BGTV8 Race Car / VQ40HRGA Engine Build
Purchased in previous Years:
AP Racing 6-spt/4-spot plus AP rotors
KW V3 coil-overs
Whiteline Bars
Brake Cooling Ducts
4.08:1 and KAAZ 2-way
3.9:1 and Quaife ATB
Holinger RD6-SS 6sp sequential In stock (installed in current race car)
7kg Flywheel (ACS)
1350kg clamp solid clutch
IQ3 Logging Dash In stock (installed in current race car)
Haltech Platinum Pro-2000 In stock (will use if ITB is cable-pulled)
1 set Enkei PF01 18 x 9.5
1 set TE37 18 x 9.5
March 9th 2015:
Donor VQ35HR sourced In stock
June 2nd 2015:
Bryant Racing 92mm crank Ordered – 14 week delivery
JWT GA Pistons 96mm @13.4:1
Rings to suit
JWT 21mm pins
Eagle H-beam rods w/ARP2000 bolts
JWT Cams C12/RZ1
Hi-Rev Valve springs/shims etc
JWT AVQ35-EGEAR cam sprocket
Gasket set
Bearing set
HRGA Head Bolts
June 3rd 2015:
Wet Sump CJ MotorSports (baffled)
June 4th 2015:
Comp Systems VQ/HR x-over inlet mani, machined for Jenvey SF52 straight TB, suit HR heads on "tall" VQ block Finally admitted they cannot supply - need another solution
July 17th 2015:
OMEGA Tech Dry Sump system ordered - delivery quoted for end-Aug
August 8th 2015:
CJ Motor Sports baffled sump shipping, will now go onto original engine for use as spare
August 10th 2015:
Z34 shipped to Haltech/Sydney for CAN-sniff so ELITE 2500 can run a VQ37VHR
Nov 11th 2015
Dry Sump received - pictures attached
4th Jan 2016
JWT package arrived, donor engine strip scheduled for later in Jan then to machine shop to machine for crank and pistons, dummy assembly in early Feb with luck. Crank in particular is a work of machining art - photo's to come
PPE LTH fabricated to RHD received (second hand from NIZPRO Engineering in Melbourne)
19th Jan 2016
Induction package selected ......... Jenvey 6 x 53.5mm ITB with OnPointDyno fabricated manifold - link here
OnPoint Developed VQ35HR ITB’s Now Available : OnPoint Dyno
Not cheap but will support 400+whp which is what the engine spec is planned to deliver. Sasha will supply the full induction (manifold, ITB, linkages, fuel rail).
Feb 20th
Revzone in Ringwood now have the donor engine stripped, stroker crank dummy assembled into block with dry-sump pan and it all rotates smoothly - hooray
Heads off the flow-bench guru, looking for ~325-340cfm @ max lift. Heads require relieving so cams will clear and the cam-boxes are packaged to go back to JWT for modification so they clear the cams as well - another huge thank-you to Clark and Ben at JWT - 2 helpful and knowledgeable guys.
Block going to the machine-shop this coming week for boring to match pistons/crank/rods
Decided on MOTEC M130 to drive the car, will settle for cable-pulled throttle in the short term and DBW stepper motor in due course. I will have a MOTEC dash as well (might be CDL3 but I have a bead on a 2nd hand fully configured ADL out of a race car that has upgraded to the latest Motec "wide" dash) - we are confident we can retain OEM ABS and will wire the yaw-sensor into the Motec for logging purposes. The Motec will handle traction control but we lose ABLS which is no problem.
OnPointDyno in Toronto, Canada are doing a base map to suit the engine and induction package plus the harness to hook into the M130 - I cannot thank Sasha Anis enough - he has been a huge help on the induction and ECU side of the project
Charles (Phunk) at CJ MotorSport will supply the fuel system based on the OEM tank/lines until I can move to a bladder tank in due course.
Feb 25th
Flow bench numbers are in:
304cfm @ .500" lift
310cfm @ .600" lift
this equates to just shy of 450hp
Porting tools are out and we are now chasing 340cfm @ .600" lift - will require exhaust port mods as well as inlet !!
March 5th
Sasha Anis has fitted the induction to his 3.7 litre race engine. created a harness and then mapped with the Motec M130. Pictures of the induction setup attached.
April 6th
Flat-shift gear lever ordered, induction system shipped from Canada - due on Monday. Finally selected ECU - Motec (M150) and CDL3 race dash ordered
June 28th
Man, this project is taking some time ....... head porting now signed off, gear box about to ship,
July 31st .... wait for it .... 2017
So in the last 12 months we have:
Motec M150 and CDL logger dash
Flat-shift gear lever
Assembled the stroker short engine
Received CJM fuel system
Ordered the balance of dry-sump system (tank, remote filter, tank heater, clear-vue filter in the return line, big 15"x8"x3" Fluidyne oil cooler plus adjustable vacuum regulator)
Sourced a pile of little bits and pieces - race seat, wheel etc
Found the supplier of oil gallery gaskets (EPS from NISFormance.com)
Found a used VVEL controller so we can scavenge the connect to make the wiring harness "plug 'n play
Spent ages with a CANBUS sniffer
Hopefully now only a few weeks to hook up the Motec and get it running the OEM engine
6th December 2017
So finally got our patch harness finished and bench checked. Has only take 14 weeks ............... Jeez .......
Car on the dyno tomorrow to run the VQ37VHR engine with the M150 and and tune for best output, and then we will fit the ITB kit and see what difference that makes. I'll then bring the car home to run for a few weeks before sending it back into the shop to upgrade the fuel system, final assembly for the new engine (heads not yet assembled and on the short yet), fit the new engine and Quaife sequential, run the new engine in and try a few power runs to see how close we have come to target.
28th December 2017
After a week fiddling unsuccessfully to get the car running, we've discovered a difference in ECU/BCM interaction between USDM base/touring and the USDM "Sport" model (which is the baseline for Australian 370Z) for M6 transmissions.
The USDM base setup will crank and start the engine based on the BCM knowledge of the state of the clutch (permit crank if clutch down). For the Sport model, the BCM waits for a CAN message confirming clutch down from the ECU before cranking the engine.
Our M150 firmware package needs to be modified to send the 2 specific bits "on" in the relevant CAN message so that the BCM will trigger cranking and start the engine .........
Bugga ........... (unique Aussie slang .............)
It will be 2 years in a few days since we received the initial package of parts from JWT ........... pharque (another piece of Aussie slang).
Getting closer though.
Update 20-Feb-2018
Finally have the Motec M150 running the car. The M150 controls the VVEL natively (no VVEL controller in the loop), it drives the throttles, interfaces seamlessly with the Body Computer Module and drives the OEM CanBus dash.
I really have to thank Vitaliy at VitTuned who has been an absolute legend in giving us support.
Also have to thank the guys at Revzone as well as Luke McMillan - our wiring guy.
On a relatively high mileage engine that is now starting the breath a bit (has covered ~6-8000 kms on the track), we made a tad over 235Kw at the wheels on the Revzone hub dyno (up 20-odd over my last UpRev tune) and we still don;t have LTH or CAI - just Stillen shorties with 100-cel cats).
The 4-litre engine is about to be made into a long block and be mated with the ITB kit and the Quaife sequential box.
Still to be ordered/commissioned:
Carbon air-box x 2
Future enhancement:
Motorsport fuel delivery system, fuel cell/bladder and dry-break filler
2 sets Braid Forged GT 18 x 10 ET30
Blade Adjustable front and rear bars
Electric Power steering (pattern on current race car system)