I want to turbo my L28 280z fuel injection, i found turbo kits on ebay but it says 280zx, does that mean i need a 280zx engine? I thought that they used the same block? Just trying to figure out if i can buy it and bolt it on or if i need to do a whole engine swap? You probably need more information, please get back to me and tell me what else you need so i can figure this out! Thanks

~Brett

I am not familiar with any of those kits, but I am familiar with engines. An engine designed to work with a turbo is a very different animal than a engine designed for Normally aspirated running. The turbo engine will have dished pistons, and very low compression. You usually cannot just bolt on a turbo kit to an engine with 9 or 10 to one compressoin.

I believe you will also need a 280ZX oil pan among other things.

Darn, so id pretty much need to get a turbo engine block off like an 82-83

Brett:

Go to www.hybridz.org to further research turbo L28. You will find all that you seek.

Study hard with searches first. Since this topic has been covered umteen times on that forum in minute detail from every possible angle, there is much to learn, and it will take time and patience to sift the wheat from the chaff, although there is remarkably little chaff there, just many many varieties of wheat!!. Once educated on the basics, you can ask more pointed questions about your specific requirements. Good luck.

Jim

The stock L28 is 8.3:1 compression, so that part isn't an issue. Listen to Jim though, hybridz.org has a ton of guys who have been down this road before and can answer any question you can come up with.

Thanks alot i appreciate all the help, now im trying to figure out if i want to paint the car or if i wanna go turbo it

If memory serves (and it may not), there was an off-the-shelf turbo kit for the L28 that was made before the 280ZXT was in production ... RaeJay or something like that?

Minimal compression fed through a J-tube (something like 9psi) ... which, of course, ran the risk of cooking some pistons.

I doesn't sound like the safest or most practical setup, but kits have been produced to run on these engines.

I think Nissan essentially emulated these setups but reduced compression to something like 7.3:1 with the P90 head, to make sure you wouldn't destroy anything, .

I want to turbo my L28 280z fuel injection' date=' i found turbo kits on ebay but it says 280zx, does that mean i need a 280zx engine? I thought that they used the same block? Just trying to figure out if i can buy it and bolt it on or if i need to do a whole engine swap? You probably need more information, please get back to me and tell me what else you need so i can figure this out! Thanks

~Brett[/quote']

I've researched turbocharging a S30 off and on for a while now. It seems the easiest and cost effective way is just to do an engine swap from a 280zx turbo.

I'd suggest getting a copy of Maximum Boost and reading that before buying anything.

'77az280z Thanks alot i appreciate all the help, now im trying to figure out if i want to paint the car or if i wanna go turbo it

If you daily drive your Z I'd get a paint job over a turbo swap. I hear dailying a turbo car is less than fun, especially when there's traffic.

Find a 82-83 ZX turbo, get the motor,wiring harness and ecu. Start from there then build up, a stock turbo motor is fun, easy to drive and reliable.

I agree with Gumby240, turbo l28 is fun and relatively reliable. I did my turbo conversion using an 82 engine, harness and converted to a t-5 tranny at the same time. the swap was relatively simple, pretty much dropped in and bolted up. The wireing on the other hand was a bit of a pita, but with the info on hybrid z and some wiring schematics it can be figured out. I do however have the occasional hiccup, in the quality of how the engine performs. It seems mostly related to the old wiring harness plug ends, but this can usually be remedied by cleaning the connectons or just wiggling them abit. These wiring ghosts can be frustrating at times, and can also take away from the experience of z ownership. On the other hand, the car is faster, sounds cool, and is highly upgradeable.