ShaggyZ

Having never done a motor swap, I'm going to run into the "basic" problems such as motor and tranny mounts. I haven't done anything to the car yet (just driving it with the stock L28) and the motor is just being refreshed. There are no kits for RWD 4G63 setups of any kind I'm aware of - they're all one off jobs basically. Buschur does have some RWD stuff (way overpriced) but hardly anything that's a kit. Basically, here's the list without much explanation: - engine/tranny mounts - speedometer cable - driveshaft - cooling setup - fitment of engine between firewall and crossmember with regards to front sump oil pan and the thermostat housing which is at the back of the motor. I don't actually expect to have any insurmountable issue with this, but a mid- or rear-sump conversion would rock - sumps are harder to design remotely correctly than I previously thought. As you can see, these are hardly huge issues (most are common for any swap) and this will be an easier job than many motor swaps; I basically let it overwhelm me rather than taking it one little job at a time.

Check out projectzerog.com. It's basically the only living RWD 4G63 forum. I've already got my 6-bolt 4G63T torn apart and ready for a mostly stock rebuild to go into my '78 280. Bill Hincher is the name of the guy that makes those bellhousings and he spends a lot of time on the Project Zero G forum. He's quite the machinist/fabricator and a very cool guy, at least on the internet . The bellhousing he's finishing up now (just got his first two casts from the casting company) allows the MKIII Supra Turbo tranny (R154) to mount to the 4G63. I, along with others, have bugged him about making one to work with a WC T5. He's looking into it but needs a spare tranny to work with. Next on Bill's list for the the RWD 4G63 community is a cast top mount T3 exhaust manifold. There's more fabrication and pioneering with the 4G63 in a Z than I'd really like, but that's the price I pay for wanting to be more different. Once it's all figured out, it will be a killer setup (good performance, parts are super cheap and reliable, and the motor weighs at least 150lbs less than the L28 - suprisingly, the 4G63 head with cams and sprockets weighs in at 52 lbs... quite a bit and about the same as the L28 head)

Looks great. I have one suggestion/question. Why don't you cut and reweld that elbow on the turbo compressor outlet? It seems you could cut out a half inch of the length pointing toward the inner fender there without sacrificing anything. I may be unable to see something else going on there, but I would nibble a bit from the turbo side and a little less from the elbow side and reweld. It looks like you're about to cut out the inner fender to make room.

I've been scoping that for awhile. I've been talking to that guy, Bill Hincher, and am ordering his custom bellhousing that adapts the turbo Supra's R154 transmission to the 4G63. It'll cost around $400 shipped. I've got my 6-bolt 4G63 and it's being dismantled for a relatively stock rebuild/overhaul. Hopefully, it will need rings and bearings at most. I'll probably lose the balance shaft, too. The only things that I'm kinda worried about are the engine and tranny mounts and the driveshaft (because of the whole crazy yoke setup, but this is being sorted out as we speak... if not done already). I forgot to add that I'm a little concerned about the motor fitting fully behind the stock cross member because, in this now RWD setup, the sump is at the front. My guess is that it'll slide right behind it. If not, I expect I'll be modifying the cross member. However, when I get the oil pan off, I plan to take a look at the oil pickup tube and see if I can't modify it and the pan to be in the rear of the engine instead. I know this is done on certain motorcycles, for stunters who spend a lot of time on the rear wheel, to prevent oil starvation. I admit that I know little about engine bottom ends and this whole idea I just spewed, but that's part of the reason I'm doing this swap in the first place - to learn.

I think it's a shot from the new Transformers movie... mid-transformation. "Robots in disguise!"

Really? I have a '89 Merkur XR4Ti (turbo Ford 4cyl) and my compression readings are around 175psi across all 4 cylinders. I think the compression ratio is around 8:1. 94psi can't be right unless I'm missing something.