Should I Be Excited?!

[EvilRufusKay]

Hey Guys,

 

When I pulled my tranny off I noticed on the back side of the bellhousing it says "SCARAB" I know you guys talk about this name all the time and have found out through the forum that it was a company that raced Z's in the seventies. I know my car came from Cali and was wondering what you guys thought.

 

Thanks,

Rufus

[Guest Aaron]

I would assume that means your engine is mounted in the scarab position. If that is a problem for you , then change it.

 

It seems like I have heard that the original scarab belhousings are worth some money if you find the right buyer.

[Phantom]

Sport Z Magazine did quite a write-up on Scarab and the vehicles they produced. They actually have a legitimate position in Datsun history. The cars were well engineered and performed very well. They were a lot more than just a carbed V-8 set in a positon too far forward like most people seem to think. Check with Sport Z and see if you can get the back issue on it. If your car is a true Scarab production vehicle then you may want to restore it rather than modify it again. Scarab did sell a lot of kits for people to do their own conversions too so it might also be one of those and then I would say just do what you want but I'd considre ebaying the tranny to see if a Scarab owner might want it.

[fl327]

scarab bellhousing is your dream come true, it puts a datsun stock slave cylinder in perfect position to operate any gm manual trans, except maybe a t56. very rare piece to. this one piece takes all the guesswork out of transmission hydraulics in the v8 swap. I would keep it.

[Guest tyrfryr]

if ya don't want it.. i'll take it~

[EvilRufusKay]

Thanks guys I am definatley going to keep it unless someone wants to trade a LT1 for it!!!

 

I wonder how I can find out if it is a true scarab? They were bought and modified by the scarab racing team? There was some paperwork in it that shows the original owner but he's like 70 now and I can't find him. There are some serial 3's on the drive shaft from a company called California equipment but the phone # did not work. Anybody heard of them?

 

Rufus

[RPMS]

I wonder how I can find out if it is a true scarab? They were bought and modified by the scarab racing team?

 

Rufus,

 

Scarab wasn't a racing team, they were a company who bought stock Z's and modified them, much the same way conversion trucks and vans are made. They also sold pieces to convert your own Z, if you wanted to do it yourself. Turnkey Scarabs have beetle-shaped vent covers on the C pillars in place of the "Z" emblem, and I believe they had numbered placques on the dash. Maybe someone else on the list remembers whether the V8's had "scarab" enscribed on the valve covers, but that wouldn't tell you whether it was a factory car or not.

 

Maybe someone else can chime in and add to this?

[EvilRufusKay]

Thanks that helps. As I said, I know this car was driven by the original owner in it's stock configuration for quite some time so it is more likely that the bellhousing is a piece sold by the company.

 

Thanks Again!!

 

Rufus