BluSkyLightning

Sooo, the car that I planned to pick up this weekend was sold out from under me this morning. Not much I can do about it, so I'll have to keep looking. F#@$@#%!@#$%@#$%@#$%@#$%

Yeah, stock 304's were not very powerful, but they are sturdy as a brick crap house. Depending on the year they had as much as 250 HP (stock) to as little as 125 HP according to my research. It depends on the SMOG stuff that's on it, and how de-tuned it is, newer 304's are worse than the older ones. 360's have more potential than 304's and there are more performance parts available, you can make nearly 500 HP with a built and balanced NA 360, a turbo 360 would be even more ridiculous.

I also found an AMC 360 for sale locally for $300, it will probably need a complete rebuild, but if I do pick it up, most of these bolt ons from the 304 are a direct fit for the 360 too, so I can build the bottom end and swap everything over to the 360, which will then bolt directly to the 727. I think we have a winner!

Thanks for the feedback, I talked it over with one of my good buddies last night and we have come to the same conclusion. I'm going to rebuild the 304 that's already installed (it does have some decent parts already on it) and have some fun with the car. I have plans for wheels and tires, suspension, and paint coming up too. I think the 2JZ, although incredibly bad ass, would be a little more than I want to bite off at the moment. If I do feel the need for more power, I think a low boost turbo v8 setup would be fantastic too, and should be relatively minimal fab work and down time. I will post pictures of the car once I buy it, should be here in the next couple of days hopefully.

Well, the investment of the car is actually not bad, it's less than what stock cars in similar body conditions are going for. Ideally I could use the 727 Trans with an adapter to mate it up to the 2JZ, but I did some prelimiary research and it looks like they don't make them. I can probably have one made, but then again at the expense of time and $$$. I like the fact that the 2JZ is fuel injected and litterally comes with everything that I need to run it. ECU, wiring harness, injectors, it has it all, even down to a 4 inch exahust. I understand that fabbing up some engine and transmission mounts are time and $$$ consuming, that's kind of why I posted this, to hash the idea out with others in a similar mind set. Rebuilding the 304 is the cheapest route by a long shot. -Complete engine gasket set - $120 -Minimal downtime -Fabrication costs - $0 -Potential power 250-300 HP Swapping in a more potent v8, let's say a 360? 440's also bolt up to the 727 Torqueflite, but I'm not sure if the Z can fit a big block. -Engine - $?? Haven't found one local yet except for a fully built race 360 that the owner is asking 2k for. -Medium downtime -Fabrication costs - $100-200 for engine mounts if they are different -Potential power - 300-600 HP depending on amount invested in Engine 2JZ-GTE swap -Engine, Auto Transmission, ECU, wiring harness, intake and exhaust manifolds, stock twin turbos, 4" exhaust - $2200 - Longest downtime by far -Fabrication costs - $1000?? I know I'd need a custom driveshaft, the rear end on the car should be OK, I'm not sure 100% of what it is, but the owner does know that it is an LSD (Positrack). Could be from a Jeep or AMC, that's what the motor is from. Will need motor and transmission mounts, upgraded fuel system and tank, plus more. - Potential power - 300-450 HP using stock engine and transmission. Better drivability, plus dat turbo spool. Pushing for more HP out of the stock 2JZ is fine, I could get 700-900 with a big single turbo and decent manifold, fuel delivery, and tune, but then I'd have to drop some serious bucks into the Aristo tranny to keep it alive too. I'd love to run the 727 with the 2JZ, then I'd only need to fab up engine mounts, the drive shaft and rear end would be done already, and the 727 can be rebuilt for pretty cheap to take a massive beating. I see that they offer adapters for GM transmissions, but no Mopar ones, so that would need to be custom too.

I am getting ready to pick up my first Z car, a 1976 260z. It's in pretty good shape, the previous owner had it undercoated so rust is very minimal. Long story short, the car currently has a 304 AMC V8 with some mild mods and a 727 Torqueflite automatic tranny. The rear end is PosiTrack, and it is in running and driving condition. The problem is that the motor is leaking and burning oil. It might be as simple as bad valve stem seals, or it could be worse. I was browsing craigslist looking for a car for my buddy coming back from deployment and found a 2jzgte with Auto Aristo tranny, ECU, wiring harness, etc. Pretty much everything needed to run the motor, including the factory twin turbos and manifolds. I called him and asked how much he'd sell the whole thing for, and he quoted me $2200. So, this is my conundrum. Should I keep the v8 swap going and either rebuild the 304, or possibly swap to another v8 that bolts right up to a 727 torqueflite, or should I swap both the engine and trans over to the 2jzgte with the auto 4 speed? The v8 rebuild would be easiest, but I'm not sure that I like the AMC 304. This one does have 340 heads, edelbrock intake, 650 carb, headers, and ignition. I'm not sure how much power this setup would make once rebuilt, I'm guessing around 300 give or take, probably closer to 250. As far as my main purpose for the car... I don't know for sure. Weekend warrior mostly, I doubt I'd take it out to either the drags or autocross very often. Hit me with your opinions and experiences, I love the Inline 6 turbo motors and would love to do a swap, but is the headache worth it?