Sign in if you own an s130!

[nbesheer]

Hey I like your car cody. Weird rear bumper. Any pictures of the engine bay ? Also if you find some more of those front blinker lights on the bumper with the clear/amber can sell them to US

[Guest cody]

Thanks nbesheer, always nice to get some feedback.

 

No pics of the engine bay at the moment, I'll see if I get a chance over the next couple of days.

 

'Weird' rear bumper is stock over here, apart from the 'de-chroming' & centre fog light, which I cut in there, as they were normally a dealer fit bolted under the bumper on one side & just looked ugly.

 

Also I don't like the 'fussy' look of the rear panel generally, so I de-'humped' the panel under the license plate and fabricated a new licence plate light housing to stretch fully between the rear lights to smooth the whole thing out a bit.

 

Front clear / amber blinker lights were standard fit over here (we have the side or parking light in the clear bit), so they shouldn't be too hard to get. I've got a spare set myself as it happens, although I like to keep a full spare set of lights in case of parking dings really, but you could try this guy in the UK. mike@mjpauto.com He can pretty well source anything Z wise.

[Faildigger]

Alright, who took my turbo engine from the Monrovia Pick-A-Part I was eying last week?

 

Went back to see if it was still there and the engine+tranny were gone. Still grabbed the door pannels and a few other pieces that were in really good condition so I was happy. Paid $20 for both door panels that only needed to be cleaned off. They look like they came out of the factory the day before now.

[BanditJ]

Hi all you S130 fans,

 

My first post from over the pond in the sunny UK.

 

Here are a few pics of my '80 ZX (if I've attached them OK!)

 

I've owned this car since '87 and did most of the work back in '89 when it used to be my daily driver. Now it's just used when the suns out.

 

Fairly standard, with some light body mods, plenty of base bodywork as rust is our big problem with these cars over here, and we never had the ZXT imported over here, although we had a tuning company (Janspeed) who did an aftermarket Turbo conversion in the 80's, which I managed to get hold of to give it some extra zip.

 

There's not a huge following for the 280ZX over here, and forums like this are few and far between, so it's been a real pleasure to discover/re-discover HybridZ over the last few weeks.

 

Cheers Guy's

 

I think that's a really slick looking 280ZX. I like how you painted the chrome areas on the bumpers. I think that's a clever idea.

 

What size wheels are you running? Fronts look different than the rears. And your seats look after-market, what did you put in there?

 

I'm certain it's a reflection, but it almost looks like you have a turbo scoop on the hood lower than is usual or is that part of the Jansport modification?

 

Very attractive color and very clean looking.

[Guest 280Aden]

'83 2+2 (runner after I swap the oil pump)

'82 coupe parts car

'83 turbo that will need a ginormous amount of work

[Guest cody]

I think that's a really slick looking 280ZX. I like how you painted the chrome areas on the bumpers. I think that's a clever idea.

 

What size wheels are you running? Fronts look different than the rears. And your seats look after-market, what did you put in there?

 

I'm certain it's a reflection, but it almost looks like you have a turbo scoop on the hood lower than is usual or is that part of the Jansport modification?

 

Very attractive color and very clean looking.

 

Thanks BanditJ, I have to say your platinum example looks really sweet too

 

Your right on the wheels, 7 x 16 with 205/55 tyres on the front and 8 x 16 with 225/50 on the back. The backs have quite a deep dish 'cos they have zero offset (3 piece Compomotive split rims) and they fill the arches really well.

 

Seats are half leather Recaros adapted to fit the original runners and are a big improvement over the originals.

 

Well spotted on the hood scoop (see pic). I fabricated that one myself to aid cooling in that hot-spot. Not sure of its effectiveness, but I figured every little helps.

[BanditJ]

Cody, I sent you a PM. I don't want to hijack this thread but I do want to know more about your wheels and seats.

[MannyZX]

Hey sup MannyZX here I have a 1982 HS130 T Tops 5 speed manual naturaly asperated with close to 300 tho miles just basic mods pepboys intake 3 into 2 headers sport catalitic 2.1/2 exaust with strait thrue muffler tokico blue macpherson struts & no interior,

Future mods are larger brakes sway bars limitid slip diff & roll cage....for now.

 

 

 

 

[tclhenstra]

i bought my s130 from a buddy of mines. it was from b.c. and was trailered over to sc. he left it in his back yard all through our junior and senior year. and it was not running for a few years before that. i sold my 94 acura integra and then asked if i could pick up that project. i spent 200 bucks to buy it off of him and about another 100 bucks in tune up parts and a few hours to get it running. i drove it home that weekend. currently bone stock. well i mean its the stock l28et and i love her!

[DuoWing]

I have an 83' 280ZXT. I bought 2 years ago as of 6/4/08. Paid $1500. Car had an alright body, a decent interior, and an 89k mile L28ET with P90a head. The engine was the real reason I got it. Car ran like crap, and it was a pretty nerve racking 2 hour drive to get it back home. Car needed a new ignition module, CHTS, and an O2 sensor. Over time I did a bunch of stuff to it. Car now runs like a champ and only has 94500 miles on the engine. I used it as a daily driver, I was surprised at how well these things keep going. In 0 degree temperatures the car would fire up with no hesitation, keep driving with no issues in that temperature, on a 2.5 hour drive back home through a snow storm. Then keep on going. All in all I have come to love the 280ZX. It's probably my favorite of the Zs.

[BleachZee]

Looks like a ZXR that's had it's wing removed, what a shame. Cartesian, does the rear hatch have a wiper?

 

looks like a lookalike stripe to me. Not quite ZXR.

[Gollum]

Good catch. Probably not a ZXR.

[Guest natepriest]

So this is my 1973 280zx which I just got back. I've been unable to drive it since I got my paint job and now that it's looking better I want to work on performance. I'm not much of a gearhead and am a little unsure of where to start. Everything in the car is stock, and I'm pretty sure exhaust is towards the top of my priority list. I'm sure a lot of you in here are quite knowledgable when it comes up upgrading these cars. I think it will be a while before I'm able to swap the engine and am wondering if there's much worth doing before I'm able to do that. There are just so many different preferences when it comes to modifying cars and I guess I'm looking for an approach that will suit somebody without a ton of cash or an inside out knowledge of the car. If any of you think you have a good starting point advice is always appreciated. Look forward to learning from everybody here.

 

Nate

[BanditJ]

73 as in 1973?

[Gollum]

There's very little you can do to squeeze much more power out of the stock NA engine. Best thing you could do for yourself I think would be to install a EDIS ignition system and install megasquirt EFI. This system could be transfered to almost any engine you decide to go with, so it's not a redundant modification.

 

Right now your engine will probably put around 100-110hp to the wheels, being optimistic... The most you could really do on a budget would be exhaust, throttle body, cam, maybe some mild port matching of the head/intake/exhaust. These modifications wouldn't get you over 150 wheel HP, if even 130hp if you're lucky. The real power increases come from porting the head, installing a wild cam, and having an intake that can breathe at the RPM that cam lives at, and if you've got EFI then good control of the fuel will be required as well. Of course if you're going through all that work most bump the compression a little.

 

On the other hand, if you just do as I suggest, install modern EFI like megasquirt and a good ignition system like EDIS you'd see a noticable power gain in ALL RPM and any future mods could be fully taken advantage of.

[MannyZX]

There's very little you can do to squeeze much more power out of the stock NA engine. Best thing you could do for yourself I think would be to install a EDIS ignition system and install megasquirt EFI. This system could be transfered to almost any engine you decide to go with, so it's not a redundant modification.

 

Right now your engine will probably put around 100-110hp to the wheels, being optimistic... The most you could really do on a budget would be exhaust, throttle body, cam, maybe some mild port matching of the head/intake/exhaust. These modifications wouldn't get you over 150 wheel HP, if even 130hp if you're lucky. The real power increases come from porting the head, installing a wild cam, and having an intake that can breathe at the RPM that cam lives at, and if you've got EFI then good control of the fuel will be required as well. Of course if you're going through all that work most bump the compression a little.

 

On the other hand, if you just do as I suggest, install modern EFI like megasquirt and a good ignition system like EDIS you'd see a noticable power gain in ALL RPM and any future mods could be fully taken advantage of.

Wow thanks for the info I never knew that about the (Megasqrt) thanks to cool!!

[Guest natepriest]

Thanx for the info Gollum. I was asking another guy on the Ratsun forum about exhaust and a new 3 into 2 header to match it and he said that might be a redundant modification if I were to do additional work to my engine which I plan to do at some point. I am considering swapping to an f54 block and I realize if I were to do that I need to wait to do about anything, but if I stay with my current engine will it still be worth adding exhaust and a new air intake before possibly getting a port intake or bigger cam?

[280zx 2by2]

some updates since i got that month long ban that was spose to last a week.... MSA Xenon with ducts and i made a coin tray like that other guy(the coin tray i was gealous about) the air dam was a little crooked but the GA heat has fixed that....

 

[Gollum]

Thanx for the info Gollum. I was asking another guy on the Ratsun forum about exhaust and a new 3 into 2 header to match it and he said that might be a redundant modification if I were to do additional work to my engine which I plan to do at some point. I am considering swapping to an f54 block and I realize if I were to do that I need to wait to do about anything, but if I stay with my current engine will it still be worth adding exhaust and a new air intake before possibly getting a port intake or bigger cam?

 

If you plan on keeping your engine, and keeping it NA, then exhaust isn't completely redundant. If you plan on swapping in a skyline, V8, silvia, or some other motor then it's kinda pointless isn't it?

 

Just keep in mind as you dump money into that motor, that the highest HP NA engines on these forums are just over the 300hp range at the crank. If you wanted to stay within a reasonable budget, and spent a good 2k getting a good head built, you could expect around the low to mid 200hp range, which will make a car scoot pretty good. At the stock weight of a 83' that should be a high 14 second car in the 1/4 mile. Don't be expecting to end up with a car that'll make it well into the 13's and compete against the local muscle cars.

 

If you're gonna be happy with those HP numbers, 150-250, then the stock motor is fine and mod away. If you're gonna be looking for more power down the road, skip almost every possible mod for that motor and just plan on swapping something else into the car.

[xShodaimex]

I just recently joined HybridZ forums just today.. Im 17 and I just got my zx. It was purchased for 1 grand. The car had 90k miles on it. I've only drove the car about 6 times in the past 2 months since it was purchased. . Everything is good, it had a bad radiator overflow tank.. and I got that replaced.. I have no battery strap and the dash is also cracked.