Best daily use engine...

[Markp.com]

Theres all this talk of best engines for racing... for eatting petrol like its going out of fashion, turbo charged this and that...

But what about putting a nice modern clean engine in a Z?

Having a couple of Hondas, their engines are a dream... may not be the best for raw power, but the top range VTech models have one hell of a kick...

Would you be able to stick a Honda Engine in a Z? Should give fairly decent MPG, with reliability, cheap replacement parts as well as a little power when needed...

Whaddaya think?

 

[zedhead260]

The problem may be finding a suitable gearbox, most Honda's are front wheel drive these days.

However, with enough money / time / patience; anything is possible.

 

[Black Bug]

Most Hondas spin the wrong way though so you'd have to use gearbox and diff from the donor otherwise you'd have 5 very rapid reverse gears. S2000 engine does spin the right way though which helps. However most are 4 pots - ugh!!!

You could maybe go Nissan SR20 turbo from an S14 200SX if you were so inclined, can't think of any reliability issues there. Or a NA V6 from a 300ZX for a few more ccs and still no real reliability issues.

There's so many modern engines that you could stick in but you've then got to deal with their ecus and wiring which is a major pain.

Or maybe a nice L6 that's been carefully tuned, nice and simple

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Mr.G]

or maybe a nice LD28, very economical and easy to fit . There is a turbo'd one in the Netherlands making very respectable figures and still returns excellent mpg.

 

[zedhead260]

S2000, there had to be one.

Bet they go for some dough.

 

[Black Bug]

S2000, there had to be one.

Bet they go for some dough.

Saw one on Ebay yesterday, apparently includes gearbox as well plus all other bits, currently just over a grand. Better suited to a Se7en style kit I'd say, would be killer in one of those.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[zeeman1972]

I considered putting the SR20 out of my crashed S14 into one of my Zs. My missus didn't seem too keen for me to buy it back off of the insurance company as I had put myself in hospital with it!



I learnt a very useful lesson of rear wheel drive, overtaking, damp poor road surfaces, turbo bands, lead feet and snatchy lsd's not mixing with trees!



The Nissan S14 never achieved much more than 29mpg all the time I owned it, the S2000 is lucky to get 28mpg if you 'drive it' also I my experience of driving them they have to be kept permanent 'singing' to be truly rapid.

The LS1 'should' be capable of high 20's mpg in a Z.

 

[zedhead260]

I learnt a very useful lesson of rear wheel drive, overtaking, damp poor road surfaces, turbo bands, lead feet and snatchy lsd's not mixing with trees!

LOL .....sorry, I'm laughing at the way you put it, not the fact you ended up in hospital.

 

[Russ]

LOL me laughing too.

Your S14 was probably a lot heavier than the Z though. I'd vote with staying Nissan, maybe you could do an LPG conversion??

 

[zeeman1972]

Hey you’re telling me, you got to laugh at things like that! I'll stick one of the photos of the car up in my gallery temporarily. Before you see it I must say that I did apparently get out of the car by myself (I still can't remember anything about the crash, I really did wake up in hospital) I walked away with no broken bones but I did have a bloody big hole in my arm, oh and one hell of a lot of cuts due to the glass coming in BEFORE the airbag went off.



It was a very good engine, mine had 97K on it, still on its first turbo, bullet reliable too! I think it would have made an excellent conversion!



I still miss the old girl!

 

[Markp.com]

Have you recovered enough to post a few photos then?

 

[zeeman1972]

Sorry, I did post them up but as this is a Z forum I though leaving pictures of an SX up, even a destroyed one, may insult


Anyway here one is again for your veiwing pleasure!

 

[mikecart]

Just a thought here - someone may already have talked about this, but since I am not fluent in engine numbers I'm not sure ....

Has anyone anywhere in the world done an early Z hybrid with a 350Z engine in it - or is that not possible ...?

Mike

 

[Markp.com]

I nearly bought a 200sx, but went with the 323f

Should have gotten the 200 I think

Cool pick! Amazing you survived! What hit you?

 

[zeeman1972]

Should have gotten the 200 I think

Truly great car in my opinion, I did 40K miles in mine before err... it happened! Never missed a beat, comfortable, damn quick in real time driving! Interior space for anything but you and a passenger is limited though, however the backseat does fold down to give a little extra space for long items from the puny boot!

Cool pick! Amazing you survived! What hit you?

Errr... more like what did I hit? It was a tree, not a very big one just big enough not to move when a car hits it at about 60mph!

Beleive me, I'm amazed I survived let alone anyone else, everytime I see the pictures of that car and/or drive past the crash scene (which I do 6 or so time a week) it just make me realise how close i came to not being here! To walk away, literally, with no broken bones, a hole in my arm where i hit the tree with it and some glass damage is more than a bloody miracle. I still maintain that the car saved my life by absorbing the impact so well!

 

[Markp.com]

The impact looks to be on the side... how did you manage to hit a tree with the side of your car?! Lose it on a corner?

Cool crash though!

Its on the list of things to do before you're 30 isn't it? Have a serious crash and walk away from it...

Hows the hole in your arm? Healing well I hope! Thanks for sharing!

 

[zeeman1972]

The impact looks to be on the side... how did you manage to hit a tree with the side of your car?! Lose it on a corner?

No it wasn't a corner, actually it was a dead straight peice of road

According to the witness statements, as I still remember nought much about any of it, and my latter inspection of the scene, when I got out of hospital! I overtook a car in front of me, put the power down and as with all turbo cars endured a slight lag before turbo came on song, when it did so a lack of traction with the slightly wet and bloody slippery road surface, twitched the back end out, caught a little roadside dirt, the lsd biased all the power to the other wheel on that nice slippery road, powering the car into the roadside shrubbery at 45 degrees to the road but still moving forward, a trajectory that ended with a tree 30 feet or so away, catching the car on the front of the drivers door, however ,due to the forward motion, the car continued onward with the tree getting deeper into the car (hard to see in the picture!) until it hit the rear tyre/axle some 18" into the car. Axle didn't move and due to the momentum spun the car airborne off the tree some 8 feet away putting it down facing the opposite direction!

Its on the list of things to do before you're 30 isn't it? Have a serious crash and walk away from it...

If it is I accomplished it with only a few months to spare then! I think i'd have preferred to miss that one off of the list altogether!

How’s the hole in your arm? Healing well I hope! Thanks for sharing!

Yeah none to bad, took me 3 months to get full use of it back, only have the scars to remind me now 3 years on!

 

[Markp.com]

Pah... wounds heal and chicks dig scars!

Great story!