Does anyone know how much a V8 conversion would be for my car?

[Guest MCTomTom]

I really want to do a V-8 conversion to my 76 280Z, can anyone give me an estimate on how much it would be? I can put the engine and tranny in myself, and hook up all of it myself, so no labor costs, but how much is it for parts, and all the other stuff? Water pump, distributor, coil, tranny, pulleys, alternator, radiator, etc. My L28 is quite laggy, and it has been running like crap. The L28 was just rebuilt last summer, and all of the parts are brand new in it, and it has a performance delta cam. Do you think I could part it out? Still not quick enough though, very laggy. Please just give me an estimate for a used 350 V8 and a turbo 350 tranny conversion. Thanks.

[johnc]

Search, search, search...

[Tim240z]

Read, learn and know!!!: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=84963

 

These questions have been asked so many times it has become nauseating!!

[72zcar]

from $,918.57 to $21,529.12

[jaime240z]

MCTomTom,

 

There are many variables that can determine the total cost of a SBC conversion. My best advice would be to sit down with a pen and paper and plan out exactly what you want to do with your conversion. I would try to be as detailed as possible so you can get the most accurate prices and therefore TOTAL price of what you want to do there are many different routes you gan go.

 

And remeber, once you think you have it all figured out, there will be a bunch of things you didn't plan on that will either 1. need upgrading or 2. you "can't live with out it" items (such as better brakes or new wheels/tires) that are sometimes overlooked when just planning for an engine swap. Whatever your final TOTAL price estimate is, plan on at least doubling the $$$ amount by the time everything is said and done!

 

EVERYONE:

Also for anyone who is uncertain, please check out this short video on posting.

 

MODERATORS: feel free to refer anyone to this short vid:

http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php

[Mikelly]

McTomTom, There are not shortcuts on our site... Do your homework and READ THE VOLUMES of information we have collected for you over the last 5 years.

 

Not being harsh, but we get this question A LOT!

 

Oh, and welcome... You'll need thick skin around this crew!

 

mike

[RB26powered74zcar]

 

MODERATORS: feel free to refer anyone to this short vid:

http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php

 

 

HaHa.... this should be a required watch before a new user is allowed to join...

[ZHeadV8]

Awesome link

[Drax240z]

Hard to tell, do you have a L28 NA or turbo in your car?

 

Your best bang for your buck will be fixing the L28turbo if that is what you have.

 

It shouldn't be laggy, it shouldn't run like crap, and it should put up comparible numbers to a 350 swap.

[Guest tony78_280z]

I read a webapage about a guy who got his l28 to put out 500hp. It only gots him around $25k.

 

It'd prolly cost as much to get a L28 turbo up to speeds with a STOCK 350 as it would to install said 350. Secondly; yes, you can get a l28 up to horse power and speed as a stock 350, but then you are done. You install a stock 350 (as I have) and when that project is done, the next year you can start modifications. And take it places that you could never take a l28. You can allways later turbocharge/supercharge your 350.

 

I would have saved bundles of money had I swaped out my motor when I first got my Z instead of paying for all those high priced nissan parts. There are so many after marked manufactureres for 350 parts that the prices are often half of the nissan parts (look at cam or header prices) And 350s are so simple and easy to work on that when you take it to a mechanic they charge considerably less. Plus you get to hear them good ol' boy mechanics say "Nah, we don't do nuffin wit a Nissan.", and his greasy side kick says "He said it had a chevy motor!" Then they drool over your engineering and inventiveness.

 

Having said all of that... Keeping the l28 motor and all of its componenets is not the best bang for your buck. Even though he sank so much into it already. (btw 76 didn't come with a turbo, and he didn't mention having modified it any.) That 28 year old EFI equipment goes out one piece at a time. Mine did. SO he is still looking at replacing all of that crap or going carbed.

 

Most of you guys have dumped lots of $$ into your motor. Some, like me have done a more economy build. I want to spend a little at a time and watch it grow. Of course then I end up with a car that sits more than it drives. But I probably spent a fraction of the money most of the rest of y'all have. And I think that this is the information that he was seeking with his post. Something that the archieves don't have a lot of info about. "How to get results cheap." If I design a webpage detailing my car.. that will be the title.

 

My advice for an economy build

Be patient. Wait for that deal on a tranny to show up. Don't rush yourself and need to go back and redo (and repurchase) something. But don't be too slow either or you'll end up with a project you never get to drive.

 

Get a good donor car like a crashed carbed camero. Don't damage anything taking parts off, cause you don't know what parts you may need. You can get this donor from 150-400. Motor tranny and lots of parts. Then get the JTR manual and read it to determine exactly what other parts you will need (Mounts, wiring harnesses etc) and what you can fabricate (Mounts, wiring harnesses etc) But with creativity and hard work you can save lots of money. I got my motor and tranny from a junkyard for $400.00 together. I got to hear it run in the van and it sounded real good. I bought them as a set, but I'll prolly end up getting rid of the tranny for an overdrive. The Motorsports mount kit cost $250.00 (I do not recomend this brand though) and I had the driveshaft made. So for $650.00 I got to start my Nissan/Chevy hybrid. I've since spent about as much again (on a good carb, tuning it, and other electrical crap) getting it to run right.

 

I save all reciepts and have all the data entered on a spreadsheet. In total I have spent $4466.17 on parts in my car. This does not include and money invested on the old motor or tranny which totals around $1500.00, But that includes everything from purhcase price of the car, stereo, speakers, brakes mufflers etc.

 

I think a better question rather than can you afford it, is do you have the desire, technical/mechanical knowledge and skill, and love for your car to see you through to the end?

 

As for ragging people to search all the time... People on this forum tend to sound like elitest snobs. He asked a simple question and has probably read your responses and been turned away by rudeness. After the first person responded reminding him to search everyone else could leave it at that and not respond at all. And searching the forum archieves would not have answered his particular question which was should he keep HIS motor after having it rebuilt as compared to doing a swap. Most info out there doesn't include prices. This question will probably not be answered in the archieves. And the archieves can't give him what he realy wanted which was a living persons OPINION. Lighten up guys.

 

Having said that... there is a ton of info on this website. Much of it stuff that I never even thought of, but now that I have, I want to do it. (Windshield wiper upgrade, fiberglass body sculpting etc.)

 

-T

 

ps. "from $,918.57 to $21,529.12" <-- that is funny. Is that the price range you have found in the archeives, or did you just pull that figure out of your back hatch.

[JKDGabe]

Tony, you're right, we need to lighten up. But the fact remains that if he had searched he would have found everything this thread contains.

 

It'd prolly cost as much to get a L28 turbo up to speeds with a STOCK 350 as it would to install said 350. Secondly; yes, you can get a l28 up to horse power and speed as a stock 350, but then you are done. You install a stock 350 (as I have) and when that project is done, the next year you can start modifications. And take it places that you could never take a l28. You can allways later turbocharge/supercharge your 350.

 

That depends on what year/model the donor car is. I have read more than a few threads about an L28ET spanking the "stock" 350. Also, it's not cheap/easy to turbo/supercharge a 350 in a Z. (Whether or not it's cheap may simply be in my mind but I don't think anybody would say it's easy)

 

As the old saying goes, "you want it fast, cheap and reliable? Pick two and call me back."

 

MCTomTom, take your time and read, read and read some more and when you decide what you want I'm sure you'll find plenty of help from HybridZ'ers. Remember, nothing in life worth having comes easy.

[johnc]

As for ragging people to search all the time... People on this forum tend to sound like elitest snobs. He asked a simple question and has probably read your responses and been turned away by rudeness.

 

We are elitist snobs! Why don't people understand that and why is it though of as a negative? We expect the following from our members:

 

1. Intelligence

2. Thoughtfulness

3. Courtesy

4. Enthusiasim

 

I've read through the responses above and none struck me as rude. This isn't kindergarden and we're not here to:

 

1. Reinforce someone's positive image of themselves.

2. Hold their hands through the entire process.

3. Answer questions that have no possible answer.

4. Answer questions that have been answered MANY times before.

 

If a first time poster (not directly picking on you MCTomTom) expects a positive, caring, comforting, non-threatening reply to a post that violates one of the basic rules of the site they are living in a Sesame Street world.

 

Dan just spent a lot of volunteer time and effort making sure the search function works properly. I STILL use it a lot when answering answerable questions on this site.

 

HybridZ is a reference site. Think of it as a big Wiki that luckily is almost real time interactive.

[Drax240z]

It'd prolly cost as much to get a L28 turbo up to speeds with a STOCK 350 as it would to install said 350. Secondly; yes, you can get a l28 up to horse power and speed as a stock 350, but then you are done. You install a stock 350 (as I have) and when that project is done, the next year you can start modifications. And take it places that you could never take a l28. You can allways later turbocharge/supercharge your 350.

 

Bleh, must we hash this out again? For reference, a friend just dyno'd his stock 95? camaro at 180rwhp with a 350 in it. Granted that may be on the low side for that engine, but 350's aren't producing huge numbers over and above what the average L28 turbo's are. With minimal mods an L28T can be putting down 240rwhp and 300ft-lbs. I'm talking a $10 boost controller here and maybe a rising rate regulator. Personally I think spending $10 over and above the relatively cheap swap of the L28T (it's a bolt in) to get those numbers is cheaper than a 350 swap to achive those numbers.

 

Anyway, not to say the 350 isn't a valid swap, good performance, yadda-yadda-yadda. I just think the L28T get's no respect and people have an over inflated view of how much power 350's make. (and yes, I know of umpteen people here making SERIOUS power out of a 350, I'm not saying it can't be done... I know a lot of people here making serious power out of an L28T too)

 

As for why I assumed he had a turbo, he said his car was "laggy" and I usually associate that term with a turbocharged car automatically.

 

As for Johnc's potentially earth-shattering comments... I couldn't agree more.

[Mikelly]

Excellent Response from John C.

 

Step up and DO YOUR HOMEWORK is the message ALL members should recieve.

 

We're all busy, all donating time, and working on our own projects/ have lives/ and jobs... Meet us half way and do a search, or go off and start your own website on how HybridZ and the elitist snobs who run it are just bad bad bad!

 

Mike

[Guest tony78_280z]

We're all busy, all donating time, and working on our own projects/ have lives/ and jobs

Eveyones is far too busy to answer a simple question, but everyone has PLENTY time to respond and tell a guy to use the search function. To me that seems kind of rude.

 

I'm not saying that one should not reply to tell a guy to go search. But ONE should,.. not everyone chiming in and telling him that. That as well seems rude to me. I don't need everyones telling me when I messed up. Of course that is me. I guess I'm just ultra nice.

 

I love this webpage. So much that when I'm done getting this car where I want it and get it painted I'm putting "HybridZ.org" accross the hood. (my Brother in law used to paint race cars for a living.) There is soo much info and people usualy want to share their knowledge. But remember not all of us a real good searchers and some of us actualy suck as web surfers. Normaly If I'm looking for something on the net I tell my girlfriend what I'm looking for and she surfs for me. I don't know how she does it but she can find stuff that I can not. Hell I didn't find this webpage until AFTER I had my 350 installed in the car. Man I wish I had...

 

What the hell is a "Wiki"?

 

Alot can be said for gear ratios, vehicle weight and areodynamics. But when talking about motors one should only look at Horse Power and Torque, not rear wheel horsepower. You take a 5.7L and a 2.8L out of the box the 5.7 will produce more horse power. You put both into the same car with same gearing and my money is still on the 5.7. You take those same two out of the box motors and spend equal money PROPERLY upgrading with similar components my money is still on the 5.7 (I emphasize PROPERLY because mis matched components can actualy produce less Horse Power) Particularly when you can get Chevy parts much cheaper than you can Nissan. I also say similar components how can one compare a turboed 2.8L and a non boosted 5.7? That is apples and oranges.

 

he said his car was "laggy" and I usually associate that term with a turbocharged car automatically

You are right, he did say that. I just thought he had an internet connection in his car =)

 

Of course this has been discussed ample times and need not be discussed again, except I'm not so sure the subject of PRICE was included before.

[Tim240z]

Eveyones is far too busy to answer a simple question' date=' but everyone has PLENTY time to respond and tell a guy to use the search function. To me that seems kind of rude.

 

I'm not saying that one should not reply to tell a guy to go search. But ONE should,.. not everyone chiming in and telling him that. That as well seems rude to me. I don't need everyones telling me when I messed up. Of course that is me. I guess I'm just ultra nice.

 

Of course this has been discussed ample times and need not be discussed again, except I'm not so sure the subject of PRICE was included before.[/quote']

Tony,

While your comments have merit, once you've seen the question asked and answered literally dozens of times, it gets stale, esp. when the answers are there for the taking.

As for price....it is like asking "how long is a piece of string?". It is impossible to answer because of so many variables. A bare bones conversion could be done for under $2k with a lot of deal hunting and a very basic JY drivetrain, or could exceed $20k (like mine and many others' have) if you take into account chassis stiffening, brake and suspension upgrades, weight savings and performance upgrades (aluminum heads, intake blah, blah, blah). All these factors have been beaten to death several times........

 

Hopefully 'Tom hasn't been scared off as he is welcome here, as is everyone else, but the search function is there for a reason......after huge amounts of effort by Dan.......

[Drax240z]

Alot can be said for gear ratios, vehicle weight and areodynamics. But when talking about motors one should only look at Horse Power and Torque, not rear wheel horsepower. You take a 5.7L and a 2.8L out of the box the 5.7 will produce more horse power. You put both into the same car with same gearing and my money is still on the 5.7. You take those same two out of the box motors and spend equal money PROPERLY upgrading with similar components my money is still on the 5.7 (I emphasize PROPERLY because mis matched components can actualy produce less Horse Power) Particularly when you can get Chevy parts much cheaper than you can Nissan. I also say similar components how can one compare a turboed 2.8L and a non boosted 5.7? That is apples and oranges.

 

None of this has any bearing on the question or topic at hand, which is performance vs. cost.

 

Regardless of being able to get chevy parts cheaper than nissan, the cost of the swap is the cost of the swap. In the case of the nissan you need a wrecked donor car and a $10 grainger valve. In the case of the 350 you need a wrecked donor car, and custom made motor mounts, tranny mount, driveshaft, radiator, etc. My point was you can make ~250rwhp (or 300flywheel horsepower if you prefer, though it really doesn't matter which we compare all else equal) cheaper with an L28T swap than a 350 swap. All of which is moot if he doesn't have a L28T swapped into his car at this point, which is what my initial assumption was, for right or wrong.

[72zcar]

"ps. "from $,918.57 to $21,529.12" <-- that is funny. Is that the price range you have found in the archeives, or did you just pull that figure out of your back hatch."

 

It was meant to be funny..thats about it. After two v8 swaps one with msa and one with jtr and planning another... i have an idea what it takes. And yes i did pull those numbers out of my "back hatch" as you put it but at the same time i think the numbers reperesent about the least and maybe the most someone could spend.

Bob

[Guest 240zJake]

What the hell is a "Wiki"?

Wikipedia.org

A Wiki or wiki (pronounced "wicky", "weekee", or "veekee"; see pronunciation section below) is a website (or other hypertext documents collection) allowing users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. "Wiki" also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website (see Wiki software).

[Mikelly]

...And again, All this info, Including similar ribbing to other new members, can be found...

 

In the S-E-A-R-C-H!

 

Mike