280z Haltech
 

Hi there,
I am new to this forum and I purchased a 77 280z (my first) in February of this year. I have looked through the posts about swapping out the old computer with a Haltech computer. My car is burning quite rich right now even after I leaned it up on the AFM a little. I noticed anyone who has done this has done this with a turbo car but my question is has anyone ever done this with an N/A car? I just blew the head gasket on my car and I got to thinking about doing some upgrades such as head studs, header, timing kit and cam. Adding a cam I would need to change out the computer but I have been unsuccessful in finding info about upgrade a N/A car with a Haltech. My thoughts were that if I upgraded the computer my car would run more efficient and produce more power. Even if I just keep the stock cam I was wondering if adding a o2 sensor and Haltech would still be worth doing once I get the car back from the shop? Any thoughts? I would like to know what people have done, what parts they needed to change, was it worth doing and of course how much they spent (ballpark)?
Thank you

Programmable ECUs will run a steam engine if you want them to (no but you get the idea). Yes it will work on NA car or anything other you can imagine. That being said, the only way you are going to NOTICEABLY get more power out of an aftermarket ECU is a proper dyno-tune, anything else is a crap shoot. Using a wide-band, and trying to street tune, will get you drive-able, but you will need dyno time to take advantage of the programmable ecu. Also if there is other issues with your car, like vacuum leaks, or bad compression and such, the new ecu won't do anything for you, I would say bring your engine up to snuff as far as operation and then worry about trying to upgrade.
Cheers.

I have a friend who put an L28 and fuel injection with a Haltech into his 260Z. His gas mileage was running in the 30s, and he had a lot more horses under the hood. He put a lot of money into the car and sold it shortly after getting it sorted out. (ARGH!)

As Skully said, tuning with the Haltech on a dyno is a must.

As for running rich, are you sure your cold start injector isn't running all of the time?