twoeightythreez

Actually I'm planning on swapping in a turbo L28. The old engine I'll probably sell to help recoup the losses. SHe still runs good, considerin. I have the engine, a rebuilt stock turbo, and an intake with custom fuel rail. (I traded my 68 510 wagon for those pieces) I need a computer, wiring harness, turbo fuel pump, an external wastegate, downpipe, and blow off valve, and I'm set. Anyone on here have stuff laying around? My email is edgarb@nimitz.navy.mil

Fuel rail looks like the one on my 95 Q45. Those injectors are sooooooo expensive. Infiniti wants 250 EACH! Found some pythons for 80 each but I bought 8 and got 2 bad ones. I also had to buy intake gaskets from infiniti for the lower runners. Fel pro does make a gasket set....for '89 to '94. DOH!

One more thing.... I was noticing, as I'm sure all you have, how nice those ports look on the VH45. I had to take the plenum off to get to the injectors and the lower runners off to get at the knock sensors. This engine uses individual runners on the lower intake, meaning some of you crazy fabricator guys could easily fab up a tunnel ram or something. Also, apparently, on the left cyl. head there appears to be a DISTRIBUTOR block off plate. I don't know what it is but that's what it looks like. Imagine a carb'd VH45. Just my thoughts. Man oh man I wish I had a service manual for that car. Can't find one and the dealer wants 300 bucks

You guys should think smaller. How about a VH45 swap in... a 510

Besides...the Q is a REALLY NICE CAR...so I should at least enjoy it until it's paid off! (then maybe I can put the 4300lb to use, demo it or something, then pull the engine and put it in a Z)

WOw...keep puttin' ideas in my head, guys. I recently bought a '95 Q45 and love it but man could it stand to lose about 1500lb. (it weighs about 4300 without me in it, gross is like 5250 or something) I am currently trying to get it to run on all 8 (rats chewed wires, I fix wires, replace knock sensors, and am currently replacing the rebuilt injectors that decided to not work.) I am amazed....this thing, despite it's weight, running on 6cyl and dragging 2 dead ones, can still do 90mph without breaking a sweat, and will pass 100 if u floor it...imagine what it would do in a 2900lb Z car..... Twin turbo it to boot? That is insane....but I LIKE it Can't do it yet though....gettin out the navy in about a yr. going back to PA (allentown) and still have to pay off the Q and than I can think about swapping that engine into something. Actually was thinking of keeping my Z l-powered and putting that thing into a '95 240sx, and tell people it's factory. Dammit, gotta keep my mind straight...still have to pay the Q45 off before I rip the motor out....

mmm...I miss my 430 (installed it into a 69 sportwagon that I sold because it was totally rusted away)

Still average 10.0, once in awhile I get a half-decent launch and manage a 9.9 or 9.8 in the eighth, this is with me having to granny shift 2nd gear because the forks are bent, the syncro is shot, and the tranny is about to go.

Oops...forgot to mention...I installed a non-LSD 4.11 rear into the car, actually made it SLOWER becasue she can't hook up as well at Qualcomm, and the extra shift to 3rd makes it slower.

Oh yeah, with full interior, bumpers, sound deadening, the 16" wheels, etc. and me, that car is easily over 3000lb. Just a thought.

My '78 280z that I bought from the junkyard, as it was, stock exhaust, stock TB, stock injection, stock 4-speed and stock 3.54 R200 non-lsd ran a 16.3@83mph at Carlsbad raceway in Carlsbad,CA. I pulled the stock exhaust off it, advanced the timing, and richened the AFM a bit by reducing the spring tension one tooth. 15.8@86. I went home for the day. Two months later, I had the money and bought the MSA 3-2-1 header, the 60mm throttle body, the centerforce stage two clutch and the Fidanza lightweight flywheel. I installed these parts and put a junkyard '81 280zx 5-speed transmission behind it. I also had a muffler shop put on a 3" exhaust WITH a cat and an ordinary super turbo muffler. (they told me it was too big, that I wouldn't have any torque. I responded that I could just richen up the mix a bit. Took it to carlsbad, on one of the last days they were open. Ran a best of 15.2@90mph. I then blew the transmission. I had the trans rebuilt and went to the MSA show, where they had a mustang dyno set up. Same mods, never so much as opened the engine to adjust valves (and she needs adjustment!) Dyno says: 172hp and 179lb. ft from about 2000rpm to 4800rpm, flat as Kansas. (what torque loss)..which was measured at the wheels. Don't ask me how. Guess Nissan built a good one with that motor. (N42 block, N47head, stock internally!) I was surprised to find out that I had out-horsepowered a similar Z with the cam you describe. I hate to say it, but with stock FI you're better off with the stock cam. This was back in 2005. I deployed for the second time to the persian gulf, the car sat. I came back, found with dismay that Carlsbad is now a housing development. My drag racing is now limited to the 1/8 mile drag races at Qualcomm, in between underways, etc. Did I mention I bought this car in 2003, beat the crap out of it every single day, and the only casualties so far are those (weak) Nissan 5-speeds? I now set about making her look nice. She was starting to rust, and I needed to do something. (rust hole in the ROOF) I ponied up $2500 for a paint job that looks nice but I'm not happy with. It's only a loan, right? I resealed the whole body, re-did the interior, and got some nice period OZ 16" wheels. I put about 150lb of sound deadening into her, she's as quiet as a new car now. I also used expanding foam to make her more civil. I put some EL glo faces in the dash, added an air-fuel ratio gauge and tuned her some more. She sat some more while I was busy fixing the (supposed) daily-driver Q45 I had just bought, then I just ended up driving the reliable datsun. I threw a fan belt on the I-5 and kept driving, as I eventually want to go turbo and of course, she overheated. I replaced the belt and drove her home. #3 cylinder sounds like a dwarf with a hammer, I guess I wiped the cam a bit. My latest time, for 1/8 mile, with full interior, A/C, and the '76 crash bumpers (over 100lb between them both) and the tapping, oil-burning wonder, with 110psi cranking compression on #3 and the highest cylinder only at 160psi, is (drumroll) 9.8@66.5mph And the mph is so low simply because she has no HP anymore, still has so much torque that I think I may be breaking a halfshaft, and the THIRD transmission is making all kinds of noise now. So, I think you're making SLIGHTLY LESS POWER than you should. I can provide dyno graphs and timeslips, just need a fax machine.

Hey guys just thought this would be a nice thing for our Z's. The link is http://www.speedhut.com This company is in the process of getting enough orders for a complete kit for EL gauge faces. This kit includes a face for every factory gauge in the car, including the clock. I'm the 11th order, which means once 9 more people place an order, they will start production. There are several face color, illumination color, font, and graphic options to pretty much personalize your gauge faces. They also make aftermarket 5" and 2-1/16" gauges with the same custom options as thier gauge faces. (Think, you could have additional gauges that match your gauge faces!) The basic kit starts at $119.95 USD, and the company is based in Utah, so you're even buying American. What is there to lose? If you want to see a pic of a satisfied customer, go to dimequarterly.com and look at the online issues. This person has them for his '70 510. This also would, in addition to personalizing your Z, take care of the lighting problem. (We all know how dimly lit factory Z gauges are) My gauges are a "cool blue" face with white "beetle" font lettering and reverse EL illumination. The deposit for an order is the ridiculous sum of ONE DOLLAR. That is; if they never reach the production quota of 20 units (only need nine more orders), you will only lose a dollar, not $119.95. Oh well, thank you all for the best Z site on the web, kickin it out to you from Bahrain! (Should be back in the states sometime this yr, then my Z will be fair game for lots of improvements!)

I think it looks very similar to a Buick V-8, doesn't it? (front mount distributor) The buick has an external oil pump though. Dave, I don't know how, but I just ran my 78 at Qualcomm eighths yesterday until the slave cyl. took a crap, my worst time was 11.1, that's when I had NO clutch action at all, I did my final run by cranking in 1st gear and flooring it. My best time was a 9.825@72, and I even managed a 10.1 with my buddy garrett along for the ride..he's like 290lb, my Z weighed at least 3100lb at that point and I still beat a stripped down probably sub-1400lb CRX (man did that put a smile on my face.) I guess i just happen to have a really strong running L28 motor. I have never opened it up, I just have a couple of bolt-ons (and no, one of them is NOT a turbo) I still wouldn't mind finding one of these motors, even if it never finds it way into a car, just to be able to say..."That's a Nissan small block." hehe!

In April 2000, before I joined the navy, I had a 97 4x2 Regular cab XE Nissan hardbody pickup. It had the KA24E 4cyl with a 5-speed manual. The rear axle was the C-180 (solid axle R-180) with 3.36 gearing. I saw a 69 Buick Sportwagon sitting to it's frame in mud next to the street, and found the owner, and became the proud owner of a 1969 sportwagon. I drove to U-haul, got a dolly, and came back. I hooked a chain to the wagon, and somehow that little 4-banger yanked the wagon out of the mud, so we pushed it on the dolly, and I hooked up, drove away. I drove about 40 miles through rural pennsylvania, up and down hills and dales, all while keeping the speed around 50mph (the max recommended speed for the dolly). That little truck had no problems, even when starting on a 5% grade. (I'm not lyin!) I never used 5th gear and it did fine. I got to the allentown,pa area, and then got into a little uphill race with a UPS truck. (the two-lane road became a one-lane going eastbound on tilghman street, and I wanted to see where I was going, and the UPS guy didn't want to be stuck behind a little truck pulling a big car) That little nissan won, while pulling a 4,500lb. station wagon and a (at least) 400lb. trailer dolly. Coincidentally, the tow rating for THAT truck was also 3500lb with a stick, but only 2000lb for the automatic due to the small engine. I think I got more looks that day than any other (Flabbergasted full-size pickup owners mouths dropping when they saw that tiny little truck pulling a car it could literally fit on top of..it was priceless) The point is, like it was said before, if you're careful, you can tow ANYTHING with anything. I even was on another Z forum where the owner describes towing a tandem axle trailer loaded with concrete block with a 240Z. He pretty much wrote "you have no idea how far that trailer can push a z with all 4 wheels locked."

My 280's gauge isn't the most accurate either, but at least they never claimed it to be.(The owner's manual actually states "The fuel gauge indicates the APPROXIMATE fuel level in the tank.") I DO know that that car is very, very pessimistic. The gauge will actually go below the final hash mark and point at "E". I decided to experiment and keep driving. About 30-50 miles later the "low fuel" light will come on, but only if you're on the highway and not sloshing the gas around in the tank. As soon as you hit a corner, it will go out for another 20 miles, then come on again. Keep being stupid (like I did), and eventually it will stay on. I finally got scared and stopped for gas. I put in 17.15 gallons (It's actually pretty hilarious, getting weird looks from people in thier SUV's seeing me put 35 bucks worth of gas into a Datsun!) and realized I might have gone another 2 or 3 miles! So at least the light is accurate!

Sorry about the double post, but I just realized that I didn't say anything about the subject! So, without further ado, How much power is too much in a Z? It depends on what you've done to the brakes and suspension. A '78 280 with '76 bumpers and a ton of crap in the back (when I took all the crap I hobbited away over a year and a half outta there when prepping it for the body shop the back end rose up TWO INCHES) that probably weighed in the neighborhood of 3100lb. with me in it, and stock brakes, has too much power STOCK. Consider that the stock brakes are basically the ones used on the 1900lb. datsun 510, that Nissan practically never updated, and you get an idea of how much they suck! I completely rebuilt the front brakes about a year ago with all new stock stuff, the rotors are now so warped that the steering wheel tries to shake itself out of my hands every time I try to stop. All it took to do that was ONE stop from 90 to Zero MPH. THe brakes are really the only thing about that car I hate. After deployment, it's 5-lug conversion time with the MMS kit (And the Mustang cobra brakes! Yummy!) Bryan P.S.- I've always wondered why Nissan thought those tiny little brakes were OK for the Z but the '66 1600 roadster with SIXTY FREAKIN HORSEPOWER and 2000lb had nice 11.2" front discs and 10" drums on the back? (Stock Z has 10.2" discs and 10" drums...though most of you all know that already, I'm practically a Z INFANT compared to you guys!)

That's a hard question to answer, wholly depends on your mood, traffic, and the road conditions. (e.g. A STOCK Z has way too much power in....ahem...snow.) I know I have a lot of fun with my '78, with it's tired old L28. She runs on 5cyl at idle, and makes blows more smoke at WOT than the whole staff of "High Times". (Though that's fun in it's own way, I brag every day about how I can "smoke" a brand new Ferrari....I never said I could beat it in a race, but I can smoke'em for sure) I can't even venture a guess of how many miles are on her but the odo says 36K (said 5K when I bought her from the J/Y about a year and a half ago) and the original shift knob was WORN THROUGH! The amount I've driven her definitely shows what a fine auto these old Z's are, as I am in the Navy and my ship is constantly going underway, yet I've still managed to put over 30,000 miles on her. She is the most reliable car I've ever owned, and I will never part with her (though I will soon retire her motor) unless she gets wrecked. I can finally start to justify swapping out the engine, I'm finally beginning to wear it out! (Please, just pass smog this one time ) I still feel that I want to slowly upgrade the power so I can re-learn how to drive her, so my next engine is going to be an L28ET...not only due to it's availability, but the fact that I'll be able to go from L28E to ET in a weekend, due to the fact of her being my only car (after my WESTPAC, of course.......then once I go home from the navy (in 2 years, after which I proclaim any debt I've had to society has been paid in full, I've done 4 years so far and am now on my extension)...she will have a date with a Big Block Buick. I can't wait to see my car....I just got back from an underway yesterday, and am on duty today, and she will come back to me dressed in a slinky blue number courtesy of Supreme auto body, I finally tired of driving a haze-grey car when I live in a haze gray ship. Hence, tomorrow will begin the quest of reassembling her (I removed basically everything but the wheels, steering wheel, and drive train when I put her in paint jail, luckily for me the body was in very good condition, just dressed in rags) I have to get her together soon, as she is my only transportation! Oops! Got a bit off subject there, but she is, after all, my automotive soul mate, and I tend to ramble. (Hopefully one day I find a woman I can love more than that car To get back to topic, I believe you can never have too much power in ANY car, the limit's up to you and your pocketbook. good luck to all, Hail Hybrid Z!

I dunno how it'll work in the z but when my buddy and I (back before I joined the navy) swapped an olds 425 rocket into his 66 skylark we used chevy truck (diesel) frame mounts with 307 rubber isolator mounts. I think it would be pretty easy to do it that way if you had a plate on the crossmember. MY ideas for mounting the buick motor into the Z was to use the JTR method, just modify the engine set back plates for the buick mount pattern, and use the chevy truck mounts specified in the JTR manual to bolt to the datsun crossmember. The buick uses two bolts to mount the buick mount to the block instead of the three chevy uses. Won't be doing it for awhile, though, but let me know how yours turns out! Btw the Olds and Buick motors were always a different design, but after '78 there wasn't much diff. because buick stopped making thier own V-8's after 1980. (big blocks were built to 1976, 350's continued to 1980.) after that they used either olds or chevy v-8's. THe buick V-6, is still in production today, and it was made by simply deleting two cylinders from the buick V-8, for all you n/a V-6 regal owners out there that want the easiest swap, a buick small block will drop right in and bolt up with the only mods being having to use V-6 rubber isolator mounts and cutting the fan shroud down.

Funny thing is, I have a '73 buick 350, or a 67 430 just itching to find it's way into my z. It's probably gonna be what goes in when I go back home to PA (where the motors are lying in wait!) The 430 is .030 over, with a high volume oil pump (with the stock pressure spring), but I also modded the timing cover to provide more oil to the distributor gear and cam gear (the big block buick's camshaft had an INTEGRAL cam gear, the 350 had the more-common replaceable joint) , drilled out the oil passage from the pump to the block, and also bypassed the lifter galley at the back of the motor so my lifters don't starve when the inevitable front cam-bearing meltdown happens (common when using a high-volume pump). I also used ARP head and main studs, as the BBB only has 4 headbolts per cylinder, coupled with the HUGE bore. (Buick 455 had the biggest bore, shortest stroke, and the best rod/stroke ratio of ALL of detroit's production big blocks.) It also happens to be the lightest of them, weighing in at about 600lb ALL IRON. (this is complete, ready to run!) Aluminum heads and intake bring the weight down to SBC territory. Tranny? instead of 700R4 use 2004R, they can be beefed to handle tons of power (were used in Grand Nationals) and have both Chevy and BOP (don't forget caddy!) boltpatterns on it's bellhousing. It also dosen't need a computer and has a mechanical speedo drive. Me? I want to use a stick. The big block buick may be a bit much for a Z but the alternative is to put it into my '86 regal, which, honestly, isn't much heavier and won't hook like a Z can. Besides, I have this idea in my head. Buick big block powered Z done up in the style of the Buick GSX. I would call it a GSZ. that's just me, though. I still have over 2 years to contemplate it. Until then I'm stationed in California.

You willing to part with a KA trans just in case I lunch mine again? I was always wondering about that...It can't be to hard to adapt it being that you can adapt a northstar to a 2.8 V-6 bell. (especially when this tranny BOLTS UP but just is tilted!) I would be infinitely more secure in knowing I had a tranny that could take all kinds of beating on and ask for more. (though that zx trans defended itself for awhile, probably had more than 50 1/4 mi. runs on that mean old 90 dollar junkyard dog trans, which was noisy the day I put it in!) Course it's now a 900 dollar rebuilt trans, so I would expect it to hold up for awhile (I hope:) Hopefully I can get her to 14's soon, so I can just merely be slow.

You could always verify it yourself, you could just have a VERY PARANOID sender..these cars HATE running outta gas! (you don't want to know how long it took me to re-prime my fuel pump on the '71!) The '72 has a drain plug on the bottom of the tank. Simply drain the gas out when you're too scared to risk driving any farther and measure it! Actually...I believe Datsun/NIssan put them in the tanks until the Late 80's, then stopped (if there's any measure of what's happening in the world that's one of them, can't have a drain plug on the tank anymore, if people knew about it they would drain all your gas just to see you stranded!) In fact the Frontiers still have the dimpled area on the bottom of the tank where the drain plug used to be! (The frontier's frame harks back to the mid-80's!)

Hi just wondering...I blew up my trans on my 280z (blew out 2nd gear at the drags, but it held together until I got her home...gotta luv datsuns!) It was an 81 n/a trans, and I had it rebuilt. My question is how much can it handle freshly rebuilt (I had broken the front thrust bearing, the 1-2 shift fork, and a few other choice pieces at the dragstrip) My car is currently running a 15.2 @ 90mph, but I somehow manage to eke a bit more each time. (my times on the stock motor and gearing have come down from 16.4 @81mph down to the current 15.2@90, when I broke the tranny.) What E.T.'s should I start worrying about this and start looking for a stronger tranny? Thanks, bryan p.s. The trans had over 250,000 miles, so I'm hoping it can hold up to a bit more...though I guess I'll refrain from burning out for 2 minutes and almost two miles just to get a trophy!

My 78 280z gets about 17mpg in the city and about 25mpg on the highway (as long as you keep the engine speed above 2,500rpm) with the 1981 280zx n/a trans. I'm not running rich, but I do burn lots '0 oil. I didn't calculate mileage by the speedo (which actually is very accurate until you go past 90mph) but by a trip using the mile markers. My Z has a 17.8 gallon tank. The 1974 and earlier Z cars had 16.0 gallon tanks (and I know that for a fact...the 71 I had ran out of gas and it took exactly..umm...SIXTEEN GALLONS) Think of it this way...A V-8 won't get worse mileage, so why not?

Hey I'm not trying to sound opinionated, so here goes. In the truck comparos, the Titan beats out the Ram in 0-60, and the Ram's "newschool" hemi edged it out in the 1/4 by a TENTH OF A SECOND. Not enough torque, INDEED . The titan tested was a full-tilt 4x4 crew cab, weighing 5,400 lb. 0-60 took 7.4 seconds. Imagine what it could do in a Z car! Btw the redline of the titan's v-8 is higher than the LS-1's Can't rev high enough? OoooooKay. The G56 idea would be AWESOME esp. with a 6-speed. Nissan are you listening>?

My stock 280z two seater with the L28E/N47, 4-speed, 3.54 R200, about 300lb. worth of stuff (I live on a ship, so my home is my car) my buddy Steve, and myself..(total weight at least 3400lb!) topped out at an indicated 125mph@5,500 rpm on I-5 North. I was going on leave for the first time in over a year and was on my way back home to PA and my mom N pop for the first time in TWO, so I was in a bit of a hurry! I guess due to the additional weight the aerodynamic lift wasn't a problem, the car felt rock solid. I guess the speedo is pretty accurate, huh? I've since installed a MSA 3 to 2 header, 3" exhaust, and an air intake system with K&N, and a 280zx 5-speed (close ratio). I don't think it'll go any faster, need way more HP.