Gollum

Congratulations guys! Enjoy the spotlight, you've earned it!

My brother had a 93' Mustang Cobra stolen and it wasn't found until 2 years later as a cop was doing random plate checking at the state fair. Of course the car was pretty thrashed, needed at least 5k worth of restortion to get the body and interior back to where they were, and probably a new motor. There's always hope the car will be found, but the odds are against it.

Hmmm, there's a difference between being nice and letting people know the rules so that they don't get themselves in trouble, than flat out calling people out because you think they did something wrong. For the most part here, the people that get told the rules by NON-moderators are normally newer users, so people are just trying to help out. I know what you're talking about though and I've seen it on other forums. People acting as though they're mods themselves. I've never seen much of that here myself, as most people keep a friendly attitude around here.

$1500 sounds like a bit much, unless he either has recipts, or you can take the car for a drive and see how hard the engine pulls. With that much work done it shuold be able to smoke the tires pretty good. But yea, the 2+2 had a larger clutch/flywheel which might be desirable. If it's auto, just swap the engine. If it's manual swap both engine and tranny. Everything should be directly plug and play. Look for modifications he has that might require work on your part. Deleted EGR or other smog devices for example.

Interesting idea.... not the greatest execution. Wonder how much people paid to have these made. Something tells me the fabricator got the better end of the deal...

I saw it at the Motoring J Style show last weekend. Top knotch fabrication from what I could see. I was tempted to find the owner to see if I could dead lift the front end...

I'm writing this half to just mention my experience, but also as one more thread for the search engine to bring up when others have similar symptoms: Wandering Steering Bumps Causing Steering Changes Braking Causing Random Steering Change Noises Coming From Suspension At Low Speeds And Over Bumps So here's the story - Car was low on gas, dangerously low, but I had to get to work and I knew it would make it there and then to a station at lunch time. Heading up hill I hit a pothole BAD. The kind that can swallow small cars. I was checking my blind spot as there was a short onramp I was passing... Car dies for a few seconds, I give it some small throttle increase, it jumps to life and then dies again... Uh oh. Pull over right near the crest of the hill. Good thing hazards work. Big shoulder so I can work without too much worry about traffic wind knocking me over. I open the hood and check everything. First check for leaking of any kind. Then I checked for major dents on the left side where I hit. Checked for anything that might have come disconnected... Then I noticed the inner side bushing to my TC Rod wasn't even thouching the frame!!! Ahhh! That's not good. Well I couldn't find anything mechanically wrong so I go ahead and try to start the engine. Won't start. I gave it another go and let the engine turn over for a while giving it some throttle. Still nothing. Take one more look at everything. Still couldn't find anything else wrong so I hop back in and turn it over again. Nothing. One more try right? Voila, it fires up just fine. I think I just sucked up a lot of air when I hit the pot hole, close the hood and head to work. Long story short (too late I know), the right TC rod was extremely loose. The left TC Rod bolt was GONE, and was probably at least loose when I got the car. Through some twist of fate the bushing had stayed on because it was colliding with the downpipe, lovely melted rubber batman. So I made a trip down to the hardware store and picked up some bolts to replace bothsides with some washers to make sure I had good contact against the new nut (right one that had backed out looked like a lugnut...). Car now drives 1000000000000 times better... Well maybe not THAT much better, but better enough that I had to show the girlfriend the same day. Going over bumps is not only smoother, but quieter and the car holds it's line MUCH better. This might also explain my severe inside tire wear, though some confirmation on that from someone would be nice. Braking before wasn't BAD, but it's definately improved in feel. So for those with similar symptoms, make sure your Tension Control (aka compression) Rods are tight, or even connected! My car feels 10 years newer now. Best $2 I've spent ever.

LEV = Low emition vehicle I believe. The L engines are the stock inline 6 motors the car came with, and the similar designed 4 cylinders in the 510 and other datsuns. The Z engine is a 4 cylinder with similar blocks to the L series but has a crossflow head. HP outputs were pretty low in the 80-100ish range. Sean - Don't worry about the people complaining about being a bit "green". Just don't try to convince us we should all be a bit greener (which you havn't thus far) and we'll all be fine. If the origonal creators of this site were able to welcome in the other V8 swaps, turbo inline 4 and 6 swaps and the other exotic swaps, then I think we collectively should be able to accept that someone wants to put a low output engine in their car to get good gas milage. One thing that I think you should consider about the TDI motor though, is that it can get 50mpg in today's cars. In a much lighter Z I see no reason it shouldn't see better gas milage like any other motor we've been talking about. So sure diesel is expensive but let's keep it real. 60mpg with the right tune and driving might be seen out of this swap. You want to keep it gasoline that's fine with me though. Oh, and personally I think the LSx motors nearly IS the swap that allows you to "have your cake and eat it to". There are guys getting 400+wheel hp that still manage 25mpg with very spirited freeway driving seeing 80mph+ average speeds. It's not unheard of to see 30mpg out of a LSx powered Z. Seeing what gas milage the LSx swaps are getting it seems that there MUST be some modern gasonline engine capable of 50+mpg in a Z with reasonable power when you want it.

Sweet, now were' getting somewhere. So if you were going to spend 10k on just an engine swap (meaning engine and all the parts requred to make it work such as fuel system, exhaust system, and driveline changes) then it's a different ball game. Forget the L28ET imo, unless you want to keep your budget tight and have little room to grow. And between the 2JZ and the RB26 I'd pick the 2JZ every day of the week. The parts are easier to come by and the motors proven to have MORE potential in the long run, and the stock longblocks push nearly identical HP numbers. The RB is still good, and if you were in australia or japan I'd say it's a direct toss up of choice. Here in the USA I'd only suggest the RB if you were a big nissan fan and wanted to keep the motor nissan. 10k could get you one SWEET LSX swap though. LS2 would be easily doable with a T56 and you'd be able to reach 400+ wheel HP and still get decent gas milage. You'd have torque availble at any RPM and it would scream like a demon. So the choice comes back to the debate that many here go back and forth between. Small displacement force induction, or large displacement torque? Nobody can make that choice for you, and it's pointless to debate on which is "better", as all of us here know "there is no best".

Highest I'ver ever even heard of a OHV engine going was 10k, but like Chris said, nascar does 9k. You'll probably need a custom crank to get a stroke that low right? So why even start with the SBF? I love the SBF so don't take this the wrong way, but if you're going to rev past 10k you should start with an engine that's been known able to do it. My only issue with this (I'd thought about doing this same thing more than a year ago, and discussed it quite a bit with rudypoochris) is that it's still going to sound like a SBF, and you're going to need parts that match those RPM: Camshaft Intake Exhaust Valve Angle (probably less important, but it's a factor. Maybe braap can chime in here on how much valve angle will have an overal impact on where power is made in the RPM range) Either a nissan or toyota V8 would be a much better base IMO. Then you just have to worry about the fact that your 2 liter engine weights 400+ pounds and barely fits in your engine bay...

Wow, I wouldn't ever pay that much for an EFI system, unless my engine was worth 15k. Megasquirt can be done for less than 1k easily, and it has been done for that much or less time and time again. You can buy the newest version of the ECU already built for $450, which costs quite a bit more than building it yourself. You won't spend $550 on the remaining parts needed.

That weight seems really low. Other guys have "complete" motor weights well over 400 pounds. That being said I've seen many weights around 380 pounds. Really wich someone had a standardized weight.... braap??? But looking at the cost, his weight had better be accurate. These motors are killing me. They're so amazing but are beyond the reach of so many just because of lack of pioneering in the USA. Such a pitty.

Yea, if anything it would be HARDER on an engine going from turbo to NA injectors, because now you're going SUPER LEAN and it'll be hard to ever accumulate enough fuel to have a good burn. At least when I went from NA to turbo i was getting TOO MUCH fuel meaning it was just going rich. And it still wouldn't start. That should say something about how different the injector sizes are. IIRC (i'm not positive on this) the NA injectors are 180CC and the turbo are 260CC. That's a wooping 80CC difference, nearly 50% flow increase from NA to turbo. Normally if I quesion if my fuel ratio is off I just open the AFM cover and control the AMF flaper doore while someone starts the engine.

I just remembered something. You can buy small chips that will record data on OBD2 cars, so anything 96' or newer you could record his every move. Granted he could always take the car out without your knowing and unplug it... It wouldn't be something to control his actions, just a way to monitor him if you trust him to keep the device in.

Great thread thus far. I personally think there's no point in restricting the engine, just leave it. Make the car safe in other areas like brakes, suspension, etc though for sure. I also agree the S30 isn't the safest car to be in an accident in, but it's also going to be a bit more agile than a SUV and with just minimual training should be pretty hard to loose control of. I'm personally very glad I got much of my teenage street racing ideas worked out of my head long before I had my license. I've been working on cars since I knew what a socket wrench was and never looked back. By 13 I was attending races at the drag stip and occasionaly going out to street raced. By 14 I was going to street races semi-often. That didn't last long. Why? Because I'm smart. If you've taught your son to have half a brain and think for himself he'll figure it out. It only takes seeing so many people caught, hurt, or even worse until you get the idea across that being an idiot is it's own punishment and being around idiots can be hazardous to your own health. This is the worst part about sharing the road... I suggest being the one getting him into cars showing him what motorsports are really about. Don't let some other kid be that person in his life. If you let that happen you're banking on some other kid's intelligence to keep him safe. Other than basic "don't street race" type advice I'd suggest making sure he understands traffic prediction and how to read drivers. I'm personally always watching out for drivers I'm with when I'm not driving. I find it amazing the night and day difference in overall drive quality when you're with someone who pays attention to traffic and can predict people's movements. 9/10 you should be able to predict a blinker on the freeway before people actually turn it on. Understand those types of dynamics of driving are what will lead to him being a SAFE driver in any circumstance. Weather it be driving at 10/10ths at an auto X, or commuting at 70mph.

Gonna be a decently busy weekend: Friday: Get off work, head to PNP for half off sale Saturday: Wake up at 6am to go to MotoringJStyle car show. Leave at 6pmish Sunday: Play guitar at church, maybe test fit some prototype rims, social gathering in the evening to watch lost. Monday: Drive out to auburn to pull parts off of a 78' Z. Drive back into town to go to lunch with the family for my bro's B-day, then head with all of them to the movies to see Indiana Jones. Should be tons of fun though.

I'm with ktm on this. And this is how I'd personally split it up. 10k budget. Divide by two for engine sub budget 5k for engine swap. Divide by two for expected budget for engine + trans. 2.5k You can spend that on getting an engine + trans mated together. Use the other 2.5k for misc parts you'll end up needing and misc performance upgrades you can't resist. Larger radiator and the like fall into this budget. If it's engine/trans related in any way if falls here (that includes modified/custom driveshaft) Then you've got 5k to play with. Split this 5k in half to get you suspension/brakes/wheels/tires budget. 2.5k won't get you a ton here. But you should be able to get a rear disc conversion and toyta brake upgrade coupled with some tokico adjsutables and higher spring rates. Could that with some slightly wider rims to fit 245 wide tires or so and you're set. Might have to dip into remainder funds from the other areas to complete this area as it would be the tightest to get by on 2.5k I think. The remainder 2.5k needs to go into chassis and other misc stuff. Ktm mentioned the fuel system, might as well revamp that entire system. You might even get away with putting your exhaust into this budget. Also consider ron tyler's diff mount, R200 if you don't have one, things like that. If there's any rewiring that needs to happen it can be put into this budget. Guages might as well go here to. If somehow there's money left over I'd get a roll cage made. Keep in mind this isn't a guide. Just how I'd personally spend MY money if it were me. Oh, and we didn't even get into chassis improvements/restoration/repair etc. I agree with ktm, if it's a carb'ed car, leave it carbed and just rebuild the L28. Much cheaper in the long run and you'll keep a lot more of the money you put into it. If you put 4k into the car you might see 2 back in value. If you put 10k into you'll be lucky to see 5k of it back. If you NEVER plan on selling it and you know you'll never NEED to sell it for finantial reasons then this doesn't matter now does it?

Sorry, didn't mean to seem upset or anything. I just wanted to point out that bike speedo accuracy has been discussed on these forums by people that HAVE verified their "accuracy" that's all. I never meant to argue. If the bike has been known to be accurate, then that's fine. I also don't doubt that the speeds started are possible. I just wanted to know if there was more info than just "veified by bike" because more details would have been appreciated. That's all. Never meant to come across as argumentative. Sorry.

How does a motorcyle verify a speed? From what I've heard bike speedos are just as off, if not MORE off than most cars. GPS is the only realistic way for the average person to verify a speed in my opinion. That or a ticket...

If the LS1 is really in the budget, and you want that kind of power level it offers (400-550 without force induction) then it might be one of the more economical ways to go. I like the RB and 2JZ but I'm not a fan of how heavy the inline 6 motors are, though in the long run that doesn't matter so much if you're going to be doing a lot of hardcore suspension tuning. Between the 2JZ and RB I'd pick the 2JZ, just because there's a lot more options for parts here in the USA for them and the OEM parts tend to be a bit cheaper. But if you're staying in the sub 350hp ballpark I'd just go L28ET. Pretty darn cheap HP for those levels. LS1 still has them all beat for overall balance though. Affordable aftermarket upgrades. Just a cam can really make them come alive, and they're getting cheaper by the day.

NOTE: Sorry, didn't quote him but this is all in responce to sean's last post. This discussion might be better off in the 4 cylinder section, but you're already 4 pages strong and I think this section is still fine as there might be some other good motor candidates that have yet to be brought up. I see what you're saying, I just figured you wouldn't want a motor that was completely dog slow. The SR20DE would still offer some good punch when you needed/wanted it. The CA series might be your best bet if you want to go down in power technology and displacement. The CA came in 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 liter varieties. I'm not sure if the RWD transmission bolts up to the FWD blocks though. The FWD bluebird 1.6 liter CA16 was rated a 6.8L/100Km city driving, which equates to 34.5mpg. Though it's a bit lighter than a stock 240Z at 2182 pounds. But still, 40mpg should be EASY to see from that engine. Only issue is that it only makes an anemic 78hp. Still probably more fun than a CRX HF...

I've never seen a completed KA24DET in a Z either. The KA shares transmissions with the SOHC VG motors I think... I think are the key words there. So I'm not sure what tranny would be the best option, but I can't think of any 6 speed that will be a direct fit. I personally would find it a very interesting project to follow and I hope you take the leap and do it.

No, the regulators aren't the same between NA and turbo. And I guarentee the car WILL NOT start when switching injectors. How do I know? I recently did it! I went from NA to turbo injectors on a turbo engine and forgot to adjust the AFM, and the car wouldn't start. Adjusting the injector flow REQUIRES you to adjust the air metering. There's nothing else to adjust on these engines that's safe. It's the only tunable aspect unless you modify the system to adjust fuel pressure, or tap into the cold start system which I think is dumb in most scenarios.

Well I personally don't believe the SR20DE "needs" premium fuel. The compression isn't THAT high. And the 240SX is quite a bit heavier than the car you're looking at putting it in. And the SR20DE you're looking at in the S14/15 have 163hp... quite a lot compared to most of the high MPG engines you're looking at. There's not many RWD applications for the SR20DE here in the USA, so buying a JDM motor might be the best bet, especially if you want the tranny to come with it. You'll be much better off going with the older SR20DE out of the S13, which has 137hp. It's rated to run on regular octane too. It's rated at 10.2 L/100Km for city driving which equates to 23 mpg, so it's reasonable to expect it to run about 30 on the highway. The S13 is STILL a heavier car but a good margin. I can see this engine reaching 40mpg with the right gearing and the right driving techniques, especially if you're going aftermarket EFI and can tune to your hearts desire. And at 137HP it should still be as fast as a stock 240Z, and you'll have less weight to lug around. From what I've seen on people's weights in Z cars you'll be a bit more rear biased than 50/50 distrobution, but that's not really a bad thing.

Awesome project!!! I'm still wanting these motors to really catch on more in here the USA. They're great engines and if more people were using them and we had a few more aftermarket parts they'd be a go to motor for mant enthusiasts. Hopefully you're pioneering might inspire some others. Unfortunately though it looks like you might need to go with a remote clutch cylinder for this to work. On the upside, once it's removed and the throttle linkage gets redone and out of the way it looks like you should be able to move the motor pretty close to the firewall. When I was measuring the 2UZFE compared to the 280ZX engine bay it seemed like even the clearence between the valve cover and the brake booster would be close unless you got the motor pretty darn low. Also, one thing that would worry me about going dry sump, if you did go that route would you keep the upper pan? It seems that many (cough: Lextreme cough:) seem to think that it's a contributor to keeping the bottom end together and acts like a semi-girdle. Looking in depth into the pan design it seems like they're probably right and I wouldn't personally remove it in favor of a weaker, shorter pan design.