Building a Z-Car, but it's not a Camaro!

[Flash68]

They now make a wide flare kit for these cars too.

[Todd in vancouver]

Very nice project and welcome. You will find a small army of guys on this forum with a wealth of knowledge. Looking forward to seeing this one come together

[DETON8R]

Awesome project, light car, good handling, and with a few mods it should be a rocket that handles.

And it is a pre-1976 vehicle, so no smog inspection requirements here in the Golden State. Nice starting point.

How much of a weight change do you expect by removing the iron in line 6 and replacing with the LS engine? As I recall the SBC swaps in the past made the car a bit more heavy, but the weight was more central to the car so to wasn't a big sacrifice, as it helped transfer some weight toward the rear. Do you have a target weight after the car is done?

Also there's a lot of room up front in the engine bay. Any chance your gonna use a turbo or pro-charger with all that real estate in front of the engine?

Have you seen the yellow Z-car at the Good Guys events in Pleasanton? I think he's running a SBC, with a cage and other mods.

[WSSix]

Nice project and welcome to the forum.

[srh3trinity]

I have wanted one of these for some time. I like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4UmvhC3TqM

And the wide body version after he re-built it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujEhJNBnq9M

I like this one too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeJggBCEjBE

[glassman]

Hi, my name is mike and I would like to assist in the assembly of your time machine

All fun aside (well not really cause this is going to be fun) I am really looking forward to be a part of this. Car will be built in livermore country.

[strtcar]

looking forward to this build, I love early Z cars.

[fearlessmark]

Originally Posted by glassman

Hi, my name is mike and I would like to assist in the assembly of your time machine

All fun aside (well not really cause this is going to be fun) I am really looking forward to be a part of this. Car will be built in livermore country.

Hey Mike! I'm so looking forward to having you work on this project with me! It should be a fun little project!

[fearlessmark]

Originally Posted by DETON8R

Awesome project, light car, good handling, and with a few mods it should be a rocket that handles.

And it is a pre-1976 vehicle, so no smog inspection requirements here in the Golden State. Nice starting point.

How much of a weight change do you expect by removing the iron in line 6 and replacing with the LS engine? As I recall the SBC swaps in the past made the car a bit more heavy, but the weight was more central to the car so to wasn't a big sacrifice, as it helped transfer some weight toward the rear. Do you have a target weight after the car is done?

Also there's a lot of room up front in the engine bay. Any chance your gonna use a turbo or pro-charger with all that real estate in front of the engine?

Have you seen the yellow Z-car at the Good Guys events in Pleasanton? I think he's running a SBC, with a cage and other mods.

My weight goal on this project is as close to the original weight of the car as possible. The stock 240Z is a little less than 2400 Lbs. Installing a SBC adds about 125 Lbs. From what I'm learning, the aluminum LS is quite a bit lighter than the SBC (correct me if I'm wrong), so it may be a wash when I replace the six.

My main concern is LB/Horsepower. With a cam, headers and an ECU remap, I should be able to get 450HP out of an LS1, maybe more (again, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm still learning!). If I can keep the weight down to around 2600 Lbs, that comes out to 5.78 Lb/HP, which is fantastic for a fast street car. If I can get 500HP, it will be better still. To get this kind of power to weight ratio in Gen 1/Gen 2 Camaro requires 650+HP.

As for a Pro-charger/Turbo, I don't think it's worth the cost. It will generate a massive amount of extra heat under the hood, and some major drivetrain work will be needed to handle the power, all of which adds up to big expense. The target power to weight ratio will be be just about right for the street.

This car is intended to be a fast street car that can be tracked, rather than a track car that can be used on the street. I want to be able to hop in it and use it on my 30 mile commute with no worries.