im looking for the best engine swap for a 240 z, that will fit along these parameters.....

I want:

- the most 300 hp or less 280 minimum

- turbo or twin turbo blocks

- 5 sp or 6 sp manual tranny (really not sure whats best)

- keep in mind:

parts availability

part prices

engine prices

life and reliability of engine

engine life (miles)

I was thinking: s15 sr20det rb26dett or a

tt300zx engine (put a new z heart in an old z)

what i want comes down to this. I am an drifting enthusiast looking for a new ocassional drift toy/daily drive. I want medium horsepower something i can control, but enough power to keep me happy....i need something affordable, and something that wont cost more than it should.....

Well, I don't know about the fabrication aspect of it, which I'm sure that comes into play when swapping an engine in there, but, the S15 SR20DET and the RB26DETT are going to be steep as far as pricing for just the engine, as for the VG30DETT, and the RB26DETT, although cool to swap, wouldnt be exactly for you if you plan on drifting your car, mainly cause of the fact of how heavy it is, but both have extraordianry potential. IMO, i'd go with the S13 redtop SR20DET, they can be picked up pretty cheap and a few upgrades ( exhaust, downpipe, FMIC, boost controler, warlbro or 300z fuel pump ) and that will easily get you up to around 300hp, also, sets you up for even more hp if desired. The extra hp thats out of the other SR's just isnt worth the money since your looking for around 300hp.Parts availability: Definitely, lots and lots of partsParts prices: depending on your income, and you are only planning for minimal mods, pretty cheap i guessengine prices: answered above, S13 red top is what i'd pick imolife and reliability: depending on how its driven, pushed to the limit everyday, then not very long, but you also want a daily driver, so it all depends on how you take care of itengine life: dependent on you, since the engine you plan on getting won't have allot of miles anyways.Hope I answered your questions. Have a nice day:)

L28et. Cheap as hell to do, and it's really easy from what I hear 1st hand from people who have done it. Get a metal head gasket, SDS, t3/t4 hybrid plus basic bolt-on stuff and you can make ~300rwhp fairly easy with the proper tuning. Don't do an rb26 if you just want 300hp. That's overkill and way too expensive considering your power goals. The L28 is a common engine, cheap to maintain and parts are easily available for it. That would pretty much meet the goals you specified. On top of that, it would save you money that you could put toward something like a really nice suspension setup.

I might get banned from this site, but I would suggest you consider a 302 ford. Light, cheap, 300hp VERY easy, and tons of room in that engine bay. No complicated electronics, bone simple, easy maintenance, and shouldn't chew up your drive train. Put in an R200 diff, some good half shafts, you should be good to go for ever.

Me, personally, when it comes to American cars I like Chevy more than Ford. If I had a choice of American v8's, I'd go with a Chevy 327. 350's are more common but, the 327 revs a little higher and still makes pretty good power with simple mods. Though, if I decided to do a v8 swap in the future, I like the idea better of using a Vh45de, custom fabbing a bellhousing adapter plate and using a z32 gearbox, and doing a simple turbo setup. A Vh45 is fairly small for a v8 but, it's very efficient and still makes good power without resorting to some 350ci 850cfm carbed 7mpg v8 from hell. I like the idea of using a Nissan drivetrain a little better than something from other manufacturers, but that's just me. Though, give me a Ferrari v12 or some other exotic engine and I sure as hell will change my mind!

I still say the L28et is the cheapest way to go. A 350 would be the cheapest way to start off with a lot of power, but that requires a lot of custom work. However, I've seen l28et's go for a few hundred, and a wiring harness/ecu maybe another $100. On top of that everything bolts in place and you only need to rewire some stuff. I talked to one guy before that did his l28et swap for under $500!

If the l28et can be done for that little, yeah, probably a good choice. I've never had a turbo l28, but have had a bunch of na's, and try as hard as I did, never had a problem. They sound good,too.

The l28et swap is real easy. I did mine from a 82 into a 76. There really isn't much wiring to figure out. And I've gpot real good power, plus I can buy parts from any local parts store.

another vote for the L28ET, I swapped mine a few weeks ago, stock junkyard motor, ran a 13.6 with a crap 2.1sec. 60 footer, I bought a whole 280zxt for $350 (hard to think of swapping anything else in that price range), had to cut the inner fender to get the motor out from the impact damage, I hope to near 300 hp with just boost and I/C and FPR, if you get the stand alone and upsized turbo you can get over 400hp on stock internals, they just won't like it

if you really want something to get some easy power out of it and excellent for parts availability then i would deffinitely go with the SR20det. Im building an SR20det in my 240z the swap is going great. Main things you have to focus on when your doing the swap is that you have to make ur own motor mounts and from the dump pipe on you have to fab up ur own 3" exhaust, which really isnt too big of a deal. Plus the sr20det stock bottom end is good for 500 hp, since ur only looking for about 300 like you said then this is plenty. Very quick and VERY light compared to most other engines.

I would and will be installing a Q45 V8 into my 77 280z. Around 300HP with lots of torgue. Very strong engine, weighs less than a L28 due to it being all aluminum. GOtta keep it Nissan for me. :ylsuper

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread. My friend has been trying to convience me to get an old 240z because of the weight, and you basically sit on the rear wheels... He tells me to put a SR20DET in there, but I'm going to research the l28et a bit more.

I know this thread is long ago dead, but just in case anyone is still active - any more thoughts on the L28ET vs. VK45DE (with say... twin turbos added - just sayin') swap into a '78 280Z? I'd be curious to see where that would go and also hear some thoughts on mating up a trans to the 8 cyl.

L29ET bolts in, can even bolt to your stock trans. VH or VK bolt to no manual transmissions, bolt to nothing in your chassis, has no real parts availability, are huge, are difficult to work on. Seriously In my mind it's L28ET, all the way,If I wanted update VQ35DE, If I just wanted gobs of power and gobs of aftermarket LS swap, beyond that the 2Jz I think is a better option than the RB.