Hey, so i have a 280zx that is all stock, i just had the engine rebuilt in april, and now I want it to go faster...stock is'nt cutting it. where should i start and what should i do to top out my 280zx without swapping the engine.

 

Welcome to ZDriver!

Let's start with:

HOW MUCH $ DO YOU HAVE TO SPEND?

and

HOW MUCH MECHANICAL EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE?

 

Well, I get about $1000 a month to spend, experience not enough...lol only basic things like switching alternator, starter...

 

Have you done a tune-up?

Can you do a tune-up?

Is the car Turbo or NA?

 

I havent done a tune up, i geuss thats where i will start, its NA

 

You are pretty limited on options if you don't want to pull the motor or do any internal work.

So in a nutshell... do the following:
-mild to wild cam
-bore intake manifold, 60mm throttle body.
-good header & exhaust.
-tune the AFM and CHTS (or go w/ MSnS)
-upgrade the ignition & coil

yada yada yada ... all the basics you do on any motor ...

And if you do it all correctly, you could be up to 180-200hp.

 

i got the same car cept a year older,..
id love more power aswell, as all my toys gotta be that way,..haha

but what parts should i look into if i dont want to yank motor? id like to keep it under 1k as far as spending limit.

also i know this question has most likely been thrown out there 20048508 times but, how much of a pain would it be to turbo this car? is it worth it or should i just go south and buy a turbo car instead?

 

Um... did you miss my last post? Scroll up and read it.

Click: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-280zxt-s30-s130-tech-tips-275/turbo-swap-ticking-people-off-since-2003-a-19638/

 

Header/exhaust/CAI for starters. The L2x is IMHO the best sounding engine with the right exhaust system on it. I drive my 280ZX a lot and leave my 370Z with Stillen CAI/HFC/CBE in the garage because the exhaust note on the 280ZX is just awesome. Most of the MSA stuff for the exhaust is great but I ended up replacing my muffler with a Dynamax Ultraflow and it sounds way better now.

You're not going to get huge performance gains with the stock ECU and if you are going to go down the performance road you should really look at a turbo swap.

Get the Tokico kit springs/shocks kit - it makes a world of difference in how the car handles and responds. First thing you should do....

 

To get the most out of your L28e your going to have to pull it and pull it apart.


Without pulling it you can do your exhaust, and thats pretty much it.

With the stock EFI a big gnarly cam does nothing, the stock ECU cant adapt for it.

Your stock intake is already a CAI

A larger TB is NOT a power adder, its purpose is throttle response.



To get the potential power from your L28e your going to need head work (its very important), a nice cam, an ECU you can tune or carbs (to make your cam worth anything), bump up the CR, port your intake RUNNERS (they are the bottle neck of your entire intake and no after market CAI or giant throttle body will help you if your runners are stock ID)


so from how it sits now to some decent power gains... if you don't do the work yourself its going to hit your 1k mart quickly.

 

The stock 280ZX has a cold air intake on it already. I guess you could make the piping more efficient but I would keep it getting the air from the same spot. You don't want it to become a snorkel

Damn! Beat me!

 

Iv watched it happen......


sucking up water is instant death

 

I had all the "basic" bolt-ons on my Z before I decided to rebuild the suspension... laid down 130whp and 152ft lbs.

My performance mods:
Clifford Research header
2.5" exhaust, no cat, dual glasspacks
N42 non-EGR intake manifold ported for 60mm TB and gasket-matched on the runner end
60mm TB from a KA24
Toyota Cressida AFM
Spectre cone air filter

And I think that's about it...

before all those mods, my car laid down 112whp and 145ft lbs (no cat, and a Flowmaster muffler on the stock exhaust, all else stock).

The biggest single gain you can probably get would be from an aftermarket engine management system. behind that would be an exhaust.

 

a big YES to both of these, suspension will make your stock HP a lot more fun to drive and in something like auto-x you see stock motors with nice suspension and a good driver just destroy high HP cars with stock suspension nearly every time.

a perfect example, I ran my old turbo S30 at an auto-x last year with a bunch of datto friends.
I had an L28et with intake work, full rebuild, FMIC, full exhaust, ect, ect, and stock suspention....

..... I got beat by a Datsun 620 truck.... with an N/A L4, and a good driver.


lol he had fun giving me **** for that


the easiest/most gain bolt on mods will prob be pulling your intake and porting the runners out properly, a 60mm KA TB for some nice throttle response and setting up some nice exhaust. a cone filter type CAI might flow a little better depending but its nothing youl notice, its more looks and sometimes some intake sucking sounds lol.
A non EGR mani and a billet fuel rail will clean up the intake A LOT and make it look a lot nicer

 

engine management system?

 

Why was that a question?

 

i honestly dont understand what u mean by engine management system... thats y i asked,...i dont know a whole lot about stuff, sorry if i seem stupid.

 

"Engine management" means the electronic system managing the engine. A stock 280zx motor has an EFI system. EFI = Electronic Fuel Injection. It's controlled by a computer (aka ECU aka Electronic Control Unit).

The stock EFI in not very tunable, and limited to a couple "tricks" that will gain you a few hp.

So... you can remove that archaic system, and replace it with a more modern EFI engine management system, Like Megasquirt & Spark (MSnS), SDS, AEM, etc, that is much more tunable & adjustable to your individual setup.

 

or the non-turbo 300ZX ECU. Z31 its cheap and doesn't need programing, just a little wiring.