LT1 swap into 300zx

[dts300z]

Ok her it goes… I have been back and forth with engine swaps in this car for a long time. Since 2003 or so I have done 3 swaps in this car and I have finally made a good choice with the LT1. I actually initially started with the LT1 and then took it out and sold everything off to put away money for a house. I then dropped a turbo 4cyl. In it thinking that would pacify my needs (well that did not last long). So here we are again with the new swap (back to the ole LT1).

The first time I did this swap I really did not plan anything out and pretty much just threw the setup in and wired it up… it turned out pretty shitty to say the least (but it was a lot of fun). So this time I really thought things out and just dove right into a huge project. I first started with tearing out the inside of the car and cutting some big ass holes… lol.







I got excited after cutting the hole and forgot to take some good pictures so here is the new tunnel in rough stages. I pretty much took a sheet of 16 gauge for the fire wall and cut out a nice radius and tangent legs to wrap underneath the car. Then I used a sheet of 22 gauge to create the tunnel. The 16 gauge piece on the firewall acted as a guide for putting the tunnel in and just kinda fell in place (with a little persuasion of course). Then I broke out the good ole body filler and sander and went to town.

[dts300z]

Ahhh amazing what a little bondo and paint does…









Now its time to fab up some mounts. First thing is first lets see how far back we can shove this engine and center everything up. You have to center everything up tack it in place then build your mounts. Don’t do what I originally did and wedge it in and weld it… lol. Take you time and be sure everything has clearance and nothing will interfere with the engine rocking from torque and settling in place with the new mounts. I’m not a pro just a DIYer so don’t take everything literal. So here are the engine mounts and how the engine sits.

[dts300z]

Here is the tranny mount… kinda beefy. Gotta have reinforcement.








Now you gotta figure out the wiring. Its pretty simple if you do your research. And here is the first fire up. Ohh and don’t forget everything else like exhaust, driveshaft, radiator, fans, fluids, filters, etc….

[dts300z]

And when naturally aspiration is not enough you gotta build a home made turbo kit.













And this is what happens when you don’t tune the car and just turn up the boost without adjusting the timing on a 130k engine that has overheated a few times due to a bad fan relay… lol. Blown head gasket and broken ring lands on pistons 1 and 3. I heard the detonation on the final dyno pass. I get excited when I start making power and well I’ll turn up the boost until something happens… woops.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Turbo-LT1-300ZX_158121.htm

[Camaro_94]

Congrats, and extremely clean build. Hope you get it back up and running ASAP!

- Mike

[bricez28]

wow thats some talent.

[KissMyWhtSS]

Hell of a project man.

Bring it out to the LTx Shootout.

[Camaro_94]

Hell of a project man.

Bring it out to the LTx Shootout.

+1

I'm going to try to make it out there this year, and would love to see it there. Should be an attention grabber.

- Mike

[Camaro_94]

Do you know about how much your car weighs too? Just kinda curious.

- Mike

[dts300z]

Thanks for the complements guys! I still have alot of work ahead of me once again with the continuing build that never seems to end. Actually I have rewire the entire front half of the car to ditch all the extra wiring and fuse blocks etc... for alot cleaner look under the hood. I just finished up all that wiring and I've moved on to the engine harness so hopefully I can get it going in the next few months. I'm guessing it will be up and running at the end of January.

I did not notice when the LTx shootout was but unless its after February I probably won't make it till next time.

I weighed it back in 2004 with the old LT1 swap and it came in right at 2850-2900 lbs. This time around it should be a little less since I took alot more crap out of the car.

Dan