jeromio

Well then, dare I suggest a comparo between the Q45 and the LS1? LoneStar1 had his dyno'd at 296hp at the wheels. And the motor is light, all aluminum - at least 60lbs lighter than the LT1. The intake is plastic! (Or, uh, I guess I'm meant to say "High-tech composite material" ) But that 296 is stock. There's an intense aftermarket for these engines. Everything from 15hp chip upgrades (although there's supposed to be complete ECU editing S/W available in a few weeks!) to blowers and turbos (on totally stock internals). There's even a reverse flow, streetable electric water pump now available that claims a 16hp increase. I doubt you'll find much in the way of "tuning" for the Q45 mill... Of course, I am slightly biased.

Grab the shaft, brace yourself, and yank like hell. There's a cir-clip holding it in place. It rides in a slot radiused around the input part of the enner CV. When installed, it compresses a bit until it finds its home in the diff where it snaps back to its full radius, locking the shaft in place. So, to get it out, you have to yank hard enough so that clip gets compressed again. It does sometimes seem to require a ridiculous amount of force. You want lots of A though, and not much of the M in that f=ma equation. I have had success in prying in just the right way against that dust shield (that sheet metal you commented on) with a wide, flat pry bar. You have to be very careful though - I don't know how one would replace a damaged dust seal. And that's provided you could even find one.

Well, this will be redundant because surely you will have already found http://engineswaps.com/, which is the website for Granny's. It is a much more difficult swap, no doubt about it. But they seem to have it pretty well documented. It is also a much more expensive swap if you can't do the fab yourself. They sell a kit for about $1500. That includes all the engine mounting stuff. That does not include all the incidental stuff that I for instance, have budgeted $800 for for my Z car. Sweet cars though. Of course, my preference, if I had one, would be to keep the turbo rotary ...

Here's an example of a K member: This one is custom made for swapping an LT1 into a 3rd gen RX7. Kinda nice how the strut rod mounts are integrated with it. It's unfortunate the the Z's are welded to the frame. My modded member will have to bolt to the strut rod mounts. And of course my mount towers will be attached much farther back, on the diagonal "arms" of the K, as opposed to the straight-across part. Got the image from Granny's Speed Shop (hope they don't mind). They have a complete detailed write up of how to put a smallblock in an RX7 - online, for free. If anyone's interested, they also have a HUGE write up of the LS1 at http://members.tripod.com/~grannys/engineschevrolet.html. It's hard to read cuz there's no paragraph breaks or anything. Just 6-7 screenfulls of detailed text. Interesting though.

Well, unfortunately, as it's an LS1, the JTR plates won't work. Which has alot to do with what got me started down this train of thought. That would be a pretty good idea though. What I think I'll do is, using LoneStar's photos and the JTR book and Paul R's photos as reference. I'll see about picking up an extra datsun crossmember, and start turning it into a K member, using the actual LS1, outside of the car. Plywood firewall and 2x4 frame rails might come into play as well. If it doesn't work out, then I can apply that ill-gained knowledge to the crossmember that's in the car now, and do it all the old-fashioned way (put motor in, center it, tack things in place, remove motor, repeat, etc). But, I think it will work pretty well. This won't be my first engine swap . Actually, the one last bit of info that would be most helpful is the distance between the bottom of the LS1 pan and the crossmember...

WooHoo! Excellent photos - very helpful. Thanks.

Here's a refinement to the original diagram that probably will end up just confusing things further: It's sort of similar to the idea of adding an "extra" cross member for engine mounting. And that might work since there's probably enough room under the LS1 oilpan for one. To answer the question, in my non-mechanical-engineer opinion, adding another crossmember would not add the outward stress to the frame. What I'm proposing is to bolster the Datsun crossmember. And it very likely won't end up looking like the cartoon I've just posted up there. Imagine the engine crossmember, bolted to the framerails, but the center of it is bent forward, until it touches the datsun crossmember. Then that joint gets welded. Then the 2 triangles created by frame rail, crossmember and "bent" engine crossmember are covered in metal plate which gets welded to the 2 crossmembers (but not the rails). Then some motor mount towers are attached to this new metal surface. Something like that.

I did consider mounting to the frame rail like the Ford guys. But, I think this would create more steering interference and also limits header choices. MikeSCCA had to add an extra joint to the steering for example. Also, I kind of like the idea of the forces vectoring primarily downward, vs the motor pressing down on mounting "arms" and also out against the frame rails. I think mostly what I'm shooting for is sort of making the datsun straight crossmember into more of a K style member. The extra pieces would be welded to the existing cross and then bolted to the frame rails and/or bolted to those cast strut rod mounters. I suspect that this will increase the rigidity of the frame as a side benefit. I wish I had an extra cross-member to play around with. Maybe I'll see about picking one up.

Lots of good pics there - thanks. Especially liked those close-ups of the driver's side. See my post here: http://www.hybridz.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001125 Tell me whatcha think....

Okay, I am expecting some skepticism here - actually looking for it. LoneStar's install looks pretty straight-forward. Reproducible. But I'm considering doing things differently. I'm considering (just thinking out loud here), the possibility of completely removing the datsun motor mounts, and instead using the Camaro mounts. Or fabbing something very similar to them. These would be bolted to the Datsun cross member via some cross member extensions. Something like that. The extensions might actually also bolt up to the tie rod mount. That bluish line (PC Paintbrush, oi) is meant to represent the steering shaft. The drivers side Camaro style mount tower would need to be modified to allow the shaft to pass thru. Why would I want to do this? Well, it looks like the standard LS1 low alternator and A/C compressor locations would work with the Datsun mount towers out of the way. So, what I'm thinking is that it would be easier to come up with a different way to mount the engine than it would be to come up with different ways to mount those 2 accessories. And who knows, maybe I'll want to get a blower in there down the road? Also, it seems like this would be fairly straight-forward. Need to get some more measurements and specifics - right now this is only a hair-brained idea. I already have these camaro mount towers - very beefy units. The steering is the only problem that occurs to me right now, and right now it doesn't worry me too much. Basically, instead of setting back the motor mounts, I'd be setting back the motor mount towers.

Wow. This issue of 2.0 vs. 2.25 is good to hear about before I blow money on an adapter. So, the Neapco part is only good for the ZX diff then, eh? I think I may be about to reveal some serious ignorance here: when I put the 200SX 4.11 R200 in my car, I had to use the pinion flange from the 3.54 R200 that I got off my old 75 280Z parts car because the 200SX pinion flange had the wrong bolt pattern (square not rectangular). I did not check anything out as far as diameters or crush sleaves or anything. I simply took removed the nuts from both diffs, and swapped the flanges . If the 200SX flange was the incorrect diameter, would I have even been able to put it on at all? IOWs, did I make a big boo-boo? Everything's been working fine - no noise or leaks or anything... If I did not screw up, then I will need the 2.0 inch flange. Actually, I will need it regardless because I don't think this 4.11 is gonna be an acceptable ratio for the 4L60E A4 that I'll be using with this LS1 - I'm gonna need to use that 3.54. I suppose I could do Pete's trick - an old yoke should be easy and cheap enough to get ($5 from a PickNPull I'd guess). I'd have to get my welder friend to weld it up nice and centered for me.

The one I got came from a 5sp turbo 200sx. Regardless, I would definately recommend checking the ratio before you pull it or have it pulled. Jack up one wheel, mark the driveshaft (scratch it with a nail or something), then spin that raised wheel and count the revs of the driveshaft. Should come up with about 20 and a half. Also, if you're car has a R180 now, you'll need the pinion flange from an R200 from a 280Z. The one on the 200SX unit won't work with the 280 (or 240) driveshaft. The bolts are in a square pattern, not a rectangle like the Z.

No underside pics yet. If you've got some, that'd be cool.

Motor mounts from Autozone? No way. I mean, it's worth a try, but my bet is you'll have to order those from a dealership or MSA. As to the trans swap, the only problem I ran into on my 71 with the 80 5sp was I had to use the shift fork from the 4sp. I also had to cut the shifter hole larger, but you may not have to.

Yeah, but that's why we're all depending on you to comb the yards, looking for clever ways to outfit our cars with newer OEM parts from other cars!

Well, like a good member I did a search of the boards before posting my question . Didn't find anything on specifically where to purchase the adapter. Doesn't look like there's gonna be anyplace that signifigantly undercut's Stealth's price, so, I'm just going to order one from there. BTW, I tallied up the list of must have parts for my conversion and mistakenly showed it to my wife. $800. That's just to get the engine in the car and running. There was another $400-$500 of stuff that would be really nice to have (like A/C, Helms manual, etc.). Trying to trim costs whereever I can...

So, JTR sells the Neapco driveshaft adapter for $50, plus $10 or so for shipping. The local driveshaft shop (there's only one) will charge me $75. (They're also gonna charge me about $150 to shorten the shaft ) So, any other sources? If not I guess I'll just order it from Stealth....

I'd like to get a factory service manual for the 99 FBody from which my motor was pulled. Can anybody point me to a good source? Really I'd prefer to just get manuals for wiring and engine....

Just to be overly redundantly clear, as Mike C wrote, the only thing you can use from a ZX is the actual R200 diff. The ZX shafts and mounts and such won't work with a 240Z. You will need to get the Mustache bar and rear transverse bar from a 73-78 Z car. If the local yards don't have these, ZBarn does. Oh, and I'd say $110 is reasonable.

If you've already got the Nissan 5sp, I'd go ahead and stick it in there. Worst case is it breaks, right? Then you can to switch to the T5 (which is the same unit used in 5 liter Mustangs and Camaros). Or, since those plain 5spds are so crazy cheap, just stick another one in. Around here they're anywhere from $100-$150. Where as the ZXT T5s are hard to find. I've read lots of turbo Z car write-ups where they're using the Nissan 5speed.

I've had good luck with these guys: http://www.onlinenissan.com/ I think I paid less than $22 for my spindle bolts.....

Those pics of your exhaust were helpful. I'm looking for some shots directly below the engine. I guess I'm hoping to see the JTR setback plates and the cross-member. Since I've got an LS1 and the mounts are on a different part of the block, I'm gonna have some issues to work out.

Cool. If I can compare the LS1 with the "normal" 350, I'm thinking it would help me. But maybe it won't - hard to know until I know . I keep having to go out to the garage (such as it is - my garage has no door and the "floor" is gravel) and gawk at my motor. It's all aluminummy.

I think when I'm all done I'll probably have right around $9000 in this car, including the actual price of the car. But that's with alot of labor. I've been working on this car for about 2 years - but it's also my daily driver. There have been 3 projects that took it off the road so far. The first one, replacing a blown L24 with an L28 junkyard motor, turned into a cut a big chunk of the rusted frame out and weld in new structure. This is the thing that you want to avoid by finding an Arizona or California car. There's lots of info here and elsewhere on upgrading the brakes and suspension, which you will definately need to do. I'm hoping to start the LS1 swap in 2-3 weeks and I'm shooting for a one month turn around. Stop laughing. No, really. One month, that's my goal. C'mon, quit it....

Well, I don't want anyone to have to go to any trouble or anything... I was sort of hoping that maybe someone already had some pictures of the underside of the engine and crossmember. There aren't any in the JTR manual. Which I think is an oversight, because that one that LoneStar1 has of his car really shows the placement of the engine. The pic of the engine with the setbacks installed on it in the book is pretty descriptive. It's just that I don't have the equivalent pic of an LS1. Since there are no drawings of the "LS1 mounting plates", I'm trying to get a feel for what's required. I have LoneStar1's description, which definately helps, but I want to avoid as much trial and error (insert engine, remove engine, repeat) as I can.