Mike C

I agree with the doors. Only place to put a speaker. I hate the thought of cutting panels, but that is what my car came like, so I had no qualms about putting better speakers in the holes! I have an Alpine 7903 CD player, Kicker 40x4 mounted vertically behind drivers seat(bridged mono to the rear) running a pair of 4's in the doors and a single 8" mounted in a board under the carpet. I drilled the spot welds and removed the spare hold down, then I flipped the tire over which left room for the 8 flush mounted in a 3/4" piece of particle board. I eventually plan on welding a nut to the floor and using a bolt and bent strap for a tire hold down with no loss of clearance. This is not the ideal way to do a sub, but it is the least intrusive. If you have new carpet without the hard plastic backing of the original, it will sound better.

The R200 is plenty stout, as well as the rest of the Nissan parts. Dragstrip with slicks is where you'll break stuff. The 3.70 clutch LSD from an 87-89 turbo 300zx is the easiest way to go. You can swap in 280zx cv halfshafts using the ZX flange and 240 stubs or Ross Corrigans adapters (modernmotorsports.com) with the stronger 280 stubs. The 240SX diff is the "short" pinion I believe and will not swap into an early Z. You might be able to use the guts, but no guarantee one way or the other.

Check out the writeup done by Terry Oxendale (Blueovalz) on his car over at zhome.com where he does the junkyard 300ZX 4 lug vented rotors and 280zx calipers on his car, specifically the steet setup. I have gotten all of the parts to do my swap the same way but lack the time...

Check out www.advanceadapters.com, although they specialize in 4x4. Another option is they made a turbo 4 banger Toy in like 87-88?

The only time you want to lock up the converter is in top gear (overdrive). With that said, however, you may experiment and find that your car is faster if you lock it up in 2nd and 3rd gear when drag racing unless you have a converter that is so large that when you shift your RPM drops to below the stall point. Or conversely it may run better if you just leave it unlocked. Once you run through the stall speed of the converter you are no longer getting torque multiplication through the converter and the slippage may cost you some horsepower and as a result, MPH. I'm not sure how detrimental that could be to the converter, however. Most TH700 swaps use a converter that is only locked in OD, but I'm sure the 4l60E the computer makes other determinations when considering locking the conveter or not.

I have both. Not an M3, but a 1995 325is. (My wife's car, actually). The Bimmer is a NICE car. Front engined inline 6, rear drive, struts, a back seat you can actually ride in to go somewhere. The closest thing you can still buy to an early Z + room for friends. It has benefitted from over 20 years of engineering compared to an early Z (1970-1992 when the E36 showed up) It drives better than a Z (no bump steer relatively speaking), is quieter than a Z (trunk and BIG muffler help as well as all the insulation) and SMELLS better than a Z (unless you LIKE raw gas fumes and burned hydrocarbons a lot...). With that said, it's NOT a Z. Nobody at the gas stations says "Cool car, used to have one just like it. Best car I ever owned." Actually, any reaction by people to the Bimmer is negative. (How can you afford THAT?-my wife is a teacher) Or assumptions about your personality based on what you drive. (caught that same crap with my '84 Corvette.) But the Z is perfect for somebody like me who hates depreciation and if you are lookinf for absolute performance and drivability the Z is a better choice IMO because you can have a complete interior and still stay around #2500. With the Bimmer you'll have to gut it to approach those weights, and parts, OUCH! IMO, minimum weight is the ultimate goal for maximum performance. With the same brakes and HP, a lighter car acclerates faster, stops harder, and is easier on parts like axles and bearings. With all that said, I've got my eyes out for an E36 with a grenaded driveline to build a strictly drag back-halfed racer. Since the Bimmer 6 is as reliable as the L6, it may be awhile... I'm figuring a 318is with a broken automatic should come cheap someday.

I did not buy a BEAUTIFUL Z about 10 years ago because it was pro-streeted. Same color as your car Darius. It had Weld Suplerlites and a built 406. He was asking $6500 which was more than fair for such a clean car, just the 9" was the killer. Nobody else bought it either and not long after he sold the shell minus the motor for pennies on the dollar and let the motor go by itself. Something to consider... As I had noted in the past, there were 2 guys running in the 9's with the Nissan rear suspension and solid U-joints. Run 26" slicks, 280 stubs and Moroso joints and leave the line at a REASONABLE power level... Actually, you have CV's already with the R230, right? Just upgrade the stubs, bolt on the slicks and go racing! A little bit of tire spin can make a car leave harder than none, and is definitely easier on the hard parts assuming no wheelhop.

Why re-invent the wheel? Just buy a complete donor car with the LT1 and T56. If money is no object, you can buy a NICE low mileage car for around $6500 and sell the shell to offset the cost and not have to worry about any components damaged in an accident. Broken T56s seem to be common after a collision. You are sure to get a well maintained engine and somebody else gets a clean car to make a street strip terror with a BBC The GM is the definition of daily driver and the lack of a distributor through the intake makes the motor look like it was designed for a Z since you don't have to mod the hood latch. If you use the GM computer and wiring that's something else you don't have to buy and if emissions are a consideration where you are at you get all of that stuff as well. Pocket port the heads and add the LT4 HOT cam kit ($500 for cam, springs, retainers, and 1.6 roller rockers, woohoo!)"Keep your Nissan all GM" or something like that... You should get near 400 RWHP which will be awful close to the 500 gross you requested.With the weight of the Z and the size tire of a non-tubbed car, the stock clutch SHOULD even be sufficient. If you add up everything to do a swap, even buying an expensive donor in this scenario, you will still come out WAY ahead of piecemealing it together unless you have the option of time. You can do it REALLY cheap if you can wait years and years for good deals, but if you want it soon break out the wallet! If you get a wreck, you can have everything for less than $3k. There was a '94 Z/28 in the Austin Greensheet last week with body damage for $2000, runs good the ad said. Didn't specify trans, but probably an auto at that price, but you never know.

If it meant flares, I'd love to see you pull the blower off. I think flares ruin a perfectly good car, but you know the Opinion and A-hole deal. Lose the Blower and shift the power up the rpm range with more cam and drive the wheels off it!

Congratulations Ross! I'm going to have to subsrcibe to that...

Here are a couple of links to stuff on other sites. This is a reasonably hard to explain phenomena compared to what you can link to... http://www.levelten.com/converters.htm http://www.autotransinc.com/stall.htm

The N47 is a roundport head and the N42 is a square port, so it depends. If you use a stock L28 turbo manifold go with the N42, if you are going to modify a header and you have a round port, use the N47.

Wow. Lots of ideas. I concur with everyone saying don't do flares! Ruins the look of a Z IMO. I would look into the 275 50 15 BFG Drag Radial. The 255 should fit easily, but with proper wheel offset I think you can do the 275. I know it is a 15" rim, but will keep a reasonable height and amount of sidewall. I can't remember if your car has coilovers or not, but the 2+2 spring ala JTR or the short coilover like Pete has is a good place to start. I would not decrease gearing, if anything increase it. This may multiply torque more, but you get significantly better throttle modulation with the higher numeric gear. With 4.10 and tire spin, backing off the throttle will slow the tires and let you keep it right at the point of spin. Once they break loose with 3.36, you're done. I do not like the 'vette or jag solution as they both use the half shaft as a locator link and if it breaks you may lose control of the car. Those two cars are why IRS is not NHRA legal in fast cars. Bottom line is with any type of tire on the street, with over 500 lb ft you WILL have traction problems, but you should be able to at least be able to control it better. You will be able to hook HARD at the strip with the Drag Radial, but they are short lived and not so hot in the rain. That may wind up being a strip only combo and you running a 16" or 17" wheel on the street, but larger, softer (read more expensive) tires will help significantly. At least two cars on the board were running in the 9's with mostly stock Nissan IRS.

That is cool. I don't think Ford is to blame, however, but your fellow American. They don't want to buy enough of those cars to make it profitable. I think that would be a worthy successor to the Crown Vic, however!

If you could adapt an electromagnetic clutch to the blower pulley you could make it turn on and off. If it was injected below the case and you had a bypass throttle it might run pretty well that way. I have a buddy with an 8-71 blown 560 ci BBC in his '74 Ford Bronco ( ) and it is running right now with the blower belt disconnected. It is an older Roots style SC without teflon rotor seals. The large clearances facilitate it's running, but not real well. A newer, small displacement supercharger would most likely be too well sealed up to work, especially a centrifugal style. Nothing's better than blowing the doors off a 9 sec car with your 12 sec car.

Finally, here are some pics of the GM gear reduction starters I have. I have had a couple apart, and the one from a 4 cylinder is for 168 tooth flywheel but has a different gear ratio, the plastic sun gear was even ruined on this one. The smallest cased starter 2nd from the right is the 4 banger one. The starter on far left is 168 tooth and the far right is same starter with 153 tooth nose. The second starter from left is a different style one for the 168 tooth flywheel. In the exploded view, the plastic piece attached to the bendix is the sun gear. The planets revolve around it and the armature shaft. The self-contained brush assembly has a Craftsman socket in it to hold the brushes in their holders with springs compressed. Learned how to do THAT the hard way also.

The block has bolt holes for both. The 168 tooth flywheel is 14" across. The 153 tooth is 12.5" across. Some aftermarket starters have straight across pattern for use with the 14" flywheel, and some have two sets of bolt holes to work with both flywheels.

There is also the T5 which has an overdrive close to the late 5 speed and a first gear the same as the early (240-260) 4 speed which is more than the late 4 speed which is the same as the early 5 speed. For the street, my choice would be the T5 and 3.54. Same for drag racing. For autcross or road racing and the turbo I would go with the 3.54 and the late 5 speed. For an NA motor, the T5 and 3.90. Actually, after thinking about it for a STRICTLY drag race vehicle I would run the early 4 speed with 3.90s or 4.10s as the early 4 speeds are much cheaper to replace than any of the 5 speeds if you break it, and for a drag car, who needs OD?

You can buy either a Mcleod or Lakewood bellhousing with the ford pattern and register. You will have to run an adapter pilot bearing This is probably a better deal than getting the Darkhorse Tremec or GM T5, especially if you have to have/want a scatterhield. That way you can run the much more common much cheaper Cobra Tremec or WC T5.

Thanks for the info. The 427 is for my 3/4 ton pick-em-up truck. Looking to build a torque monster with the Energizer 266 cam with max rpm 5000. Because of WOT use for extended periods of time, I want hardened seats and would prefer the Vortec head. (I have had no troubles running non-hardened seats in my mild small blocks for over 100k miles on rebuilds)The info on the 291 head came from Mortecs site which is USUALLY pretty accurate... The Vortec appears to be a large oval port, small chamber that should net about 9.5:1 with TRW forged flat tops in the 427 and has induction hardened seats, correct? Thanks.

If you want to do a turbo motor you don't want 4.11. The 3.54 are a much better choice and depending on how fast you get, the 3.36 may be even better. Even the 3.70 are a stretch for the modified L28t.

Hey Grumpy, know much about big block chevy's? I have a 427 for my truck to replace the 402. It is a 512 casting block, 69 or 70 2 bolt Mark IV. The heads are 290 castings and I find conflicting info. Are they 100.7 cc (REALLY closed chamber) or 109 cc chambers? I'm pretty sure 101 and the 291 casting is 109. My real question, will the 100 cc Mark VI Vortec heads work on a Mark IV block? I know the Mark V heads will not. If so, I'm going to get a set for my 433 buildup. I have heard they do for big-blocks what the SBC Vortecs do for small blocks and will save me from having to have hardened seats put in my 290s. Thanks in advance...

Buy the JTR (Jaguars that run) book. Will save someone here from Repetitive Stress Syndrome! They tell you how to calibrate the stock tach. FYI, if you have electronic ignition you will need to swap in the guts from a 280Z tach. The JTR manual will answer hundreds of little questions about the V8 swap and is a very useful reference source for brake and chassis mods as well.

As far as I know, all of the R180 were 3.36 ratio. The early 5 speeds came with 3.54 and the late 5 speeds with 3.90. I would (and did) just got a 3.54 r200 and swapped into my car when I did the 5 speed. If you want to keep the lower numeric gear then swap at gears as mentioned above.

Those would be the Circle Jerk model... put them on your car and it just keeps pulling...