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My LX and Trial of Nissan V8

Started by _Chaotic_ , Apr 16 2006 03:18 PM

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28 replies to this topic

#1 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 03:18 PM

Car is a 4 door LX that i picked up off forums sometime last year. When i picked up the car top half of the engine, 308, was sitting in the boot as car was undergoing a transformation to VN EFI. I decided i'd put it back together as a carby and get it running and rego'd. This process went on for awhile, friend donated a Torker manifold, bought a holley 600 for her, lots of other standard replacement parts, a lot of time spent trying to get her to start but no luck. Spent a couple weeks scratching my head and getting no where. As i am an apprentice funds and frustration took over and she stayed in the shed for a couple months. Few pics of car...

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In the meantime i aquired a Nissan V8 front cut from japan, which i planned to use in a furter project in form of a Twin Turbo V8 into a HQ Ute. As time went on became less possible for me, and this sat in the shed next to the torana. Finally decided to take both engines out and have a look into throwing the VH41 into the torana. Quick look at both the engines together...

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Bit of a size difference in top ends of the engine and also the nissan autos a fair bit longer. Quick look at differences in the 2 sumps...

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Not to be discouraged a few measurements, quick look at both bays and comparing, this almost looks like it could be pulled off. Design of the VH41 is fairly nice as well, having the alternator in the V saves a bit of room, and once the P/S and A/C are all pulled off shes fairly slim down the bottom end. The quad cams however make the top quite wide...

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The auto trans probally has more wiring then the LX currently has through out!

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No amount of thinking and deliberating would actually give me a definative answer as to wether it was gonna fit, so next best step just do it i figure. Load of pictures from through out today showing how it went...

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As you can see that definately wasn't gonna go in, so time to take another attempt...

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#2 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 03:19 PM

This is definately more promising so now we're getting some where...

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Was looking to be fairly tight so far, then i hit first hiccup...

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So off comes the brake master cylinder and the exhaust manifolds need to be removed to keep going...

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Coming along slowly until the oil pressure switch hits, so its off with oil pump housing all together...

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Engines sitting on the subframe with the ass of the auto lifted up to get an idea of how it would sit. Near to no clearance what so ever on either side...

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As you can see its sitting fairly high up at the moment...

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Notice the angle that the auto sits, would need to cut a new trans tunnel, also the rear of the sump sits on the subframe, front of the sump seems to sit alright, but would definately require a custom sump...

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Heaps of room at the back of the firewall...

Ok guys i realise this has a whole heap of images but just felt like documenting the process as it was going alone. My next step is gonna be to pull the engine and trans out again and drop the auto off the back, then drop the engine in by itself and see how that sits. If it looks any better then i'll drop the subframe and see how that sits in relation to the sump out of the car and see what modifications would be required.

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#3 Toranamat69

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 03:45 PM

Process looks familiar.

Keep us posted and I hope it works out fitting in there. That sump looks like your biggest challenge from here.

I'd be trying to get the engine as far back as possible too. It will help with the bonnet clearance as well as weight distribution. Can't see how much room you have up front for the radiator in the pics.

I got a photo of one of these fitted to a valiant pacer when I was in Toowoomba a few months ago - looked excellent - they had polished all the intake and cam covers.

M@

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#4 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 04:25 PM

Ripped the auto off, no signs of oil around rear mains, or around torque convertor all good signs for me. Flex plate is pretty gnarly light weight and nice sized torque convertor to match.

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So without the auto it still has room to go back a bit further but the sump is preventing it from dropping down the little bit more that it needs. Theres potential there but it'll be a long tedious task. Might have to find a smaller fan or else nice thin thermo or else thrermo on front of the radiator.

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#5 dattoman

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 04:35 PM

Whip the sump and pickup off
Then you'll be able to get it abit lower to see if everything is going to go according to plan
Thermo fans are no issue......easy fix

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#6 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 05:40 PM

Spot on that was my next move. Heres a look at the sump and crank area.

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And now the heads are hitting on the body, so next course of action would be to get it off to a panel beater and see how much meat they could take off, as i have no expierence whatso ever in that area...

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And the height is still a bit of an issue, might have to look into something like a ford bonnet bulge...

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Clearance at the backs not to bad, although the brake booster is snug against the top of the rocker cover...

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And finally a look at the clearance from underneath notice the distance from the stock 308 mounts to the engine so no probs ther and also theres a little bit of clearance from the subframe to the sump area but it'd still be fairly tight...

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#7 Toranavista

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 05:58 PM

Spent a couple weeks scratching my head and getting no where. As i am an apprentice funds and frustration took over and she stayed in the shed for a couple months.

Any hair left? Doing a great job. Lots of Patience and Persistance. Great effort!

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#8 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 06:23 PM

Just tucked everything away for the night, lots of hair left and not one casuality to myself although one of the spark plug covers lost a fight with the brake booster. Been sitting out thinking about the car, and its a hard decision wether to put in the hard yards to get this puppy in or not. Could be a fun car when its finished and now gotta try and get my hands on a shagged Z32 300zx manual box to dummy fit that as well and decide auto or manual. Unsure as to wether trans tunnel modifications will deem the car unrego'able or not. So a bit of research to do now, but its good to see that physically it SHOULD fit.

Baz.

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#9 Toranamat69

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 06:34 PM

It looks like the overall dimensions must be fairly close to the size of my engine going by those pics.

I gained approx 19mm per side by lipping and seam welding the chassis rails. Mine sat right on the edges like that on first test fit.

You can move the brake booster over approx 15mm toward the drivers side if you reverse the pin on the pedal and relocate the mounting holes on the firewall. It already looks like you have the small single diaphram booster there.

You can most likely get away with a very narrow sump over the subframe as you have a deep skirt block there and the sump doesnt have to form the lower part of the crank case. My sump is 22mm thick through that area and I have about 9.5mm from the steering rack to the bottom of my sump. I reckon I could drop it 1 or 2mm with how solid my engine mounts are and still not have any contact occuring.

It looks to me like you may still squeeze that under the bonnet. You would not think my bonnet would shut if you look side on but the LX bonnets have a fair bit of a peak in the middle.

M@

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#10 _jap-xu1_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 06:40 PM

definately do it man.
im very impressed with the car,engine and the way your attacking the job.
ive been in a similar situation myself where it just seems like too much work.
but every week you get closer to completion and it all starts to pay off.
that torana will really be something special if completed

Edited by jap-xu1, 16 April 2006 - 06:41 PM.

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#11 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 07:03 PM

how did you go about getting sump made up, just give them dimensions of what you wanted and old sump to work off? and once get it able to sit off the sides without rubbing will be able to sus out engine mounts, but shouldn't be to hard.

Just checked out your site see what ya mean about the squeeze! very hot looking ride you got there. Interesting your power steering setup as well.

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#12 micklx

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 07:47 PM

Do you have the power and torque figures for that engine?

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#13 _Chaotic_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 07:59 PM

VH41-DE
Type: 4130cc EFI DOHC 32 valve V8
Power: 270hp @ 5600rpm
Torque: 277ft-lbs @ 4000rpm

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#14 _dannylxss_

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Posted 16 April 2006 - 11:10 PM

that is one hell of a job, thinking out side the box is always good to see so keep up the good work. body looks great what colour is it

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#15 _Chaotic_

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 08:37 AM

Was a custom green sprayed by the previous owner. Plans involve getting a respray and getting the colour matched as im not happy with the finish.

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#16 Bart

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 09:47 AM

thats fantastic mate, my VH41 should be arriving soon from japan to put in my LJ, great motors but bloody big. :spoton:

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#17 _Chaotic_

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 10:38 AM

Definately grab some snap shots of trying to get it into your bay. One of me mates with lj reckoned his bay was bigger im yet to check it out tho, only ever seen lx and uc bays. He was trying to convince me to give it to him, lol fat chance!

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#18 dattoman

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 01:07 PM

I'd be leaving it auto myself
The Z box won't bolt up
You need to make a custom bellhousing to suit. No-one makes one so its up to you to do
Then getting a clutch/flywheel etc would be tricky
I can put you onto the guy with the VH45 in his Z31 if you need advice..... he seemed like a nice enough fella

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#19 Toranamat69

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 01:22 PM

The Z boxes do not have a separate bellhousing either so it would be an adaptor plate or cut and weld job.

I got my sump done at Hi-energy oil pans in dandenong. Mine is cast alloy so I couldn't weld it. If yours is steel you could always give it a go.

I got the engine to the optimum position with no sump fitted to maximise the room available, then did a really accurate sketch and they worked from that - they have a torana front end there so they can dummy fit etc if you give them sufficient measurements to go from. They said some people send cardboard templates.

It was not cheap but alloy work never is.

Mine has to be fitted without the sump through the top , then the subframe dropped a couple of inches out of the car to get the sump in there or else these days, I just remove the whole front end and lift the front of the car up and over with the engine crane.

Looks like your dipstick will be moving like I had to. I actually use a sight glass but now that it is all fitted, there is room for a short little dipstick which would be accessible from under the chassis rail if I ever feel like adding one.

M@

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#20 _Chaotic_

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 01:59 PM

AGI do an adapator for manual boxes onto the VH41 i've been told by guy that imported the cut for me.

I'll have to talk to a couple workshops around the area and see who they reckon over these parts would be up to it.

On another note just finished stripping the wiring loom from the cut and damn there is a lot of crap, really must of been a luxury barge, definately have to think wether i wanna wire the sucker up or take the easy approach and get real friendly with an auto sparky, shells definately nice and bare now as well, might have a go at seeing if the brakes from this will have any chance of going onto my R31 skyline...

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Edited by chaotic, 17 April 2006 - 02:02 PM.

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#21 Bart

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 04:02 PM

Iv seen a guy use a VH45 bell housing and adapted that to a power glide
But then again you want manual.
Im keen to se what you work out as i want manual too.
I was thinking of using the VH41/45 bell gousing to adapt that onto a turbo supra box.
But i dont know if that would work, i havnt had my hands on the motor or box YET hehehe

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#22 Bart

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Posted 17 April 2006 - 04:18 PM

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