no toughts but LOTS INFO HERE!!

www.hybridz.org

its made for stuff like that
hope it helps

 

Haven't done it yet, but it's doable. There are sites to get the conversion brackets. You will have to change out the tranie, prob drive shaft & if you really want to get it hot the rear end. One thing to remember the small block Cheve 350 is heaver than the Z engine & you will have to adapt the suspension. However, from the people I have talked to that did it you will have one hot ride. I wish you good luck and be patient.

 

I like the whole thought of american muscle under the car but what i haven't found is a transmission that is standard, all i've seen is the 700R4 transmission and from what i've heard it's only automatic. But if anyone knows better,or of any comparable transmission, let me know, it's the only thing keeping me from putting my small block from my chevy 57' into my car. For the fact that my chevy already has an engine on it's way to production.
-Chuck

 

ya i think that it is a good thing the chevy is much cheper to work on then th z moter and their is a lot thing you can do but i would put a stick over a auto it is much more fun and it takes less horespower to run then any and you can have fater car

 

i have a sbc convertion(it was totld by a kid driving whil he was drunk) it was a 85 z31. the sbc was awsum in it. i hade a 700r4 in it,some say they would go with a stik for it makes it faster not true auto is just as fast and they are more constent.now on the more fun, maby so. all i can say to you is i hade lots of fun in mine.

 

eh....to me that defeats the whole point of having a Z car. But if you want an "easy" way to go fast in a straight line, go for it. Me, I like the twisties!

 

Sorry if I offend purists here, but Believe it or not v8s are not that heavy and are smaller in one dimension than the old straight-6 in there. Its 4 long, not 6 long. Its just 2 wide... (to use very general terms here)

Also, being shorter, its easily mounted totally behind the front axle, shifting the weight backwards a bit, and on top of that, LS1/LS2/LS6/LS7 v8s are all aluminum and signifigantly lighter than the stock I-6 engine.

IIRC, a SBC is about the same as the I-6, and a SBF is a little less. Going with aluminum heads or intake manifolds, etc can ligthen it. you can also relocate the battery, get a lighter hood... Its very VERY easy to have a TAIL heavy Z car with the v8 swap.

So, with the weight being essentially the SAME, but with it all behind the front axle making it in the middle of the car, I'm sure its apparent the handling is basically the same, if not slightly better. :P

That not withstanding, you now have a engine thats cheaper to work on, very reliable, and with MUCH more potential than ANY straight 6 will ever have by virtue of its displacement. Plus, for any power out of any L6/RB26/SR20, a v8 can match it with more reliability and driveability. As in low end torque and throttle responce.

I'm sure a few ricers might be pissed off because I dared to put down the alimightly skyline engine, but whatever. Its only 2.6 liters of displacement, pushes weight front with how long it is, suffers crank vibration from how long it is, and simply doesnt have the potential of a turbocharged or supercharged v8. Oh, and v8s and parts for them are a dime a dozen here. RB26s were never sold here, and thus getting parts might be expensive and time consuming.

BTW, the reason I'm here is because I plan on swappinga v8 into a 280ZX soon

 

I'm sorry, but that's not quite correct. For it to be totally behind the front axle, the V8 would have to about 17" long and touching the firewall!

 

Damn straight I did! ITS HUGE.

For a engine of its (relatively) small displacement its external dimensions are unbeliveably gargantuine. My HTTP skills suck, so heres a link to a pic of a 302 ci pushrod engine compared to the 4.6 liter DOHC engine: [pic]

Displacement and external size are two different things. Displacement is how far the swept area of the pistion head is - the cylindrical area defined by its stroke and bore. In something like a small block chevy, its very efficient and using the most of its available size to make it. Theres also nearly 50 years worth of tricks and expertiese to make power out of them. With NA, you can go MUCH farther than a sub 3000 lb z car would need on the street - and with FI you can go so much farther.

I'd *MUCH* rather have a *MUCH* smaller pushrod engine thats well tuned, fits in there, and isnt expensive as hell, weighs less, is cheaper but still makes the power. A SBC would fit inside of that! Also, SBC's go up to 7 liters of displacement... a 427.

DOHC sure is nice, but adds size, weight, and price, and its not as effective "bang for buck" as pushrods are. If you wanna spend more money, and get less performance, go right ahead. Just good luck on shoehorning that monstrousity into a Z car, and for that matter, paying big bucks for parts. FI is the way people go on those engines because tuning it NA and changing cams requires... 4 new cams.

With Pushrods I can change lift with my rocker arms, I only need to change *ONE* cam to do anything with it, and while I dont have 4 valves per cylinder, I still get plenty of headflow and no restrictions in sight.

 

I've seen a picutre of a v8 in a Z car and the block was behind the struts. The ACCESSORIES werent, but the bock was.