MoogieBoogie

My SC300 5 speed is my daily driver. I always baby my cars, but honestly I think I'm beginning to enjoy driving it as much as I enjoy driving my Supra. While that car you found is a good find, you should get the car only if you're satisfied with everything about it. My first Supra was green, and while it grew on me, I got sick of people telling me about how I should have chose a different color. Unfortunately, my first choice (blue) is really hard to come by. I ended up selling it and buying another... you really have to be happy with your purchase, or it will keep nagging you in the back of your mind.

I'll be up at the Elmhurst meet. See you guys there.

-Brian.

Only1Z

Very good points! Thanks!

gotbooost

oooh im gonna have to agree with DIrEctQL... these cars really do grow on you.
i was really planning on staying stock, but my car is in the shop for the turbo now after owning it for only about half a year!

Lex Luthor

They grew on me too, my coupes were my 27th and 28th cars....and I liked them so much that I decided to stay with the SC, few cars this smooth and well-crafted have such potential for performance. Nice Z32 man.

DIrEctQL

I was originally looking for a Supra, but I found the SC and remembered it has lots of potential.

Few months ago I ordered JDM Supra TT front clip w/ 6 speed transmission. Sometime during the winter I will do the swap. I am also thinking about getting a single turbo kit now. Something like SP67 or SP71. Now sure yet.

Chris

mrshabo

I'd say stick with the 300z for preformance and have the 5 speed for a cruiser. The 300z is a awesome car and it can do 600+ hp on the stock block without a problem. I was in search for a 300zx tt before i bought the sc3. The Z is a great car no doubt about that, the sc3 is a more comfortable though. It would cost a lot more to turbo up a sc3 than it would cost to do the 300zx. The tranny can't take that much abuse from a turbo anyway. 450 is about it's limit and that's pushing it already. The 300zx can take a more than that and keep on going. I love the way both cars look, your a lucky man if you get both Only1z.

Lex Luthor

mrshabo, the Z is much harder to make serious power with, you'll see a Stage III car run low 13's. Still dig the Fairlady though, always liked the egg.

mrshabo

lol lex, what is stage 3. There is no real stage for the Z everyone calls ANY mod a stage on the 300z. The Z is the worst at the quater cause of the suspension. It just doesn't squat, it isn't cause of the power. Stage 3 is like intake exhaust and chip man. Z has no problem making the power it just needs a bigger intercooler. my friend runs 18 psi everyday with just a intake,exhaust,chip, boost controller and a upgraded intercooler. Runs STRONG.

Only1Z

The goal wasn't to get into this. A Z maxed out on stock turbos traps 116-117. There have been a couple that have run 11.7 and 11.9 respectively. This is with around 400 rwhp. Put a driver behind the wheel and the car will do it. You can only do about 30 rwhp more on a BPU Supra. Again, I love that people don't know about the Z. The suspension is the problem, not the powerplant. The car is fully capable of running 600 rwhp on stock internals (people are doing it right now all over). You won't get dyno queen numbers on a stock block, but nobody really wants that anyway (in the Z community that is).

There's a big difference in the mindset of 2JZ owners and ZTT owners. ZTT owners are just much more conservative by nature and don't even attempt to go all out with the car. As you can see, that's my mindset too. I don't want 800 rwhp. It just changes the car too much and I don't care about that. On the other hand, Supra owners buy the cars for getting insane numbers. I've discussed this many times with the Chicago Supra guys I hang out with. They agree that the 3000GT crowd is exactly the same.

Is it money? No. I can buy whatever I want and make my Z as fast as I want. I choose not to. That's also why I wouldn't modify the SC300. I don't need numbers. I just want a nice daily driver. Now in 5 years when the SC would have lots of miles on it, then maybe I would do something. Then again, maybe I'd just get a G35 Coupe since I have my "go fast" car already. :-)

Lex Luthor

And yet here we are

Everyone here knows I love a good debate, so let's get ready to rumble....
116-117 mph is a very healthy Z32 for stock turbos, but I agree it's totally doable. BPU MKIV's have trapped a couple mph higher, no big deal, but hi 11's is no prob for an automatic. Fact is though, BPU's have run well into the 11's, there's a kid in Jersey with a basic BPU (not even FMIC or VPC) that ran 11.4 with a full Veilside kit, yes I find that very hard to believe as well, but many have claimed to witness it. Never seen a Fairlady do that. There's at least one BPU+++ that's dyno'd 466 to the wheels, haven't seen a Z do that either. And yes, the suspension does not want to squat and isn't conducive to decent short times, but that's not the only limiting factor. I'm sure everyone agrees that the 2JZ is the king of import power production, not the VG30DETT, which doesn't even come in second, the RB26DETT does. Matter of fact i'm sure you're aware that the Fairlady is pretty neglected in Japan, not that there's not a few sick ones cruising around Wangan, but for the most part it was more well-received here in the States, i'm sure partially due to the absence of a Skyline here. To say I 'don't know about the Z' would be unfare Only1, I try only to comment on topics with which i'm familiar. That being said, i'm a big fan of the Z32, came close to buying a TT on several occasions, and I do like them better than the new Z and G. If you buy yourself a G35 you'll certainly get a nice car, especially for the money, but they are cookie-cutter already like Vettes, I personally would be more pleased to see a nicely preserved 300ZTT on the road. In the end, you just cannot run the kind of numbers (dyno or track) that a 2JZ car can, just ask Kyle Pucket and Fred Fournier, how long and how much cash and R&D did it take SGP and the other guys to break into the tens? I know you just plan on keeping this as a nice daily driver, but if you're as sick as the rest of us you know you'll be considering boosting it sooner than you think, your daily driver has more potential than your 'weekend car,' and you're so close to Sound Performance, you may end up stopping by the check them out one day and find yourself leaving with your wallet much lighter . IMO It's a disease plain and simple, same as being addicted to drugs or sex or gambling, sooner or later the demon always wins. 800hp doesn't have to change the car too much, you could always run it on the street @ 10lbs on the 'gate spring and have a very tractable daily driver with 400hp, and a monster at the track with double that. Oh, just had to throw this last one in because it will **** you off , the reason why Supra/ Turbo'd SC guys go for the 'insane numbers' is because the car can take it and is definitely over-engineered in some areas, maybe 300Z and 3000GT guys are more conservative because they fear it'll go boom .

Only1Z

116-117 is very doable for the Z on stockers. Of course BPU MKIV's run a couple more mph's. As I stated in my post, they do about 30 rwhp more when their stock turbos are maxed out (and I'm sure there are individual cars that do more...like that 466...but there are also have been a couple stock turbo'd Z's that have done 415-420). I think you're missing the point of all this. I agree that you can get more hp out of the 2JZ in stock form than the VG30. I'm not quite sure how this even turned into a discussion. I don't care that you can get 900 rwhp out of the 2JZ block in stock form. I don't want 900 hp. 500-600 is the most I'd ever go. In that respect, it will be much easier getting my Z to that number than an SC which would require a swap. All I need on my Z to do this is the turbos. I have all the other supporting mods (and it didn't cost a lot). In order to do R&D, you have to blow motors. That's tuning. Guys like Kyle had to blow motors to figure out what worked and what didn't. These guys laid the ground work for future owners. You can literally slap on bigger turbos and upgrade injectors (which don't cost $1200 anymore) and with your basic bolt-ons, have a 500-600 rwhp Z. I don't see what's so difficult. The only part I see is that you have to pull the motor to change the turbos. Other than that, there's nothing difficult about it.

And saying 116-117 is for very healthy Z32's, you are correct. More than not, most have well over 100K miles and don't have good compression because they are just tired motors (remember, they came out in 90...many old ragged ones out there). But is it not unfair to compare ragged Z32's to newer Supras? I think so. You need to compare apples to apples.

As for the "demon", I know what boost does. The beauty of it is that I already have that. I won't have the itch to upgrade the SC into a monster when I have a Z already. Ask Marcus Frost, a former SC300 owner and current 830 rwhp Supra owner about my car. He'd tell you that you were crazy about thinking I should get rid of my Z for an SC. He loves my car and has ridden in it. He's very impressed with how well it runs at 350 rwhp.

So what does all this say? I'm not sure. You were arguing your points with yourself because I never disagreed with anything you said. I guess you just need to understand that 99% of people don't want 800+ hp. My car is in too good of condition to take to a track anyway. And I'm definitely not going to ever need 800 hp on the street. There's just no point. At any rate, I like your SC a lot. There's just something about silver and gunmetal wheels that does it for me. :-)

DIrEctQL

You can argue about Marcus's strong opinions for hours and will never change his mind. Marcus's SC300 was more of a transissional car. That's fine because it transissioned to someone who saw the opportunity (Chris T).

Also, didn't Marcus purchase his car already single turboed from someone else? I don't know the details. I lost contact with Marcus after a few incidents before I could get to know him better.

You do not have to do the engine swap which generally is more expencive. I also higly doubt you can make 600 rwhp safely on a 300Z for 1200 bucks.

Chris

Only1Z

I would love to hear your $1200 recipe for the SC300. :-)

mrshabo

a 300 shot of NX =)

MoogieBoogie

If that Supra was white, it belonged to a guy named Seth who lives around Westchester, NY. He was basic BPU, but I think when he ran that 11.4, he had a built auto? Before that, I believe he ran a 11.9 or something to that effect.

I dont think most Supra owners want 800+ rwhp. Seems the ideal is about 600 rwhp. Then again, there's always that joke "what's the difference between a 600 rwhp, 700 rwhp, and 800 rwhp Supra?" They all run 12's.

-Brian.