SoCalJack Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Hey guys! I want to preface this build thread by saying that this is my first car build. Im pretty much done with building my supermoto, and this is my new project. I dont have too much experience working on cars other than maintenance (theyre a bit more complicated than single cylinder carburated motorcycle). So if it looks like Im doing something really weird or wrong, TELL ME! I love comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Im sure you guys know a lot more about this stuff than I do. Well, it all began earlier this year, Jan 2009. When i bought myself an 81 280ZX. It ran for 100 miles and now it doesnt. It was weird. It ran pretty well, but then one day I went to start it and it was shaking really bad and smoking like crazy and the brakes didnt work. I didnt know what was going on. I had a few of my mechanic buddys look at it, and we came to the conclusion that it needed a massive overhaul. So I called around about having someone rebuild the motor, and I was look up prices for parts. I asked around for ideas and most said get an L28ET. But I think that dealing with an EFI and a turbo would be way over my capacity. So I decided that after the money and time I put into rebuilding this motor I could have a simpler engine with more horsepower. An sbc 350 with a T5. Perfect. Chevy small blocks are super cheap, easy to work and has easy HP gains while maintaining reliability. So while she's been sitting in the garage out of commission, Ive been gutting the interior and repairing rusty floor pans Yesterday, 03/29/09, a friend of mine came over with an engine hoist and we took on the task of removing the engine and transmission. Oh man. We are both motorcyclists, but atleast hes a certified MMI mechanic. Neither of us had pulled a car engine before. But it actually went really well. No catastrophic failures or explosions Pulling some misc stuff off My friend Jake trying to attach the cherry picker WOOT! You can see me peeking around the corner Thats me, pretending I am not super nervous that the engine is so high off the ground The result So this is where I am at now. I dont have as much time to work on it as I would like. Between a 45 hour work week and being full time college student, I barely have time to sleep. But every chance I get to work on the car I am all over it. I love working on it. And while I am at school, I lurk around on this site all day trying to get any kind of information I can. I am selling the motor, tranny and EFI stuff. I would like to sell it as a whole, but if it doesnt sell an a few weeks I will part it out Any comments or suggestions would be awesome. Hopefully, I will update this every week or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalJack Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share Posted April 2, 2009 For the past few days Ive been trying to chisel out the black insulation/sound deadener. Its a pain in the ass. The best method Ive come up (with the tools available) with is soak it with goo gone and use a hammer and chisel. I can see where its bubbling up in certain spots. I want to take all of it off just to make sure. Game plan: take off all of the sound deadener. Fix rust. Paint and re install freshly painted interior panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalJack Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Thank you to guys that recommended dry ice. It worked like a champ. With a chisel and some goo gone I was getting pieces up about the size of a quarter. It took me about an hour to get out a 1sqft piece. After a couple of guys suggested dry ice, I thought I would try it. I did the whole trunk with about a pound and a half in about 20 minutes. Worked awesome. Thank you to all that suggested it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalJack Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 I got the car back from the welders shop the other day! I am super exited. The guy that did the work was awesome! Gave me a super good price on everything and even did some free stuff for me. Very nice. I got: New floor pans, frame rails, a new battery box in the trunk, and he fixed the inner fender where the old battery used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalJack Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Yep this is what I look like when I drive....I cant help it, I learned to drive on the SoCal speedways I didnt know that there was a Z stamped into the cross member. Very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalJack Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxtoy Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 Great pics! Thanks for posting them. It looks like you are having great fun with the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ericshere03 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hey What The *** happened? Just Kidding, any updates on the project? I too am contemplating a V8 swap, I had a vette for a while and loved the torque, the sound and it got ~30mpg... Buddy built a 383 for his rat rod and the power and sound is addicting... BTW: Is that a DR400\650 or a DRZ? I have been tossing up the idea of getting either a XR650R (make legal) or a DR650. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugged04270 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 How much did the swap cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger280zx Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 How much did the swap cost? She hasn't posted in over three years, and besides the cost of V8 swaps is more than well documented on this site and others. Do some research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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