280zwitha383

yeah, I got sideways halfway down the track a few times. The stupid fee to run your car at the track is $20!!! Which is why I might not be going out there again anytime soon. Maybe once I get some better tires and my timing fixed and maybe they go down on the price I'll go out there again and see what it does. I guess as long as people pay that much they'll keep charging. This town is full of rich people and it's a brand new track so I won't keep my fingers crossed.

That's going to sound a little tacky once you figure out what the post is really about. I was wondering if anyone knew some good people to buy a cruise package for my honeymoon :nudge nudge elbow: I would like to spend under $2000 ($3,000 max) if that's possible for me and my little bride to be for a good cruise that maybe stops in some islands or Disney World or something special. I really want to find someone who people have actually done business with because I'm afraid there are a lot of scams out there because it seems everyone is trying to sell these around here for just a few hundred dollars which I haven't seriously looked into any of them but it just seems supsicious. Thanks for any advice.

Last night for the first time in my life I went to a track and I had a blast. "The Piece" as my car is so affectionately named ran a best 1/8th mile at 8.23&88mph. My first two runs were horrible, I didn't spin all the water off of the tires I guess and I ran two mid 9's. After looking at everyone else 60' times in the timeslips database, I realize that I'm losing a lot of time here also because my best was 2.0040 and my average is somewhere around 2.3. I'm still running some little 195/70/14 walmart tires in the back so hopefully that's a lot of it. Everyone says I was peeling most of the track which was fine. I didn't want to get any bigger tires my first time so I wouldn't have to worry so much about breaking anything. All but one of my runs I had a passenger and all of them I had my spare tire and rather large speaker box in the back. I thought that I should have been in the 90mph range and most of my runs I came in at 86mph. Anyway, does an 1/8th in 8.23 and 88mph sound right for an engine with maybe 450hp/450tq on stock tires and suspension in a 280zx? Any ideas what I could expect with some better tires? One thing I do know is that my timing was somewhere around 50* total advance and I tried unhooking the vacuum advance but it didn't really help my times. I'm not familiar at all with times and mph so any advice would be great. Thanks.

~:mumbles something about his grandmother driving better than that:~

Hmm, you might also conisder the vacuum secondaries vs. the mechanical ones. Most people think that you would want the mechanical secondaries so they will open up instantly when actually it is better for the vacuum of the engine to pull the secondaries open. Personally, I have an 600 edelbrock on my truck with a 350 vortec and I also have a street avenger 670cfm holley on my 383 (just cause that's what I had laying around) I am very pleased with both of them for their purpose. The edelbrock is really a plug and play unit while the holley performs well once you get the right springs in the secondaries and the floats adjusted (haven't messed with the jettings and probably never will) of course on both you have to adjust the idle mixture appropriately. As far as value goes, I paid a little under $50 for the edelbrock 600 on ebay and slapped it on as is and it worked great. Personally on a Holley, I would stay away from the sight glass (as opposed to the copper(?) sight plugs) with the holley because I've had some of them break.$.02

You say hydraulic cam and you have a late model block. Are you talking about a roller or flat-tappet cam?

You make a good point. After looking into it I don't believe Mobile One even makes a 15-30. Also, I guess I could see what you guys are saying. On one hand I would think the guy would change his own oil to save money because he says that's why he's selling the car anyway because he can't afford to make the payments on it and another vehicle he just bought. Plus, the guy works at the little Asian nail shop in the mall and I would try to avoid the cliche but it is so fitting, he doesn't want to get his nails dirty......

Yesterday I went with my fiance to look at an RSX type S for her. We were happy to see that the owner was an Asian guy who seemed VERY meticulous and seemed to know his fair share about cars (imports as they may be). Anyway, he gives the both of us the spill about the performance and the intake he put on, v-tech, and the body kit and rims he put on along with a test drive which was fairly impressive considering the 200hp 4 cylinder engine. We get back to the parking lot and he had mentioned something about building up his Supra that he was in the middle of with the money he got from the sell. I asked him about the turbo he was going to run and how much hp he wanted and he said about 900 (the joke about the similarities between a 400hp, 600hp, and 1000hp supra all running 12 seconds in the 1/4 mile ran through my head)anyway, then I'm playing dumb asking if he uses synthetic oil, premium gas, blah blah. He quickly answers that he only uses synthetic oil (mobile 1 to be exact) and then shows me the sticker of the place that changed his oil which says M1530. Which he reads off and says, "See here it say Mobile (M) One (1, atleast in his mind) and whatever those other numbers". Now at first it struck me as odd that he said mobile one, and whatever those other numbers but I thought he just mistook the 1 meaning mobile one instead of actually being M 15-30. So I blew it off and other then that we were pretty impressed with his car. Anyhow just a few minutes ago it hit me. Who do you know that claims to be such a big car guy and has aspirations of building up his turbo powered car around 900hp DOESN'T CHANGE THEIR OWN OIL?!?!?!?! Am I off here or what? Need some input.

DA sander......... I had to re-read that because in my ignorance I thought you made a funny.

This says E12-92. It's for a non-turbo engine btw

but you also bring up a good idea and that would be to ask the guys in the megasquirt forum....

No, I'm pretty sure they're not. The one on the '82 has an extra connection on the side. Atleast that's how it is with the one on the '81 280zx that I have. If yours has two external connections and then the one that goes to the green and red on the inside then it would work (a total of 6 terminals). Thanks!

I haven't ever posted in the L6 forum because I'm usually in the chevy forum so I might seem like a bit of a stranger here but I've recently bought 2 280zx's and one has a burned out ignition module (an '82) and the other has a bad starter (an '81). If anyone would happen to have either of these (or both) laying around please PM me. (Also if I should be posting in the parts wanted section feel free to move this post). A new ignition module is a little under $200 at the parts store and my usual source of Z parts has seemingly fallen off the face of the earth so I come to you begging . Thanks a lot guys.

well in the process of all the testing to get the vacuum pressure I adjusted the timing, it is at 10* and 36* total timing. It was at 12* and 38* total.

It pulls about 11 psi while idling and only fluctuates around 1 psi. That might be normal but I don't remember my other engine doing that. I thought that it was fluctuating more than that when I posted last time, but I tested it again and that's all it did. I tightened all of my intake manifold bolts as well as my carburetor bolts so that might have made an improvement, I also plugged all the vacuum lines and then later hooked them back up with the gauge still on and it didn't fluctuate at a higher rate. Is some fluctuation normal? It seems to me like my truck doesn't fluctuate at all but I can't remember and at the moment it's too dark and cold to go outside and check it

If you're going chevy let me be the first to suggest a vortec 350. It already has a roller cam and good flowing heads and you should be able to get one for say five hundred dollars maybe cheaper. Rebuild it, throw in a cam and a little head work for the lift and you can get around 400hp pretty easily. If finances permit, stroke it but either way, for your expectations, you will be more than pleased....and it will definitely whip some tail

Now THAT I wouldn't mind seeing.

(Things to keep in mind while reading this post: I'm running a stock mechanical fuel pump in an 82 ZX with a 383 280 dur cam Dart IE 215cc heads victor jr. intake. My carburetor is a 670cfm holley street avenger and it is spotless inside and ran great when I took it off of my truck) I've been thinking about my fuel problems I'm having and I wanted input about my train of thought so here's my deal. At idle with the engine warm or cold I can hook a vacuum gauge up to the carb and it is constantly fluctuating so I can't properly tune my carb even though I'm pretty sure half a turn is pretty much right on because vacuum pressure pretty much tops out around there and the thing runs pretty good. I'm thinking this could be from low or inconsistent fuel pressure however I don't think the engine is getting starved for fuel at higher rpm because my acceleration is right on (atleast if it's not I'm really going to need some bigger tires). However, when I'm cruising between 2k and 3k rmp I can feel the engine cutting out slightly here and there and moreso when it has been running for a while. I know my underhood temperature is aweful because I can't even hold the throttle back on the carb once it's been running for a while because it's so hot (and I work with open fryers all day at work). So my question is do you think I have two separate problems? One being fuel pressure or something else causing my vacuum pressure to fluctuate and the other being vapor lock causing my sputtering at 2-3k rpm or is this all a vacuum problem. I haven't thought of holding the throttle down at say 2.5k rpm and seeing if the vacuum pressure still fluctuates which would cause the vacuum advance to also fluctuate. If it does fluctuate across the board what could be the cause of this? I have thought about simply running an electric fuel pump and rerouting the lines away from any exhaust which would seemingly eliminating both possibilites. Any help you guys give me would be greatly appreciated. ~Lance

I was flipping through the channels earlier today and I saw a burnout competition, nothing all that great until they showed the winner. It was a newer crx with a 350 in it. Now I've never been a fan of the CRX but just the thought of the power to weight ratio makes me giggle a little. Anybody know any links to people who have done the conversion or have any info? Thanks ~Lance

Ah yes, it hasn't been long since these words rang true. The horrible thing about the accuracy of the statement is that the engine usually isn't broken in yet when this happens and there could be longterm effects (haven't had any yet that I know of but I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

For 95% of us I think that's a given.....

What kind of times are you expecting? A friend of mine is contemplating a blower or twin turbo on his Z and I'm also curious myself.

Sorry to respond so late but yes there is no chance in hell you will have this thing perfect in 3 weeks. I agree that 120 hours is a good round number to get the swap done but that is over a period of time much longer than 3 weeks. I think you can absolutely get the thing on the road and driveable in 3 weeks (I did it in less than 30 hours) but I half-assed a lot of stuff and I have spent well over 120 hours in addition to that making trips to the parts stores and trying to figure out "the details". I think an excellent goal would be to get the thing dependable and on the road in 3 weeks, that is definitely doable but don't expect it to be perfect.

Define "running". Do you mean running as in all the bugs worked out or running as in mounted and has gas going into the intake and a positive wire going to the ignition? If you mean all the bugs worked out there's not a chance in hell. If you mean something in between the two then absolutely if you know your stuff. I would say try to do it right the first time no matter how long it takes. Doing things over again is a major PITA, but you will end up doing some things more than once I promise! If you are experienced enough to do it right the first time in 3 weeks then you are the man. If not then don't take it personally.