This is another one of those on-going projects. The owner as a tenager dreamt of one day building a Datsun 260Z with a V8. Fast forward Twenty-some years later and finally that dream is close to being fulfilled.

We aquired the 260Z about a year ago. We thought a lot about what engine to use for the swap and although the 350 Chevy would have been the easiest route to take, we decided to go the route that no one has done to our knowledge as of yet and go with a 4.6 liter 281 cubic inch Ford Modular 32 Valve V8 (say that 10 times real fast). We found a Lincoln MK VIII donor car at a junk yard and removed the engine, transmission, driveshaft, fuel tank, fuel lines, condensor and all the A/C lines, the computer and all the wiring, and everything else we thought we might be able to utilize.

First a custom engine cradle was fabricated out of two by four steel tube in a way that would utilize the Factory Engine Mounts. We made cut outs for the mounts to fit over and then reinforced the bolt holes with steel tubes welded on both sides to prevent the tube walls from collapsing. We also did the same for where the cradle bolts to the frame rails to prevent them from collapsing too.

Next we modified the Lincoln Transmission Crossmember to mount on the inside of the frame rails. Now that the engine and transmission are mounted the next step will be to fabricate a drive shaft and do the exhaust. Wait till you see what we have planned for that!!

Stay tuned as this Beast will be back in the shop real soon!