Dramier

Well the thing about it is I can understand why the S series prices go up. It doesn't matter if those cars are turbo or not for the most part as they are excellent drivers either way. But with the Z31's you have a car that's heavy, the automatics are notoriously bad, and the 2+2 body lines are still the least desirable. I mean in short, that Z31 is nearly the exact opposite of everything that is usually desired in a Z31. The only way it could be less desirable is if it was a slicktop, although that is certainly debatable. The only Z31's I could see fetching that kind of price would be pristine SS's or AE's. Maybe I just don't understand what makes a car desirable or valuable. In my estimation, a non-turbo automatic Z31 would never be desirable or valuable because it simply doesn't have anything going for it. Comparing it to 911's, even a non-turbo automatic (don't think those exist?) whale tail would still be desirable because it's a beautiful car. It's kind of like a classic muscle car that is a factory V6 to me. Even though it only has a V6, if it was a good looking car it's still desirable. I feel like the S30's are more desirable than the S130's because they look more classic and were lighter. The S130's are more desirable than the Z31's because they look better and had less BS electronics. I feel like the Z31's are the least desirable Z of all the generations, and I find it hard to see their value increasing. I say all this and my first Z was actually a Z31, and I've owned three of them! Once I bought my S30 I fully realized what I had been missing about the Z car experience. This is all of course personal opinion, but can somebody explain to me why the Z31 would increase in value from a market perspective? And beyond that, most of the Z31's I see for sale locally don't get higher than $2500 unless they are turbo. Oh sure, they try and sell these Z31 non-turbo's for $4k or $5k all the time but the reality is most of them go for $2k or less. It's weird to me. The S30's and S130's I can completely understand their value, especially the S30's with all of the options you have to restore it. It's really no different than a classic '60's American muscle car. On a related side note, I was originally searching for a turbo Z31 and finally gave up because I wasn't willing to pay more than $3k for it because honestly that's all I thought it was worth even to me. At the same time, I would give double or maybe even triple that for the right S30 because to me it's worth it. I'm wondering if the prices are not so much the car's worth as it is how much rarer they are becoming.

https://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/cto/6006800153.html In case you can't/won't/whatever view the ad... It's a 1986 300ZX, non-turbo, automatic. Their asking price is $12,500. W.....t......f..... Thoughts?

Completely forgot that it doesn't auto-notify of responses on here. Yes I would be happy to look up anything you need! You can post or PM me and I'll reply, much quicker this time too.

I think I need to go back and re-learn what I 'remember' about synthetics because everything I've seen mentioned so far seems to indicate I'm either not remembering things or I picked up some bad information somewhere along the way. Thanks for your input and helping me wade through this. I've decided to go to an Earl's oil cooler and figure out a good place to mount it. Might screw with the intercooler ducting a bit, but I should be able to figure something out. That explains to me why I keep seeing restored Z's with the oil cooler oddly positioned way out front of the lower valance area. Probably didn't have much room for it in the stock location. Now I've got to go do some re-education on oils.

I have two or three still in my garage. What did you need to know about?

That's odd, not trying to argue but I don't recall there being an oil cooler on my '85 300ZX Turbo. Maybe I just don't remember it but I definitely do not remember it having one. I did some searching and already found banjo to AN fittings so I'm thinking an Earl's oil cooler will fit the bill nicely. Just have to figure out where to wedge it in the front. Thankfully the factory banjo bolts are still there! Regarding oil, I was planning on running Valvoline VR oil as I've read a big discussion (possibly on here?) about it being the best for these motors. I've used Motul many times in the past on Volkswagen and Porsche projects so I'm familiar with it but I would think synthetics would be less desirable on this motor, especially since I live in Texas and we have some brutally hot summers. I used the ratios calculator outlined in Corky Bell's "Maximum Boost" book to arrive at a minimum 400cc injector. I actually calculated a 349cc injector when I did it but since I know that injectors are commonly available in whole number sizes I figured a 400 or 440 being a common injector would be a safe bet. I plan on tuning to a 70% duty cycle maximum and just see where that lands and call it a day. I figure if I'm running a 440cc injector and I'm not pushing 250HP at 70% duty cycle then I have something else seriously wrong. Either way I'm looking more at duty cycle, timing and engine temperature as my limiting factors than specific horsepower. If it puts down 320HP and everything else looks kosher obviously I will be okay with it. Hopefully that comes across correctly. I've heard of people achieving mid 200 numbers on stock turbo injectors with rising rate regulators, etc, but I don't want to be on the bleeding edge when I dial everything up. I want the engine to just barely be breathing hard. I'd rather daily drive a car with plenty of room than be constantly worried that any second there's going to be a new hole in my block where something violently exited.

I also have an extra turbo manifold and down pipe I acquired before I bought a complete engine with both. If interested feel free to message me. I can send pictures, etc. I am going to de-rust and paint them and sell them on ebay at some point, and I will also have more parts from the turbo engine as I discard things such as the original intake J-pipe, etc. This probably won't be done until the end of the summer of 2017, but message me anyway and I can save stuff.

I picked up a 280ZX turbo engine complete to swap into my '76 280Z, and I noticed that it has an automatic flywheel on it and a gigantic oil cooler sandwitch plate where the oil filter is mounted. It has the two gigantic banjo bolts, but I didn't get the oil cooler or lines because they were crushed in the original car. My questions are pretty simple... First and foremost, is it worth it to invest in an oil cooler and the appropriate AN fitting lines on a sub 300 horsepower car? Plans for this block are just to run megasquirt, a good quality intercooler, some 400 to 500CC injectors depending on what I find, and run at most 14 pounds of boost. I figure the setup is going to end up around the 250HP mark more than likely if I'm lucky, maybe a little more. Second question, if I do not use the oil cooler, is that adapter removable like most aftermarket ones where I just have to remove it and screw the oil filter on it its place? If it's not a simple remove and replace with oil filter, is there a proper or easy way to adapt it back to no oil cooler? I prefer things like this to always be reversible, so I don't want to weld if at all possible blocking it up. Last thing, it's an F54 with a P90 head, and because it has an automatic flywheel I'm guessing its a pretty safe guess that it's an '81 motor. Is there any way to narrow down the year model by looking at the engine and determine if it's a CA model or not, etc? I've searched extensively but haven't really seen much on pinpointing by engine only as far as that goes. Going along with the above, since it was an automatic car, is there anything specific to the automatic engines that I need to address before I start the swap? I know there are supposed to be spacers on the flywheel that have to be removed and I figure those will be self evident when I have both motors out. I didn't see anything on the motor that looked automatic specific, but honestly I never look at automatic versions so I thought I better ask the experts. Thanks in advance and I hope to have a build thread up for the turbo swap before the summer ends. Hope everybody is doing well and keeping their Z's on the road!

Just went to look up some parts at BDA and found out they closed first of the month. Didn't see this posted anywhere so figured I'd post this just in case. I hope this isn't a trend that continues. If it's posted somewhere else and I missed it, I apologize and please delete. If this isn't the proper place to post this, I also apologize.

I had an '85 300ZX Turbo with an RB25DET swapped in, first in the nation as far as we could ever determine back in 2004, and I would imagine the L28 swap would be a nearly identical setup. It was a fairly straight forward fit with the only major changes being a little bit of hammering on the transmission tunnel to get it to fit. Keep in mind there was a factory version of the car called a 200ZR in Japan that featured an RB20DET, so it's not really a far fetched concept. I no longer have my RBZ31 having stupidly traded it in 2008 due to lack of funds to keep it going and beginning a career. However I do know there is or was a guy named Racinjitter or something close to that who was also doing the RB25 swap and he should be finished by now. You might also refer to him and see if you can get some more background. I have never seen or heard of anyone with a Z31 with an L28 block in their car and I would have thought at some point along the way I would have definitely heard of it considering how many people contacted me over having an RB25 in mine. Doesn't mean there isn't one out there of course, just trying to be helpful. I will tell you I got a tons of hate from Z owners over the swap I did, and I just ignored them. Made me slightly biased against most of the Z forums from it as I got really tired of hearing the negativity after the car was finished. I don't know if that has changed these days since I don't visit anywhere except here and Nico club now, but if you do move forward with this project just be prepared for it. One other tidbit: I never successfully got the speedometer working with the RB with the Z31 digital gauges, but knowing what I know today about electronics having self-taught and learned a tremendous amount, I believe it wouldn't be that hard to get it to work. Good luck with your project if you decide to do the L28 swap and I think you will enjoy it more than the VG, I know I did.

I've heard constantly about the mythical cheap turbo Z's, but I spent nearly two years searching for a turbo Z31 that wasn't $5k+ and finally gave up. I don't know where people find these supposedly cheap cars, but from what I have seen most junkyards have little to no Z parts much less turbo Z's. I've been watching CL ads for about a year now and two turbo ZXT's popped up for $2500 each, different sellers. Neither car ran and from the pictures they were both severely rusted and I doubt either one was worth it. There were no other ZXT's for under $9k. Then a few days ago an ad for "Z parts" popped up and I texted to find out if they still had a turbo zxt engine and tranny they were advertising. The transmission was already gone but they still had the engine. They were asking $500 and I didn't even hesitate. I got there as fast as I could and loaded it up. I've spent a fair amount of time on craigslist and ebay hunting parts, and maybe ten years ago some of these deals could still be had. But I think the days of these $400 turbo Z cars are long gone. Kind of pisses me off when I'm researching my turbo swap and they talk about they picked up a turbo distributor for $40 or some crap and I have never even seen one in a junkyard, CL ad, or ebay at all. The guy was a jerk, no doubt. But honestly, based on my experiences hunting parts, I would have given him $2k for the car to shut him up and taken it and still felt pretty lucky. Maybe I'm just not lucky searching or maybe it's just Texas.. The guy I just bought my engine from was an amazing man that I thoroughly enjoyed talking to and was a pleasure to see his Z cars and just talk about our experiences. That was definitely not my normal experience with trying to get Z parts. Sorry to hear what happened to you and hoping you find what you are looking for! I definitely know how it feels hunting and coming home empty handed. Best of luck!!

I've decided that I don't want to turbo the stock L28E after all. Not too big of a deal, I only had collected the turbo manifold and downpipe so far so no big loss. The car in question is a '76 280z. Without going into too much about it, I just really loved the RB motor. That being said, I'm having a rough time of choosing which RB combo. This is NOT my first RB, I had the first Z31 with an RB25 in it here in the States. My choices are as follows, and I'm very curious for input from those who are currently running or have made these decisions and might have ideas or suggestions I had not considered.. Goals are streetable, 400HP maximum, that's it. Nothing fancy. I'm trying to decide between going with RB25DET regular or the Neo motor. If I go regular RB25DET I would just do the 5 speed transmission and leave it at that. However, I am kind of interested in doing the Neo engine instead, and using the Collins adapter and going with a CD01 350Z transmission. The only real benefit to it I see though is a stronger transmission and six speed of course. But with the problem of having to have the bell housing milled and possibly having it not fit in the tunnel it sounds like I'd have to do fabrication to get it right. The RB25DET transmission I had before in my '85 was pretty damn tough, so I can't imagine the 350Z transmission could be much better. I'm not afraid of cost although cheaper is obviously always a benefit. I'm more initially concerned about getting it to be as close to drop-in as possible. I can fabricate and weld, I'm just trying to get this done in my garage. I was initially planning on just going with McKinney's kit, but I don't think that's possible with the Neo/CD0 combo. Has anyone here done that combo? I did a quick and dirty search but didn't see anybody with it in an S series, and it wouldn't let me just search "Neo". I'm very interested in trying to go with the Neo, just not finding much in the way of transmissions or information on whether it matches up to the regular RB25. I found one or two references to it in regards to 240SX swaps, but that doesn't really help. If I'm being stupid here and it's way easier/cost effective to just do the normal RB25DET don't hesitate to say so. I won't be offended. Just don't bother trying to tell me to turbo the stock L28, I'm not interested. You can buy mine when I pull it and do that if you'd like. Realistically what I need is the absolutely closest to drop-in route so I can do this in my garage. Worst case scenario I can fall back on a shop if I need to, but I just -want- to do it myself. There's a ton of information on here, but it gets a little convoluted trying to find some specific answers. There also seems to be quite a bit of conflicting information regarding the Neo engine. I hate asking but wasn't turning anything up through searching so I might as well ask while I keep searching. Thanks!

Nice find six shooter. I searched forever for that scene! I agree though, it doesn't look like a Z now that I can see it for more than a hectic few seconds not expecting it. The headlight buckets don't seem to have enough space in front of them and the front grill doesn't look right. The hood also doesn't seem to have that point in the center. It's too hard to tell from the screen caps, I can't honestly say one way or another. I guess the real question is what could it be if it's not a Z? MG's don't have that bulge in the hood, although obviously they could have added that.

In case you haven't seen or don't plan to see the new Mad Max movie, just figured I'd give a heads-up that there's a Z car in it. It isn't prominent, but appears in the middle of the movie for several scenes, possibly more before I caught it. Appears to be a 260 or 280Z, and doesn't look like there's much changed about it. Just flat black but I wasn't prepared to study it so I didn't get a great look at it. Made me -really- glad I chose not to drive my Z to the movie, considering it's all flat black. That would have been awkward. =P

This is in my '76 280Z L28 fuel injected, 4 speed car. Long story short, noticed on the drive back from Thanksgiving that the temperature gauge got higher than normal but went back down. Didn't think much of it. Five days later, drive the car to work this morning, temp started pegging out and I pulled over and checked... sure enough radiator is venting along the seams. It's probably the original radiator or close to it, so not really surprised. I'm guessing that the thermostat is stuck and that's what led to the failure because the hose was stiff going in. So I hopped on MSA and checked on radiators and was surprised to see that the aluminum radiator under performance was cheaper than the stock unit. Normally upgrade parts are more expensive, which makes me wonder what the deal is here. I've searched the forums, but didn't find alot of information on anything other than electric fan issues, so I thought I would ask and see what is recommended at this point. Should I go to the aluminum radiator and do an electric fan conversion, or stick with the stock radiator and leave the clutch fan? Are there any problems/adjustments that will need to be made to the replacement radiators that I would need to order parts ahead of time for? Brackets, etc? Just want to make sure I can order everything at once and not run into any snags. In the future the car will be running a turbo on either the L28 block or a swapped in motor, so it will see higher horsepower but probably under 400, so need to keep that in mind that this radiator setup will need to be able to support that.