240sx v8 build

V8 240sx? Sure! If either the chassis OR the engine is non-Nissan (i.e. SR20 in an RX-7 or LS1 in a 240sx), we've done it.
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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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piaa multifunction lights,

headlight housings are raceonusa , got them when they cost half as much as they do now

http://www.raceonusa.com/nissa...-p-86
Modified by 450SX! at 11:22 AM 2/16/2010


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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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finished the fuel rail mods this saturday. here are some pics. -8 lines out the back of both rails to conneect to my Aeromotive FPR mounted on firewall. -4 out front of passenger side where fuel used to enter to remote mount the electrice fuel pressure gauge sender.

blocked off the ports that originally went to the rail mounted fprand altered the front crossover to have -8 fittings with aluminum tubing. did not like the oem setup with just the orings.

just need to hook it up and turn on the pump to check for any leaks in my welding. done with mig welder without the spool gun and .030 aluminum wire with teflon liner. my dads employees knocked over the gas tank for the mig and broke the gauges and put a small leak in the connecting hose. thank god for electrical tape. had to do a few test welds on miscellaneous welds to get the gas pressure right. would have been much easier with the .035. ground down the welds to make clean and so i could visually inspect.








Modified by 450SX! at 10:54 PM 2/9/2010

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youngmoney
Posts: 377
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:58 am
Car: 93 240sx SE

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the headlights are sweet but not 475$ sweet lol. thanks though

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WDRacing
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450SX! wrote:the motor mount welds on these pictures were pretty bad. after my welding got better I ground down a weld at a time and re-did them.

Modified by 450SX! at 4:31 PM 8/7/2009
Man, Ive been trying to keep current on this build of yours. I just realized that you cut your CM all the way out and welded in a new one. That's sweet dude.

I assume you're going with no power steering? I apologize if you covered this already.

I can't wait to see her once she's been painted.

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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I actually am still using, I cut down the mounds on the cm where the oem engine mounts bolted to and welded this one to sit right over it. the dip in the new cm sits right in front of the old one with just enough clearance to squeeze in the powersteering lines to mount to original locations.

If you look closely at the bottom pic you will see the oem CM sitting on the ground just in front of the new one i welded in.

because the the close tolerances between my rear sump oil pan and the steering rack I have to lower the cm to put in the engine. then I raise it back up and bolt back in.

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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I would not buy them for that price either.I actually tried to buy the fiberglass ones but they were out and gave me the carbon fiber pieces at a discounted price to compensate. the PIAA lights them self were 280, so my light set up was $500. bit expensive gut a lot lighter than the OEM light housings with the motors and brackets and huge lights. i was concerned about weight knowing I was putting in a v8 with an iron block.

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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hooked up the fuel system and no leaks in my welds.cleaning up the runners and plenum and port matching the best I can.also going to polish the runners on the baseplate.


eaton89
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:45 am
Car: 91 240sx

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What size of radiator is in there? How big is the inlet and out let? Where did you get it and how much? Is it doing the job? Would you use the same one again or try a standard chevy radiator? Trying to decide on a Howe or one for a sr20. I think the sr20 is a little less radiator but I'm not convinced. Any suggestions?

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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it is a koyo for an sr20, the sr20 has the inlet and outlet on the right sides for a sbc.

I compared the volumne of the koyo sr20 fan to a crown vic radiator and the sr20 was a little bigger. inlets and outlets are 1.5 in. also using a water pump that flows more than stock.

with probably 500+ hp under boost and running a bit lean at part throttle and having exhaust leaks at the manifold it would stay at the correct temp in city driving for around twenty minutes. I was trying to tune it to be as lean as possible while still performingto help with gas mileage.

I imagine if the car was not running so lean and had no exhaust leaks it would have been fine.

I am however building a better shroud for my two 12" perma cool fans.will both be pushers. before one was shrouded and a pusher and the other was pulling.

It would sit and idle for 15 minutes with no problems so I am assuming the heat creaping was from the lean condition,(it was so lean that it would stutter)on freeways the temp never climbed even with the other conditions it would actually drop a bit to about 170.

If my turbo did not sit 1/2 from the radiator I would go for a megan racing 3 row, it costs the same as the koyo 2 row. I just don't have room any more.

with the hp I will be pushing i would prefer the 3 row for less of a head ache.I am hoping to not need to mount a motorcycle radiator as well for extra water and cooling. or cut a bit of the radiator support and push the 3 row forward. waiting to see if having the AFR being not lean and exhaust leaks fixed will correct the heat creap before purchasing a new radiator.

hope this helps

eaton89
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Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:45 am
Car: 91 240sx

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My experience is the 1" 2 rows cool better than the 3 row if the core is the same thickness so yours may be just as good as the other, just my 2 cent worth. Also a 1 to 1 drive on the pulley's. I decided for the money to get the howe radiator cause that is what I use in my stock car only diff will be it is a little smaller than what Ive been running with the motor. So have you really run the car hard for 20 to 30 minutes? How does it do. I plan to take mine to the track but running a totally diff setup motor combo than you are. SBC 383 iron except manifold and water pump and about 450 hp. It runs on the dirt at 7000 rpm for 20 min at about 210 to 215 in 100+ weather and when it stays at an idle it cools to 160 170 but doesnt use a thermostat. I dont think it will be run that hard on a paved track for fun not competitively. Just doing something different that sounds fun and claiming it is for my 16 year old. But I think we will have some good times. Your car just makes me want to take mine to a different level but I cant throw that kind of money at it. I love to work on cars and build them only to use a few times and try something different. Well anyways, awesome car and thanks for the info. Have you got it painted yet?
Modified by eaton89 at 7:26 PM 3/7/2010

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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the engine bay is painted

the money for my paint job went into converting to fuel injection to make it street legal.

lalo
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:32 pm
Car: 1989 240sx and 1988 300zx turbo

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sorry to ask but what type of metal did you used to make your headers

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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the headers I bought(ssautochrome sbc turbo header), they are stainless, I cut off the collectorsand shortened the overall length of the header and welded on a new mild steel collector, the crossover pipe and the rest of the exhaust is aluminized steel.would have gone stainless all the way but the cost determined the material.

built a brace to support the turbo side header.
Modified by 450SX! at 10:05 AM 3/9/2010

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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while considering selling my dart pro 1 heads and getting some street legal AFR 180cc I noticed that my rockerarms were rubbing on the retainer.
the engine builders installed the rocker arms ,picked the pushrods and installed the heads on my block.
actually made small indents on the underside of the rocker arm.

Image



so I have bought some lash caps and ground down to fit with my locks that are not recessed for lash caps.
this created enough clearance for them not to touch.


I bought the heads off an online store on ebay and I think the guy used 7 degree locks with 10 degree retainers.
the top of lock sits down between an 1/8 and 3/16 inside the retainer. so far in all valvetrain pictures I can find the lock
sits either flush or a hair above the opening in the retainer.

don't know what valve springs he used other than comp cams dual valve springs with dampner. i have measured them roughly with a tape measure and they are either the 1.437, 1.460, or 1.464. question is the installed height and seat load at installed height.
installed at roughly 1.9 which would be correct for the 1.464.

this sucks. maybe i expect too much but considering the place that built my engine builds race engines
and as they put have built 20,000 dollar engines you would think they would have noticed that the lock was sitting too deep
in the retainer and mentioned that i needed to have that fixed. would also think they would have properly checked the clearance on
the rockerarm to retainer.

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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figured out what the springs are and I am ordering new 10 valve locks, shims and a valve spring micrometer,
Installed height is supposed to be 1.700 they are at 1.900. only 35lbs of seat pressure at the moment is what that means.
My retainers on not meant to rotate and there are wear marks from the rocker arm that are off to the side meaning I was getting valve float
event though I was only hitting 4500rpm while engine breaks in.
engine shop told me I would get vavle float around 6500rpm.true with the springs installed correctly.

just goes to show that people are full of *#$%.
making my own spring compressor out of a cut piece of metal,some thick washers and a nut that will fit rocker.

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youngmoney
Posts: 377
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:58 am
Car: 93 240sx SE

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hey what front bumper is that? those are wide body front fenders too right? who makes your rear widebody kit? once again i love how your car looks!

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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youngmoney wrote:hey what front bumper is that? those are wide body front fenders too right? who makes your rear widebody kit? once again i love how your car looks!
whole kit is b-magic 30mm front and 50mm rear.

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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at the end of june I am taking off my two weeks vacation and going to try and get the car done. so hopefully I will be finishing up and tuning in july.

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WDRacing
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Good to see you still plugging away man.

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Speckid
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 3:13 pm
Car: 2002 Nissan SE-R Spec V
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Hey, I have been following your swap and progress for a long time now, and it looks awesome. I am also doing a small black chevy swap and given in the last 24 hours my KA blew up, I have to buckle down and finish the swap.

I was wondering if you had a part number for that clutch master cylinder. I am assuming that it would work with multiple transmissions not just your TKO.
Image
Image

Also since you removed the bracket you made, did you just mount it directly to the firewall? and how does it connect to the 240sx clutch pedal assembly?

Your help would be much appreciated. I have been researching this swap for awhile now and finding specific information for a more rare swap such as a 350 can be difficult. Also had some transmission questions if your willing to help a fellow NICO member out?! Don't mean to thread jack, the car looks fantastic, I cannot imagine what the feeling is like to take that down the street. WOW. :dblthumb:

Thanks, Speckid :biggrin:

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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Hi Speckid
It is a wilwood part number 260-1304 . they make three different bores this one is the (.750 ).
I ended up leaving the adapter I made on , as seen in pics. lengthened the push rod though to correct stroke.
you need to remove the push rod from the wilwood and install the one from your original master cylinder
because the wilwood does not have a U bolt that will mount to clutch pedal.
just a C clip holding it in.

the alignment for the push rod and master cylinder is really important. the rod should stay very close to perpindicular to the firewall throughout the whole clutch pedal movement. try to split the difference so that where it connects to pedal is just a little above perpindicular when not pressed in and just below when pressed all the way.
this will help avoid gouging the inside of MC and causing a leak like i did to my first one.



If you make an adapter make sure to adjust push rod for the difference in mounting location, basically the thickness of the plate(
distance from back of master cylinder flange to the firewall).

happy to help if I can, my knowledge about transmission is limited though. I have a complete hydraulic setup so unfortunately I know nothing about slave cylinders, clutch forks , etc.

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Speckid
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Awesome, thanks for the detailed description. I plan on complete hydraulic too, but my knowledge is limited.

Found this for anyone who is having related questions:
http://tech.240sxone.com/186/lsx-clutch-hydraulics/

Another question I have is about crankcase pressure. I really want a pair of those comp cams valve covers, but they do not come with baffle/breather holes. Can I run some sort of pcv system in order to run non-breather valve covers. I don't have a early 55 sb so I can't run one of those cool PCV systems that replaces the rear draft tube. In essence how would those covers affect my crankcase pressure? Some think its possible, some say no go.

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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Speckid wrote:Awesome, thanks for the detailed description. I plan on complete hydraulic too, but my knowledge is limited.

Found this for anyone who is having related questions:
http://tech.240sxone.com/186/lsx-clutch-hydraulics/

Another question I have is about crankcase pressure. I really want a pair of those comp cams valve covers, but they do not come with baffle/breather holes. Can I run some sort of pcv system in order to run non-breather valve covers. I don't have a early 55 sb so I can't run one of those cool PCV systems that replaces the rear draft tube. In essence how would those covers affect my crankcase pressure? Some think its possible, some say no go.

i don't know much about the pcv system learning it now as I pull one apart and prepare to install from my junker.
however, from what I know the pcv valve goes on the valve cover. If you just really want those valve covers you could
drill your own holes for breathers or pcv valve. I personally would buy something that works.
I am into function so my personal opinion is save money on the valve covers and buy some from paw, jegs, or summit ,
aluminum cast with breather holes. 50-80 bucks, use the rest of the money to buy something quality that needs to be. mine are PAW.

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Speckid
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540sx wrote: i don't know much about the pcv system learning it now as I pull one apart and prepare to install from my junker.
however, from what I know the pcv valve goes on the valve cover. If you just really want those valve covers you could
drill your own holes for breathers or pcv valve. I personally would buy something that works.
I am into function so my personal opinion is save money on the valve covers and buy some from paw, jegs, or summit ,
aluminum cast with breather holes. 50-80 bucks, use the rest of the money to buy something quality that needs to be. mine are PAW.

Yeah thats what I think I'm gunna do. I work at an automotive wholesaler called Motorville, so jegs, summit are the competition, plus I get big discounts on parts :bigthumb:

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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nice, checked out the website.
looks like you need to be a dealer to purchase from motorville?

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Speckid
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yeah unfortunately, however we do dropship for
- http://www.midwestmotorsportsinc.com/
- http://performanceparts.com/

and we own:
-http://starperf.com/

Its pretty cool stuff. Only if I won the lottery, I would have a hell of a day walking through the warehouse and piling up parts, lol
I'm thinking about moving my build thread over here, you can check it out here. You might have to create an account.

So what does your car look like now? ever get it painted or make some vids?

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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I made a video but it is edited and the commentary is chopped. I thought my brake booster was not working, I did not realize that I needed the check valves. learning as I go, now i got two check valves one connected before turbo on intake and one actually to the manifold, both going to a vacuum canister then to the brake booster.
my clutch was not completely disengaging either so When i accelerated and hit in the 4k rpm range it would not shift. you will hear it in the vid.
got that worked out as well.

car is not painted yet. if my paint is still good I will be painting the outside the color the engine bay got painted in July(hopefully).
otherwise I am going flat black on the outside to cut the cost.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDX5VXxcyGw

fivesevenS13

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Im new to Nico but im starting a SBC S13 project and had a few questions about the sick motor mounts and crossmember, What all did you do for that setup to work? I see you welded a custom crossmember with the mounts on it between the frame rails and you said you were still using Oem crossmember at the same time.

Build is sick by the way, nice work! Sounds agressive!

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540sx
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:11 pm
Car: 240SX
Location: Culver City, Los Angeles

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universal sbc crossmember that can be purchased from many different companies, jegs, summit, paw, speedwaymotors to name a few.
cut down the engine mount points on oem to make room , using it for steering rack and suspenion. also adds extra stiffness to chasis having both.
not sure if the crossmember I used would work with a front sump pan though.

like the car in your sig

fivesevenS13

Post

Ok sweet, thanks man. And i'll probly just fab up my own pan so i wont have to worry about it. I have a friend that might sell me his SB 400ci, if so im cramin that in there.

Good luck with the rest of the build.

And i so wish i had the car in my sig


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