Handeling

[Guest ac260z]

Hi all, this is my first post here, in the past I was holding a purist line but and was going to stick to the L series but the costs are NUTS!

 

My question is this; If I drop a v8 in my 74 260 what effects will it have on handeling. I don't plan any doing any serious racing, maybe some autox and a few trips to one of the local road courses, I live in Vegas and we now have 2 accessible tracks.

 

Thanks for the input.

[pparaska]

Welcome to the world of open minded drivetrain thinking! The L6 is a nice engine, but if you want to go NA, cubes are the answer, and to me, even a 3.1L stroked L6 won't cut it. Turbo and anything goes.

 

Anyway, click the Search word at the upper right of the frame, and search this forum for the word "handling" in the subject only, and three threads appear. One is one of the longest (if not THE longest) thread on this site that goes into the V8 handling question:

http://www.hybridz.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001259

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about. The V8 is shorter in height and length which when installed low and against the firewall pretty much negates any small (100 lb or less) weight gain. Put the battery in the back, go with AL heads, intake, waterpump, a mini-starter, an AL radiator, headers, and you're not very much above an L6's weight anyway. Go with the Ford SB and you can be lighter than the L6.

 

Cheers,

[Guest Aaron]

Pete, You stole my thunder. I was looking up that thread when you posted.

[Phantom]

If you go with the Chevy LS-1 aluminum block engine it not only will sit further back and lower than the L28 but it is also slightly lighter. It will push you very close to a 50/50 weight distribution. I am working this project on a '77 280Z now but don't expect it to be done until late fall. I have access to an axle scale at work so I'll axle the car once it's completed.

An interesting side bar is that my work is requiring routine trips from DFW to Henderson where we are building a manufacturing plant. I generally stay at the Courtyard Marriot on Green Valley. If you want to get together one evening and compare notes I'll be glad to set the time aside. My next trip that way is currently planned for sometime the week of August 12th.

[Pop N Wood]

Ron Tyler says the front to rear weight distribution of his LT1 conversion is 49/51.

 

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rontyler/lt1specs.html

 

This is with a 9 gallon aluminum tank and the battery in the stock location. He does have the "Skyline LSD", which I assume is an r230?

 

If this is true in general, then shouldn't LTI's be worried about shifting too much weight to the rear of the car?

[DavyZ]

Originally posted by Jim Powers:

...If this is true in general, then shouldn't LTI's be worried about shifting too much weight to the rear of the car?

No, any ill effects (and there shouldn't be any) can be sorted out with varying spring rates and suspension settings. We are NOT talking older Porsche 911's here!

 

Davy

[Guest Anonymous]

Handling has been discussion many times, check the archives, its got many discussions. It comes down to car usage, if you want to competitively autocross forget the V8, it classes it self out of being competitive with things far lighter.

If your looking for a good power and cheap parts, the chevy and the ford can't be beat if you compare normally aspirated HP/$$ ratio. Break a part, run into any autoparts store and get it easily. Break something in a RB26 and I'm not confident you'll walk out with the part.

Just an opinion, but unless your used to something that handles really awesome like a late vette, I think a hybridz will handle well enough to test (scare) just about any average drivers skills because the corners will come up FAST. Hint, brake upgrade can't stress it enough if your a canyon carver, track day attender).

 

Regards,

 

Lone