280ZX_AV8R

People look at my car and say, "What's it got in it?" and I say, "Straight six", and they frown and say, I thought it would be fast, but a straight six won't make anything fast. Then they say "what's the displacement?" I say, "2.8 Liter" They once again frown and they say, " that sure is a little motor in a car with such a long hood. Then they read the Turbo emblem and laugh and say, "that's a losing battle." Yea you guessed it, it's people who believe chevy, dodge, or ford or any other american motor company is the only way to go. They think anything japanese is junk. I pity them when I drive by their broken down 1979 camaro's with 100,000 less miles than my car.

ZedZilla

Aah who can blame them. With a car that looks so sweet. Fast just standing still. They just can't stomach the fact that the engine is anything but a V8. To them a V8 is synonymous with speed. You shoulda given them a ride...

jfairladyz

Sounds like their compensating for something if you know what I mean No, I'm kidding, I'm a fan of any motor that puts out big numbers. And the L28 is a very capable motor. And to say turbo is a losing battle, that guy is definitely a candidate for Enzyte . No naturally aspirated motor could ever dream of putting up the numbers of it's forced induction counterpart. i.e.(so you don't get me confused here) a L28E will never be capable of as much power as a L28ET. A supercharged 350 will forever be able to put out more power than a naturally aspirated 350. If anyone wants to argue about this, then maybe it's time for your enzyte. Case closed. I'm not saying a 1.3 liter Geo metro can slap a turbo on and take a fully built 514ci engine. No dice. The simple fact is a NA motor will always have a hard(if not impossible time striving for 100 percent efficiency, while a forced induction motor will easily eclipse the 100 percent efficiency mark. Print this out and give it to your big block loving turbo dissing friend and see if he can't get a hard on now

Captain caveman

Actualy there are people that race metros. The suzuki swift(same thing) came in a turbocharged model. There's a site on it and people get quarter miles as good as low 11s

jfairladyz

There always something And I actually took the time to come up with a safe comparison and someone comes along with something like that. Thanks alot Cpt. I'm sure everyone got my point though, right? That Geo wouldn't be pulling 11's without a snail stuck in front of the motor now would it?

ZedZilla

I'd say folks would think a turbo is a losing battle because of the usual lag and lesser low-end tourque then a V8 (wether they are right or wrong is not the question).
Other then that lets not lose sight of the fact that most think its a sweet looking car, just mistakenly believe it shoulda come with a V8 from factory. I say expose 'em to the Z fun factor and they can make a call later, if the zdriver still cares enough to be sitting around to hear it...

jfairladyz

Lag is the bi-product of an oversized improperly matched turbo combination. If people do their research with compressor maps and what not and aren't striving for rediculous numbers from a small displacement motor, lag becomes a non issue. My buddies 300ZX TT would take off like a bat outta hell even without revving it up. And when the boost hit, it just pinned you to your seat ( ). But thats not lag, the car was still pulling while waiting for full boost. He was putting out 400+ (Can't remember the exact number) with upgraded turbos (modified stockers) from a 3.0 liter engine. And that thing had gobs of torque, (turbos are known for making torque) it snapped your neck on take off and kept it that way til he let off the gas. Most of the myth's of turbocharging is from the olden days of crude turbo setups pulled from diesel motors in an attempt to make it down the 1/4 mile a little faster before the engine detonated itself to death. Turbo charging has come a long way since then and all the drawback people considered drawback really arent a factor any more if turbo is done right.

But enough with this, it is a sweet looking car and anyone whos ever driven one cannot say they didn't have a blast. (that's considering the car was running well enough to be fun to drive).

Captain caveman

well those v8 guys have one huge advantage that we don't. A very strong aftermarket > I mean you can still go out and buy a brand spanking new small block engine for your old muscle car at your local auto store, while us z drivers are stuck with our aging L6 engines

CWHammer

Muscleheads go fast in a straight line, no finesse. Zheads prefer the curves where you can "drive" the car the way it was designed. There's nothing like zinging around the back roads blowin' through the curves.

jfairladyz

word. I prefer the twistys to the strip any day of the week. And the Z is just perfect for it too.

WildmaN

Amen to that, corners are more my preference also!

juggalo280ZX

**** off eclipse behind you, start left curve at 80, continue acceleration, finish left curve, floor it, start right curve, finish right curve at 115 while the riced out eclipse is still doin 80 coming out of the lefty! happened a few days ago in farm country central Illinios, Eclipse driver probably wasn't too happy. :}

RodMoyes

Real men take turns...

Rod.

assimilated420

yeah goin real fast in a straight line may be fun.. but going 100mph on a slow curve and smokin the shmuck next to ya with some ricer piece of crap or a hotrod thats not suited for it is way funner than going 150+ in a straight line.. it takes alot more skill to know when to turn, brake and accelerate at the right time then it is to just punch and go..

jfairladyz

I dont know. I'm strongly in favor of taking the turns as I stated above. But going 150+ has got to be good fun . I've never personally owned a car that could claim a trap speed that high in the 1/4. I've gotten pretty close in Z32TT (wasn't mine, and I wasn't driving) on the hwy though. Now that was fun. But waiting in line at the strip for your turn to blaze down the 1/4 mile at 90mph just doesn't push my buttons. I do that on the way to work . And drag racing can be a challenge. Just try bracket racing with a manual transmission and actually hit your et consistently. Thats where the challenge comes in.

jfairladyz

Oh, on street tires

tougez

Damn right rod Nothing better than someone who thinks they can keep up with ya. I love not slowing down for turns when people are tailgating me; makes me happy when they have to work to catch back up on the straights.

280ZX_AV8R

Bracket racing. the only time when someone in the slowest car at the track can win.

FubarI33t

All there is around here are red necks. A V8 is easy HP. You need to work to make your HP. Freinds say if you want to be in our car club, you will need to put a V8 in it to keep up. There 80's Camaro's and Firebirds. I just can't wait till I get my Z and leave them on the back roads. All there cars are set up for the strip. and can't turn for chit.

280ZX_AV8R

Speaking of 80's Camaros, I just outran one. He was riding my tail through town and when I got out of town he thought he was going to pass me when I floored it. He kept up until I hit 80, then he hit a brick wall. I just pulled away like he was nothing, and he kept trying to keep up until I was half a mile ahead of him. then he turned around and ran away. What does a 1985 top out at anyway? I'm pretty sure it was a guy I had heard of that was supposed to have had a suped up V-8 in it.

s/cL3.0

You wanna hear some crap, my friend with the 533WHP stock turbo motor, is now swapping out for a V8, even though it is a nissan V8 still.. WHY??

Dorifto

Ahh ... power. Gotta love torque. That's why I'm keeping my Zed non-turbo. NA tunes seem so much cooler on a 1980's sportscar. Not to mention 6 polished aluminum velocity stacks ... I'm getting ahead of myself.

Oooooh ... the never-ending war in my mind of boosted greatness versus natural aspiration.

Hmm. I need something to eat.

melloyello

I chose the 355ci in the 280 I had b/c it was so much easier to get 400hp out of it.

assimilated420

yes.. but tell what takes more skill and knowledge.. throwing on a few bolt-ons and getting 400 out of 4.7+L or taken a 2.8L and building it from the ground up and generating a ci to power ratio of almost 4:1 vs less than 1:1... i think if you can take a L28 and do all that.. not only could you take a V8 with that.. youd own many cars on the road period.

lww

Unfortunately, driveability would suffer.

Don't get me wrong, the technical exercise of pulling high HP out of the little L6 is truly rewarding.

But for the same $$ and effort, the V8 will go farther, live longer and give gobs of torque from the VERY low end.

I've just gotten to a point in my life where I'm getting lazy and want the easy way out.

Of course, my friend Rob is trying to talk me into an RB25DET or RB30DETT for my 240z... But that is going to be WAY more expensive. Probably in the $20 to $25k range not including body work, paint and interior...

I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment again.

$5k will give you a very nice V8 swap with another $5k into the paint and body and $2500 or so in the interior and you've got a great fun little Z car that you can buy replacement parts at your local shade tree auto store.