'71 240Z with E36 M3 S50 Engine

"Big Bubba Ray" (eganward01)
01/11/2015 at 18:15 • Filed to: None

This thing is wild.

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DISCUSSION (19)

ly2v8-Brian > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 18:24

Different, I like it

Opposite Locksmith > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 18:33

I feel like with all the work/time/money involved, I would have saved for an s54 unless there's some structural/mechanical reason I'm too dumb to know about

bubblestheturtle > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 19:02

VERY interesting.

Michael Maguire > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 19:45

wow, that's...unexpected, but very cool.

AM3R shamefully returns > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 21:02

seriously wondering, is an s54 swap feasible?

gergey - Wishes vette was Datsun > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 21:31

10/10 Nice price!!!

Barely "restored" ones are going for 15k+ around here, usually with serious issues. I'm normally immediately disturbed by anything engine swapped, but it sure seems like that was done pretty professionally

Big Bubba Ray > gergey - Wishes vette was Datsun
01/11/2015 at 21:38

It could definitely be a good time! Shit, mine's only got 150 horsepower, I can't imagine well over 300. $11K is definitely a NP for this thing.

gergey - Wishes vette was Datsun > Big Bubba Ray
01/11/2015 at 21:45

If it was anywhere around me in Canada I'd replace my 350Z with that in a heartbeat!

BLCKSTRM > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 01:12

Wow - as a Wangan Midnight fan and E36 M3 owner this thing is SERIOUSLY speaking my language. I normally shy away from other people's swaps, but I'd seriously consider this if I had a kid old enough to drive.

Oh well. My wife is pretty damn cool, but convincing her to get something like this for a kid would be impossible. Because, you know, she has common sense (which apparently I completely lack when it comes to cars. Big surprise).

That is a beautiful find.

Big Bubba Ray > BLCKSTRM
01/12/2015 at 01:24

I discovered it on a Datsun subreddit earlier. EXTREMELY cool swap if you ask me, but almost out of place in a Z. The great thing about Datsuns is how easy they are to work on.

It is insanely cool, but almost adds an unneeded level of complication to a relatively simple car.

I'm sure it would be a riot to drive though. My Z has a measly 150 horsepower but still goes like hell. I can't imagine one with 300+ HP.

Either way, i think its a nice price for what it is. Do you have any pics of your M3? I'd love to see it!

BLCKSTRM > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 01:50

Here are a couple. It's got almost 185k on it, but still runs like a top. The head gasket burnt out between cylinders 5 and 6 about 3 years ago, so I got to know the car pretty well fixing that.

I wrote up how I got it - I'll find that and post it in a second. But it means a lot to me.

My son is 4, and he loves it. Totally on his own, about a year ago he got in trouble and got the "full name" treatment.

He looked my wife in the eye and said, "I don't like 'Joshua.' "(which is his middle name). I mean, he could barely even talk (typical boy).

So my wife asked him what be wanted his name to be.

"Asher BMW Mason"

A year later, he still tells people - totally on his own - that's what his name is.

Kinja'd!!!

BLCKSTRM > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 01:53

I wrote this up a couple months ago and posted it here, but it probably got lost. Here's the whole thing.

__________________________________________

Why do I love my car?

Part of it probably has to do with how much I hated the one before it.

Being what it is, it certainly has enough merit of its own to warrant being loved.

But most of it has to do with the story....

The first car we bought as a married couple (to replace my expensive, gas-hungry Silverado) was a 1989 Mazda MX-6 Turbo (yeah, with the oscillating fans - priceless!). It lost its timing belt at 80mph after 144k miles. I learned to never assume a previous owner has done scheduled maintenance - even if that maintenance would have been LONG overdue when you bought the car.

I went without for a while, my wife and I taking turns riding our bikes and driving her car while I waited to buy a pickup, when our Camry died at 4:00 am one morning on the way to the airport for my first business trip. It was also a timing belt (though the Camry has clearance, so it was fixable - just a new timing belt). I called a cab, got to the airport, and by the time I hit my first layover in Denver, my wife's dad had coincidentally called and told her about a cheap, low-mileage car he'd stumbled across. I don't think she even knew what it was - it was just a car and it was available, and she said yes.

I drove that Nissan Stanza for 8 years, and I hated it every day. It needed new CV joints (thank you, salty winter Detroit!), but that's the only thing I ever did besides oil changes. It was crazy reliable. So I didn't have even a hint of an excuse to get rid of it. We were poor and in school, and it was impossible to justify selling it. My father-in-law would remark years later that he never expected me to keep that car half as long as I did.

I graduated with my MBA and got a killer job - working at GM in 2007. The work and inside scoop on everything was great, but the uncertainty of the company's future was enough to keep us from buying a house - or blowing money on a new car (kind of an Alfred Morris situation. I could afford it finally, but it would have been stupid given the uncertainty). My uncle had an almost ten-year-old M3 I thought he'd sell me, and I had to do it BEFORE I started at GM or risk some major repercussions.

After talking it over with my wife I couldn't justify it - even though I thought about it every day. That wisdom paid off, too - I was let go just before GM filed bankruptcy and never even made my 2-year anniversary there.

Six months later I was somewhat employed again, and the Nissan was seriously showing its age. Knowing what I know now, it probably needed new shocks, suspension bushings, ball joints, control arms, etc. - but I was more ignorant back then and it just felt like it was slowly dissolving. Almost dangerous to drive. But I really wasn't all the way back on solid financial footing, so something new (to me) was not really in the cards.

Around the same time, I went to visit my parents in Idaho and happened to mention to my uncle how much I still liked the M3. He'd originally bought it for my cousin, but it was so bad in the snow he'd traded him for an X3 and was now only driving the M3 in the summer, keeping it in his hangar for the winter. Of course I made the "if you ever want to sell it..." comment, but unfortunately he immediately told me he'd already been trying to sell it.

I was crushed. There was no way I could talk my wife into it. I couldn't even try. But my uncle was still talking. He'd had it up for sale for a while now, and had only had a few joyriders try to take it out. Well, there was this one guy who had offered to pay what he was asking, but he was a jerk, and he didn't want that guy to have it.

So no takers. And then he dropped the bombshell (and I'll preface this by noting some things I've already described about him - he bought my cousin a second BMW to replace the M3 without trading or selling the M3 first, and the hangar, which wasn't just a big garage, but a real hangar used for what hangars are used for).

He said he knew I wasn't working full-time again yet, but said he would give it to me for about half of book value. So I had something I could at least pitch to my wife. I WAS working - just not full time, and we did have savings, so paying for it wasn't really the problem either. But if things didn't work out with my current job, I'd need to agree to sell it before things got tight.

It sounded like a decent pitch to me, too. But I also knew it was somewhat risky - my wife is fairly risk averse, and was even more so at the time. And from a financial perspective, this was flat-out stupid. Well, maybe not stupid, but certainly not conservative. At best an unsecured investment, at worst, a complete loss.

I knew what she'd say before I even asked. I knew the arguments she'd use, and I didn't blame her - I knew it too, but I had to ask. She should have been more put out about it (you know, the never ending obsession). But she was great (well, is great). She knew the Nissan was falling apart, and was sympathetic, but it just wasn't in the cards right then.

So I called my uncle and told him I couldn't under my current circumstances. He said he might just sit on it for a while and try again in the spring, which was at least some consolation.

Three weeks later I walked out of a restaurant for my birthday dinner, and our Camry had been stolen. I'd parked in the front row, and there was no question- it was gone.

I looked again at the spot where our car had been, and realized I'd missed something very important.

There couldn't be more than a couple black M3 sedans within 500 miles, and I'm not a complete moron - it WAS my birthday. But still, I couldn't start to think this was a birthday surprise - too painful if it was some kind of cruel coincidence. So I stood there in a state of confusion addled disbelief.

It must have been funny to watch me stand there, looking around the parking lot and then back at the M3. Around the parking lot, and then back at the M3.

Something made me finally look back at everyone else.

Cameras out. Smiling. Laughing, even. Not a cruel coincidence.

Birthday surprise. Best birthday surprise. Best birthday ever.

Best wife ever.

I mean, it's one thing to buy a car. But it was a huge gamble, a giant act of faith that I'd find something, that work things would work out, that WE would work out.

Especially after the strain of losing my job and some of the challenges we went through because of it, THIS was - impossibly - more than just the car I'd been dreaming about for years.

It was a heartfelt token of commitment at a time when we didn't have much left.

How long am I going to keep this car?

Barring a tragedy of some kind, as long as I keep my wife around.

Forever?

Sounds good to me.

BLCKSTRM > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 01:58

Now that I'm done being self-centered, you have pics of your Z? I love 240Zs - how is it owning one? How/why did you get it?

My son asks to watch "the show with the blue car with the broken engine" all the time. He never latched onto Initial D the way he likes Wangan Midnight - it must be because the Z is so awesome!

Big Bubba Ray > BLCKSTRM
01/12/2015 at 01:59

Your kid sounds hilarious!! Haha

You've obviously done a killer job raising him as a future gearhead, and for that I commend you!

Inline 6 engines are my favorite configuration because of their simplicity and versatility. I need to put a new head gasket on my 240Z and that's going to be the first big big project I do with the car. Hoping to do it this summer and I'm really looking forward to it.

BLCKSTRM > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 02:07

I wish I could take credit, but he's a natural. But that just means he can be that much better!

You have plenty of room - it shouldn't be too complicated. Just take your time, do a lot of studying before hand, and take lots of pictures as you go. Oh, and get a box of small Ziploc bags and a Sharpie to put nuts and bolts in - and label them.

It's an awesome experience. I got a greater sense of accomplishment doing that than finishing grad school. You can't catastrophically fail in grad school. But you can mess up your timing and catastrophically fail putting your engine back together. It's a huge rush firing it up.

Big Bubba Ray > BLCKSTRM
01/12/2015 at 02:10

I've got a big reply coming to you on another comment! Hold on a second and I'll post it! haha

Big Bubba Ray > BLCKSTRM
01/12/2015 at 02:16

We've got a few different comments going on here and I'm perfectly fine with that haha I love talking to people about their cars and how they stumbled upon them. Your wife is probably the coolest wife ever. Like seriously. How fucking awesome!

Keep being self centered, talk about your car as much as you want cause I want to hear!

I bought my 240 in July of last year. I had wanted one for a couple years because I'd always heard how great of cars they were. Long story short, I bought a '73 Baja Bug in December of 2012, got it running and used it as my DD for about five months. Sold it for a really great profit and was searching for a Z even before it was gone. The Bug was a learning tool/investment for me and it payed off massively. I live in St. Louis and Datsuns are really hard to come by because they all rusted away in my area. After seven months of searching, I stumbled upon the perfect Z for me. Not too nice to be made into whatever I wanted and not too crappy to be beyond repair. Here's the story of it if you want to check it out!

Anyways, it's a riot to drive around. The thing pulls like a monster still. I did 60+ mph in 2nd gear earlier tonight and it handled it like nothing. Insanely fun car to drive around and I can't wait to get big things done on it and get it how it is supposed to be!

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 06:03

Not only that but it's 150 gross horsepower, it's 135 net (or maybe 141 if it's one of the earliest Zs), so the horsepower differential will be even greater...

BLCKSTRM > Big Bubba Ray
01/12/2015 at 17:36

That is awesome! You're starting a lot younger than I did - and that's a good thing.

I have 4 kids, so I don't get to spend a lot of time on Oppo, but I remember reading something you posted about your Z - the orange reminded me I'd seen it before. I can't wait to see the finished product.