280ZX (S130) Forums Dedicated to 79-83 ZCars

1981 vs 1983ZX

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Old 08-02-2002 | 02:13 PM
  #2  
Bleach's Avatar
The Evil Twin
 
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 9,296
From: Seattle, WA
Re: 1981 vs 1983ZX

The engines are the same internally and externally. They both use a P79 head and F54 block with flattop pistons.

The bumpers front and rear are a little different, but they are all interchangable. The body panels are the same inside and out.

The front and rear brake pads are different. Also, the front and rear struts are slightly different. The front tie-rod ends are different inside and outside. The transmission and rear end are the same between the two. The tail lights have different styles, but are interchangable. The hood is a different style, and most people prefer the 82-83 hood. It is basically the 1981 280zx turbo hood, and Nissan decided to use it on all their turbos and non-turbo for 82-83.

Old 08-03-2002 | 05:33 PM
  #3  
Skully's Avatar
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,905
From: Saskatoon, SK
Re: 1981 vs 1983ZX

i should slap a turbo hood on mine .......looks nicer

Old 08-06-2002 | 01:28 PM
  #5  
Bleach's Avatar
The Evil Twin
 
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 9,296
From: Seattle, WA
Re: 1981 vs 1983ZX

No, the 1982 280zx never came with the N42 head in any country because that head was meant to be used on a block with dished pistons. That is a common swap to get 10.2:1 compression although the combustion chambers are open rather than closed. The peanut shape of the closed chamber in the P79 pushes the compressed fuel into the corner close to the spark plug while the open chamber pushes the fuel near the center of the piston. As you know the spark plug is on the side of the head. The older open chambered heads work fine, but are more prone to pinging especially on high compression setups like yours. You may have a lot of pinging if you run low octain gas.... then again, you may not. That is just the theory of design.

Newer cars all have closed chambered heads unless you're talking about a DOHC engine. Then the head is symeticral. The 4 valves are even along both sides and the spark plug is directly in the center where the flame kernal begins. That seems to be the best evolution of the internal combustion engine as it has a really good quench design and allows the best possible air flow.

Recently, VW has made 5 valve per cylinder engines. That may or may not have any advantage. Two larger intake valves and three smaller exhaust valves I think. I saw that on their 4-cyl turbo they put in the GTI and Beetle. requires more cam lobes.

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