Hey guys

I’m name is Justin, I’m new to owning a 280zx and I’m looking for some ways to clean up my engine bay specifically on my intake manifold. I have an 1981 280zx non turbo L28. I’m not looking for extreme performance upgrades just a nice looking manifold to clean up the engine bay a bit more.

 

Cleaning up the manifold means removing stuff. Removing stuff means that the way the engine runs, especially when cold will be compromised. If you live n Vegas or Florida it might not matter. Everything on the manifold has a purpose. The other part of clean up is removing vacuum lines. These vacuum lines supply vacuum to your heater/AC controls, cruze control and some emission stuff. Be sure you know what you are removing and how it will affect your car. DONT cut, break or throw anything away because you might have to put it back on to get your car to run right and you man not be able to find a replacement. Parts are getting hard to find!
If you want to learn more about what everything does watch this video. There are many parts tot he video but it is the best at explaining what it all does. I think the car in the video is a 1978, everything stays basically the same thru 1983.

 

Do you have any recommendations for new intake manifold systems. This isn’t my daily car and comforts like a/c or cruise control aren’t needed.

 

Not much out there for aftermarket manifolds except for turbo setup. The ugliest thing on the intake is the trombone fuel rail. You can get an aftermarket rail or buy bulk extrusion and make your own. You will need an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator that you can remote mount on the body somewhere. It doesnt matter if its your daily driver or not, especially if you remove parts and your car will not start, it is now your never driver. But.......................................you can always give it a try.

Remove the Aux Air Valve and see how the car starts (plug the hoses). Remove the cold start injector and see how the car starts (plug the hose!!! this is fuel). Remove the FIDC (this increases your idle when the A/C is on and will not affect the cold start) and plug the hose. Remove the large hose from your intake boot that goes to the valve cover and install a small filter on the valve cover fitting and plug the hole in the intake boot.
When you remove the Aux Air Valve, there is a heating plate below it. It has coolant plumbed to it, you can remove it and plug or remove the coolant lines. You will also have coolant lines running to your throttle body. This is to prevent the throttle body from frosting over in really cold North Dakota weather (where I live). You can remove these coolant lines also. Just remember to keep everything and take pictures so you know where to put the stuff back if need be. You can also delete the EGR valve.
Once you have all this removed you will be able to remove all of the large diameter "air" hoses on the top of the intake and the small diameter coolant hoses and pipes on the top of the intake.
Good luck
If you dont want to keep all the stuff you remove, you can donate it to me and I will pay shipping for it!
If you dont know what parts are what, this will help

 

I’ve been looking around and found an intake manifold for the zx on Z Car Depot. Although it’s out of stock I was wondering if it could work for my car without getting rid of all the systems you’ve told me about. The part number is 14/90 black.

 

I have no experience with this item. One thing you need to realize is that it takes A LOT of money to get a little more performance out of a non-turbo 280zx. New cam, ported heads, big pistons and an aftermarket fuel injection control system like what FAST or MegaSquirt make. I dont know if your factory injectors will work with this manifold and I dont know if the injectors that are mentioned in the description will work with the factory ECU. This manifold is not a bolt on and go item. Do you have experience with this kind of modifications?
The best thing you can do with a N/A 280zx is make it run the way the factory intended it to run, Without the turbo version you are limited on what you can do. Pretty doesn't always work well. Its your car, do with it what you will. It will draw attention without messing with clean-up of the engine bay. You really need to know what you are doing before you start removing stuff.
The 280zx was the most advanced of the 280 line and it was also the most emission controlled of the line. The car was moving away from performance and into creature comfort. If you want to clean things up, go with a triple carb setup and remove the entire FI system. It will be EZer