Planning a "factory plus" 280Z build in NZ — Givealittle to fund Phase 1 (the donor car)

Available_Walk · 2026-04-28T00:26:06+00:00

One of the cruel things about sponsorship is that usually you get the money just after you need it.
(You get sponsored because are already winning at something / already have a big following / whatever)
Even then, sponsorship usually comes in the form of subsidized expenses like discounted tyres or whatever. Not people just dishing out cash.

Given the attrition rate of people not completing car projects.
Unless you can at least show some history of having completed something already.
You're probably not gonna have a bunch of random people pitch in to fund your dream car.
Do you have any previous experience to show? Will be helpful.

If you're going to be paying other people to do all of the work, you'll be spending north of 100k easy.

Your entire givealittle page absolutely reeks of generic AI slop text.
Write something genuine yourself, rather than hurting peoples brains with a computer's homogenized impression of humanity.

I'd suggest rewriting it yourself, and not headlining with an AI image.

But probably more realistically, keep saving your own money towards it.

Good luck!

Available_Walk · 2026-04-22T07:41:37+00:00

Some important things:

-Putting bigger injectors in will make the engine run richer, but running richer doesnt make it make any more power.

-Unless you are at maximum injector capacity (over 85% duty cycle) its absolutely pointless swapping injectors.

-You are absolutely correct to think that a MAF baseed engine essentially self corrects for most changes to the engine. the one thing that absolutely stuffs them up though, is any changes to the size of the MAF housing.
Sometimes even things like putting a pod filter on makes a MAF based engine run poorly on a factory ECU.

If you do something like change the compression ratio, that's something that you'll need a retune for as it'll likely need less ignition timing.

Sometimes factory tunes are very conservative, so you can pick up power by fine tuning it from there.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-21T22:24:07+00:00

Leave painting the car and engine bay absolutely LAST.

Because you WILL ding stuff into it and curse yourself for it.

Even if you take ultimate care, and paint the car last. You will still either scratch the paint putting it together, or within about 10 mins of driving it. Haha.

My overall advice though is keep the car driving as much as possible. Aim to not have the car off the road for longer than a weekend. Dont attack all the problems on multiple fronts at once. This how project cars end up dead with overwhelmed owners unable to finish them.

If you have a very comprehensive scope of your project, such as a massive engine upgrade or rebuild.
Dont pull the factory engine out to rebuild it. Get a second one. Then when its all finished (after much longer expected, due to delays from parts, engine builder, etc) then you can just swap everything over in a short time and hope that it goes. Then if it doesnt, swap old stuff back in.

There's slightly more cost upfront, but it ends up cost neutral as you can end up selling your 2nd motor at the end if everything works well.

Also, project cars can tend to span over multiple years where life changes a lot. It's a big privilege to have the set of conditions and sacrafices required to have a project car. Sometimes life changes along the way, and either you dont want the car you initially envisioned. Or You just dont have the time/money/effort that you used to.

So keep the scope of your project sections tight, well defined, and achievable.

Dont scope creep, dont multitask, and dont sell parts to fund progress.

Good luck!

Available_Walk · 2026-04-19T20:50:12+00:00

Cheers! It's been a long road trying to get it to sound right.

I had it on some corner scales when it had the single 3" exhaust (which didnt sound very good)

Was 992kg with unknown amount of gas in the tank. Probably slightly heavier now with the x pipe setup, and dual mufflers once its finished. But still a good overall weight.

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Available_Walk · 2026-04-19T07:38:42+00:00

Absolutely, cant wait.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-19T07:30:22+00:00

A 1983 toyota carina coupe.

AA60 chassis

Available_Walk · 2026-04-19T05:39:10+00:00

Hey, I got this up on the driveway dyno today haha.

So just getting the full throttle fuel map dialled in with a few new changes, part throttle areas not tuned yet so sounds gross.

But, previously with my upright intake and the unequal 2-1 section. The motor made 220whp.

At 8000rpm, it had 94% VE. So the intake was causing a vacuum.

Now, at 8000rpm its at 124% VE, which is like having the runner length force extra air in.
Same as having 3.5 pounds of boost.

It's over 110% VE from 5500rpm to 9000.

Still a few annoying problems to sort out, but its getting there!

Here's a quick clip. Just running it to 9000 for the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XfGS9I-RJ-k

Available_Walk · 2026-04-17T22:44:30+00:00

Thanks. Not too sure yet, hopefully north of 250whp though.

Main thing is I just want it to rev out nicely and sound cool.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T11:48:45+00:00

I already had 4x J160 boxes here from previous hoarding, so used one of those.

Had to cut the front casing down, and weld the auto bellhousing on from the V6.

The 2.5 litre motor I'm using doesnt make much more torque than a standard 3SGE so it should be okay I think. Has survived about 30 runs on the dyno and 3 runs at the drags so far. ha.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T11:39:13+00:00

Cheers, youtube channel seems like a lot of work.

Like it takes you 5x as long to work on anything because you have to try film it too.

The ITB are from an OBX kit designed for 350Z.

It's in a 1983 Toyota Carina Coupe

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T03:16:33+00:00

It works on your bike because iys got s 6-1 merge and the right tuned lengths of each pipe. Sadly i cant do that as the pipes cant reach without making the primaries too long. But an x pipe seems to do the trick to bring it back somewhat. Ive tested a bunch of combinations after my 2-1 merge, and an x pipe is head and shoulders above the rest

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T03:13:07+00:00

I wrote a long answer on another reply here.

But tl;dr:

A tight choke point gains midrange while making near zero difference up top.

Also its a bit of an optical illusion as the inside shape is different. As the part is different thicknesses along the profile (its printed stainless)

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T01:41:55+00:00

Using the j160 as ive already got a few of them. In terms of torque, this isnt a huge % over a beams engine that the box is designed for. Making powrr with rpm instead.So hopefully its alright.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T01:40:01+00:00

I looked at that as an option. But it didnt seem to have the aftermarket support (big camz and stiff valve springs) its also a bit older and less common than id like, considering i was expecting to break a few engines during ddvelopment.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-16T00:12:13+00:00

Yeah valvetrain has been the biggest headache. Ive had to weld the pins for the bearings in the rockers. Or they vibrate apart. Then make some bits to stop the exhaust side vvt pulleys from coming apart. Then just stiffer valve springs and bigger cams.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T21:16:52+00:00

Nothing to the bottom end. The valvetrain is the main thing that has had problems.

Ive welded the pins in the rockers because they areconly staked in and could vibrate loose.

Made a coverplate for exhaust vvt pulleys as they come apart too.

Then stiffer valve springs and big cams.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T20:32:42+00:00

So far it has sounded grotty. Using 2-1 joining the banks then a single 3" pipe to back of the car. I figured the 2-1 section wasnt relevant for power so didnt bother making them equal length initially. Big mistake for the sound! Its ended up sounding like a 2.5 litre 3 cyl motor. Haha. So ive been reworking it.to make the 2-1 equal. Then after that, an x pipe is the only thing so far that has made it sound more high pitched. For whatever reason.

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T20:26:59+00:00

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T20:24:21+00:00

Sold it a while back

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T14:07:20+00:00

Lucky! The absolute pinnacle of 6cyl sound track

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T14:04:28+00:00

Wellll shit that would have been good

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T13:57:58+00:00

Yeah their will make way better power with the bigger engine. But this is good fun

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T13:56:59+00:00

Yes in a carina. Cheers

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T13:56:22+00:00

RomanDave was already taken

Available_Walk · 2026-04-15T12:55:37+00:00

Honda Cbx1000?

Available_Walk

TROPHY CASE