Excluding "built" cars, who takes their regular old daily driver 280ZX up to redline? Do you do it on a regular basis? How many miles are on your ZX? Would you trust your ZX to hold up if driven like a bat out of hell daily (or maybe you already drive like that)?

BTW, was it true that Nissan/Datsun balanced their motors from the factory? I've read somewhere that the L28's were balanced,and most who rebuild them tend to find that the internals are still balanced after thousands and thousands of miles.

 

It's pretty pointless to take the motor to redline, as the peak hp is around 5300rpm. Running any motor up to redline everyday will deffinately shorten it's life. When I had my L28 n/a motor I never really took it above 5k... my semi-built L28ET on the other hand sees 5500 rpm a lot.

And Nissan obviously did SOME balancing or the motor would run like shiz.

 

Just FYI striaght 6's (along with flat 6's, v12's, & flat 12's) are natuarally very balanced compared to other engine setups.

 

So on an N/A L28 motor, peak power is at 5300 rpms?

 

Peak HP on a stock motor YES!

 

5200 - 5600.... looky at this: http://zhome.com/History/zcarperf.html

 

Awesome, thanks for the link.

 

So have you been driving your car at redline everyday?

 

Well I think I've pushed 5k a few times, haven't touched redline yet. My motor has almost 250,000 miles on it, doesn't appear to have been touched in its life, so I'm cautious of hitting redline. I'm really wanting a faster car, or doing some mods though, I was flooring it in 2nd/3rd gear and got owned by a van, and I don't even think the guy was doing much more than following the speed limit. Well that just gives me inspiration to make it go faster Did pick up some NGK v-power plugs today, I'm gonna wait to install them until I have new wires and a new distributor cap. Oh and for once I put some premium gas in it, it used to jerk in first gear on regular, that jerking seems to have gone away with premium. No clue why...

 

Have you set your timing? It may feel sluggish if the timing isn't set correctly.

There's a couple different things to make an n/a quicker:

-Adjust AFM
-Use potentimeter on the CHTS
(both of these enrich the mixture)
-Get more air in / more exhaust out (bore intake, exhaust header, mild cam)

With a lot of mods you could reach 200-220whp w/ the n/a motor. But unless you are a die-hard n/a junkie like L-Dub or Shady, it's more worth your time & money to swap in a turbo motor as you can achieve 300hp w/ the same $ and mods.

 

Well here's my list of future things to do to it...

-Change spark plugs, Cap, Wires, Coil
-Change Tranny/Rear End Lube
-Set up a cone filter intake (My rubber intake boots are dryrotting anyway)
-Downpipe has a stupid problem (someone cut out abit of the downpipe, welded in a much bigger pipe in its place, it can't possibly help flow) so I'm debating whether to replace the downpipe or just run a header to the cat than put in a flowmaster muffler. I do have to keep my emissions systems, as my state does run smog checks once a year.
-Change my radiator, has cracks on upper tank as well as filler neck, noticeable sound of air escaping when I listen to it after vehicle is shut off.
-Brake disks and pads all the way around
-Front wheel bearings
-Suspension fix, at the very least new struts/shocks, maybe even new bushings, as they are all dry rotted.

My car is also a California model, so HP is way down, and emissions system is setup different. And it has the "luxury package" which adds tons of unnecessary crap. My car is probly way too heavy. Hope I didn't elaborate too much here.

Oh and BTW, should I advance timing, if when checked it is at stock timing?

 

down pipe? this is an NA, you dont have a downpipe, you got an exhaust manifold and then just the exhaust system, to replace waht you speak of, just get a set of 6-1 headers. and you should DEFINATLY replace teh radiator if its not holding pressure. and replacign the coild probably wont do much for you unless you replace it with a much higher performance aftermarket one, and even then.... more spark only does so much if you dont have a way of introducing more air and fuel. tranny and rear end lube wont do much for performance unless your gears grind a bit, its jsut somethign that should be done for maintenance, its cheap and easy, just spend 25 bucks for the gear oil and do it if you dont know when it was done last.

 

I am pretty hard on my 82 N/A Auto....as it sits it is stock and the tranny is crap as every one knows and when left in drive it's a real dog....However!!! I very regularly (at lest twice a day) shift it myself and I don't shift till it hits 6,000 on the nose. The car pulls hard until shifted from about 3,000 to 6,000 rpm in first and second gears. I have adjusted the AFM, new plugs, 1996-1998 GT Mustang K&N cone filter, and new cap and rotor. I also removed my O2 sensor...that's in another thread. I have 98,XXX miles and the car has "some" hiccups but for the most part runs great and I would drive the engine anywhere...the suspension is a whole other story though. I do have rear tires that are just a hair bigger in diameter than the factory size so it lowers the rear gear just a hair. I think I am hitting about 60hp to the wheels

 

you reomoved the o2 sensor? i know in newer cars it will put the ecu in safe mode, not to sure how it would affect these cars but im sure it would damper performance.... and did you want headers with an O2 sensor yet your not using one? you confusing. and do they emmission test in florida?

 

Disconnecting the O2 sensor on the 280zx will just make it go pig rich & your mpg will suffer. Not really the proper way to go about enriching the mix, but it works I guess.

 

interesting, time to turn up the boost!!!! lol jk jk.

 

I call it the downpipe, but its inbetween the cat and the exhaust manifold, it IS a seperate pipe, it bolts up to the cat and the exhaust manifold. Someone took a 3 inch section of it out, and welded in a 3 inch section of pipe thats at least 1/2 inch bigger. No clue why, all i can figure is that there was an exhaust leak. But with the poor welding job done to the fix, I don't know why it doesnt leak right now. And about the radiator, the funny thing is, my temp needle stays dead on center when warmed up, never goes over exactly the middle. And we're getting hot days here in AZ, and still the needle stays the same when warm. Its a very small leak, well it appears to be two very small air leaks in the radiator, but I hope to put a new radiator in it soonish.

 

hmmm, if it does have a name its mid pipe then, lol, get a header, i actually have one for sale right now, if your interested. then you cna get a cutsom exhaust welded up for cheaper than buying an exhaust.

 

NO hes buying my snowflake rims YOUR header can wait snw.... lol

 

snow flake rims are ghey! haha. jk. but they dont fancy me and look UBER heavy, i got another set of rims like the ones in my sig picture. i should sell those bad boys.... but i think i want one as a spare so i dont have to donut it.