bgblockelcamino

iTrader: (9)

anyone have a pic of the kit they sell? i have a customer looking into this swap but would like to see what comes with the kit. i see they sell template but would like to see what is involved

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

its junk. take it to a local fabrication shop who actually knows what they are doing, or check out www.speedfetishperformance.com , www.xatracing.com . if you cant find what you need there, call them.

honestly nobody sells a kit thats worth a damn for diy'ers YET. harnesses can be done, but there are some in the works.

as shown by the other hinson thread in this forum, their product, and customer service is complete garbage, only thing you can buy from them that might work is something they resell from summit that you get without instructions that in theory should work so they sell it.

wow i look like a hinson hater today. i did actually have all of their so called "ls1 swap kit" on my car though.

Kamin

+1 to what mike said.

its a garbage kit.

bgblockelcamino

iTrader: (9)

thanks for the input i am trying to gather some info.

RUTH'LESSDET

iTrader: (1)

Did speed fetish do your swap ? and can you post pics of your swap, most importantly the mounts

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

i originally did the swap at speed fetish, but we used hinson stuff as they were sponsoring the car.

hoenstly i got the stuff for free, and it wasnt even worth it. i've had a lot of sponsors in the past, and they are the only ones i've ever gotten to the point of basically telling them to **** off, and i threw their parts in the trash, excpet their transmission crossmember, which i cut up and used the center peice of the metal to make my new one because its the same metal i was already using.

speed fetish did a s14, im not sure if it is done yet, i've been so busy i havent gotten to talk to them lately but i know they dont show any pics of any work until it is 100% completed so that they can answer every in/out and aspect of the swap once it is completed. they also just got done building an sr powered mg midget.

i went to xat and redid it after throwing the hinson stuff away (unfortunately i like contracts a lot, so i had to keep their **** on my car for a year) me and chris made an xat kit.

both shops are fully capable of doing the swap right, have 1st hand experience, and offer working air conditioning, guage clusters, alternators/clutches/headers with the swaps they offer.

your best bet is to contact them about questions. i just moved to atlanta because i got tired of stressing out over owning/running/operating/transporting/marketing my race team by myself, with my only help being limited (but very awesome) crew help. i had an offer come up at www.batlground.com in atlanta where they have two cars already, and offered to help share the work load with their already established race team, and as much as i miss everyone at xat i had to do it. they are a very capable shop, as well as speed fetish. right now i'd say either of them are the best shops in the country to take your car to for a ls1 swap, and te batlground crew and i will be jigging everything that we make on our racecars so there is a legitimate DIY header, mount, oil pan, wirring harness that is a true 100% bolt in, plug in, turn key kit.

just give it time. if you dont have time or the self-fabrication ability (and theres nothing wrong with that) then right now your only real legitimate option is to pay a shop to do it. i'm sure theres more shops that can do it, and im not trying to toot the horn of people that have helped me, but i konw www.speedfetishperformance.com and www.xatracing.com have done it 1st hand, and i'd trust both those shops with anything. hell xat is doing the 1st 2jz swap into a 350z right now, sr20 miatas, whatever.

i'm just trying to post my personal experience with lsjuan s chassis.

i had the hinson stuff, i treid to help them develop it, but they had already decided they didnt want my help. they still dont have a functioning s chassis wiring harness to this day, their mounts are pretty much junk, their welding has proven to be hit or miss (search for their FD subframes they sent to customers that were only tack welded ) , they just dont have any pride in their work, just arrogance. their headers seem to work okay, but theres no reason to wrap around the steering shaft when every other swap on this forum that is done by a diy that 1/2 the time is their 1st non stock motor swap has been able to make headers that clear the steering shaft.

this post isnt inteded to bash people, or toot horns, im just trying to be 100% honest from my 1st hand experience in the 2 years i've had this swap.

LS240sx

iTrader: (12)

Dude dont be ashamed to bash Hinson. I must admit their headers are nice but as you said the headers do not have to go around the steering shaft.

I will say I wasnt to pleased with the service and I was lied too twice about my drive shaft being balanced... Got the shaft and it has no balancing weights and I can feel it vibrating at 60-70 mph.

Plus the customer service is horrible and I had to make reminder call after reminder call. It seems they contract most of their work.

I wish I could get hooked up with a company like XAT and really make some unique and different swap kits. I have the vision just no the welding skills to make a great swap kit.

daftdrifting

I can make you a kit. The thing about my kit is you have to run a custom sway bar or put spacers. reason i didnt make a kit to push motor back even farther because the farther you push motor back the more you have to beat the trans tunnel .. or lower you have to to mount motor.. as it is right now my motor is like 1/8 inch clearances all around the oilpan and crossmember.. only other things you can do it to lower crossmember like hinson to obtain more transmission bellhousing room in the trans tunnel and push motor back a bit more to allow stock sway or upgraded sway to fit with stock hardware. I could also notch out the gto oil pans. So for a kit it dont make since to push motor back so far to where the customers would have to bash there trans tunnel in so much. when you lower your crossmember like hinson it makes your bumpsteer and steering geometry wrong.. 240sx already have issues once you lower them in the first place.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

kit im putting together has a complete custom oil pan and pick up tube with some other nifty things.

LS240sx

iTrader: (12)

Ive already got a kit we made on mine. I had to beat the firewall back a good bit but it clears and has room for the Suspension Techniques sway bar.

LS240sx

iTrader: (12)

The main thing that would solve most if no tall issues is to make two 90 degree knotches in the GTO oil pan on either side at the very bottom of the sump. It would clear the sway bar and allow for more clearance from the cross-member.

bgblockelcamino

iTrader: (9)

thanks for the input
I will look into other options now.
is everyone making their own headers or using one particular brand? i have used camaro headers on a customer's truck just had to modify driver side. that is not a big deal. just trying to weight out the options before quoting on the job. looks like i would be doing the same thing again

daftdrifting

yes everyone is making headers or running c5 manifolds or aftermarket.. passenger fits if imnot mistaken and driver you have to cut collector and put a 90 on it. but cmon u want long tubes Damn everyones making kits.. i just thought for ease of install to not push motor back crazy far .. just enough to wear you have to massage the firewall a bit and then notch gto oil pant to make sway bar fit. I will post what I did for my sway.

daftdrifting

lol I made a sway bar similar to ones you see on monster trucks, nascars, its from hollow tube with splined ends with solid steel splined arms that travel along the side of the frame rails and i used a hiem joint to connect the swap bar arms to the top of the lower control arm. I can take pics when i have a chance. I purchased everything to make the sway bar from speedway engineering http://www.1speedway.com/

The stock sway bar would have fit on my car is I would have notched the crossmember a little bit more. but the farther you move engine back more of the transmission will hit the trans tunnel. To fix that you have to lower the motor more or hit the tunel more. I tried making it a easy swap. I went so low i have to grind a little bit of my cast in the rack on driver side where rubber bushing wraps around rack to have clearance for oilpan.


This is the bar I got but flat and I had it bent at a machine shop at the right angles I wanted to get to the exaxt spot on my lower control arm so I wouldn't have any wheel rubbing when T would turn in !!


I mounted these near stock location of stock sway bar bushing mounts that is use to hold the hollow spined sway bar tube.


I used these on eather end of sway bar tube to keep it from shifting left and right.


I used 2 of these with the adjuster nut in middle to lengthen or shorten. Went from end of swap bay bar to the lower front control arms.


Looks like this when assembled and you pic the lengths for everything to get the exact fit you want. The hollow way bar tubes are spined on each end and for the weight of your car you can pick different wall thickness.

Now that my front sway bar is so agressive I need to get a nice rear. I have a aftermarket one but dont even compare to the front.

daftdrifting

Took some pics of the swaybar setup I fabricated into the 240sx chasis to give you all ideas. I remember when I put this swaybar in I had 4 hours to do it. There was a drift practice I wanted to make it to and car was acting real funky without the sway.

Kinda got rusty but I suggest painting it It's obviously just surface rust.



Here is another shot of the arm.. btw does anyone has some aftermarket tension rods ? I need some



Behind the Caliper shot.



View from tie rod end to see how bar links to the lower control arm.



Shot from passenger side engine bay.



Shot from driver side engine bay.



Engine shot.



Sway bar seems to be working great as of now.. I may adjust it a little but im use to this setup and I like how this car drifts. I have had ka24e de sr20de and det as well as rb20det and rb25det. Out of all those motor the ka's and sr's and ls1 all feel same as far as front heavy ? well I dont even notice the ls1. The rb motors felt so nasty in the s13 chasis .. god I love the ls1!!!

natedawg

I welded/notched the factory sway bar gave me another inch or so of clearence which is plenty for me and I wouldn't consider my car to have the motor mounted really far back. Just need to temper the spring steel and get good penetration.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

that swaybar is really sweet.

also not that anyone cares but im not making a kit, i've got other stuff in my life i need to take care of. / lame excuse.

Spoolin

iTrader: (8)

Wow, I'm glad I found this thread...I was just thinking about buying a Hinson kit of my upcoming swap...
Their kits looked so promising and complete too! ****!