Possible engine swap candidate

[peng155]

Hi Folks.....

I've been thinking about an engine swap for my Z, for a while now... There's a 77 ZX non-turbo being parted out in the locale area. The owner is advertising it as having low miles.

I'm still running the stock engine in the car, I swapped out the stock 4-speed for a 5-speed, but I do still have the original 4 speed stored in the garage somewhere, if I do the swap I'll be keeping the original engine in case I want to go back to the original engine and tranny sometime down the road.

The seller is asking 300 bucks for the engine, do you guy's think this asking price is reasonable ??

Thanks

-Phil

[rdefabri]

Yes, that's a fair price. Find out how many miles and/or if everything is proper (e.g., not seized). I'd doubt there's anything major given that the bottom-end of an L motor is about bulletproof, and the head is easy to have refreshed.

[ChrisZ]

If you want to go FI then remember to get all what's needed, harness, ECU etc.

Chris

[peng155]

thanks for the input guy's... I'll be staying with a SU setup

[Arne]

Does the engine run now? Can you run a compression test? Listen for noises? Look for smoke? Because if you don't have any clue how good it is, $300 could be too much. If it burns oil, has bad compression, needs a valve job, or something like that, $300 is a pretty expensive core.

Plus a '77 would have originally been a round-port head. Even if you ignore the "conventional wisdom" that says round-port heads suck, you won't be able to use your existing exhaust either. Not that the exhaust should be a deal-breaker, but it's something to consider.

[Zs-ondabrain]

And also find out if it's a 79' ZX or 77' Z. No such thing as a 77' ZX.

[peng155]

And also find out if it's a 79' ZX or 77' Z. No such thing as a 77' ZX.

I boo-booed... it's a 77 280Z, Not sure if the engine is runnable since the guy is parting the car out.. I was planning on making the engine a part time hobby learn how to rebuild an engine when I don't have anything better to do time killer.

I was planning on using as many of the bolt on engine components from the L24 as I could.. mainly the distributor, intake, and exhaust manifold's.

I was considering heading to a pick & pull to get my guinea pig subject, but I sort of thought that getting an engine from a private party part-out might be a safer route (?) I'm checking to see if the engine can be started up.

Thanks guy's

[Arne]

Your 240Z exhaust manifold will not fit (properly) if it is a round-port head.

[peng155]

Thanks Arne, I just did some reading in my Datsun books, and it would seem my options if I were to pickup this engine would be to source a a 76 or earlier head with the square exhaust ports, or make sure I get the stock exhaust manifold with the engine, and plan on redoing the exhaust system when I make the swap (?)

[Arne]

Yup, that's how I se it too. A third option would be a round port header, and still some exhaust work. As I said, not a deal-breaker, but you need to allow for that in your offer.