Guest Roscoe Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 First of all HI, i am new to the site. I am in Richmond VA, I used ot have an 84 300zx turbo.(known as Ghetto Z) the car is long gone.. the engine however isint! origionaly i was going to rework this engine and drop it in my miata. that kinda got totaled (oops) so then I came across a great chevette (great = free) Its got alotta surface rust but no rot out so dont let the pics ill post later scare you to much. A little background info for the haters that wont see the point in this. Altho the US market saw chevettes as econo shitboxes in the rest of the world they came factory with potent powertrains and were exteremely sucessful in several forms of racing. They are light as hel (2000 pounds soaking wet) and are rear wheel drive. Its a unibody car but is exteremely stiff. Stock they even sport 49/51 front to rear weight! People have dropped small block v8's into chevettes in the past but i think i can get more power with less weight if i use the vg allready sitting in the shed. Due to space i cant use the stock turbo manifolds. I plan to go for alot more power down the road so i a going to do a twin turbo setup. i wont explain that in detail here but basicly i will have to 48 - 60 t3's mounted up front where the battery was on one side and the charcoal canister on the other. i have a pair of smallish intercoolers ill use along with that. For the trans i will grab one from a truck or from a later turbo z31 (manual) my z was an auto so i tossed that garbage with the car. the rear is will be from a late model s10 extereme, they had a 10 bolt rear with 8.5: ring gear. this rear is about 1/2" wider then the stock chevette one! obviously the driveshaft will have to be custom. I havent goten to far on this project so far. i have the car up on stands, the old engine out and gone, the z engine stripped down and ready fro a fresh timing set, water pump, all external seals & gaskets. I will drop the engine in the car this week for a test fit. as far as i can tell from my measurements i can use the 300zx mount brackets and rubber mounts on the chevette mounting pads with only new holes drilled! I have removed the driver side mount and moved it back to the 2nd set of holes on that side of the motor. If anyone is interested in following the project in detail i have a thread i will update daily Here: http://forums.automotivelifestyle.com/viewtopic.php?t=92 If anyone got any sugestions i am open to ideas I am shooting for around 400 hp at the wheels with as little work on the motor itself as i can get away with. I will be using megasquirt II to handle engine management so there are no worries there wahtsoever. Main issue up in the air right now is injectors. I havent pulled the stockers out and measured anything yet but i would like to think i can use some standard common bosch style top feeds with extensions braized onto the stock fuel rails that will fit the upper O rings & adding some clamps to hold the rails in place. Any ideas here would be greatly appriciated!!!! Here are some random pics related (or not) to the project. This is the car that lost its engine to the project, The former "GhettoZ" This is the Engine. And ofcourse here is the car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Sounds and looks to be a cool hybrid project. You shouldn't run across to many haters on this site. We try to be above those petty ways here..... just keep the pics rollin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Good to hear! I will definately keep you guys updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Can't say I would have picked the combo myself but, more power to ya. Show us some pics once you get it into the car. Just thought about it... That'll make one hell of a sleeper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 That'll be awesome... super sleeper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 thats actually really really cool. I cant say thats my favorite chassis, but the swap sounds really fun. I would leave it all rusty and spend all my time and money on the drivetrain, I would also find some super wide steel wheels like that ones that are on there to really give it that total POS sleeper look. man that looks like fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 i will definately focus on speed before even thinking about the aperance outside. i havent picked this car because i am some sorta chevette fan. in reality im not. its just a cheap, light, strong, rwd car. i plan to keep it as understated in apperance as i can but i wont leave it as janky as it is. once its moving good ill replace the busted up plastic bits, paint the thing, and come up with a wheel / tire combo that will perform well but wont say "this car does wheelstands" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 I got my hands on a pathfinder manifold for a test fit, Its perfect!!!! I needa grab a 2nd one at the junkyard and make my adapter tubes then the turbo mounting stuff will be ready. Woohoo! These two are of the passanger side pathfinder manifold mounted upside down on the passanger side of the engine. The next two are of the same passanger side pathfinder manifold mounted on the drivers side of the engine As you can see i now have 2 easy access exhaust outlet locations at the front of the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racinjitter Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 That is AWESOME!!! Would have never thought of your combination. Can't wait to see it mounted in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtcookson Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 That's exactly my idea for getting some turbos in a tight space. That should work out great. Good luck with everything! I'm definitley going to keep an eye on this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 a few updates... turbos i will be using has changed. i have a pair of stock wrx turbos that will meet my power requirements and the lag shouldint be that bad atall. i have been exteremly busy and havent had much time to work and didint hav e a good work space to do the work. i just got my hands on a new garage so the work area problem is solved now its just up to me to make the time! once i get my engine over there this weekend i will do a test fit and shoot some pics. i will also cut and mock up the extension pipes to mount the turbos to the pathfinder manifolds as well as the down pipes so i can have a buddy weld those up for me. i found a lead on a cheap NA z32 trans so i think it will be making its new home under my chevette. I hope to have this at the verry minimum driving this this winter even if on the stock chevette rear end for a short (verry short) while. I am still trying to come up with a budget injector solution but so far it looks like ill be having to do some machine work and swap to "standard" bosch style topfeeds. any input on performance injector swaps for the vg30et (84) that arerent uberbucks to get done would be greatly appriciated! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racinjitter Posted November 24, 2006 Share Posted November 24, 2006 For injectors you could go RX7, or mercedes. You can use rx7 injectors, they are o ring but with a clamp they will be fine. http://www.redz31.com/pages/fuel/fuel.injectors.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismopu Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 my friend has a two door CS model chevette just rotting away behind his barn and its even got good paint! the cars are actually really fun to drive and theres even some aftermarket for em. I cant wait till my friend does something with his old c-vette! I also made some adapters for those manifolds if you wanna see them so that both outlets point up. Basically just swapping the drivers side mani to the passenger side of the engine and vice versa. peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 thanks for the info. def good stuff! i will try and see if i can find some of those! Do you have any pics of the adapters you made? id love to see em. i was just going to hack up some mandrel U's and weld flanges on em to bring the outlets straight and to the mounting location of the turbos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Some-Guy Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Strange this thread is on here I just started researching chevette motor swaps in the last 2 days and this popped up. Any further progress on the car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Not much i havent had any time, ive been working on the engine itself this winter. i have test fitted it in the car and the motor mounts line up perfectly. its ignorant! only issue i see right now is shifter position. i have a trans from a n/a z32 and the shifter is positioned quite far back from where id like it to be. there are however a bunch of motorswaps you can do to a chevette, all sorts of stuff fits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Some-Guy Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Iam thinking Ill swap a 350 In one. Hunting for a car and 350 or bigger as we speak. There is actualy an 83 vette' about an hour from here with a 350 and turbo 350 tranny in it already for 500$ might just pick that up for the motor tranny if there in good shape! we'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayZee Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Check out the alighnment of those exhaust flanges. I don't recall the exact details but I know from when we made custom manifolds for a Vg30 that there was something really fishy about the flange design. Depending on what direction they are bolted on, upside down/flipped engine sides.. They will bolt on, but the ports may be out by quite a bit. Not trying to rain on your parade, just suggesting that you look into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roscoe Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Ill definately take a closer look at the flanges, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismopu Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 If you flip the manifolds you need to have adapters made for the drivers side of the engine. I made a set and i can post up the measurements when I get home. The ports line up[ just fine its just the location of the studs themselves. Also, far as your tranny goes you might look into a 2wd v6 nissan pickup. Theyre hard to find but man is the tranny worth its weight in gold because theyre slightly shorter than the other fs5r30a's. Plus you wont have that silly shift rod Z32 style, instead a conventional shifter will be in place. Any 88 and above 2wd nissan v6 pickup will have the shorter fs5r30a transmission. peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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