Ok, I have a disease, I can admit it, I like big engines, I love to wrench and I MUST modify any car that happens to fall into my possession...

Which brings my question..

I have 'inherited' a 1979 Datsun 200SX, which is in damn fine shape. If it weren't for faded paint it would look new. The carpet, dash, hell damn near everything is in near perfect shape. And at 27 years old, the faded paint isn't really that bad either, it would probably buff up nice. I am not big on imports, but this funky little car is actually growing on me, sitting there next to the garage, begging to be worked on and driven.

The ONLY real problem with the car is that it still has it's original clutch. Uhuh, ORIGINAL clutch, 27 years old... and "for some reason " it is starting to slip a bit . Which means I am going to be lifting it up eventually and putting in a new one... which might take an hour or so... but for me, that just isn't satisfying enough... too easy... this funky little car needs a V8.

Yeah, I know, I'm Insane. But, nearly 50% of the cars I have owned have had big new V8's shoved under the hood by me, the rest came to me with one that was "big enough" already.

So, there is my quandry.. I want to stuff this car, but as I have never owned a little bitty Datsun, I am wondering, what is the best swap? What is available for suspension upgrades to carry around a new beast motor? Can I even find anything to fit? Will I end up cutting everything off at the firewall and building a complete new front end before it's over with?

Has anyone else out there been afflicted with a disease similar to mine? Has anyone stuffed a similar Datsun recently? Is this going to be close to swapping a V8 into a 240/60/80Z ? I seem to recall an adapter for that transmission to hook it up to a Chevy V8 in years past... is it the same pattern?

Any suggestions? Is it hopeless?

Put an LS-1 in it http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...QrdZ1

Ive been kicking around the idea of throwing one of these in my 240sx. Ive seen pictures of someone else putting a Chevy 350 into a S13 (89-93) 240sx. I wouldnt immagine it being much different for your 200sx. The motor in that ebay add I'm assuming is for the iron version of the LS1 (heavy); my best advice is to look for the aluminum style LS1 which is found in 97+ Corvettes (I know your thinking cost, but Ive seen them for under $5k brand new). BTW, I'm sure you know that is a very powerful motor; Ive seen them N/A putting out an easy 400hp/400tq. And they don't take up much room in the engine bay (small block, large displacement). The old Chevy pushrod design has come a long way. Look up the spects on the '06 C-6 Zo6 Corvette. Nothing under 200k in the supercar arena can even come close.

take a picture of it for us! and just so you know, theres not much info on the1983 on down 200sx's. it's going to be a lot of trial and error for you butI would encourage you to do it and document it! oh, and these cars comewith a 4 cylinder motor where as the Z cars have 6 cyls. there is less roomin the nose for a larger engine but ANYTHING is possible if you throw enoughmoney at it.

good luck, welcome to nico, and like I said, post some pics!

Dang, I was hoping someone around here would have experience with a similar project/year..

Hmmmm... build 200sx drift monster? Or, try and find someone with an ugly 240/60/80z who is d..er, willing to trade straight up?

zer...age=2

the z cars have been swapped for may years, scarab ofered new cars already swapped back in the day, the more common mounting is with the lower further back JTR mounts, and they use a gm trans with a neapco adapter on the rear diff to allow use of the heavier domestic u-joints and shortened shaft, and if ford is your flavor there si a guy named asil that used to make crossmembers to bolt in for the ford swap and clear the steering, and of course there is always mopar but I think they all require the use of a carier bearing and an extra u-joint in the steering, not much you can put in an S30 that hasn't been put there already

back to the 200SX some came with the Vg30E which can easily be upgraded to the vg30ET, or you can use the 4.5 or whatever, or some came with a CA18ET which can easily be made to be a CA20ET and the more exotic japanese variants if you choose