everybody knows the 240Z is an un-aerodynamic poor mans 2000GT
toyota took up the design first
toyota did it better
so there
^^^Hack.
Everyone knows the 240Z is the poor mans porsche. Everyone KNOWS the 2000GT is ugly step sister of the Jaguar E type.
Im not a fan to be honest, its cool hes done his own thing with it. But its sooo typical that a yank would replace a beautiful OHC jap motor with a low reving pushrod V8.
L24s via a turbo setup and a decent build can pull big enough numbers to scare V8s. I think he just wanted the noise.
The Datto will rage again...
isn't the 2000gt just an elan made heavier and uglier?
i like the L24's too bluey but i'd never have a modded one myself, seem to be fuel guzzlers
Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."
Everybody knows that Mrs Peel's Elan couldn't outrun Steed's pre-war Bentley, even in TV land
Fewer would remember that even the slowest Torana XU-1 ohv would wipe an L24 240Z
I still see basic cooking-model Toranas floating around for cheap (particularly the UC) which can be modded up for way less that it costs these days to find even a half-decent stock 240Z. And moreso for cheap Hemi Centuras and Cortina 6s. Holden's Red Six was a good little motor (ohv gear-drive cam beats L24 chain-drive ohc ) and there's heaps of now-unwanted budget hotup gear for 'em
Btw one of the more impressive and memorable test-drives I ever went on was in a souped-up copper metalflake Valiant AP5 wagon, sporting triples and cam etc - fun(ky) to drive & jeez that thing hammered!
Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."
I'm with you in some ways. That Nissan straight-six is a wonderful engine but, on paper, the Ford-sourced 383 "stroker" is too.
Terry Oxandale's never put it on a dyno (though there was a mobile dyno at the car show he was at here in Conway, Arkansas - and 'Quail saw, and better yet, heard, a turbo'd S2000 post a tad over 400hp on it) but he said it's making in the neighborhood of 450hp.
But he's got a cam. Does he ever have a cam.
Oxandale said he bought the cam he's running in his 240Z from a professional enginebuilder who won some sort of national torque competition for the Ford 383 "stroker" engine. He made two of the prize-winning cams. One stayed with the motor, and Oxandale bought the spare.
Sure, sure. Colin Chapman was right when he said pushrod engines are tantamount to playing a piano with your feet...
But if you're playing the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, all that really matters is stomping the hell out of the keys. If you're willing to forego the gentlemanly courtesy of a complex overhead-cam, high-revving racing motor for the brute, primordial grunt of an American V8, then a lump like Oxandale's got in his 240Z makes rather a lot of sense.
It's as heretical a statement as Groucho Marx's famous "you go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company," but 'Quail'd say you go to Enzo Ferrari for the sound and Henry Ford for the fury.
Just ask any Ferrari driver who got passed on the Mulsanne by a Cobra Daytona or big-block GT40.
Is a finely-crafted, high revving twincam more desirable than a massive, slow-revving Yank V-8? It's arguable, and 'Quail would argue yes — but I'd also submit the fact that, all lies aside, the huge and ancient V-8 is both faster and better for a DIY supercar.
I asked Oxandale the same question: did he feel bad about pulling the original engine?
He said he did, but he just couldn't reasonably get the performance and reliability he wanted out of the I-6.
Fair enough.
Last edited by LandQuail; 07-22-2008 at 01:36 AM.
I'm erudite ;-)
Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."
However, you may have difficulty hearing the answer from all the many MORE GT40 drivers who were sitting in the pits with their "fury" done
Don't see a major issue with this car as at the end of the day very little/nothing of the original Z is actually there anyway
Now if it was a proper 240Z then I'd be crying
"A woman without curves is like a road without bends, you might get to your destination quicker but the ride is boring as hell'
would Nissans own V8 fit ?
its an good motor for the capacity , as is the Toyota V8
you can always get easy Hp out of big cubic inches . personally , even if the newer V8s were just as light , id rather be punting the I-6 around because thats what Z's were designed with - & i prefer V8 power over all others
the idear of a 1UZ 2000GT would be my classic motoring heaven , as the OP car probably is for its owner
Very Cool!
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