Gollum

IMO your L28ET powered S130 should have no issues keeping up with any FC in a straight line unless the FC in question has tons of money poured into it. Handling is a different story, but the S130 has potential. Boost controller, FMIC, BOV, and a FPR. If you tune the fuel pressure right along with the AFM you should be able to put down stock RB25 numbers without breaking anything. It's pretty easy to get these motors up to 300hp. Do some research please. Where these motors start to really hit a wall is around 500hp, or around the low 400's wheel HP. That's plenty of HP for some, but others have spent the time and money to take these motors well beyond those limits. There's tons of threads on the subject though, so happy reading.

Well according to braap (whom I trust) the VG30DETT lost around 30 pounds by removing the turbos. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=125246 I still don't see the VG30DETT being nearly as much as a pig as some people are saying. 470# isn't a bad number, especially when you consider that it's a TT motor with cast iron turbo manifolds (correct?).

Earlier he said his car had a L28ET in it... so I assumed he already had a turbo motor. Those things make torque like a V8... Hence my serious confusion thus far... linchpin - Is your engine really a L28ET (meaning a turbo charged motor with a P90 head and a valve cover that says "turbo" on it)? Or just a regular L28E and you got them confused?

Which is about as far as you can go from a torque-filled motor. Though I too love the wankels. Member "auxilary" here is doing a very in depth rotary swap. Look him up and read his threads. I do think you'd be the first wankel 280ZX, but not Z.

Well I think even the people here WITH those swaps done will agree with me that unless you're wanting more than 400hp then you should stick with your current L28ET. Simpler, cheaper, you already have it.

Haha, I'm usually so pissed off that all I can ever find is 2+2 turbos around here. They're everywhere! You'd think they were roaches in a taco truck or something. I'd say 80% of the turbos for sale I find on craigslist or at picknpull are 2+2. You guys really hurting for 2+2 parts that bad? There's a 2+2 at PNP down the street from my work right now. $200 would be some good pay for an hours worth of work MAX.

Well now I'm pretty confused, because things aren't adding up. You want more torque, so lets go with a more modern reiteration of the same engine... Both choices are still an inline 6 and will have VERY similar torque paths. In fact I'd even go so far as to say that I've seen, on average, more torque per HP on turbo L series than RB or 1JZ. Reason being is that the head doesn't flow as well and doesn't create as much power up top, so until to improve the head dramatically your HP figures are low but the torque numbers aren't as effected (because it's high RPM that's effected moreso than the low RPM, HP and torque are the same thing). So now I'm left here wondering if something is wrong with your engine. Or if you're used to anther vehicle with high torque. Or maybe you've chosen these motors because you thought they'd be "cool" or you know someone with one, or you just think newer is better. There's many other motors with just as much shock value with more torque potential. Also remember that turbo torque is way different than NA torque. That's a discussion all in it's own. So if you can, please give us more detail on why you want to do a swap, and why you like these two motor options. EDIT: Oh yea, the S30 isn't nearly as wide in the dash area as the S130. It'd be a true hack job getting it to fit. I'd recommend just going with a custom dash, probably just as easy/hard as putting another car's dash in.

I'm loving this thead, and learning plenty, so I'm just gonna shut up and keep reading after this post. I was researching the Gforce T-5 gearset a while back, and found several instances posted online in which people blew their transmission even with the Gforce gears. In all of the cases (unless the information wasn't there) they were using the OEM case and had the gears put in by a local shop, NOT somebody with in depth knowledge and racing experience with the T5. The case is a serious weak point in the T5, which is why Gforce sells an aftermarket case that's stronger. Just thought I'd mention all this for those that might think that improving gear strenth is everything. Regarding the 5th gear clip though... why isn't there a clip that could somehow be "locked" so it can't come apart and is kept held tight against the grove? Would that not matter and it'd still be pushed off? It just seems like if you controlled the expansion of the clip that it'd be less likely to come off. Seems risky, but tac weld it maybe?

Switching to an entire 80 or later motor might be just as good of an idea as getting flat top pistons. It's probably cheaper to get a block with flat tops than it is to spend the time and effort (or money to have a machine shop) putting flat tops in your current engine. Plus if your head is a N47 (which I believe it would be if it's not the P79 which started on the 80' cars) then the compression with flat tops would be roughly 9.8:1, VERY high for an L engine. The P79 head with flat tops would be 8.5:1, a much better pump gas friendly compression ratio. Still not very high for max performance, but it would be much more forgiving on the tune. There's lots of info on these forums for good head/block combos. Learn the love the search button.

Well the ZX engines had a ton of emission equipment compared to the earlier Z cars. The main emission device that'd make a noticable difference would be the CAT, simply because of the backpressure it creates. You can remove it, or replace it with a high flow cat. I preffer that route because a car without a cat tends to stink a bit, and high flow cats have proven to not restrict power in many cases. Another thing to keep in mind is that there's not really any readily availible "intakes" for the L series. Your best bang for the buck improvement for the intake would be to just upgrade to a larger throttle body (KA24 throttle is a common mod). I'm really not one to give you power numbers, so I won't even guess. But I do know that the AFM really kills the responsiveness of these motors, and it would be worthwhile to consider converting to carbs.

I've also been following the coupe since I first got wind of it some time ago now. My conclusion is that as long as it's over or close to 300HP, and still RWD (which is guarenteed at this point) AND has a manual that sells in decent numbers, then I'll be very very pleased. I havn't seen hyundai putting out more recalls than other people lately, and their products really DO seem to be improving steadily. Who knows, they might end up being at the top of the list for engine swap donors. Bring us more RWD cars please.

Well, the largest out there by far is mustangworld last time I checked. They have some VERY knowledgable people on there, but millions, repeat, millions of people that know nothing. It's astounding. http://www.mustangworld.com/forums/ The BEST forums quality wise USED to be the official (more or less) SVT boards, because they used to require you own (or have owned) an SVT vehicle with a VIN to prove it. They used to be extremely performance based since pretty much everyone there owned several mustangs and had cobras as well. Hanging out on that board really taught me that cobra R owners are a different breed altogether. They'd be welcomed here for sure. Well, nowdays they're open to everyone and getting worse and worse every time I check thier site out. But it still might be worth looking into. http://svtperformance.com/ Good luck with the hunt.

Do I have to do everything? You're from oakland, you don't know anybody that can just "show up with them"? Well, I can ask a local nissan dealer what they'd charge, odds are it's insane, but it's worth asking. We can then also ask some nissan wreakers if they ever get VK56 engines in. I know the cranks are sought after so I'd bet that enough of them get parted out that buying just heads shouldn't be a problem.

Taken from nico forums

Ok, best I've found so far is the NEW boss platform, that's going to have a 102mm bore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Boss_engine EDIT: Nissan VK56 is 98mm. way off, but honestly that's closer than pretty much all the other motors i've seen thus far. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_VK_engine

when was the last time I told you that you are insane? Just dreaming huh? Just wait until we're searching the junkyards for some head. I'll see what I can dig up.

I think the most value performance stuff you can do is shave weight. Spend some money for a barebones fiberglass hood and install some hood pins. If you remove 100 pounds from the car (hood and bumpers alone could do that) you'll benefit from: Better handling. Better acceleraton Better MPG Though obviously there's only so much weight you can take off before it doesn't make sense. Engine wise I think you've got the right idea. Let the engine breathe more and put in a cam to take advantage of the extra breathing. Though unfortunately you'll never see what I consider to be a decent street car power/weight ratio with the L28 unless you get into serious headwork. Since you can weld maybe you might want to consider an engine swap down the road. There's lots that will make plenty more power than the L series stock, and give you a good performance improvement for the dollor. In most cases the engine will sit farther back, and be lighter, improving handling again. I know you're on a budget, so I'll just list some good option that offer a good value. VG30E Ford 5.0, 302, 289, 351 Chevy 327,350 7MGTE There's also a guy doing a turbo ford 14 swap that seems to be pretty cheap. Doesn't seem like the best motor to many of us, but it's unique and should develop enough HP for most poeples satisfaction. All these motors are doable, and most of them can be aquired for at or around $300 depending on condition and what it comes with. I don't know what the laws are like up in washington, but also consider what would be easiest to keep within a reasonable means of legality. Though "reasonable" is all dependant on the state, where you live, how you use the car, and how much you care. The VG30E won't make much more power than the L series, but they're smaller, lighter, and do make more power in stock form. Though to be honest I think the L series has more NA potential. All of the other options could basically be left completely stock. They'll all make way more power than a stock L series, and have been proven to fit and done before. It's just a matter of getting the engine for a good price and getting started fabricating. The search button is our freind. There should be reasonable data on all these swaps on this board.

You're going to have to go with custom mounts for the 1JZ, though if you go with the RB25 from what I understand there IS a factory mount you can use, but the details escape me. At any rate I believe there were RB20 powered S130 cars from factory in japan, but I might be way off base. I'll see what I can dig up.

Thank you braap. I believe I've understood that all before, but you put it ever eloquently. And with all that in mind, like I said, I care about HP and the HP curve. Torque is almost meaningless to me. With THAT being said, honda motors have nasty HP curves that make me sick (unless they're force induced). They lack any top end round off and just climb to peak and stop, making it so that you seem to always have a power sag when you change gears, whereas a good strong V8 has a broad enough HP curve that when you change gears it's still pulling strong. Maybe I should search some bike forums and see if I can get the gearing for some of these transmissions, to see what RPM range they would actually be using when in a racing scenario. Yea, that sounds like a good idea. I'll do that.

Stock L series motors actually produce tons of torque, and will acheive very insane torque numbers when turbocharged. The L series HP ratings were all over the place from 135hp to 170hp (i think, so don't quote me, but those should be close). But in all the ratings the torque was either CLOSE or over the HP rating. Usually within 95% of the HP rating. If you look at the L28ET dynos you'll see that even stock they're producing a healthy 190+ torque. But the reality is that many of the bike dynos I've been looking at, of the larger displacement superbikes like R1s busas etc, all make a healthy 100 or so torque, so combined they'd be near 200 which would be plenty streetable.

Doesn't mean I have to like it The average civic around here has a body kit and a shiny muffle like sticks up the back like a thong riding up a butt. Just because it's "average" doesn't mean I'm gonna like it. I can understand why some people like it. It just goes against my main philosophy "form following function". Anyway, a 82 USDM slicktop is very rare from what I understand. I don't think it really increases the value at all, but they're definately hard to find. Most of the 81-83 bits will bolt on directly to the older cars, just in many cases the holes weren't tapped for a lot of little things that developed later on. Basically, a 79' can always be turned into a 83', like this car (well, just the body from what we can tell, but possibly more). But to have a car that's an 82 that's a slick top, not a common combo at all, at least from what I've seen. No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get concrete production figures on ANY option for the S130 cars, except for some fairly questionable color quanteties. Even the actual number of turbo cars in ever year is questionable from what I've seen.

You're killing me man. I've been dying for a dyno update and though this wasn't it I still appreciated it. So.... any idea when you'll make it back to the dyno?

Your pics never dissapoint Ron. Thanks, I'm now cold at work with my heater on full blast when it's only 55 degrees outside.

I can't say for a fact that it WILL work, but I do know that most power steering systems are very similar, and work with nearly identical pressures and fluids. I've seen plenty of other swaps in which people used the donor engine's pump with the car's rack without issue.

phil280zx - I'd have a hard time deciding from here, but I think in person it'd look great with the right accents. If you were using a dark rim with a crome lip, and the smoke headlight covers it might really come together for a good look. If you were going for those dark accents in other areas the stock tail lights would be kinda obnoxious. I say go with it. Looks like they use the stock housing so it wouldn't be that hard to replace if you didn't like them.