This might sound Dumb... Destroke it???

John,

I once thought as you do. and its not dumb to think of cool ideas to make your already-awesome-Z go faster, it's just not very practical especially if you are not racing or anything. If you just want to go fast and still have a semi stock 240 and money in your wallet -- go turbo. It is by far the cheapest, fastest route you can go.... and most of the guys on here would probably agree (this topic has been beaten beyond death in the archives, so I am not afraid to make that statement) ;D
You will still keep the "soul" of your datsun Z AND have money in your pocket at the end of day, and not mention - still be able to keep your dignity without regret.... let me explain.

2 years ago I decided to put a stroker motor in my 280z. I payed $5,000 for a rebuilt L28 big bore motor from Rebello racing to include all the big bells and whistles and even a header. now, after the motor was dropped in, it sounded great. after awhile i began to realize that it wasn't as fast as I thought it was going to be (I didn't take it t the Dyno however; Dyno Queens don't impress me)
it was also loud and annoying and it was beginning to annoy me, driving everyday (DD). it would have been more ideal for a race car and not street. It finally donned on me that it really wasn't worth the money i spent. then about six months later, the motor had an internal failure... I found metal shavings in the oil. so I pulled the motor and sent it back to rebello. I didn't get any money back for it, as they (rebello) claim that I ruined the engine. now have nothing against rebello and I am not mad at them. I did come out in the end since I found someone who wanted the motor after rebello rebuilt it, and he payed me about 2K and payed the rest to rebello to do the specifics that he wanted. So it wasn't all bad. The point to this story it this... you don't need to pay thousands just so you can go fast. especially if you don't have a realistic goal with what you want to get out of your car. So here's what I did.

I put my stock '76 motor back into my car. I got it cleaned up real nice, painted and neat. Then I did a Turbo conversion to it. custom header, 54 mm turbo, 3" exhaust. all the works EXCEPT the motor internals... they are still n/a. That having been said, I run 9 lbs of boost and that's it. Now it would have been better, safer and more ideal to drop a complete Turbo motor in, but I didn't have the funds or the time to seek out a complete descent running turbo engine. I used what I had sitting in the driveway... my crusty, dirty, old, STOCK engine. The car IS fast. In fact, It is way faster and much for comfortable than that stroker motor ever was. AND it was a lot cheaper to go that route instead. However, every man to his own.

If you want a V-8, go buy an old Vette or a mustang. If you want classic heart and soul, stick with your L-series setup, go turbo and put those stupid ricer Honda idiots to shame. You will still get respect from the V-8 muscle heads just by owning a classic Z, cause it shows you have a little style. 8)

Bon

blue77,

i am running the n/a components on my car with the turbo. distrib, block, head, stock pistons, ecu, etc... its basically a bolt on turbo if you think about it. i am running a turbo air flow meter but it has n/a internals (not the turbo internals that originally came with it)
i am running some other components such as wider MSD spark plug wires, MSD ignition, 35 lbs injectors, intercooler, custom exhaust,
BMW throttle body, aftermarket fuel rail, custom header, turbo and waste gate, running low boost (6 - 9 psi)

i love the setup but if i ever do it again, it will be a zx swap. i wouldn't recommend doing the n/a bolt-on, as it is much more efficient and safe to do a bonofide turbo swap from an original turbo car... besides, you will be able to run more boost without blowing up your motor.

if i was going going to build another stroker, i would build a high compression motor with forged pistons, a stage 2 cam, and triple webers and headers, but i think that is a setup more suited for racing and not street. there are a few guys on here who have nice stroker setups that you might want to ask as well... but turbo will be cheaper, in other words - the best bang for your buck

Bon

I run a 3L and it is far from stock. Stock puts down 130whp if your lucky and good tune, some have been exceptions and pulled 147. The most I've seen with a modified motor using the stock EFI is 168whp.
Mine running triple webers and a pretty aggressive build puts down 256whp, it revs twice as fast as stock and is smooth as silk at 7500rpm.
However mine was built to be a N/A stroker so it has a lot of headwork, decent size cam and 12:1 compression. And yes I can run it on pump gas, has to be 93 though even with 92 octane it will ping a little. Sometimes I run 110 and had planned this so with the compression.
It's a blast to drive anywhere, and I have yet to be beat by any turbo swap that has had less than $2500 in it and 14lbs; that's with the owners doing the work not paying a shop. On the flip side I have more than $2500 in my head/cam/valvetrain setup. So yeah I could have had a lot more power for, could have put an LS1 in it for the cost of my entire motor. My best run is a [email protected] on street tires, basically sea level, setup the way it is everyday which is more for autoX/handling not drag. I've only run it at the strip 6 times about 9 years ago.
Just depends on what you want, I really like the L6 and the sound mine makes is music to me. The last thing I would do though is destroke.