V8INtheZ

Wow, I think I could drive under that thing!

I dont think it will get you 2k either. You wont have a very fun street car if you can. I took an engine out of a car that weighs 3400 pounds, and put it into a car that weighs 2400 pounds, so even if I dont lose any more its already 1k pounds lighter. I think your car will weigh more like 2200 pounds, so you will be losing more like 600 pounds. Do you know the actual weight of the engine and transmission you want to use? SBC gets you everything you want from a Z, power, reliability, streetability, and decent gas mileage.

I dont think you will lose as much weight as you think. I just installed a 4 cyl turbo ford into my Z. The engine was only like 40 lighter. My engine is pretty much all cast iron, but the L6 really isnt a very heavy engine. Even with my engine all the way back and down as far as it can go, Im not gaining much in the way of weight, or distrabution. There are plenty of examples of V8 Z's that have a very nice weight ratio and the run them at the tracks with good results. And you really cant expect the same reliability from an underpowered engine, next to a rock stock chevy 350. But on the other hand, I like to hear people trying something new. Thats one reason Im doing my swap...

There are a couple posts on here that have working pictures. There are also some saleens, y2ks, and regular cobras. Do a quick search and you can find them easy.

Ouch, that always sucks. Sorry to here that, hope you are alright. I am going to buy one of those cheap intercoolers from ebay. Its hard to beat a FMIC and piping for under $200 bucks =) I have a volvo, and a saab fmic on a couple of my cars and they work pretty well.

Im going to wait til there is only one. I know as soon as I buy one, all my favorite movies will be released for the other format But then again, I have an Xbox 360 Elite, so I could buy the HD player for $180, then get the PS3 and have both...

Hmm, I will have to look around for a fuel sender. I now have the wire harness installed and all figured out. I still need to do some minor things like hook up the starter, but it should be cranking and sparking tonight. I have to wait on my next check so I can buy a fuel pump, intercooler, and piping so it should be running soon!

Thanks guys I took the engine out of a car from Picknpull for 70 dollars. I have a bazillion 2.3 Turbo parts though, what do you need? I have 2 Turbo Coupes, 2 Turbo Capris (83'+84') and now this will be another 2.3, so I have been collecting parts for a few years now. I rarely let something get passed me. Anyway, Im off to get started on installing the wiring harness. I pulled it apart and fixed some splices and junk, new tape and loom. Should go pretty smooth, although I cant find my mini-starter right now...

Ok, pictures are up on my photo bucket page. http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q47/turborscapri1984/

Woww, Im really dragging my feet. I will have pictures uploaded tonight when I get off of work. There were some complications with my last batch of pictures, so I will retake them with my own camera. I will include pictures of the "finished" engine mounts, engine location, transmission location, and the oil pan location. Any other requests before I get home?

You will be in far worse shape if you dont fix the booster. I mean, you need to stop, and it only takes one stop that you didnt quite make...

Im having this same battle in my head right now. Cant decide between 16's or 17's. Tires are certainly cheaper in the 16... Seems that most people have said 16's are a "good" choice. I have been searching and reading for like 3 weeks now . Some guys with some exp (track and/or Zeds), like Jmort, usually jump in on this one. I would think they get tired reposting the same info. Basically you need to decide what is more important to you. I dont think there is much argument againts a smaller wheel/tire set as far as performance goes. Although I do like how the 17's look on a Z. So I think the 16 is the best way to go if you want a little of both worlds. They look pretty darn cool, and you can still get some tire under the car, and you dont sacrifice as much rotating mass. Ok, time for someone else to chime in...

Update: The drivetrain is in its final (I hope anyway) resting spot. I have a whole bunch of pictures, but have yet to get them onto the computer. Next thing on the list is to get all the wiring done, should be mostly finished this weekend. Its going pretty smooth so far so Im waiting for something to go wrong

Yeah, I was thinking a "rollbar" for my oil pan might work. The transmission is about 1/8" below the shifter opening in the trans tunnel. I will probably end up making some sort of basket undercarige thing, I could use some chassis support anyway. Overall Im super happy with the way the ening sits. The valve cover is under the hood latch bracket and about 1.5" in front of the firewall. The shifter comes right up the center of the stock Z boot/console. I have like 14-18" of open nothingness in front of the engine. The whole thing is behind the steering rack, save for a small portion of the water pump pulley. It should be a really fun car. the oil pan issue is really the only problem I have come across so far.

Its not the T5, that fits fine. The sump is a fairly deep one, and it hangs down pretty low. I havent decided if it is a big deal or not. I just dont like how low it sits, and how much of it is exposed. I will work on getting pictures up in the next couple days. I put the T5 up into the tunnel as far as it will go to help bring up the engine. The ford ones are a bit different then the chevy T5s, but not by much. The shifter housing on the tailshaft is almost touching the shifter opening in the trans tunnel. I could have put the engine higher, but I didnt want to go too far so I could still have a decent driveshaft angle. I dont know, like I said, I might just be over reacting hehe. I imagine for the pan to get struck, I would have to hit something so hard there would be other problems as well, or I would have to run over a small mountain. I plan on going with a fairly stiff suspension, so that will help too. Check back for pictures!

The engine and transmission are in the car. I have to fab one more engine mount for it to be solid. I dont know if this engine will fit in the car. The oil pan sits very low and is exposed a good 3 inches. I dont know if I feel comfortable with it. The trans and engine are as high as I can go without altering the transmission tunnel.... I will take pictures and would like to hear what you guys think. Yes I will be using a large FMIC.

Reweighed my engine. This time it was ready to use as I am going to use it. No ac compressor or ps pump. 378 pounds! I was hoping to get it down to 380, so I am very happy I havent weighed the L6 yet, but Im sure its what I have been told in the past. I took a bunch of pictures of the engine, its in the car now. Im going to make mounts for it today, it looks killer!

Hehe maybe look a bit harder next time. I have a thread like 5 down from this one. I am doing the swap right now. I put the engine in the Z last night and am welding new mounts up today. As far as I know, Im the first one to do it. Looks like your own mounts need to be made, and Im using a JTR transmisssion mount, modified to use with a T5. Installing the engine is the easy part, wiring up the computer and injectors is the hard part. ( Its not that hard though, if you can understand a wiring schematic ) You cant use the harness in the Tbird, you have to get either a Merkur xr4ti harness, or use one from an 87'-90' 4 cylinder Mustang. The engine fits in the car really sweet. The shifter is in the original location and the engine is up against the fire wall. The whole thing fits behind the steering rack! You will also have to get a drive shaft made, and come up with your own clutch linkage. I think I might use the wilwood setup everyone uses for the V8 T5, but Im not sure the throw is the same for the 4 cylinder T5. Good luck =)

Update 11/27 I weighed my 2.3 yesterday. 420 pounds with the following: Full long block-valve cover to oil pan Full intake manifold with rail and injectors Complete turbo and manifold Air Meter Starter AC compressor and bracket Alternator and bracket PS pump and bracket -NO flywheel/flexplate or transmission Basically the engine was weighed as a running engine without fluids. I will be using a smaller turbo (19 PSI, Im hoping it will still reach close to 300 crank HP) no AC compressor, or PS pump, and a smaller "mini" starter. I estimate the egine will weigh around 380 pounds fully dressed. I will weigh it again before it goes into the car to give an accurate drivetrain weigh loss. The T5 and flywheel/clutch assembly should be around 100 pounds, and I will be weighing those as well.

Just double checked the curb weight of the supercoupe, just under 3800 pounds its first year, then it got heavier!

Hmm, you guys bring up several solid points. If you can eliminate the headgasket issue (there is no problem without a solution) it would be a great choice for a Z. The supercoupes weigh something like 3500 pounds and they move still. The amount of stress put on a 3.8 should be far less when installed in a Z... Whats funny is the 3.8 should weigh about the same if not lighter then the Turbo 2.3 Im using, LOL

My opinion is to go with something else. Ask anyone who has owned a 3.8L Ford for a while. Cast iron, block, and ali heads... They lose headgaskets like no other engines. After 10+ years of the consistant HG failures, Ford decided to add forced induction. The supercoupes are stronger, but you still have the same weak problem....

The accepted average max from a stock short block is about 700 HP. The average 2.3 is making 300 HP. As for heads, Esslinger makes a couple different ones, and Boport does some great work also (but you mentioned them already) I said there are a few heads now, not "many." The Volvo head is cool, but I dont think it does much better then the Essy head. There are a few guys with over 1000 HP, one of them states hes using a junk yard engine. I didnt come over here to prove anything, I dont need to. Im just trying to build a fun car.

Volvo head does require quite a bit of work. Depending on the condition of the bottom end, you can get anywhere from 500-1000 HP. There is one turboford member that is up to like 1100 on a junkyard engine. He runs it hard all year long at the drags. The accepted average is around 700 HP with a stock bottom end. The engine set a land speed record for a stock bottom end at like 232 miles per hour or something, I dont know if it was broken or not. They are a lot of cheap fun thats for sure! There are a few sources for high performance heads now, so you dont have to go with the vovlo head anymore. Many people are running 30 PSI on a stock engine (with a good turbo, lots of fuel, and a good FMIC ofcourse). I have myself ran 27 PSI on a DD for a long time. Most of my cars are in the 20ish PSI range cause of gas prices.

Those volvo heads are pretty trick. However the power I need for the Z is well within the factory head's limits. The turboford website has been super helpful for me in the past, and Im sure I will be using it for this swap as well.