Just bought a 1977 280z... What should I upgrade starting out...

[Guest dropya]

I had a early 80's ZX a while ago and it was totaled by a drunk driver. I am just getting back into it. One of the problems my Z had was it's fuel injectors leaked, so I am looking for an upgrade that will maybe increase performance but mostly just not leak. Also I have about $500 to spend on it to make it a little quicker... What are some other things I should consider. Right now I'm not looking into doing anything major.

 

Also my other Z would over heat when I was stopped for too long... anything I should do to help with over heating?

 

I also saw somewhere that you can put a electric fuel pump and fan in. Is that really worth it?

[PETEW]

Firs off, you have a '77 280Z so it will have an electric fuel pump already. It comes with the fuel injection. The money you have to spend could be spent on a ton of things, but what is most important to you. Do you like to go fast in straight line or does the cornering thing do it for you? Z's always like lowering springs, bigger wheels (with modern rubber), better brakes ( like changing rear drums to disks), etc, etc. There was a guy here who used to build junk yard motors (naturally aspirated) and make them high 12 second cars. I can't, for the life of me, remember his sign on name. I am sure someone will know who I am talking about. If you are handy it will save you a ton of money. Oh, and the stock fan should work fine, unless you start making major mods to the engine. I hope I helped you out some, but tell us some more specifics and that will help out with some suggestions. Good luck.

[zeiss150]

The 60mm throttle body upgrade is a great, cheap way to get 10 to 15 more HP, I think. Buy a TB from any 240sx and it pretty much bolts right on.... Well it bolts right on ....BUUUUUUUTT... if you want that 10 to 15 extra HP you have to open up the intake manifold to let all that new are IN. If you wanna do that you should take off the intake manifold and while your at that take off the exaust manifold and put on a header for 180 bucks. for the rest of your money I would get rid of that old fuel injection computer ... put in a megasquirt for about 300 bucks.

 

Good luck

[Guest dropya]

Firs off, you have a '77 280Z so it will have an electric fuel pump already. It comes with the fuel injection. The money you have to spend could be spent on a ton of things, but what is most important to you. Do you like to go fast in straight line or does the cornering thing do it for you? Z's always like lowering springs, bigger wheels (with modern rubber), better brakes ( like changing rear drums to disks), etc, etc. There was a guy here who used to build junk yard motors (naturally aspirated) and make them high 12 second cars. I can't, for the life of me, remember his sign on name. I am sure someone will know who I am talking about. If you are handy it will save you a ton of money. Oh, and the stock fan should work fine, unless you start making major mods to the engine. I hope I helped you out some, but tell us some more specifics and that will help out with some suggestions. Good luck.

 

I want a little bit of both... I would like to gain some speed, acceleration and handling. I want things that are pretty easy to do because soon this will be my only car and I don't have that much time to install things. So I am looking at things that bolt on and don't need very much modifications. Is there anything to worry about with getting a mega squirt? I am also tring to do things that wont make my mpg go down much... I also still have to smog the car so I don't want to change very much that is going to have to be changed back to pass smog... Please give me anymore ideas you have. As of right now the only thing that I have to help are good tires...

[Forrest]

For a budget of only 500$, it should all go to suspension. Since you said you already have good tires (I hope you really meant that) I'd go buy one of the tokico shock/spring kits, and a poly bushing kit. Then look for swaybars.

 

Oops, that's about 850$. Well, at least it was easy! I wouldn't bother with anything else until you are done with that stuff. And if you don't have another car to drive every day, don't spend any of it. Keep it in a savings account for "when 30 year old parts go bad" days.

 

P.S. I will never believe the 240sx TB "adds 15 hp" to the stock engine without a whole lot of dyno runs that back it up. It doesn't bolt up with the stock linkage, either, you need a spacer.

[OlderThanMe]

yeah. I agree with Forrest. That TB won't add 15hp...

Get some tokico blue struts or if you want to splurge get the adustable illuminas. What I liked the best for the money was my polyurethane steering rack bushings. Like $15 and makes the handeling much more crisp than with 30 year old rubber. I really like playing with suspension so I say save up a grand and do a coilover setup, illuminas, and poly bushings. Makes the car ride like a modern sportscar!

[Guest dropya]

yeah. I agree with Forrest. That TB won't add 15hp...

Get some tokico blue struts or if you want to splurge get the adustable illuminas. What I liked the best for the money was my polyurethane steering rack bushings. Like $15 and makes the handeling much more crisp than with 30 year old rubber. I really like playing with suspension so I say save up a grand and do a coilover setup' date=' illuminas, and poly bushings. Makes the car ride like a modern sportscar![/quote']

 

I will do the bushings and maybe the sway bars. Are there any other ideas for making it a little quicker by just replacing something with something a little better or anything like that. Is there somewhere that has a good catalog that I can order that has everything?

[Gollum]

Remove weight? That'll improve MPG, accelleration, braking, and handeling.

 

Although I don't know what you could remove...

 

I agree though that suspension is very important, but at the same time I realise that the older Z cars are dogs compared to even some of the slowest production cars nowdays. Sure they can turn, but even "sporty" cars compare in the speed department with ease, until turns come up, wich is where modern car's weight will drag them down.

 

I think you should just save the $500. Maybe get some basic bushings replaced becuase they tend to die down a bit after decades on end. Then I'd say save up for some motor plans. If it'll be your only car then best to go with something that's been pretty well documented. If you had all your ducks lined up in a row I bet you could knock out a 350 SBC out pretty quick. But I personally don't have any eperience with those swaps, I'm just trying to be helpful here.