Superlight S13 - No 56K!

So my journey of a swap starts with acquiring a base model, plain 1990 Nissan 240SX. The car was mostly rust free as I received it and had the original 2.4 liter single cam backed by a 5MT transmission. Stock curb weight is a hair under 2700lbs with manual windows, manual mirrors, no AC, and full interior.

My main priority is to keep the car as light and nondescript as possible. I purposefully want people to mistake this car for a Ford Probe or an economy car.

My main criteria so far are:
I would like this car to be under 2400lbs with the V8 engine.
I need this car to be mechanically sound and daily driver reliable - Although it will mainly be a weekend vehicle.
The exhaust must be as quiet as most new production sedans (with the cutout closed, if I use one).
I would like it to look like the LS engine and anything else under the hood is original equipment - No chrome or obviously out of place items.

The car's final weight with the iron block four, as it sits in my driveway with 5 gallons of fuel was 2338 pounds. That's with power steering and my heffalump cadillac sized S14 seats at 40 pounds each. No back seat, no heat or AC (summer toy, no need for heat or AC), no radio, and minor other things removed.

A mostly factory underhood shot. Ignore the hot air intake, my fan blade wore a hole through my O.E intake tube.



A picture of my false radio. Behind the faceplate is just storage space. I think it's ingenious.





A picture of my thumpin' sound system. The bottle cap is added for scale. Weighs in at exactly 3 ounces with batteries and I can hear it on the highway just fine.




Some exterior pictures.





Looks sort of like a Miata to me from this angle. And it doesn't weigh much more than a first gen either.



Engine out. Looks kinda sad.



Old next to new.



The new engine being prepped for install. Valve covers painted with cast coat aluminum for a clean factory look.

To do:
Find source for steel plate for motor mounts Done
Make motor mounts Done
Make trans mount Done
Modify cross member for oil pan clearance Done
Finish wiring harness - Done, standalone purchased online.
Convert rack to manual steering
Remove original engine harness and convert exisiting engine bay crap to work by itself. Everything seems to be tied together in one way or another.
Relocate battery to behind passenger seat
Find good exhaust shop that won't be confused by the words collector or resonator
Figure out what muffler to run to stay light and still be whisper quiet


Need to buy:
Vette Harmonic Damper - Done, LS6 unit purchased on LS1tech.com
LS1/LS6 intake manifold, injectors, and cable Throttle body - Done
4 inch couplers and crap for intake
Vette/F body water pump - Done, F body pump purchased on LS1tech.com
Lightweight alternator Done, hoping to re-use the KA alt.
150 wet shot - Done, purchased on LS1tech.com
Good MIG welder
Good life insurance
GTO oil pan (baffles?) - Done, purchased on SilviaV8forums.com
New radiator Done
Beer
Q45 3.54 rear pumpkin
5 pin MAF Done
Dakota digital conversion boxes (Or racepak IQ3 dash. Dunno if it's worth $800..)
Enkei RPF1's. 17x9 F 17x10 R - Tires will be 255/17's up front and 275/17's in the rear
New tension rod bushings

A few more pictures of my progress. Still waiting on a trans and a GTO oil pan so I can get started on the mounts.

Wheel gap!



Pressure washing the engine bay and doing some firewall retraction.



Front acc. drive. I will be running a 5lb race alternator and no power steering.












I threw on my 'Vette FPR and -6AN SS line to see how everything looks. The project is moving along now.

I am also experimenting with vacuum bagging carbon fiber.





Robinair 4CFM vacuum pump.

Saved for more pics.

Long gone...

Everyone likes pictures! Saved for more to come!

This is going to be awesome swap. Good luck an keep us posted

Awesome pics and build
Can't wait to see more

this should be awesome. can't wait to see more.

sick build so far dude!

Thanks guys. I'll keep you updated as I go.

If you see a very plain looking, very quiet black hatch running around WI watch out. It could be me.

I started the partout of my old KA24E and trans. I had two guys tear the head off in about 20 minutes and they separated everything else for me as they worked. They paid me $100 for the plain head with cam, my old radiator and hoses, and my old 240 convertible's battery.

Free labor FTW. Now I just have to sell the int/exh manifolds along with everything else and I'll be on my way to a new transmission. Parting everything out will net me a lot more than selling it as a whole.

Though they left my garage looking pretty crappy.



I have a person coming to take a look at my trans on Sunday. If it sells then I will be fairly close to buying a 4l60E already.

nice!! i can't wait to see this in person!

few things to say first is i saw your add on craigslist lol second do you by chance work at a shell/a&w gas station?

Yup, that would be me.

I received my GTO oil pan in the mail and threw it on the engine.





A little bit Corvette (manifolds and z06 balancer) a little GTO (pan) a little F body (Ls1 intake).
This might turn out to be more GM than Nissan.

Also, a better pic of my nitrous setup. Found out I have jets from 80 to 225HP with the kit.

maybe i missed this, but what swap kit do you plan on usiing?

No kit, just DIY mounts and parts. Hopefully at least.

If someone made a bolt in kit that worked with the 4l60E I might be interested though.

hella fucking jelly

Oh hi there mr. parts box. I didn't see the UPS man sneak you in.

I am not too happy about the condition of the boxes as they arrived. For $135 worth of shipping I would hope they at least wouldn't have parts sticking out of the sides, not to mention huge holes all over.

What all arrived.
A set of custom headers for an LS1 - built to work with my mounts in an S13
T56 to S13 trans crossmember
Steel driveshaft with T56 to R200 Nissan rear end adapters
Notched crossmember with LS1 motor mounts

As they arrived. Untouched by myself.



Headers + X member and motor mounts. These are at least 1/4 of the weight of my planned manifolds. I am very happy about that.



X member.



Mount blocks and Trans x member. That T56 must have been run hard because this rubber mount is shredded!



I have an entire week off of work to get this engine in and get some work done on my harness.

More pics to come!

looking really good man.

So I got some new hardware installed today. I also installed my LS6 aluminum harmonic damper and managed to somehow lose my valley cover.

And I finally got the engine in!

Disregard the tape. That was for pressure washing purposes only.













Also, this is how much I care about the old single cam. It's bathing in it's own blood. :p

I was surprised that I could lift it and walk around with no problems too. The interwebs tells me it's around 300lbs without the head and accessories.

I think that the gnome is try to steal your old single cam.

Yup.