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New owner/Nordskog conversion/Questions


tommott77

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Purchased a project 'Z' on ebay this week with a V8 conversion.......

http://cgi.ebay.com/...RK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

 

Trying to ascertain what swap was done to the car. I received a heap of paperwork from the seller that looks like has accumulated over several owners over many years. From what I have gleaned from the paperwork it seems that the conversion was done a couple decades ago. Also included was an article from Popular Hot Rodding on Nordskog Z/V8 conversions. No date on the article but it appears to be from the 80s if not earlier. Also found in the package was a Nordskog 350Z emblem. So I am assuming that the car was an early Nordskog conversion, but was wondering if anybody can tell from the pics and motor placement if it is indeed a Nordskog conversion? Note though that the the engine has more the likely been out of the car several times over the years, and the previous owner swapped out the turbo 350 (which I believe was the typical tranny with Nordskog swaps) with a manual T5, which from what I have read may have an effect on engine placement.

 

If it is a Nordskog conversion is there any way to tell if it was done ny Nordskog themselves? As I stated above it seems that the car had been converted over to a V8 a good time ago, and it also appears that the car originally emanated from CA. If it is are the Nordskog conversion rare, and therefore have any type of value (really more in an intrinsic sense than a monetary sense) that would make it a bad idea to further modify the car? Obviously the car has been modified a good bit already at this point.

 

Look forward to any guidance, and the project itself. As soon as I take possession of the car I will probably a start a project thread. Got some ideas, which may include a BRE look, and perhaps some Weber IDF carbs for a vintage 70s' race car look/feel.

Edited by tommott77
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Norskog kept the 'forward' position of the motor like the Scarab.

Really the only other way that is popular to mount it is the 'JTR' method, which puts the back of the engine very close to the firewall, and with a Chevy distributor requires a special latch bracket be fabbed for the hood.

 

Norskog was based in CA, and also sold complete kits to their conversion (if you have complete documentation, you should have the installation manual for the kit). They were 2+2's for wheelbase purposes, and mine is a 260Z (maybe they knew the car came with a 3.36 R200?????)

 

I don't think they are any more 'rare' than a non-named conversion. The Scarabs seem to take a premium price, and are the best known. Norskog tends to be a backwater cousin of a Scarab. Kind of like having a pristine Borgward Station Wagon...it's rare as heck, but you will play hell finding anybody who will pay any premium for it! Do what you want, within reason I doubt it will 'Hurt' the value.

 

One of the options was a G-Nose! Not available on the Scarab...

 

BTW, the link to the E-Bay auction is dead. No photos available.

Edited by Tony D
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Norskog kept the 'forward' position of the motor like the Scarab.

Really the only other way that is popular to mount it is the 'JTR' method, which puts the back of the engine very close to the firewall, and with a Chevy distributor requires a special latch bracket be fabbed for the hood.

 

Norskog was based in CA, and also sold complete kits to their conversion (if you have complete documentation, you should have the installation manual for the kit). They were 2+2's for wheelbase purposes, and mine is a 260Z (maybe they knew the car came with a 3.36 R200?????)

 

I don't think they are any more 'rare' than a non-named conversion. The Scarabs seem to take a premium price, and are the best known. Norskog tends to be a backwater cousin of a Scarab. Kind of like having a pristine Borgward Station Wagon...it's rare as heck, but you will play hell finding anybody who will pay any premium for it! Do what you want, within reason I doubt it will 'Hurt' the value.

 

One of the options was a G-Nose! Not available on the Scarab...

 

BTW, the link to the E-Bay auction is dead. No photos available.

 

That's odd that the ebay link is already dead. Perhaps this works.......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1973-240Z-probuilt-350-chevy-400-plus-HP-5spd-lim-slp-R-/360376637867?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item53e81f19ab

 

Anybody able to tell anything by comparing the picture of the engine bay in the ebay listing to the attached JTR picture? The hood latch on my car appears to be stock, but to my layman eye it seems that both motors line up with the strut towers about equally. Not sure if you can fit a strut brace on a kit that has the motor too far forward.

 

post-21076-053522900 1310269800_thumb.jpg

post-21076-008430400 1310270227_thumb.jpg

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No, the top photo is a JTR conversion, look at the distance of the HEI distributor from the firewall and the latching bracket.

 

On the JTR car, the distributor is about 3/4" from the firewall and literally UNDER the latch. Meaning it's about 4" more rearward than the lower photo.

 

In the lower photo, the distributor centerline is roughly 1/2 the distributor diameter forward of the frontmost portion of the hood latch. No WAY are the engines in the same position.

 

Is the 240 photo you sent of the car you bought? Norskog did conversions out of their factory on 260 2+2's and later. Everything else should be a conversion kit vended by them.

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No, the top photo is a JTR conversion, look at the distance of the HEI distributor from the firewall and the latching bracket.

 

On the JTR car, the distributor is about 3/4" from the firewall and literally UNDER the latch. Meaning it's about 4" more rearward than the lower photo.

 

In the lower photo, the distributor centerline is roughly 1/2 the distributor diameter forward of the frontmost portion of the hood latch. No WAY are the engines in the same position.

 

Is the 240 photo you sent of the car you bought? Norskog did conversions out of their factory on 260 2+2's and later. Everything else should be a conversion kit vended by them.

 

Yep,the bottom engine in the above post is my engine. I'm even more confused now. I read that the Nordskog kit supposedly put the engine in the same spot as the Scarab conversion, but after searching all day I finally found some pictures of the Scarab conversion.

 

post-21076-060276300 1310301897_thumb.png

post-21076-086991100 1310301990_thumb.png

post-21076-093917300 1310302073_thumb.png

 

These pictures seem to be way forward of my engine by several inches. If I have something between the two does that mean that I have something home-built? Did I get bad information about the Nordskog engine placement? Or perhaps was the motor moved back when the T5 swap was done to get the shifter to fit properly in the car?

 

Also according to the article that the seller sent to me Nordskog's personal car was 2+2, but he also built coupes as the car tested in the article was a coupe.

Edited by tommott77
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Look at the firewall to center post of the distributor, I think you will find it somewhere around 7". The latest photos may have a slightly forward placement because of using the HEI distributor instead of the Conventional like yours has. Most people don't use the smaller distributor as it's non-HEI. Everybody likes the HEI. But on the other conversions that don't drop the engine, you got to move the engine forward to clear the latch. Or drop it, change the latch, and put it farther rearward. Position depends on what distributor you have. Except in the JTR... they took steps to remedy that point.

 

The JTR is something more like 4".

 

The newest photos look to me to be the same spot you have. What is the obsession? You absolutely, positively DO NOT have a JTR positioned engine, it's somewhere forward of that 'ideal' spot. End of story. Do you have the Norskog installation manual? There are dimensions contained therein...

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Look at the firewall to center post of the distributor, I think you will find it somewhere around 7". The latest photos may have a slightly forward placement because of using the HEI distributor instead of the Conventional like yours has. Most people don't use the smaller distributor as it's non-HEI. Everybody likes the HEI. But on the other conversions that don't drop the engine, you got to move the engine forward to clear the latch. Or drop it, change the latch, and put it farther rearward. Position depends on what distributor you have. Except in the JTR... they took steps to remedy that point.

 

The JTR is something more like 4".

 

The newest photos look to me to be the same spot you have. What is the obsession? You absolutely, positively DO NOT have a JTR positioned engine, it's somewhere forward of that 'ideal' spot. End of story. Do you have the Norskog installation manual? There are dimensions contained therein...

 

Not sure where this perceived obsession comes from, just trying to ascertain what I have. More specifically if this was an original conversion done be Nordskog themselves. I have read that a T5 (which my car currently has) will not work with the standard Scarab/Nordskog mounting position, and that most (if not all) Nordskog built conversions had turbo 350s (which my car originally had). There is no installation manual with the paperwork for the car.

 

I may just end up contacting them to see if they kept any database on the VIN #s of the cars they converted, but if somebody does have some information on Nordskog Zs that they would be willing to share in the iterim that would be greatly appreciated. I have found that there are some old articles out there while searching the forum, but all the links to them seem to be dead.

Edited by tommott77
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As far as I can recall, the Scarub, I think Nordskog, and even Hooker mounts are a thick C shape between the cross member and engine. You can move that C piece, so it looks like a C or a backwards C, and this will change the position of the engine a couple of inches.

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The Scarab and Hooker install kits are the same, not sure about the Nordskog.

 

The C chanel Scarab/Hooker engine mounts are angled slightly and the holes for bolting to the cross member and the motor mounts aren't lined up directly to each other. You can install the mounts such that the engine sits slightly forward of the crossmember, or slighly rearward. Most of the ones I've seen are installed with the engine mount slightly forward in relation to the crossmember.

 

Paul Corson uses these kits on his cars and mounts them where they angle back from the crossmember. He usually removes the hood latch bracket in order to do this. You can see in the second pic below where they angle slightly rearward in his install.

 

gallery_212_889_25642.jpg

 

gallery_212_889_7487.jpg

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Here is a photo of the Hooker engine mounts for the 240Z Chevy V8 conversion. Also a copy of the installation instructions. You can see the slots that were mentioned in a previous post. I am not aware that Nordskog did any conversions on customer cars. They may have, but as far as I know, they sold kits. Maybe someone more familar with Nordskog will know for sure. I do know that Scarab Engineering added a new VIN plate to all the cars they produced and sold as "new' Scarabs. However, for "customer cars" the VIN plate was not included in the conversion. Only an invoice can identify these cars. All other "Scarabs" are from kits installed by the car owner. Possibly Nordskog did the same.

post-2649-063180000 1310576569_thumb.jpg

Hooker 12651 Scarab Mounts.PDF

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