PUSHER Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Nowhere near collecting any parts yet, but just thinking about the future. Was wondering what options their are to turbocharging a 76 280z, I know you can swap a 280zxt engine but I was wondering if anyone has pieced together their own turbo kit. 1. What pieces work? Im assuming a 280zxt exhaust manifold will bolt to my head, and I've also heard of people using rb20 manifolds. 2. Where would you get oil for the turbo? Do you have to tap your block? Also, are their any supercharger applications, I saw the camden supercharger in the forsale section and was wondering if anyone had any info on a setup like that. Thanks for your time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Problem is that it's just been shown time and again that it will be cheaper and easier to just find an entire L28ET motor, or an entire 280zxt turbo car, and swap the parts you need into your Z, as opposed to taking an N/A motor and converting it for turbocharging. However, it has been done. You need the exhaust manifold for sure, intake manifold if your Z isn't already fuel injected, and preferably a set of turbo injectors and turbo EFI setup out of an '81-83 turbo ZX. That would be the next easiest, most direct way. You have to be careful though with what N/A motor you are using. Flat top pistons and a high compression head such as N42 can cause problems and be dangerous with stock EFI. But there are plenty early Z motor combinations that run dishtop pistons or piston and head combos that keep the compression at safe levels for turbocharging. Another matter with the head is that a) it will need to be one of the heads that are already notched for fuel injectors or maybe you can modify one that is not, and I believe not all heads have a provision for a head temp sensor (between the #5 and #6 cylinders) which is a necessary sensor for the turbo EFI... a workaround is that you can mount that sensor, instead, in the thermostat housing (but you may at least need a later therm housing from a ZX). You also have a lot of other options with the EFI... say for instance, stock '81-83 N/A efi, or turbo efi, or Z31 N/A or turbo EFI, or of course, programmable aftermarket EFI. All have been used and made to work reasonably well if not perfectly. Yo2001 would have some great info for you, hopefully he can pitch in. He put together a 2.6 turbo setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 OH and to answer your question of where to get oil from the turbo, I believe all Z blocks, 240-280, have the oil pressure sensor on the side of the block. On the turbo motors, there is a little block that screws in there and 'splits' the feed there, one hole for the turbo oil feed, and another to screw in the oil pressure sender. I'm sure you'd have no problem finding the little block and the oil feed line. You WILL need to either get a turbo oil pan or tap a new hole in your oil pan for the oil to drain back into from the bottom of the turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PUSHER Posted March 4, 2004 Author Share Posted March 4, 2004 About the electronics and fuel issues, I was wondering what electronics would you need from the 280zxt to swap it over to a 280z(EFI, dishpistons fyi). Because I remember driving with a friends and he had something called 'the brain' next to his feet that he would jiggle around to get it running correctly, would I need to swap this fine piece of equipment over? Would using my 280z stuff and just switch to turbo injectors and fuel pump work, or would I need a turbo ecu and more stuff? Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Best, safest bet would be to pull the entire EFI from the ZX turbo. You will want to get: -The ECU (the 'brain' your friend was kicking... dont worry they are usually not problematic. If he was getting good results from kicking it he either had messed up, loose or dirty connectors on the wiring harness) -The wiring harness -The distributor (if an '82-83 turbo motor) -Crank angle sensor from the front of the motor (if an '81 motor... you are much better off if you can find an '82-83 as the crank sensor is mounted inside of the distributor, and is supposedly more reliable) -Airflow meter -Injectors -Possibly the fuel pump, not sure if the stock 280z fuel pump flows comparably to a stock turbo pump. -Possibly the sensors, but your 280z efi sensors may be fine. Again though, I HAVE heard of cases of people running the stock N/A EFI, but I dont know the details of what you'd need to do to make it work well and safely w/o running too lean. Possibly something like a rising rate fuel pressure regulator, which will increase fuel flow under boost only, are about $200... would probably work well with an N/A EFI. Problem is when you start raising the fuel pressure the fuel pump starts to become very inneficient, so also consider upgrading the pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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