L6 or 280zxt motor into a 300zx Turbo

[BRAAP]

Heres a Z32 with an L28 in it: http://www.race-cars.com/carsales/other/1062560599/1062560599ss.htm

 

I dropped an L-26 into the engine bay of my Z-32 mock up mule in jest, showing how I was going to remedy all the labor intensive maintenance of the VG30DE…

 

Didn’t realize someone actually did it! Cool!

 

 

[JSM]

... showing how I was going to remedy all the labor intensive maintenance of the VG30

 

That was my whole premiss around doing the swap. Who want's timing belts yuck! But I'm just weird that way.

[Daeron]

I've got a L28et in a M30.

 

I have to see this car...... thats been an idea of mine for QUITE some time. Send me a PM and lemme know when would be good for you, I am off on Mondays and Tuesdays and normally work afternoon/night shifts through the rest of the week, but I get short days..

[2eighTZ4me]

I dropped an L-26 into the engine bay of my Z-32 mock up mule in jest, showing how I was going to remedy all the labor intensive maintenance of the VG30DE…

 

Didn’t realize someone actually did it! Cool!

 

 

 

 

Wow Paul - that is ONE UGLY MULE!!

[CamH]

I dropped an L-26 into the engine bay of my Z-32 mock up mule in jest, showing how I was going to remedy all the labor intensive maintenance of the VG30DE…

 

Didn’t realize someone actually did it! Cool!

 

 

 

That actually looks like it wouldn't fit all that bad. How did the clearances look underneath?

[BRAAP]

That actually looks like it wouldn't fit all that bad. How did the clearances look underneath?

 

It would take quite a bit of work for it to fit. Installed as is in the photo, oil pan resting on the cross-member, the front portion of the cam cover would protrude out of the hood. The cross member is pretty far rear rearward and wide, (front to back), with the rack attached at the rear of the cross-member. Firewall would have to be cut out to clear the upper portion of the bell-housing. Basically, it looks like everything that has been to the car regarding cutting, clearancing, etc, that has been for SBC Z-32 conversions is essentially what needs to be done for the L-6 to fit.

[BRAAP]

Wow Paul - that is ONE UGLY MULE!!

 

Yes it is UGLY!!!

 

Functional for the job of V-8 mock up, YES!

Aesthetically pleasing, NO!

 

Currently has a bare SBC block in the engine bay to get an idea of what would be involved fro a quick and dirty conversion. Not liking the amount of cutting/clearancing needed to get the crank centerline to the OE elevation in the chassis and the shifter of the T-56 even remotely close to the OE location. With the SBC bell housing butted against the firewall, the T-56 shifter is still 2" forward of the OE shifter location and the crank centerline is approx 1 1/2"-2" higher than the VG30DE centerline using an OE SBC oil pan sitting ON the cross-member.

Current plans are to install my VH45DE in the Z-32 with a scratch built intake to clear the hood use the Z-32 5 speed, (cringing....)

Z-32's definitely are NOT as easy to HYBRID as the S-30!

 

 

The MULE as I received it!

 

Any how, lets get back to "L-6 in a Z-31"...

[BRAAP]

Here is the thread with photos of a Turbo 2JZ inline 6 conversion in a Z-31, complete and running, and is wicked quick!

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=133245

 

[Careless]

A buddy of mine in high school had a New, very early 84 300z. It had a L6 factory.

Only 1 I ever seen.

 

When I get home, I'll load up Nissan FAST and see if the engine mounts and oil pan exist =)

[Careless]

I swear, I'm going to shoot myself in the face for putting money into my VG after seeing this thread. sure they're quite strong but I hate even having to go under there to drain the coolant from the block.

 

*shudders*

 

If it pops, I'm going to take my rebuilt+upgraded turbo and pop it on my L28E with megasquirt and toss it into the z31.

[HowlerMonkey]

Remember that the vg30 has a crossover pipe and the stock intake manifold actually sit over part of the tranny bellhousing.

 

This means you will probably have to move the tranny back for any straight six swap.

[Careless]

I guess I might as well mention that the manifolds also leak at the head. And the flex joint in the cross over pipes always crack (look for black soot!).

 

And in addition to that, it's not easy to remove the cross over pipe from the car without removing the passenger side manifol, as there are studs that get in the way and flanges with sleeves inside. In doing that, you'll find that there are broken exhaust studs once you pull off the passenger manifold. And then you can't even put a new gasket there because it won't seat properly.

 

So then you end up like me, trying to take studs out for 2 weeks, only to find that there are 2 of them broken off on the passenger side head, and 3 of them broken on the driver side head.

 

Try fixing that with the engine in the car.

 

Here I am doing the pilot bearing job from hell, that's now turned into the "where are the bolts from this part" head-gasket job from the underworld.

[HowlerMonkey]

L28et into M30 back on track for pic posting in a week or so.

 

Made oil pick-up, dipstick, and used front dump from l24e first generation maxima as well as engine mounts from same car. Test fitted fine but am using built 3n71b and will be switching out m30 diff (w inch longer than other long snouts) for one with a more common length before solidifying driveshaft length.

That means some tranny crossmember work.

[JSM]

So HowlerMonkey how is your Z31 going?  I just picked up an 88 Turbo with TWO popped head gaskets!  I think he overheated it but he won't admit it.

 

I'm planning a cross country road trip for my 50th birthday in 3 years. Gave myself a window to get her going.

[HowlerMonkey]

I've put 55,000 miles on the Infiniti M30 since the L28ET replaced the VG30.

 

I'm just waiting for something to break or I will simply keep on driving it.

[JelmerPatrol]

The M30 has the same chassis as the Laurel C32/Skyline R31 so if you used a euro Laurel C32 with L24e subframe and engine mounts it would bolt right in. In europe we had L24e's until 1989.

[JSM]

The M30 has the same chassis as the Laurel C32/Skyline R31 so if you used a euro Laurel C32 with L24e subframe and engine mounts it would bolt right in. In europe we had L24e's until 1989.

I'm not well veresed on the Laurel C32/Skyline R31, but how does that apply to the Z31? Or are you making the reference to the M30? No worries either way. More curious then anything.

[JelmerPatrol]

I have a C32 subframe which I can measure for you. It is from a LD28 powered C32.

What dimenstions do you need?

[HowlerMonkey]

The F31 chassis is a modified R31 with the engine bay being near identical and the rear half of the car being changed the most.

 

The F31 does not have roll down rear windows and comes factory with the 280zx style rear suspension though it's possible that shock mounting points on control arms are higher or lower than on the 280zx.

 

You can adjust the toe on M30 rear suspension.

 

Even though the M30/F31/nissan leopard engine bay houses a single cam vg30 like the Z31, the dimensions of the bay are different concerning crossmember location and steering rack angle as well as steering shaft angle.

 

This means the M30 crossmember in a Z31 will have bolt holes that don't match and also means that simply drilling new/extra holes might be a bad idea since the inside of the box sections of the frame rails have reinforcement where the crossmember bolts through.

 

I would keep the Z31 crossmember, get a front sump L28 pan (1981 to 1983 maxima), and adapt the L28 for front sump pickup,

 

Of course, you will also need to very carefully drill a new hole in the block for the dipstick.

 

The M30 swap I did covers much of what is needed to do it to a Z31 except for turbo/downpipe clearance of steering shaft.

 

The most important dimension is whether the L28 turbo itself clears the steering shaft of the Z31 but you might get lucky like in my M30 and find the turbo and factory L28 elbow clear it just fine.

 

Since the L28et stock turbo has a two piece elbow, it's not hard to make a custom pipe with a 4 bolt flange that fits as well as getting rid of the two 90 degree angles used in the stock setup.

 

On my previous 1984 L24 turbo maxima, I made this custom pipe and reduced the two 90 degree angles to two 45 degree angles.

 

I guess I can try to fix up the thread posted here at some point.

 

The biggest change was needing to lower the engine relative to the mounts (the rubber is stock L24 maxima mounts).

 

I would fix the thread posted here at hybridz but ran out of patience with the forum software change a few years back.

 

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/forum/garages/datsun-nissan-garage/7380-f31-build-leopard-or-infiniti-m30-with-l28et-swap

 

It's a daily drive that does mid 14s in the quarter at 7.5psi on an untuned M30 ecu.........which runs 14.7 A/F ratio during daily driving and dips to 11.8 under boost with stock 280zx turbo injectors.

 

I'm sure that the "under boost" will get leaner the more boost I throw at it but everything's perfect at this time though I would like a more turbo friendly timing curve.

Edited January 8, 2017 by HowlerMonkey

[Dramier]

I had an '85 300ZX Turbo with an RB25DET swapped in, first in the nation as far as we could ever determine back in 2004, and I would imagine the L28 swap would be a nearly identical setup.   It was a fairly straight forward fit with the only major changes being a little bit of hammering on the transmission tunnel to get it to fit.   

 

Keep in mind there was a factory version of the car called a 200ZR in Japan that featured an RB20DET, so it's not really a far fetched concept.   

 

I no longer have my RBZ31 having stupidly traded it in 2008 due to lack of funds to keep it going and beginning a career.   However I do know there is or was a guy named Racinjitter or something close to that who was also doing the RB25 swap and he should be finished by now.   You might also refer to him and see if you can get some more background.   I have never seen or heard of anyone with a Z31 with an L28 block in their car and I would have thought at some point along the way I would have definitely heard of it considering how many people contacted me over having an RB25 in mine.   Doesn't mean there isn't one out there of course, just trying to be helpful.

 

I will tell you I got a tons of hate from Z owners over the swap I did, and I just ignored them.   Made me slightly biased against most of the Z forums from it as I got really tired of hearing the negativity after the car was finished.   I don't know if that has changed these days since I don't visit anywhere except here and Nico club now, but if you do move forward with this project just be prepared for it.   

 

One other tidbit:   I never successfully got the speedometer working with the RB with the Z31 digital gauges, but knowing what I know today about electronics having self-taught and learned a tremendous amount, I believe it wouldn't be that hard to get it to work.   Good luck with your project if you decide to do the L28 swap and I think you will enjoy it more than the VG, I know I did.