Another 3800 build

[RSZ]

Here goes on another 3800 build with a T5 transmission (my first engine swap).  The car I'm starting with is a '72 240z that is in decent shape but by no means a show car.  I'm basically after a little more power, fuel injection, maintaining a 6 cylinder engine, and parts availability in Nebraska.  My first choice would be to have a well built L28 with Derek's DOHC head on it; however, I just can't let myself spend that much money on a hobby car.  Whereas Nebraska has almost no Nissan parts in junkyards, the next best option for me is the 3.8 GM. 

 

The donor car is a '97 Firebird with a 5 speed.

 

Here's the engine coming out of the 240

It was a strangely sad feeling to back it into place knowing it would be the last time with the original engine.

 

Motor mounts - version 3.0

 

I'm currently working on putting the Firebird's factory fuel pump/sending unit into the Datsun tank.  Maybe someone else has done that, but I haven't run across it.  Should work pretty well.

 

It has been a fun,but time consuming, project so far.  Sooner or later I'll need to quit screwing around with this and get on with life.  This is a pretty fast summary of what has happened so far with a lot of steps and details left out.  Questions welcome.

[grillhands]

Subscribed. Good luck with the project.

[RSZ]

Thanks grillhands.  I got the tank welded up (we'll assume for now it won't leak) and that is about all the farther I got before I threw my back out on Friday.  Should make some more progress this week.  Hoping to get fuel lines figured out, tank installed, finish mauling the headers, and maybe actually set the engine in the z.  Sorry for the tiny pictures - the next round should be better.

[RSZ]

Made a little bit of progress today.  After lots of thought, I decided to reverse the flow of the 240's 5/16 suction line and turn it into a return line which matches up with the F-body fuel pump return.  For a pressure line, I used some 3/8 brake line (which matches the pumps pressure line) and sort of ran in along the existing hard lines under the car.

Put on a few coats of semi-gloss black since it was out.

Also dealt with the crumbling hoses that go from the top of the tank to the overflow.

Measured for some hose (E85 ready for future plans) and will be able to install the tank tomorrow.

Here's my current dilemma:  The 240 had a small line that ran from the overflow tank to the front where it hit a divider that either let it suck in fresh air from the air filter or vent into the carbs.  The Firebird has a hose going from back to front that I'm assuming is doing roughly the same job - I don't really know.  Does anyone know if i should hook up that little line from the overflow directly to wherever the Firebird line went?  Should I run it through the divider valve first and then to the engine?  Am I way off on how all of this works? 

[RSZ]

Another update, just in case anyone is actually watching this thread.  Got the fuel pump installed, wired, and plumbed. 

Although this took an obscene amount of time, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  Without dropping the tank, you cannot tell anything has been modified.  You can hardly hear the pump running, even with the engine off (obviously, since I've never had it running).

 

Something that hasn't worked out quite as well is the headers.  Based on twalton's build, I bought a set of Pacesetters that he apparently was able to make work.  He is most certainly better at this stuff and I am because after hours of heating and bending, heating and beating, cutting and welding, I just couldn't get them where they needed to be.  With the engine sitting where it is, there is a really tight spot between the frame rails and the starter that the headers really wanted to run in between without MAJOR modifications.  Rather than beating a dead horse even more, I gave up, cut off any usable flanges and bungs, and made my own set out of pipe fittings.

Are they ugly? - yep.  Are they heavy? -  you bet.  Will they work? - they better.  Plus side is that they would take very little modification to flip from side to side and run the exhaust to the front for a turbo.  That's why I'm not worried about the excess beefyness.

 

Other progress is that I have most of the wiring sorted out.  I have a big pile of "extra wires" that I cut out of the harnesses.  I have the PCM mounted on the inside of the firewall, taking up the very front of the passenger's footspace.  My 6'6" friend won't appreciate that, but it seemed like the easiest and safest solution. 

 

Should have a lot of parts showing up this week: driveshaft, clutch master, and the clutch line and fittings (way more complicated that it should have been).  PCM will hopefully get sent out this week and be back in the near future.

 

There may have been other significant achievements in the last week, but I'm drawing a blank. 

[RSZ]

Haven't done an update in a while, so here goes.  It runs!  I drove it about a mile and it seems to be alright.  At this point it's mostly a matter of putting the interior back together, hood grille and bumper, still need to send the PCM off since I held off on that until it ran, and that's about it to make it functional.  I might delay completion to deal with the shifter.  The T5 out of the Firebird has a really stout shifter with the world's ugliest shift knob on it.  Probably cut it off and weld the factory chrome shifter to the stub (the weld will be under the boot anyway). The stock shifter has a much sleeker look and the knob matches the theme of the steering wheel.

 

Fun story:  the donor car had a spun bearing due to a blown head gasket when I bought it (makes for a cheap donor car). The crank was fairly galled so I opted to buy an engine from a local junkyard that had relatively low miles, good compression check, and had a warranty.  Fast forward to one of the last steps of the project, I decided to run a compression test while changing the spark plugs - just for fun.  50,~175,~175,~175,120,~175.  Should have done the test before installing the engine.  Long story short, I went ahead and got it running and warmed up good before checking them again.  This time they were all within a few psi. I'm glad because I just don't know if I had it in me to pull the engine again, swap the clutch, swap the injectors, swap the upper intake, swap the headers, swap the oil pan, and put the whole mess back in.

 

In general, I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out.  The fuel injection is a great thing.  With my short drive, I have already tentatively planned to add a low boost turbo setup next winter.  Not a lot else to say about this build, so this will likely be my last post about the project unless anyone has any questions.

[NewZed]

Looks like an interesting swap, but there's not a lot of meat here.  There's a tiny picture of some motor mounts and a bunch of pictures of a fuel tank.  And apparently there's a PCM being used, that will be sent somewhere.  We don't even know where the second engine came from, so the 97 Firebird panache is gone.

 

Good luck.  Post some bigger better pictures with some details and you'll probably get some feedback.  The 3800 engines seem pretty solid and they're everywhere.  Could be a popular swap.