Whatever!!!!!!!!! Gearhead-EFI Edition

[1project2many]

Funny that you mention that car. I had a friend with one and used to dream of building a twin 231 turbo powerplant for it.

[RobertISaar]

i imagine the veyron W16 would still have vast amounts of empty space under the hood.

two six cylinders? could probably still be done with relative ease.

[JeepsAndGuns]

I have always kinda been the type that prefers to use or build the original engine, or a engine of the same brand. But if you are going to do a swap, do something original. I once saw pics of a old 70's challenger with a viper V10 swapped in. I thought that was really cool, original idea and still keeping it within the brand.
My wrangler will forever have the 4.0 straight six. I plan on stroking it, maybe even turbo it. But it will still be the original engine. My cherokee is the only thing I have that there is a tiny chance I might do a engine swap on. If I ever do decide to do it, it would be a cadillac 500. I actually have one (needs rebuilt) in storage just incase I do decide to do it. But for now I am sticking with original AMC power. I rebuilt the 401 several years ago. Put on some ported/polished/shaved heads a few years after that. And most recently did the MPFI and installed some headers.
I like the idea of the cadillac 500 because its not something you see every day. They can be built for some good power and there is no replacement for displacement.
The falconer in the vette you posted above is a cool swap. Mainly because its a V12 thats basicly still a chevy engine and the vette is a chevy.
The 4-71 swap is cool just because its original, not to mention the cool factor of a 2 stroke diesel.

[dave w]

Maybe I should post these pics in the Product Information area? Littlefuse weather proof mini fuse block PDM31001ZXM. Available at Mouser http://www.mouser.com/Search/Product...76-PDM31001ZXM (about $22.00).

dave w

[Six_Shooter]

*sigh*

So since this week is my "holidays" I had decided on performing the engine swap on my car this week, since it would have given me 9 days with an open hoist, but it's 5 days in and I haven't even put my car on the hoist yet.

A few reasons why:

The current engine's alternator (GM CS130) decided to keep the regulator powered up and drain my battery overnight on Sunday night to Monday morning. Uhg. It took my about 20 minutes to find this, after charging the battery. I recalled that I had the same style alternator with a different front cover, that I had on my Jimmy about 12+ years ago, so I decided to swap the front covers and try it. No joy. *facepalm* A friedn loaned me his spare, swapped front covers again, and again no joy. *facepalm* This takes us into mid Tuesday by this point. I had the loaned alternator tested at a local Parts Source, and the voltage output was low, just like I measured on the car, but it seemed to me that it was battery voltage, not just a low charge voltage from the alternator. So I buy a used alternator for my friend's car, since it may have been me that caused the issue, but I'm not totally sure I did. Regardless I felt it was only right to do so. I MAY try installing this tomorrow, since it seems that I won't be doing the swap any time soon.

I had planned to retain the transmission that is currently in the car, a FS5W71B, to keep the overall swap to just engine work. I laid out an adapter weeks ago, but was only able to cut it out last week. I had some measurements of clutch depth and other pertinent dimensions from both engines for a while and thought I had calculated things correctly, but when I placed the adapter plate on the engine on Sunday I noticed something looked wrong. The flywheel didn't look to be far enough into the bellhousing. Remeasured things and I was correct, I messed up on the measurements, by 25.4mm, those that are astute, mayt notice this is 1", the same width as a ruler I was using to measure the clutch surface to block of a friend's engine, that I subtracted twice from the overall measurement. *d'oh*

Alright, recalculate and see what I need. I could have stacked up a flexplate and (2.2 S10) flywheel, along with a custom spacer between the two, to get the depth I need, but I am not comfortable with that much weight hanging that far off the end of the crank. Then I remembered the 2.8/3.1/3.4 in the F-bodies uses a thicker flywheel. Searched for and found some measurements and it looked very promising. Initial guestimate of the flywheel thickness places the clutch depth at the perfect distance. Since it was Sunday, I couldn't get my hands on one that day, so I waited until Monday to hit up my local wreckers. They didn't have one in stock, and there was one in Ontario, and it was still in the car when we called. *facepalm* Well, I had it ordered anyway, since it was so promising.

Today I received the flywheel. It's 2mm thicker than my guestimate, still workable though. It was also larger in diameter, but I knew this before ordering it, and I found info that a 14mm spacer between the starter and the block would be the correct distance to offset for the larger flywheel. I wasn't worried about this. So I mounted the flywheel to the engine, the adapter plate and then decided to hold up a front case/bellhousing of the trans I planned to use to the engine, but it wouldn't sit flat against the adapter plate. The flywheel is too large to fit inside the bellhousing. *d'oh* :facepalm:

So now what do I do?

I could have built a new bellhousing, that I was all for earlier this week, but when faced with that solution now, it just didn't seem worth it, especially since the trans is questionable on whether it will actually hold the power I plan to make right off the get go. So I decided I didn't really want to go that route, unless absolutely necessary.

So I explored another optiuon, using a different trans, the one that I planned to use in the end, when I will be making even more power, a FS5R30A. For those that are not up on their Nissan transmission models, this is a trans that was used from the late '80s to at least the '00s, in many RWD vehicles, and 4x4 trucks and SUVs. My particular trans is from a 1992 300ZX TT. Measurements look good, for flywheel fitment, the input shaft actually looks just like the one that is in my current trans, and it even uses the same spline for the clutch, so I can use my existing clutch! :woot: The clutch fork even looks identical, and the throwout bearing sleeve is the same size, so I should be able to use my existing throwout bearing as well!

I do need to make a custom driveshaft, and I need to figure out what to do about the shifter, since the stock 300ZX shifter will not work, it's too far back, I also don't have one, the Pathfinder location is too far forward, and I think that will remain true even after pushing the drivetrain as far back in the chassis as I can. I am hoping that I can make a custom shifter that will place it just right.

So I started laying out a new adapter plate tonight, and will hopefully have it finalized and cut out tomorrow. I may then actually pull the car apart on Friday, and at least get mounts made, and all prepped. I can then throw the original drivetrain back in, if I need to, while I sort out some of the other details.

[1project2many]

Sorry to hear you've had such bad luck.

Are you obligated / committed to the Nissan trans? If that was a GM 60 deg V6 you're swapping then there's a bellhousing to allow Aisin trans to bolt up. You probably know some of the 80's Jeeps came with a 2.8 and there are some fairly strong Aisin trans (i.e. Supra Turbo) that have nice gear ratio spread.

[Six_Shooter]

Meh, it's all part of hot rodding.

Yeah, there are a couple other transmissions that I could bolt up, but from what I've seen they won't be able to handle the power I plan to make in the end. Not sure this one will either, but it sounds the most promising. It'll work out in the end.