My 720 z22 turbo build (Pic Heavy)

[82turbo720]

Hey guys new here but have been lingering awhile. Decided its about time to share my 1982 Datsun 720 build. I bought the truck in Tacoma WA for 500$ and the guy brought it down for another 50$ So a steal in my book. When i had gone to look at the truck he didn't have any idea what was wrong with it that it had just quit! The truck has a Z22 in it that just didn't have the kind of umph I was looking for so I decided to put a turbo in there an this is when my journey really began So starting at day 1. 

 

The way the truck looked when i got it!

 

The AWFUL engine bay. Turned out one of the wires on the positive terminal was busted and starter was trash ran like a top!

 

Then my brother was going to a GT28 on his audi so i snagged his old ko3 for the Datsun!. A little mockup. Yep it'll fit

 

So i then built a simple manifold and some flanges welded it all together. Sorry for the picture quality!

 

Then welded up a simple carb hat and had some extra intercooler piping laying around from my brothers Front mount upgrade!

 

Ran it that way at 15lbs of boost for about 4 months blew the rear end up Swapped in a different one from a 80 Toyota 2wd only then the head gasket went so I thought to myself this will be my chance to rebuild this thing so I ripped the ol girls heart out put it on a stand and started ordering stuff! 

 

While waiting i thought it would be a good idea to start on some rust repair and some body work so heres some pics of that!

 

Hood was bad off!

 

Fender wasnt much better.

 

Put my cousin to work of getting rid of what felt like 3 gallons of bondo on this box side!

 

Then some primer.

 

Battery tray was badly rusted so welded this in!

 

Primer

 

and then Black everywhere! 

 

Now that all of that was out of the way I dropped the engine block, Cylinder head and crankshaft off at the machine shop block and head decked ever so slightly. new valves, guides, seals, sent cam off to delta for a regrind honed, polished crank and ordered new bearings and new rings! ordered a water pump minus the clutch fan engine gasket set, Timing chain set, Holley 500 and a small 2 barrel to Holley 2 barrel adapter plate I think that completed my shopping list i may be forgetting a few things! Then i could finally start assembling this thing!

 

Bottom end together.

 

Top end

 

Carb on! Getting Close!

 

Assembled

 

And installed

 

After all this i got to tucking the harness through the fenders and (UNDER) the rad support got everything plugged up only to learn one of my coils had a crack in it which i believe lead to the frying my ICM So I ordered up a dizzy left the Exhaust coil undone and gave her a crack!

http://vid1107.photobucket.com/albums/h386/jdv_1992/Datsun/VIDEO0003.mp4

 

 

This is after much working with the Holley which the jetting was way off had 74's in it to begin with i have 50's in it now runs much better now, but this is pretty much where im at got some breaking in to do then i can get to throwing some boost at this thing! I will be doing regular updates here posting more videos an pics as they come thanks for checking out this old turd!

[wayno]

It looks good, what kind of RPMs you normally turn?

Do you have an EGT gauge, I am curious what temps you are running at without an intercooler.

[82turbo720]

No egt gauge i normally granny shift it at 5-5.5k with an infrared laser the the manifold was 12 degrees hotter then the oe manifold and that was after 1 hard pull! 

[82turbo720]

Downpipe I created

 

 

And as she sits as of this morning

 

[oakrun]

really good job on that bondo. feathering looks like a pro did it.

[_chiefjt]

Nice setup! Did you upgrade the head gasket or replace with OE?

[82turbo720]

My dad is a body guy and i Work at a body shop down here kind of miserable to do on my own rig i feel like im at work.

 

 

Used a fel-pro gasket have always had good luck with them an some copper spray of course! And the arp studs should hold her down real nice to!

 

Will be upgrading to a bottom mount ka24e manifold and a bigger turbo this thing was always full spool around 1,7k rpm the specs on the turbo are as follows 

 

TURBINE WHEEL

Inducer: 45mm
Exducer: 38mm
Tip height: 6.8mm
Blades: 11

 

This things is very small the inlet is about the size of a half dollar! 

 

Thinking of going with a t3/t4 hybrid or maybe something from the gt series!

[datzenmike]

The KA turbo exhaust is not a perfect fit. You can 'make' it fit with some porting of the head, it's been done. I think this will be way more efficient than your home made one.

 

The larger turbo will not 'spool up' near as fast as what you have now. The smaller one will come in faster but run out of breath if asked for too much boost higher up. On a near stock Z22 I would go with the smaller turbo and run 'reasonable' boost over a wider RPM range.

No egt gauge i normally granny shift it at 5-5.5k with an infrared laser the the manifold was 12 degrees hotter then the oe manifold and that was after 1 hard pull! 

 

Unless you have a hole and shoot through the fire wall while boosting your reading is suspect. The EGT reads directly from the hot exhaust gas flow not the manifold outer surface.

 

With proper valve springs you can safely rev the Z22 to 6,500RPMs This is the 'redline' assuming a piston speed of about 4,000 FPM.

[wayno]

Where do you live in Washington, city?

My dad is a body guy and i Work at a body shop down here kind of miserable to do on my own rig i feel like im at work.

 

 

Used a fel-pro gasket have always had good luck with them an some copper spray of course! And the arp studs should hold her down real nice to!

 

Will be upgrading to a bottom mount ka24e manifold and a bigger turbo this thing was always full spool around 1,7k rpm the specs on the turbo are as follows 

 

TURBINE WHEEL

Inducer: 45mm
Exducer: 38mm
Tip height: 6.8mm
Blades: 11

 

This things is very small the inlet is about the size of a half dollar! 

 

Thinking of going with a t3/t4 hybrid or maybe something from the gt series!

[82turbo720]

Chehalis mid-way between Seattle and Portland

[82turbo720]

The KA turbo exhaust is not a perfect fit. You can 'make' it fit with some porting of the head, it's been done. I think this will be way more efficient than your home made one.

 

The larger turbo will not 'spool up' near as fast as what you have now. The smaller one will come in faster but run out of breath if asked for too much boost higher up. On a near stock Z22 I would go with the smaller turbo and run 'reasonable' boost over a wider RPM range.

 

Unless you have a hole and shoot through the fire wall while boosting your reading is suspect. The EGT reads directly from the hot exhaust gas flow not the manifold outer surface.

 

With proper valve springs you can safely rev the Z22 to 6,500RPMs This is the 'redline' assuming a piston speed of about 4,000 FPM.

. Thanks for the info Mike always much appreciated the problem with the turbo i currently have is I cant pull up a small hill without making 10 to 15 pounds it's very sesensitive don't get me wrong I love the power but only when I need it. Plus I don't wanna shorten the Z's life span anymore then I already am!

[82turbo720]

Small update Went an bought 2 new coils tonight and got both sets of plugs wired up runs twice as smooth as she did beforehand!

[wayno]

. Thanks for the info Mike always much appreciated the problem with the turbo i currently have is I cant pull up a small hill without making 10 to 15 pounds it's very sesensitive don't get me wrong I love the power but only when I need it. Plus I don't wanna shorten the Z's life span anymore then I already am!

You need to talk to a turbo tech and have what you need made, it's sounds like you need something that don't build up a lot of boost till you put your foot deep into it, i have a turbo that builds boost fast, but it's in a diesel, they run at lower RPMs, I bought it from a guy that did all the research, he changed the compressor side of the turbo to build up boost at lower RPMs, specifically at about 1500RPMs to 2200RPMs, a gas engine will have totally different requirements, and you likely will not be able to buy what you need off a shelf.

[82turbo720]

Understood wayno appreciate your input do you have any specs on the sd turbos? those built to suit turbos are big money and I'm hoping not to spend a bunch of money on it I was doing some searching earlier looking at some turbos from an sti they can be had cheap on Craig's list cost close to nothing to rebuild and it should have usable boost in the mid range where i get all my boost from the bottom and nothing up top! I'm hoping in the summer to convert my carb and lines over to run e85 reasearching it also and people yield great numbers running it. It does have its major fall backs that come along with it also not being sold everywhere eats your seals and lines but I guess all things have their pros and con's

[82turbo720]

Also does anyone know if the bed with the taillights in the box corners will swap directly with my style bed with the lights in the rollpan? Sorry if that's confusing only way I could think to ask it.

[wayno]

I don't have specs on any turbos, and the SD turbos other than the SD33 are all in other countries as far as I know, I bought my SD25 turbo diesel already built, but it doesn't work right either, that's why I don't drive it, it runs way to hot, can only go down the hiway 50/55mph, if I try to go faster the EGTs go over 1400 degrees, I just don't feel like having a melt down yet.

The guy that built my turbo, did it himself, he took a stock turbo off some car, I don't recall anymore what it was, and modified the compressor himself, he did all the research, bought the parts, and machined it himself at where he works, he said it took all day to do just the machining.

To small of a turbo will spin up fast and be blowing off the extra all the time, to big and you will not have any boost.

Diesel engines use different turbos, the turbo being used on my 2,5 diesel engine was made for a 1600cc gas engine, you are runing a 2.4 gas engine I believe, so you need something for a 2.4 gas engine, at least that is what I believe.

[wayno]

you have an 82 truck, I believe that you can use the 83/84 bed as the turn signals are still separate from the brake lights, but the 85/86 beds have the turn signal/brake lights integrated together, so you would have to use a trailer converter to make it work correctly.

Also, if you have a kingcab, then all the beds are the same, but 82 and earlier regular cab beds are the same(long and short), and 83+ regular cab beds are the same(long and short), you have to have what you have, you cannot use a 85 shortbed on an 82 shortbed truck, it will not fit, an 85 longbed will not fit on a 80-82 longbed truck either, you see they lengthened the regular cab in 1983.

Also does anyone know if the bed with the taillights in the box corners will swap directly with my style bed with the lights in the rollpan? Sorry if that's confusing only way I could think to ask it.

[82turbo720]

Thanks wayno found a sweet box out at picknpull straight to the eye with a ding here an there mine is just to gone I started digging into the other side and there is some pretty shoddy rust repair. I'm running a 2.2 in my datsun the Subaru turbo I'm looking at is from a 2.5 liter but there spool reference is quick I wouldn't think lag to be an issue.

[wayno]

I just looked at a photo of your truck, you cannot use a bed made after 1982, it will likely fit, but you will have a 3/4 inch gap between the bed and the cab, your reg. cab is shorter than the later reg. cabs, others have made this mistake, it was a costly mistake for them.

Get your measuring tape out before you buy anything, save yourself a hassle/headache.

[Spiff]

you should have better sucess with a t25 or a t28 turbo like those found in eudm and jdm s13's and s14's with the 1.8 and 2.0 turbo engines, and your subaru turbos, even the turbo of a rb25det should yield good results but they can't boost more than 0.8Bar because of nylon compressor wheels and ceramic turbine wheels but they use ballbearings so they make boost pretty fast!

[82turbo720]

you should have better sucess with a t25 or a t28 turbo like those found in eudm and jdm s13's and s14's with the 1.8 and 2.0 turbo engines, and your subaru turbos, even the turbo of a rb25det should yield good results but they can't boost more than 0.8Bar because of nylon compressor wheels and ceramic turbine wheels but they use ballbearings so they make boost pretty fast!

Thanks for the info Spiff im all about being cheap an from searching around seems those t25 an t28's can be had for a fair price + being ball bearing!

[Lockleaf]

You should keep an eye out on eBay or yahoo.jp auctions fit a z18et valve cover. Never produced stateside, but you can find them sometimes. It's the one factory turbo z series engine and the valve cover is great. Pic posting isn't working from my phone, so Google the z18et and check it out.

 

Is the Subaru turbo you are running a vf series, like a vf39? Forester, wrx, sti? Which 2.5 engine is it from?

[Spiff]

Thanks for the info Spiff im all about being cheap an from searching around seems those t25 an t28's can be had for a fair price + being ball bearing!

Yeah, the last bit of info was in regards to the skyline rb25det turbo. And its a T3 flange. The T25 and T28 turbos from the S-series of nissans aren't ball bearing turbos except for the T28 from a S15 Silvia which I believe is a ball bearing turbo. But they're still good turbos and should do well on your 2.2l, the t25 might run out of juice pretty fast since it's primary application was the 1.8l CA18DET engine though.

 

I agree with the man above, you should get a Z18ET turbo valvecover :)

[82turbo720]

I have been looking around on the web for that valve cover you showed it now i have got to have it im yet to find one though!

[82turbo720]

Took my truck out tonight to put some miles on her one thing i have to to say is this Holley is probably the smoothest running carb i have ever owned in my life mind you it has no choke what so ever all been milled off for the turbo stuff and the temperature is in the low 30's to mid 20's here and it fires right up in the morning idles all by it's self and the induction noise it makes when you put the throttle down is amazing! Best money i have ever spent!