Jump to content
HybridZ

Sam's 79 RHD 2+2 SR Swapped


69sroadster

Recommended Posts

I apologize to all of you who have tried to find a build thread by me earlier.  I thought I had one going that was neglected and I guess it was on another forum.  So this is going to start off with the basic overview and then I'll add in more of the finer details that I can along the way and some eye candy.

 

 

This car was my dad's in the early 80's when he was stationed in Japan.  It stayed in the family until the late 90's when it was sold to a friend of mine who didn't drive it much.  This friend sold it to me for $850 and I drove it from his place in Oregon all the way to my home in Arkansas with no problems (minus the existing A/C charge).  At this time (fall 2006) it was a somewhat neglected original that was starting to show some age on the paint with about 100,000 km on the clock.  I was going to do a SR20 swap initially on a 2000 roadster I had but decided that the ZX would be a more fun daily driver to play with.  I may have been wrong about the fun part on that call later but it's still a blast.

 

I sold the L28, ECU and tranny to a guy from Fayettevill AR for a good price and think he put it in a 240Z of his.  The SR I got crated to my house with the tranny and about 70k km on it for $1700.  It still needed a new water pump, engine wire harness (they cut it, idiots!) ignitor, ECU and MAF.  The good news was that the engine and tranny were in great shape.  I worked over about 2 months on weekends and some week nights to get the engine and tranny in the car.  The only issue on initial start was that it would only run a few seconds before shutting down.  We found out that the MAF was not the correct one and after a good part change it has worked ever since.  The SR has had ARP head studs and rocker stoppers added.  I'm running unorthodox pulleys and no power steering since my body didn't ever have it.  I also have a lightweight flywheel and aftermarket clutch.  Otherwise the SR20 engine, turbo and tranny etc are stock.  I had a portable dyno back in the day showing just under 240 whp and 270 ft/lb.  That's before I had the exhaust redone with 3" mandrel SS and high flow CAT/muffler. 

 

This car gets me about 29-30 mpg on the highway now and is a blast to drive (3.7 gears and 255/40/17 tires, GPS verified).  I've had the swap in the car since fall 2007 and have been racing a the local SCCA course as much as I can around work since 2010.  So far only one HPDE at Hallet.  I've had no real significant issues but a handful of smaller ones.  I'll cover those as the story goes along.  I'll also try to keep this in order as I add in the details. 

 

 

I swapped out the rear diff internals with a KAAZ 1.5 way LSD for a 240sx with an open carrier.  I also purchased a set of turbo ZX flanges and CV's.

 

I installed an aluminum radiator and T-Bird electric fan.  Still working on the sticky solenoid driving the high speed fan setting, but the low is still more than enough.

 

I installed a set of Tokico HP struts/springs all around.

 

I installed a new Polyurethane bushing kit all around.

 

Installed a custom A/C line kit for the SR swap and retrofitted to R-134 (discovered that custom hoses had the high/low ports on wrong hoses w/o losing hands)

 

Purchased a set of 17x9 front Rota RBR and 17x9.5 rears.  Also purchased a set of 17x9 and a set of Hankook DOT-R slicks for racing on.

 

Replaced the stock stereo system and speakers, installed Excelon deck, Soundstream amp and Sony sub....sounds great.

 

Had a shop tint the whole car.

 

Installed a set of Corbeau racing seats on both fronts.  Modded the driver sliding bracket to sit lower and lean back more...still have to do the passenger (left) side.

 

Installed an oil cooler and had the used hose that wasn't the right size blow out when racing at Hallet.  Fixed that problem and haven't had an issue since.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

pics. of everything. I will be joining you shortly for the SR in an S130. Just picked up a running doner car for $2200. the guys dyno sheet read 300whp and a little less tq. Still need to rip it out of the car and strip the shell and get that hunk of metal out of my garage before I go through the block.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Blue,

 

I just snapped a few pics for you and others to inspect.  I will be getting some better ones of the under side in a month or so when I pull the engine out to replace the slowly dying stock T25 turbo.  The compressor side oil seal is starting to finally leak into the intake side.  I figure I might as well finally switch to top mount, replace the head gasket, switch to solid lifters, swap cams and change out the clutch for the increased power levels expected.  If the tranny deal works out, I'll also bother to switch to a Z33 6 speed.  I'll clean up the engine bay some more with the wiring and hoses.  While it's out you'll get a better picture of what I did to the leading edge of the cross member and motor mounts.  Basically I notched back the front vertical side of the cross member about a quarter of a inch and rewelded in that front vertical surface to create more room between the front sway bar and the crossmember.  This probably wouldn't be necessary if you kept the stock oil sump.  I wanted to use the Greddy one with the extra baffling for higher lateral g's etc. but it was a little tigher of an area to work with as a front sump.  The motor mounts needed to be a little higher etc so I welded on top of the stock ZX mounts on the crossmember some additional 1/4" thick steel plates.  Next I drilled through these where I needed the mounts to sit.  It was a bit of trial and error as the first go was sitting a little too low.  The engine is sitting pretty darn close to where I want it now.  The transmission mounts I cut off the body and then rewelded farther forward on the body...almost started an interior fire in the process but I was prepared for it at least.  I also had to cut open the shifter hole on the body about two inches forward.  I'm guessing if I use the Z33 transmission the shifter will be a lot closer again to the original position as it is farther back than the SR transmission shifter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started a gallery on pictures on here but it won't let me do more than 5 photos on my photo album/gallery.  Is this some kind of daily limit that I haven't read about yet or is it another setting that I need to use properly?  I swear I will eventually learn how to use this forum better for sharing media of the ZX build and projects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to get into one of those ideas you mentioned about an offsite photo online storage location.

 

The SR oil pan is a front sump.  If I spent a lot of time I probably could have rigged up a rear sump.  I guess another option would be to mod it into a dry sump system too but I'm sure that would be pretty expensive.  I've thought about switching out the entire front suspension from a 240sx to inclue the cross member but haven't done the homework to know if it would size up close enough to massage it in.  I'm sure they are very close but need the spec'd out measurements for both cars to have a more educated guess.

 

In the end it was to place the SR20 mid oil pan sump directly over the zx crossmember, place the front sump in front of it but squeezed just behind the sway bar.  It's tight but fits.  I was worried how much this was going to affect the balance of the car and the handling...it didn't matter from what I've seen on the track and with a set of scales.  I've read through a lot of posts about the weight differences and my guess is that the SR is overall a lot lighter than the L28.  I'm sure that helped to make it not a factor in my car for the way the handling and balance is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Maybe there is a way to do a dry sump set up instead...although that sounds expensive in the end too and negates part of the fun going SR.

 

My car has been getting neglected lately due to a change in job/income combined with moving & repairing rental properties and the "newsed" house.  I'm really hoping this rental property deal starts to return some of the cash that's been put into it.  Sigh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Just another wild thought I had after spending time under my brother's many S13's...maybe you could swap in the entire front crossmember and suspension from an S13 under your 280zx.  This would solve your issue with the oil pan sump as well as the motor mounts.  They look so very similar but I don't have measurements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

So after doing some of the A/C work the other day, I must have shorted out one of the wires going to the ignitor chip or pulled one of the connections apart.  I'm on the way now to go trouble shoot her where she sits in a parking lot at my work.  She's getting fuel but isn't sparking it seems.  Here we go...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...