s3079893

The ideal height for your engine/gearbox to sit is as low as possible. you will ultimately want the lowest point of the engine/gearbox (ie, the bottom of the bellhousing) to be level with the lowest point of the car (in the 280zx's case it is the frame rails). This will determine the height that the engine sits in the engine bay. luckely (in my case) i found that at this "ideal" height, the oil pump (which will end up being located directly over the crossmember) will have enough space be albe to fit between the engine and the crossmember. Although this is the case, the pipes that run across the top of the crossmember will have to moved in order for the oil pump to fit. Anything els id be happy to help cheers

Oh also the clearance i have between the engine mounts and the steering shaft is about 10mm, but i have a right hand drive model, I doubt this will cause you much trouble but it somthing to keep in mind.

If you want the engine as far back and low as possible there are somethings you will need to consider: - the oil pump will sit directly over the cross member, hight clearance between the pump and the member is only about 10-15mm (you will find the bottom of the bell housing will dictate the height of the engine, idealy you want it flush with the other lowestest points on the chassis). the pipes that run over the crossmember will also have to be relocated. -a rear sump of some discription has to be used. (im cutting my forward sum up and turning it into a raer sump. -the oil filter will have to be relocated as it fouls the cross member/mounts.

The Soildworks model i made was just using basic rough dimensions, just to get an idea of the strength of the mounts. Just use this model as a guide. The easiest way to build the mounts is to: -make two plates, one that bolts onto the block, the other that bolts onto the rubber mount. -Then place the engine where you want it, -then use skissors to cut cardboard into the shape you need to join the plates. -use this cardboard cut out as a stensile to cut your steel piece. -tack weld the steel piece to the 2 plates with the engine in position. the reason i cant supply you with the dimensions of my mounts is because, the are so many complex angles to measure, and i dont have the means of measuring them.

for a start i wouldn't under any circumstances bolt the engine to the chassis with having rubber mounts inbetween, ( it's not legal to do that in Aus anyway, (i dont know about usa)). Because the 280zx has less space inbetween the cross member and the firewall, it is not possible to construct another crossmember with moving steering shafts and rack. I still believe the best way of doing it is making new mounts that bolt onto the engine which bolt onto the origanal 280zx mounting points, like my ones. I should post some pics of my mounts in a week or so, (whenever i get time)

Wheelman is 100% right, that type of mount would put a huge torque onto the frame rails which the frame rails weren't design to take. If you do go with this design I would connect the 2 mounts together to effectively make a new crossmember, otherwise I wouldnt try this.

I too was considering running both of these engines. The thing that ruled the vh45 off the list was purley just a lack of parts avalible in oz. The problem I found with the 1uz is even though it is cheap, if you want a manual trans you pay out your *** for it (especially the r154 or v160). Ive seen 1uz's for about $1000, manual trans adpt for $1000 and trans for about $2000. this made the 1uz look abit on the expensive side for me. in the end i just went with a ford v8. What type of tranny do u want to run? what type of power do you want to make?

what type of heads do you use? what type of pwer do they give?

Geez thats light. Thanks alot mate!

Hi guys I got a quick question for you. How much do Aluminium Heads weigh for a SBF? Thanks Heaps

The fox body sump has a dip in the middle of it, this should mean if you coordinate the dip with the cross member you should be able to mount the engine at a good height. The total angle of the drive shaft is not nearly as important as keeping the angles through the hookes joints the same. do this right and you will elimnate the vibration through the drive train. if you mount the engine about half way over the cross member (where the sump dip is) your gearstick will be in a close to stock postion (assuming your tanny is similar to mine).

I just went to see if it would fit, and even if the rails were the same distqance apart as the 240, the member would foul on the steering rack and the steering shaft.

I know that there is quite a difference b/w the 240z and 280zx cross member position. there is far less room behind it on the 280zx compared to 240z.

Im using the tr3650 tranny and where i'm mounting the engine ive had to cut abit of the tunnel away, the stick is about 10-15cm further back than stock. if you mounted the engine further forward you could probably use the stock tranny mounting points (i've had to cut mine off). Remember when poisioning the gearbox/motor to consider drive shaft orientation, a general rule of thumb is the drive shaft shouldn't be more than a total of 6 degs and the angles between the shaft and the connecting hookes joints shouldn't be more than 1.5 deg different. This will keep vibration to a minimum. and keep in mind the diff (in my case) is located about 1/2 inch to the right (My drivers seat is on the right side too.)

This places the engine as far back and as low as possible. The oil pump looks like it will clear the cross member by about 1 cm, but hydrolic steering pump line will have to be moved and custom sump has to be fabricated. Also a oil pump relocation kit will be needed. These issues can also be resoved by moving the engine forward and using a fox bodied sump, but will be at the expense of handleing response.

Oh crap!, go here to see the picture. http://photobucket.com/albums/d34/s3079893/?sc=1

Hi bschiltz I am right now at the stage of building engine mounts fr a 280zx 5.0L swap. Engineering or decent drawings are going to be hard to do as there are weird angles assosiated with the mounts (especially if you plan on building the mounts off the drawings). I did some "basic" cad drawings with aproximate dimensions. a stress test showed these mounts could handle 5000N each (about 500kg), so should be sufficient. your best bet is to probably posistion the engine where you want it then build the mounts in accorance by tac welding etc. i hope this helps you visulise a way of doing the mounts (they are actually quite similar to another set of mounts i saw in a forum here) . Good luck mate cheers!

guys*

thx alot guy

yo hommies! have any of you guys bought any off the self aftermarket header pipes that fit into the z's engine bay or do you have to get them custom made? cheers

ahhh, I think i can see my problem here. on the 280zx the rack sits behind the x member, reducing the space for the sump. I think my best bet is to try and locate a oil pump that doesn't stick out the bottom of the engine to much, then just fabricate my current front sump into a rear sump. It also looks like the early z's have more distance b/w the firewall and the cross member than the 280zx(does anyone know if this is the case?). any thanks again for the great pics. Cheers

I've just done like a test fit with the oil pan and i dont see any way (without cutting back the fire wall) that you can fit the entire sump behine the x member. I would love to see pics if you got them. btw what type of z do u have?

how much clearance does that give between the firewall and the engine?

Hi, I was just wondering which sump works with the 5.0L swap. My sump is currently a forward sump and just looking at it theres no way i can fit it above the crossmember. I have seen rear sumps on the net but if i get one of them can i use my stock oil pump? The oil pump seems to stick out quite a bit and it's probably going to end up right above the cross member Any Thoughts? Cheers

I dont kow about the how easy it is to shift with it cause i have just bought it and im a long way from driving it. I've read reviews on the gearbox saying it is easy to shift with. 1st gear ratio is 3.38 so depending on your diff and wheel size will give you how fast it goes in 1st. On my car the diff ratio is 3.9 ( i think) and radius of rear tire is about .31m so at say about 6000rpm: ((6000*2pi/60)/(3.38*3.9))*.31= 14.77 m/s =53 km/h = 33mph with my setup and a rev limit of 6000rpm: 1st: 53 km/h 2nd: 90km/h 3rd: 136 km/h 4th: 180km/h 5th: 264 km/h also the input spline is identical to the T5 box, and the bell housing (at least on the ba falcon version) will pretty much bolt straight up to the back of the winsor (mine is the from 1991), the center line of the crank and input spline is perfect. Also the relse bearing and slave cylinder is already built in on the input spline(handy). the only thing i have to realy change is cut a hole on the bell housing for the starter to fit through.