I played around with an older 300ZX the other night. Not the Z32 body. Older than that. What do those things run, with 5-speed/Turbo/NA, Auto/Turbo/NA? I had no problem with keeping up with him. But I was always playing catch up. I wasn't sure if he would take off at the light and he did on me twice and I didn't launch. I don't think he was seriously wanting to race me. He was very surprised to see me passing him at WOT the first time. I think he just wanted to play with his car some so he was taking off at the light and going WOT. Anyways, I hung with him no problem. But he would let off after a while and I would pass him. I don't know if it was because he didn't want to go so fast. Or because I was gaining on him so hard. Because I was gaining on the top end.

ZuM

 

I think the 5spds run high 13's. They have 300 hp and are lighter than the last generation Z...

 

Wow, I didn't think the older ones had 300hp too! It definately wasn't a turbo then. He didn't pull away that hard. And like I said. I started to gain on him. But I think he was a 5speed. I saw the back of his car jerk on the 1-2 shift.

 

I'm pretty sure the older Turbo Z's didn't have 300hp. I don't remember what they did have, but I do remember 300HP being a big bump up from the turbos of the previous gen.

 

The Z31 turbo made 200HP and 227 ft-lbs...easy prey for a maxima...rated 0-60 in 7.4 sec (5spd) by Nisaan...

 

Did they have NA Z31s? Because I think 200hp would have put up a better fight than he did.

ZuM

 

Yup. The Z31 series na Z had the old VG30(maxima motor) rated a 160hp and 185ftlbs torque. No match for a VQ maxima. The other gentlemen is about correct on the Z31 turbos. But to their defense, they had no intercooler. Add the intercooler, boost controller, intake and exhaust and 260-285 hp is right there.

 

That would explain why he was able to take off with some authority and I was able to run him down. The VG30DE has some ***** down low. But he did shut down after a while. He didn't let me just walk him though. But I was obviously reeling him in hard.

ZuM

 

Also the NA's have shorter gearing thanks to the 4.0 rear end vs the 3.7 for the turbo. The engine is actually the VG30E, believe me if it was a VG30DE in a Z31, he would have beaten you good . The turbo Z31's run around 15.1-15.5 bone stock with trapspeeds around 88-92mph. Basically the turbo Z31's are about equal or better than 4th gens. Jeff's right too, with intake/exhaust/boost/IC they put down around 210-240rwhp with about 260-295rwtq. Given the same power at the wheels the Z31 will have more torque than a stock Z32, plus the Z31 is around 3200-3350lbs depending on model.

 

The answer to your questions is
84-87 non-turbo: 160 bhp @ 5200 rpm
84-87 turbo: 200 bhp @ 5200 rpm
88-89 non-turbo: 165 bhp @ 5200 rpm
88-89 turbo: 205 bhp @ 5200 rpm