Standard L28 Power Figures

[PZG302]

200hp at the wheels is pretty unrealistic for the set up your looking at unless you have big dollars.

One of the guys up here in Brisbane running an SC 280Z gets 196 rwhp on his L28 with injection. He has spent a lot of money on cranks, rods pistons, inlet manifolds, etc etc, about $15k to get there.

My race motor, L28 bored to give me 2.9 litre capacity with P90 head, ports cleaned up to match standrd manifold, that has also been cleaned up, electronic dizzy and big 76 degree cam get just under 150rwhp.

The big advantage of my motor is the torque, a very flat torque curve showing between 650 and 700 lb on the dyno dynamics dyno sheet between 3200 and 5200rpm. Peak power is at around 6200 rpm.

I could chase the magic 200rwhp, but don't have the budget for that type of expensive motor, and I feel there are better gains in track times by chasing the handling in the car.

Plus all dynos can be tweaked to give you figure you want to read, and some unscrupuless operators will tune the dyno rather than the car to give the power figures you want to see.

In reality the only true dyno is the stop watch. I have had my car on two different dynos, the second run with new leads, dizzy cap and better inlet piping, less restrictions showed 20 hp less and in better conditions, ie cooler weather.

[260Coupe]

Sulio

My final dyno results were pretty much spot on with what I expected with the L26 refresh (111+ rwkw or approx 145hp) given the comp ratio, cylinder head clean up and cam selection (Camtech 712 grind approx 70/30)

Any respectable L28 on triples should comfortably make 125 rwkw (164 hp) if built correctly.
(even my L24 powered 240z race car was making 135+rwkw on triple 44mm Mikuni Solexs) Most L28 powered Zeds competing in the sprint rounds are up around the 135 - 140 rwkw.(185hp)
Squeezing any more power out of an L28 is an exercise in ever diminishing returns.......the more $$$ you spent you get incrementally less HP gain the closer you get to the 200 rwhp (150+ kw) and beyond.

On the subject of dyno results , I agree the dyno results should only be used as baseline for your own vehicle and it is near impossible to compare dyno results from different operators.
However I have had my Roadster on three different dynos, AVO, Power Play (ex- Datrally) and the one I use now at Allcraft and they are all within +/- 3 kw's of each other.

cheers

Alan
 

[RBZ 260]

Plus all dynos can be tweaked to give you figure you want to read, and some unscrupuless operators will tune the dyno rather than the car to give the power figures you want to see.

This is so true. heard of it and seen it. in particular at the dyno shootouts u can notice the fudges.

anyway hence i dont trust any of them. been in the industry far too long and seen all the crap that has been going around. hence my car never sees dynos anymore. check it against all the stuff i got and if it feel and sounds good its good. i know of cars that had aperently 50kw at the wheels more than my car but i still fly past them. hmm strange i thought more power = faster at least in straight line.

only time i trust a dyno is if i own one and know how to  use it.

if u making an extension make some room for a dyno 

[Lynton]

These are the standard power specs for a 280ZX
Lynton

[modular9]

IMHO the figure to look at isnt the max power but the torque figures. When ever it see a dyno card i tend not to look at the max power I am too busy dissecting the torque curve.

That said 150 rwhp would be nice.

[Toecutter]

200hp at the wheels is pretty unrealistic for the set up your looking at unless you have big dollars

PZG302, yer there seem to be so many variations on figures. As per the HybridZ thread I added on the first page there seem to be people that pull really good figures on fairly lightly modded motors whilst at the same time others that have spent alot more to only get a little more HP!? I'm not chasing numbers just eager to see what the motor will be making when I get a chance to put it on a Dyno. I think you might have misread my statement re 200HP, I would just like to go for a drive in a car running this just to get some sort of bench mark figure. Very ineteresting to get some info on those track Z's you run against.\, gives me further perspective.

Any respectable L28 on triples should comfortably make 125 rwkw (164 hp) if built correctly.
(even my L24 powered 240z race car was making 135+rwkw on triple 44mm Mikuni Solexs) Most L28 powered Zeds competing in the sprint rounds are up around the 135 - 140 rwkw.(185hp)
Squeezing any more power out of an L28 is an exercise in ever diminishing returns.......the more $$$ you spent you get incrementally less HP gain the closer you get to the 200 rwhp (150+ kw) and beyond.

I am not planning to blow too much money on the motor and when the time comes I'll be picking everyones brain here to get the most bang for my buck. I want to be realistic re brakes and suspension and my driving skills. I reckon best to improve on all of these before trying to go for significant power increases.

Some stock cam info I found, (I'll post it here for easy future ref for myself):

http://www.geocities.com/bruskiz/ZCamSpecs.htm
 

[DevilZ]

PZG302, yer there seem to be so many variations on figures. As per the HybridZ thread I added on the first page there seem to be people that pull really good figures on fairly lightly modded motors whilst at the same time others that have spent alot more to only get a little more HP!? I'm not chasing numbers just eager to see what the motor will be making when I get a chance to put it on a Dyno. I think you might have misread my statement re 200HP, I would just like to go for a drive in a car running this just to get some sort of bench mark figure. Very ineteresting to get some info on those track Z's you run against.\, gives me further perspective.

I am not planning to blow too much money on the motor and when the time comes I'll be picking everyones brain here to get the most bang for my buck. I want to be realistic re brakes and suspension and my driving skills. I reckon best to improve on all of these before trying to go for significant power increases.

Some stock cam info I found, (I'll post it here for easy future ref for myself):

http://www.geocities.com/bruskiz/ZCamSpecs.htm
 

I've got over 150RWKW and i can tell you it doesn't feel like enough at the moment!!!! Power delivery rather then peak power is far more important. I still have to change exhausts to get the proper power out of the car but just from experience having a strong power spread over a wide range is far more important then an end bragging right figure. Racings the only true test of speed. 

[nat0_240_chevZ]

yes lets talk torque (punintended), hte area under the curve on a dyno sheet!!!
the more area, the better and more efficient motor.
power is a function of torque and roational speed, a cummins making 984 bhp @1800rpm is far more usable than a honda making 680hp @ 12,000rpm, and gues which one has a guarenteed operating life of over 10,000 hours? yep not the honda!!! work that out in days... over 14 months straight!!!!
hond would be lucky to see 6 hours before it goes or needs to be stript down and overhauled.