuel rail, fic 1150cc injectors(too big? there were different spray patterns and it said the 1150s were better), AEM water/meth, magnus street intake manifold, Act 6 puck clutch, act flywheel, AEM cam gears, arp head studs, and a tial wastegate(not sure what size)
now i dont know what other major parts i need. i dont think much. just little things i hope becuase that list puts me at 5gs=(
i will be using the car as a dd but i will also want to be able to take it to the drags and run some good times like into the 11s.
the things i will most likely be missing to support these mods are like oil lines, small pipes and small things like that. thanks for the help!

 

[Jed_Atreides]

I don't see any tuning parts listed...

 

[dakota_gsx]

wideband af, ecm link?

 

[FLASH1970]

What size injectors are on the car now? Has all the routine maintenance been done? Are you still on the stock bottom end?

 

[-TunedDSM-]

Maintenance should absolutely be number one. From that last , the one thing I'd ditch is the AEM fuel rail. The stock rail is not a restriction for your goals.

 

[dakota_gsx]

car is brand new. bought it just over a year ago. the owner treated the car like it was priceless. only put 8500 miles on it. there are now 14500 miles. not much routine things really need to be done. there are stock injectors right now. and i was just going to change the fuel rail out becuase i had everything out anyways so i thought why not. and yes still stock bottom end.

 

[1gDSM4g63]

What are you're goals and I'd stay with a 16g turbo. You can't do much else switching to a bigger turbo that is within the stock block capacity. There is really no need from a new fuel rail, cam gears and I don't think you can get much out of a SMIM for what you're paying and I'd recommend Snow Performance over AEM for the methanol kit.

 

[dakota_gsx]

im not staying with this 16g turbo. its from hahn racecraft. the turbo sucks and ive read nothing but bad things about them. it was in from the previous owner. what all do i have to switch out of the block to make this work. the engine like i said only has 14k miles and was not a rebuild.

 

[FLASH1970]

Have you read through the tech articles on uprade paths? I wouldn't push the stock bottom end past 350hp if the car will be a daily driver. If you want to run more, I would take the engine out and rebuild it with forged internals. A 16g or 20g will take the bottom end to its limits. The 3052 is overkill as well as the 1150's for the limits of the stock bottom end. You don't need the fuel rail or the cam gears if you are staying with stock cams. That money can be better spent elsewhere.

Seeing that you still have the stock injectors, you haven't even given the 16g a chance. Get a bigger set of injectors, the ECMlink, clutch & flywheel, the ARP's, and maybe a set of 264 or 272 cams. If you go 272's, it is recommended to get the springs upgraded.

 

[dakota_gsx]

alright this was what i really needed. now when you say forged internals, what are all the parts that i should be looking to rebuild exactly. i think i will give this 16g a chance. do you recommend staying on the internal wastegate? will i be able to push the turbo close to 26ish psi with the internal wg? and and what do you recomend for injector size if i will be pushing the boost close to the limits. aswell as will i be okay on 94 octane pump gas or will the water/meth kit be a good idea.

 

[FLASH1970]

I'm thinking some 780's or 880's will be plenty for the 16g. Then again, if you still plan to go bigger in the future, maybe get your 1150's right off the bat. The 1150's should also be big enough if you wanted to go for an e85 setup on your car. People are making good power with a 16g and e85. Also get the ECMLink, a wideband, a datalogging setup, and a cutch. I'd also get a boost gauge and an oil pressure gauge. Maybe throw a set of cams at it too. That should be good for 300-350whp.

If you're new to tuning and want to tune the car yourself, do some research. Then research some more. When your eyes are about to ooze out of your head from reading up so much on tuning, read some more. When you are seeing timing tables and fuel maps in your sleep, still read some more. Or just go get your car tuned.

Have you checked out the tech articles on upgrading your car? There's some good info on there.

What people typically buy when doing a forged setup is pistons and connecting rods. If you go that far, you might as well get some tri-metal bearings too. The stock crank is really strong. The main bolts are good to about 600hp. You'll probably want to get some ARP rod bolts right away when doing a forged internals setup. Also a MLS head gasket and some ARP's.

I hope that helps.

 

[dakota_gsx]

yeah if the 1150s are good for the 16g then i will get them because then i never really have to worry about upgrading again. i have a boost gauge, oil pressure gauge. the oil pressure gauge only goes to 100 psi and im not sure what the pressure should be at but i notice that it hits 100 pretty fast so i think that the gauge is insufficient. unless im wrong? i am for sure getting the ecm link and im pretty sure you can data log off it cant you? i am getting wideband af. also im taking the car an hour and a bit out of town to the closest awd dyno and the owner there is a dsm nut and he will help with a lot of the tuning.
also i saw an add at the top of the page and it said there were complete rotating assemblies from sbr. i saw that they only have 6 bolts. now, i still have the 7 bolt in my car. what all has to be done to convert to a 6 bolt. and i plan on doing the pistons and connecting rods.

 

[FLASH1970]

yeah if the 1150s are good for the 16g then i will get them because then i never really have to worry about upgrading again. i have a boost gauge, oil pressure gauge. the oil pressure gauge only goes to 100 psi and im not sure what the pressure should be at but i notice that it hits 100 pretty fast so i think that the gauge is insufficient. unless im wrong? i am for sure getting the ecm link and im pretty sure you can data log off it cant you? i am getting wideband af. also im taking the car an hour and a bit out of town to the closest awd dyno and the owner there is a dsm nut and he will help with a lot of the tuning.
also i saw an add at the top of the page and it said there were complete rotating assemblies from sbr. i saw that they only have 6 bolts. now, i still have the 7 bolt in my car. what all has to be done to convert to a 6 bolt. and i plan on doing the pistons and connecting rods.

Your car should only really get close to 100psi when cold starting it. The 100psi gauge should be fine. If you want a 6 bolt in your car you'll need to do an engine swap. You can't turn a 7 bolt into a 6 bolt. There are a few write ups on doing the engine swap.

 

[dangler]

You don't need the AEM fuel rail. You also don't need the cam gears unless you're going to be running aftermarket cams. And then only if you're going to do the work to degree the cams, which you should. Other than that you can save yourself the money.

Oops, sorry Flash1970, didn't read your post. Didn't mean to step on your toes. But yes I agree with Flash.

 

[dakota_gsx]

Your car should only really get close to 100psi when cold starting it. The 100psi gauge should be fine. If you want a 6 bolt in your car you'll need to do an engine swap. You can't turn a 7 bolt into a 6 bolt. There are a few write ups on doing the engine swap.

F@$% that haha. ill do a 6 bolt swap when i blow my engine. its only got 14k miles so im hoping that in its condition, it doesnt blow or crankwalk on me anytime soon. after talking to some people, i will probably just keep with the 16g ive got in it. so one last thing here, this is now my idea of what i want.
-fuel injectors-somewhere between 800 and 900s?
-apr head studs
-forged pistons
-aluminum connecting rods
-new bov becuase mine is leaking and dont want to spend time attempting to fix it...hks maybe?
-ecm link
-wideband a/f
-act clutch, flywheel
-and 1gDSM4g63 recommended i get a snow performance water/meth kit over the AEM one. any suggestions? AEM did just recently come out with the new pump that is constant flowing. havent gotten a chance to look at the snow performance one yet.

 

[twinsnails]

I do not know if it was just me that missed the whole part of the new internals was if you were only going to go to the 3052. I say stick with the stock internals get all the supporting mods, I may say if you do not want to worry about BOV issues just go GM MAF and MAFT and get a TIAL. The ARP head studs are a must. Yes go SNOW over AEM, I even think Devil's Own is great I have a friend who runs their components on his 240sx. Definitely get a new clutch I would not worry so much about the fly-wheel but it can not hurt. If you want to ever tune the car yourself definitely get the wide band ASAP, and start to understand ECMlink. Eventually you will find that your car is not much of a daily driver, with the down time when installing something does not go as planed and when the meth injection finally gets annoying filing up that all the time, or your break something at the drags. Believe me I have been there, I guess it comes down to how much you can tolerate on a normal basis. But for me building a 11 second car sounds easy on paper, but if you are a new driver all this is not the easiest thing to do. I have owned a high 10 rb25 s13, that car was only fun at the track, too loud for normal day driving, no power steering, ac, c/s, racing bucket seats and a roll cage. All I am saying is really think about what you want before you get to the end and realize it may be fast but it is not suitable for driving.

 

[saechao04]

Everyone will give you different opinions, as I am about to give you mine. No one has the absolute correct answer or the wrong answer. It also depends on your goal and how big your budget is. I would stick with the stock bottom end if money is an issue. Also if you don't know how to do internal work, you will have to factor in labor cost. With that being said, my opinion is:
- keep 16G
- ecmlink
- wideband
- a set of 272 cams
- 1000+ cc injectors
- arp head studs
- clutch kit

A lot of seat time and a great tune can get you into the very high 11's with this set up.

 

[twinsnails]

I agree with saechao04.

Not to sound like a dick, but from what you have said in your posts it seems that you are new to this. I am not saying that you are a bad driver, but it really takes some good seat time to be a good drag driver and some people just do not have what it takes, I have seen it before. I really would urge you to get your car as dialed in as much as possible before ever going to the drags. I have seen people ruin or mostly ruin their cars because of foolish mistakes. It does not take much, ecmlink has great tools at your disposal like NLS, and anti-lag (or whatever they are calling it). If you have never launched your car you are in for a surprise, and once you go to the drags you will understand what beating on a car means and you may find this is not for you. Just something else to think about. Sorry for the two posts close to each other.

 

[FLASH1970]

saechao04 has thrown out some good ideas. But, if you get 272 cams you might want to upgrade your valve springs. I know Delta does regind cams for pretty cheap and they can grind any profile. There's also Brian Crower or the DSMGraveyard just came out with a 274 cam regrind. One of those 3 will probably be the least expensive route to go. Get the Devil's Own or the Snow meth kit.

If you get aluminum rods you will probably have to machine out your block and cradle to fit the bigger connecting rods. Any time you put in new pistons or anything in the bottom end of the car, you want to tear it all down and take it to a machine shop. Just leave the stock pistons and connecting rods in there for now.

 

[dakota_gsx]

Alright thanks. And I know that drag racing is tough. Anyways so my revised list is good now? Will be engine be safe running max potential with the 16g turbo and water meth without pistons and cams?

 

[FLASH1970]

Alright thanks. And I know that drag racing is tough. Anyways so my revised list is good now? Will be engine be safe running max potential with the 16g turbo and water meth without pistons and cams?

What is the revised list? saechao04 had some good input. Not to pay myself on the back, but I think I gave some good info as well. You could do cams right away, but that would be the first thing I take off my list if the budget was getting tight. With cams you want to get valve springs too if you go above 272's. Even with 272's you risk valve float in the higher rpm's. Stock cams and springs will be ok for starting out unless you have the money.

If I were you, when sitting at stop light and not moving, I wouldn't hold in the clutch. Put the car in neutral until you have to move. Then press in the clutch and put the car into gear. Less wear on the thrust bearing.

subscribed to this thread.

 

[dakota_gsx]

Everyone will give you different opinions, as I am about to give you mine. No one has the absolute correct answer or the wrong answer. It also depends on your goal and how big your budget is. I would stick with the stock bottom end if money is an issue. Also if you don't know how to do internal work, you will have to factor in labor cost. With that being said, my opinion is:
- keep 16G
- ecmlink
- wideband
- a set of 272 cams
- 1000+ cc injectors
- arp head studs
- clutch kit

A lot of seat time and a great tune can get you into the very high 11's with this set up.

this is what ive been waiting to hear. thank you. my budget was at about 5 grand so now im at just under 4 grand so im pretty happy about that. and how much is it to replace the valve springs along with the cams. not really familiar with what goes on there. i work at a dodge dealership and see valve springs everyday in vehicles getting worked on so im not sure if it is really a huge issue to install. anyways along with the list given quoted above, add a blow off valve, water meth,cams and valve springs and i should be well on my way...?