advice needed
 

hey i am looking for advice on tuning my '82 280zxt. my ultimate goal is to have 500+ hp. i want to keep the same engine and use turbo charging. my problem is that i have no idea where to begin. i also dont know what all needs to be done to the motor so that it doesnt break with that much hp. any help will be useful.

There isn't just a list of things that I can tell you to get 500 h.p. If it was that easy everyone would be making that much power. Get what you can out of the car. Add a boost controller, intake, exhaust -3 inch, downpipe - custom 3 inch. Blow off valve, Front mount intercooler, electric fan .. Just your basic gaining devices. As time progresses you will max that setup out after a while then just start upgrading your fuel and turbo and look into a rebuild. Etc etc. It will be a long time before you reach 500 easily. ;)

intercooler
 

where should i go to look for an intercooler. i have looked at the hks and it doesnt appear to me to be a very big intercooler. shoud i look for an intercooler for a different car and have the pipes custom bent to fit. if so is there any particular size i should be looking for.

It's not so much about the size but more about how well it flows and how efficient it is. Hks and brands like that are expensive. Sparco is a very good intercooler but then again expensive. I am using a large NPR intercooler on my 280. That is good for around 400ish. You can find good prices on intercoolers.. search for an Npr intercooler or a Sparco one on ebay. ;)

While you are looking for an IC read up as much as you can on turbo engines or you WILL blow your motor cause boost is addictive. BTW search for spearco not sparco.

get forged internals, and a bigger turbo. Then up the boost. Also bolt ons such as intercooler, intake, exhaust, bigger throttle, port and polish the head, and if thats not enough bore it and stroke it. If that is still not enough go for a twin turbo chevy 350.

TURBO AT 30 PSI, water to air intercooler, mammoth port & polished head, low compression race pistons, rods, and crankshaft, full 3" exhaust with header, full custom computer, MSD ignition with low resistance wires,


of course all this would be cutom which makes it impractical, I'll give props for keeping the original engine though if it happens. The stock block can withstand MAMMOTH horsepower, I think this block has 7 or 8 main bearings, impenetrable. The boost can get you up to the magic 5-double-ohh mark but you can get greedy, because the second you rip the gears, your tranny and rearend won't survive

you want 500 hp in a 280zx?!?!? you better start looking for a used VG30DETT that is the only nissan engine that is even capaible of producing tahat kind of hp. and even then you are going to have to sink about 3000 into it. or maybe a rb26 from a skyline they are almost always on ebay. and they are good for upto 1000hp.

Honestly, any one of us with a good knowledge of the turbo Z can build a 300hp 280ZX in our garage. If you want 400-500hp, and you don't know a lot already, you're going to have to take it to a shop. give them $10,000 and pick your car up a few months later. (not sure on the price though) :)

The internals can take a good 350hp at the wheels but people that get that far put a lot of money into the engine and really know what they are doing. I would like a turbo engine, but with my experience, I wouldn't go more than 300hp.

There is an article in Z Sport mag on a 450hp 280ZX. This guy did a full restoration on the car in addition to engine work, but he has spent just over $40,000 on the car total. Its not going to be cheap or easy. I suppose if you are just now starting your research, you might be ready to start building next year... or build a 280hp turbo engine first and then start saving your money for bigger and better parts to upgrade from there. That'll at least give you the experience you need.

The guy with the 450hp Z uses the Borg Warner T5 tranny. But I'm sure the Nissan R200 rear can't take that kind of torque. You may need to do a Corvette IRS swap. Have you ever even driven a vehicle with that much power? You're going to get killed... after you kill all the Corvettes and Vipers.

Also, 30psi sounds right. Running racing fuel only. You can't run supreme fuel with octaine booster. Its not good enough. I think if you had a 300hp 280zx turbo you'd be pretty happy with it. :D

Just my 2 cents. I am new to Z cars and there motors. The best starting point for any car is First understand your motor. I am just starting out by ordering the parts to build my head. New cam, valves, springs etc. etc. Once I do that and I know that my motor can handle it. I will start on the performance stuff.