280zt's final days ... tonight 1/4 mile

[Z-Gad]

It may come as a surprise, but my dependable white 77 280zt is about to be retired from daily driver status. If fact, I am about to part the car out in favor of another Z project daily driver (parts are spoken for alreay, so we won't go there).

In preparation for this move, I plan on just having a good time with the car for the next few weeks before I begin tearing it down. Tonight, I added a few gallons of 110, took it out to the dragstrip, and Scottie met me there. It was beautiful turbo weather 60*F and realatively dry (for Florida). Unfortunately, I think everyone in Orlando and the surrounding area thought the same thing!! I arrived a little late at ~7:45 (stated running at 6:30) and did not make my first pass until 9:45. PITIFUL!!

Anyway, on to the fun stuff. My setup (for those of you who don't know) is a stock head (no porting), stock valvetrain (except for a cam upgrade) and stock bottom end, but with a bunch of bolt-ons. It is of unknown mileage (came out of a rolled 83 280zxt). I hurt the motor last week (I think due to a poor tank of fuel, but perhaps it was my tuning at 21 psi on pump gas I thought I would try...anyway...) and have a little blow-by coming from the valve cover breather (surely ringlands as a result of the gas/tuning). I haven't been to the strip since the last SEZ event, and my 60's show it but I wanted to go have some fun and that I did.

 

First pass ~21psi

60' 2.298

1/8 8.635

mph 88.2

1/4 12.940

mph 115.41

 

Although the time was not too impressive, Scottie quickly pointed out that I picked up 27 mph in the second half of the track!! Power is there... I check my data log for air/fuel ratios and I am at 10:1 across the board. PIG RICH!! Hmmm.. I think I have the TEC adding fuel when below a certain temp, but didn't think to check the settings at that time...

So, I lean it out a little, and turn the boost up ~24 psi. I figured that the motor is hurt already, so I am not worried about breaking anything, so on to the second pass.

 

2nd pass ~24 psi

60' 2.298 oops, bogged off the line AGAIN

1/8 8.841

mph 90.6

1/4 13.046

mph 118.42

 

Here again, picked up 27+ mph in the second half of the track... air fuels are still disgustingly rich at 10:1. I must have some kind of fuel enrichment going on at lower air temps. I have to get in to my programming and check it out... The mph suggests a little over 360rwhp at my weight of 2800 lbs with the car running very rich. I think I will put it on the dyno and go for that magical 400 rwhp on the hurt stock longblock before I take it apart. LOL!! If I could have gotten my air fuels sorted, I am sure I would have made the same mph that I made with my old forged stroker setup (122mph). Well, I still have a few weeks, I may just have to go again

[Chris240zTurbo]

Nice MPH Mike! so are you going to enighten us as to the next Z project??? or is it top secret? hey, as long as you're parting it out, hows about the HRE wheels that used to be on the yellow car?

[Z-Gad]

Thanks Chris...

Well, I wasn't going to tell, but since you ask... here's the skinny...

 

I have gotten to know Mark of http://www.Mazworx.com pretty well. He has done all the fabrication work on the 2JZ 240z for me this past year... well he has a 73 240z that he had driven for years as a daily driver that he was going to install a 240sx front and rear suspension and a Titan 5.6 liter motor. I mentioned to him a couple of weeks ago that if he was interested in selling the car (now a stock rolling chassis) that I may be interested in picking it up from him. At the time he was still deciding what to do. Well, yesterday, I received a call from him to stop by his shop. He asked me what my plans for his car would be if he sold it to me, as he didn't think that he would really have any time to do anything with it for a long time. I told him that I was interested in another body for a 3 liter turbo stroker I was building. He asked me if I was interested in installing the 240sx rear subframe and front suspension as well. I said, "of course"!! Who wouldn't want the adjustability and aftermarket availability of a modern day suspension. So, here is the plan for the car. Mark will be doing the 240sx suspension, roll cage and fuel cell installation. I will be building my stroker motor. He is working on the Z32 to L28 trans adaptor plate and once the engine, tranny and suspension are installed, he will be fabricating a turbo header for me to mount the T-72 I run. The engine will be set back near the firewall to give more clearance up front as that is where we will try to mount the turbo. I am very excited about the project, but there is one stipulation... I have to have the 2JZ car driving prior to him starting the work on the 73 - LOL!!

 

BTW, I figured that there would be some interest in the 16" HRE's.

They too may be spoken for already, but if not, I will take the best offer from our HybridZ bretheren in excess of $1000 for the HRE lot including 7 wheels total, 4 mounted with street tires, 2 with drag radials, and a spare parts wheel. You must use flares due to the offset of the wheels, but coilovers are not required as there is plenty of room between the wheel and spring pearch due to a negative offset. If the local sale does not go through, I will list them here and update you all with offset, backspacing, etc.

PAX, mike

[Chris240zTurbo]

NICE!!! I have also thought about how great it would be to have the 240sx suspension under an S30, LOADS of options!!! I'll be looking forward to watching your progress on this car... I'm seriously interested in the HRE's if you don't find someone local, just let me know... I'd do ZG flairs with them, I think, the 2JZ car looked great with 'em.

 

I also like the idea of a VK56 motor in a Z, as I have a 2005 Titan for a daily, crew cab 4X4, and that motor moves the huge truck nicely, I can just imagine it moving half the weight!