well i havent even seen this car for a few weeks but as i walked out of my last final today it was the only thing on my mind. in the next week or so there should be atleast a decent amount of time put into it. for those who dont know i have a 73 240z i bought from evilc.



Slowly but surely ive been piecing together a few nice parts for it. I have an 05 lq4 6.0 leter ironblock probably getting put back together soon. No need to do anything to the motor just yet. 325hp/375tq already a cam will easily get me around 380whp so that’s good enough for now. Bolting up to that is a tremic t56 6 speed along with billet flywheel and ram hd clutch. The datsun will get a roll cage when I get boost (more to come on that). My goal right now for the next year is to literaly remove the rust do the body work and just get the car to move under its own power Definitely a long term project. But ya the reason for an iron block lq4 instead of an alumin ls1 was for much more reliability when it gets boost. Right now im planing on using a turbonetics tc78. A 78 mm turbo with a .96 ar that can support over 800 rwhp on stock heads with no meth ,stock ls1 intake manifold ect. It’s a smaller than a pt88 but here is a picture to show around how big its going to be.

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

from there over the 1 day that i was home i got a little done including mostly just striping it and taking a good look at what im working with.
don't pay attention to the for sale sign, my dad was messing with me because he thinks putting 600whp+ in a 35 year old car nicknamed the rotsun is a horrible idea

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

Most of the Zeeple in this Club are pretty familiar with this car from when Clive had it. It was looking pretty solid then and he did some common-sense framework to make it withstand the rigors of his LS-1. When he let it go I think he was pushing close to 400hp and the car remained straight under all that torque. There is another member among us with a "Sacarab" type conversion which was also solid and straight.

Do you know the weight difference btwn the LS-1 and the cast iron block you want to use? These cars were pretty light in the rear end, and I'm trying to imagine putting an iron block 600hp boosted mill over the front axle and still making it move from one point to another in a hurry.

I always fantasiZed about putting a lightweight 289/302 in there, pushed way back to the firewall (front distributor) and cranking out about 300 ponies ~ but the Ford oil pan doesn't cooperate with the crossmember so I gave up. I have heard of guys who successfully split the pan to straddle the crossmember, but that gives me the willies, trying to picture how reliable oil pickup would be. I suppose the Ford sump could somehow be reversed to pickup in the rear, but if Ford had thought that was a good idea they would have offered it as an option themselves. Front Distributor, front oil pump drive, front oilpan.

My current fantasy involves a lightweight Buick Grand National V6 turbo in there, which is "adjustable" to about 900hp.

Keep this Thread open and let us know what you find in there!

Frank T

Jesse are those EVO seats? Glad to see you are getting started on the car. I am missing her already as it is driving season and I have nothing to drive. Like Frank said, the car is a great starting point and more solid then the avg car around here.

Frank, I forgot what the weight difference will be with the cast in block but it shouldn't be a problem to get the car to turn. It is mounted close enough to the firewall and lower center of gravity with the entire motor. I can't wait to see this thing with a turbo in it. When I have my car back together, it should be at 415rwhp. Another guy I met is basically going LSx turbo also and they both are starting basically at the same time with the builds.

I will be watching this thread....Jesse let me know if you need anything.

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Clive Bogle President - New York Z Car Club - NYZCC.COM
1971 240Z - LS1/T56
1974 260Z-L30
1976 Fairlady Z

Great looking base car to work from, and the plans sound awesome.


Frank. ..dry sump and accusump...done.

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Also Known As Clayton Pace

And he means "ANYTHING!" Clive has more spare partz than J.C. Whitney.

I have always been more about power to weight ratio than about anything else. If you can save 200-300lbs on the block, you don't need as many horses to push everything around with. The basic L-series 6 cylinder engines weigh roughly 600lbs, and started out with 151hp. The car ran respectably well with that combination. The car weighed around 2300 lbs, which gave us a street P-to-W ratio of roughly 15lbs per horse. That allowed us 0-60 times of about 8 sec.

The Ford A/C Cobra, for example, was the first PRODUCTION car which had a 10lb-to-every-horse ratio. That gave it 0-60 times of 6 sec, which set an industry standard for the period. The 289 Ford V8 weighs less than the Z car L-24 and can reliably put out twice the power.

Bob Sharp's early 240Z was lightened and tweaked until it had a power to weight ratio of less than 7lbs per horse. That allowed him to out-power the Corvettes and Cobras which ran in "A" Production back then. He ran "C" Production and walked all over them.

If you visualiZe the little Buick GN V-6 Turbo engine (weighing what? 450lbs?) cranking out 500-1,000 hp, sitting waaaayyy back in the frame to give good center of gravity and balance, it seems to make more sense than a cast iron 427 or 454 or 396 or 409 in the same car.

Of course, reliability and heat become issues when you make that much power from that small an engine.

It's going to be interesting to see what Jesse comes up with in this car, and how he keeps it pointed in a straight line!

*(PS Jesse ~ don't worry too much about yr Dad ~ the first time he rides in yr rocket he'll change his mind).

thanks for the interest guys keep the coments coming i love to hear your input. i hope to keep almost weekly updates so youl see it slowly transform. The motor i believe is around 100lbs heavier. not a big deal for me. believe it or not the lq4 is a decent amount stronger than an ls1 (not hating ls1 one bit) they have 6 bolt mains which is a huge plus, a crank that has proven itself over 2000 hp and stock come with 317 heads that most ls1 guys use for boost. only thing I'm not a fan of is the drive by wire but that is easy to change while working on the harness. i got the whole motor and a few add ons for that including an ls1 intake all wiring and sensors along with a fuel pump set up, starter and drive by wire pedal. the motor also will take any bit of aftermarket that the ls1 has so there are plenty of cheap reliable parts out there. as for power to weight ratio im looking to have less than 4 lb to every hp.

Clive those are evo 8 seats. I know my car isn't going to be ready for them for quite some time but i got a a great deal on eBay so i jumped on it. the pictures don't do justice to how nice they are. swade and just about canvas for the backs with more than a great shape to them.

for now my plan is to continue to strip everything down, redo some rust spots, seam weld most critical joints, undercoat everything and get it ready for the motor and rear end. i will probably be ordering the engine crossmember this weekend and hopefully getting an r230! I am still deciding on the rear set up but most likley i will be going with an s14 rear subframe. only problem is that it puts the wheels out an extra 2.5 inches on each side so when your trying to run 315 it makes things dificult.

As for my dad hes a lost cause. my last project and current daly driver is a 2700 lb 95 impreza with a full sti drivetrain hoped up to a little over 350 hp. it has a front center and rear lsd along with an 8500 rpm redline and a decent set of coilovers. i let my dad dirve it and really get through the gears on the highway, go through some twisties and try to lose traction in the rain. his only comments were "its no audi". im just glad he actually supports my car habits even though he may not like cars all that much.

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

Spent most of the weekend scraping off old undercoating. once that was done i started seam welding. Im happy with the way is coming out. every 15 minutes the weld path needs a good cleaning because liquid undercoating just starts pouring out of them. The torch takes care of that nicely. i know there may be some rust spots visible in the pictures but Im literally starting from the front back. all rust will get fixed for good. no band aids here, i just need to get to it.

\

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

Wow im honestly amazed right now. the r230 came came today (pics later) its giant. i honestly dont see how anyone could ever break on of these.

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

well after a full week of working on it. its coming along. not too much that's really that noticeable but i got a lot of the dirty work out of the way. the old rusted sub frame connectors were cut of in preparations for the new ones.still some cleaning up needed there. i cut out the spare tire well (that's where the fuel cell is going). i patched the wholes left from the emblems and fuel door. the rear differential came. i will have pics of that comparing it to the stock one when i get it out. Also the rear sub frames came both s14. i will be using the 5 lug one after i figure out how to narrow it 5 inches and keep the stock geometry.

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

Any newz on the Z? Hope summer is going well.

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Clive Bogle President - New York Z Car Club - NYZCC.COM
1971 240Z - LS1/T56
1974 260Z-L30
1976 Fairlady Z

sorry for the lack of update. progress has been slowed down due to work but ive done a few things. i got my engine mounts, sub frame connectors and rear big ol monster r230diff. i also tried my hand at leadwork. i fully preped and primered the engine bay and layed a topcoat down on the core support. the subframe connectors got a thick coating of weld through primer and the floor pans are just about ready to accept the connectors. they will get tied into the rear subframe a little more than intended after i narrow the s15 rear and i figure out where that needs to get attached

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

Looking good Adam! Thanks for the update. This car is getting the love it should of gotten. Any reason you are going with the s13 sub frame vs the q45 diff setup vs a r200 clsd unit?

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Clive Bogle President - New York Z Car Club - NYZCC.COM
1971 240Z - LS1/T56
1974 260Z-L30
1976 Fairlady Z

im going with the s15 due to the huge aftermarket for control arms, bushings, brakes hubs ect. i didnt see the point in putting all that time and money into 30+ years old suspension then having to convert to 5 lug and get every kit avaliable to have exactly what i want. this way i get to fit an r230 4 pot z32 rear brakes, 5 lugs that will fit cobra wheels and the ability to get replacement parts cheap online. when i get the car going im going to run the r230 with the stock vlsd untill it gets the turbo.

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Jesse 73 240z + lq4

Uconn car club president

Update plez!

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Clive Bogle President - New York Z Car Club - NYZCC.COM
1971 240Z - LS1/T56
1974 260Z-L30
1976 Fairlady Z