grumpyvette Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 this thread almost makes me want to find an exceptionally clean Z32 and build something vaugely similar, I might, have, if I didn,t have three c4 corvettes to work on constantly that keep me broke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 lol. 3 c4s. all modded im guessing. honesty i gotta say anyone that wants to do this swap... its not that hard as long as you know boths sides of the story. you gotta know the z, and you gotta know the v8 you are putting in. its more time consuming than anything and mine only took this summer to do. i mean i still have to do a few things, but for the most part its done. Im building a 383 stroker for it pry go efi with gm ram jet intake. i dont know why i just love those things. still gotta do the body work. and a little wiring here and there. As for the room up front. if you look close in a pic you can see a blue bungee holding the radiator back i havent made mounts cuz i gotta get a bigger rad. still gotta figure things out with that. so thats just a tem up there now. but progress will pry be slower from now on cuz in 4 months i will offically be a Dad. but to anyone who wants to do this swap i gotta say its well worth it. The Vg is an amazing motor. 2nd in my mind only to the rb26. but the truth is its 18 years old. and to keep that guy goin you need to replace all the rubber and plastic on that engine. i did that twice on my vg. and its always a bear to work on. there is ZERO room for american hands. so the v8 is a few inches longer, but they are about the same witdth once you got manifolds or headers on the v8. but the engine bay isnt packed level full like with the vg so you can actually get your hands in there. also engine removal is WAAAAAAAY easier with the v8 i bet i had it in and out 25 times when mocking things up and checkin things out. well just got off work and im gonna head to bed. thanks for all the support guys. if you have any questions i'll be happy to answer them if i can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Firion, thanks for re-posting all the pics! I'm glad you can keep the car. Keep the updates coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 OK so im stuck. im in the middle of trying to tune my tachs trim pot so it will work with my v8. However im not a wiring person at all. All a tach needs is a 2 wires right? a ground and a signal wire from the distributor. i hooked em up and i got nothing. any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest exile90z Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Firion do you have any pics of the motor mount brackets you used or made? im fixing to do a ls1 swap on a 90 model 300zx i bought last summer as a drag toy mainly just took the drivetrain out yesterday BTW nice swap thanks Wes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 I dont have any pics of mine. You do know that the ls1 mounts are different right? but i do know where some pics are of another swaps similar to mine... http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u17/DanShields_2007/ Dan Shields, i dont know him but he put an lt1 one in and he has a few helpful pics. hope it helps. let me know when you get it done. i hope to have an ls1 in mine someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest exile90z Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 thanks for the link i was just trying to get an idea for making them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 I know how that goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73DatsunZ Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 The swap looks awesome. And the Z looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmann69 Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 cool project, did you have to message the firewall any? also i would love to have some pics. of the engine mounts. i'm going to be doing thew same thing, except i'm not using the stock tranny. i've got a few questions about the electronics i would love to ask you if don't mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 Go ahead ask away. Yep i did have to massage the firewall back alittle by the distributor, and around the tranny in a few spots cuz i skooted everything back 3 inches to have more room up front pry should have went 4 inches now that i look at everything tho. keep that in mind. so what model are you gonna do your swap on? and what tranny will you be using. i put a link up of dans mounts. i dont have any of mine. but i may be redoing some things this summer so maybe then. Update- So the v8 has been running a little hot for my taste, and im crammed for space for a radiator and cant seem to find a bigger one with dumps coming out on the right sides, or one thats the right height, so instead i stole a radiator outta an old like 70s honda civic get this it was a 1.3 liter carbed lol. anyway. took the radiator outta it and stuck it up fron between the headights where the air intake box used to be. fits perfect. i just linked it to my exsisting radiator. i haven't had it out yet to see how it cools but the honda one has it own fan and everything so im hoping it will give it the extra coolness it needs. i'll have pics up tomarrow. Night everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 Here is some pics of the new radiator setup. I mounted the civic radiator on an angle as TOP FUEL of japan always seems to do with their intercoolers and rads. its suposed to catch more air that way. i Just looped them together one right after another. hopefully it will do the job. i will pry attempt to tune my tach again tomarrow and the engine will heat up during that process so i will have to see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 Did some house cleaning today. I havent cleaned the engine bay since i put it together. Im waiting on a NA tach so i can tune it to work with the v8. The TT tach wouldnt do a thing, so i scrapped it. I dont think the trim pot on the TT Has a wide enough range. So after i get the NA tach in and tune it the car will FINALLY be on the road. I have a feeling this summer is gonna be alot of fun. NEXT FALL-BODY WORK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Got it all together yesterday. All the gauges work and are tuned, flushed the cooling system and it now works great. it'll be on the road as soon as i have money to licsense it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion_13 Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 UPDATE!!! Well the past few months i have been doing very little work on my Z. my son was born may 20th, so i have been busy with him. The z runs, but only for 6-7 mins at a time. ITS STILL overheating. so.... im goin to try something else. since i want mine as a daily drive with an AC, i removed the AC coil and am going to look for a smaller one and have custom lines made for it. i tested just having the rad in without it and it ran just fine! the ac is blocking all the airflow. so im hoping to get a smaller one and sit it up front further ahead where i put the second rad. which has been removed. i did that as sort of a rad. booster to see if it would help cool and it didnt. so if i get a smaller ac coil, i then could make an air dam scoop on the bottom of the car to grab more air from underneither to feed my radiatior. Also i have been testing and retesting my 4 wheel steering. sometimes it feels like its working and other times it does not. hmphhh... im thinking about getting rid of it and getting a stillen hicas elimanator kit. i just need to get this thing to cool. i have started gathering a few parts to build a 383 stroker for it, so i just gotta get this whole cooling problem fix. so if anyone has any sugestions im all for em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dts300z Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Firion 13, I ran into the same problems with the cooling as you did and let me tell you it was quite interesting... That was one of the reasons I cut into the firewall and the trans tunnel this time so I could set the engine back far enough to put a good set of fans on the radiator. Here is a picture I ended up using the stock NA radiator with a set of slimline pullers. As you know there is not much room upfront for the radiator placement, you might need to contact becool or someone that could build you a custom thick cored radiator or try putting a good set of fans on it and pushing the radiator forward far enough to compensate for the fan thickness... Best of luck man the swap is looking great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEMINITWIN111 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 i had to move my motor back but i just hit the firewall in a little.with the larger radiator 2 electric fans in front and the 4 corner cooling ,it runs about 190. wich isnt bad for hear in tx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete84 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Would using a LSx motor help out with space much, not having a distributor and all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion__13 Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Update. the nissan tranny died on me. so i am in the process of putting in a th400. actually its in im reworking my exhaust and i bought some headers i need to chop up a little to fit, but it'll be better once im don't i don have the internet at the moment, but i'll get pics up as soon as possible. i also got a new custom radiator in, it really helps alot. anyone had any luck with tuning speedo gauges or have any idea what i need to get them to work with the th400 tranny? BTW if you do this swap, the stock tt auto drive shaft will fit tightly over the stock th400 driveshaft. so you can drill some holes in the z's and spot weld them together. i'll get some pics up soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firion__13 Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 ok this is what i got thats the newly painted motor, and working on rerouting plumbing and what not. i really need to just take the time and remove the motor and gut all the wiring i dont need from the bay. the new rad and the fans and clearance. the th400 and modified nissan mounts. The driveshafts mated and like i said you can see that the gm shaft drove inside rather nicely. then drilled and spot welded some stops to hold it instead welding all the way around so it wouldn't distort so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.