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PostPosted: April 21, 2012, 11:53 pm 
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Ive been reading and researching for a long time now and am gravitating to a middy using a 350z as a donor (No way in hell I'm gutting my s2000 i love her too much).

I'll have to fab a completely new frame, but i have about a year to design, develop, test, redesign, and retest a suitable frame before i can start to shop for donors anyway.

My plan isn't to be as light as a sevenesque car, but rather to build something for autocross, track days and occasional spirited driving. The part that I'm needing info on is what would be a suitable transmission for longitudinal placement?

Ill most likely have to use/fab an adapter plate and have come to peace with the trouble that can/will be.

For now I'm gathering possible options/sizes for engine and trans combinations so that when i start on the frame i have accurate measurements. The final redesign of the frame will come after the donor parts are in my garage and i have had a chance to measure everything thrice.

Why i picked the 350Z:
Readily available V6 (was thinking flat 6 also but there a little more scarce)
Proven naturally aspirated performance
Aluminum design
Pretty good sounding engine

Possibly a BMW V6 could work

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 12:09 am 
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Just throwing it out but you could use the fwd vq35 and transmission and perhaps save a lot of fabbing with adapter plates. Check out my build vq30 from a i30t. If you cant find a decent 350z as a donor fwd vq35 are cheap and easy to find.

Only issue with newer vq35 is the nats system. Most use a standalone ecu. Loads and slows of wiring either way you do it.

Evo

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 1:16 am 
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Also check out http://www.midlana.com; I'm building something that should accept what you're considering.

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 1:25 am 
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Kennedy Engineered Products of California makes adaptors to mate that engine to the VW transaxle, the Porsche mid and rear engined transaxles and the Mendeola mid-engine transaxle. None of which is as cheap as a sidewinder transaxle from a front wheel drive car as mentioned above.

Tom

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 1:49 am 
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Ive been reading up on midlana and need to continue the read.

EVO626 ill have a look at your build log too, just FYI your website link in ur sig seems to be down.

One minor gripe i have with myself about longitudinal vs transverse stems from some minor (read: Moderate) OCD about symmetry. I like to think that frugality > OCD so i will definitely keep the FWD moved mid setup in mind.


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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 5:51 am 
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Location: Sydney, Australia
If you want a Flat 6 then why not a Subaru EZ30R or EZ36D? Both around 250hp, lighter than the z motor, lower centre of gravity and the gearbox is easy to convert into a 2wd transaxle for middy applications.

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 9:55 am 
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I do not believe that BMW makes a V6 - all current 6's are inline.
Subaru would be a great choice but I think an Audi V6 with its own longitudinal transmission would be ideal. Scrap the stock ecu and go Megasquirt.

JMR

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 12:04 pm 
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Reahreic wrote:
One minor gripe i have with myself about longitudinal vs transverse stems from some minor (read: Moderate) OCD about symmetry. I like to think that frugality > OCD so i will definitely keep the FWD moved mid setup in mind.
If you decide to go that route, maybe it would help your OCD to try thinking about the lack of symmetry created by the driver and controls being offset to one side of the car. Without a passenger in the car, the offset weight of the engine being biased to the passenger side of the car can actually help improve weight distribution.

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Last edited by Driven5 on April 22, 2012, 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 12:14 pm 
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Sig has been updated.

Also certain year/trim maxima/i30-i35s had an LSD in either the auto or 5/6speed trans.

I have one from a 1997 i30t auto. I hear but have not confirmed that most 03+ 6speed maxs have an hlsd. Something to think about if you want to save and not have to buy a $3k transmission, plus adapters etc.

Evo

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 12:40 pm 
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Beelzeboss wrote:
If you want a Flat 6 then why not a Subaru EZ30R or EZ36D? Both around 250hp, lighter than the z motor, lower center of gravity and the gearbox is easy to convert into a 2wd transaxle for middy applications.


I thought about these but they're not as readily available (Subaru drivers seem to not like to total their cars), but if a deal appears ill jump on it as less weight works.


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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 1:01 pm 
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Mid-Engined Maniac

Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm
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Beelzeboss wrote:
If you want a Flat 6 then why not a Subaru EZ30R or EZ36D? Both around 250hp, lighter than the z motor, lower centre of gravity and the gearbox is easy to convert into a 2wd transaxle for middy applications.

If you sit both a Subaru and a Cadillac V8 on the floor, the CG of the Subaru is right about at the middle of the V8 block. It's due to the rather deep oil pan on the Subaru and the shallow pan of the Cadillac. Granted the Cadillac isn't a traditional V8; I'm just saying that stuff gets passed around as fact because it sounds right, which means it never gets checked out.

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PostPosted: April 22, 2012, 1:29 pm 
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Location: Fort Worth, Texas
KB58 wrote:
Beelzeboss wrote:
If you want a Flat 6 then why not a Subaru EZ30R or EZ36D? Both around 250hp, lighter than the z motor, lower centre of gravity and the gearbox is easy to convert into a 2wd transaxle for middy applications.

If you sit both a Subaru and a Cadillac V8 on the floor, the CG of the Subaru is right about at the middle of the V8 block.


The center of gravity or sits about halfway up the block of the Caddy. The Caddy engine is much more top heavy and therefore the center of gravity is above the center of the block.

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PostPosted: April 24, 2012, 9:37 am 
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Dont worry about the nats with the 350z engine,a shop in florida called zfever will remove it ,simply send them the engine harness,ecu and throttle pedal and they work their magic,and it will run .The problem with a standalone for the vw35hr is it has variable cam timing on both intake and exaust cams,whereas the vq35de only has it on the intake cams,and from what I have read standalones dont support this.


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PostPosted: April 24, 2012, 11:05 am 
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Here's a hot tip, 1990's 2.2 manual gearbox Camry wide body front drive train (61" track, good brakes) with a 1MZ-FE 3.0 V6 (probably the non-VVi for simplicity).

I have been recently researching these and they are very small (they were designed to fit into the same hole as the 4 cylinder), very light, reliable, 200hp with some aftermarket backup (TRD supercharger 250hp) and the only reason I can figure they are untouched by guys like us is that nearly all V6 Camry's are automatic but many may not know they do bolt straight up to the 4 cylinder manual box which is actually the same box as the rare V6 manual (both Toyota 153 box). You need to buy a manual V6 flywheel from Toyota (available).

All this info is around because of the amount of people who have replaced the 4 cylinder in their Toyota MR2's with the Camry 1MZ-FE V6.

http://www.woodsport.org/joomla/index.p ... onversions

Also the whole engine/box assembly is tilted back in the Camry and can be rotated forward in our 'thingys' lowering and shifting the CoG forward while at the same time lifting the driveshafts to a more suitable axle height.


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PostPosted: April 24, 2012, 1:30 pm 
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I didn't even think about the V6 Camry engine, and they're plentiful here. This is just one of the reasons why my planning stage of the build has been on going for so long... each time i settle on a setup someone brings to light other options and they require evaluation also.

At least i know that id prefer a 3L 6Cyl aluminum engine. If i weren't going middy and worried about the driver sitting really far forward id try for an inline 6 as they're balanced really nicely, but that adds to weight galore, and weight is a no no as the frame's already going to be heaver... its an endless cycle


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