Guest Anonymous Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Hey Guys, Like everyone, I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want to keep the car quick and fun to drive, but am also looking for maximum fuel efficency. I'm trying to find an engine that will give me a good mix of sport and economy in these days of $2+ gas prices. Here's my thinking... Power: I don't need a ton of HP. My daily driver is a 2002 WRX wagon and has pleanty of pep for 90% of my driving with 227hp and 3100lbs. That's about 13.5lbs/hp. To get the equivilent ratio in a 2300lb Z would only take 170hp....so let's make the Z at least a bit faster and round up to 200 for a nice round number This would be pleanty fast for me. Gas Mileage: On the old, stock engine & trans in my 72 240z I was able to get about 27mpg on the highway with a 4spd and worn engine. My WRX wagon gets about the same even though it's 800lbs heavier and is AWD. I figure if I put an equivelant modern engine & 5spd trans in the much lighter Z (making as many aerodynamic upgrades as possible), I should easily be able to get over 30mpg and hopefully even better and still have a quicker car than the wrx. I'm also hoping that whatever engine & trans I choose will be even lighter than the stock setup, so I should be able to get some additional MPG gains there too, not to mention being more nimble. So do any of you have any ideas? Don't say V8. I don't need that much power and am trying to keep the weight down and efficiency up. I love my WRX, but really miss driving the Z. I don't mind revving the engine to get the power. The nearest equivelant to the WRX engine from Nissan that I can think of is the SR20DET. I've read a few posts about this engine and am leaning this way but want to see if anyone else has a better idea....I'm looking for someone to talk me out of it. I need to talk to more people who have experience with this engine. Do any of you know of a light, EFI, NA engine that puts out about 190-200hp that would be a good fit with the Z? My feelings are that combining these two things -- good hp (not outrageous) in a light and economic package really embodies the original spirit of the Z. Thanks, Nate Sacramento, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 CA motor... SR20 motor... FJ motor... im sure there is more.. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 I have a NA 280ZX engine in my 1970 Z. With a good intake and exhaust you can easily hit 200HP. If you would like to know what that feels like in a Z I would be happy to take you for a spin as soon as I get my intake back on in the next week or so here. I would imagine that getting really good gas mileage wouldnt be that hard, just make sure you keep it tuned and maintained. The SR would be a good idea too because you can probably change the boost when you arent wanting to put out the power and get excellent mileage. I'll be willing to bet you though that if you put anything turbo in there very soon you are going to want to be squeezing out more and more power and would soon outgrow the SR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 I'm pretty sure you would be hard pressed to get mpg in the high 20s with a hot L28 atmo motor. On the other hand, I get 27 mpg with my 300hp L28ET. But lighter weight and good mileage, with 200hp on tap sounds like an SR20 or CA motor to me, with a good flowing turbo upgrade (less exhaust restriction ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Thanks for the offer. So, what kind of mileage are you getting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Thanks for the offer. So, what kind of mileage are you getting? I was averaging 20 mpg before pulling the intake off. These carbs are in bad need of adjustment. I wouldnt think it would be too hard to get into the high 20's. Heck, I got my 2.0L Honda to average 30 mpg. A lot of it depends on your driving though. A warmed L28 should be able to make it easier than a smaller engine if you drive it right. (I wouldnt consider a 200HP 2.8L a "Hot" engine.) BTW, if you like the L28 with a 5spd you might be able to get a good deal on mine when I go for my V8 swap. Just as a side note though, if you really want performance I wouldnt make mileage a #1 priority. Make it maybe #2. Find an engine that you want, then find out what to do and how to drive it to get it to get good mileage. Heck, you can squeez mid to high 20's out of a V8 in a car as light as the Z if you build it right and remember where your floorboard is (That is the route I plan to go). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30Z Bushido Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 F20C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonzer12 Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 The mazda klze is another good choice, its normaly a front-wheel drive config but I have it done RWD with another tranny quite a few times. 200hp STOCK, 2.5 litre high reving v6. A few simple breathing mods and you are looking at 200whp. My kl03 (detuned version) revs like a small 4 and has great low end thrust, I have seen the klze in VW bugs, dune buggies etc. You can pick them up for about 1200us, very cheap as not many people know of them. If you are on a budget there are plenty of ~200hp motor's out there, they just aren't common swaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 cool, I'll have to look into that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest comeandzpa Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 What modles did the klze come in? It sounds familiar, but I can't remember where from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonzer12 Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 The KL block comes in a variety of cars, the klze version is a j-spec engine found in mx-6's, 929 (i think) and some other's. Its a great tuff little engine but not a good choice if you are looking for really big power. The kl family all had forged internals and are all aluminum. The miller-cylce mazda engine is also a standard kl block. I once saw a twin turbo kl powered car make 800 hp on a stock bottom end (saw this in a magazine). Its a very common motor used in swaps in Europe and Australia. Another good feature if you plan to keep the motor NA is its VRIS system. Basically the system used butterfly valves and surge tanks to vary the length of the runners to make a really flat torque curve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest comeandzpa Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 What do you think it would take to convert it to run in a RWD Z? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil1934 Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Kansas Racing Products is selling new Ford 2.3 Duratec engines for $1000 and you can get a dual sidedraft Weber intake, stand alone ignition and bellhousing to T5 from Quad4rods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Kansas Racing Products is selling new Ford 2.3 Duratec engines for $1000 and...bellhousing to T5 from Quad4rods. I checked out http://www.quad4rods.com. Would a Ford engine bolt up to one of their quad4 adapters? (forgive me, I didn't know what a quad4 was until today -- this only refers to GM engines, right?) I also took a look at http://www.kansasracingproducts.com and sent them an email asking pretty much the same question as at the top of this post (but much shorter). I'll let you know if they reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Quad fours are known to be unreliable and they had to add huge balance shafts to equalize it and down play the power for longevity. The 2.3 Ford is a great idea and it even came turbo in early merc. mid sizes like the ford fairmont and Merc. Zephyr as well as the all popular SVO stangs. Tons of parts and easy to make power in the N/A area you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Try the 3.4 v6 w/t5 trans from the 93-95 camaro and firebird. I`m planing this swap for my wifes mgb. The weight savings is over 100lbs over the stock 4cyl and 4spd trans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 The 3.4 is a difficult motor to work on. Ever look up the time and specs on doing the OHC belt?? OMFG!! Did one and never will again. Special tool to align all 4 cams at the same time........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil1934 Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 KRP told me about the Ford products from them and Q4 confirmed with an e mail. My boss wanted me to put an engine in his Triumph Spitfire but we are covered up in work now. I woould not consider a quad 4 as they were unreliable, but the Ford is a Cosworth design and looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 The Pro Four stock car class runs nothing but the Ford 2.0 and 2.3's. No one complains at all and to be competitive you HAVE to run one as the other options don't have the parts availibility...Just thoughts........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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