top speed of a 72' 240z

[PrOxLaMuS©]

135 MPH all stock.. with a 3 speed AUTOMATIC!

[gramercyjam]

It's getting deep in here.

[gundee]

Extremely deep I might add.

[Zrush]

Dammit, what have I stepped in!?!? I can say I've had my bone stock 72 240Z up to around 85+ on the interstate. She felt smooth as silk but I did feel the front end comming up.

My husband has had is ultra modified 77 280Z past 100 on the country roads. Very inZane and very dumb.

We all talk as if this is cool but if you blow a tire at these speeds your dead or someone else will be

Take it to the track IMO

Vicky

[sblake01]

135 MPH all stock.. with a 3 speed AUTOMATIC!

How steep was the downhill?

[panchovisa]

I've never had mine over the legal posted speed limit. Felt real stable. Deep indeed.

[Daniel Griggs]

Anybody out there ever use a hand held GPS to verify these speeds? IMO a 30 plus year old speedo probably aint all that accurate. :cheeky:

[Victor Laury]

I've been to 125 according to the speedo. There's some left, but not much. I'd say at 130 you'd start to run into the aerodynamic wall. This was with a front air dam. I hear-tell these Z's get a little loose up front over 120 without one.

[gramercyjam]

I'd agree there. Recently did a T/T with a 1/2 mile back straight. My '73 240Z weighed in at 1990# the way it was set up for that.

With freshly built flat top piston L28, triple 45 webers, .572 lift cam, 4.44 rear, ZX 5 speed, 245/45/16's, and C12 race gas, I was redlining it at 8500. I have no speedo, just a Autometer SportComp tach w/shift light. Shifting to 5th at redline would make the speed about 140MPH or a few MPH more. From there 5th slowly pulled. I made the shift to 5th just to keep the engine from blowing up. If your rear end was geared a little higher, perhaps you could get a little more out of it, but the aerodynamic wall is as solid as brick at that speed. Need more than an air dam (I have one) to overcome that. The front of the 240Z is more of a parachute than a needle. There were only a few faster cars out there that day, like a 600 HP Z06, Porsche GT3, BMW SMGII M3.

KMack can verify. He was there.

[Chino 240Z]

gramercyjam, you must have been spinning over 7K at the end of that 1/2 mile straight with those 4.44 rear gearing! Do you like that setup?

I'm currently limited with this crazy 4.63 set up now. I run out of gear at about 1/4 mile in 5th at 7K. I have a 4.11 in the shed I'm getting ready to go thru. As far as speed, don't know? cable or the speedo-gear in trans must be bad? Gotta get under and see whats up.

[e_racer1999]

gone 117 or so... didn't want to push it too hard, plus felt a little "floaty" to quote....

[gramercyjam]

After the shift to 5, mine pulls very very slowly. I don't recall what I ended up at at the end of the straight .... too damn scared to take my eyes off the road because the ride was really rough with lots of vibration because it seemed like there were concrete joints every couple of inches on that old runway, and it doesn't take but a split second for things to go very wrong at that speed. I worried a lot about missing the braking zone and quick left hander too. I just have "stock" brakes with Carbotech Panther pads in front and Nismo green shoes in the back. I deleted the booster and have an aftermarket manual proportioning valve and stainless brake lines. But I worried over the lack of stopping power for nothing. The brakes worked like magic, no fade ever, always more than enough stopping power.

I think that a little shorter 5th would be better for my setup. Right now its pretty useless for accelerating. My 5 speed is out of an 83ZX, one out of an 80 would be better. I had a 4.11 rear before the 4.44 and didn't like it as much. I'd like to try a 4.63 some time. It would probably be great for autox.