iBang Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I'm finally moving ahead with my Z build. I have my RB on a stand and I'm starting to think more about the fab work I'm going to do to mount it into the engine bay. I've recently made a contact with a water-jetting shop who has done some work for one of my other hobbies. I started thinking about it and it wouldn't be too difficult for me to design all of the steel pieces that I would need to make a set of mounts out of ahead of time and have them all jetted out so that they are nice, pretty, and ready to weld together. Now since to do this I'm going to have to do all the cad work for it anyway it stands to reason that there's no reason to stop at just making one set of these. If I do make these mounts they will be kits consisting of the polyurethane pucks, hardware, directions and pieces of steel ready to weld together yourself. I trust my welding to hold my own stuff together but I don't want the liability of welding motor mounts for anyone else. While I am still in the thinking about it stage and have not yet done any cad work or had any quotes made on getting the pieces done, I hope to come in well under what any of the mainstream mount sets will cost. If I can get something like this made, will there be any interest in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAG58 Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 McKinney Motorsports makes a front mount and rear mount. Now that the OEM 200ZR pan/pickup are NLA though, there is much to be made if you can offer a solid oil pan solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amorfin Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 As far as mounts go, in my opinion there is some interest around. I hear about new RB Z projects often. Specially if they are reasonably priced, there will be interest. The only issue I can think of with your idea is that the typical buyer would be one with no welding skills. Most people who can weld pretty good and have the equipment will just make their own mounts and place the engine exactly how they want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 i agree with mag, mckinney is working with a pro oil pan manufacturer developing an oil pan for rear sumps. sounds like it will be semi reasonably priced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBang Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 McKinney Motorsports makes a front mount and rear mount. Now that the OEM 200ZR pan/pickup are NLA though, there is much to be made if you can offer a solid oil pan solution. I'm aware of the McKinney parts - I used their 240SX kit for the original home of my RB25. I was more interested to see if there would me a market for something significantly less expensive that the user would assemble. I know that is a limited market but there seems that most Z enthusiasts also do their own mig welding, at least most of the serious enthusiasts. I suppose I could design a rear sump RB25 pan - it wasn't on my list of things to do since I have the NLA pan already and this was more of a "if I'm already doing it, maybe it'll help someone else out" sort of thing, but I'll take a look at what it would take to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_rant Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 I'm interested. . PM me if you want to discuss via e-mail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBang Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share Posted January 6, 2010 Before I discuss anything let me get a prototype built and installed, I just wanted to see if anyone else was interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_rant Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 sounds good. . I'm in no huge rush, my plan is to do a swap next fall/winter anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linluv84 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 How about a clone of the NLA pan and pickup in the $400 and below price range? Obviously not stamped steel, but there is really only one option for a pan in that price range right now. Perhaps a steel or aluminum flange to help build the custom pans even... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sileightygx Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 im sure there would be interest for people to save some money on getting custom mounts. i agree though that the most wanted option would be the oil pan, however that isn't really part of your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBang Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 Sounds like the pan is the really desirable item. How about I ask a different question then: If I were to design a sheet steel or aluminum rear sump RB pan, how much would you pay for one? I have the resources to get pans made, I just need to see if they will bring enough money in to make it worth my while to make them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat1 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Sounds like the pan is the really desirable item. How about I ask a different question then: If I were to design a sheet steel or aluminum rear sump RB pan, how much would you pay for one? I have the resources to get pans made, I just need to see if they will bring enough money in to make it worth my while to make them. I thought the pan was desirable item so I thought I could make a little money on the side and I could help out some people on this forum.I remember getting my rb swap together and trying to find a pan was the biggest pita so I built my own. I have all the welding equipment(tig,mig and plazma cutter and etc) I know if it was a major pita for me I'm sure it is a pain for other people. See my post. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=155153 I went out and bought enough sheet metal and all the welding supplies to do several pans. So far I have built 1 pan which came out great. But I have not sold anymore. I have had tons of pm's asking about the price and etc. My prices are 400.00 for the rwd block and 500.00 for the awd block. Maybe my prices are to high but it takes 10-12 hours to make one. And I alot of materials in the pan. I guess if you can make them for less than that you could sell alot but so far It has not been worth it. I would like to build more because I really like doing this kind of metal fab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linluv84 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Those are AWESOME prices considering the work and talent you put into them. If my current geographical situation wasnt keeping me from taking a pan and pickup to the post office, you would already have a package and paypal on the way. My thoughts were just a way to make pans completely from scratch and the possibility of doing aluminum pans. I still have hopes of getting a 200zr pan from somebody upgrading to the McKinney pan, but I have a feeling that people will continue to ask serious $$$ for used setups as long as other options are limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBang Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 There seems to be some interest so I'll at least look into what it would take to get pans made. If its worth doing I'll start a thread about it. I'll also still be doing the motor mounts since I need them so look for more on that here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linluv84 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Something along these lines, but for an RB, would be perfect: http://www.arizonazcar.com/pan.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Something along these lines, but for an RB, would be perfect: http://www.arizonazcar.com/pan.html survey says.....ding ding ding... number 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBang Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 That's a beautiful piece of work but I don't have the contacts to get something that fancy made. I can get a sheet metal pan made and welded together but I don't have any casting contacts and even so I suspect that the initial development investment would be so substantial that it would offset anything I could ever make for just swapped cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterzed Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 If you're on a fairly tight budget for this then you could try something like Wax did on his RB30Dett build and get a nissan patrol sump and do a mild modification like he did. I'm sure you could get some of these over to the states for not too much and they are cheap cheap cheap here in OZ. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=154593 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAG58 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I'm going to guess that if you could provide a literal swap kit, one that provides a pan/pickup front mounts and trans mount for a reasonable price, there would be a fairly decent market for it, ESPECIALLY in parts of the world where the RB is native (and affordable)... NZ/OZ comes to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I've already picked up a few bits to have a go at making a rear pan casting, One benefit of living coastal, just look at the number of shops in the trades section of the phone book offering ali casting! lots of that on boat fittings and niknaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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