Kazuya1274

My car started with the recirculating ball steering. I then removed that for the power rack & pinion. With the V8 swap, I was running the non-power rack & pinion. I went ahead each time and got that steering's cross-member. Be sure to get that b/c the mounting points are different. Looks like you don't have to go forth with changing out your steering, but I will say it is not that hard of a job. As a last resort, you could just buy my car, as it has no steering box to hassle with, and the manual steering is lighter than the power R&P

First time attending the show on sunday. Now that I live much closer I was impressed, there were way more cars than I expected, and got the chance to meet some fellow hybridz'ers. I spent a good 5 hours just walking around, now everyone's asking me what I did over the weekend because my face and neck are all red. Need a 240Z now, need more money now!

Just some insight into why some people sell their Z's: I think we all go through our Z experience stamping our foot down and saying "I will never sell my Z!" I recently went through one of those life changes, and have come to the point where I need to sell my Z. I finally graduated college, finally moved out of my parent's house, and finally got a (real) job. What my Z provided me during my college years was a learning experience in how to fix cars and how to re-engineer cars. I majored in automotive, but no kind of class is going to teach me how to stuff a V8 in a car that originally came with an I-6. Starting with the turbo engine I had, it gave me a good insight into how turbo cars are setup and what requirements they need. Then with the V8, I learned about Chevy engines and what combinations to use on them to make more power. I swore I would never sell my Z, but circumstances are forcing it. When I moved I could only bring 1 car, so I had to bring my 240sx. It has been my faithful steed for 7 years. I no longer have any spare money like I did in college. I no longer have a place to work on a car like I did in college. And, I am ~1500 miles away from my Z. Even though the company I work for gave me relocation assistance, I still had to borrow money to move here b/c I had spent all of my money on my Z. Right now I have reached the point where I feel I may never get the chance to work on a car until I retire I think I am at the point now where I would like to sell my ZX and continue on someday with a 240Z, as I have never experienced a 1st generation car. I'm not a carburetor person and wish I had waited to do an LX1 Chevy swap. I have had a good time with the ZX though, and its a very capable machine. AFAIK, I believe I am the only hybrid Zer to have both a turbo swap and a V8 swap in the same Z. Anyone else???

rudypoochris, Through my work, I have dealt with importing issues like this before:). Lexus USA will not honor the warranty on the vehicle if you take it out of its home country. Mainly because this engine and many related parts are not even available in the U.S. If there is ever any problem with the car, such as any kind of part failures, or you lose your keys, Lexus cust service will not be able to help. I know it sounds kind of harsh, but they will only refer you to Lexus of Italy for assistance. Your best bet is to deal with an importer/exporter of vehicles to see if they can assist you with getting the 220d over here. I don't blame you, it does sound like a pretty cool car. Unfortunately, the car market is not as international as we would all like it to be. Check http://www.dmv.ca.gov to search for more info.

How can they not ship out of the country? My Japanese friend who is going to school here got all of his parts to turbocharge his KA 24 240SX from yahoo Japan. He had shipped over a T25 turbo, intercooler, and injectors all from an SR20. I don't know if he had it sent to his parents first, but I saw the boxes, and they were sent from Japan.

nienberg.11, Your project reminds me of what I did on my ZX. I did end up smoking that engine at the track. I agree w/ bastaad on the ignition timing issue. I didn't know about that difference back then, and that's probably what smoked my engine at the track. It was bad, I had a hole in one of the pistons, stuff you only see pictures of. I then swapped in the turbo block I had, and ran the same combo w/ it. The lower compression really helped out. After that swap, I noticed the difference b/t compression ratios. I highly recommend some time of ignition retard for you at the top end just to be safe. Good job, good luck, and enjoy your turbo Z!!

80LT1, I was able to push my engine far back enough to have to cut that lip that is against the firewall to give clearance to the distributor. My distributor is right up against the firewall, and it could go no further w/out cutting or beating on the firewall. But there is adjustments on my JTR kit that allow you to slide the engine and transmission fore/aft. My engine is setting pretty flush with the front crossmember, and the F/R weight bias has improved with the installation of the SBC engine. The one thing I would suggest on doing the swap is when you get it all in, and are running open headers, be very careful of the wiring harness on the passenger side engine compartment. My header blew out flames, which caught the old worn out wiring loom cover on fire. Once I got the exhaust put on and everything going, the wiring loom was fine, but I was working under the hood with the engine off, and the horns just started blaring. I ended up having to carefully tape up the exposed wires. Havent had a problem since, but its better to not let the wiring catch on fire! All your headlights/turn signals are in that loom, so you don't want it to get damaged....

I've had this question pop up in my head. You have 2 engines, a 1.6L and a 5.7L that both put out 300hp. Obviously, the 5.7 is going to last a lot longer (as in more reliability) than the little 1.6 because the 1.6 is working a lot harder to make that 300hp than the 5.7. With that said, lets take an L28. One has the stock T3, and one has a much larger T66 turbo. Let's say both put out 350 hp. The T66 turbo'd engine will have less strain and less heat generated because that large turbo does not have to work as hard to make the target HP. The T3 turbo will have to spin faster and in turn generate more heat to reach that HP. So if more displacement = more reliability (as far as power is concerned), would this apply to turbochargers as well? The T66 turbo can probably make 350 HP a lot easier than the T3, right? Would it be more reliable?

So its been several months after my V8 swap, I'm in the process of moving soon, and am getting rid of some of my extra turbo parts that I no longer need. I decided to sell them on Ebay. They have been up all of 1 day and I am getting bombarded with "Hey, what kind of eclipse injectors did you use on your 280ZX" kind of questions. Last I knew, Ebay was for selling stuff, not answering tech questions. I tell them each time to visit hybridz, but I fear it goes through one ear and out the other. It didn't take me long after having my Z to find this site, which answered almost all of my questions in one way or the other, so what gives? Anybody else have this problem??

The swap took me about 2 weeks of part time work. I suggest you use a sawzall or plasma cutter to cut off the old transmission mount, and remember the new piece goes behind where the old one was, not on top of it. The rear end has held up good. I may have a bad mount on it though, I think it will need replacing. Other than that, I have no vibration problems or anything of the sort. It is very smooth. I had a local driveshaft/machine shop modify a driveshaft I got from an AT firebird at the salvage yard. The yoke fit the T5 perfect, and I just had it shortened to the length I needed. The T5 cost me about $575 shipped. I found it at car-part.com, which is a nationwide parts listing from salvage yards. It was a lot of hassle and expense, but I insisted on having a 5 speed. The 280ZX already has the R200, I believe. My 81 does. So you shouldn't have a problem there. And even with a carburetor it seems to do OK on gas. I'm turning about 1,500 rpm at 60-65 on the highway in 5th gear.

Phyxius, I did not notice any scoring on the input shaft. In fact, the old seal looked intact, wasn't torn up, and didn't look like it should be leaking. Wheelman, I previously confirmed that this is an 85 transmission from the 5speeds.com website. The number stamped on the transmission is 1352-072. According to 5speeds.com this is from an 85 camaro/firebird. However, I was thinking this website could be wrong (doubtful on that though). I think I might try going to a parts store and comparing the front seals from a non world class and world class and see if there is a difference there, since the WC tranny would obviously have to seal better. And I'll try the gear oil and see if that cures the leak. Thanks for all the suggestions!

My T5 tranny was leaking from the front seal I believe when I first put it in. I changed out both front and rear seals on it recently, and now I find that it is leaking again. I know I put the seal in correctly, so either there is another spot where it is leaking that I can't see, or the Dexron III fluid I'm using is too thin?? According to 5speeds.com it came out of a 1985 V8 camaro/firebird. I searched hi and low to make sure that this transmission required Dexron III ATF fluid. I even went to the GM dealer and looked at their recommended fluids sheet. Nevertheless, the website could be wrong, as their sheet said that a 1987 required gear oil. I do have the mechanical speedometer, and I think 1987 was the last year for that. I really couldn't decipher what was the proper fluid from searching on hybridz, so I went with what the factory recommended. Could this be possibly wrong? Should I try some gear oil in it? The transmission seems to work fine with the ATF, the only problem is you have to shove it into 5th before you go into reverse or else it will grind. I guess this is normal, and I have never seen in my life a V8 camaro with a 5 speed so I have nothing to base its operation on.

Vega, You will probably only need the 280ZX mounting kit and possibly the ZX headers. I didn't want to take any chances on getting cheaper headers with thin flanges, and I'm pretty pleased with my Sanderson's from JTR. I already had an aluminum radiator so I didn't need that, and I used off the shelf flexible hoses from the parts store. This is mainly what you need to get started. I just got done doing this swap into my 81 with manual steering. I've got a chevy 350 with a Camaro T5 behind it, and its a blast.

I agree Tony D, programmable F.I. is the way to go. I just already had everything setup before I ever heard about Megasquirt, and SDS was a little too expensive. I still think my original NA engine was out the door before it ever had a turbo on it, I kinda just "forgot" about that overheating problem it had while the car was down! Anyways, I'll do it again sometime, now that I've had the experience before, I know what to do a lot better now. 70 through 75 only this time, prefereably 70-73! I'll be looking for one when I move to Torrance later this year.

This thread makes me remenisce when I first turbo'd my Z. I used the stock engine w/p79 head. Something about it, which I can only think of the compression being the culprit, but I had some severe traction problems with that engine. I don't know if it was the tuning or the engine gods decided to take it away, but the engine started smoking from the pcv and it finally let go at the 1/4 mile track, after running a crappy 60ft time of all wheelspin. I then swapped to the turbo engine, and the low end difference took away that bottom end lethalness, but it actually made the car easier to manage and take off from a standstill. I continued to use the stock NA electronics, and compensated by turning the screw on the AFM and using a RRFPR. My turbo block never had an issue with the rings, but it sure did like to blow the Fel-pro head gaskets. But, it can be done on the NA electronics. It may not be the best way, but it can work.

I'd try that except that the engine is shoved back too far to clear a mechanical fuel pump. Otherwise I'd switch right over. You are right, 5 psi is probably too little though. I think I got an electric fuel pump for a carbureted 6 cylinder

I have a Carter 5 psi 72 gph electric fuel pump on my ZX, running the stock inlet line. The car runs down the road good but starts to buck slightly in 5th gear after driving for a while. When I floor it, the car accelerates to a point then flattens out. I've got a nice setup on the engine, and it should be screaming. Fuel pressure drops down to about 1 or 2 psi when I open the throttle at idle. Have yet to tape the gauge to the windshield and go driving though. I am just wondering if my fuel pump should be putting out more psi. My friend found some specs in his Chilton manual for the pickups, and the 350 models required 7 psi I think, and the 454 required 9 psi. With my engine putting out (on paper) 350 to 400 HP, does my fuel pump seem adequate for the job? If not, what kind of pump should I be looking at?

I could expand on it, but I think since I am running a 280ZX, it might be different information than what you need. About 3 weeks ago, a thread was on this board asking about the Ford clutch master cylinder, so just do a search for it and it will show up. This thread will give you the directions on how to install it, as well as part numbers for the clutch master cylinder and the line (which you must get from Ford). Seems like for the Z it is only 1 hole to drill, as I had to drill both holes. The hardest thing was to get the holes drilled straight! I plan on doing a writeup for this on the 280ZX since I ran into some problems that were different on the ZX.

I'm doing the swap in my 280ZX. Similar to yours. You want to go with the stock Camaro flywheel. It is 153 tooth and weighs 15 lbs. I got mine from Scoggin-Dickey here: http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/3181/products/2118/1985-Earlier-SBC-BBC-Nodular-Iron-Lightweight-Flywheel-12-3-4-in.htm I was the same as you, on deciding which flywheel to use. I even ordered a "suppossedly" Camaro flywheel from O'Reilly's, only to try and lift it off the counter and noticed it was waaay too heavy. If you go with the bigger flywheel, you cannot use the Camaro clutch. For a relatively lightweight flywheel, I think the price is not too bad. My transmission is mounted and functioning with a stock Camaro clutch and the 85 F-150 master cylinder, so I at least know it all bolts up!!!

Is there a problem using the stock master cylinder? I was also thinking of using the method in the JTR book, and having a hydraulic shop make me a steel braided line that adapts from the stock Z master cylinder to the fittings you install on the slave. I guess the advantage to this is the strength in the line, but if it rests on the header I'm sure it will still leak!

Thanks for the help guys! Wayne, I am running a 355 SBC, so it will have the HEI ignition on it. SmokinR6, I take it that one of the yellow wires coming from the ZX harness is the "red" wire, and the other yellow wire is the "white" wire. I sure wish Nissan would have actually made these wires different colors, instead of making them all yellow. Kinda makes it hard to trace them back, but I know which one went where on the stock alternator, so I think I can figure it out. Cozy, thanks for the web link, it is a great help. I hope to get this thing figured out in the next couple months. Anyone else with experience, please feel free to chime in!

Been doing some searching but came up short on these two questions. It seems no one has really answered the question of making the stock tachometer in a 280ZX work with a sbc swap. I asked JTR and they told me it was pretty much the same procedure as to make the 280Z tachometer work. After reading the book, I think that the 280ZX tachometer is quite a different setup from the 280Z tachometer. I am also not sure if the 280ZX has the "Adjustment screw" that the 240-280Z have (My car is an 81, btw). I would like to use the stock tach if possible. Second, I am in a dilema on whether to use the stock 280ZX alternator or use the chevy one. A friend says that the ZX alternator will probably line up on the chevy engine, then I could just use the existing wiring to hook it up. Now, I'm wondering if this is the way to go or to use the chevy one. If I use the chevy one, I may have to redo some of the wires? Or can I just take the wires that are existing and hook them up to the chevy alternator? Price is not really an object on the alternator, so in that regard I don't care which one I use, just care about which one will be the easiest to make work. Any help is greatly appreciated! Hope to be putting out in the neighborhood of 400hp backed by a T5 tranny!