Matt K

$4k is what I have ONLY into parts at this point. Anyone can lie & tell you it can be done for less, and it can...but you get what you pay for. The 1JZ swap into an SC300 is MUCH easier & straightforward by far! The hardest part of that is getting your harness modded.

Nope. The early Z's had a rear mounted external low pressure electric fuel pump, in addition to the engine mounted mechanical fuel pump (to avoid vapor lock). What may be an issue is the small diameter of the fuel lines, and putting a larger electric fuel pump with the old wiring. There will be a lot more issue than just the fuel system though...If you have the coin, I'd say take your car to Vildini Motorsports & have them do it all for you, as that's what they specialize in (SR swapped Z's). McKinney Motorsports also has most of the items (engine cradle/mounts, transmission mount) needed to do this swap. Other issues will be engine wiring, gauges, cutting the driveshaft to fit, exhaust, intercooler/piping, gearing, possibly needing to reinforce the chassis...a lot more entailed than you may think, if you'd never done a swap like this before. There's a lot more work involved than swapping it into a 240SX! I'm accumulating all the stuff to swap my S13 blacktop into my '78 280Z. I'm already at $4K without any exhaust, fuel system, wiring, and cooling system mods. I've got a nice SR with harness & trans, slightly better turbo, header, better intake manifold, clutch setup, custom tuned ECU, Z32 mafs, intercooler & piping, driveshaft, mounts. I'm going to replace my floor pans & frame rails prior to doing the swap, so I don't have to mess with it in the future, or have any chassis issues. I'll also be swapping my 3.54 R200 for a 4.10 R200, as the stock rear end gearing on an SR-equipped 5-speed car is 4.08, and I want to get the most from my setup. One buddy on here ran his old R180 with 3.37 gears with his SR swap, and it was WAY too little gear for the SR...got great mileage, but took forever to shift. My brother has 3.70 gears with his SR swapped ZX, which is slightly better, but still not right.

That's a deal...I'd go for it.

My POS... Working on dropping one of these in it...(albeit not quite as extreme as my old 240sx setup, pictured here) I have 95% of everything I need, but I want to upgrade the floors & frame rails before dropping it in...

Skip the S15 engine. The good points are the better turbo & slightly larger injectors, however the 6-speed tranny is notoriously weak & prone to failure. It wires the same as an S14 SR, for the most part. I personally would go for the S13 blacktop, as it interchanges 100% parts wise with the older S13 redtop, so getting aftermarket parts is cheap & easy. You'd probably want to upgrade the turbo/injectors/mafs/intake with any SR you'd pick, so you can save a bit more by choosing the S13. There are other issues with the S14/15 with regards to the VTC (Nissan's version of variable valve timing) used on those...it limits the size of cams you can use without disabling the VTC, whereas there's no issue on any S13 SR.

Most injectors are prone to failure if repeatedly tasked to perform above 85% duty cycle...which is why I bring that up...I personally wouldn't be too comfortable staking my engine's longevity on something so easy to replace, especially considering you can nearly get back 100% of your money selling off the "old" 72lb injectors...just something to consider. It sounds like you've got a handle on the rest of the fuel system though. Good luck!

I think you'll be wanting to go slightly larger on your injectors, if you want to boost to that hp level. When I went over 400 rwhp, 850cc's weren't safe (long term) to sustain the over 500rwhp goal I was shooting for. I wound up switching to 1000cc injectors. Otherwise your injector duty cycle is going to be very sketchy. I'd also switch to a Bosh 044 fuel pump (or larger)...using the factory fuel pump power wire as your switched power through a 30-amp relay wired directly to you battery with 10-gauge wire (along with a 10-gauge ground wire). You can use a standard headlight relay from an autoparts store for that. My single Walbro 255 lasted a bit longer via that method, but it wasn't the proper way. You can keep using the current Walbro with the addition of another pusher pump & fuel surge tank (1-liter or larger) with your stock sized lines, but the best way would be to run larger lines with a real pump. Good luck! Welcome to the 500-hp club!

Try taking off the TPS & cleaning it...that & the AFM are also prone to these issues when exposed to moisture.

I kept wondering why my newly acquired 280Z started to lose power & sputter. After dropping the tank & having it boiled out & resealed, and seafoaming the car, things didn't improve. It had new injectors & mafs...weird, what's going on? The other day, I decided to clean all my engine connectors & found EVERY single one was missing the metal clips which hold them in place! Injectors, mafs, tps, coolant temp sensor, etc...all were just placed on & not secure. A trip to the junkyard later, some electric cleaner & dielectric tuneup grease, and it runs great!

Agreed! While it doesn't have the classic first-gen Z stying, it IS a superior car in every way. I loved to drive my '82 slicktop coupe WAY more than either my '73 or my '78. I'd still love to have a clean one to park next to my '78...at high speeds or in the twisties, it was so much better to drive...plus more room for wider tires without the need for flares.

Nope, not attacking you...Like I said, I had to learn this lesson too. My max power was made through an OS Giken (race built) Crossmission, not a stock transmission, along with an OS Giken triple plate non-dampered clutch. NO way will an production SR mission last long over 400hp. As it was, I killed my Crossmission & triple plate too. I wanted to eventually go with a Viper-spec T56 transmission, with an adapter plate...but wound up detuning it & eventually getting rid of everything. Here are a few sites showing stock internals holding up over 500 rwhp. http://www.240sxforums.com/forums/sr20de-det/14128-max-hp-sr20det-w-stock-internals.html http://www.freshalloy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94790&page=2 http://pittspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18072 http://zilvia.net/f/chat/286753-sr20det-world-record-pump-gas.html The big thing that will kill any engine with a quickness is poor tuning. I kept my A/F ratio around 11.5-11.7 at full boost in high gear, and EGTs under 1000 degrees C at full boost on sustained runs. I was also using a large Greddy oil cooler setup, which alone dropped my cruising EGTs by 100 degrees C. I datalogged everything, to ensure I could keep fine tuning out any issues. I still had working air conditioning too...We street tuned for real world results, and I only went to the local dyno at Ototech to see what level it was at. I'm just trying to relay to you that at your desired level of power, you don't NEED to spend on a built engine. You'd probably be better off selling most of the stuff & investing in a few decent OEM SR's. It's really frustrating...I've been there too. My first SR had been driven for an extended period of time with a blown headgasket. The previous owner literally removed the head, coated the replacement gasket with RTV on both sides, and slapped it back together. When I pulled it to go with a metal headgasket for insurance, the block was ruined already. Superheated steam in the combustion chambers had deteriorated the cylinder walls at the top, and they were eroded away maybe 1/8" in two cylinders. I picked up another with only 39,000 KM of documented miles (paid about twice as much as usual) and started building my race motor...I wound up spending about $8500 building that race motor...but the stock motor held up so nicely, I couldn't justify pulling it.

I think you're wasting your money. I put down 522 on pump gas with a stock longblock...had a Tomei 1.2mm headgasket, HKS 264 cams, Tomei adjustable cam gears & ARP head studs as my only non-OEM internal parts. I beat on that motor for 5 years, and 2 years after selling it, it's still running hard. No headwork whatsoever. That was with a Full-Race GT3567R turbo. I've seen a lot of guys spend lots of cash having a bulletproof SR built, only to have some minor inattention to detail kill them. How cheap is a replacement (stock) engine? How many can you get for the same price as building a "bulletproof" one? I can get 6-8 engines for the price of building just one SR the "right" way. If I recall correctly, the highest HP stock internal SR put on 800-ish to the wheels. I's drop in a stock motor with some head studs & a metal head gasket, and spend your time getting it tuned well. Then, if it dies, toss in another... I did build a race SR a few years back. It sat in my crate for 2 years before I sold it off...my stock engine never died, so I never needed the race motor. Fully ported head, Tomei solid lifter with 272 12.5mm cams, Eagle rods, Wiseco pistons, Nismo bearings, knife edged crank, balanced, all ARP studs (mains, head, etc), new oil pump & timing set...blah blah blah. Sure, it would have made more power, but at my level I killed an OS Giken full 1-5 Crossmission (purchased new-died in 5,000 miles), OS Giken triple plate (also new, died at the same time). There went $7500 down the drain! I decided I had my fun, and detuned my setup to a "small" GT2871R .64 AR & 740cc injectors (from the 1000cc I was running)...it was WAY more fun to drive. Not as fast, but I didn't break everything anymore. I also think you may want to re-evaluate who's been building your engines...no offense!

Maybe a cool-can would help? The real answer is an intank pump. There's a good reason why newer cars all have them.

Funny! Because any "legit" performance items have to be period correct? Maybe if they performed on the same level as the newer "ricer" items. Some might say that ZG flares are "ricer" items...FYI, the SR needs a straight through design muffler to make the best power. I went through seven different systems with my old SR setup on my 180SX back in Japan. The conventional turbo muffler designs never performed as well as a straight through "fart can", even with 3" systems (Kakimoto, Fujitsu). BTW, my lower HP combo (internally actuated turbo) did 390 rwhp, and my built setup (external wastegate) did 522 rwhp, both on pump gas...

BTW, I ran 7's for my spark plug heat range with 1000cc injectors, modded Full-Race GT3567R, built SR. 6's are colder than you really need.

BTW, the S15 6-speed is much weaker than the regular 5-speed, and has the same final drive ratio. I've known a few guys to break them with bone stock motors, back in Okinawa.

Weird...I'm running a 15x8" zero offset with a 225/50-15 in the rear (no mid or rolling) without any clearance issues. It's on a '78 though...I remember hearing earlier Z's may need some clearancing.

Not too much to update, as I'm trying to make the transition from military to civilian...Got some Watanabes on & was driving it to work yesterday. It died on me in between two appointments & I had to hoof it around until I had a chance to see what the issue was. I came outside & started it up, but it died almost immediately. It would restart for a moment, then die again...I did this maybe 10X until I had to go onto my next appointment. I looked underneath & saw no fuel coming through my (pre-pump) clear fuel filter, so figured it was a plugged pickup tube from gas tank corrosion. When I came back later on in the day, she started right up, with no issues. I ran the engine for 20 minutes & drove it to a shop to have the gas tank refinished. Their prices were very fair ($160 to drop the tank, boil it out, reseal & re-install it) so I'll pick it up Monday. I got more stuff for my SR swap, re-tuned Enthalpy ECU, S14 turbo (for now), Greddy copy intake, Z32 mafs, clutch & more...I'm going to use an RB20 speed sensor (with the original Z gear) on the Z cable to keep my speedo. I'm debating on using a factory throttle cable, or paying McKinney for one of theirs... I need to sell off the two extra sets of wheels I have now...one set of four 15" Epsilon meshies & a set of five Enkei 92's, also in 15". Once I get a new job offer on paper, then I'll drop off the car to my buddy & get it all done!

You'll be fine...just don't overdo it.

I'm running Project Kics (JDM) 15mm non-hubcentric spacers on the front of my '78 with no issues.

Those wheels were initially released in 2003, and were off of our market by 2005...Not really new at all, but more choices is always better. I wouldn't hold my breath on them coming back though.

I too am interested & would love some pics...

It's going to be awesome when he rips off his open door too...

The SR PS pump mounts pretty low, it could be done...this is one possibility...you could do a Tilton remote setup too, which is what my brother is going to do with his 1200. http://www.tiltonracing.com/content.php?page=list2&id=1&m=b

Something along the lines of this http://www.performanceonline.com/HYDRO-POWER-BRAKE-BOOSTER-KIT-HB0000494 Requires the use of a power steering pump though...