260DET

That's interesting, the pickup problem, drag racing? My background is circuit lapping, time attack, which of course has different requirements. I think someone here mentioned putting the pickup right at the back of the sump for drag racing. But the stock LS pickup is a rough piece of work, made in Canada or shouldn't that be mentioned

Cool, but the main attraction of the LS for me is it's simplicity and low weight. I deliberately went away from multi valvers to get those advantages, also because the C of G of a pushrod V8 is lower. Another point concerns the power that a LS bottom end can handle which I thought was already a power output limiting factor.

The only actual knowledge I have of head scavenge pumps is that they are used on F1 V engines and a BMW V8 of some sort. No doubt there are others. The BMW ones are apparently activated by a lateral operating G switch, the single VDO one on my mates RB30ET switches on at 3000 engine RPM which seems to do the job. Such pumps can be mounted outside of the engine, a bit lower than their pickup point would be good. The pickup could simply consist of a fitting screwed into a low oil point, usually at the back of the head and connected to the pump via some flexible hose. Venting from the crankcase directly to the atmosphere used to be standard practice prior to the dreaded anti pollution laws, the earlier Datsun L6 engine for example. Air venting to the atmosphere goes through some steel wool and that's it. The advantage of such a system in my mind is that crankcase pressure will be much less likely to blow up into the heads so impeding oil down flow. Whatever, there does not seem to be any potential disadvantage in using such a system, other than the pollution angle of course. Depending on a few things I may be in a position next year to try both ideas. Having decided not to go dry sump I sure as hell don't want to damage my brand new shiny LS3. Comments?

This one.

Trailer queen/drag car are interchangeable expressions, yeh?

You don't build a hybridZ to sell or get your money back, it's built to be a keeper. And maybe a reminder of how quickly money can disappear

So, no comment on (1) direct atmosphere venting of the sump, to reduce the effect of windage on oil drain down, and, (2) head oil scavenge pumps, quite common on performance engines.

Forget the S30, where is the 280ZX IMSA body kit? I'm probably the only person in the world who will be getting/making one somehow in 2015 so obviously there is big dolla to be made here

In all my extensive internet research concerning LSx lube problems I have never seen mentioned (1) head oil scavenge pumps, (2) atmospheric venting of the sump. Hard to believe, is the LSx a deep tech no go area or something?

Apparently not?

Just be careful using an Improved Racing scraper. I got one for my crate LS3 and it did not fit properly, eventually junked it Apparently there is not a one size fits all LS scraper which I think IR now recognise.

Off track the Accusump with an electric valve can be turned on or off, your choice. One procedure is to turn it on immediately before starting so oil in the accumulator gives the engine a pre lube before starting. Once the engine has started and the accumulator has recharged I would usually turn it off so it's good to go for the next start. On track I really like the warning light idea, the valve is set at 45PSI so if oil pressure drops below that the light comes on. Be interesting to see how the LS3 lube system stands up on the track with the warning light as a indicator of that.

Friend of mine who builds and modifies historic race cars like Alfas and Fiats swears by oil accumulator systems like Accusump but a one way valve must be used for them to be effective. He has seen several 'engine fail before no fail after' examples and recommends Accusumps for all the cars he prepares. My system uses the electric valve option with an on off switch on the dash. All I have to remember to do is turn it on immediately before the first start of the day and turn it off while the engine is still running at the end of the day. An indicator light helps. There is also a bright red light that comes on when the electric valve opens which of course acts as a warning if it comes on while out on the track. But my LS has not run in anger yet so no contribution there. It seems to me that with the LS the primary problem is restricted oil drainback but that's speculation so I'll shut up.

Didn't mean to criticise, just draw attention to the usual S30 lift at speed, assuming that the static ride height is lower than that shown in the first pic of course.

Great project, keep us up to date if you can. Only real comment I have is, depending on power output, if you run into trouble adapting the six speed a good five speed may be a better proposition. Lighter, better shift and less bulky.

Haha, sneaky ad, well done

What needs realising is that once you reach a certain age you know nothing and were never young either, you are just a grumpy old errr bastard. According to the fast and furious generation whose world began with them and of course is the only one which exists or ever has. Yeah?

Pics can be very useful to see how the car is sitting at speed and through corners, I'd be checking the static ride height of the car against how it looks in that first pic. It seems to be riding high due to too much air getting under her, it does look level though which is good. Whatever, it needs to sit a bit lower for a track car. LSX donk?

You don't say what the car will be used for but unless it's a cheap job a good aftermarket ECU is always a good investment, just make sure that there is a dyno tuner available who is familiar with the ECU you choose. Don't know what the release date for the Haltech Elite is in the US but it should be soon. The other thing is a good aftermarket ECU is always saleable by itself. The tune itself will release more power from a standard engine, for a serious performance car it's the sensible way to go.

My LS3 is setup with a Haltech Platinum Sport ECU and their plug and play engine harness, hope to change to the Haltech Elite next year which will give sequential injection and spark and run pretty well anything else.

Plenty of runoff area there.

Thanks, some good pics there.

One thing with a LSx conversion, with a right driver anyway, is fitting driver's side extractors, very tight and have to be custom which cost's a bomb of course. Tremec TKO fits in the tunnel fine but the shift lever ends up too far forward so the opening has to be modded. But other than those two, pretty straight forward and well worth it IMHO.

It's all about power to weight, a decent LSx will piss all over a VG30E in that test. And not lose out in compactness either, another important consideration here. Without NISMO heads the VG is a dog, unfortunately. The limitations imposed by it's design just stop development dead, valve lift and size, inlet capacity, all the elements required of a high power engine just can't be attained without NISMO heads as a starting point.

Right or wrong, I put anti seize on just about every bolt I can get hold of.