Alright I have a N/A S130. Well all Ive done so far is super basic things like remove the airbox for a cone filter and removed the Cat and a Monza exhuast from VB. Well none of these made any big difference to the performance of the motor so I was wondering what else can I do to my N/A motor to raise power with under $250 besides the 240sx TB swap. I know this is a ridiculous question and I apologize in advance but I am a novice and I am here to learn.

BTW can anyone guess how much more power my engine now makes?

 

For less than $250... LoL. Not much else than what you've done. You can adjust the AFM to run a lil better.

Good things to do to an L28 for performance: (none under $250 unless you get lucky)
-mild to hot cam
-header
-head job (milled, 3angle valve grind)
-overbore
-aftermarket ignition
-port & pollish intake manifold... matched w/ head.
-etc etc etc

You should be right around 50billion hp now.

 

oh yes... there are some other tricks like:
-taking out the clutch style rad fan & replace it w/ electric fan.
-take out any extra un-needed weight (not really usefull unless you can magically find more than 100lbs to get rid of).

 

I would reccomend just replacing some of your older worn parts. Such things as the slave cylinder (under $20), fuel filter (buy a good one $20ish), spark plugs (NGK no more than $15), spark plug wires (these vary but, around $30-$40), distributor rotor (under $5), distributor cap (I think it's around $10) , etc. I bought a MSD Blaster Coil ($50) and made it work on my old Z, personally I think it made quite a decent difference in response.

To answer your horsepower question, at most you probably picked up 10hp. Typically modifications such as those do not make much of a difference unless you have several other supporting mods. For instance, if you were to get a Cold Air Intake (CAI), street cam, header, no cat, and straight through muffler you would feel a big difference because each of those mods help eachother out. Keep that in mind when buying things.

For now just be patient and replace whatever might be bad or going bad on your car, also it's a good idea to save some money just incase something breaks at least that way you'll have to money to get on it quick.

One more thing, im not sure what your situation is but, another good investment would be tools, all kinds of them, if you can't afford new tools, hit up flea markets, garage sales, thrift stores etc.

 

no way 485734billion hp already?!!?!? sweet! lol. Yeah Ive already though alot about losing the weight of the car since the 280zx is heavier than almost every other modern sports cars or compacts out today (RSX-S, SRT4, new Civic Si all these cars have more power and a little less weight) but its been a no go since Ive yet to find that magical useless piece that weighs over 100lbs. And is there anyway I can get good headers for less than $300? My buddy got DC sports headers for his civic for like 50$ on ebay. If only ebay was a treasure cove for us Z owners.

 

MSA has a three into two header for $174

 

Ive already replaced everything you mentioned above yaaay! Spark plugs I put Splitfires they helped with the misfire a bit. As for tools I actually have none which really sucks but my friend has a bunch and Im always welcome to work on my car at his garage. Im really not sure what defines a CAI (is it the steel pipe?) but I basically removed my old air box and slapped on the cone filter and fastened it right onto where the airbox was connected to and if anything Ill buy one of those 15$ CAIs on ebay. For the muffler I have that Monza Pacesetter one, should I have a muffler shop just make me a straight through exhaust? So say I do everything you mentioned above, how much more hp from stock will the motor make? (sorry Nismopick not asking you )

 

That's funny, because I was on e-bay less than 2 weeks ago. And I couldn't believe how many header auctions were on there for the 280zx. I am sure if there aren't any now. They will come on their again.

 

You have to realize that over time your car has lost a lot of power so by replacing all of those parts you will be coming back up to stock and a 16 second quarter mile time yay! An exhaust shop will not make you a straight through exhaust because it's illegal LOL. You can ask them to mock up a "test pipe" for SCCA races only, then you'll probably convince them

 

bla bla bla.... you're comparing apples & oranges here. Z's are old school touring inline 6 cylinder cars.... unlike the silly honduh rice rockets which every highschool kid owns these days.

You can't do much about your weight right now, so put that topic aside. With an N/A motor, and a strict budget, you're really stuck to the basics. Get an aftermarket ignition, a set of cheap headers, an electric radiator fan & an air fuel gauge. Tune your AFM to run a lil more rich & you're good to go.

 

i may be 16.7, but i am not about to let myself buy one of those damned honda's , and i also pay for every/ z's, parts, tools, tires...etc and i do all the work by myself (unless it requires two people)

 

You know the funny part about all this is that with the cost of the filter, exhaust, and the extra $250 that is now available to be spent, you could've gone out and got a turbo motor and just dropped that in and gotten a good power boost

 

good luck fininding a turbo motor. if you could get your hands on a complete turbo wiring harness, then you could custom make all the other stuff.

 

The Z is on a par with all those cars you mentioned. Civic's weigh in at a portly 2600 + pounds. As do all modern sport compacts. That is why there is a huge after market for light weight body panels. Think about it. Your car has no air bags and no real safety equipment besides seat belts. No real smog equipment and no OBD1 or 2 diagnostics. My 98 3 KGT weighs in at a amazing 3300 pounds, VR4, AWD turbo's weigh in at all most 3900 pounds. Stock SI's are 110 or so HP and weigh the same as you. So if you do the mods that other's have listed you should have a fighting chance against your friends.

Our hoods and hatch's are light all ready. True carbon can be made lighter but fiberglass will not be lighter. You want to lose a few pounds rip out the cruise control and all wires. Trace the wires to there source and cut them from there and pull em out. Other's have said they passed smog with out a charcoal canister, but since Cali has under hood inspections you are screwed there. Other than that all you can do is save ounces. Like make the mounting bracket for that canister as light as possible. Weigh it and drill as many holes as you can in it. That goes for every bracket you feel comfortable with. I've seen a 10 sec CRX with the foot well floor pans cut out. Replaced with a X brace out of allumiun and covered in a carbon fiber skin. He lost all most no chassis stiffness but be lost 15 pounds. A little extreme yes, but when you are after weight you take whatever you can get. And remember enough ounces make a pound. And set your car up for grip. It won't impress the ladies, no smokey burnouts, but grip wins races. Strenghten your chassis and make the whole car perform better

 

I just went through and re did all the wiring harness' in my car and pulled out all the unneccessary wiring and components like cruise control and the warning display and a few other things. You'd be surprised how much weight that shaved off of my wiring. I also went with less tape then the factory did. And for those that dont know, the wiring is quite heavy. I probably shaved a good 10lbs just doing that yesterday Not a whole lot but it was 10lbs I managed to ditch in the effort for a lighter yet practical car

 

if your into saving weight, i saved 60 pounds by pulling the entire A/C system.

 

That's what I was going to say, the A/C is one that can be pulled. Especially if it doesn't work, but that's up to you. I think it was j or nismo that said if you really went ahead and tore out every luxury on that car then you'd be pretty lightweight, but then that takes away from the car. Personally I've come to the point where I'm not so worried about speed anymore. The Z is faster than anything I've ever driven to begin with. Plus the car turns heads everywhere it goes, and I can make it outdo over half the cars on the road in the turns. Just as is, that's pretty damn good for me. I imagine one day I'll start working towards more speed.

 

If You Want The Absolute Cheapest Power Adder, Bang For Buck Install An Msd Blaster 2 Coil, It Is Only 40 Bucks And Makes The Biggest Seat Of The Pant Diff, More So Than Even A Header, Now Add That To A Header And Hold On Jdm

 

Weight reduction is a cheap way of making your car slightly faster. But I've come to the point where I realize that on a street vehicle only so much of a power to weight ratio is practical and I can very easily achieve that ratio without tearing every little creature comfort out of my car. If I'm using a car for the track then I'm stripping the ish out of it. Thats a mistake I made. I was going to use my ZX for a track car but then I decided I would rather use it as a street vehicle. Now I'm regretting everything I pulled out. So far the only thing I have left to replace is the AC. I've got all my power options back and even put Power Steering back in it. I had to switch to Rack and Pinion but atleast I got my power steering back. The only thing I consciencously left out was the cruise control. I've also got to source an entire interior now. I've got a dash and center console so far Ahh, the mistakes of a misbent youth

 

I Got An Interior J, Prob A Little Expensive For You (all Black)+(all Tan), But I Also Have Lots Of Misc Parts You Could Paint, Ill Give You A Good Deal. Pm Me And Ill Get You Going.

 

I'd love an all black interior But yeah, I dont have $600 laying around. I've got to get this thing up and running before I worry about any of that though. Being back out here in CA it shouldnt be too difficult to find interior pieces though. I've got a good dash now so thats a big chunk out of the way.

 

HA HA Frickin' HA!!!!
You just go right on thinking that... You'll soon learn the awful truth!

Rod.

 

Well they dont have to be black I know thats hard to find anywhere. But if I could just get the front half of the interior back I'd be a happy camper. I'd really just like a set of A-Pillars to start so I can fabricate some pillar guage pods

 

It doesn't matter What color you're looking for... I would have settled for purple when I was looking as long as it was in good shape. Everything you find is cracked, broken, sunfaded/brittle, missing pieces... you name it. I curse Nissan for the shoddyness of the interior componenet quality on these cars.

Rod.

 

Canadian Cars Dont Do That Nearly As Bad, Try And Look And Ill Fill In The Holes, Then Make Molds And Get To Work