Gollum

Yea I had fun, and by the looks of it i'll be going back wednesday night with my bro to meet up with the zonc group.

I remember watching a video (linked on THIS website) of a BMW inline 6 reaching the limits of the stock rods of the motor around 700hp or something. They had a pic of all the rods laid out and you could see which one failed as it was bent badly. They said they were gonna replace the rods and shoot for 1000hp. Though that's not extremely scientific data, sorry. It's the best I've got off the top of my head.

carfan - got a new job. I'm starting to be on aim more and more lately while at work, but i'm at work and not extremely availble to talk, but still able to talk. On the upside I'm planning out a 240Z build budget to hopefully get started around late 08' early 09'. Gonna be pretty mild, but still thinking i'll want a good 6+k before I start getting into it. You bring up a good point thumper. You're most likely going to be buying it after meeting with the person, and in this case he's offering a HUGE amount of inventory parts he has, so it's not like it could have all been stolen all that easily unless he made off with an entire enclosed trailer.

Ahhh!!! you gonna be there? Geez, I wasn't almost certain the GTR wasn't gonna be there at all. I just went last night. Guess I'm going back... Not sure if I'll be able to make it wednesday, I'll find out later today I hope.

I'm not particularly interested, but maybe I would be if I had the money. Found this today on the good ol' craigslist. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/car/489142397.html I saw THAT VERY SAME CAR at the international auto show two years ago, and should even have pics to verify it's the same one on my PC at home. Seems like a good deal, good enough to make me wonder if it's legit. Looks legit to me, but it just begs me to question. Other than that, just consider this thread a heads up to the people that might be interested.

Yo nqztr, sup? Long time no see eh? I need to get my swap finished... grrr. I need to go to some more Z shows. Last show I went to was berryessa back.... umm geez was it really about 15 months ago? Here's my thread on my swap http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114589 Ok, so when did you install lambo doors???

Umm, probably about a 7 or 8. It wasn't EASY, but there are MUCH MUCH harder swaps out there. And for me I've been battling the elements more than the swap itself. I'm working outside, with the car on dirt, meaning anytime it's wet outside I have to get dirty in order to get under the car. There's just hassle upon hassle that can all be atributed to my work environment. Moving an engine on dirt is NOT easy, especially our super soft soil here in the bay area. The mechanical side of it was a peice of cake. The wiring is more difficult that anticipated, but if you go slowly and document things well you should be fine. But honestly, now that I have a higher comfort level as far as working with this car and getting to know ever little detail, I probably would have gone with a different motor if I had the ability and means to weld. Probably would have gone with a 5.0 motor as they're everywhere here in the bay and I THINK (not sure) you can use the stock T-5 tranny mount and then just fabricate the motor mounts yourself.

Thanks for chiming in 510six with regards to your uncle. Chris spoke kinda what I already knew, which might be why people here just don't care enough about the motor. It isn't an affordable HIGH hp motor, but I just think it might be close to being the cheapest you can get that kinda power in such a small package. Most people here have less than 300hp anyways right? I'd say a very small percentage of people on this board have less than 500, which puts this motor into their radar imo. Virtually all of the 4 cylinder crowd (which is growing) could have this motor on their list of options.

I'm not saying it's some hard core amazing motor. But to some people (like me) a V8 isn't always the way to go as you can sometimes get your power request out of a smaller and lighter package. I mean, just in my 2 days worth of research in my spare time at work i've found a larger tuning base and people running high HP than you can find for the L series. The L series isn't a bad motor and many people here can attest to that. Sure, the L series needs major headwork if you want high NA hp, and isn't the simplest of motors to modify when it comes to the turbo motors, and it's very DIY. Does that make it a bad motor? Ford had overheating issues with these motors, why should that grind all possabilities to a stop? There's guys making pretty impressive power with these motors and there's a wide variety of options for nearly any part for the motor. Obviously it has tuning support, so why hasn't it shown up on the radar for people here as a swap choice? I'm not here to start a debate. I started this thread to see if there was any REAL evidence as to why people here don't talk about this motor other than to say "it has gasket issues, don't use it", but yet the only people here who talk about it either don't have direct exerience, or they work in a shop that sees them all the time. Well I've got answers to both of those. To people that don't have direct experience - would you ask someone on zcar.com about the reliability of the SBC? To the people that have seen too many with blown gaskets - it's one of ford's most common engines and it wasn't designed to take overheating, what else do you expect to happen? So someone, please chime in and give me a concrete reason to disregard the motor. Again, I'm not trying to start anything, so sorry if I don't seem civil. I'm just trying to get to the root here (i'll be scouring more soupercoupe forums looking for head issue threads).

Ali heads by principal aren't a problem on iron blocks. Yes these engines DO have gasket problems, but i've reseached the problem a bit. As long as you take the precautions it's not an issue (open up the exhaust a TON, run a good and big radiator, watch the temp) And also, some people say these motors don't have good aftermarket because they're such a small run, but the reality is that I can find ported and polished heads for less than $800 because they're compatible with the V6 heads off the mustangs and there's probably over a million of these V6 motors from ford. The supercoupe version is strong, which will help what the BOTTOM is capable of, the head is another issue all together. But even with the stock heads putting on better exhaust before raising boost should be enough to tame this beast. I just wonder why this motor hasn't gotten any attention from people on this board. Ok, so it has one flaw that's FIXABLE and minor, why the utter lack of support. You could say just as many equally bad things about many of the choice motors on this site. I'm definately putting this motor at the top of my list of options if I get a 240Z down the road. Even if it DOES blow a gasket or crack a head, I can get better ported heads and do what all the guys running high hp with these motors does, install a GOOD 3 piece metal head gasket and use arp studs. Still seems to me that it's a motor that's kinda the bastard of family for ford. Nobody trusts it, nobody likes it, and there's plenty of other ford motors that can make more power. But i'd argue that NO ford motor and FEW motors worldwide provide such a nice combination of power, weight, size, and price. Though I must admit V8intheZ, that you've turned my attention to the turbo 4 ford motor, and I'm interested what kinda power could be made with a strictly garage based build done for next to no investment.

I just started a topic about an interesting V6 And if you're allergic to the ford label the buick V6 is very VERY similar and quite stout (ford designed the origonal base version of this V6 off the buick V6) If you want cheap power it's best to find a motor that's force induced from factory that can be had for a good price. Think about the VG30ET? Kinda heavy, but very VERY high potential, even on the stock bottom end/heads. There's also the turbo 4 from ford. Can be had for super cheap, just not tons of power without heavy modification. Our new member with a thread here seems to have "tons" of experience with them. He might be able to give you more insight on these motors. There's the LS motors of course. Smaller, much more compact than any OHC V8 out there and boast quite a bit of displacement and stock power (though that much torque in that small of a car seems scary to me :shiver:) There's the SR, which has pretty nice stock abilitys making the initial drop in cost a high percentage of the overal cost. So once it's in you can get some good HP for cheap, but it's still costing a pretty penny just to get the motor. If you want to venture even more into the land of the unknown there's the duratec motors (4 cylinder and V6). Put in mazdas and ford, not sure which ones have RWD varients widely availble. If you want to convert a 4G63 to RWD they're the cheapest turbo 4 that I've ever seen. Cheap to get (talking about the turbo eclipse/talon version) and cheap to modify. I've seen many 11 second eclipses on budgets you wouldn't believe. What would I put in one? Hmm. I really like the idea of a small pushrod V8, like the 5.0, but carborated with maybe a shaker hood... Just seems right. If I wanted it to be more sleaper, and still handle amazingly I'd go with an SR motor. There's been much debate on how light a turbo 4 REALLY is, but at least it's a compacy enough of a motor to be able to get extremely close to the firewall, and because it's narrow you can fabricate/buy (if you can find one) an exhaust manifold that will mount the turbo as low as possible, to keep the weight of all the piping as low in the bay as possible. Should still be comparable in weight to the stock motor in the end. Just my 2 cents. Not that I'm the most experienced member here.

Ok, I've found a GOOD motor (thanks rudypoochris) that has nearly NO mention ever on this website that I could find. It's the "essex" V6 from ford, specifically the version in the supercoupe and the cougar XR7. Stats: 230HP 330lbs 3.8 Liter Pushrod Design 12V motor Iron block Alum heads Roughly 70k donor cars made Ok, the really good parts here are that ford redesigned nearly the entire motor to be beefier for the supercoupe version. There's also quite a bit of info out there on modifying these motors since they're the same V6 engine in the mustang. The supercoupe version is quite superior in stock form than the mustang motor and should be capable of as much power as you'd really need in a street Z. One of the things I'm going to be looking into next is what ECU it uses and if it's as tunable as the 5.0 motor's ECUs. It's the right time frame (89-95) but I just haven't found the info yet. The main flaw in these supercoupe motors is that the exhaust is EXTREMELY limiting, and at just 12psi from the SC the exhaust is pushing air into the INTAKE during valve overlap. The heads have been known to fail when the engine is mostly stock running high boost, but the exhaust is widely blamed in the supercoupe crowd. As long as you keep the engine breathing you should be able to run the stock supercharger pretty hard. There's also a compnay that makes an adapter to fit the 03-04 cobra supercharger which has more pully options and is higher volume. Havn't seen many people with these setups but it seems like a good option as these superchargers as easily availble and affordable. Conclusion: If you're looking for a SMALL motor with a good solid foundation for upgrading this could very well be it. It's force induced from factory so the compression starts low, and the bottom is beafy. The super high production numbers of the engine in general mean that many performance parts are easy to come by (cams, rods, rockers, etc). It also has the potential to rival the best buick turbo 6 setups if someone puts the same time and money into it Me and Chris (rudypoochris) saw one once in a picknpull, so I gather they're not impossible to find for a really low price. Entire cars can be had for $1500 in good running condition. If anyone has info, opinion, or ideas please share.

Hey mull, you might have mentioned this earlier and I missed it, but I looked again and didn't find my answer. So my question is: You said that the cage was going to come out and a different cage would be built. Is that the origonal cage, or the new one that's revised?

Nov 22 - Dec 2 I'm not sure when I'm going yet. Probably a sunday night by the looks of it (next sunday seems to be ok so far).

For now yea, I'm keeping it. Who knows how long. If megasquirt turns out to be very low maintainence (once it's tuned), reliable, and idiot friendly (i like to let people borrow my car now and then) I could very well end up keeping the car for another 10 years, who knows. Btw, the international auto show is comming up soon in SF. I'll be there if you wanna hook up while there and check out some cars.

Yea, I was gonna guess Ford lima motor next. Decent motors, and I seen enough of them around to warrent a budget swap if you can find the turbo parts for cheap. I'm interested in finding out how much it really weighs though. For some reason I remember these motors being pretty heavy for a 4 banger. My memory might be failing me though.

Well, all the shops I talked to wouldn't shorten the tranny. They all said it had irreplaceable yokes so they'd have to fabricate a new driveshaft from scratch. Ouch! BUT! I started my new job about 6 weeks ago and I havn't had any time to hunt craigslist for parts, so my girl started checking everyday for Z parts. She found a guy with a "83 280ZX Turbo" transmission and she called the guy and asked if he had the driveshaft to it. He said yes, I called and verified it was the right part and he said it'd be $25. So this guy is down in san leandro (about an hour from where I work) so I ask my sister to go pick it up (she lives in the same city, not more than 5 miles from where this guy is). She calls me later and tells me that the guy I bought this shaft from is a previous student of my sister (she teaches at richmond high). Small world eh? So I just need to find the + on the car that's grounding out and I'll just have to put it all back together at that point. Most of the assembly left is just body and interior which shouldn't take long at all. And I'm 100% decided now. I'm going to keep it stock, legalise it, then after I have my nice engine label I'm gonna go megasquirt. With the high control I'll have over the tuning of MS I shouldn't have to worry too much about passing smog in the future, and the power/mpg benefits will be well worth the investment and time. I might eventually revamp the turbo and fuel system to get to 300+hp, but I'm not concerned about that right now. I'm gonna be happy with a running Z, PERIOD. If I can be daily driving a 13 second Z that's even better. Knowing I have an engine that can get me into the low 12's in a heart beat will eat at me, but it's not the biggest deal in the world.

Well, my next guess would be KA, and after that you're running out of good RWD 4 bangers that are easily accessible. My hope would be that you're going to pioneer another FWD to RWD conversion, which is always nice. There's one member that has already started his 4G63 swap, and several others that have talked about doing it. That's a pretty bad ass swap if you ask me. If you ever want to hook up, or just chat I'm on aim and msn enough to be able to get a hold of that way. We can talk about local Z people and such.

Got the CRX smogged sunday.... holy cow I've got some work to do. Looks like i've got a TPS crapping out on me + it's running lean. Not sure if it's related. My CO was non existant, due to the lean burn. The nox was HIGH, and during the 4 pretests we did it was more than 5 times what is required to pass. The HC was also high, again, all mostly due to the lean burn. The timing was off quite a bit, and so we retarded it back to about 19 (18 is factory spec) and it looked pretty good on the last pretest we did, so we went for it. Well, it passed, but barely. The HC MAX allowed is 108 on the 25mph test, and I hit 107.... Rest of the numbers were fine. NOx was down a bit, but highest was around 85% of max, and the other numbers were barely registering (normal for lean burn). It also is developing a miss again. It was missing when I first got it, and replacing the cap and rotor fixed it, and now it feels like it's comming back. I'm not sure if it's the SAME problem, but in the driver's seat it feels identical. I'll check out the cap and rotor again soon, and if that's not the problem I need to track it down asap. I was lucky to have passed in the car's current state. But on the bright side i'm getting 30mpg even with driving around in 4th most of the time on the freeway (pops out of 5th, and getting worse possibly). And I still might buy a fox body, who knows. Right now though I'm looking at the fact that I might be married in a year or two and I'm just hoping to maybe have funds in about 8-12 years to look at building a GTM or buying a new GTR (used).

So where's the pics man? The craig's page has been deleted so I've got nothing to go off of here. And where in the east bay are ya? I'm in richmond and I work in fairfield now, maybe we could meet up sometime. I've been talking for a while now about getting some type of bay area HZ group going since I keep in contact with a couple of local guys, and there's many more of us on the site. Though... i need to get my Z back on the road.... So turbo 4 eh? So I'm assuming you're going with a SR swap.

I'm not quite so sure about that. The 17A form only states "made after 1922 and more than 25 years old" If they wanted it to be post smog they'd say "older than 1975". I'm really considering it now that my car is a test only vehicle. So i'm gonna legailise my swap to just get it registered, and then i'll be looking into getting the plates changed over. Hopefully even if they DO make me smog it I'll have the choice to go to who I want, and not force me into a test only.

SR240Z is correct on his info, though converting one to LSD isn't as easy as it might sound, and to have a shop do it will cost just as much, if not more than getting one off ebay once one comes around. And they normally fetch upwards of $650 no sweat. But yes, it has to be the later Z31 cars (87-89 300ZX) turbo. And you'll want the shafts as well as the diff.

Expensive As far as I know it's one of the rarest R200 diffs to come by. And YES it IS LSD, I know that for a fact. That's why he got it to begin with. He's been talking about keeping it, but who knows. if anyone gets a good enough price they're part with nearly anything. You have to ask him though as what price he was looking to get. EDIT: Oh yea, and it would drop in just as easily as any R200, as it uses the standard case. Though I'm not sure what shafts you need. Probably 300ZX shafts. I don't know though.

Which makes it better that it's not a skyline anymore. It has it's own platform now and doesn't have to deal with ties to other vehicles. Should make it more 'pure' i think.

Are people really complaining about it being in the high 3k pound range? The origonal GTR cars were always heavy beasts for their size and market, but their technology gave them the upper hand. The real disappointment to me is that for 70ish thousand dollars you're not getting yaw control on the AWD (someone prove me wrong please, I'd be happier), and the next gen EVO will, and for less money. The main thing I think the GTR will offer will be it's luxury/supercar/practicality combo it has going. It's probably gonna ride like the best of the jap lux cars, but it's gonna be as fast as some of the fastest cars in it's price range, but it's going to be a tame beast on the street. I doubt many cars can touch it in that regard but we'll just have to wait and see. And I'm personally glad the car is a bit outrageous looking. I'm not a huge fan of it yet, but I have a feeling it's going to grow on me. It has the long look that the R34 had, with all the aggressiveness that most R34 GTR cars ENDED UP being after people started modifying them. Maybe nissan is just trying to give people what they thought they'd want to begin with. Who knows. But for that price, if I was making enough money that I could afford one, or even come close, I'd do all within my power to get one. The skyline has been legend since it's induction many decades ago, and this one seems to live up to the hype thus far, and I'd guarantee it WILL hold it's value like all the past cars. Just my .02 cents. ...can't wait to see them stateside.