Guest e55amg Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Has anyone successfully put a GN engine in a ZX? I did a quick search and came up empty. I did a test fit this weekend to start on the motor mounts and it's T-I-G-H-T. It seems much tighter than the pics I've seen of the installs in older Z's. It looks like you have to mount it well forward to clear the downpipe. This wasn't unexpected, but it will require some major oil pan surgery. The pics of installs in older cars looks like the engine's farther behind the crossmember. Power steering is obviously out. What are my options here? What's the interchangability with older cars? How do the sizes of the boxes compare? Thanks, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Mark, As far as I know, you are the first person to put a GN engine into a Z car other than a 240Z. The engine in my GNZ is actually located behind the crossmember and offset 1.5" to the drivers side for downpipe clearance. I'm not familiar with the engine bay of the ZX, so I really can't help you there. What's the interchangability with older cars? What do you mean? Parts interchangability between your '79 and the '70-'78 Z cars? How do the sizes of the boxes compare? What's a "box"? !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olie05 Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Interchangability... The z and zx came with the same engine and I believe the same mounts from engine to crossmember... So If you use the right combination of parts from someone who installed a GN into their early z, you should come up with a set of mounts that might work with only a few modifications. -Oliver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewievette Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 What do you mean? Parts interchangability between your '79 and the '70-'78 Z cars? What's a "box"? I'm pretty sure he's talking about the steering boxes, the zx's power steering wont fit. There were zx's made without power steering so if you can find one of those , just swap all the parts over, but if you run into fit problems with that your going to have to get inventive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest e55amg Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Yes, the steering box. It's going to be a real problem unless I can find something much smaller. The logical move would be a non-power box from a ZX. I was just wondering what the interchangability was with older cars. I didn't have the transmission mounted, but it didn't look like I could offset the engine 1.5" and clear the tunnel... even if I didn't have the clearance problems with the steering. It looks like it'll have to be offset though. I won't be able to mount the engine far enough forward to get the downpipe to clear without altering the oil pan. Did you notch the pan for the 240 install? I have pics, but I need to post them somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 The ZX's firewall is about 3 inches closer to the crossmember than the Z's. The later ZX's (82-83 I think) had a power rack and pinion instead of a box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest e55amg Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 The ZX's firewall is about 3 inches closer to the crossmember than the Z's. Thanks. That explains part of my problem. The later ZX's (82-83 I think) had a power rack and pinion instead of a box. Know where I can find a picture of this to see if it's worth converting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest e55amg Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Can you see these? http://m43082.tripod.com/280ZX/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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