Guest lnlogauge Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 I am going to look at a project, with a 240z transformed with a chevy 350 and an automatic turbo 350. It needs quite a bit of interior/exterior work. The price is around 900.00, and this sounds like something I would like to put some time and money into, but what am I getting myself into? I have read before that the frame bends with this engine, and rear ends break like eggs..Is this really true? any info you can give on what I should check about the car, or whatever would help. Thanks Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zfan Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 900.00 for a Z with a V8 is hard to beat. The stories about Z frames and rear ends breaking are mainly a bunch of crap. I have a sbc 383 running 11's and have no problems with frames or rear ends. There are others out there running alot faster too. Early model Z's with r180 rear ends do break them occasionally. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 And to the contrary... $900 may be too much for this particular V8 Z. What kind of condition is it in? If the motor is a tired oil burner/oil leaker, if the frame rails are bent/crushed/rusted through, body full of bondo, if the interior is shot, electrical hacked up, rearend whines, rust in the doors/rockers/floors/hatch area... Did I mention that the turbo 350 is not a very desirable tranny for a V8 Z? It may not be like this at all, but these are things you want to look for before you decide to drop a bunch of money into what seems to be a real deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrat Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 If you're going to be driving this car more than 5 miles per trip, the TH350 tranny will have to go. Trust me on this one. I had an el camino with a th350 and it didn't seem that bad, so I put one in my 280zx too. Big mistake. Which will be rectified shortly with my new-to-me T5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKDGabe Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 If you're into cars and Z's specifically you'll know what to look for. If not, report back for some tips. The only thing I can think of not yet mentioned is "what kind of conversion is it"? JTR, MSA, Scarab, "custom"... that will have great bearing on what you want to use the car for. Daily driver? 1/4 mile? Auto-X? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KillerZees Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Did I mention that the turbo 350 is not a very desirable tranny for a V8 Z? just reading the posts and saw this...I was thinking of going with the 350 and my older friend who is a chevy freek said that they were good all around tranys and with a shift kit theyll put you back in the seat. Could you go into further detail why you guys do not like the 350. And what would you recomend for an auto trans in my 240. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKDGabe Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 It's geared too low. It will be screaming at highway speeds, the 200r4 is popular as it's lighter than the 700r4 which is the most common auto choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A. G. Olphart Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Tim- The make or break for me would be the amount of rust. A person can spend a LOT of time replacing floorboards frame rails etc. Look closely for bubbled paint as well (rust coming through from the back side).. Since the Z is unibody, rust is a structural issue. The transmission and rear end situation depends on what you plan to do... If this is to be a road car, it wouldn't be too bad with the turbo 350 and a stock 3.364 rear end (original equipment ratio for 4 speed 240Z) and the tallest tires you can fit in back. As a drag racer a built turbo 350 would be fine, but the original R180 differential will break eventually, and the stronger R200 is not readily available in other than 3.545, 3.7 or 3.9 (not highway friendly ratios). I'd take it for a test drive to see how it runs/drives and check the cruise RPM to see if it is livable. I'd also look under it to see which differential the car has now... it may have been upgraded. (With luck a search on HybridZ will net pictures; R180 cover is pretty rectangular; R200 slightly rounded on the sides as I recall). The Turbo Buick 200R4/200 4R transmissions were performance oriented from the factory... the garden variety versions are not an inexpensive tranny to upgrade for performance use, and don't like abuse in stock form. Take a look here at the second post (strengthening the 200R4): http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=12 For an idea on prices try here: http://www.ckperformance.com/stg_200R4.html and: http://www.ptsnctb.com/ (there are a few others as well). All this said, I'm collecting parts to build a 350Chev/200R4 240Z. Lotsa fun when done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KillerZees Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 sorry to just but in on a topic but i wanted to know about the 350 because I was seriously considering one. Thanks for the info..ill be doing a little more research Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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