Gareth

I have a friend who works on these engines on a daily basis (he works for a British car specialist), and he told me that they are a pain in the a** to keep going as well as they did from the factory. Once you set it up correctly, it will just go, but if something happens, it is much more difficult to trace the problem than in the 3,8 twin overhead cam inline six found in the earlier E-Types (or XKEs in America). Note that he was reffering only to the S.U.-carburetted variant. The newer fuel-injected versions may be easier to work on, but still, this engine is best kept at the racing track, set up for best possible performance and driven the hell out of it...

Keep the money and spend it wisely on something that you'll decide about later. I know they may be burning a hole in your pocket, but time will tell whether you will need any additional funds - that's when the 1000$ you have could come in useful.

If you'd like to run a manual tranny behind it, you're going to have to either custom make or buy a tranny adapter from Australia or New Zealand. Either way, it is going to be costly. The factory A340 auto should hold just fine around the stock power level, but there are tranny upgrades available ($$$). From what I've read on this forum, the TH400 is the strongest OEM auto tranny that you can get, but you still need an adapter. Tough choice.

Looks good, but don't you think that the car could use some bigger brakes? Stock brakes just won't cut it with a high-powered turbo engine...

You definetely should do it, even just to be different. And FAST at the same time.

Prox, is this the car you mentioned? http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=126662 Sometimes I think that it's a pity that I don't live in the States... You guys are lucky to have so many Zs on the market today!

Hello! As far as I know, there are no dedicated Z importers in continental Europe, but a few weeks ago Frank280ZX (he lives in the Netherlands) mentioned something about importing rustfree S30s from the States. Maybe you should send him a PM and find out what you should do? Good luck! Tony

So true... I once had to edit the Datsun 240Z article. Some idiot wrote that it was penned by count Albrecht von Goertz. Which, as most of us know, is BS. If only I had time to write a PROPER article about the Datsun...

OK, I get it, thanks for the answer. I just thought that the 5M and 6M engines are the ones that are more frequently used in NA tuning, but it's good that you're trying to do something else. I'm waiting for pics of a complete setup!

It looks great, but I'm just wondering - is it really worth to modify the 7M-GE in the NA form?

So what you're saying is that you're going to mildly modify an L26. I'd either sell the British SUs and put on the Hitachi-SUs (are they round tops or flat tops? Any pictures?), or sell all the carbs that you have and the L26 manifold, and get yourself a used set of triples taken from a Z. Carb kits are easy to come by on eBay, even in kits dedicated for the L-series.

It depends what you mean by saying "better". For me, a good carb is the one that can ultimately give good power, but is realitively easy to tune and maintain. Modified 240Z Hitachi-SUs will be just enough for a moderately tuned street car. For more powerful applications (ie a high compression L28 or a stroker), I'd reccomend triples. The 50mm Jag carbs would be only a temporary solution for the lack of flow of he factory carbs. Having read several users' opinions on modified Hitachi-SUs, I'm convinced that they are the best carbs for a lightly modified L-gata, period. My car is destined to become a trackday special, so I went with triple Solexes (European models, not the licensed Mikuni-Solex PHH-series, which, by the way, are said to be great carbs), but then again, I'm not concerned about daily driveability, fuel consumption, or, say, difficult cold starts.

I drew a project, but I need to scan it before I post it here. Well, it's nothing special, because it looks more like a S130 wih a S30 window line... I'll post it anyway.

A few months ago I sent a message to a UK-based company, Fourways Engineering, asking if the Jag carbs are worth anything. Geoff Jackson, the owner of the company, said that although they may give some noticeable power increases, they're much more difficult to tune and maintain than the factory Hitachi HJG 46W carbs. Since there are other options, such as having your carbs modified at ZTherapy, or switching to triples (Mikunis are said to be the easiest to tune), I'd forget about the Jag carbs.

Despite having a cast iron block, the CA18 is about 35lbs (15kg) lighter than the SR20.

There are a few possibilities to swap the SOHC VG30 into the S30 body. ZR8ED has done a turbo swap in his 280Z: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=107688&highlight=VG30ET+swap Making the story short, he modified the steering column to clear the factory motor mounts. There's also another guy going by the nickname BLOZ UP (IIRC he's also a member here), here are his threads from z31performance.com: http://www.z31performance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=829 http://www.z31performance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4452 He took a different route, and modified the left engine mount so that it could clear the factory steering rack. Remember that in a turbo car you'll have to deal with an exhaust crossover pipe that goes behind the block to feed the turbo on the left hand side of the engine. You could get around this by either swapping an NA motor or by fabricating custom exhaust manifolds that would locate the turbo on the right hand side of the engine or up front. Any way you look at it, it's a fully custom swap that not many have done before. I have been looking to do this, but now I'm building my hot street L28, so this is my plan for the future (I'm still debating between the VG30 and 2JZ NA). Hope this helps.

Did Mull write anything about looking "cool" or anything like that? I don't think so... Philip, if I were you, I'd try to buy a set of Euro/JDM tail light lenses. Dunno if it would satisfy you though... They're available at http://www.datsunrestore.com.

It looks great (and probably performs good too), but I'm with Kenny on the engine choice. There's NOTHING close to the sound and appeal of a OHV V8 with six Stromberg 97s and custom headers. I love the way the engine's painted - army olive drab is a perfect choice here... By the way, a few months ago my friend sent me this link with this mind-blowing Toyota Celica restoration, and it seems that it is the same company... http://www.mat.fi/project1984toyotacelicaturbo.htm I'm speechless...

I'll try to draw one today or tommorow. I think it would be nicer to style it after the Group C cars of the late 80s... At least it would have a more "vintage" feel to it.

IIRC, Dellorto once made turbo-specific DHLA 45M carbs (they were additionally sealed, jetted for a turbo application, and came with a fuel pressure regulator that adjusted the pressure as the boost came up), used in the Lotus Esprit 2,2 Turbo. They sometimes pop up on eBay.co.uk, I'd suggest you to check there.

I've got some REALLY good info for you LS guys... Here are some details about the upcoming "Blue Devil" LS9 engine. It has 6,2 liters of displacement, and a twin-screw supercharger with two small intercoolers in the intake manifold. More info here: http://www.rs6.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13839 http://jalopnik.com/cars/detroit-auto-show/this-is-the-2009-corvette-zr1-ls9-engine-and-yes-were-probably-in-serious-trouble-326717.php This is going to be one serious motor... I've just put this on my shopping list:

By "Early Zs" I mean the S30 bodies. I'm sorry if my post sounded offensive, but we Europeans didn't get many Zs during their production run (my '71 240Z was among 89 others which were exported to Europe and some minor markets in 1971). That's why I'm so irritated with hearing that this or that Z is going to become a parts car... I was lucky, because my Z was in quite good condition for a Euro car - I didn't have to replace the floor pans or the frame rails...

You'll also need a stiff body. Strut tower bars may not be enough - if you're after simple and effective solutions, you might want to research the expanding polyurethane foam, which considerably stiffens the chassis (but also creates a perfect place for keeping humidity in car = rust). Additional spot welding, a rollbar (or even better - a full rollcage) and strut tower bars should do the trick. Trust me, a stiff body makes wonders with handling... I once drove a fairly stock S14, and after a while I drove another S14, but that one was stripped, gutted, had additional welds, strut tower bars, and a welded diff. And boy, did it drift well... By the way: wouldn't it be simplier, cheaper and easier for you to get a complete, running L28ET, swap it in and beat it to death? I'd be less worried about a junkyard stock L28ET than a nicely built 3,2 stroker motor...

That could be a good base for a project car! Why cut it up for parts if there are many Zs in worse condition? In Europe, every car enthusiast would knock his/her head after hearing that this 240Z was to become a parts source... At this rate, in 10 years there will be almost no early Zs left in the States. And you'll be wondering - what the hell happened to them?

Pete, I'm sure it's possible to do the "hack job" you mentioned, but it may simply be not worth the effort (and/or $$), if there's a ready solution, like the RB25/VG30 trans.