When were the hybrid swaps first really a thing?

[bramagedained]

I bought my car the way it is in June of this year.  The guy I bought it from had also purchased the car in it's swapped state and unfortunately, he didn't know much about it either. 

 

I found a receipt in the document protector with the original window sticker that leads me to believe that the swap on my car was done in 1989/1990.

 

The receipt is for trans and engine stuff dated 04/1990 in New York state, which I would assume means it was someone's winter project for that year.  Quick googling pulls up that the JTR book was first copyrighted in 1990.

 

The SBC(which I assume is a 350) I'm pulling this winter for a 4.8L truck motor that I will eventually turbo. 

 

Amusingly, the current motor has an Edelbrock Streetmaster intake which was only made in the 70's and ram-horn style cast exhaust manifolds. 

[johnc]

V8 swaps into 240Zs began almost as soon as the car was available in 1970. Scarabs were available starting in 1974 IIRC.

[Miles]

Good read:  http://datsunforum.com/the-scarab-legend-the-original-hybrid-datsun-z/

 

Look at the engine bay.  It has V8 swap written all over it. 

 

I don't know how he got it, but the owner of the shop I worked in in fall of 1969 brought one in.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Miles

[Michael]

This site started in February 2000, initially with unabashed emphasis on the V8 swap into the S30.  It started as a reaction to the rather vituperative aspersions against Datsun engine-swaps in the late 1990s.  That was also around the time that the so-called JTR method, or engine setback method, gained popularity as way of configuring the swapped V8.  Assuredly there were successful V8 swaps from much earlier, but by my reckoning, the swap went "mainstream" sometime in the mid-late 1990s.

 

Ironically, if one were to judge by post-count on this Forum, in recent years the V8 swap has yielded precedence to various flavors of turbocharging, most of which are for inline engines.

[Eric JB]

I saw one at the Porsche / Audi / Aston Martin dealership I was working at in about 1979-1980. More than likely a real Scarab, but I was 19 at the time and had no idea what a Scarab was. But I knew 2 things. I wanted one, and it would more than likely kill me, in my reckless toxic youth. It stayed in my mind until 1999, when I broke down and bought a dead 280Z to build for myself. I was on this website very early on, but left for several years, and when I came back my user name was gone. (Berzerker) So I started this one.

[lovemstr]

around 1977 I worked with a guy who built a 240 with 350/350 combo, I drove it (with thoughts of buying) with only 3 gears it turned way too many revs for highway driving. The real turnoff though was that it was hard to steer at low speeds .engine was installed at the scarab position. the 76 280 I am working on now has the engine set back to within 1" of the firewall (I fabbed the engine mounts), distributor is old point style with pertronix conversion. ramshorn manifolds and block hugger headers both fit without steering interference. engine is centered in engine bay. will use a 2004r trans.