buZy Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 What is the difference between the Scarab and the JTR postion as far as the engine location is concerned? Would just like to know to find what setup my car is for future reference. My motor is set back far enough so where as the stock hood latch mount had to be removed and redesigned. Also the engine mounts dont look 'home made' but maybe something out of a kit system as the seem to work perfect with the hooker long tube headers. Thanks everyone. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted November 22, 2004 Share Posted November 22, 2004 Easiest way to tell if its scarab or not is if the engine mounts are straight up and down. A jtr conversion sets the engine back torwards the firewall and lower in the chassis, and the distributor ends up being under the hood mechanism. IN a scarab the engine sits a little bit higher and the distributor will be an inch or so forward of the hood mechanism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted November 22, 2004 Author Share Posted November 22, 2004 Thanks fl327. I must have the JTR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted November 22, 2004 Share Posted November 22, 2004 Something is out of place though, Scumdog. Generally the setback (JTR) position prevents the use of long tube headers. Another posibility is that you have the MSA kit. With this kit the motor sits farther back than a Scarab but not as far as the JTR. You can use full length headers with the MSA kit. Any chance you could snap some pics and post them? What is the distance from the back of the heads to the firewall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted November 23, 2004 Author Share Posted November 23, 2004 Very interesting note Dan. So I did check with MSA today and their mounts look JUST like mine and they also sell the hooker long tube headers. The headers have a pivoting/rotating tube so the steering shaft will fit in between. Pretty cool set up. I wouldn't think you could confuse these mounts with any others as everything fits very close. From my observation less than an inch more forward or to the rear and the headers would not fit at all. Even tigher left to right. Distance from back of head to firewall measures..... 3 inches passenger side. 3.750 drivers side. (typical head offset for V8 engine) What do you think? Thanks for the help. I would post pics but I cant seem to ever get them right. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I'd say without a doubt you have the MSA kit. The JTR kit would put the motor about 1 1/2" farther back, Scarab about the same amount forward. Big tell is that the three different styles of motor mounts don't look anything like each other. If yours look "just like the MSA mounts" I'd call that a lock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8240Z Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 My first post. I recently bought my first V8Z and I am having lots of confusion with the engine position. One thing I know; it's not the JTR position after reading so many threads and buying the JTR manual. This is my fifth Z car and I currently have a 71 240Z with a 280ZX and triple carbs. Lets get back to the questions: The distributor is 6 inches away from the firewall and have enough clearance to use the stock hood latch mechanism and also use a full size air filter. The car has a heavy custom frame made of square tubing and an x that is welded across the frame for rigidity. The frame is well constructed, it will add weight to the rear to help with weight distribution. Because of the welded x frame, I may have a hard time putting a straight exhaust system if I decide to replace the side pipes. The car came with bad engine but movable and a TH350 tranny. I already swap the motor with a 71 chevy Impala. After the swap, it seems like I did some damage to my tranny and it get stuck on drive, but I am able to start the car which definitely tell me there is a safety switch issue also. I can move the car forward by pressing hard on the gas pedal and I can push it back when I turn the ignition off while still on D. My plan is to swap the TH350 for a WCT5 which I already bought. Before I start spending more money, I would like to know if the position of the motor will make it impossible to use the T5 since the JTR manual says: with the Scarab position the T5 shifter will be in the fusebox hole. I read other threads that say the T5 is a couple inches longer than the TH350. If the T5 is longer than the TH350, I think it should fit except if the tailstock and the bellhousing of the T5 are shorter than the TH350. As I mention before, I have a T5 and bellhousing from an 87 Camaro. Thanks in advance for you help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 If your engine is installed as far forward as you say, the T-5 shifter will be very far forward of the stock opening, and you'd need to move the fuse box to another location, cut the hole much bigger for the shifter and put a long offset shifter handle on it, which would be custom. I advise against this whole-heartedly. If you want to use the T-5, I'd have to say the only thing I can recommend is making new mounts for the engine/trans from the JTR manual prints. It matters not that the TH350 is longer, even if it is - the shifter for the TH350 is cable driven and can be mounted anywhere. The shifter for the T-5 comes up out of the transmission case and you have to deal with that. If you search the threads here for JTR vs Scarab, you'll see that MikeJTR states that the initial reason for doing the mounts like he did in the manual for the swap was to be able to have the shifter for the T-5 come out of the stock shifter hole in the tunnel. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zchevyv8 Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 hello my 240z v8 is in the scarab position and im not at all happy with its handling, ive fitted new front suspension and bushes, not as of yet had time to do the rears and it handles horrible, it goes like stink but the rear is as loose as hell. my old 240z knocked spots of this one for handling, but anyhow the question is does anyone know how to recalibrate the stock rev counter so that it works with the chevy engine regards 240zchevy v8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Scarab mounting position. JTR MOUNTING POSITION Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8240Z Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Thanks for the advise and the pictures. As I can see, in the Scarab position, the engine is not place in the same position. One of the picture shows the distributor is like 5 1/4' away from the firewall while mine is 6' away. The previous owner who is a mechanic told me that the car handle very well while it was running. Maybe the heavy duty square tubing in the rear really help with the weight distribution. I'll give him a call to see if handling was not an issue at all. I haven't have a chance to drive it yet after the engine swap because of the tranny issue and it's not registered yet. the rear has 245/60/14 and the front has 195/60/14. I think I am going to play with the TH350 tranny or get it repair to see if I can get it on the road. After that, I'll decide about moving the engine to JTR position. I really don't want to spend the money fixing the automatic tranny and change to manual later. Scarab mounting position. JTR MOUNTING POSITION Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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