Guest Anonymous Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 So you V6 guys, tell use more about your powerplants, I have another 240Z that im going to start on next year and I pretty sure I wanna drop a 4.3 in it. What mounts do you guys use? Transmission? Im curious where the differnces lie between it and the V8 swap. Anyone care to start? ------------------ Dan "I need bigger tires" Porter, 78 280Z, 383, 475hp, Comming soon T56, Move outa my WAY!!! http://24.4.88.44/members/dporter/DanZ.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Scott Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 Dan, The v6 is a natural choice for the swap because of its light weight and great placement in the engine bay. Mounts are home design. Similar to the old 55 chevys, I believe. Fabricated from old datsun mounts! I didn't even know of the JTR book 'till this year when I discovered this site. Had some good advice from a guy who makes custom racing frames. He built all my "stuff" once I gave him the dimensions. I run a 87 700 R4 from a Vette. R200 rear w/3.54 ratio. a Spicer 19" driveline. I'd like to go 5 or 6 speed. My engine is a balanced bluprinted(relative term here) 85 4.3 engine from a Astro van. Came w/ a 4 bbl quadrajet! CC custom ground cam specs are 228/232@ .050, 474/483 lift, with the requisite (supercharged) 114 lobe sep. angle. Internals are mostly small block v8 parts! Pistons are trw 7.5:1 forged, "hard" clevite 77 bearings, magnum roller rockers, reworked rods, Fluidamper, edlebrock, and a holley 600 dbl pmpr. As much head work as the stock heads could porting is restricted here, w/ manly proflo valves. My supercharger is a Procharger which I highly recommend. (The people at ATI are great for advice and servicing. The price can't be beat either.) My boost is currently 14 psi, soon to be going up. There is much in favor of the 4.3s if you go that way, but as you know Buick offers an amazing alternative. I'd be glad to fill anyone in on the peculiarities of the 4.3. The timing w/ the stock heads is pretty bizarre. Go with the 4 bolt coversion or a bowtie block with the 4 bolt mains installed. Katech, builders of racing 6s and 8s, wrote to me this week and said to avoid the lower end aluminum bowtie block. Distortion in the bores seems to be a problem.They also had some misgivings about the oddfire crank. These engines will spin 7500-8000 all day if preparred as in the Chevy power book. If you supercharge/turbo you can run high boost w/ low rpms. The Syclone/Typhoon guys have been writing daily to give me information and support with my "some day" plans. Stock cranks have been powering many 10 sec 3500 pound trucks! Fantastic heads can be had from chevy or Brodix. A 400+ hp supercharged v6 can have a docile nature crusing around town and give great milage. You're not tied to that high compression big cammed v8 to make power. When you have the right engine parts, you can run the race gas and bump up to 20 lbs for track day. Pulley changes are 5 minutes away. I love v8s and really miss the exhaust note, but the 6 offers some excellent alternatives! Anyone need any info on the 4.3 in more detail, let me know! John Scott [This message has been edited by John Scott (edited April 15, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 I've already got my plans for the next car I build. It will be a tubed frame just like this car except the power will be from a blown 4.3 much like JS's. I'm going to run a 5 spd tranny but instead of just running the rear wheels I'm going to install a Suburu viscous transfer case after the tranny and run an AWD setup!! The traction will be unbelieveable and by using a 4.3L and the spaceframe the weight shouldn't be much more than 2200 lbs!! Should be a killer setup. SpencZ MonsterZ Cont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Scott Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 Spence! this was my original idea w/the 4.3! I was going to build a sleeper 72 Hilux AWD PU, (Astro awd viscous coupling, 700 trans) but fell in love w/ the Z. Look for the 4.3 turbo on ebay! The computer turbo is really the high tech way to go! John Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie-GNZ Posted April 16, 2000 Share Posted April 16, 2000 The other GM V-6 is the Buick 3.8L turbocharged engine that came in Regals between 84-87. In 86-87 there was the Grand National and GNX, the pinnacle of the turbo Buicks. There are 2 other Z-cars with GN engines that I know of and both are running mid-10s with mild (by GN standards) upgrades. My engine is bone stock except for ARP studs when I put the heads back on and larger injectors. The trans is a TH-200R4 with a 2800RPM stall speed converter and B&M Pro-Stick. My diff is a 3.70 LSD. The turbo is stock with some mild porting on the compressor housing but it has a 3" DP and exhaust with an Ultraflow. I have a 3" elbow for the turbine housing to eliminate a bad restriction on the stock setup. Immediate plans, as we speak, call for a 62mm TB (57 stock), a turbo upgrade and a transbrake to allow as much boost as my tires can take off the line. With a very agressive chip requiring at least 108-octane, 22psi boost and lots of tuning, the engine should approach 400hp at the wheels. Larger turbo, headwork, larger valves, cam upgrade and now you are getting serious. The front mount bracket, like the 4.3 is home made but the JTR trans mount could be used and everything else is basically the same as a V-8 swap. My car gained about 60lbs with this swap. Scottie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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