N/A to turbo swap??
 

I have a 1980 N/A ZX and am having a hard time trying to decide if I should put a turbo on it or not. It has a P79 head with I want to say a N42 block? ( i havent looked at the block code in a while.) What are the pros and cons to putting a turbo on these motors? As far as I have read the heads are almost identical with the only difference being the P90 has square manifold ports. I have also been thinking about getting rid of the EGR and emissions junk mounted on the intake manifold and was reading about removing the mass airflow control also. I have heard that can cause alot of problems so anyone with any advice/ experience/or suggestions please help me out. I just got this car maybe 3 months ago and its time to start doing some work. My other option was keeping it N/A upgrading the cam to a street strip, adding some headers, porting out the intake manifold, and throwing a bigger throttle body on it. Some of that will still be done if I turbo the car, but I know that decision needs to be made first. Again anything helps, thanks guys

Welcome to Zdriver man. Here is some useful information for you. It should answer pretty much all of your questions. Good luck.
https://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-280zxt-s30-s130-tech-tips-275/ Where the tech section is
https://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-280zxt-s30-s130-tech-tips-275/turbo-swap-ticking-people-off-since-2003-a-19638/ Tons of information, and links on Turbo swaps

There is a lot you can read about turbo swaps and upgrading your non-turbo engine. That may give you an idea of what you are up against in either direction.

I can give you a few suggestions though. Tell us what your experiece with cars is and with the L28 engine. How much money do you want this to cost you, is gas millage a factor, and how much power are you hoping to run? What is the purpose of the extra horsepower?

you don't have a mass airflow control on an s130 you have an air flow sensor. you can take it off but then the ecu has no idea how much fuel to put in the engine. you can replace that with a MAF but you also need the ecu from a z31. you should probably do some study on how that stuff works along with the rest of the fuel metering system in the Z.

Myself personally not to much with cars, especially the internals of a motor. I have a friend that builds cars for a living as in custom work for racing and stuff who is going to help me and has given me some suggestions already. Neither of us have much experience with the L28 engine. Money is not a boundary I want everything done right and with quality parts the first time. As of right now Im planning on spending maybe two grand on the motor. My power goal is about 300HP, gas millage is somewhat of a factor(Im not trying to get a speed demon that is only going to go a quarter mile at a time) and the extra power is just for fun. No stupid street racing or anything like that, maybe the occasional trip to the track. I just want to build my Z car and have fun with it. This has been my dream car since I laid eyes on one 10 or so years ago and I just want it to be a bad ass ride. Which is one of the reasons I am seeking advice from other Z and ZX owners so that I can get it right the first time.

What is a MAF? and could the ecu stuff be fixed through programing or would I have to get one out of a Z31?

Welcome to ZDriver! :006:

MAF = Mass Air Flow sensor (as Roger has already stated).

Please feel free to search through our forum as we have already discussed (in detail) 280zx power upgrade options. :D

Unless you've got lots of money to waste honestly your best course of action is to read, read, read, read and read some more. There is a TON of info on the various forums and a few books you should read as well. Of course you can skip all that and spend a lot of money and not be happy with the results - but like I said if you've got lots of money to waste that is definately an option.

I'll tell you this though puting in a cam and bigger throttle body won't do anything for you because the stock ECU isn't designed to run much outside it's designed parameters. If you are going down that road with a N/A engine look at Mega Squirt for your ECU...

Personally the best bang for your buck/least modifications is to go with a complete turbo engine/ECU/harness/MAF/etc swap. It's fairly straight forward to do. There are a TON of write ups on how to do it. If you do your homework 300RWHP is possible with the stock bottom end and some extra performance pieces without blowing stuff up.

I've seen a few motors with completely stock internals do around 400whp. So 300 wouldn't be an issue. Also, to hit that goal you could swap in the 300zx stuff like mentioned about and get Nistune, but honestly, I think it might be better at that point to just go stand alone since you're car doesn't have any of the turbo senors on it seein as it is a non turbo. You will also most definitely need a bigger turbo, intercooler, and injectors. Other than that stuff it can be done with relatively stock motor components.