Oh how I've missed your avatar!

 

^ POST *****. I LOVE MY BAN ME BUTTON!!

 

Do our cars really have a perfect 50/50 front/rear weight distribution?!? Oh and does the rear defroster really weigh anything cause my car has PS,PW,AC, rear wiper and rear defroster! So thats like what? 2900lbs?

 

Rear defroster, with wiring and control units, and switch probably weighs in at 1-2 pounds. And yes, these cars really have 50-50 weight distribution. Well, according to Nissan anyways. I havent bothered to weigh mine

 

As soon as I get mine back out of the shop, I'll put it on the corner scales. But yes, they are as near to 50/50 as you can get given the variations between options, drivers and whether the gas tank is full to the brim or not.

At 6lbs per gallon of gas and a 21 gallon tank can add 126 lbs to the rear of the car. Of course, the driver will counter-act that (some more than others!).

 

But Only On The Left, So Leave In The Spare Tire And Keep The Battery Over There

 

OK, My car RAN OUT OF GAS TWICE LAST WEEK... and I could only SQUEEZE in a little over 18 gallons... WTF. It coasted into the gas station the second time... it was done... no mas... It would not continue running anymore... Still, I was only able to put 18.2 gallons in it.

Do you think I have a problem with something INSIDE the tank?

Rod.

 

Maybe that last 2 gallons wasn't enough for the system to pressurize properly or something? *shrug*

 

Yeah thats really strange cause it's a bottom feed tank. If it were an internal pump then I'd just say the pick up fell off or something like that. But that cant be the case with the 280zx. Maybe there is some build up around the tank outlet that is not allowing the last couple of gallons out.

 

ok since fixing my air leaks and cracks ive gotten my car to 550-600k per tank which is alot better, but you can get vortex 98 at any servo really.. coles. woollies etc.. but thats in aus land about 1.35$

 

possibly - maybe it's dented alittle too?
when I fill my tank up i tend to be in the 19 gallon range, usually around 19.4 but, i've never hit 20 though... but then again i have never run out of gas, i usually wait till i get 400miles+ to the tank and then go fill up, it works well so far

 

Man it's going to be nice having a 5th gear again. I was getting around 300 miles per tank with my 4 speed. Nissan rates the 280zx 5 speed as able to get around 500 miles per tank

 

hahaha, I actually believe it, it's just too hard for me to drive "economically" so I have never really gotten to check that out for the city, but once I did get very close to 500, using the highway mainly

I'm still convinced if I drive the speed limit on the highway, like on a road trip somewhere, that I could get 600 miles to the tank

one day... maybe...

 

Well what I do to save gas is to roll in neutral. Simply get up to speed with all the other cars around you then put it in neutral, youll be idling at 50mph! and then if ur hitting green lights or not with traffic even better! When u start to fall under the speed limit put it back in 5th and speed up then back to neutral! I once coasted for 5miles through 10 consecutive greens, since I was down to only one bar of gas and I really made it last!

Oh and got more info on S130s, from a Japanese site no less. This is for the 78 S130: 280Z: (our 280zx over there)1175kg, 2by2: 1230kg, 2by2 Turbo:1305kg
L28E: 145ps/5200rpm

then for 81 and up: 155ps/5200rpm (Im guessing from the head changing right?)

Did the math for the weight and got 2590lbs, I dont know about you guys but if the our Zs weigh this much we should be jumping for joy. But then I thought maybe the only JDM S130 is lighter, can anyone tell?

 

A base model, featureless S130 is pretty light. I'm sure the Japanese versions have a little bit of a weight advantage over our US models due to the extra safety features required over here in the states. An S130 and a 280Z, both stripped of any luxuries would find the S130 lslightly ighter. The S130 2+2 had even more of a weight advantage over the 280Z 2+2 then the 2 seaters had.

 

Now if I could get an S130 with that sloping rear of an S30, I'd have my perfect Z. I'll have to see if I can get to 21 in my tank. I don't think I've ever fully filled up. I usually throw 20 in and it lasts me a good while.

 

You mean the S30 280Z 2by2 is heavier than a S130 2by2? And the featureless S130 is without power windows, power steering, rear wiper, rear defroster and what else no A/C right? Lighter bumpers too probably, anything else? but all that maybe only adds up to a little more than 100lbs right?

 

Yeah if you put an optionless 280Z on the scales with an optionless 280zx the 280Z would come out heavier. The difference in weight was greater with the 2+2's though. The reason being is that the S30 chassis wasn't reworked when safety issues came into play. Nissan just started adding stuff to it. Same goes for the 2+2, Nissan just reworked it's current S30 platform to accomodate the rear seats. But with the 280zx all the safety features and rigidty was designed right into the chassis. So they saved weight that way. With the 2+2 280zx it wasn't simply a stretched version of the 2 seater like the S30's were. The 2+2 280ZX was it's own design, independant of the 2 seater.

If you stripped all the safety features of the 280Z off though you'd basically have a 240Z and it would end up being lighter than the 280ZX.

 

Stock Unshaven head if measured from top to bottom (valve cover seat to where head meets the block) is 108mm, so If you want to know if its been shaved...measure and see.

 

What is top speed for the 1983 280 zx turbo?

 

Get out there and find out then post your results

Seriously though, there is a thread in the 280zx forums dedicated to the top speed of these cars. In fact, I think it is called Top Speed

 

I noticed a few people have questions about the fuel economy on the 280ZX's. I've had some people on other boards say I had to be lieing about getting between 30 and 32mpg on the highway with my '82. I found this the other day along with several other commercials from the late 70's early 80's. Enjoy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IPguNA2LMqg

 

If your engine rpms at highway speeds are over 3500, you won't be getting good mileage.

 

i have an 83 280zx turbo and i can only put 18 gallons in it. the most that i ever put in was 18.3 after i ran out of gas. my manual says i have a 21 gallon fuel tank. also i never get as good gas mileage as anyone else says. the most i have ever gotten was 415 miles on the highway and that was trying to drive the whole time with no boost. driving around town i struggle to get 300 miles to a full tank.

 

My first thought was that you had a 2+2, but once I decoded the mistyped photo in your sig, I realized you have a coupe.

There are only two other options:

1. 25 years worth of sediment build-up in your tank have taken up about 2 gallons
2. Someone replaced a bad tank and shoehorned a 2+2 fuel tank into it sometime in the past.

The only way to be absolutely sure is to either run it completely out of gas (not a good idea if there's sediment in there) or (best option) pull it and have it hot tanked, serviced and sealed.

As far as fuel mileage goes, 30+ is definitely at the top end of the spectrum, but with all the electrical sensors, fuel injectors, exhaust, catalytic converter and ignition system operating at optimum settings, high 20's is definitely doable, although, it can be elusive with the age of the components we're dealing with here.

The only way to be sure is to give it a full tune-up and then put it on a wide band O2 data logger and drive it under various conditions and log the data for review later to see if you're running rich in a specific performance envelope.