Reed,
What differential are you using with your Nissan/Datsun Engine &
transmission?
I'm planning a similar transplant; putting my Spitfire body tub on my GT6
chassis, adding a turbocharged EFI TR6 engine w/ forged pistons and ported &
polished head w/ stainless steel exhaust valves & hardend valve seats,
either a Datsun or Toyota Supra transmission, and probably a modified Datsun
510 limited slip differential.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Reed Mideke <rmideke@interbase.com>
To: spitfires@autox.team.net <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Cc: triumphs@autox.team.net <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, July 16, 1999 3:53 PM
Subject: Re: Easiest Engine To Fit
>
>
>
>James Carpenter wrote:
>>
>> >Well, the concensus is that I need a full rebuild on my Spitfire motor.
I
>> >thought that this might be the opportunity to drop something less
>> >troublesome in. What would be the easiest non-Spitfire motor to fit into
an
>> >'80 Spit? I know that the purists on the list may flinch at this, and I
>> >will definitely keep my old motor in case I should choose to retrofit it
>> >one day.
>>
>> First off, I have noproblem with cutting out the 1500 motor and putting
in
>> somthing more potant than you can tune the 1500 to. I have looked into
this
>> myself.
>>
>> I would say that fitting any other motor for an easyer life would be
>> missguided, more power mabe, but you can cheaply get all the work done on
>> you 1500 motor, and not have to wory about it for 70 thousand mile, more
>> with an oil cooler. I would hate to think of the work involved in
swapping
>> the engin, and your not ganteed to get any better relyability. After all
>> you will need to completly rebuild the engin your going to put in to give
>> you any advantage.
>[...good information snipped ...]
>>
>> Now, I have looked at swapping the engin for somthing different in my
car.
>> Toyotat 'T' serise is an option, as is the Triumph slant for, or Triumph
>> '6'. Small sized, small capacity RWD motors are now getting like hens
>> teath. Quite simply they dont make them, the bigger V8's and the like
need
>> Major body work brake drive chaine, chassis and suspension work. Any
small
>> RWD engin sutable for fitting in the spit will not be a very modern
design,
>> mabe early 80's at the latest. Even thoes engins can be considered
>> unrelyable compaired to modern standards. Even these will have there own
>> pit falls, some of which you will be the first to discover becaus they
will
>> never have been run in the same environment before. The relation of the
>> 1500 was first fitted to a car in the early 50's, it's had all its
problems
>> ironed out. The ancilerys is mabe another mater.
>>
>First of all, I agree with james. If you invest the same amount of
>effort
>into building a nice spit motor as you would in a swap, you should
>have a car thats plenty reliable, and has enough power to cruise
>on the freeway (motorway). There is no such thing as an easy
>swap. (Well, a spitfire tub onto a complete GT6 should be pretty
>easy, assuming you have a GT6 and spit.)
>
>As for small RWD engines, there are still a few.
>You could go for Mazda miata (mx5 in other countries), or mazda RX7,
>or the Nissan SR20DE(t) that is used in the non US market 200 sx
>(Aluminum 2 liter, optionally with turbo!) The 200sx outside the US is
>like
>our 240sx (thus RWD), except it has this motor. In the US, its only
>available
>in a FWD configuration, in the sentra SER and US 200sx.
>The toyota 22Rs have proven over many years, but they're a little
>large for a spit. If you want to go that route, you might as well
>go for a V6. Dan masters site (http://members.aol.com/~danmas) has
>links to a couple of nice V6 and V8 spits , as well as one using a 2L
>mitsubishi turbo motor (I'm not sure what car that comes out of).
>All of these swaps require significant engineering, but so does
>building up a stock motor. The difference is that building up motors has
>been
>well defined over the years, wheras with engine swaps, you're more on
>your own.
>
>If you really want to go nuts with engineering, you can do what I'm
>doing and
>convert a FWD motor to RWD. The motor I'm using is a 1600 cc DOHC, multi
>port
>EFI from a 90s nissan sentra. It comes with about 110 hp stock. It is
>actually a cousin of the nissan A series motors, so it is possible to
>connect it to the RWD tranny from a datsun 210 (with some adaption).
>This
>gives me a 5 speed, and connects to the rear with a custom drive shaft
>(which is easy to have made). This is definatly not an easy swap.
>
>> Last August I was looking into the same choice you were, and quite
honestly
>> the easyest rould by far was rebuilding the 1500, then tuning it to get
>> somthing like 95BHP from it. Which I think is reasonable for a car
>> weighting .8 of a tone. I'm now 3000 miles in on that engin, and its
>> started to run like a dream, apart from problems with ancilerys, and
things
>> I could not aford to touch.
>>
>> Mabe not what you wanted to hear, but you did say what would be the
easiest
>> engin, in the long run I believe it will still be the 1500 motor.
>>
>> James
>
>--
>Reed Mideke rmideke@interbase.com
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