Tassuperkarts Tragedies

[etking]

fark the golf, ill take him anyday too

[Ash]

damn, i should come to tazzy for some draggin sounds like fun!

[etking]

matt underestimates the power of the e15t

[Panda_ET]

matt underestimates the power of the e15t

no lol I just dont over estimateit like some

[tassuperkart]

More tragedies men!.

Ive contemplated a couple of different engines but i keep coming back to a VG30 Nissan V6. Cheap and plentiful and beautifully engineered bulletproof V6!
Anyway, I scored a VG30det which is the single turbo variant of the twin turbo quad cam 300zx (Fairlady) VG30dett from an engine importer.
L8tr
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A little progress on this conversion.

Well, after much unsuccessful searching, I have had no luck finding a Navara V6 5 speed box.
It seems this particular Nissan box can be a little temperamental and prone to going bang.
I dont know why tho. Evidently this is the reason they are so difficult to find as they get snaffelled up straight away from wreckers.

I can get z32 (300ZX dett) 5 speeds quite easily. They are a pretty bulletproof gearbox being identical to an RB25 box with a slightly different bellhousing. No doubt of the toughness of the RB25 box.
However they are a little pricey for me and i really didnt want a close ratio box.
I wanted the commercial Navara box with the much lower grandma and backwards gears and a wider gear overall ratio spread given i use this ute as a tow car for the race car.
Anyway, I scored a 5 speed from an older (240Zed shaped) 300zx V6.
It comes with a tailshaft, shifter, startermotor and clutch release for 450 bucks.
I thought that was OK.

Time to get the engine down now and the fun begins.

Ill have a good FJ20et with a 5 speed for sale soon. Neone interested, offers?
Would make a mad conversion into an ET with an appropriate gearbox.....LMAO!
L8
More later
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[The Renegade]

.............Ill have a good FJ20et with a 5 speed for sale soon. Neone interested, offers?
Would make a mad conversion into an ET with an appropriate gearbox.....LMAO!
...........

I'm sure Bjorn would come up with something given, oh I dunno, about 1/2 hour.

[tassuperkart]

Ill actually miss the FJ20. Its such a brute of an engine.
Noisy and uncouth....kinda like me really!!!!!!! LOL
I love the glorious sound of the thing in full flight! Sadly a lot of that intake roar went away when i fitted the cooler!!

Neway, the VG30 is now on its way.

Ill pick up the Z31 5 speed and other goodies in the next couple of days and when the engine arrives, Ill do a trial boltup and probably start building a new engine loom for the Microtech.
Im not going to cut up the FJ loom sos that can go complete with the FJ.

L8tr
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[tassuperkart]

Finally got my V6 gearbox, tailshaft/starter an stuff.

The gearbox is designated a "71c" which means its got the same guts as an RB20 box.
Thats good enough for about 450 Hp. Thatll doo donkey!
Not as brutal and tough as an RB25/VG30dett(Z32) box but beggars cant be chosers.
Certainly better than the Borg-Warner box fitted to the Z31 300zx Turbo tho. That one has a bad rep.

The box is very long tho. The shifter will come up thru the floor well behind where the stock one is and id say im going to have to fit a single seat to the passengers side rather than the sort of bench style of thing fitted now which rests against the drivers seat side so the shifter can sit between the seats.
Prolly have to make a cranked shifter shaft as well to bring the shift knob forward as well....meh!

I also got given a complete Z31 V6 engine crossmember along with stock mounts and engine brackets brackets and a power steering rack.

Sadly tho, the Z31 rack will not work (easily) on the 'Lux but having the complete engine mounts and brackets might make life easier.
Its a lot of work to fabricate engine brackets from scratch which is what i did with the FJ.

I was hoping to narrow the Z31 crossmember down to fit between the 'Lux chassis rails but I dont think thats going to happen now.

The Z31 chassis rails are about 85mm wider than the 'Lux rails and the Z31 engine mounts are bracketed right out at each end of the Z31 x-member so it prolly aint just a matter of cutting the x-member and re-welding......bugger!
Itll mean fabricating some new bracketry to support the existing rubber mounts.....oh well!

I think it may be easier to either make an entirely new X-member out of box section, plate and angle and hang that into the 'Lux chassis using the rubber engine mounts and engine brackets of this Z31 item.

Or mebbe just fabricate new chassis brackets and weld them to the chassis rails a-la-stock and hang the stock V6 engine mounts on them. This is the usual road to go with Holden V8 conversions in the "Luxes.

Dunno yet. I gotta actually get the V6 engine onto the Z31 x-member and measure it all up and see what i can and cant use.

Id like to add the extra crossmember to stiffen things up if I can.

Id reckon itd be easier to fabricate an entire x-member fron scratch rather than modify the Z31 item........ we shall see. Can only really speculate right this minute.

More later when the engine arrives.

L8tr
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[tassuperkart]

My V6 is currently in Melbourne.
Im awaiting a phone call as I type.

I have nutted out how Im going to mount the engine to the 'Lux chassis as well.
The Z32 mounts are raised up about 100mm above the ZX crossmember.
This gives me enough "meat" to remove the mount from the x-member and simply cut it out to fit over the 'Lux chassis rail at the angle I need.
Just a matter of welding the new mounts onto the 'Lux chassis rails and grinding the existing ones off.

I have not yet discarded the Z31 power steering rack and pinion idea just yet.
After a bit of sniffing around at the front stub axles, they appear symmetrical to me.

The 'Lux steering arms are attached from in front of the axle and there are precious few powered racks that mount there. nearly all are like the E15 rack and bolt in behind the X-member.

However, if the stub axles are truly symmetrical, I can simply unbolt each side and swap them over moving the steering pickup points to behind the crossmember.

It only then requires some simple tweaking of the steering arm pickup points to create enough Ackerman angle to stop tyre scrubbing on lock.

Itll mean the brake calipers are mounted in reverse but this wont matter as they are single piston and are symmetrical so its all encouraging!

The steering in the 'Lux is dreadful. Heavy, slow, many turns lock to lock and unresponsive with little or no feedback and its the single thing I hate about the ute.

I can fit a powered Hilux box out of a later model with some rooting around (wont bolt up) but you cant get away from the fact that its a recirculating ball box and shitty to begin with.

Anywhoo more later.
E

[tassuperkart]

Yay!
picked up the VG30det today.
My, its an impressive bit of kit in the flesh! The engine is very clean with almost no sign of any oil leaks.

Its physically a very bulky engine for a pissy 3 liter tho with those big arsed twin cam heads sitting atop the 60 degree block.

The engine came complete with all engine wiring including an alternator, AC compressor, engine mount brackets and rubber mounts and a power steering pump.
It would be pretty much a drop in affair into whatever type of car it came out of.
Saves me so much fabrication having the engine brackets on the engine!!

The turbo is in pristine condition and is a watercooled, ballbearing, ceramic turbine wheel T3 affair. Ive not gotten the heat shround offen it just yet to scope it out closely and compare it against the RB25 turbo I have here.

I can see why these engines could be a pain in the arse as there are all these little water lines running here and there.
2 lines to both TB's, 2 lines to the idle stepper motor, turbo water cooling lines and more running about the place....gawd. A fucken snake pit of little 6mm hoses and steel lines runningnhere and there......mah!
It would be a fucking nightmare to trace and repair a blown line.

Ill get rid of the majority of this stuff. I only need the turbo water lines really.

Interestingly, the engine has dual TB's. I always thought these engine had the single TB coming off the front of the plenum but this baby has a pair of TB, one at each end of the plenum. They are linked together by an adjustable shaft.

The task begins of stripping all the doo-hickies, water lines, unused wiring and other paraphernalia attached to the engine.
There is quite a bit of stuff, valves and other stuff hanging off the plenum which has to go.
Since im running the Microtech on it, I only need a CAS, a TB switch, a water temp sender along with the injector and coil wiring.
The engine has 6 COP type coils which will stay until one eventually dies and then ill just fit some Huyndai waste spark coils and some plug leads.

I have run into my first major hurdle tho.
The sump bowl is on the front of the engine which might be a pain in the arse for me.
I reversed the sump of the FJ20 to clear the pitman arm and its a right fucken arsehole of a job to do along with fabricating a new oil pickup.
It took hours of cutting, grinding and panelbeating to make the sump peices match back together for welding......arrrrgh!!

I have 2 possible outs for this tho.

1: The older single cammer VG30's in Z31's have the sump bowl to the rear...yay! Just a matter of scoring a sump and possibly an oil pickup tube or just make another. Thats not hard.

2: "IF" I can reverse the front stub axles as mentioned previously, I can then fit the powered steering rack from the Z31. In this case, the pitman arm (which is the limiting factor here) will be removed and the only issue will be to fabricate/re-shaped lower suspension crossbrace.
The exising one is straight across and ties the chassis rails together between the lower suspension wishbones.
Its only bolted in at each end and would be a 30 minute job to fabricate a reshaped one to fit hard under the sump.
I just gotta find out if the stubs can be reversed.
Either way, theres a fair bit of buggerising around but we shall see.

The engine mounts are not symmetrical on the engine and the low side mount sits way forward on the block to leave room for the turbo which tucks hard in on the low side rear.
This kinda precludes using the Z31 crossmember as this on has both mounts to the front of the engine.
I could use the front mount position but then i cannot use the existing alternator mount and so it goes!!!
Fabricating custom alternator or engine brackets is such a time consuming headfuck so I reckon ill stay with the stock brackets and mounts and stagger the mountings on the chassis to suit. Unless I can find a fucked older VG out of a Z31 and rob the forward brackets and alternator bracket......dunno.

So there it is kiddies, lots of things to consider here.

Ahh...... the joys of engine swaps!

Ill take some pix of the animal later on.

L8tr
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[Kimmo]

...you cant get away from the fact that its a recirculating ball box and shitty to begin with.

Damn straight... that's most of the reason I regard the Falcon as a POS until at least the EB...

Good luck getting a rack in there. If you can't get it behind the crossmember, and can't find a powered rack to go there, maybe you could find a LHD rack easier and mount it upside-down...?

[tassuperkart]

Yer, totally agreed M8.

Interesting thought on the LHS rack upside down.........never would have thought of that!!
Thing is I reckon it might be more of a headfuck to find a LHD powered rack to begin with tho...... Not too many of those around here.

The Z31 rack will mount up easily and quickly, but its all subject to the stubs being able to be swapped from side to side. It only means fabricating a set of steering arms....easy, and attaching the stock steering shaft, easy again
This will mess with the Ackerman settings. In some cases this can result in reverse Ackerman which means the outside wheel turns TIGHTER than the inside wheel.....not too good!
But its a no brainer to bend the steering arm pickups inwards to re-introduce Ackerman. I dont reckon theres enough Ackerman to begin with to be honest!

A lot of things depend on a lot of other things which depend on other things with this setup!

Damn I dont know why I do this sort of thing...............................

L8tr
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[tassuperkart]

Did some measuring up today.
The engine will fit into the engine bay without too many dramas.

I was concerned with the turbo crossover pipe pushing the engine too far forward but the crossover itself will fit snugly into the recessed area on the firewall where the stock engine used to locate which is very cool.
Initial measurement indicates the engine should sit dead center in the bay but the turbo is perilously close to the chassis rail which might make it a real headfuck to remove the turbo. There will be precious few millimeters clearance if any at all after a roughish measurement....fingers crossed.

All in all, altho the engine position, due to the turbo crossover pipe running around the back of the cylinder heads, will pull the gearbox position forward about 3 inches, the engine will basically sit centered where the FJ20 is now sos wont throww extra weight over the front (yuk)
At first glance, this will prolly require the fabrication of an entire new gearbox crossmember tho. The Toyota crossmember is welded in with a small extension reaching forward to mount under the gearbox.
Its all depends on the length of the Z31 gearbox tho which is a pretty long affair. Oh well, its not hard to fabricate a crossmember so support a gearbox mount. Just another irritation.

Another tack would be to try a set of Vg30dett merged tubular headers and merge the crossover pipe back in after running behind and underneath the bellhousing. The length of the crossover pipe is largely academic and im not even slightly interested in any heat loss from this piping.
Could be a way around things and will enable me to sit the engine back at least 3" in the bay which is a mighty good thing in a lightweight but front heavy ute.

Only way to check it all is to place the engine and box into the bay and suck it and see!

A closer look at the steering stubs reveals the stubs are not symmetrical with a significantly rearset top balljoint (of course it is...fukfukfuk) and its not a simple matter of swapping stubs from side to side to reverse the steering pickups as i had hoped for...fukkit. Nothings that easy eh?

However, it appears that the upper "A" arms have offset upper balljoint mountings but symmetrical inner pivot points which might mean I can swap the upper arms as well as the stubs to keep the steering geometry under control.
Closer measuring will reveal.
I could get all tricky and fabricate some custom tubular "A" arms.........ummmm mebbe not. I gotta get this thing engineered.....lol!

Ill post up a couple of pix of the beast Ive taken later on tonight.

L8tr all
E

[Panda_ET]

meh top mount twin turbo E do it the hardcore way u lazy bastard, u shoulda just thrown a dirty 18rg in there and bolted a turbo and some nitrous foggers to it

[tassuperkart]

Bah, why would I mess with an 18rg when its not half the engine of an FJ20et eh?
The FJ with nitrous foggers and a dirty big 3071 would do the business..... silley kent!

Newhoo here she is in all her glory.
Its over 600mm across the extremes!



Left side view showing the twin TB's and turbo location. Its about 600mm long from the pulley to the crossover pipe.



VG30dett twin turbo flywheel. Id lighten the sucker if I could but, like the FJ20 fly, there is precious little meat on it to be able to remove. No wonder there is a big aftermarket in light Chro-Mo and ally flywheels.



This is the 71c 5 speed. Much the same as fitted to RB20's, Silivia's and 200SX's blah.
It looks a bit tatty as it came out of a burnt Z31. It just needs a new shifter fulcrum bush and output shaft seal.
Interestingly, the dust cover is part of the seal on this model. Usually, the dust cover is part of the tailshaft yoke. Later dated gearboxes have a separate dust cover attached to the back of the output shaft housing. Ill bet the seal/cover I have to buy is worth a squillion.......... typical! Ill know next week.



Lastly, this is the Z32 crossmember with power steering rack. Dunno Iffen I can use any of this just yet. It remains to bee seen iffen I can swap the upper "A" arms along with the stubs.
Good price for free tho, and the engine came with a power steering pump already attached..yay!



More later.
E