BRAAP

Interior mods. Built a Permanent mounting bracket for the Valentine-1 Radar/Laser locator, installed a low end Alpine receiver that is controls my iPod.

I finally reached that point of no return and after performing a few different V-8 Z-32 mock-ups, finally settled on a power plant and a way to get that power-plant to actually FIT in the Z-32 engine bay, without cutting the friggin firewall! Whew! Granted, cutting the firewall solves ALL of the Z-32 V-8 fitment issues and have few other weight distribution benefits, but for daily driver that is to retain the stock interior and all the creature comforts Nissan integrated in this overly complex car, cutting the firewall was NOT and option! Progress of which engine to use is documented here; http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=142025 Think tank discussion of the LSx install here; http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=986940 The new power train is GM LSx and T-56 6 speed trans. Initially will install the 5.3 LM7 that I pulled from my wife's '01 Suburban. Lifter seized a roller so I just replaced the entire engine. Price was right for a complete LM7 and it was SO easy to swap out! I have a used lifters, will probably install an early LS1 cam, and while the heads are off, of course will wave my Rusch Motorsports magic wand over the heads, (port work and 5 angle valve job). Then keep eye an out for a usable 6L or 6.2L core and build my dream engine. A Single Plane crank V-8! The specifies of the single plane V-8 engine are here; http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=139545 So here is the car. ’93 Z-32 N/A Coupe. Completely repainted in a Nissan pearl Green not offered on the Z-32, (typically seen on late model Maximas and Altimas). Not really a color I would choose to paint a sports car, but when I was looking for a Z-32 to replace my Q-45, this car was a very clean example so we bought it! The color seems to be well received as all comments thus far online and at local events have been positive and has since grown on me. An elegant color. On my way to work one morning, a HUGE raccoon crossed the freeway while doing 60 MPH, hit him square busting the front fascia. Been wanting a new front fascia any how, so I had the ’99 JDM Z-32 front fascia installed and painted to match. Little more aggressive than the OE 90-’96 US fascias, without being too ricey. The new fascia;

Haven't "studied" the LSx cooling system enough, yet, to know if plugging or just looping would be detrimental or allow the cooling system to function as intended, though on the surface it would seem as that plugging the heater ports may be more detrimental than good, due how it was designed. Below is the only diagram I have regarding the LSx cooling system flow. "If" plugging those lines doesn't pose any issue, then one easy way to would be to use the "U" shaped hose and place a plug in that hose. A cleaner approach, remove the pressed in hose fittings that exit the side of the pump, tap those ports for pipe plugs and screw in the plugs. This approach is reversible if later it is deemed that it has to be looped so not as to pose any flow or thermostat function issues. Hope that helps.

GORGEOUS! Nice headers.

Moved to the Want To Buy forum.

Reason why I ask is that I am currently in the process of doing an LSx Z-32 and if the engine bays are close enough?... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=142025

COOL! J-30 LSx conversion will make for a nice fun sedan. Sorta like a hotter version of the M45, and way better looking! Being as the J-30 is such a close relative to the Z-32, do you know how much difference there is between the J and Z-32 engine bays? I.e. cross-member/rack to hood clearance, firewall to rack distance, etc? Does the J-30 also share similar front suspension to the Z-32 or is it a strut front suspension?

Sounds great! Very crisp, snappy! Have you run it at the strip yet?

FlyeBye, Welcome to HybridZ. Looking forward to seeing a cool hybrid J30. Is your question pertaining to engine mounts for the VH45 or for the Gen III/IV GM LSx engines?

Maybe?..... Remind me via PM and I'll measure its length tomorrow.

Viper, That is a smoking hot deal! I say “DO IT!” The VH45DE physically fits the Z-32 better than any of the other V-8 options I have test fit thus far. One thing you probably don’t want to hear is that the electronics are no simpler for the VH45DE, though the engine itself is bit easier to work on as access isn't hampered by a big intake covering the entire engine bay! I have heard that someone has run a 4bbl carb on a VH45DE?!… The major issue with VH45DE in a Z-32 is the intake manifold hood clearance. A custom intake would solve that or use custom hood. Being as you currently have an automatic in your Z-32 and like it, you might be ale to retain it, just bolt on the VH45DE bell-housing to it. I have heard that the VH45DE auto trans is internally identical to the Z-32 TT auto trans so you may be able to just install VH45DE trans. It should work with your stock speedo, cruise control etc. Here is one source claiming the Z32TT and Q-45 trans as the same; http://www.turbo-infiniti.com/viewtopic.php?p=2197&sid=535e5c61544c21e64f69014910e99bbb These 2 sources would know for sure if these trannies are interchangeable or not; http://www.levelten.com/index.html http://www.importperformancetrans.com/ These sources should also be of interest; http://www.vh45de.com/index.shtml Custom VH45 intakes; http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/326038 http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/211041 Info on VH45 converted Z-32's http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/274790 VH45DE to Z-32 wiring integration; http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/335689 VH running in a Z-32; http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=140931

Head scratching fine tuning of mock up UPDATE! Unlike the S-30 where there is practically 2 and half acres of open space to just willy nilly drop an engine into without fear of clearance issues, the Z-32 is a confined space with very limited options! So I spent some time playing with different fore-aft positions with the LS1 and T-56 and feel pretty comfortable with my final engine resting place. "Points of interest" that need addressing; (calling those issues "obstacles" just sounds so negative…) 1) Rack and pinion. Lower the rack ½”-1”. Will be looking into the least compromising way to accomplish this. a) Dropping the entire x-member with a spacer between the X-member and frame rail is the easiest, so long as it doesn’t compromise suspension geometry to much. b) Lower rack in the cross member, only if that doesn’t induce too much bump steer, which I have a feeling it will if I don’t also drop the inboard LCA pickup points. Might have to contact Tube80Z with the plotted out Z-32 front suspension for his opinion of the stock geometry and what the feels are options in terms of getting the rack 1/2"-1" lower without compromising to much. 2) Trans tunnel entrance/Firewall. Lightly modify the trans tunnel entrance at the firewall to clear the top crest of the bell-housing using a 1-2 lbs mass at high velocity, may take several applications, (i.e. the BFH!) Also grind down the rib of the bell-housing if one exist on the T-56 I will be using. 3) Trans tunnel. Lightly modify the trans tunnel at the body seam where it goes from the slope from the firewall to the horizontal plane, to clear the bell-housing to trans bolts on the top of the trans. Again, the BFH method. There is approx ½” clearance between the trans tunnel and the bottom of the cars climate control duct work at this location. Pic below, Green is duct work, Magenta is trans tunnel, Red is seam that needs BFH modification from under the car. 4) TB-hood clearance. “Might” have to notch the stiffener in the hood to gain clearance for the Throttle body. 5) Heater lines. They exit the car through the firewall right at the passenger cylinder head which will require some creative plumbing to make that work without having to open up the dash and relocate the firewall penetrations for the heater supply and return plumbing. I figure this project is one of those “points of interest” that can be dealt with later and shouldn’t dictate the engines placement as much as the other interference “points of interest” do. 6) Oil Pan. Looks like the uber nice AUTOKRAFT oil pan will essentially be a bolt in. The sump is exactly 9” from the rear to the front of the sump, clearing the rack by approx 1" fore and aft. Will have to notch the pan to clear the top of the rack. Might talk to the nice gents at AUTOKRAFT and see if they will do that in-house, (dedicated Z-32 LSx oil pan?!?!?) The rack mount tabs look like they can easily be modified to clear the pan kickouts. 7) Trans. In this position, the GTO T-56 with its shifter location puts the shifter EXACTLY 3/8” forward of the stock Z-32 location To use the GTO T-56 you may have to remove some material from the top of the trans tunnel to clear the plastic housing for this shifter, but I am pretty sure there is enough room under the Z-32 console for such. I still may use the Caddy CTS-V T-56 as its shifter design and operation is the same as the OE Z-32, would just require adapting the stock shifter to the T-56 shift arm. GTO shifter extends shift lever 3 3/8” rearward from the F-bod T-56. A HUGE thank you goes out to m1noel for this GTO shifter. Area of the trans tunnel that “might” need to be modified/cut to clear the GTO shifter apparatus. Here is the TB to core support distance; For those interested in a possible front sump pan with the engine trans in this position, here is the measurement from the forward most portion of the rack to the front cover/block mating surface. The cross member is infront of the rack so it will need to be extensively modified for any sort of front sump oil pan; Till the next update, BRAAP…. OUT!

Thank you for the input. I like your idea of the BFH in the tunnel. Like you say, that may just be enough to allow a little more rearward placement of the engine/trans which could be just enough for this to just barely fit. I will go out the mock-up-mule and start removing the myriad of “stuff” that resides under the dash of the Z-32 and see just how much clearance there is between the those components and the firewall/tunnel entrance for BFH style clearancing. More to the point, if the tunnel can be cut enough to resolve the fitment issue and not interfere with the “stuff” under the dash, (want to keep all the climate control, etc stock!) Regarding the pan, with the engine in this location as pictured, a GTO pan could be modified to fit and with the X-member modified so the rack is the furthest forward item in the way, (X-member to be built under-behind the rack), the GTO pan will still need the rear section of the sump trimmed to clear the rack and there is still little to no room between the throttle body and the upper radiator core support for plumbing, (see pic below) unless the upper core support is removed and a new twin latch hood latch system done, (NO hood pins!) That aftermarket pan for the 240-SX is a nice unit with plenty of volume, though is too deep over the rack. The rack in the Z-32 sits a bit higher in the car than the 240-SX. For the Z-32 the pan needs to be essentially within 1/8” of the windage tray, directly over the rack which is a pan depth of only 1.5” MAX! With that and only a ½” oil-pan to rack clearance, the engine is still a tad too high in the engine bay putting the throttle body into the padding on the underside of the hood. If I can easily get the engine further back, then a rear sump pan will fit such as this sweet AUTOKRAFT unit, though even this very shallow pan is still ½” too deep as it crosses over the rack, tough the sump would “just” clear the rack if I could get the engine back approx 1.5”-2”. Courtesy of; http://www.autokraft.org/products Note how close the throttle body is to the core support/hood latch!; Are you referring to the Z-32 LSx manual? Haven’t heard anything more about it or from anyone that actually seen/read it. Was it actually ever published?

Last night I mocked up the LS1 with a T-56 attached, in the lowest possible position, (oil pan removed) and as far back as possible in my Z-32 mock up mule. Trans crammed up tight touching the trans tunnel, crank windage tray a mere 3/4" off the rack itself! Some amount of modification will need to be done to the car itself to get an LSx in the engine bay. Whether it be modify the hood to clear the throttle body, lower the rack to get the engine lower, or cut out enough clearance in the firewall/trans tunnel entrance to get the whole engine/trans further back in the car, either way, something HAS to be modified on the Z-32 for the LSX to fit. Firewall mod makes the most sense and cures all the issues in one mod, but that entails opening up a huge can of worms for us who want to keep the interior of the car and all its functions under the dash! Still investigating alternative options to cutting the firewall. More details and pics in the link below, post #66; http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=142025&page=4

UPDATE! Ok, this engine stab was to see how well the LSx and T-56 fit with the shortest possible oil pan over the rack with no mods to the car itself. Oil pan was removed, T-56 bolted up! Short version is, the LSx will NOT fit in an unmolested Z-32 engine bay. Even with the most extensively modified shortened oil pan, some form of modification will HAVE to be done to the car, whether it be cutting the firewall/trans tunnel entrance, relocate the rack and pinion, and or modify the hood to clear the throttle body. Long version. Took the ’01 Vette LS1 short block, removed the oil pan and bolted on a pair of wooden strips to the pan rail to simulate the absolute shortest oil pan, (included the distance that should be between the pan and the rack). The OE LSx Windage tray is very close to the rotating crankshaft. The lowest point of that windage tray is 1.25” below the pan rail. I figure the oil pan should be no closer than ¼” to the windage tray. With the cast oil pan being approx 1/8” - 3/16” thick, add a 1/2” oil pan to rack clearance, (between 2 1/8”-2 3/16”), I cut a couple of boards at 2.25” and bolted them to the pan rail so that the engine could sit on the rack simulating the lowest possible engine position as if it were bolted in the car. This puts the crank windage tray 5/8"-3/4" inch above the rack, allowing approx 1/2" oil pan-to-rack clearance with an oil pan modded as short as possible in the region of the rack. Then I bolted up the T-56 trans and stabbed the engine/trans in the mock up mule. In an attempt to replicate the OE crankshaft position, engine tilt, etc I measured my Z-32 DD. Crankshaft centerline is approx 6.125” above the top of the stock sway bar, engine tilt as measured across the face of the crank damper, is 1.5-2 degrees tilted rear down,in relation to the top of the frame rails. I realize those figures do not have to be replicated exactly, but it does offer some point of reference. With the engine sitting in this low as possible position, engine as far back as it will sit with 2.5 degree engine tilt, crankshaft centerline is approx 3/8” higher than OE. Trans is wedged up tight against the top of the tunnel, (bellhousing to trans mating surface is what contacts the top of the tunnel). With the hood closed, the forward portion of the padding on the underside of the hood is between 0" and 1/8” clearance to the throttle body! Bellhousing mating surface is +/- 1” or so fore and aft of where the VG30DE trans-engine mating surface resides. In summation, trans is wedged tight to the top of the trans tunnel, engine/trans is as far back as it will physically sit and the throttle body is in contact with the padding under the hood! Moving the engine forward offers no relief to the throttle body hood issue and only exaggerates the very short distance left between the throttle body and the radiator core support to get a 90 degree air inlet elbow, even with the Radiator mounted in front of the core support. All in all, the LSx Z-32 will require some modification to the car itself. I still have quite a bit of head scratching to do, all kinds of ideas running through my mind, goal is still to get the LSx in the Z-32 without having to cut the firewall. Ideally I want to come up with a solution that can be duplicated as easily as possible by others without having to gut the interior to hack up the firewall compromising climate control and/or other factory Z-32 systems! Couple ideas revolve around altering the rack location, the trick will be doing so without adversely affecting the steering geometry. Dropping the rack down approx 1” will be a huge help. Just opening up the trans tunnel entrance at the firewall allowing the engine to move back approx 2-3” and dropping the rack approx 7.5-1” would alleviate essentially all physical installation conflicts, but again, want to avoid cutting the firewall. Here are some pics; Frontal shot; Shot of the bellhousing; Lack of hood clearance. Hood is NOT in the first latch! Windage tray to rack clearance. Rack is outlined in Green, windage tray is outlined in Magenta.

As promised, a picture of the VH45DE sitting in the mock up mule. Other than the intake interfering with the hood, it really does fit rather well.

Deal! A single plane 6.0 is slated for build, after this car is up and running with the 5.3.

For the L-series, most of the time, especially the Schneider, Crane, etc spring/retainer packages, yes you can use stock keepers with after-market retainers. If the retainers require a different keeper for whatever reason, the spring/retainer package will have a recommended keeper and part number in the literature.

The fact that it is such a groaner makes it sorta funny...

Not knowing how the Motorcylce gasket/O-ring is designed/installed, I will offer that it is not uncommon in automotive applications where the owner changes the filter only to have that filter gasket/rubber O-ring blow out, similar to what you described. What the typical cause in automotive applications is when the old oil filter was removed, the rubber O-ring remains attached to the block, not the filter when it was removed, and when the new oil filter was installed, it is essentially double O-ringed, installer does not notice this during installation and upon engine start up the old O-ring just pops out because it is isn't captured. Again, not knowing the motorcycle oil filter/gasket design, this may or may not apply to your situation.

WOO HOO! Another LSx Z-32 conversion in progress! Excellent choice for a transmission! Biggest hurdle will be getting it and the clutch adapted to the LM7, but as you stated, the 50 lbs weight savings will be worth it, not too mention it is physically smaller in diameter than the T-56 and Z-32 trans leaving more room in the trans tunnel for custom exhaust. The World Class T-5 is a smooth shifting trans perfectlyt matched to the 5.3! Looking forward to reading more on your conversion as you progress.

My $.02. NEW stock L-6 springs are not up to to the task for ANY cam beyond stock, let alone used ones. Stock springs are definitely NOT up to the task of .460"+ lift cams. Rebello sells an outer spring that works with your stock inner spring and your stock retainers that is good for their .487" lift cam which has a very aggressive lobe profile, (these aggressive profiles work the springs harder than other "off the shelf" cam profiles from manufactures such as Crane, Isky, Comp, Schnider, etc.) This Rebello spring sounds like it would be ideally suited to your cam specs especially with the little bit of boost subjected to the back side of the intake valve without robbing power from being overly stiff. Option "A" at the bottom of this page. http://www.rebelloracing.com/nissan1.htm Hope that helps, Paul

Happy birthday old timer.

Is this the OE Z car tach? If so, what year tach are you using? For what its worth, the '78 tach will not work with the HEI. '74-'77 will. Something different in the '78.