Guest Anonymous Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 ok well i have an '82 280zx. and well i won't to but a 454 long block, with a six speed manual tranny. i plan on doing this in about 2 years. god willing by than i should have everything i need plus a little extra. my main question is can it be done, and is there a book for it? most of the books out there are for the small blocks. lucky for me i am in the military so i have lots of people to help me out, plus there is the auto hobby shop on base with lifts, tools, etc. so any help will be greatly appreciated. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 i don't know if this will effect anything but it's going to be carburated. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 There are some big block ZX's out there, but they are tubbed race cars. This car is for going mostly straight, right? There is no book and I'm not sure of the modifications you would need, especially to possibly cutting & moving the firewall and also possibly doing some extensive frame work up front. You may have to go to a tube frame front end. Basically you have to measure everything on a ZX and find out what works--make a list of modifications and how you will go about doing it. A carbed car will be easier to make (I believe) for a big block car although you might have to think about smog legal/implications if that is prevalent in your neck of the woods. The search function should reveal some threads about doing a BBC swap, but few on the ZXs. Why a BBC anyway? Wouldn't a SBC with forced induction be enough for you? Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 you might want to look over this site and call for ideas/questions, http://www.ratsun.com/ having worked on one of those cars and help complete the swap in the past I can tell you that, youll need a full roll cage and sub frame, youll need a total rework of the rear suspension and brakes,the best weay we found was to basically build a rolling chassis and complete roll cage after carefully taking measurements and cutting almost all the datsun body away and making your own firewall,flooring and rear suspension, but the swaps been done several times and it makes for a truely nice car, especially if you take your time, and do it correcly, the BIG BLOCK EQUIPED with aluminum heads,intake and water pump weights less than 70 lbs more than a all iron small block Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 It IS possible to do a big-block swap without completely dispensing with the unibody and building a custom chassis. But it is essential to extensively reinforce the body. In my big block swap, the notional structure of the unibody was retained, but the car was split into three pieces: front clip, firewall/trans tunnel/floor, and everything else. A cage was welded into the “everything else” portion, and then the car was reasseumbled, with the firewall set further back. That involved a lot of custom bending of sheet metal into compound curves, and welding multiple tube intersections in tight quarters. Some drag-only cars achieve reasonable traction without worrying about engine relocation aft of what’s possible with the stock firewall, but those cars are all back-halved, with tubs, solid rear axles and 4-link suspensions. My car retains the stock rear suspension components (for now), though the suspension pick-up points are extensively braced. So basically the choice is: build a street/handling car with the stock or sorta-stock rear suspension, but heavily rework the front and be very wary of weight distribution; or back-halve the car. In either case, you’ll need a pretty stout roll cage. That was for a 280Z, not a ZX. In a 280Z, Chevy big blocks fit between the stock frame rails if you use block-hugger headers and slightly notch the passenger-side rail. Steering linkage clearance becomes an issue – in my car, the steering shaft passed through a hole in the driver’s side engine mount structure. If you build a custom chassis, with custom floor, transmission tunnel, and everything else, the choice of vehicle on which you base the “swap” is largely immaterial. By the way, recently there were links on HybridZ to an ad about a big block ZX, and another about a full tube-frame 280Z. About 5 of us here have big-block swaps in varying stages of completion. Most successful are/were Brad Barkley (Ratsun) and Ron Jones. Mine is the only big block swap that I’m aware of, which retains the independent rear suspension. I drove the car very briefly about 3 years ago, but the engine ate its cam after 20 miles of driving. Since then, the car has been sitting. A few pics are available on Pete Paraska’s site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted September 11, 2003 Share Posted September 11, 2003 I was over at Michael's garage (for the first time) this evening and saw his car again. Incredible. It has a beast of a cage in it and in no way relies on the stock body for structure that I can see. BTW, here's the link to a writeup and pictures that Michael put together. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/MichaelOlsBBZ.htm (Note, this may not work in the near future. If so, try: http://home.comcast.net/~pparaska/MichaelOlsBBZ.htm) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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