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Taking an '78 N/A to a Turbo...


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Ive seen that people suggest one of the best mods to put on a stock L28 is a turbo? I just want to be able to spank mustangs and honda's :twisted: myself and have a daily driver. Im already looking at doing the basic, intake and exhaust mods, getting headers and 2.5 exhaust.. whats the pro's of going to 3"? If I did this my question would be, what headers have a 3" exhaust port? wouldn't it be pointless to put 3" pipes on a 2.5" header? How much work would be involved in just taking my bone stock 2.8 to a turbo'd counterpart? Ive done a few searches, and it's been a futile attempt.. ANY information would be much appreachiated..

 

Sincerely,

Joseph (Joey) Burg

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Well I'm in the process of building a Turbo motor out of a 280ZX, and this is after I've done most of the "easy" stuff to my 1978 N/A L28. I rebuilt the engine with flat-top pistons (~10:1 CR with N47 head), installed a header and cheap crush-bent 2.5" exhaust, got a big K&N cone filter and built a little intake pipe out of hardware store plumbing bits, and I swapped a cylinder head from my '78 parts car with a mild aftermarket cam installed and the exhaust inserts removed. I'm also running 195/60/14 tires as opposed to 195/70/14 stock size, so I'm effectively getting a higher (numerical) gear ratio. I took a car that would run something like a 16.5 (?) quarter mile in stock form to a 15.479 best, my other runs since putting the stuff on have ranged 15.5-15.7 mostly (I'm not the best drag racer and I had worse tires the second time). There's a few more easy mods like the 60mm throttle body, for example, and I should probably do a little tuning since I have not yet touched my AFM or made any other adjustments yet, the car runs a little rich through some RPM's and for all I know power may fall off on the top end from leaning out. I think with a few more mods I could get the car into low 15's, maybe 14's? If you had some porting done and used a more radical cam, I'm sure the sky is the limit with how much power you wanted to make, but it costs $$ :-D

I've read in various posts that Turbo swaps in early Z's should get you into high 14's anyway, without modifying anything. Then there's always more boost...from what I understand boost is easier/cheaper to make than porting/other N/A mods past a point. The Turbo swap is supposedly pretty straightforward, you swap in the Turbo engine (or use yours, but the Turbo has a superior cylinder head), replace your EFI with the Turbo wiring and ECU, wire it up, and go. If you use a T-5 transmission from a Turbo you have to modify the transmission crossmember to fit I think, or you can use your N/A transmission but it's supposedly weaker (I'm using the N/A one anyway). I don't know the little things about the swap yet cause I haven't done it yet :oops: but I have no doubt I can do it.

Sorry if I missed your point by a bit, but here's a quick question...if you do want to go turbo, you might not want to spend any money on N/A mods (like the header and matching exhaust) that you'll just throw out or have to change when you do a turbo swap.

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I can't believe you've found no information on this. This is a frequently discussed subject. What it comes down to is it's quicker and cheaper to find a 280ZXT donor and swap in the motor and electronics. You can bolt on a myriad of parts on the stock Z motor and have a less-able platform for a bigger time investment and possibly more $$.

 

But the stock ZXT swap with a good intercooler and exhaust will beat down the hordes of stock mustangs, just bump the boost to 12psi or so, stock turbo fuel system.

 

And you don't want a header for a turbo swap, you want a turbo exhaust manifold - you bolt on a 2-1/2" or 3" exhaust at the turbo outlet.

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Well I'm in the process of building a Turbo motor out of a 280ZX, and this is after I've done most of the "easy" stuff to my 1978 N/A L28. I rebuilt the engine with flat-top pistons (~10:1 CR with N47 head), installed a header and cheap crush-bent 2.5" exhaust, got a big K&N cone filter and built a little intake pipe out of hardware store plumbing bits, and I swapped a cylinder head from my '78 parts car with a mild aftermarket cam installed and the exhaust inserts removed.

 

I think you'll be making a mistake turbocharging a 10:1 compression motor, especially with a n/a performance cam. To make power without having to use race gas or serious ignition retarding, you need a low compression motor, at most 8.5:1. 10:1 will shell itself under boost.

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Ah, I was unclear. No, it would be silly to turbocharge a 10:1 motor. I meant to say that I feel I've exhausted my (cheap&easy) options with the N/A high compression motor and I'm building up a separate Turbo engine, complete with P-90 head, stock Turbo cam and dished pistons.

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