A little background if you have the time:
This is my first car, which I got when i was 17. When I was 19 or 20, the timing belt, on the stock non-turbo VG, decided to unburden itself, and instead of just replacing the belt and any valves/headwork, I decided it would be cool to swap in a turbo VG. Well this turned out to be a bad idea since I never got it running correctly, which I'd still attribute to the local machine shop that rebuilt it, but either way it was a failed attempt at a stock option swap.

After that the car sat, and I'd tinker on it from time to time. In the interim, I had a '90 accord as a daily which was a bit emasculating , then I bought a custom '91 chevy swb off a buddy and drove that around for a while.

Then one fortuitous evening I was introduced to the almighty LS in the form of a friend's '04 GTO with a 175 shot. I was done. And shortly thereafter purchased my first fbody/LS in the form of a '01 WS6, which I had until around 2010.

Got through college, started my career, got married, bought a house, and unfortunately, the wife hated the Z so it ended up sitting a while longer untouched. Then a few years ago I got a divorce, and "temporarily" stored the car at my stepfather's place, which actually ended up turning into 3 years

While the car was stored, I got rid of my tundra and bought a 2000 SS to daily, and basically ended up performing a ton of maintenance including the entire suspension before turning that in on '08 Z06. So around February of this year, the thought of reviving my aging Z into a track car sprouted legs and so began the process of unearthing it and relocating it to my current residence. And even though I'd never done anything like this before, I wanted to approach this project as hands-on learning experience and figured that if I screwed something up it wasn't a big deal since the only remaining value left in the car was sentimental.

As luck would have it, there happened to be another guy doing roughly the same swap and had went through the arduous legwork of assisting Dirty Dingo Motorsports develop engine mounts for this application, which they'd just released weeks prior.

With engine mounts purchased, around April I picked up a 5.3 out of an '02 Yukon XL from a local yard, and over the course of the next several months, spent many hours researching and started swapping out the various components and purchasing all the odds and ends to fit it into the engine bay of the Z.

In October, I contacted Kenny Cash for a new harness and PCM flash. And having received this and completing the integration into the car, I test fired it for the first time last Monday and much to my surprise and relief it started on the first try with no leaks, fires, or explosions.

So on the following several posts I'll backfill the photo log, and from there start adding new content as I complete tasks. Thanks for reading!


The general plan so far:

• 5.3L
• T56
• S13/S14 rear sub frame
• R200/R230 diff
• Kouki front-end swap
• Gutted interior
• No A/C or Heat
• Power steering retained

Stand and Welder

 

Started on the bay






Drilled out the stock battery tray


Primed


Painted


Kouki swap pieces and replacement fender

 

Had to swap back to the non-turbo crossmember




Turbo crossmember removed


Turbo (offset/non-painted) vs non-turbo


Non-turbo crossmember installed



Dirty Dingo Mounts

 

Went ahead and refreshed the front suspension and rack while everything was out

 

The engine! Sourced, degreased, and painted

 

TBO replica lip came in finally along with clutch, flywheel gaskets and suspension components





Fbody pan and tray


New fbody tray, pickup, and dipstick combo


Picked up two LS1 intakes, got a deal on the second one and resold for a profit nearly paying for both







Broken header bolt removal (1st time and only second time using a welder)









Organization



Painting the valve covers

 

Changing out the bottom pan, pump and seals

 

First test fit











Sensors and injectors came in

 

Fuel

 

Carpet and sound deadening removal




Custom drain hole



HVAC and dash removal










Patching the firewall














First time doing this

 

Bolt kit and starter came in





CX Racing intake



Accessories
Fbody pump


Blazer alt and 2010 Camaro PS pump

 

Cleaning up the dash support and pedal mounts

 

Wire removal and tuck

 

Fixing the pass headlight bucket (will be tubed later) and kouki swap initial fitment


























Apparently there's a slight difference if splicing the 87-89 bumper onto the 86 fender, will need to cut and glass the lip I guess

 

Fuel pump replacement and tank cleaning












Walbro 455









Retrofitting the stock feed and return lines with AN fittings


Ridgid 37 degree flaring tool

 

Battery Relocation and routing power


Flaming River 1/0 kit


Had to drill the terminals to fit the kill switch, alt relay and battery junction posts






























Battery ground to frame


Engine to rail ground


Additional head to body grounds

 

Stock theft system bypass for key





Wires and protectors



Trimming the stock truck manifolds









Harness and flashed PCM arrived!


Reusing the stock speedo cable after widening two 2 inches






Integration subharness made of recycled Z wiring

 

We have pressure





First crank!

530zx first fire - YouTube

 

Well, that was a lot of pics and a lot of progress. I love it Seems like Nissan needs to just go ahead and start putting V8s in their cars. They seem to find a way in their at some point in the life of the car anyhow. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks man!