Paul McCabe

Everyone talks about how much potential there is in a Z and motor swaps, turbos, etc, but when it comes to fiscally responsible consumer, how many of these major overhauls are even worth it and won't put you into the black?

I initially wanted to put in an LS1 mated with the T56 tranny but after seeing the prices for these, I basically said "**** it", not to mention all the additional costs of fine tuning your engine and whatever mounts you need. I figured I'd be looking at about 10 grand to have a running, problem-free LS1 280ZX and in my mind, that is not worth it.

Now the question is, what have you guys all paid for your mods and were they worth it? I know that exhausts are wastes of money because you don't see much gain for what you're paying, but I'm interested in turbos/heads/cam set ups.

and as a side question, what do you do about rusted/corroded engine bays? It looks like battery acid leaked everywhere and it just looks like crap, and everything is rusty under the hood. the rest of the car looks great and the engine runs fine.

NismoPick

You will RARELY get a return on a modified 280zx. These aren't investment cars... so if you have even the dimmest hope of one day selling your car to make money or break even, I'll tell you right now it's not going to happen. You'll always spend more $$$ on mods than what you can get back by selling it.

I have $15k-$17k into my 300hp 280ZXT, and I probably couldn't sell it for $8k right now.

A V8 in a 280zx is a bad idea anyway (I've talked about that 100 times before).

All the basic upgrades that you'd do on any motor are what you'd do for the 280zx. Exhaust systems aren't expensive ($200-$500 tops), intake work is dirt cheap to free, ignition is $100-$200, cam is $100-$300, etc.

Body work is never cheap, nor easy.

So if you want a fast hot retro sports car, expect to pay a lot and not get a good return on your money. Otherwise, cut your losses now and go buy a nice Honda S2000 (I'd personally rather own a BMW Z4M).

Paul McCabe

I don't care about how much I'm going to get when I sell the car. I just wanted to know what the best dollars per horse power mod there was. I was thinking a turbo would get me the most bang for my buck?

NismoPick

Yes, turbocharging is for the most part the best bang for your buck on a 280zx... but just to make sure you understand: you don't just slap on a turbo. You need all the other parts to make it work. A few select people have pieced together enough parts to turbocharge their n/a motor, which has many cons, a few pros.

The quicker, cheaper, and usually more effective route would be to buy a complete L28ET or 280zxt donor car to do the swap.

FricFrac

There are two ways to do it. I can tell you a turbo swap is the best bang for your buck or you can research all the different swaps and come to your own conclusion (which is typically a turbo swap).

If you go down that road (turbo) then your exhaust is going to be one of the very best bang for your buck upgrades. Turbos work on a pressure differential so the more pressure there is on the input to the exhaust side and the less restriction (huge or better yet no exhuast which isn't really feasable) on the output side of the turbo the quicker it will spool up and the more power under the curve you will make. JeffP dynoed 20rwhp by swaping out his exhaust - no retune nothing - just bolting up his 3" mandrel bent exhaust (IIRC).

The other big upgrade is to go with an aftermarket ECU. I really like the Mega Squirt III but there are lots out there. I probably lost about 20lbs of junk with brackets, AFM, IAC solenoids, etc plus the restriction from the AFM itself. Then you can tune everything from the spark map to the fuel map, boost control, fan control, etc, etc, etc.

SHADY280

I've put 6000 bux into my heavily modded na motor. If I ever get my megasquirt hooked up I'll be lucky to tune it to a max of 240 rwhp. I personally like the rb25det swap. The motor trans combo can be had for 2000 and it's near 300 hp to start. The mounts are easy and it pretty much bolts in. There is more to it obviously but it's a great platform and sticks to a similar exhaust note with more easily found price minded mods out there. I too find the v8 route to be a bit not worth it. The torque is nice but it's no fun replacing tires all the time and having to find traction instead of using power effectively. Just my 2 cents

Paul McCabe

I'll probably keep the engine that I have and restore the car. I've criticized people who are against the swaps before but it really does take away from the feel of the car and you're really no longer driving a 280zx when you have a skyline engine/LS1/hemi/whatever in it. They seem to be pretty dependable although mine only has 60k on it (we'll see how it lasts at 100k miles). I like how there is a lot of room in the engine bay.

I may do a few things like a racing chip or intake manifold or something but nothing crazy. I'll keep the L28E and just try to get as much out of it as I can without spending a whole lot. It has enough power to sustain highway speeds and I think that's enough for me at this point. I usually regret spending a lot of money just to make my car *slightly* faster.

NismoPick

Just to put in my two pennies on what you've said:

You've driven a 280zx with each of those motors?
Just an FYI... the "Skyline" RB25 / RB26 motor (which is an inline-six) shouldn't be lumped in with American V8's.

The only thing to do on the intake is port it. There are no "racing chips" for the L28E. Thus the reason FricFrac said this:

As I stated:

There aren't many "special" 280zx upgrades. Intake, exhaust, ignition, etc... Used in combination with each other, you will see vast improvements.

FricFrac

A great read for Z cars. More geared towards the S30 guys but they are steeling parts from the S130 so it gives you an overall idea of what are good combos, etc.

I know it's a "I wanna make my car go faster thread" but one of the first performance mods I like to do to the S130 is take the marshmallows out of the suspension and replace at the very least the springs. The car isn't any faster but it's so much more enjoyable to drive.

Anyhow here's the link
Datsun L-series ZCAR engine modifications