Guest Paul Felker Posted September 25, 2002 Share Posted September 25, 2002 Ok the other day my friend was driving his 300z turbo and he got cut off by another car somehow causeing him to roll the car over a few times totalling the car, hes ok thank goodness but his poor car is toast. ive heard of people putting these motors into 240-280zs i was wondering what it took to mount one of these motors into an older z? where these cars equiped with a limited sllip diff, oh yeah the car is an 84 or 85. what was the name of these motors, ie, l28et vg30? and did these cars ever have a t-5 in them at all? reason im asking is that my car is sitting without a motor and id like to put this motor in out of my friends 300z. my car is a 77z with a t-5. how difficult is it to fab up some motor mounts and such.. thanks guys oh yeah i tried the archives and i really didnt really find any thing, maybe i just didnt try hard enough oh well................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR8ED Posted September 25, 2002 Share Posted September 25, 2002 I don't think you checked the right forum.. I might as well chime in here, cause any hybridz regulars are probably ask you to look for me anyways.. hehe I have done the swap you are talking about. There is one other fellow who frequents this site who lives in Austrailia who has done this swap as well.. Anyways, I'll give ya some quick info. 300zxt 5 speed had T5's but are different than your t5 in your 280. The 300zxt motor is called a VG30ET. 84-86 300zxt's have 3.54 open R 200 diffs. 87-89 300zxt have 3.7 lsd R 200 diffs. The motor doesn't fit very well, and requires mods to the steering and frame rail on the drivers side. Reinforcing of the frame rails is neccessary as new mounts in new locations are needed. The alt bracket needs to be made as the stock one does not clear. This is not a swap for the faint of heart... or a budget build up. I could have had a V8 for 1/3 of the money. Works really well when done right. Lighter motor, mid engine placement, decent gas mileage, and all the power you'll need. With a few upgrades, things can get down right scary fast. I have written some articles about this swap That are hosted on the web.. one is listed in my BIO, the other is still located in the articles section at Zdriver.com (I checked its still there) Good luck if you decide to go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Felker Posted September 26, 2002 Share Posted September 26, 2002 thanks zrated for the response! i have a couple more qs, first can i use my t-5 trans? if not can i use my shortned driveshaft? do yoou have plans for the motor mounts and the other stuff you were speaking of, ill read your article eonight. the reason im thinking of doing this is can get the car for free and it has less than 80k on her thanks and please keep the responses coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR8ED Posted September 26, 2002 Share Posted September 26, 2002 Sorry you can't use your t5. The VG as you know is a v6 and the bell housing is different.. probably the shaft too.. NOt sure about your driveshaft.. I'd guess not.. Mine is a blend of 300zx at the tranny side, and 280z at the other.. the mounting flange ( on the diff)for the driveshaft at the diff side (I have a 300zxt lsd) was too large in diameter, so I swapped in the smaller 280z flange I don't have plans written out.. I do have lots of pics at the zdriver site. The article has quite a bit in it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR8ED Posted September 26, 2002 Share Posted September 26, 2002 On another note, when you test fit the motor in the bay.. don't take the easy way out.. If you move the motor forward a bit (not sure how much it can move) you may not need the same mods, but I can tell you, you will not be pleased with the handling. I talked to a fellow who had a friend do the swap, and is not happy at all with the handling.. I guess he placed it too far forward, because he never mentioned and steering mods.. Also if you raise the motor slightly you don't need the mods.. again.. this is a kludge fix.. you will run into hood clearance issues.. as well as handling negatives.. I took the harder way and did it all right the first time.. more $ and time, but the effort paid off with a better package. Handling is wild.. feels like a 4 wheel steering car.. it kinda pivots around the corner.. you don't feel the weight of the nose pushing around the corner... This car really can handle late braking!! another BTW.. you'll need other suspension and braking upgrades... or you'll likely kill yourself. Like me.. stock boost didn't last long..I'm at 18psi now, and the car feels so fast it is almost scareing me. If ya can get the car for free, that is excellent.. there are lots of little bits of electronics you'll need and having a complete car handy is the best way.. I did the same thing.. had the car there the whole time so we could scrounge for parts and also to see how somethings where hooked up in the original car. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Felker Posted September 26, 2002 Share Posted September 26, 2002 ok thanks, where does the shifter come out into the cockpit a little bit foward like the l28et and t-5 combo or is that different? i have a steeda triax shifter on my currrent t-5 can i swap the shifter? what about just changing the bellhousing on the transmissions or are they different too, the reason i ask is cause in your article your transmission mount looks like mine! does it go to the back or the front. and im also wondering if the transmissions are the same with just different bellhousings? hmmmmm kind of makes you think dont it? anyways thanks for the replys so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR8ED Posted September 27, 2002 Share Posted September 27, 2002 I really don't have much info on the t5 (l28ET driveline) I would think with so many 300zx's around in JY's that there is a reason no one has put in a 300zx 5 speed in a 1st gen Z. On mine the shifter came up 1.5 inches further forward than stock. My tranny mount looks like yours, because it is a stock 280z mount that I modified to fit the 300zxt 5 speed, yet still bolt to the stock locations. (it was the first step we took in locating the driveline in the car, and was one less custom part to make.. (the tranny mounts in the tunnel that is.) Because of the significant customizing needed for the swap, plus no documentation on the swap. ( I found zero info when I did extensive web searches other than rumours of someone who may have done it at some time.) The fact that V8 swaps are very common and documented. and kits are available as well, make the VG swap not worth the $ in comparison. Best bang for your buck would be a v8. It definately has its advantages, and certainly has a certain amount of WOW factor. Of course there are lots of guys who like a challenge and are capable of designing and hand fabricating parts. This swap is definitely not a budget swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Felker Posted September 27, 2002 Share Posted September 27, 2002 Thanks, you said the bellhouing on the trans is different on the 300 motor. but the bellhousing does come off on t-5 and what im curious to know is if the rest of the t-5(not the bellhousing) but the rest of the trans is simmilar in shape and design. when i had my t-5 sitting on a bench i also had another t-5 out of a 89 mustang sitting next to it and they look very similar to each other (except the input and output shaft) i could hardly tell the two apart! Now i do know that the 300z clutch and the 280zx turbo(82-83)clutch are the same 240mm contact surface and have the same input shaft also. that is why i belive these transmissions could be interchangeable, and my next reason is that your trans mount that you fabed up for your t-5 is very similar to what i had to do to get my t-5 into my car too. in your photo it looks to me that you had to move the center back a little so it all lined up correctly right? it seems to me that this is about as difficult as putting in a 5.0 mustang motor in, mounts, wiring, coolingsystem, and all that fun stuff. ive also have heard that some people use the 300zt wiring on l28et conversions, why i dont know, and ive also read that the 300 wiring harness isnt any harder it hook up. backtracking a little you said that your shifter sits 1 1/2 inches foword of the stock location as mine does also. if im right on all this ican use my trans on the back of the vg30et,(i hope im right!) one last question, do you know the measurement of the contact area on the flywheel is on the vg30et, i know the 300 n/a is 240 so im hoping that is the same too. thanks for the reply and your time im very serious about this swap and any help you can give me would be most excellent of you, Later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Felker Posted September 27, 2002 Share Posted September 27, 2002 oh yeah what size turbo are on these motors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Felker Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 anybody help im getting ready to jump into this and i dont want to do i blind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 the 84-87 motors had a t3, and the 88-89 motors had a smaller t25, but had higher compression, giving it 5 more hp (205hp). they started water cooled turbos in 85, so if you get an 84 motor, be sure to give it time to cool down after running it hard. good luck on your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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