Hi guys, just wondering if anyone knows how much weight can be taken out of a zed? Since I'm considering an NA instead of a TT at the moment, are they much lighter? I know they don't have hicas for example, but is the r230 diff much heavier than the r200 diff? Did the TT get any additional chassis stiffening? And so on.

 

Has anyone compiled a list on here somewhere of what things weigh? Also, are there any chassis repair manuals floating around online which could help me find out which bits aren't structural, etc?

Like 17 - 18 stone....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I'm sitting in it :)

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?96645-Weight-saving

From memory the r230 and r200 diffs are about 20kg different, with the r230 being the heavier and il tell you now it's bloody heavy. You will save weight by not having hicas as you won't have two steering racks but that can be deleted on a TT without too much silliness. Tbh if your worried about weight you need the correct platform to begin with ie a slicktop, that extra 4" of sill and the targa accommodations add a whole fat kid. I believe the autobox adds a fair chunk of weight to.

The NA is a fair bit down on power comparatively, you will not gain any power to weight out the box by simply choosing an NA. Even if you saved 200-250kg thats still 100hp your missing and as you likely know it's not hard to increase the tt's power. Tuning an NA is a mugs game in my opinion the financial outlay to get an NA close to closing the power gap is very high esp considering the aforementioned ability for the TT to gain power.

That being said the NA is a solid car, what you loose in power you gain in reliability. That has it's merits. It really depends on what you want overall and how you plan to use it. I know of an NA slicktop that's faster on track than most people in TTs, shorter gearing might help but I suspect the driver helps more.

 

You can go through pretty drastic weight loss like jaffa's car, it is a focused track weapon though. Personally despite the fact I've thrown a lot of crap (or luxuries) out I wouldn't want to loose the door cars for example. Most of what I've removed has been for the aim of simplification purposes rather than out and out right weight loss.

Edited March 3, 201510 yr by Stephen

Thanks for the replies. It definitely wouldn't be staying as an NA, so I'm not worried about tuning it. It's more just the weight I want to shed since I know they're not light cars. Whatever car I find, it'd end up being a manual TT, likely with the NA back end to allow me to have the 4.1:1 r200 diff. In fact, I have a 4.3:1 diff that'd fit on my skyline, so if I broke it I could even slap that on so long as it doesn't just end up wheel spinning everywhere. :)

 

I appreciate the slicktop is lighter due to the different roof and presumably less reinforced chassis, but they're 2 seaters and I need it to be a lwb to get my kids in the back. I also kinda like the idea of having the t bar. :)

In that case buy a TT then. It will be cheaper and easier to change to an NA rear sub assembly than swap in a TT engine to an NA car.

At my budget, I have to simply look for the best condition shell I can find, regardless of what engine it has. There aren't many manual TT's in my budget, and the few that are all seem to be rotten.

That's fair enough as long as you appreciate that it is harder by some degree to change an NA to TT than TT auto to manual and/or swap out rear end.

The TT has different wiring, fuel pump controller, different ECU, boost control, etc and that's before you get to the front end where all the intercooler pipework etc goes. The TT chassis has provision for all those things where as you'll have to make them fit on an NA chassis.

I once got a rough quote from a well known 300zx specialist to convert and it was £1500 labour + parts/engine etc.

There's a good guide on NA to TT swap on Z1s website. It's a right **** on.

I thought the whole point of you looking to get a Z32 was because you wanted something that was faster than your Skyline...?! How have you gone from that premise to suddenly looking at NAs...?

 

Why not just save up and wait for a good one to come available after the summer? I can't even begin to imagine the headaches associated with swapping a TT engine into an NA shell...!!

That's fair enough as long as you appreciate that it is harder by some degree to change an NA to TT than TT auto to manual and/or swap out rear end.

The TT has different wiring, fuel pump controller, different ECU, boost control, etc and that's before you get to the front end where all the intercooler pipework etc goes. The TT chassis has provision for all those things where as you'll have to make them fit on an NA chassis.

I once got a rough quote from a well known 300zx specialist to convert and it was £1500 labour + parts/engine etc.

 

Is say that's a fair price. Just to swap a block tt to tt the labour is a very healthy portion. The extra labour appears to be free unless that doesn't include the cost of an engine.

I thought the whole point of you looking to get a Z32 was because you wanted something that was faster than your Skyline...?! How have you gone from that premise to suddenly looking at NAs...?

 

Why not just save up and wait for a good one to come available after the summer? I can't even begin to imagine the headaches associated with swapping a TT engine into an NA shell...!!

It definitely wouldn't stay as an NA mate, as yes that is the plan to end up with something that feels faster than the skyline. But since all the TT's I've seen in my budget have had problems and lots of rust, I'm forced to look at other options. I don't really have a means of upping my budget, other than saving for months and months, and I don't have a car right now. It may end up costing the same overall, but at least if I could find a cheap rust free NA to keep me mobile, I can buy bits here and there over time for converting, and I can do the work myself anyway.

Is say that's a fair price. Just to swap a block tt to tt the labour is a very healthy portion. The extra labour appears to be free unless that doesn't include the cost of an engine.

No, it was just for the labour. He hadn't done one before either, but reckoned he could suss it out. Did say it would make more sense to just buy a TT though.

I'm sensing you might have one or two skyline parts kicking about and your familiar with them. Thought about this option?

and I can do the work myself anyway.

 

Ok........ good luck with this...

Good luck on your quest then mate! You must be very handy with the spanners to be considering any of this:)

Trouble is realistically there is no reason why an NA will be any less rusty then a TT even at budget prices.

I know they won't necessarily be cheaper to buy, but I'm just not restricting myself to only looking at TT's any more, in the hope that somewhere I'll find a good shell worth having.

 

I've done a couple of engine swaps before, so I should be able to fumble my way through. Ideally yes I'd just get a manual TT, but it seems my budget won't get me a good one nowadays. If only I'd bought one instead of my skyline 5 years ago, but needed the boot space for a pushchair at the time. :(

Ok, I've given this some thought...

 

Dan: you say you need a car cos you don't have one right now, and money's tight... if you buy an NA and then buy all the associated parts needed for a complete TT swap, what are you going to use as a car for the weeks that your Zed is square-wheeled (when you start the engine swap)...?

 

Surely you'd need to buy another car anyway to cover that time period?

 

You're also hampered by the fact that you're arguably looking to buy a semi-convertible sports car at the wrong time of year. The weather's on the turn now which means the prices are going to increase - they always do on cars like this when the summer's on the horizon!

 

So there's a couple of issues that look like they're going to count against you, at least. Not to mention the sheer amount of work that'll be required to swap all the necessary TT parts into an NA shell, which will see your Zed off the road for weeks, if not longer!

 

Here's my thoughts: buy a runaround and get saving so, when the summer's gone and the prices have dropped a little, you've got a nice pile of money to hopefully buy a TT with.

 

If you know what car you want, wait for one to come up for sale. Don't "make do" with a different variant as you'll not be happy with it in the long run!

 

I always wanted a SWB, but there wasn't one available within my budget at the time, so I bought a LWB instead. As much as I liked that car, I never truly loved it... because it wasn't the car I wanted...

 

I'm trying to give you some sensible advice here, man....

I agree with Mondo Dan that black NA you were looking at was 3k add to that the 1k budget you said for the parts to convert and you have 4k. If you wave 4k around on here I'm sure a car will surface.

Why would it take me weeks and weeks to do an engine swap?

 

I don't need a car as a daily, since I ride my bike to work and back throughout the week, this would purely be a car that I can enjoy. I like my cars, and am going out of my mind not having something worth driving. Buying a runaround wouldn't do, since I wouldn't enjoy it in the slightest. My wife already has a crappy Seat Leon that I despise driving, so why buy something else like that? I need a car for my enjoyment, not as a day to day necessity. Even if my car really was on the drive for weeks while I work on it, I enjoy working on cars anyway, so I wouldn't be losing out. I'd still be happy enough driving an NA while I've got a TT engine build in the garage waiting to be dropped in once I've sourced everything. Know what I mean?

 

I get where you're coming from about you always wanting an swb though, as I always wanted a gtr, but ended up with a gtst instead due to my budget. It's never measured up. But although a lwb zed can't be turned into a swb zed, an NA or auto zed CAN be turned into a manual TT with a bit of graft.

I reprogram ECUs & map NA - TT conversions fairly regularly. It doesn't take weeks & weeks :)

I reprogram ECUs & map NA - TT conversions fairly regularly. It doesn't take weeks & weeks :)

 

It probably doesn't... if you're experienced in doing them. But as a TT conversion is more than simply swapping the physical engine, I imagine an unexperienced home mechanic (apologies Dan, but I have to assume that's what you are here) would find days turning into weeks.

 

But hey, this is only my advice, Dan. Take it or leave it. :)

No offence taken mate, I don't know you either. :)

Other thing you might want to consider is that the insurance companies will most likely class the conversion as a modification which in turn puts the prices up and will be a buyers consideration in the future when/if you come to sell the car.

 

Personally I recon you should just wait and get a nice TT

Here's a great idea.....save up for a nice one! Why are you in such a rush to get an old turd to fix up, or spent ages doing a TT conversion? Save some pennies for god sake! :)

I have to agree with Si here. Buy right once and save yourself the chew on. I know it's hard to find a perfect one but it may be worth it. As Oan suggested, wave your £4k around!