tonycharger72

Where did you get all your little manifold bends from? I used a T3/T4 EBAY Monsta Chinese Hand Grenade on an RB30 in my 260z, was a good unit, very cheap and went quite well!

This is not a bolt-in solution and might not actually work without some modifications, http://www.betamotorsports.com/products/products.php?cat=7 This is a crossmember sold by Betamotorsports, which allows you to install a 1JZ/2JZ into an S30 The 1UZ comes out of a Soarer, which shares pretty much the same suspension as the JZA80 Supra, which the 2JZ comes from, this crossmember was designed for the 1JZ/2JZ engines into the S30! Thats the theory, don't know if it will hold true in practice though! The other option for mounting your engine could be something like this! http://www.vq240z.com-a.googlepages.com/enginemounts Unfortuneatly I don't really have much information about the VH engine, little practical things like, do you have to move the alternator or A/C compressor for intermediate shaft clearance - or will the stock headers work - Unless you can get in contact with this fellow, http://www.cardomain.com/ride/563982/2 Its going to most likely be a case of buy and see how far away it is from fitting! And then start fabricating! The 1UZ offers you a bit more aftermarket support and it's a touch smaller than the VH41/45 and I know personally it fits, but my experience is probably going to be different as I have used a different crossmember! Check this out mate! http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=139981 & http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=143576 I have taken the long way around and if you went with a 2nd crossmember design like the Betamotorsport product, or just mounted the engine mounts of the chassis rails like 240hoke the actual fitiment of the engine would be a lot more straight-forward! With any of the engines you have listed it won't be a case of buying a set of already in existence engine mounts and bolting the engine in place - at this point - that option does not exist!

I was going to do an RB25 VCT head conversion onto an RB30 - there is two ways can you do it, ditch the VCT or continue to use it, a friend was going to run very large cams so decided it wasnt needed as it wasn't going to do much good anyways - I wanted to retain it, but the RB30 block does not have a provision in it to mate up to the RB25 head, so you route oil from the oil sender unit up to the VCT unit on the intake side of the head, To remove the VCT, you should just be able to block the oil feed! Check out SkylinesAustralia for how it is done with the R33 RB25 VCT Head when they do their RB25/30 conversions! I have thought about it a bit over the last few days and am starting to really like the idea of twin turbo'ing the 1UZ - use two T25's or T28's and the Log style manifolds, there just wouldn't be enough room in there for equal length runners, I would modify the inlet manifold so it would have two throttle bodies and probably run it without an intercooler - for starters, I think running 6-9spi through each turbo would give me enough power for starters ! Wouldn't show up to Rego with two turbo's attached though, have my normal manifolds for that! Who laser cuts things in Canberra? I wouldn't pay Bullet car prices - or get anyone else to make me one I think, I would purchase a TIG and learn how , at the end of the day it would be a useful skill to learn and for the same price as purchasing a bullet manifold I could purchase a half decent 2nd hand TIG! I am seriously considering getting one, bang for buck, nothing seems to come close to it! I have re-wired older cars, with points and electronic ignition, so I should be able to muddle my way through connecting up the adaptronic - but on their website they have reasonable detailed instructions about how you connect up the 1UZ, which is handy ! But also, having someone local who has tuned adaptronic cars before makes it seem even more appealing! Have you though about the 1UZ or maybe even the VH41? The 41 because its basically the same motor but not as wide, the VH does fit, but things like your intermediate shaft might be an issue - I know the 1UZ fits and appears to have a fair amount of support, ie manifolds, manual adaptions for the gearbox etc, etc, etc - plus its cheap - but the VQ30, VH45 aren't that badly priced either, VQ35 can be pretty pricey though! When I weight mine with an L26 and a full tank of fuel it was around 1150kg's, when I had done the RB30 conversion it was 1183kg's - heavier than what I thought it would be to be honest, that was with a 60kg driver in it as well! So I would go with around 1100kg's! Have you considered a 280zx? I know the are not as pretty as the 2 seaters, but they do have their own charm, I have one sitting next to my car and the longer its been there the more and more I have come to appreciate it! and it does have benefits, its a much, much better made car, so things like road noise are much better - it has an inbuilt ZG nose, so aerodynamically it is better of - it does have pretty lousy rear suspension, but that can be righted - but they are cheap, they are really cheap to get! Apparently QLD is about the best place in OZ to get your car over the pits! Friend was telling me its more like how you described NZ and once you get it inspected and recieve your complicance plate you rock up to rego and someone behind a desk makes sure that you have the complicance plate, they don't sit there and go over the car! Almost sounds as good as the Belconnen Markets , always wanted to move out of Canberra and live in Brisbane, just got to finish my degree first and at least start my CPA/CA qualifications or I won't get a good enough job and I will be poor, Canberra is crazy expensive for rentals, have a mate up in Brisbane and as jokes would send him Allhomes rental properties in Canberra with the caption you could live for $1000/week - in Canberra overlooking Lake Berley Griffin, then he would send me property listings in Brisbane, for $400 you could be living on the 20th floor overlooking the Brisbane river ! Thats the one, makes the Z look more like the car it ripped off, well in my opinion looks like it tried to rip off - the Daytona! I don't care for the Z grill that much so wouldn't to ditch it and fully enclose the front end! I love white with racing stripes, but colour choice is a fair way away for me - still have to built the radiator support panel, wire the car, make fuel lines, wire it, remake the dash, etc, etc, etc - lots of work !

I used these sorts of adapters on my 1973 Ford Fairlane - they were 35mm in total height from memory, and worked quite well - but they were not properly sized for my hubs so I snapped a few wheel studs - get them sized correctly and they will work fine - or put a spacer on your hub!

Thanks mate! Think if you have the will, anyone can do this stuff, I learned how to weld about 12mths ago and this is the first big thing I have done - but there has been a fair amount of trial and error involved ! Have you though about what sort of ECU you are going to run with your project? http://www.adaptronic.com.au/ I will probably be using this ECU, very cheap and there is a step by step process of how to wire up your 1UZ, plus downloadable maps to start your 1UZ off with!

I have ventured into alluminium welding as yet, but certainly wouldn't mind giving it a try so fabricating my own manifold (using the exisiting 1UZ manifold) might certainly be an idea in the future - had a look at bullet cars and their prices aren't cheap for their manifolds, but they look to be of pretty good quality! You ever heard of Adaptronic? I was looking at running this ECU - I figure that I will mostly likely be interested in going with some form of un-natural aspiration at some point, so moving to an ecu which can be programmed might be a better way to start! Rush Imports appear to deal with Adaptronic and Haltech so at least there would be a tuner local who knows how to tune it! I found my RB30 a really bugger to keep cool as well! Have you considered a 1jzvvti or the mighty 2jz? bang for buck they kill the RB's on value!!! Yeah, there is no way I would wonder up to ACT rego with a supercharger or turbo slapped onto my engine , when I took the RB30 over (normally aspirated) they still knocked me back on a bunch of little things, then joked that no one makes it over the first time, they are pretty dodgy and do carry on as if they have power over life and death - it's very annoying have to deal with them at all!!! Paying the engineer to have a quick look at everything isn't much fun either ! I was thinking of painting it British Racing Green - or possibly white with stripes, I am planning on flaring out the rear guards with metal versions of ZG flares and slapping on a ZG nose, with mods, so still lots and lots of work still to do! For sure, when you get to Canberra or plan on coming down just send me an email - tonycharger72@hotmail.com - and come and have a look at the car, I think its still a long way away from driving yet! I have been to Brisbane a few times and have always liked it, seemed like a big version of Canberra - still dosen't feel like a big nasty city like Sydney and Melbourne !

Sweet, thanks for that mate! Really would be interested to see what these things like stock !

This is an old thread but I was curious if anyone ever bought the Fastrax camber/caster/toe gauge and if so, what they thought of it?

That fellow does some very nice work! That is Austin Hoke and he is on this site - he has a website documenting his conversion! Yes, I am currently stuffing a 1UZ into my 260z http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=143576&page=3 That sounds like my reasoning for going with the 1UZ - I was going to go down the RB30/25 path as I already had an RB30 turbo, but just couldnt justify the expense, the VQ is a great engine and can get half-cuts around $2k-$2.5K, which is pretty reasonable for what you get ! Would love to slap on a Supercharger, not cheap though and I could imagine the fun I would have rocking up with a massive cowl and supercharger sticking out my engine at the ACT pits My 1UZ is non VVT, so not as tricky as the VH - I suppose if I wanted to run a holley with the 1UZ all I have to do is control the timing, bit boganish, but does appeal ! Hows Brisbane compared to Canberra? I was going to buy a Soarer but decided I should put my Z back on the road, a friend has a Supra and it might just be, but the suspension on that and the suspension on the Soarer (ones without air shocks) look identical to the Supra - JZA80!

I was more concerned that I have pointlessly modified my crossmember in an attempt to correct the LCA angle, by cutting 25mm of it I think I may have inadvertently caused some bonnet clearances issues because the engine is now effectively 25mm higher, eh, fun never stops ! What worried me was that there may have been some reason for the LCA's pointing up - not just at the horizontal, but very noticeably upwards - from what I understand - this is not a good thing at all and it worried me Mazda had done it on purpose because of some very legitimate reason I didn't understand ! There are other weird things as well, you can spot it in the photo's above that I have posted - the inner LCA pivot is a good 30-40mm below that of the rack end, plus the tie-rod end hole is twice the distance approximately away from the ball-joint compared with the rack-end and LCA inner pivot, also the tie-rod end hole is 20-25mm higher than that of the ball-joint, appears lots or in-built bump-steer from the Mazda engineer's! I have not altered any of this because I figured that Mazda probably had a better idea of what they are doing than I do - until I drive my car I planned on not altering any of these things, BUT, as these aforementioned items were a little bit odd, I thought they may also be something different with the LCA of the RX7!

I was reading through Lextreme and I think some folks on that site had gotten Megasquirt to work with the 1UZ - that might be a cheaper way around this? But if all you need is a stand alone ignition ECU, chances are you could buy an old 2nd ECU which wouldn't be terribly expensive anyways! I have a 1UZ and I actually really like the idea of a big 4-Barrel holley sitting on top of the engine - anyone can set one of those things up in a bout 15mins, they are great ! Its probably a little backward ditching the fuel injection, but still kinda like the idea! Orphan - your in Canberra mate? So am I !

Thats really interesting mate - I had some pretty annoying cooling issues when I had a turbo RB30 in my car, worried I will have the same issues once I get the Z back on the road with the 1UZ, I wonder if you findings would be transferable to an S30 with a V8? Just curious - do you think something like this would be as effective? Big massive cowl with the whole end of it open (part facing the windscreen) It makes life easier for me as I think I will have clearances issues with the 1UZ's manifold!

Are those floors just in primer or is there some sort of sound deadner on top of them? they look very smooth!

Just by taking a breif look at the rear suspension, which is basically still 100% stock, the angle of the rear LCA's is more steeply angled than that of the fronts, I will keep this in mind when it comes to designing my rear suspension! Very difficult to built in any adjustment for the roll centres - if I assume, it can really only be done by lowering/raising the LCA inner/outter pivot point and by shortening/extending the strut itselt - the RX7 LCA basically combines the Radius Rod and LCA, so unlike the Z design, I can't just shift up the LCA inner pivot point, not without also moving up the rear of the LCA, Thanks Richard, for a suspension and brake upgrade this RX7 gear would be a good cheap improvement to the stock Z stuff - the fellow who's struts I pictured above just modified his LCA's to accept the RX7 ball-joint, so he still retained the stock Radius Rods - therefore, if you mixed what I did with the struts, which allows full ride height adjustability and selection of Koni, AGX or simple KYB Excel G shocks from a 1989-94 celica with a 240lb pound spring stock so the valving would be a pretty good starting point right out of the box and just that fellows idea for the modified Datsun LCA to accept the RX7 ball-joint - you would have a fairly simple and easy conversion which also provides you with alluminium hubs, 5 stud and a brake setup with 4-pot Sumitono's (thats what the S4/S5 RX7 used for front brakes) By doing this you would be able to retain Radius Rods that allow much greater adjustability that what I have in my setup - there is some caster built into the RX7 LCA's, but no real adjustment is available to me! Thanks for that! I had a quick look around on some RX7 forums and it seems quite a few of them have S4/S5 RX7's with more horizontal looking LCA's, I think this might just be an issue with this vehicles suspension once you lower it - actually I am sure it is an issue with lots of Mac strut cars once you lower them more than a certain amount!

This radiator is about 630mm or so, so fits between the frame rails and its similar in height tot he JTR radiator, so like you did, could easily mount it in a similar fashion to what JTR prescribe, I just welded two mounting tabs onto the bottom on my radiator support panel and made two brackets that came over the top! It's a touch tall, but no different in height than the 280zx tripple core radiator! I can't believe how cheap this is in the USA, like $50 or something buy it now - its about $300AUD over here!!!

Honestly mate, I would drop the crossmember and cut that entire section out, looks like its also a bit of the inner fender wall as well, looks pretty stuffed! You could just run bolts through the chassis rails like it appears whoever, um, "fixed" the rails before, or you could build a whole new section, which more closely resembles the original chassis rail crossmember bolt section! This is a little bit larger than actually required, but you get the idea ! I have regulary put jack stands under the TC buckets, plus you could always use a scissor jack on the pinch welds along the side of the car!

Thanks for the pic mate!!! Those LCA angles are the same as the RX7 I was looking at the other day, very odd that.................. This is Jmortensen answering a question I had in another thread! King Springs sell a lowering spring for the RX7 that is (from memory) about 200lbs, which dosen't appear as if it is particulary heavy, plus from what I have heard the S4/S5 RX7 is a good handling car, with an LCA angle like that you would think would be riding around on its door handles ! This is the original angle of the RX7 LCA's in my car, so I trimmed an 1" of the top of the crossmember so the angle changed from this, To this! What am I missing here? from the way I understand it, having the LCA's pointing up like that shouldn't be a good thing?

I dont have any pics, But I cut the top of the fuel tank, grabbed an early 90's pintara fuel cradle and welded a new top on the fuel tank to suit the Pintara fuel cradle, I removed the stock Pintara fuel pump and used a Walbro 341 (think that was it) internal EFI fuel pump, A touch elaborate but wanted to put the fuel pump inside the tank and remove the need for a surge tank! As for the fuel lines, I have some alluminium tube and some bundy bundy steel tube, but I haven't decided which one I will use, I will just run it down my new chassis rails, not in the tunnel like before, These are my new chassis rails ! Plus I ditched the way I mounted the engine and gearbox earlier in this thread! http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=143576 As for the exhaust, I really don't know what do to there - I think running twin pipes is going to be tough, also extractors are going to be tricky as well, I have no room on the passenger side (drivers side for USA), but I still have to built the radiator support panel and finalise my plans for the rear suspension before I think about any of that stuff!

Shika805, what series RX7 have you got? I was under a lowered S5 RX7 the other day, which didn't have an engine in it and the Lower Control Arm Angles were pretty bad, they were angled upwards at maybe 15-20 degs, I am just curious as to what other S4/S5 RX7 LCA's angles look like!

Hey Mate, Give Baz at Datsport in SA a call, he is an old Nissan tech from years ago and has built many an L-Series, he has lots and lots of great information! When the $$$ was at parody and if you assembled the parts yourself, also without any head work, you could easily get out of a rebuilt RB30/25 long block for around $7k, maybe less! Lots of folks on SkylinesAustralia have just slapped the RB25 head onto stock RB30 bottom ends with pretty amazing results - really is a torque monster this engine, But I do agree with the point , for example! I purchased an RB30E from an R31 Skyline with 180psi across all cylinders for about $300AUD from a local wrecker, than slapped one of those Monster T3/T4 turbo kits from EBAY on the side of it, the turbo kit and engine together cost me about $800! I was using an RB30E n/a 5-spd and it held up ok, but after 6mths it started to struggle! I re-chipped the stock ECU and ran GTR injectors and made 175rwkw, which is probably about 300hp at the flywheel! Was great at WOT, but pretty ordinary driving around town, tune was way to rich! By the time I was done I had spent around $3500 or so! The moral of the story is I did this all on the cheap and it still ended up costing $3500 The RB30E engine was still going fine by the way, amazing engine ! Building an L28 will cost you an absolute fortune and for a fraction of the price you could throw in an RB25DET and get 300hp!

This is the radiator I used in my Z, it fits between the rails and worked really well with my Turbo RB30 with a 16" SPAL Fan, Its from an Isuzu Rodeo 1998 to 2003! Can get it really, really cheap in the US! Its a single core 32mm thick and has a provision for auto cooling lines if required! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/98-99-00-01-02-03-ISUZU-RODEO-3-2-V6-RADIATOR_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33602QQihZ016QQitemZ260392097109QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Hey, that looks like the rust repairs done on my Ford Fairlane ! I purchased an old Ford Fairlane and instead of cutting out the rust, the person who ever did the repairs just cleaned up the rusted area, filled it with foam (or something similar to that to fill the hole) and lay fibreglass and plenty of bog down over the top of it - when I got my hands on the car this whole area was starting to crack, I think dodgy repair shops do that ! I would cut the whole area out like evildky advised! A 65mm x 65mm piece of steel would replace that frame rail nicely!!! If you don't weld, take it to steel/metal fabricator, like someone who installs roll-cages regulary - they usually charge a lot less than body shops!

Hey mate, do you have any pics of what you did with the throttle linkage, or where you cut it, it looks like I have bonnet clearance issues as well!!! I am super interested for your diagrams mate if you get the time to post them !

Also, a succinct, culmination of wisdom! From, http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=143445&page=4&highlight=subaru+rack+size The above thread also covers most of the topics of this sticky - both have all the information you need to install the Subaru Rack into your Z, the aforementioned thread also covers the Miata rack briefly!

This might be of interest to, From an Australian Z site where a fellow has done a Subaru Conversion, http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,2720.0.html The valve-body has been spun 180deg's! And an extract from the post, "my power steering guy told me that the Subaru power head can be rotated 180 and work perfectly. obviously the new lines had to be made. the help of Phil from Kent Automotive got that sorted out really well." There is little detail except the head was spun 180 deg's, I breify tried but couldn't hold the rack down to get enough torque to undo the bolt for the head - un-doing the two allen-head screws won't allow you to remove the head, have to undo a larger bolt that is on the head, This might make life a lot easier when routing the PS lines on the rack and to the Power Steering fluid pump or reservior, no more cutting up the crossmember to route the PS lines!!!