Just bought 1981 280ZX-T

[saturnvii7]

Well... a couple days ago I purchased my first Z, a 1981 280ZX Turbo 2+2 T-top with about 155,000 miles on, for 1G. Car does have some issues; I need to replace a leaking head gasket, front struts, steering tie rodsm, and it came without the front and rear bumpers. Luckily he included a head gasket kit and tie rods, and I was able to find the front and rear bumpers at a junkyard, so I think it'll work out to being a decent deal. Car made the 20 mile road trip back to my apartment without any heating/stalling problems.

Have pictures but they're on my phone, hopefully I'll find a way to post soon. The plan is to replace the head gasket, front struts, and tie rods along with getting an intercooler this upcoming weekend. I should be able to finish the body work before then. After that paint and I should have a beautiful car.

Any advice on the upcoming surgeries?

:Edit: Forgot to mention, got those cool looking snowflake rims with it :Edit:
Modified by saturnvii7 at 1:52 PM 4/29/2007

[evildky]

Welcome to Nico and congrats on the Z!

you said your adding and I/C, if you plan on upping the boost I highly recomend adding the ARP headstuds, a metal HG is a nice addition if you plan on maxing it out

be sure to get some pics up!

[oneway]

You gotta like a good deal!! A front mount is a must.

[saturnvii7]

One correction; car is actually just a 2 seater, thought it was the 2+2 till I took all parts out of the back.

I'd like to get some decent power out of it, but I'm not looking to more than double the stock power output. Hopefully an intercooler, exhaust, new turbo, and boost controller will get me up to about 300+ at the crank without any serious reliability issues.

Doing some research on the head gasket swap right now; looks like it'll be pretty straightforward if a little tedious. I ordered the shop manual last night so I'm hoping it'll get here in time to do the work on Friday. Primarily I need the torque values for the head bolts.

The intercooler is definitely necessary. I live in Phoenix, AZ so it's creeping into the 100s now. Prob would blow a new turbo by the end of the summer...

So the plan for this weekend is to replace the head gasket, repair the tie rods and front struts, flush the transmission and oil. I might try to switch out the turbo as well since I'll have easier access, and it's the original turbo so with 155,000 miles it's gotta be either gone or going.

Hopefully the head and block aren't out of spec (I've heard .006 in for an inline 6) and I won't have to get them resurfaced...

[evildky]

with stock electronics and enjectors you'll find the max right about 30chp, 230-260 at the wheel, definitely enought o make it fun, unfortunately you run out of everything about the same time, the fp, injectors, turbo all kinda max out right about there, and the stock management system sucks so you cna add that to the list

[saturnvii7]

260 at the wheels would be great. There are few turbos in the area for sale, along with a couple intercoolers for a bargain. Think I could fit a T88 in it?

The other turbos available in the area are more mundane T-25s. I'm thinking 250-300 WHP would be a good goal for now... but with a new fuel pump and injectors I'll be horribly tempted to go higher if the car's running reliably.

[evildky]

to get to 300 whp you are absolutely at the limit of the stok injection, I only know of one guy who managed ti on stock electronic's, and it was not streetable! to support the top end he had to ruin idle and off idle quality, the stock turbo is a T3, the usual upgrade is the T3O4E, this flows enough air to get you to nearly 400 whp, but you won't get there on a stock motor, the fuel pump, injectors, managment, HG and headbolts, all max out around 250 whp, it's really a matter of how far you want to go and how much you want to spend

my setup dyno'd 230whp with stock electronic's and no i/c at 10 psi

I added an i/c larger injectors, fuel pump, and ditched the stock managment in favor of megasquirt, and put down 265 whp at 18 psi

I then added the T3O4E 57 trim, and added a Metal HG and ARP headstuds, as I was getting pretty bad head seapage at this point, ran it this way a 14 psi, then turned it up to 20, and then started loosing compression in 2 cylinders, by the time I got to the dyno I only managed 299 whp, with a fresh bottom end it should be mid 300's, I however am building a stroker bottom end

in the persuit of HP on the turbo L6, it's advised to run a mechanical head, and a higher comperssion ratio than the stock 7.3:1 but only iss your ready to do all the other supporting mods

also note I do not run an air filter...... at all.....ever! I also have streight through exhaust, home made downpipe all mandrel bends and no muffler....at all......ever! also at this point the car isnt' what I call streetalbe, not just the lack of interior but the engine has 2 speeds, off and on! idle would be better with a mufler but not too bad, but my timing curves are pretty agressive so when it starts to spool it goes full spool quickly and this can be violent, even my new 12 wide wheels with 315 wide tires just will not hold, the rear of the car is just too light, of course if you are sane and keep your interior complete you won't have the traction issues I have

[evildky]

and on yeah, my stoker bottom end I hope to get me to 400 whp, as far as I knwo all the cars in taht range are running mechanical heads with custom cams, I kinda like the hydraulic and might just have to wait and see how far i can get with the hydraulic head

[cpt jack]

to get to 300 whp you are absolutely at the limit of the stok injection, I only know of one guy who managed ti on stock electronic's, and it was not streetable! to support the top end he had to ruin idle and off idle quality, the stock turbo is a T3, the usual upgrade is the T3O4E, this flows enough air to get you to nearly 400 whp, but you won't get there on a stock motor, the fuel pump, injectors, managment, HG and headbolts, all max out around 250 whp, it's really a matter of how far you want to go and how much you want to spend

my setup dyno'd 230whp with stock electronic's and no i/c at 10 psi

I added an i/c larger injectors, fuel pump, and ditched the stock managment in favor of megasquirt, and put down 265 whp at 18 psi

I then added the T3O4E 57 trim, and added a Metal HG and ARP headstuds, as I was getting pretty bad head seapage at this point, ran it this way a 14 psi, then turned it up to 20, and then started loosing compression in 2 cylinders, by the time I got to the dyno I only managed 299 whp, with a fresh bottom end it should be mid 300's, I however am building a stroker bottom end

in the persuit of HP on the turbo L6, it's advised to run a mechanical head, and a higher comperssion ratio than the stock 7.3:1 but only iss your ready to do all the other supporting mods

also note I do not run an air filter...... at all.....ever! I also have streight through exhaust, home made downpipe all mandrel bends and no muffler....at all......ever! also at this point the car isnt' what I call streetalbe, not just the lack of interior but the engine has 2 speeds, off and on! idle would be better with a mufler but not too bad, but my timing curves are pretty agressive so when it starts to spool it goes full spool quickly and this can be violent, even my new 12 wide wheels with 315 wide tires just will not hold, the rear of the car is just too light, of course if you are sane and keep your interior complete you won't have the traction issues I have

i know a guy taht has 380 hp i think it was for his drag car WITH STOCK EVERYTHING! just slaped on a hung *** turbo and intercooler to boot! god bless old nissans!

[evildky]

stock motor, not stock everything else, the fuel system is not capable of delivering enough fuel, but yes they are amazing, there are a few putting over 600 whp but most of those use nitrous and not what you might call streetable, mine had 183k miles on in when I plucked it from a wrecked car in a junkyard, and I've done nothing but beat on it for 3 years, so I can't somplain about my loss of compression, especailly after my 35 psi boost spike (long story but this is why I don't advocate manual boost controllers)

[cpt jack]

stock motor, not stock everything else, the fuel system is not capable of delivering enough fuel, but yes they are amazing, there are a few putting over 600 whp but most of those use nitrous and not what you might call streetable, mine had 183k miles on in when I plucked it from a wrecked car in a junkyard, and I've done nothing but beat on it for 3 years, so I can't somplain about my loss of compression, especailly after my 35 psi boost spike (long story but this is why I don't advocate manual boost controllers)

sorry STOCK EVERYTHING.... BUT 150 DIRECT SHOT LOL

[evildky]

would have to be wet shot, the injector can deliver that much fuel een at 100 psi!

[saturnvii7]

Well, this is an update on the project. It was all going well until I got to the point where I needed to disconnect the exhaust from the turbo.

I was only able to get one bolt loose on the bolts connecting the turbo to the j-pipe going down to the exhaust The bolts all seem to have flaps aligned with one of the faces from the gasket in between. Basically I haven't been able to to loose any of the accessible bolts and the exhaust pipe seems to be welded to the j-pipe coming down from the turbo.

I've attached some pictures of the bolts I've been trying to remove. If anyone's got any suggestions of how to attack this I'd definitely appreciate some help. I can't get any of them with my socket sets or breaker bar, and I can't seem to get enough leverage with the wrenches I have.

If I can't get the turbo disconnected from the exhaust, which I think is pretty much necessary to replace the head gasket (according to the shop manual), I'll probably need to take the car to a local shop to get it done, so if anyone's in the phoenix area and knows of a good shop that'd be a big help too.

[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[evildky]

thses things are old and tend to rust solid, I've broken more than my share of exhaust suds, I just get the impact on them and they either come off or break off, once you have it off you can have a machine ship drill out and replace the stud, or you can drill and tap it to fit a bolt as I've done in a pinch, if you prefer you can just unbolt the turbo from the manifold and leave the exhaust and turbo in place, also swapping to a 75 non egr intake makes the process a lot quicker, I can have my head off in half an hour, and have the scars to prove it