Hey guys, just picked up a '75 280 with fuel injecton and Im looking to swap over to a carb set up. I was thinking about a set of webers or I've heard the factory SUs arent a bad set up either for a better price. But I dont really know much about the Z's so Im looking for a little advice about whats a good set up with regards to price, power, reliability, availibility, and ease of adjustment and whatnot?

Thanks,
Nick

 

Welcome to ZDriver!
Price: Depends on what you find... free to $500?
Power: Carbs are older technology than EFI... hence the reason auto makers no longer carb cars. The triple carb setup is a goodie, but pricey.
Reliability: Depends on how good you are at installation and tuning.
Availibility: SU carbs are probably more available than triples, look around on the classifieds.
Ease of adjustment: Again, relative to your skill level.

Check out Ed's 280zx L-series triple conversion: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/showt...t=20984&page=2

 

Well I'm pretty comfortable with a wrench, but new to Z's. What I'm wondering about is whats the best way to go. If anyone has experience with both set ups, what they would do again and why. I know skill level has everything to do with it but just wondering if one set up is going to be easier to get along with than another. IE an edelbrock vs a holley.

 

Also is an injection set up from a 280 worth anything??

 

Those triples work great at full throttle on a built up engine. But on an old stocker it's like putting dual quads on a 180 hp chevy V8. It will look great but it will only waste gas and cough flames. Dual SUs will work okay if you tune them for the larger engine. EFI works much better if all the components are working. You will need to download the factory service manual to make it all work right. Just my opinion. Good luck and welcome to Zdriver!

 

I just went FI ith the turbo. If it were not for the turbo, and ease of using fuel injection with the turbo, I would still have my Triple Webers mounted. I got over 30mpg when tuned right on highway, and made great power through the powerband. I put the L28ET with factory turbo thinking my car would be faster, but it was not.

But the engine was not all stock. Mallory dizzy, cam, header, MSD6AL etc. If the rest of the engine does not breath well enough, you will not notice the beauty of the triple webers. The sound is also something that cannot be matched with a fuel injection or SU setup.

They are really not that hard to tune. Just different from a Holley or Edelbrok. Same exact principles, just configured differently, and there are three of them, instead of two. With each cylinder having tuning. Making it like balancing 6 carbs. But with a flow meter, it's easy.

Nothing looks better IMHO than the triples.

 

At stock 6.5psi boost of course! Crank up the boost already!

 

Don't be afraid, watch how some southern boys did it. Go to youtube- 10sec 280z
eey yah!

 

Needs megasquirt. I have soldered various portions of my ECU back together after it fried itself. Now it has intermitant problems when I hit 5psi. Before the computer went I was hitting 11psi and the car was faster than when I had the triples. But that's a 50trim T3/T4 too. So the 11psi is probably more powerfull than the factory T3 at the same psi.

Not that a good running turbo engine would not be stronger with factory parts than the triple setup I had, but not by much.