Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post

wstar · 05-27-2014, 06:50 PM

So, it looks like I did spin a crank bearing (in addition to (probably as an after-effect of) having flywheel damage). Nissan won't warranty the engine, of course, but I can hardly blame them on a car like mine. Even asking was mostly a shot in the dark.

So, I've got some heavy thinking to do on options here. The factors in play are money (of course!) and time (two events I really wanted to make in the latter half of June, not blowing the rest of the schedule for the year, and in general not spending months off the track with fading skills).

The first routes that come to mind and/or are useful for comparison:

The Fast Options:

a) Have the dealership drop in a brand-new long block from Nissan at my expense. They quoted me around $11-12K plus tax for that, including swapping over my current intake/header setup, baffled oil pan, etc. The upside is the block could be here quickly, the job can get done quickly and correctly (this is Jason @ Baker, I trust his work, and he can get the whole swap done in a day or two. He's dropped the engine out of my car before, and he's the only guy who's worked on it other than me, aside from the cage welding over at Lucas Racing). It seems like a lot of money just to get back roughly where I was before the incident but with a fresher engine. It's also the kind of money I don't have laying around to blow on this problem right now, although I could probably find ways to scrounge it up by making a few unwise financial decisions in other areas.

b) Basically as above, but have them drop in a working used VQ37 block from parts search at salvage lots. The engine wouldn't be as fresh, it might only last another year for all I know. It would probably knock a bunch off the price above, but I'm not sure how much yet. They're calling around and looking into it now.
The slower options, which might leave the car down for an indefinite period of time, during which I'd have to give up the track schedule or buy a really cheap backup track car, or maybe do a reduced schedule using some kind of rental cars. All of that adds cost and lost track time (or re-learning a new car setting me back a little) to the overall picture as well:

a) Fix this engine. Tear it apart, figure out what's broken, buy parts and have a good engine guy rebuild it stronger (there are a couple around town that could do the job). Known-broken parts (crank, flywheel, etc) are going to run ~$2K for sure, plus whatever else is broken. I suspect there wasn't much secondary damage from bearing parts going all over the place - I think we had a catastrophic failure of that bearing (probably from crankshaft wobble/vibration from the failing flywheel) and immediate rev limit from the bad crank sensor input and not much else. It sounded almost healthy idling after the incident. May as well have the engine builder beef up the internals for the long haul while they're in there. Not even sure what the total cost would be, but it would probably be at least a month-long process (if not more!) when you count in parts delays, etc. Probably considerably cheaper than a new longblock from Nissan, and definitely more reliable than tossing in a random junkyard block.

b) Screw the VQ. I'm not a Nissan purist, so dropping in an LS1+T56 is an option. I know I can get a cheap running engine. There's some fab work to do on engine/trans mounts and driveshaft, unless someone's made a kit already or is willing to use me as a test customer. I'd probably want to beef up the diff at the same time (which was an eventual plan anyways) to handle the torque. I'd probably run some random custom/race ECU for the LS, ditch the stock gauge cluster, etc. Given the car is *completely* gutted and staying that way, the re-wiring and all that isn't as hard as it would normally be. This option would take multiple months for sure, especially if I do most of it myself, which I'm somewhat inclined to do if I go down this road. I'd have to plan on not having a working 370 until sometime in 2015 and then see if maybe I can surprise myself and get it done a little earlier than that.

With all the ancillary parts involved + fabrication, this is probably more expensive than a brand-new VQ37 longblock from Nissan, but I probably wouldn't feel it as bad spreading it out over several months, and the end result would be way cooler.
Sell/Part-out the Z, sell off all the Z-specific things around here, use the proceeds to buy a cheap used track car that's already running and never look back. Probably the smart choice, but could take a while as well. I'd sell the racecar to someone who wants to do one of the options above or part it out. There's a ton of value in the aftermarket bits in this car: the JRZ coilovers, AP Racing brake kit, the rare AM Performance baffled oil pan, CJM's anti-fuel-starve kit, 4 sets of wheels, all the engine bolt-ons, swaybars, upper control arms, the Sparco seats + harnesses + steering wheel, etc, etc.

There's also a fair amount of value in the package as a whole, even with the engine problem outstanding, just because all these parts are already installed and working well together, and the gutting and cage work is already done (and the cage is really top-notch). More than enough to cover a typical cheaper trackday car like a prepped 90's Miata or whatever I happen to find on the market at the time, so long as it's rear-wheel drive.
I try to convince myself that I've had a good run at an interesting hobby here with the road-racing thing, but that keeping up with this in the long run at an aggressive level isn't something I'm financially equipped for. Maybe instead of throwing good money after bad, I could write off everything I've put in so far as a pretty fair deal for a pretty awesome experience over the past few years and some new driving skills I'll carry with me for the rest of my life, and just sell out. Maybe start another hobby less demanding of my time and money, like collecting enough gold bars to pave my entire front yard and then cleaning them every day.

If I went option 4, I'd sell off the Z and/or parts as in option 3, then also sell the enclosed trailer + a bunch of tools I'll never use enough if I'm not doing this hobby anymore (including a low-rise lift), maybe even trade down the expensive diesel towtruck for something more reasonable.

05-27-2014, 06:50 PM	#792 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	So, it looks like I did spin a crank bearing (in addition to (probably as an after-effect of) having flywheel damage). Nissan won't warranty the engine, of course, but I can hardly blame them on a car like mine. Even asking was mostly a shot in the dark. So, I've got some heavy thinking to do on options here. The factors in play are money (of course!) and time (two events I really wanted to make in the latter half of June, not blowing the rest of the schedule for the year, and in general not spending months off the track with fading skills). The first routes that come to mind and/or are useful for comparison: The Fast Options: a) Have the dealership drop in a brand-new long block from Nissan at my expense. They quoted me around $11-12K plus tax for that, including swapping over my current intake/header setup, baffled oil pan, etc. The upside is the block could be here quickly, the job can get done quickly and correctly (this is Jason @ Baker, I trust his work, and he can get the whole swap done in a day or two. He's dropped the engine out of my car before, and he's the only guy who's worked on it other than me, aside from the cage welding over at Lucas Racing). It seems like a lot of money just to get back roughly where I was before the incident but with a fresher engine. It's also the kind of money I don't have laying around to blow on this problem right now, although I could probably find ways to scrounge it up by making a few unwise financial decisions in other areas. b) Basically as above, but have them drop in a working used VQ37 block from parts search at salvage lots. The engine wouldn't be as fresh, it might only last another year for all I know. It would probably knock a bunch off the price above, but I'm not sure how much yet. They're calling around and looking into it now. The slower options, which might leave the car down for an indefinite period of time, during which I'd have to give up the track schedule or buy a really cheap backup track car, or maybe do a reduced schedule using some kind of rental cars. All of that adds cost and lost track time (or re-learning a new car setting me back a little) to the overall picture as well: a) Fix this engine. Tear it apart, figure out what's broken, buy parts and have a good engine guy rebuild it stronger (there are a couple around town that could do the job). Known-broken parts (crank, flywheel, etc) are going to run ~$2K for sure, plus whatever else is broken. I suspect there wasn't much secondary damage from bearing parts going all over the place - I think we had a catastrophic failure of that bearing (probably from crankshaft wobble/vibration from the failing flywheel) and immediate rev limit from the bad crank sensor input and not much else. It sounded almost healthy idling after the incident. May as well have the engine builder beef up the internals for the long haul while they're in there. Not even sure what the total cost would be, but it would probably be at least a month-long process (if not more!) when you count in parts delays, etc. Probably considerably cheaper than a new longblock from Nissan, and definitely more reliable than tossing in a random junkyard block. b) Screw the VQ. I'm not a Nissan purist, so dropping in an LS1+T56 is an option. I know I can get a cheap running engine. There's some fab work to do on engine/trans mounts and driveshaft, unless someone's made a kit already or is willing to use me as a test customer. I'd probably want to beef up the diff at the same time (which was an eventual plan anyways) to handle the torque. I'd probably run some random custom/race ECU for the LS, ditch the stock gauge cluster, etc. Given the car is completely gutted and staying that way, the re-wiring and all that isn't as hard as it would normally be. This option would take multiple months for sure, especially if I do most of it myself, which I'm somewhat inclined to do if I go down this road. I'd have to plan on not having a working 370 until sometime in 2015 and then see if maybe I can surprise myself and get it done a little earlier than that. With all the ancillary parts involved + fabrication, this is probably more expensive than a brand-new VQ37 longblock from Nissan, but I probably wouldn't feel it as bad spreading it out over several months, and the end result would be way cooler. Sell/Part-out the Z, sell off all the Z-specific things around here, use the proceeds to buy a cheap used track car that's already running and never look back. Probably the smart choice, but could take a while as well. I'd sell the racecar to someone who wants to do one of the options above or part it out. There's a ton of value in the aftermarket bits in this car: the JRZ coilovers, AP Racing brake kit, the rare AM Performance baffled oil pan, CJM's anti-fuel-starve kit, 4 sets of wheels, all the engine bolt-ons, swaybars, upper control arms, the Sparco seats + harnesses + steering wheel, etc, etc. There's also a fair amount of value in the package as a whole, even with the engine problem outstanding, just because all these parts are already installed and working well together, and the gutting and cage work is already done (and the cage is really top-notch). More than enough to cover a typical cheaper trackday car like a prepped 90's Miata or whatever I happen to find on the market at the time, so long as it's rear-wheel drive. I try to convince myself that I've had a good run at an interesting hobby here with the road-racing thing, but that keeping up with this in the long run at an aggressive level isn't something I'm financially equipped for. Maybe instead of throwing good money after bad, I could write off everything I've put in so far as a pretty fair deal for a pretty awesome experience over the past few years and some new driving skills I'll carry with me for the rest of my life, and just sell out. Maybe start another hobby less demanding of my time and money, like collecting enough gold bars to pave my entire front yard and then cleaning them every day. If I went option 4, I'd sell off the Z and/or parts as in option 3, then also sell the enclosed trailer + a bunch of tools I'll never use enough if I'm not doing this hobby anymore (including a low-rise lift), maybe even trade down the expensive diesel towtruck for something more reasonable. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 05-27-2014 at 06:57 PM.