Hugh

This place sells some good kits, full carpet sets, not just stock replacement pieces. http://www.datsunrestore.com/

Some like long gears to build load and therefore boost. I run short gears because the car is faster with them. It feels faster in the seat, and its just more fun to drive. Not to mention, faster in the 1/4 mile. I can see both sides of the argument, but I was running a 4.9:1 R230 in my 180sx with GREAT results. I could light off a pair of 245 Nitto Drag Radials all the way up the street and leave two deep black patches.

Oh hell, 250hp is nothing! Go for it.

Just don't get the flexible rubber type. They look cool when the car is stopped and you're looking at it. Then you're driving down the road and your antenna (that you can't see now) is flopping around like crazy behind you. I hate those things.

As long as you can keep the headgasket from blowing, the 7M is capable. Over in Japan, all the 1JZ powered Supras pretty much crushed 99% of the 7M supras. 280hp stock VS 230?. Bolt ons and ECU tune to 400hp, you can't beat that. The RB26 can do that as well, though... so its really up to whatever you want under YOUR hood.

Is that T-Bird motor the same as the old SVT mustangs? (or whatever they were called) Some of those things are fast as hell... I would think that would be a very cool swap to do. Besides, turbo is just so much fun!

It seems that everyone's minds have been opening lately... I used to get strange looks from people when I told them I wanted to put an SR20DET into an old Datsun. That was a few years ago, when the SR was a lot less prominent in the racing world, and everyone thought it was pointless. Well, then there's the Hybrid Z guys who are all about V8's and such... assuming that a 4 cylinder cannot make good power. This sentiment has been dying down over the past couple years, though... but I still hear it sometimes. Now here it is 2004, and I am starting my Z project. I've received very little negative feedback on it. Usually, everyone is very supportive and can't wait to see what I will do with this car. It's nice in this forum, because everyone is open minded about engine swaps. As long as you don't get caught up in the "V8's only" mentality... I'm escaping from the young ricer world by moving out of my 240sx (which used to be a cult car, and typically only raced by older guys) and into a 240z (you know who drives these) I love the Z, but I cannot give up on my 400hp powerplant. (my SR20DET) So, I will make a rocket out of my little 4 banger Z... if you don't like it, oh well. If you do, glad you do. I'm building it for me. I think I am the most open minded person I know when it comes to swapping engines and such in cars... I love to see it in anything. Just the engineering that goes into a fast car is enough to impress me. As far as the ricer kids... I laugh at them, but I don't rag on them. They're young. They will grow out of it. Many of us came up from something like that. (although I always tried to keep it tasteful) So, HybridZ, thank you for the great technical info, and accepting my ideas without ridiculing me for engine choice.

And the fact that Toyota puts the exhaust on the other side of the engine...

They're not indestructable... my friend snapped one with only 363rwhp doing a fat burnout once. I couldn't break mine, however.

Of all the chosen engines in the original post, the SR20DET will give the most power reliably and for the least amount of weight. You can't go wrong. I'm going to try to keep my opinions to other responses out of this... but I will say I've raced/driven/owned/worked on many different cars with every engine in the original question. (seriously) Which engine will be going into my Z? Check my signature. My last motor was 395rwhp/362ftlbs with completely stock internals. No cams, porting, or anything. It did so reliably until a blown turbo ran the motor out of oil and blew it up. (I could've caught this) Point is, the SR will take a heinous beating. I put over 18 months on a stock motor at these power levels... with a lot of drag racing.

Yeah, no kidding. At the drag strip or the street races, if I were checking out a Japanese guy's car... I'd have to play dumb to get specific information out of them. If they saw what I was driving, they'd avoid telling me anything. Heh heh... I guess they were afraid of the gaijin competition.

Nice! You cut and bend and polish it all yourself?

Alrighty then... I'll have to take your word for it.

The 1JZ has the best sounding exhaust note of any japanese engine in my opinion. Not to mention, The Tourer V 1JZ-GTE is about 3300-3400 pounds... and with a tuned ECU and boost up, the car hauls ass! When I lived in Japan, one of my favorite things to race were 1JZ powered cars... they go fast pretty easily. I bet it would rock in a Z! I've always wanted to put a 1JZ in an old Celica. That would keep the Toyota thing in line... I prefer to stick with the original company... but whatever you want do, who cares? Fast is fast. The exhaust is on the passenger side in that engine, so downpipe clearance is easier, but pipe running to the muffler wouldn't be.

Well, this is all good info that would be nice to have archived here. (if you feel like typing it)

10ft of 3" in pipe is only .5 cubic feet? That seems off to me for some reason.. I forgot my geometry.

While the SR20 is newer than the CA engines, I don't know if you can say there is more technology involved. On an S12 (aka 1980's rwd 200SX) forum the debate between proponents of these two engines got pretty heated. What I gleaned from them is that both are great engines, but the SR has a lot of hype that goes along with it (and perhaps larger price tags) while the CA is lesser known but is probably more bulletproof. Also, I'm under the impression that the CA actually had "too much" technology (two sets of intake runners?) in it and that the SR was introduced to make similar power while costing less. A near-quote from their post was that mod-for-mod, the SR will have the edge over the CA until the SR breaks, and then the CA has farther it can go on the stock internals. Of course, your mileage may vary If I had an S12-13-14 (and every now and then I wish I did) I'd probably go with the CA, gotta love the underdog. That's if I didn't turbo the KA instead... I look at real world performance rather than theories. I lived in Japan for 4 years straight up until this February. I raced MANY many Silvias and 180sx's while living there. I saw them all at the track, the street races late at night, the car shows, etc... The overwelming majority of SR20DET's are always faster than the CA18DET's. Thats not to say there are no fast CA's... but there are way more slow ones. I can seriously quote times that I wasted fully modified CA's with my stock SR20DET. When I say stock, I mean stock internals, stock turbo. Bolt ons allowed the motor to make more power than a bored CA with an aftermarket turbo and professional tuning on numerous occasions. At the track with my (not stock turbo) 395rwhp SR20DET, there would typically be 15-20 cars in the SR/CA class during HKS drag meets. Out of these, there would be 2 CA's that would be in the same range as my car. One of them had some heinously huge turbo and some un-reported amount of horsepower. The other was neck and neck with me, dynoed to over 400rwhp. His motor was blowing up on him repeatedly.. he had already built it and blown it again. The first thing people say is the CA has an iron block. So? This is 2004... Aluminum motors have made stupid amounts of power. The block seems to not help at all in keeping the bottom end together, when the first thing to go is the pistons, rods, or bearings. All of these parts are made of the same materials and the same way as the SR20DET. Even when aftermarket, these are the weak points in the block. Stop knocking... no blowing. The next thing is the SR's valvetrain. Well, for a few hundred dollars, you can go solid lash. That argument is finished. 9000rpm capable. (and enough torque to make power past 8000 with a huge turbo) I then look to the fastest Silvias/180sx's out there. They are all either powered by the SR or the RB26. Same goes for max power output... crazy built SR's are making over 700-800hp. You could count with a couple of fingers the number of times this was accomplished on a CA. Chalk it up to the motor being older, less support, whatever you will... but full internals and such are available, as well as all the bolt ons. Its not that much of a dinosaur. You ever notice how many people with quick CA's have them built in the bottom end? It's funny, but I see more 1.9 liter motors than stock on the internet it seems. You ever notice that people are making 400hp everyday on stock SR's? I did it with stock cams, stock intake, stock throttle body, completely stock bottom end, etc... just a T04S and 20 pounds on it. There are several SR's over 500hp on stock blocks. I don't reccomend this, but it can be done. Sorry for the long post... felt like stating my observations, not opinions of the motors in question.

I should've continued to say that if you advance TOO far, it will get hotter while pinging. You can see this on the EGT gauge very easily.... advance to drop the temp into range, then leave it alone. If the temp starts rising again, back it off. Hopefully you're using a wideband while doing this and making sure the exhaust temp changes are not due to changes in air fuel ratio. Lock the A/F in place, adjust ignition timing. If the A/F changes, tweak it, then monitor the exhaust temp again for timing. You must keep both things in check at all times to prevent blowing it up. (the worst thing that can happen while tuning)

You should be able to order the muffler in 2.5, no? If not, you can slip it inside and weld around, but you're reducing exhaust size a little at the end.

I think it looks like the dash of an old speedboat. I'm sure with a lot of work it could be cool... but I'm not that visionary, I guess.

I saw one of those camaros today and thought about your car... very cool, I think.

I'm thinking to 'back in the day' when I knew a guy with a 280z with clear covers, they were perfectly smooth from what I can remember. I'm pretty sure I've seen smooth ones in photos on the net, but never any for sale. I like the regular angled type... just looking for all options here.

On my Tec3, I just chose to use 500rpm seperation. I started at 1000 and went to 8000. Other people I've seen with TecII's have done this, but in 1000RPM increments. It interpolates all the numbers for you... so I would maybe focus on turbo spoolup area. Like spread it out in the 1st couple thousand, tighten it up in the midrange, and then spread it out again. This way you have a lot of adjustability in the cruch area... when the torque comes on quickly.

The SR valvetrain can be fixed with solid lash kit (lash killer) Theres some KA tuners who were talking about shortening the stroke... but nobody wants to give up the displacement. The way I see it, if a 2.0 liter is making gobs of power... that .4 doesn't mean too much in the mix. A 2.3 that can rev higher would be NICE.

I sold my 92 recently... so I'm no help!