twistedsymphony

I'm the proud owner of a very clean low milage 1995 Nissan 240sx.



Background:
I bought this car with the intent of swapping in an SR20DET. I wanted something with ~220whp that would be fun to drive and occasionally autocross during the summer months (I live in NH)

To be perfectly honest I'm more about good handling than straight line power, which is what drew me to the 240sx in the first place.

I don't have much experience working on cars beyond installing bolt on parts and general maintenance tasks. I have a garage but not many tools. Because of my lack of experience and tools (even though I'd love to learn) I had setup for a shop to do the engine swap for me, and budgeted about $7500 to do so, completely turn key including engine, installation, and all supporting parts.

What changed
I was unable to find an engine in good enough condition that I was comfortable having put in my car so I started looking at alternative engine options.

I was looking at VQ35s and J2Zs and someone suggested I look into an LS1... WOW! I couldn't believe how light this motor weighs for the amount of power it puts out... had had blown it off as an option before assuming it would be too big and heavy but to my surprise it doesn't weight much more than the factory KA24DE (since the factory motor has an iron block).

So now I'm seriously looking into an LSx swap. I know I'm not the first person to do this, which IMO is a benefit because I can learn from there mistakes. I'm actually surprised more people have not done this swap considering the characteristics of this motor and it's price/availability in the US.... though I suspect it stems from the anti-Detroit-auto-maker attitudes that most import tuners hold.... shame really

So far I've determined that I need the following equipment beyond a donor drive train:

mounting:
Engine Mount Supports
Subframe reinforcement
transmission brace
aluminum spacers
corvette engine mount brackets
corvette engine mounts

fitment:
GTO front sump oil pan (pan, windage tray, pickup)
Shorty headers to clear stearing rack
driveshaft

cooling:
larger radiator/fans

fuel:
adjustable fuel pressure regulator
255lph pump
high flow fuel filter
braided fuel lines w/ AN fittings

clutch:
GM Clutch line
clutch master cylinder
clutch pedal
clutch mounting hardware

electrical:
harness modification
speedometer correction
base computer tune

-------------------------------------------
completele kit:
http://www.hinsonsupercars.com/partsMainS14.htm
Hinson Super cars offers all of this stuff, but at a fairly steep price:
1213.50 - mounting equipment and braces
435.00 - driveshaft (aluminum)
172.00 - engine mounts
355.00 - oil pan
835.00 - headers
585.00 - cooling system
665.00 - fuel system
79.99 - CMC
83.50 - Clutch line
425.00 - harness modification
80.00 - speedo correction
185.00 - computer tune

That's about $5200 worth of parts/services and I haven't even bought the motor, nor found someone to install it. Not to mention there's some other equipment that will need to be purchased since the car is currently an auto and I'll be making it a 6 speed (interior trim, clutch pedal, etc.)

looking at the list above it seems a bit overwhelming. I'm sure I can source some of the parts much cheaper either from a donor car or a junk yard, or just ebay sales... like the GTO oil pan, CMC, engine mounts etc.

I might be able to do the harness modification myself if I can find some information on it. I'm quite good with electronics and have built many of my own circuits/converters and even custom microcontroller programs for various things in the past... does anyone know of any resources?

I've heard that some 240sx swaps used a specific brand of header to clear the steering rack, I'm wondering what people used exactly, since a cheaper option would be appreciated, I'm thinking it might even be cheaper to have an exhaust shop custom fab something for me.

Finally does anyone know of any aspects of this swap that I'm overlooking? the last thing I want is something to surprise me and wind up costing a few grand more than I was planning on spending.

fouz65

heres a spread sheet i keep on the cost of my swap. the left side is everything to the last cent to have it running down the road. the right side of it is just some guesses i throw on there to see if i could have done it cheaper. so theres a few things missing on the right side since they were just a quick guess. main thing i see missing on the right side is just the radiator fan.

i suggest doing the swap yourself. if you dont have a welder and some cutting tools you can get both for around $300. that will save you alot of money.

i see alot of people doing the "harness modification". i have no clue what that does besides save a lb or 2 of weight. ls1 imo is plug and play.

and any info you need you can find right here on this site. everyone has done theirs just alittle different so you can look around and see what fits you.

Kamin

a lot of people remove all the emissions BS and under dash **** from the harness. its just cleaner. i pulled out probably 30 wires from mine lol

and +1 to doing it yourself. its very time consuming but its SO valuable to understand how everything works and was done just in case you have any problems.

murph6908

iTrader: (6)

The hinson swap kit is really steep, your best bet is to buy parts off the forum. I would recommend just servicing the harness yourself, its really not hard at all just have patience. Also the headers they are charging 800 for, while you can get a quality setup for way less, they are upping the price just because its for a swap.

Kamin

oh yea another thing

hinson is overpriced ****.

twistedsymphony

thanks fouz65 that spreadsheet was quite helpful

Some new questions:
1. Did you have to do any hammering to the tunnel/firewall to get the engine to fit?

2. Which parts required welding? I'm assuming the exhaust and modifications to the sub frame, anything else?

3. Is there a pinout of the LS harness(es?) somewhere? I'm assuming you get the sensors, harness and ECU with the engine and then you have to cut the wiring from the 240sx harness to connect the gauges and other things attached to the car and not the engine, is that correct? Also the emissions pins? I'm assuming various emissions sensors and other crap just get pull out of the harness completely?

4. What's a good timeline for a project like this? assuming it's my first swap and I'm working alone? I'm just trying to get and idea if this is something I can realistically get done over a few weekends or should I just drive it this summer and wait until I put it up for the winter.

Edit: hey Kamin, are you the same guy on nicoclub that swaped out the RB for an LS? If so I read through your project thread earlier today, interesting stuff.

fouz65

#1: yes, i hammered the tranny tunnel. only thing i did to the firewall is there is a seem on it and i flatted it out cause it was getting on my nerves.

#2: motor crossmember, tranny crossmember, and exhaust.

#3: for right now ill say this. dont be scared of the wiring. when the time comes there are people that will help you and there is a FAQ with the wiring in it. and tons of info on this site.

#4: it took me 3 months. i spent 2 weeks just moving the motor around just to make sure i got it where i wanted it. and i wasted a few weeks waiting on parts. make sure the first thing you order is the oil pan/windage tray.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-swaps/312119-ls1-swap-faqs.html
post #1 and post #13 is where i got all my info on the ls1 wiring.

Kamin

im the one and old man, my build threads were kinda missing some stuff because once i got the motor i did the swap in the span of about a month so i was a little busy to say the least

RUTH'LESSDET

iTrader: (1)

What lsx motor are you going with???

twistedsymphony

If I had my pick I'd like to go with an LS2 or LS3 but it really comes down to cost and even an LS1 far surpasses my performance goals.

When I decide I'm ready to bite the bullet on this I'll hit up a few junk yards and craigslistings and see what I can get at what price.

Looking over the pinouts for the ECU the harness wiring looks like tit... I've done WAY more complex stuff..

It's everything else that frightens me... I fear I'm going to be way in over my head on this...

It's not so much the wrenching and hoisting that bothers me but dealing with unforseen problems... this is a New England car and it's only "clean" by NE standards... I never know how to deal with rust and stuck bolts properly and often wind up screwing stuff up.

As for fab stuff... I have all the confidence in the world that I design it, but I have no experience in the actual fabrication work, the extent of my welding experience is a 2 hour crash course I took in college about 7 years ago. I do know a friend of a friend who does welding as a side job but he's lazy as all hell.

I already have a BRM 3" catback for the car so that's money I wont need to spend and fab work I wont need to do. There's also a custom exhaust shop within walking distance from my house so if I get really stuck with that I'm sure I could get help.

Another question:
This is not going to be a race car, I fully intend to drive it daily in the summer. As such it needs to pass inspection/emissions.

I know in NH as long as the motor is from the the same year as the chassis or newer you can swap it... Since my car is a 1995 there is no need for them to do an OBDII plugin for emissions, but they're SUPPOSED to do a visual inspection for a cat and their is rumor that they'll start doing sniffer tests in the next couple of years or so.

Kamin, I'm assuming yours is just a race only rig that gets trailered to the track? What about the rest of you? did you install a cat, have you had any problems with sniffer tests or other emissions checks?

fouz65

mine is a DD car. it dont get drove every day but me and the wife do drive it. she drives it just like any other car, picking up the kids at school, groceries, etc. but i try not to drive it all the time. just seems like wasted miles when i got a POS work car to drive. but if im not going to and from work. im driving it.

i live in Alabama. i could have just 3 wheels on it and it would be legal. only thing i would need would be cats and i think it would pass any where.

Kamin

while my car is a full race car it passes OBD2 and visual inspection (except for no cat's )

if its tuned properly you will have NO problem passing a sniffer test.

EazyBreazy

Kamin, Does your engine have the air blower and egr, or just have the error codes programed out?

neeshSS

Isn't there a shop called XAT racing, my buddy with an s13 was looking into them.

twistedsymphony

That's what I assumed, but I figured I'd ask to be sure. I'm going to throw a cat on mine since I found a new one today for cheap money.

I've never heard of them... I was going to use JNR in NH to do the SR swap there are a few other shops I've heard of in MA and CT but I've never heard of XAT

-------------------------------

I've started lurking a few BST forums for parts, I figure if I can grab deals here and there while I mull over the exact direction I'm going to go with this I can save some cash in the process.

I picked up a 3" catco cat today for $60 and dual pillar gauge pod (might come in handy) for $20... And I found a guy with a wrecked 240 who's going to ship me his front sub frame for cheap money... which is great because then I wont have to worry about screwing up the modification since I'll have a spare

I also researched some sites that sell custom driveshafts and discovered that they charge pretty much the same exact amount as Hinson does... but with the difference that I wont have to send Hinson any measurements if I order theres.

Some questions:
1. How much weight savings is there with an Aluminum Driveshaft over an iron one? Obviously weight savings in a drive line component are much more critical than overall weight savings... is it worth the extra $200~?

2. I assume the Hinson driveshaft is designed to work with the factory 240 rear end... how does the 240 rear end and axels hold up to LSx power? FWIW: my car has the factory optional V-LSD... Would I be better off using a GM rear end or axels, do they even fit, or would this be a headache to match up?

3. Hinson sells a whole fuel kit with a new filter, lines, pressure regulator and other crap.. it also includes a Walbro 255lph fuel pump. most other engine swaps I see done people just drop in the Walbro pump and call it day... do I really need all that other equipment?

GTOpowered240sx

iTrader: (1)

Yes, but I dont believe they offer anything other than actually doing the swap.

www.xatracing.com

EDIT: May want to read this thread before going there though

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-swaps/891414-xat-s-ls1-swap.html

Kamin

programed out, thats why it would pass obd2 haha

icantdrift

iTrader: (1)

get the word "hinson" out of your vocabulary. anything he sells you can source a lot cheaper.

1&2. aluminum vs. steel is all up to your wallet. the best way to go with the driveshaft is to get everything in the car and mounted where you want it, then measure from the tailshaft of the trans to the flange on the differential... call up driveshaftshop.com and give them that measurement and tell them you're using a T56 and an R200 differential in a 240sx. in a few days you will have a properly fitting driveshaft on your porch ready to install in the car. hinson's is spec'd to his goofy mounting and probably wouldn't quite fit if you mount yourself. the stock R200 differential is strong, although the VLSD's do tend to wear out. if you want a strong diff after the VLSD goes south just run an aftermarket KAAZ or Nismo unit inside the stock housing and it's pretty much bulletproof.

3. get the walbro drop in for the S14, and a stock C5 corvette fuel filter. the rest of the plumbing can come from Napa, the gm quick disconnect fittings and some universal 5/16" and 3/8" hose and clamps will finish the job. see the FAQ section or search the forum for plumbing routing, it's very simple. search for 240sx on this forum and you'll find loads of info on this very swap in both s13's and s14's; everything is identical other than basic dimensions when mounting.

twistedsymphony

thanks icantdrift!

rich_s14

I'm doing research for the same swap, and I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, twistedsymphony. I just wanted to add that all the info that's been posted has been very helpful!

I was inspired by cnichols' videos on youtube, and fed up with the OBDII sensor issues that my KA has been having over the last year. I also have the extra challenge of trying to make this thing smog legal in California, woo!

There's a shop here in Northern California called "Daft Innovations". They've put an LS1 into an S13, but I'm not sure how good their quality is. Anybody heard of them? They've got pipes, driveshaft, tranny & engine mounts/crossmembers, looks like everything we'd need.

Here are links to some useful threads that I'm reading through right now.

fouz65's original LS1 swap (LS1Tech.com)

"Who's actually DONE an LS1 / 240SX swap?" from the NICOclub fourms (Starts getting informative on pg3)

"ATTENTION! All LS1 swapped 240sx owners!!!" from NICOclub

I haven't read through them all, but i'm searching through all of the LS1 240 guys' posts to find useful info.