83 turbo is a granny car until boost, lol

[83turbo280zx]

ok so here is my current situation, i LOVE my car dont get me wrong, its an 83 turbo zx, and i have nothing but happy moments when im in the car, but there is something definately going on @ low end so i thought i would come here for advice. when im below the boost threshold (under 2300 rpms) my car is deathly slow, my moms mini van has better low end than my car, but once the boost hits im gone. im just wondering what could possibly be causing this?

 

my current guesses are

 

*air flow meter needs to be adjusted

*need a new throttle position sensor

*need to adjust the timing and valves

 

so this is where i stand right now, ive gone through the basics in the car, plugs, fuel filter, air filter, oil change, cap & rotor, most of the vacuum lines, my gauge shows no vacuum leak, hollow cat, (was clogged) i haven't changed the wires yet, but i seriously doubt that wires would make this big of a difference in my low end power and acceleration, and my egr valve is functioning correctly as well, to my knowledge

 

any ideas?

[m4xwellmurd3r]

well below the boost threshold that car is running at 7.3:1 compression ratio plus whatever boost it's making at that level, so it will be a pig at that level. My suggestion, since you know the boost threshold, learn how to stay above it haha.

there isn't really a "cure" to get rid of boost threshold. the best you can do is stay above it.

[280ZXT]

After owning 5spd NA 280ZX's for over 25 years, then buying a 83T automatic I understand what you mean by granny car. In a test article by Motor Trend with a 81 auto they claim to do acceleration runs "from full blown wheel spinning launch" and show smoke pouring out of the rear tire wheel. I'd like to know how they did that. I've stood on the brakes and floored it(maybe I chicken out to soon with the brakes) to no avail. I'm never going to do a neutral drop.

A road test articles of the 5spd. turbo states for 90% of the drivers on 90% of the roads the 5pd 280ZX NA is the way to go because it is much more responsive in the normal driving range. Lazy, is a good way to describe it out of boost. Early turbo cars just run this way, thanks to very low compression and bad turbo lag. I test drove a low mileage 83T in the mid 80's and I thought what a boring car. I had to learn to drive the turbo. Like stated in the post above, keep it in boost to rock and roll. I love driving it now, its a blast. You will want more and more boost.

[TimZ]

After owning 5spd NA 280ZX's for over 25 years, then buying a 83T automatic I understand what you mean by granny car. In a test article by Motor Trend with a 81 auto they claim to do acceleration runs "from full blown wheel spinning launch" and show smoke pouring out of the rear tire wheel. I'd like to know how they did that. I've stood on the brakes and floored it(maybe I chicken out to soon with the brakes) to no avail. I'm never going to do a neutral drop.

A road test articles of the 5spd. turbo states for 90% of the drivers on 90% of the roads the 5pd 280ZX NA is the way to go because it is much more responsive in the normal driving range. Lazy, is a good way to describe it out of boost. Early turbo cars just run this way, thanks to very low compression and bad turbo lag. I test drove a low mileage 83T in the mid 80's and I thought what a boring car. I had to learn to drive the turbo. Like stated in the post above, keep it in boost to rock and roll. I love driving it now, its a blast. You will want more and more boost.

 

I've pointed this out several times before, but the CR only accounts for maybe a 3 hp difference when off boost, probably much less below 2300rpm. The simple fact is that either engine (NA or turbo) doesn't make much power below 2300rpm, and it's just more noticeable when the boost comes on. As other have mentioned, you need learn to stay above the boost threshold if you want to drive fast.

 

The magazine articles of the day did their acceleration runs by brake-torquing against the auto trans and getting the turbo spooled before launch, and they usually mentioned this in the article. That, coupled with being able to stay WOT while the auto trans shifted gave much better acceleration times.

 

For more normal driving, the manual probably feels more responsive even on the turbo, since you never have to wait for the trans to catch up.

[HowlerMonkey]

Remove drivers kick panel and lean down to wiggle the harness and connectors on the ecu while driving. (dangerous if you can't see)

 

You will most likely find it affects your car but wiggling it can also temporarily break connection such that the resulting open loop operation helps cover up the problem.

[280zNHChris]

Check your advance also. When I got mine, when they hacked it they couldn't get the distributor to move anymore and left it at 0. It was a dog until the turbo kicked in. Had to weld on half a washer on the other side of the distributor and bumped the timing to 13degrees. and it was much more responsive.

[JessZ]

Yeah. Try an '81 Mercedes turbo diesel station wagon, baby blue.

When you punch that grocery getter it feels like you're pushing the throttle into a loaf of soggy bread.