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[bcoli]

Never Fear

@jmackro - Never Fear, our car is polaris & Don is building a 3.5l & 265 for me. It might not be original, but I think that we'll enjoy it.

Bill

 

[jmackro]

@jmackro - Never Fear, our car is polaris & Don is building a 3.5l & 265 for me. It might not be original, but I think that we'll enjoy it.

I was chatting with one of my car buddies over the weekend and commented that I regretted having started this thread.

Putting a 3.5l & 265 in an e9 is a much milder conversion than a Mazda drivetrain in an MG or a small block Chevy in a BMW. What you and Don are doing preserves the marque consistency and is theoretically reversible.

The thing that set me off about that MG/Mazda project (which is what started this discussion) was that the builder gave up on it prior to completion. Until you've built a hot rod, you don't understand the difficulties of hooking up all of the bits and making it reliable. It's easy to sit at the keyboard and say "hey, let's put a 427 hemi in a Fiat 500", but getting the clutch linkage, exhaust system, steering column, cooling system, ... to all work in a street environment is a tough challenge. Most of these projects either get abandoned mid-stream (you've seen the ebay descriptions saying "90% of the work is done" - yea, right!) or are called "race cars" (even thought they don't conform to any sanctioned class) and just get trailered from show to show - like that V-8 powered 2002 pictured in post #17.

The concern I was trying to express in my first post is that the MG/Mazda builder will do the same thing to his 2800cs: get half way through a drive train conversion, paint it some strange color, and then realize that with 6 U-joints in the steering column and chronic overheating problems, it will never be streetable. Back on ebay, with a comment that he's only selling it because he needs money for his new ______ project.

I know it's fun to build hot rods (just look at the photo in my avatar), but if you must cut up a rare car, at least complete the project.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

I'm not too sure about the weight issue with that motor as it seems to be an older 350 but the Coyote engine weighs less than 450 lbs with 420 HP and I could get a new one for 7500.00 and a low milage used one with all the goodies for probably half that so the gears are turning, one day maybe

Peter, well the coyote has the oil pan slump on the rear (like the older small block Chevy, not the newer LS) but the much wider heads on the coyote could cause real clearance problems. I believe the SBC is the narrowest of all the popular V8 engines except for the nail head Buick which is a big reason why it’s so popular for swaps. Another reason low budget Steve likes to point out is you can’t go to a swap meet without tripping over SBC performance parts from mild (streetable) to ridiculously wild (drag strip only) all for somewhat reasonable money. A final reason in favor of the SBC is there is more information and books available on building a SBC than any other engine……. try finding any information on building a S38 BMW six. Like it or not, the SBC is truly the poor or working man’s racing engine.

Steve told me he figured out the weight of a SBC with aluminum heads, water pump and flywheel and it isn’t even over a hundred pounds more than the BMW six, if I remember correctly he was talking like 62 lbs. Steve also claims his car sits at the exact same ride height as with the BMW six. The reason being the V8 is only 4 cylinders long, less engine overhang in front of the axle…… look at how much distance there is between his SBC and the radiator. Any way I’m not waving a flag for SBC powered coupes (keeping mine all BMW), just reporting on what my friend did :smile:. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

I was chatting with one of my car buddies over the weekend and commented that I regretted having started this thread.

Putting a 3.5l & 265 in an e9 is a much milder conversion than a Mazda drivetrain in an MG or a small block Chevy in a BMW. What you and Don are doing preserves the marque consistency and is theoretically reversible.

The thing that set me off about that MG/Mazda project (which is what started this discussion) was that the builder gave up on it prior to completion. Until you've built a hot rod, you don't understand the difficulties of hooking up all of the bits and making it reliable. It's easy to sit at the keyboard and say "hey, let's put a 427 hemi in a Fiat 500", but getting the clutch linkage, exhaust system, steering column, cooling system, ... to all work in a street environment is a tough challenge. Most of these projects either get abandoned mid-stream (you've seen the ebay descriptions saying "90% of the work is done" - yea, right!) or are called "race cars" (even thought they don't conform to any sanctioned class) and just get trailered from show to show - like that V-8 powered 2002 pictured in post #17.

The concern I was trying to express in my first post is that the MG/Mazda builder will do the same thing to his 2800cs: get half way through a drive train conversion, paint it some strange color, and then realize that with 6 U-joints in the steering column and chronic overheating problems, it will never be streetable. Back on ebay, with a comment that he's only selling it because he needs money for his new ______ project.

I know it's fun to build hot rods (just look at the photo in my avatar), but if you must cut up a rare car, at least complete the project.

Jay, given enough effort and $$$ almost anything is possible…. whether it makes any sense at all is a whole different debate :lol::lol::lol:. ~ John Buchtenkirch