Engine Conversion kits … ?

Wyn

Club Member
The engine seems a good starting point for a Hybrid Z lol

So to make me a hybrid Z, are conversion kits actually available to buy off the shelf?

For instance, say for fitting a rover V8, can a complete kit or parts be bought off the shelf in the uk? i.e sump, mounts, manifolds etc etc If so where from?

And as for fitting it all, is there an easy conversion out there? Again say the rover V8, are they know to be easier to fit then a yank V8? No offence to yank V8's either ;)


Links would be good to know fitment guides :)
 

zeeman1972

Well-Known Forum User
Kits?

There certainly are a number of V8 installation kits about, but I'm only personally familiar with those that install cast iron or aluminium small block chevys. I'm sure there must be something available for the Rover V8, I would of thought Mike F or Luke Borg would be the best port of call on this, as I'm sure between them they have overseen a fair few in the past. Being that the Rover is a 'predominantly' english engine and shall we say, as has been demonstrated on this site, that V8's in Z's are not exactly everyone’s cup of tea :D , ‘engineering’ of such swaps would IMHO not have come as far as it has on putting chevy or even ford V8's in Z's.



The best kit for a cast iron small block IMHO is that sold by Mike Knell i.e. Jags That Run (www.jtrpublishing.com) and the manual that JTR sell for performing this conversion (which also lists constructional diagrams for all required parts if you wish to make them, rather than by them from JTR) is the V8 conversion Bible no matter which Chevy engine you install. The JTR Manual is available from the Z club shop, a very reasonable £20 I believe.



If you want fuel injected engines you could use a late 80's early nineties Tuned Port Injection engine (TPI) or a late nineties LT1 engine which the infamous Darius 240Z uses as a base, heavily reworking it to achieve 700bhp. Both of these engines are basically the same block as above so would mount in a similar way, however you then have to wire in the ECU, fuel pumps, etc up, but again JTR sell a manual about that too!



If you want to move into the 21st century and have a lighter (80lbs lighter than the cast iron) aluminium engine you could install a LS1 engine, my engine of choice. Again JTR do have a kit available, but there are, I believe, intending to use truck LS1's not F body (Firebird/Camaro) car engine ones. For this engine I personally went for the John's Cars (JCI) (www.brokenkitty.com) mounting kit and IMHO it is extremely well made and well thought out.



One word of warning though, all of these kits are assuming LHD not RHD and that is where the problems begin. In the case of the JCI mounts it does not look like the steering shaft will hit, but other items like the clutch and heater hoses may do? Also it is unlikely that any of the off the shelf headers will work as they will most probably foul the steering shaft.

Of course once this conversion has been done once, the problems and there possible solutions would be known.





Other great links



www.hybridz.org

www.alteredz.com

www.240z.jeromio.com
 

qunvat

Well-Known Forum User
WOW...some of these cars are AMAZING...they seem much more into it over there dont they!.......AND they dont seem to be as pricey as over here?...

A 240/60 hybrid is most def. the car for me..(when i sell mine and then win the lottery later tonight.)
Si
 

ZHead

Well-Known Forum User
You're right Si, some of these cars are works of top flight engineering excellence, far from the cobbled together, butchered impression that seems to be prevalent.

If you look through HyridZ for example you will find SR20DET, other skyline type motors, RX7 motors, Fords , Buicks, Chevy, BMW etc etc.

The only "off the shelf" kits I know of are those mentioned by Zeeman1972, however, the culture on the US sites may be a bit motherhood and apple pie at times but they will ALL share information on how they did their conversions, what was easy, what was hard etc so generally a "help" culture.

There have been a couple of interesting threads about diesel motors - not my cup of tea but the new 3.0BMW diesel (called 535d) has twin turbos, 270BHP and aircraft hangers full of torque. Would be a VERY VERY fast and powerful car indeed.
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
RB will fit with mounts from a Z31 200ZR which was a Japanese only model. You will also need the sump and pickup as the rb in skylines is normally front sumped so it will not clear the 240/260 x-member. The mounts position the engine a little high though so the intake plenum from the RB25 will hit the bonnet so you have to use an aftermarket intake. RB26 will fit ok but then that needs a custom oil pickup and the 200ZR sump needs to be modified to fit the RB26. It’s better to buy the billet mounts available on hybridz by one of its members which mount the engine much lower and further back. There is no easy option on the transmission mount if you use a RB25 gearbox you will need to remove the transmission mount ears as the box will foul them and you will have to make a custom mount for the box further back in the transmission tunnel. Not an easy transplant but not overly difficult for anyone up for a challenge.
 

ZHead

Well-Known Forum User
There is a guy on Hybrid Z who has installed the whole 4 wheel drive system from a Skyline - VintagetechZ - if you need any info I am sure he would help, he is a cool guy.


The RB swap does not sound any more complex than the Chevy, again, you cut off the gearbox mounts, use bolt in engine mounts then reweld gearbox mounts to suit the new combo.
 

Wyn

Club Member
Appreciate the info Steve etc
clap.gif


There’s deffo a fair bit of info on those sites, most of which is way over my head, esp as I don’t know the slightest about yank stuff lol, only jokin but I deffo need to learn what it is that yanks mean be a 350cu instead of just saying 8 litre lol
doh.gif


I did ask MrF a while back and it does look like he knows a thing or 2 about the installing the good ol Rover V8.
Only used that as an example anyway as that’s about it for UK V8’s. Cant say I’ve ever seen anything with a merc or BM unit fitted apart from std.
 

zedhead260

Well-Known Forum User
ZHead said:
some of these cars are works of top flight engineering excellence, far from the cobbled together, butchered impression that seems to be prevalent.
Yes, some of them are.

Some are not.

Most of them push the boundaries of good taste IMHO. ( I liken them to what the little boys round my way are doing to Nova's, Saxo's etc)

If I did a V8, it'd look like a modded Z and not a custom car / hot rod.
 

ZHead

Well-Known Forum User
I agree Rob - I was originally looking at the whole "Big Arch American Thaaaang" but good taste prevailed and a tasteful classic looking Z will be the finished product.


Far more British and less brash :D
 

zedhead260

Well-Known Forum User
Phew, I'm so glad you said that :)

It wouldn't be fair of me to link to any particular individuals car on the Hybrid site, but one of them caught my eye which was laughable.

Have a browse through the members galleries and see if you can spot the one that looks like it was "styled" to be driven into the sea and kept there.

Sorry I'm wandering off topic again :eek:
 
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