Ok, so here's my situation. I'm looking to do some things here and there to increase performance, but I'm new to doing my own work on cars and working on a budget. Just looking for some ideas I can do here and there that don't require ungodly amounts of money and technical know-how. Somebody told me I can get like a bolt-on cold-air intake that would boost power a little. So I guess that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Any ideas?

 

A good read: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx-s130-forums-77/help-me-make-plan-get-beyond-200-a-32526/

So... what's your budget? "ungodly amounts of money" doesn't really define one...

The 280zx already has a "cold air intake". If you want the Honda chrome pipe w/ a cone filter, they sell them at AutoZone, and MSA.

In a nut shell, do the same things that any motor needs for basic upgrades...
Intake
Exhaust
Ignition
Cam
Aftermarket / stand alone ecu

Hopefully it goes w/o saying... Also, a good tune up will wake up an old / high mileage motor.

 

There is a cheap cone filter setup on E-Bay - Chrome Intakes or something for around $35. You can do it even cheaper - Speed Daddy has a cone filter for around $8 and you just need a 3" 90 degree aluminum pipe like they use on the intercooler stuff - heck you could get away with a 3" straight pipe even...

 

Z31 turbo ECU?

BENAFATS?

 

been-a-fats?!

 

Even the 16 bit Z31 ECU is 25 years old let alone the more common and older 8 bit. In electronics years that's beyond ancient. If you want to go down the ECU upgrade go with Mega Squirt and take a hundreds steps up instead of one.

 

The Z31T ecu is a plug & play upgrade for the 280ZXT... it's much more complicated & much less worth while on the n/a.

MSnS is a tuner's dream (as long as the "tuner" knows what he's doing).

 

Tuner Studio now has an "auto tune" function for the full version.

 

Wow, thanks for all the ideas. I never even thought of a new ECU. I'll probably go with the easiest plug and play one. Like I said, I'm more of a mechanic student than master at this point. Also, it is a NA not a turbo, so I don't know how much good the turbo ones would do for me. Oh, and yeah, tune up was the first thing I did when I got the car. As for the budget, just stuff I can do here and there for under a hundred at a time.

 

Of the two we mentioned, neither are plug & play. Stand alone (like MSnS, SDS, AEM, etc) are your only "worth while" ecu upgrades for a non-turbo.

The Z31T ecu was only mentioned because it's a plug & play for the 280zx turbo.

 

I'd say save up and start with megasquirt. It really works well. Then you can tune in all the rest of the mods as you go

 

I'll have to look into Megasquirt more. It looks pretty intimidating, don't know if I'm ready for that much tinkering yet.

 

Dont let it intimidate you, I thought the same thing when I was looking into it. "How the hell am I gonna figure it out!" But I read up on writeups, I read the megasquirt manual, which once you read, everything makes so much sense. I know its a phonebook almost but hey.

I would visit -
http://www.diyautotune.com/
http://msextra.com/doc/index.html#ms1
Hybridz.org go to forums,-->engine-->components-->EMS-->Megasquirt
Also go to FAQ--->engine components--->EMS on Hybridz and go to Megasquirt and read read there is writeup there that I followed on my freshly rebuilt engine with nothing stock as far as fuel and spark and it fired up pretty much right away and idled with no issues. There is even a map sharing thread there.

While you collect parts, read read read.

 

Without a doubt you will NEED and I do mean NEED to buy a wideband setup if you plan on going stand alone....

Tune up (make her run like she's susposed to)
Thermostat controlled electric fan (free up a little power the engine already makes)
Header (get the air out faster so the engine can pull more in)
2.5" exhaust with smooth bends (don't go larger on NA or you lose back pressure)
Brakes (performance is not just engine)
Suspension (saggy suspension will not allow power to be put to the ground)
Tires (need I explain?)
Hope this helps.
pallnet

 

Good points. I would add a few details to some of them...

Wide band O2 - yup it's a requirement. The MTX from Innovate is a great product for the price. At around $200 it gives you a full wideband O2 heated sensor, interface AND gauge. That's a pretty smokin deal.

Electric fan - great idea and they are plentiful in the junk yards and cheap on E-Bay, etc. The shroud makes a big difference in performance as does ducting. An electric fan is typically thinner as well and usually gives you more room to run piping for intercoolers, etc. If you are running an after market ECU you may have the option to disable the fan not just on water temperature but also on vehicle speed. When the vehicle get's to a certain speed the fan no longer is required for air flow so it can be turned off.

Header - go with the ceramic coated. The additional cost when you purchase with the ceramic coating is small (and I think they are on sale right now at MSA). The intake and exhaust is on the same side with the L series engine - keep the heat in the header to increase flow and out of the intake manifold to keep the air density up for better performance. I also would add some extra protection by adding a mylar/fiber glass like the DEI products to further reduce temperature in the intake and keeps heat away from the injectors and fuel rail.

Brakes - simply changing your brake pads can make some significant increases in your braking power. Ceramic pads don't gas like organic pads do so there is no need for cross drilled rotors. KVR pads are a big jump up from stock and fairly inexpensive at around $50 a pair. Adding stainless brake lines increases response and is usually fairly inexpensive. I picked up stainless lines to replace my cracked front ones for $11 each.

Suspension - if you install it yourself you can get the parts to replace most of the bushings for around $100. New bushing make a huge difference especially with your sway bars even if there is no play in your old ones. Just be sure not to replace the TC rods with a performance bushing - use new stock rubber pieces if yours are worn. The TC rods have a tendancy of breaking if you use a urethane bushing. I prefer the Energy Suspensing sway bar endlinks/bolts as opposed to just replacing the stock endling bushing with the stock bolts.

 

get a throttle body off a 240sx with a spacer. cleans up ur engine bay and adds better air flow, and if you can get ur hands on a stock intake manifold gut it and get a header.

 

Alone, a 60mm ("240sx") TB doesn't do anything but push the bottleneck back an inch. The intake neck must be bored to match, and convert to a gutted turbo AFM.

 

I was probably looking at a different standpoint from someone else. I've been dealing with my friend who uses Nistune on RB20s/SR20s Etc...

So I was looking at the possibility of using Nistune with my 280zx once I get a Z31T Ecu, so would it be beneficiary to do the upgrade then use MSIII?

In this case: Z31-T+Nistune > MSIII?

 

Fricfrac seems to think that updating the EFI hardware is going to net you something. MY honest opinion is to use the z32's EFI/ign system, but that's alot of work and you might as well go stand alone if you have the money. But It's not exactly fair comparing a 30 year old ECU to the newest hardware.


Their are much bigger things on your car worth worrying about then blowing a bunch of money on the motor.

 

Nothing wrong with a Z31 or Z32 ECU but if you want to tune it then you need to get Nistune and by that time you've spend double what the MSIII would have cost you. Of course I assemble my own MSIII and it's fairly easy if you can solder properly so there is a significant savings there. I guess if you can get a screaming deal on the Z31 or 32 ECU then it might be worth it but IIRC correctly the NisTune alone is almost the same cost as a MSII built ECU and more than a MSIII kit. NisTune is great - I just think for the L28 the MSIII is a better deal. For an RB26 if you already have the ECU then it would be harder to argue going MS rather than NisTune.

EFI hardware isn't going to get you very far on a NA engine but there is a lot of tuning potential with a turbo setup. If you want to modify a NA and use a cam you really need to mickey mouse the stock setup. If you run a tuneable ECU you will be able to squeeze a lot out of the engine with a tuned spark map.

And I agree with you as well - spending money on the engine is probably the last thing you should do. Fix the cruddy stock S130 suspension first