355datsun280z Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Hello I have a 1977 280z that I've been building as a show and go car. I have a 355 sbc with all forged internally balanced internals, flat top pistons with 10:6:1 compression ratio and a comp cams magnum mechanical cam 2500-6500 rpm 248/248@.050 dur and. 525/.525 lift, high volume oil pump and weiand action plus water pump and edelbrock e-tec 200cc heads with some port/polish work and comp cams pro magnum 1.6 roller rockers ($330 a set) victor jr single plane intake manifold and holley 770cfm street avenger carb. Msd street fire hei distributor and mallory nitrous 6al ignition box and taylor 8mm pro wires. Also has a nos cheater setup for an added 100-250hp shot (hence the mallory nitrous ignition box for retarding the timing) and bottle heater w/ pressure regulator and purge system. Also has electric fans and electric fuel pump with my fuel cell and no power steering or anything. The only thing the motor powers is the water pump and alternator to free up as much hp as possible. All hooked up to a th400 tranny and a r200 3.55 geared posi rearend. All new urethane bushings and bigger sway bars and tokico illumina adjustable mr2 struts in front and 240z struts out back with ground control coilovers all around and toyota front brakes and steel braided brake lines. Im not sure what kind of power this setup will make me cause I haven't got it on the dyno yet but im hoping for 450+ on motor and I will put 100 shot behind it most of the time and once in awhile the 150-175 and just for kicks I have to do the 250 shot once. I wanna do the 250shot on the dyno once also to have a huge dyno sheet in the 650+hp range lol. But my main question for all you v8 z car guys is what kind of motor setup are you guys running and how much power are you putting down and when you have been to the track what kind of times have you put down? Ive done et calculators and im pretty sure im not gonna be doing high 10s with 450hp. But i really wanna get an idea of what other guys are running with their setups and hp. Thanks everyone for the feed back and feel free to post pics. Soon as i can i will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355datsun280z Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) My motor and car Edited November 1, 2011 by 355datsun280z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dans toy Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Nice start on your project, For what its worth I think 450 na rwh is enough to catch the edge of a 10 second 1/4mi but thats depending on your 60ft time,final weight of car & possibly gearing. More power at that level without decent traction just becomes a smoke show. My project is a 260z lq4 eng w/maggie 112 supercharger/ 4L80e trans/ ford rearend 3.55/ race weight w/me in it 3210lb./ 255 drag radials (473rwh). Just started dialing in this season. 10.59et w/1.63 60ft best so far. Think I've got an other 10th or 2 based on traction improvements possible. I'm on Timeslips. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Meister Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 what kind of motor setup are you guys running and how much power are you putting down and when you have been to the track what kind of times have you put down? You should be able to run high 11's with your setup if you can hook up at the starting line. Much faster with nitrous, but I never used it so can't give estimation. When I had my 383 engine, built similar to yours, the Z ran a best of 11.15 at 123 mph naturally aspirated. But I used 12 " wide rear street slicks. Dyno estimate 450 hp at the flywheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355datsun280z Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Thats awesome you guys. I love hearing more about v8 datsuns. As you can see from my pics that im running molded in fender flares so I will be able to put so real rubber underneath the car. I also forgot to mention that I have a 3000 stall in the tranny as well. My wheel and tire combo that I will be getting is the rota rb 17x9.5 rear and 17x9 front and will be running 255/40/17 fronts and 275/40/17 rear unless I can fit something wider on it like 295/35/17 or something. Not to sure yet. But I really want to get a 15x10 rim or atleast 15x8 and run some 26x10 slicks and I really want to get a set of mickey thompsons wrinkle walls to gain as much traction as possible. I really wish that I could make enough power to pop the front wheels up but doubt that will happen with my current setup. Thanks for the input so far and love hearing what other enthusiasts are doing as well. I really don't wanna stray to far from the 3.55 gears when I do get my lsd rearend, knowing mines a street/strip car. Dans toy what ford rear end are you running in your car right now? And also that means you don't have the independent rear suspension anymore? I spent way to much on all my suspension to put a straight axle under it and really like the cornering ability of my independent rearend like it is that I wouldn't want to change it out. Also once my car is on the road I will definetly go to a weigh station and see what it pulls down weight wise with me in it and pretty much in race trim. Also turbo meister what wheels were you running to get a 12" wide slick under your car and were you still running datsun rearend and "datsun rims" thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355datsun280z Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 I really do feel like with the setup im gonna be running that I will be able to get into the high 10s without the juice. Im very confident in my racing abilities and been racing for almost 10 years and I've gotten my 4400lb dodge dakota rt into the high 13s with some motor work and 100shot of nitrous while I was cutting. 02, .04, .06 lights everytime consistently. But my biggest issue will always be traction but going with some wrinkle walls should really help out in that department hopefully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dans toy Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 With a little nitious, it should fill in the torque curve enough to help the gearing of a 400 tranny. The 4l80 & 400 stock trany I believe have the same gears(2.48 1st/ 1.48 2nd). With a 26" tire that makes for a tall first gear & gear spread for a naturally aspirated 355. The ford rear I'm using is a sterling 9 3/4. I don't like breaking parts so the drivetrain on my car is overbuilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355datsun280z Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Yeah I know the th400 and 4l80e is almost the same tranny. So if 26" tire makes for a tall gear with my 3.55 geared rearend would it be better to run a taller tire like 28 or something or a shorter tire that's closer to stock or whatever. Cause the tires that sre on it now are bfg street drag radials on the rear and are like 24 inches tall and 7 inches wide. I think its like a 225/50/r15 cause the tires were bad on the rear when I got it and these are the only tires I had laying around from my z31 turbo car I raced and figured they would give me a little more traction than street tires that I would have to buy. But only want to run these until I get my rota rb 17x9.5. But need to install my rear flares first. Then im trying to figure out what wheels I wanna get for my drag slicks. I've tnought about getting a 15x8 and would love a 15x10 but not sure if they make them that would fit but I also thought about getting extra set of 17x9.5 and running MT et streets or the hoosiers with just that really small line that makes them dot which im not sure how. They look just like real slicks but run 275/40 17 slicks or do the 15x8 and run MT et slicks that are real wrinkle walls. That's what I really want but figured I would break alot of stuff with them hooking up lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo Meister Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 turbo meister what wheels were you running to get a 12" wide slick under your car and were you still running datsun rearend and "datsun rims" My Z is tubbed and back-halved with a Ford 9", M/T 325/50/15 Drag Radials, 12" Weld wheels, and 3.50 gears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dans toy Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Really don't know much about the r200 rearends. If you plan to use the nitrious I believe the 3.55s with the gear spread of the T400 will work fine. If you run at the track ,motor only, with a 26' tall tire your 1/2 shift point(6500rpm / 58mph) will drop you back to 3900rpm. I think thats to much 1st gear & to much rpm drop. A smaller tire would not net enough change,less than 10%. The way I would do it is use the tire height that looks right on the car & based on power curve & traction use the appropriate gears. If your not familiar go to "gear calculator' on line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnjdragracing Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 We used to run a 400sbc with nitrous (250 shot) , just on HP we ran a 6.40 1/8 mile and on the gas a 6.00 if I remember correctly. We were using the the stock half shafts on the R200 rear and also had 3.55 gears. Used M/T ET slicks. I think 60 ft. was a 1.40. Half shafts did live, but we always had to check the u-joints. Then we added rubber bushings on top of the struts to help eliminate alot of the squat and also limited the front end travel as well. We did start snapping the ujoints. Reading your post you did not mention if you are using cv joints or stock ujoints? If we bet on a race I was always worried about snapping the ujoints and losing the money. So if you are still running ujoints I would advise to go ahead make the switch to cv joints. Since we made that change we have not had an issue at all the half shafts. Still running them and have been through alot of engine swaps since the old days, all the way up to blown 355 alky engine. My brother Jerry is now almost complete with his new twin turbo setup in the z car. Good luck on your build. It is looking good. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxfiend1967 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 modern motorsports has a cv joint kit to use billett parts they are running 600 hp to them' I went to 9 inch for 28 inch tall tire and 4;11 gear .67 overdrive. I dont understand the 355 gears unless you are going 1;1 trans. with .67 od and 411s theoretical top speed is close to 200 . I wouldnt use 355 unless you use 3 speed auto. it just doesnt make sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zfan1 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 My 240Z on my old set up, 11 to 1 383, hyd. roller with out of box Canfield heads, victor jr. intake and 750 Proform carb and built 700r4 ran 10.80 at 125, on a 150 shot it ran a best of 10.10 at 133. On motor it dyno'd 388 hp / 420 tq. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355datsun280z Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 I am currenty running a 3 speed auto and that's why I want to stay with my 3.55 gears and right now I have the r200 with the u joints in the car but also have a new r200 with the cv joints and rear disk brakes that im gonna builf and put in the car. But I dint want to put it in the car until I put a lsd unit in it and upgrade some of the components like stronger parts and a bigger rear brake setup. Zfan1 not to bad running high tens with 388hp not bad. Really gives me hope that I will run in the 10s all motor and will get really deep.....hopefully the 9s with a 200-250hp shot of juice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355datsun280z Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 I am currenty running a 3 speed auto and that's why I want to stay with my 3.55 gears and right now I have the r200 with the u joints in the car but also have a new r200 with the cv joints and rear disk brakes that im gonna builf and put in the car. But I dint want to put it in the car until I put a lsd unit in it and upgrade some of the components like stronger parts and a bigger rear brake setup. Zfan1 not to bad running high tens with 388hp not bad. Really gives me hope that I will run in the 10s all motor and will get really deep.....hopefully the 9s with a 200-250hp shot of juice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dans toy Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Zfan1. -Curious what your race weight was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zfan1 Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 My 240 weighs approx. 2850 with me in it. I have a new set up in my car now and it runs 11.00's on motor and 9.70's on a 180 shot. Switched cams and swapped from Canfield 195's to AFR 210 Eliminators. Next will be a LSX swap either low compression turbo or NOS, not sure yet. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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