260DET

One way to overcome understeer

Yeh, you know you have a Datsun when you test an original untouched 260Z electric fuel pump and it still works works perfectly. Suck on that Euroboys

Yeh, Murricans would not know that the SMLE is a rifle, WW2 era, kicks like a camel

Triumph Spitfire for one had a backbone chassis, separate from the body back in those days. As John says side impact is a real problem, really it is more practical to build side impact protection into the structural design of a chassis so that protection does two jobs. Always a good thing.

That ute has a aftermarket hard cover over the back which makes the cab look chopped I guess. They, the utes, are a good thing.

Geez, that is an aero and a visual mess all in one. In shock, can't say more.

This has the potential to be an interesting thread if people relax and don't rush to do a kneejerk reaction to a claim that they think is unreasonable or even nonsense. It should be remembered that in the internet age consumers are bombarded with all sorts of claims from businesses and individuals from many different countries, not all of which are accurate or which we agree with. Power output claims are one of the big ones and one which I have good $ reason to be annoyed, at least, about. Peter, the OP here, is a full time race engine builder with proven results in a very competitive environment, no question about that. He is an ex Gibson Motorsport mechanic, Godzilla ring a bell? Tony has a good point with the Bonneville Z he is familiar with, it would be interesting to be able to take that further by eg comparing it's performance with others or working backwards to arrive at a Cd figure the Z would have to do what it did with the claimed power it had. If something like that is possible, I don't really know. Nothing more from me, just hope that this thread does not get shut down prematurely.

Gumtree? Not sure.

This could get 'involved'. The horsepower thing is worth commenting on though, what would be interesting Peter is to test a Rebello head side by side with one of yours on a flow bench. I know that would not be a definitive test for power potential but it would be a start.

LOL at the 'aero' design of the car in OP's post, more sales talk than reality. But the 280ZX development story is worth reading, Nissan actually did some very good aero work on that car.

This vid still around, excellent. I like the Viper driver's comment about the Z being faster in a straight line I-don't-think-so, but the Z driver does nail his corner exits.

Yeh, I do road course and the last thing you want is the sort of turbo setup you are talking about. What you need with standard gearbox ratios is a useable power band of about 3000rpm, mine is 4 to 7000rpm. By that I mean the engine will have come onto decent boost well before 4000rpm and be able to maintain the power curve through to 7. So for a three liter engine say a GTRX3582 which should give you excellent and controllable corner exit acceleration. It's all about staying on the track and not spinning the car around everytime you put your foot down. My Z has a real 420whp but to make it driveable on the street it can be switched to a more traffic friendly map. Otherwise it smokes the tyres up something stupid.

After being distracted for a year by a mirage engine, the DET is back in the Z and better than ever. Its performance affecting specs are - custom rear entry upper plenum with single 90mm throttle body, Tomei Poncams, Tomei cam wheels, GTRX3582 divided housing turbo, Tial wastegate, custom 3.5" dump with 3" exhaust and two mufflers, Motec M600 ECU, M&W CDI ignition with Mercury coils. The standard exhaust manifolds are retained. So onto the dyno to see what this circuit orientated setup has. The whole idea as far as I'm concerned is to have a useable 3000rpm power band orientated towards controllable corner exit acceleration, the top line by itself is irrelevant. There remains only a couple of problems, the Tial wastegate needs a slightly heavier spring so the engine can run more boost which the turbo is entirely capable of, eg 18psi @ 4000rpm previously. The second is streetability. With road tyres wheelspin around town is difficult to always avoid even at relatively low rpm, there is no traction control. Notes on the dyno sheet below. 4000rpm - boost 13psi, 230hp. 7000rpm - boost 17psi, 420hp. The engine is easily capable of handling over 20psi boost which it looks like the turbo will deliver but let's do some track time first, the car is probabily faster than I am as it is. So I am going to stick with this engine. By modern standards it may be a bit heavy but my race budget can be better spent than chasing the ultimate engine. Torque curve starts off highest of the two curves.

Wise move going away from the VG30 single cam if real power is required without Nismo bits, if my Z was being done again a LSx engine would be near the top of the list. Maybe put a link on this project to the Z31 section?

That's what I would do too, better still if a couple of dyno charts from similar engines were used, averaged out, then work backwards from there. Should not be that hard to do, just a matter of finding suitable charts from known engines.

Strut tubes are subject to significant bending forces which is why they are made from heavy steel in the first place. As John indicated, the pictured design is simply not strong enough. It will flex and eventually fail. The OP's idea of welding brackets onto a cut down S30 strut would work, plenty of good custom struts are made similarly. The brackets will obviously have to be aligned correctly, they could be made to provide some camber adjustment as well. Once done any S13 coilover will bolt straight up. The idea is good, it all depends on the execution.

Good stuff, it's not always the $.

With no other changes, optimumising the air exit flow capacity of the stock bonnet/hood vents on my 280ZXT cured a engine overheating problem. There is still air pressure in the engine bay though so for aero reasons I will be looking at gaining more air exit capacity, not sure how yet.

Tagging yours Tony because it is the shortest From a practical perspective what is constantly and continually neglected is airflow and basic physics, which becomes particularly important when there is a hot hi-po engine involved. No apologies for the shouting, CONCENTRATING ON GETTING AIR OUT OF THE ENGINE BAY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GETTING IT IN, via the radiator or otherwise, via vents or whatever. I have banged on about this before, so for all the ignorers/doubters/nonbelievers which seems to be most who seem obsessed with getting air in, try this. Unlatch your rear opening bonnet/hood and in a safe environment, get up some speed and see what happens. I tried this with a fairly light fiberglass bonnet and at ~80kph the back of the bonnet lifted up, lots. Which shows how much air gets trapped in the engine bay under pressure BEHIND THE RADIATOR so obstructing air flow through the radiator, so.......... There is more but the audience is intelligent so.......... End of CAPS

Taking the VG30DET engined 280ZXT to a dyno tune a few weeks ago so it was in a 'start and run' tune, just fitted a twin plate clutch that was taking some getting used to. So I stalled it at some traffic lights, me in front, traffic banked up behind. Restarted it, gave it a few revs and then when it was moving with the clutch out gave it about half throttle and bugger me it started smoking them up Right across the intersection, torsen LSD did its job, twin spinner lines are still there on the tarmac

Still looking...........

Smokey burnouts are best done on the run, traffic lights make a good starting point. It's best to vacate the starting point in a manner that leaves all your rear vision mirrors clear of cars that were right there just a moment ago if you want to do this properly. Gives any cops around a very small window of opportunity in which to apprehend you or otherwise interfere with your playtime too. Practice makes perfect as well don't forget

Getting a 280ZX to look good is not rocket science but does involve starting with a decent car and then spending proper money on two crucial parts of the car. One, fix the front up with a complete replacement, they are available. Two, as Yasin has done, fill those guards up with rubber and wheels. That is all it takes, messing around with trivial stuff such as shaving the rear is just playing around. You Murricans are damm lucky in that you got the two seater as well as the 2+2, my comments refer to the 2+0, the 2+2 is pretty much a dog no matter what you do.

Genuine enquiry, actually someone like FedEx with a door to door service should be able to handle the shipping process providing the doors are packed properly.

Very nice, filling the guards with wheels and tyres makes a big difference eh