nissan hybrid project? ATTN Paul, Torry and Adam

[1sicFrankenstein240]

Alright guys, its that time of the year again, time for another off the wall project that makes people wanna say “WTF is that” , from the person who brought you the 1100 GSXR powered golf cart, the tiny turbo go cart, and the nitromethane fed goped, its time for a new project

My project fund I want to keep to around $3k-3500(maybe 4k if taxes come in), and want to build something small and somewhat fast, I had a thought in the back of my mind to go with a Nissan-datsun 210 or 510 as the vehicle, and make the engine powered by a Nissan motor, a rotary, or a domestic motor

As most of you Orlando guys know, I had the 240 that basically had the motor all NOS’d to hell by the previous owner, making it the biggest paperweight and money pit that I had owned, so im wanting to come back actively to the Nissan “family”, even though I still have the maxima

I was thinking of the 210 or 510 because it is a small platform that is lightweight (somewhat) and is relatively cheap in the automotive market, I am not sure if it is FWD or RWD, so further research will be necessary to find out, but something small and lightweight that I can fit in (as I cannot really fit in a 240sx comfortably), but I can fit in a old early to mid 80s mazda 323, old Toyota tercels, something that sticks to the KISS theory when it comes to repairs and to designing, and the 210 and 510 are in the Nissan/datsun family of cars (I sorta rulled out a geo metro platform because I don’t think it could handle what sick engine thoughts I had in my mind)

Im wanting to go with something that is preferably carb’d , so that it is simple to build and tune and there are less wires in the car, so maybe an old Nissan carb’d engine(an old sidedraft perhaps?) that could be rebuilt by miller performance here in Orlando (aka pauls second home), then there is the thought of going with a 12 or 13b (possibly a 20b if the $$ arises) that could be built somewhat and installed in the vehicle, but I really don’t want ot go that way because I am not familiar with rotaries and have sorta heard they are a pain to keep maintained , so that leads me to possibly going with an old domestic block, because that is first nature to me, may be such a 4.3 V6, a 350 V8 or maybe a 400 SB, because they are readily available and can be had for dirt cheap (round $600 for a nice 400 SB that puts out in the 300-400 numbers ) but the V6 and V8s I would think, would put to much stress on the chassis and parts, so items on the vehicle would be breaking more than normal than with the option of a Nissan block or a rotary, so its more a debate of more $$ now or $$ down the road to fix stuff

Then brings in the debate of manual versus automatic transmission

A manual transmission would be easier to work on when it breaks down, but the only thing that annoys me would be adapting the clutch setups from different cars (adam and torry any input?)

An automatic transmission would be an easier install because of not having to worry about installing a clutch setup, but when the transmission breaks down, its more of a pain to tear it down than a manual setup

Either way, using a different transmission and engine than stock is most likely gonna require different mounting points on the chassis and a different length driveshaft

The car setup would most likely be a racetrack setup/ ¼ car / backstreet fun setup, IE something I can take to bithlo track, or take to ghandi in tampa and or mess with the ricers at sonics, I don’t know if the car could be street legal and tagged for driving on the street, but would most likely have a gutted setup for weight reduction, ya know, no carpet, no trim panels, unneccecary ish removed that wouldn’t be needed

[Aries]

LMAO!Building a hybrid without spending more than $4k?And using a shop to do it?Not gonna happen buddy.

[Rex]

2 guys in Albany, Ga in the late 80's built a beat all and I mean ALL 510. I think they satrted with a 1970 or 71 510 2 door and added a 300Z motor and took basically EVERYTHING that wasn't required to make it move or stop out of the car. 2 seats, fiberglass with harnesses, removed all the interior behind the front seats. Replaced the dash with a flat piece of thick aluminum. Then they really put the car on a diet.

I personally saw this monster (dubbed JAPZAP) beat a tweaked 'vette by 10 car lengths in the quarter as well as a big block Hemi Mopar and a built rail car.

I think one of the guys (Tommy or Buddy) opened his own shop north of Albany, specializing in Datsun/Nissan repair.

[MasterMan]

hey let me drive that gokart ur talkin about

[EZcheese15]

Um.....so what am I supposed to be saying? If you want to get insane, I say talk to Sean Love or Rock. If you don't know those guys, ask Paul for their numbers. They are great at thinking up some insane things.

As for the rotary....If you get a rotary engine, Mark (Miller) will probably not build it. I don't believe he has any experience with rotaries. However, for anything else, I'll back the fact they are probably the best shop around to get an engine built.

[1sicFrankenstein240]

torry, i figure mark would not be able to build a rotary, i would most likely figure he could buildup a KA or maybe a CA , something that me, paul, and prolly bimmer sean could think of to stick in the vehicle of choice

i know a few shops locally that know rotaries well, one shop has a few guys from miami and puerto rico, both places big on rotaries, i saw them bring my boss's Rx-7 back to life from sitting 3 years with the engine partially tore down

here in kissimmee i found an old datsun 510 4dr for $700 with blownheadgasket

and if paul had told me about his engine and transmission for sale (thanks paul) , i would of bought that, and plopped the money down for a buildup by miller, and miller does great work, my boss's recently got their mercruiser 502 back for the 30ft scarab that they own, and on the water testing, that engine is built like a mofo and has got some serious power behind it

and as for the comment by Aries, it will be able to be done, ya just gotta look around for deals, and make this project a back bench projct, and it can be done for that pricerange , now if i said like a massive turbo engine setup, now that would be impossible, but an all motor setup is possible

hey torry, possibly interested in sellin the duece-dime you got (your 210)

[EZcheese15]

As a matter of fact, YES!!!! I sure am. I was actually calling around today to find another A15 to drop into it so I can sell it. But if you don't need the engine, heck...how much you gonna give me for it? IM me and we can discuss it. Or email me if you don't have IM's.