Christine - Apexs V8 Skyline drift car - 2nd overall EDC 2008

[Matt_T]

thanks for the list bren

Out of interest why did you hate V8s?

if you're ever bored and looking for a fight go and ask that on a US rotary forum, I did a few years back and watched dozens of hateful yet hilarious pages mount up

bren, are apex only going to be doing LSx mounts/kits for nissan s or will there be an SBC option too?

[bren]

The LS2 in my S14 has had zero negative impact on the cars handling and the car corner weights at virtually the same weight distribution as the stock set up.

The Skylines engine is an old school iron block so would weigh a ton compared to the SR20 BUT weighs no more than the Skylines original RB25 which is a big old engine and also iron block.

The V8s are a very small and compact unit, lots shorter than an RB as theyre only 4 cylinders long and only slightly longer than an SR20.

Jap engines can produce shed loads of power but at what cost? Ive never come accross an SR running 400bhp that has done ten events with no fundimetal problems. Ive owned two S14s running 400bhp and an S13 running 400, 450 and then 500bhp. None of them were problem free for any period of time at those power levels.

Our V8 S14 has done 10 events so far this year, ten events! Lots of niggling teething issues but none of which have been substantial and none of which have had anything to do with the fundimental engine/box package. Its already booked in for one more on the 13th of November, might be out doing a drift event this Saturday coming and Ive semi lined up another track day at Bedford late this month. I might be going to the Nurburgring in a week or so and I have no qualms about taking my car. I wont because I am not interested doing the Ring in the wet but if it was earlier in the year then hell yeah, jump in it and off we toddle!

Matt,

Whats an SBC?

[bren]

Oh and I run my car on normal unleaded, not super

EDIT: I tell you what it is, the V8 equipped cars just have heart and sole. They develop a huge character and become a big old bear of a car. You just smile when they fire up early in the morning, when you first squirt up the road, when you come to a stop, set off, corner etc etc. They just make you smile, full stop

[Ken]

Small block Chevy

[bren]

Ah. I could sort a conversion for a 350 for a Skyline but nothing else. Much as Id love to offer the 350 install kits the market for the V8s is going to be small enough as it is, even smaller for the old school stuff

[Daz]

out of interest how much would one of these conversions cost? roughly?

[big_mac]

Long gone Im afraid. Ive still got a top spec (aluminium cover) twin plate Giken clutch if its of interest. It only did one round of EDC and part of a track day at Brands, thats it. £800.

Already sorted thanks ive got myself a brand spanking OS Giken R4C to go in.

ill go back to my jag gearbox plan.

[bren]

out of interest how much would one of these conversions cost? roughly?

Honestly dont have a clue, havent finalised costing them yet. My conversion probably came in at £8k for parts alone but then I paid through the nose for the engine, box etc. You should be able to take a large chunk off that.

Already sorted thanks ive got myself a brand spanking OS Giken R4C to go in.

ill go back to my jag gearbox plan.

No probs

[Robbie]

With trophies like that on offer I'm tempted to learn to drift.

[Daz]

Honestly dont have a clue, havent finalised costing them yet. My conversion probably came in at £8k for parts alone but then I paid through the nose for the engine, box etc. You should be able to take a large chunk off that.



No probs

[30psi]

I hated them for 2 reasons really.

1. They always sounded broken, I mean the older V8's from muscle cars

2. I hated the idea that to have decent power most V8's were over 5litre's. Really liked the fact that jap cars make huge power from tiny engines and still didn't drink shedloads of fuel.

I think I did used to have the perception of them being slow and lazy and massively underpowered but I think that might be the fact that the cars they were in were so heavy.

I still don't 'love' the noise, I still prefer the noise of a V6, straight 6, V10 or even a straight 5.

30PSI took me out in his T-Bird the other day and even though it wasn'ts that fast or handled that great I really enjoyed it and loved the noise lol.

I think I'm confusing myself now lol.

Anyway, I still can't afford to drop a V8 in mine, can't really afford to chuck a few grand at the engine.

Your

Mine isn't the best way to experience a V8 tbh, it's a smooth running low output cooking lump, you need to go out in something with more grunt and then you'll instantly understand why they're so good and then realise there's no substitute. If you want a turbo engine, then you can always turbo a V8

As you say mine isn't fast by today's standard but with a 16 sec 1/4 back nearly 50 years ago that was rapido. By the mid to late 60's the yanks started thinking, hold on we have lots of displacement let's get these engines breathing better and then came the birth of the muscle car and pretty much unbeatable power.

[bren]

What do you think 400bhp reliable (or as reliable 400bhp as youll get from a turbo 2 litre) will cost you in an SR? If you do the conversion right then youre going to need:

Twin plate clutch to retain 100% drivability £1200
Turbo £1000
Full engine back exhaust system £700
Larger injectors £450
Oil cooler £199
Radiator £179
OS Giken gearbox £2300 (built)
Management and remap £1000
Boost controller £200
Heat management £150
Fuel pump £89
Fuel pressure regulator £129
Intercooler £300
Uprated engine and gearbox mounts £129
Braided turbo lines £129
Intake system £200

Thats just under £8500 immediately and we havent even started on the engine yet. Add another £4k for a decent forged engine build and youre up to £12,500.

And then youve a highly stressed four pot that if youre lucky will do you 30k miles. And I mean lucky with a capital LUCKY. Chuck in a load of track work then Id be happy as Larry to get 10k trouble free miles.

Remember that the V8 conversion includes everything so engine, fuel system, clutch, box, radiator, oil cooler kit, exhaust system, heat management, engine management, mounts, intake system etc etc.

Id expect a low milage V8 to do an easy 50k of very hard use with the same power. I might be talking bollocks but I honestly dont think thats being unrealistic. If youd bought a Monaro fitted with the same lump then Id imagine youd be pretty pissed if it didnt clock 100k miles and theres no reason why milage would be restricted just because the same engine was dropped into an S body.

[enzo]

My God, you're a salesman you are.
Every time I walk past my car, I see a vision of your face with a LS2 on the bonnet.

Off to check my bank balance.

[bren]

I do try

[bren]

With trophies like that on offer I'm tempted to learn to drift.

I know, look at him dribbling!

[bren]

This was from before Christmas, the shells now been painted inside, underneath and the engine bay but these are all the pics I have at the moment.

Proper 100% genuine bare shell rebuild.

[bren]

This is as far as we have got with the parts list for the rebuild. These are the parts we are gathering ready to start bolting the car back together next week. This is what we have thought of so far, no doubt theres a load more stuff missing from the list.

we have everything laid out in a spreadsheet with details of where the parts are (here, at AP Tuning or at H Tech, the body shop), what we need to order in, what needs doing to the parts (some stuff is being powerder coated, others painted) etc.

SUSPENSION

COILOVERS
CAMBER ARMS
TRACTION ARMS
FRONT LOWER ARMS WITH TC
REAR LOWER ARMS
FRONT TIE RODS
FRONT BUMP STEER ROD ENDS
FRONT CAMBER ARMS
REAR TIE ROD
REAR SUBFRAME
SOLID SUBFRAME BUSHES
REAR DIFF BUSHES
REAR HICAS BAR
REAR STRUT BRACE
FRONT ENGINE CROSS MEMBER
FRONT LOWER TC SUPPORTS
FRONT HUBS
REAR HUBS
STEERING RACK MOUNTS
FRONT ANTI ROLL BAR
REAR ANTI ROLL BAR
F ROLL BAR MOUNTING BRACKET
R ROLL BAR MOUNTING BRACKET
FRONT DROP LINKS HR
REAR DROP LINKS HR
STEERING COLUMN
STEERING WHEEL
QUICK RELEASE
STEERING WHEEL BOSS
WHEELS
STEERING RACK
STEERING WHEEL
FRONT 356MM BRAKES
REAR Z32 10 GROOVED DISCS
PROJECT MU D1 REAR PADS
PF 01 REAR PADS
2 POT REAR CALIPERS
2 POT REAR CALIPERS
PF01 FRONT 8 POT PADS
BRAKE FLUID

INTERIOR

DASH
DRIVERS SEAT
PASSENGER SEAT
DRIVERS HARNESS
PASSENGER HARNESS
HANDBRAKE
BIAS VALVE
HANDBRAKE RESERVOIR
ROLL CAGE
GAUGES REV WTEP OTEMP OPRESS
FIRE EXTINGUISHER
FUEL TANK
FILLER CAP
FILLER TUBE
PASSENGER FOOTREST
SWITCH BOX
BATTERY BOX
STROBE KIT
MSD UNIT
ELECTRICAL CUT OFF
PIT TO CAR
LH SEAT RAIL
RH SEAT RAIL
CAGE FIXINGS

COOLING

OIL COOLER
POWERSTEERING COOLER
RADIATOR
RAD FANS
RAD HOSES
FAN CONTROLLER
RADIATOR

ENGINE

POWER STEERING PUMP
POWER STEERING LINES
STARTER MOTOR
SPARE P/S BELT
SPARE DRY SUMP BELT
DRY SUMP TANK
DRY SUMP LINES
SPARE COIL PACK
SPARE ROTOR CAP
SPARE ROTOR ARM
RPM CHIPS
SPARE ROCKER COVER GASKETS

EXHAUST

HEADERS
COLLECTOR
SYSTEM
MANIFOLD TO HEAD GASKETS

DRIVETRAIN

GEARBOX
CLUTCH
CLUTCH LINE
SHIFTER
PEDALS
GEARBOX MOUNT
PROP
DRIVESHAFTS
GTR LSD
GTR HUBS

EXTERIOR

PLASTIC SCUTTLE PANEL
HEADLIGHTS
SIDELIGHTS
REAR LIGHTS
REAR CENTRE PANEL
BOOTLID
BONNET
BGW
WINDOWS

[Daz]

What do you think 400bhp reliable (or as reliable 400bhp as youll get from a turbo 2 litre) will cost you in an SR? If you do the conversion right then youre going to need:

Makes sense what your saying.

MY big weakness is that I often forget about the cost of tuning whats already there.

There is a main reason to the '' smiley though and thats because I just couldn't imagine spending that kind of money on an engine conversion, but then again a few years ago I couldn't imagine spending £500 on suspension or £700 on a turbo yet I seem to have done it on my car.

Maybe your going through a mid life crisis and i'm not there yet lol. Hold a V8 for me when I get there haha.

[bren]

If you add up what it costs to get your car from stock thewn you know youd never decide to spend that money on upgrading an old Datsun. Its creeps up on you over time. If you want to get good power from an SR then you just need to step back and add up everything youll need in one go without skipping past all the stuff that gets ignored so you get an accurate idea of how much youre spending.

Then look at the alternative way to achieve that power and compare true costs

[Cloudy]

A lot of work has gone into that shell, has it been blasted? I blasted the underneath of mine and it was bloody hard work but worth it.

I know I shouldn't be asking this as I'm 50:50 on selling the thing but have you finalised the cost of your V8 conversions?