how much heavier are v8 240z's than a stock 240? What kind of weight gain/handling decrease am I looking at if I want to do a conversion?

 

There is no straight answer for this common question. Only straight answers seem to come from the purists or skeptics who are misinformed.

It depends on which swap kit and engine you use. At worse case, a SBC is going to be about 100-125lbs heavier than the L6 (which is no lighweight). If you use the recommended JTR kit, the entire engine sits behind the front wheels, lower in the chassis and offset slightly to the passenger side to account for driver weight. Look at a stock L6 in the chassis and you will see that about 1.5 cyls sit forward of the front wheels. Does not take a genius to realize that the extra weight of the V-8 is negated. Now take that V-8 setup and use aluminum intake, aluminum heads, headers, lightened flywheel, etc and you can draw your own conclusions. However, before you jump into this, understand that not all V-8s are born equal, so understand the different versions. A run-of-mill V-8 makes less power than a slightly warmed-over L28ET.

That kind of power requires suspension and brakes upgrades but a well modded L28ET had better do the same.

Scottie
GN-Z/Vette IRS
10.86 @ 124.39<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by ScottieGNZ on 09/06/02 05:17 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

see 1978 JTR 280z for sale....6500 invested $4000....much cheaper than do it yourself!!!