1982 280zx upgrades?

[whitezeppelin91]

I recently posted about if i should buy the 280zx or not, and I am.

specs: 1982 280zx non-turbo v6 3 speed automatic. Stock.

follow up => what are a few good things to upgrade (as far as horse power)? (easy to intermediate upgrades, I'm still a noob at cars)

I asked my friends who are mechanics and they tell me the same thing "Air intake and exhaust system"

but what i wanna know is what parts specifically (I live in CA by the way) can i put in the 280zx?

i just need a few re-directions towards sites that offer parts

thanks

[black gold man]

I would go with the SUPER MUFF.

[zbane]

The first thing you're going to need to do before considering any performance upgrades is get the car running right. If the car is running poorly, or has some intermittent issues, adding new "go fast" stuff will only create more problems when trying to track down and rectify the problems.

Example: Let's say you upgraded the cam, but you were having fuel delivery issues before you did so. You're still going to have fuel delivery issues, and because of that, you're going to think you just wasted a bunch of money on a new cam-and you'll end up either throwing a bunch of new parts at the car (figuratively, and possibly literally) or you'll give up out of frustration.

Get the car sorted out first, go from there.

So far as upgrading things while replacing worn out items, there are a couple areas where this can be done. You'll probably be in need of new struts. Replacing with Tokico Blues (or struts of your personal choice) is an easy enough thing to do. Sure, it won't give you more horsepower, but will make the car handle better.

You can also look into replacing the exhaust system-from the exhaust manifold back, or just from the catalytic converter back. Redoing your exhaust might net you a few horses, though I don't know if it would be enough to notice or not. I've not done it myself, and am not an expert on these things-but a search of the site will provide you with quite a bit of reading material on the topic.

@BGM: I am curious: Besides attempting to be humorous, just how does your post help answer the very reasonable question posted by whitezeppelin91?

[Kurbycar32]

I cant speak for your vehicle specifically but i also elected to replace my catalytic converter in my mustang of the same era. the one that shipped with the car in 1982 weighed like 50 pounds and was as big as a 2 large pizza boxes stacked on top of each other. When i did the exhaust on that car I replaced the cat with a modern one that weighed like 3 pounds and took 1/4 of the space. If your cat is larger than an actual cat consider replacing it when you do your exhaust. again this was on a mustang, i have no idea what the datsun cat looks like