Hi guys, thought I would share the (long) story of my trusty Stanza. She has been my daily hack for 13 years, and I've been tinkering with her on and off for most of that time, and take her to the drags when I can. She's only the 2nd car I've ever owned, and I never seem to have much money to spend on her (these days I can barely afford rego), so this car is all about compromise and has only ever been tuned on the street (no dyno). Still, I do take engine modification seriously, and this is my outlet for that hobby. I'm happy with how she goes for what she is
Bought in mid 2000, started out as a stock 1.6 auto. I gave her some King springs and Monroe shocks, then slotted in a Bluebird 5 speed, RPM clutch, and managed to run 18.6@72.
In 2001, in went a stock L20b from my first car (200b) but with efi courtesy of a Jap L18 manifold and very early Link ECU (both sourced cheap in New Zealand by my brother). The head was rebuilt with 44mm intake valves whilst drilling and tapping for the inlet manifold. Also adapted an FJ20 optical distributor to control the spark. After many years of street driving and tuning this eventually ran 15.98@85 in April 2003. At one stage I tried a Tighe 76 degree cam with this engine but couldn't tune it due to not having a throttle position sensor for the ECU so went back to the stock cam.
During this time (2003) I was building a turbo setup on a $500 budget, utilising an FJ20 T3 (0.63 A/R turbine), a log/steampipe manifold and a Supra intercooler. At some point here, I also 'wedged in' a H190 diff out of an Aussie Gazelle (the lower control arms don't quite line up). Traction started to become an issue, running an open diff. I also installed FJ20 turbo injectors. The stock L20b bottom end had at least 220 000 km on it by this stage too. As I continued to creep up on the tune, my notes tell that this setup ran:
on 9psi: 14.39@98 in September
on 12psi: 14.11@100 in November
on 16-18psi: 13.40@105 in December. At this point the clutch didn't want to hold 3rd or 4th.
Once the clutch slips there's no point going back to the track, so I just drove her to work everyday and started building a new L20b on the side when funds allowed. By early 2006 this was ready. Upon pulling down the old engine I found one piston had lost 1/3 of both ring lands - literally, a lot of the material could not be accounted for! So it must have run for a very long time in that condition
The new engine was an L20b with Z20 conrods so I could use stronger (solid skirt) SR20de pistons (ACL cast) as I couldn't afford forged pistons. This gave me a rather high compression ratio of 9.5:1. The head was rebuilt stock but with stock (42mm) inlet valves this time, and ARP headstuds. I won't bore you with the countless headaches involved in getting the machine work done but eventually I had my first home-built engine buttoned up. While I had the time I made a little oil scraper for the crank. Initially I tried a different cam, but again found I couldn't tune it until I had an ECU capable of supporting a TPS, so I again reverted to a stock cam.
With the same old turbo/efi setup, this engine didn't make much more power than the old one - the best it ran was 13.62@105 on 15psi, still with some traction issues on 165 tyres and open diff.
Since 2003, given my experiences with the L20b so far, I could see that if given a decent turbo and inlet, the right fuel, some boost and slicks, there was no reason why it couldn't run 10's in the Stanza. So from then on I followed that philosophy, and I sized everything to support 500hp. I had been tinkering with a new EFI manifold to replace the somewhat restrictive L18 one. This used a fabricated plenum, 65mm Falcon throttle body and 2 injectors per cylinder. I also saved up and bought a Garrett GT30/76 (0.8 turbine), and went about fabricating a decent steampipe exhaust manifold. I happened upon a Spearco water/air intercooler at the same price it would cost to fabricate the correct size air/air unit. So during the period 2003-2006 I acquired and built these various things. I also was lucky enough to get a 'hand-me-down' upgraded Link ECU from my brother, which for once, allowed me to input a TPS reference and to control the boost electronically. At some stage I installed an 044 fuel pump, 3/8 inch fuel lines and a big pickup into the stock fuel tank.
So after much fabrication and trial-fitting (all while driving the car daily), she had all the goodies bolted in. But it only showed a mild improvement, running basically the same time on slightly lower boost (13.6@105 on 13psi).
The GT30 didn't make 15psi until 4000rpm, whereas the little T3 was on song before 3000, so I figured that by the time the bigger turbo had made boost, the engine was coming off the stock cam. So with TPS available, I fitted the cam I tried initially in the new motor, which turned out to be 440 thou lift and 230 degrees at 50thou. Although a lumpyish cam, I managed to get it tuned nicely for the street (the EFI and spark control help a lot), and it showed the difference at the track, running 13.12@112.7. This was still with an open diff and (now) 175 tyres, so traction was a problem and once again the clutch (which was still a high clamp 200mm) showed its weakness.
From 2006-2008 I went about getting a Borg Warner 78 LSD cut down to suit the Stanza. This was the one big thing I paid someone else to do and I should have done it myself. Anyway, apart from rear wheel alignment issues, at the drags in 2008 it got me to the 60 foot mark 2 tenths quicker, but I never improved my time due to a new misfire and the old slipping clutch.
A new distributor cap and ICE Ignition voltage booster fixed the misfire under boost, but from 2008 to 2012 I have been interested in other things and have even less money to spend, so she's just been a daily driver. This year however, I finally got the rear-end alignment sorted with some adjustable control arms, and installed an RPM 225mm clutch (still a street, organic disc) on a 240z flywheel, in the hopes it would grip long enough to get me down the track. I also found some SSR RS-8 wheels to fit 195 tyres. And, last month after a 5 year absence from the track she ran 12.67@109.5, and then promptly slipped the clutch through 3rd and 4th again
This was only revving to 6000rpm too, so she's a torque monster.
So that's her story so far - of course there is so much more to tell when you're keeping a daily running for 13 years whilst also trying to modify it on a budget. Maybe one day I can justify a decent clutch, and I would like to do up a nice cylinder head with bigger valves to get her breathing at higher revs. Maybe in another 5 years
Who knows, I might eventually get that 10 before I die!
Thanks for reading!
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