Engine swap affecting classic status ??

joedumper

Hi Guys,


Thinking of going down the fully restore a classic car route.

I've heard of all the benefits of running a classic as a weekend car, like classic tax and insurance ,
however,
during this project, I would most likely swap out the engine in favour of a more modern unit ( for reliability / power ).

Would this affect the classic / vintage status with regards to tax or insurance?

Thanks,
Joe.

2 Espressi

Hi Joe, I think the VIN on the chassis is what decided the identity of the vehicle, not the engine.

If you do go down the engine swap route, be sure to upgrade the transmission and braking to cope!

ikillcopiers

joedumper wrote: »

Would this affect the classic / vintage status with regards to tax or insurance?

On the whole, no.

The tax office don't care, all you do is give them an engine number and capacity (if changed), and they will update it to suit.
If your tax bracket changes because of this (ie changing from 1600 to 2000),
they'll charge you more and that's all they care about.
Makes no difference on vintage cars (ie 30 years+) as they are all the same tax regardless of capacity.

The big question is insurance.
I deal with First Ireland, and declare all modifications (different turbo, competition suspension etc) and there are no problems.
If you were going down the route of an unusual standard engine swap, they may ask for an engineers report.
It's usually a safety thing, as long as the conversion was done properly there's never really any problems, it's no SVA.

The main issue you may have would be with regards to insurance valuation.
Most modified cars have countless hours of labor thrown into them, and this (usually) won't be taken to account with the insurance valuation.

Usually one of the clubs would be more knowledgeable about this side of things, I imagine the Ford Owners Club should be fairly well up on it,
with all the modified Mark II's out there.....

joedumper

Interesting,

That's all pretty much what I was hoping to hear.

I'm currently driving a modern car that required an engineers report to set up the insurance, so I wouldn't see that as a blocker.


What I'm looking at in the classic route would be a Datsun 240z ( or 260z ).
Always loved the look and style of those cars.
But, if i was to get one, I think i would most likely strip it to bare metal and change the engine, transmission, brakes, suspension for a more modern ( probably nissan ) items.
Basically a modernising of the mechanicals to make it more safe, reliable and useable, while still keeping the spirit of the car.


Thanks for the replies... the dream gets a little closer

ikillcopiers

Aaaahhhh a beautiful, beautiful car, it's on my list!

I've checked up on them in the UK last few months on and off,
and they seem to hold their value quite well!

You should look at this article here.

That guy put a lot of work into that machine, and it really shows.
He's using an L-series himself, but given the extra power it's putting
out you wouldn't do bad by having a good look at what he did with
the suspension and braking.

I've seen a few guys on the net from time to time putting 200SX
and early Skyline engines into them, what do you have in mind yourself?

joedumper

That is beautiful ^^

My inspiration is something along the lines of :

or


I realise a lot of work to get to those standards,
but i'm intending this to be a year long project in the shed, ground up rebuild of something on the brink of scrappage... all in all, a labour of love.

I currently drive a 200sx and know the SR20DET engine quite well, so would be tempted to go with one of those in the Zed.
Although the RB25 would be tempting

biggus

Good plan check out

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055695971

ikillcopiers

That is fantastic!

Opinions and all that, I faaaaar prefer the standard 240/260z as opposed
to the 2+2 like the first pics, but to each their own!

What's the kit on the second one, I've never seen that one before??

I have an old Alfa Guilia Bertone 105 Coupe in my shed I'm hoping
to make into a GTAm replica, unfortunately time, money and other projects
seem to always get in the way.

A great show to watch (well, I wasted countless hours) for this kind of stuff
is American Hotrod, the standard those guys build to is something to aspire to.

On the more attainable level Mark Evan's A Car Is Born/Reborn etc can be ok, if not a little on the annoying side.....

Also a great magazine for this kind of stuff is Practical Performance Car.
I'm an avid follower for years, it deserves a plug!

Dustpuppy

Engine swap has no effect. I am building up a Type 3 Variant with a Porsche 911 RS engine with 240Bhp (brakes from a Porsche 3 liter). I went to the office and they changed the papers from 1.6liter to 2.7liter with the new engine number with out problems. The chassis number is the thing, that makes the car vintage.

ikillcopiers

Dustpuppy wrote: »

I am building up a Type 3 Variant with a Porsche 911 RS engine with 240Bhp (brakes from a Porsche 3 liter).

Blimey, that's gonna be one hell of a sleeper!

Kudos to you, that sounds like an awesome machine!

There's a tuning company in the UK called Race Shack who know a thing
or two about aircoolers, and they're fair VW nuts too, don't know if you knew of them are not....

joedumper

These projects are no small task !

here's a guy who restored a 240z .... just look at the structural bodywork required !!! :eek:

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106731

Henry Ford III

280Z engine transplant is common into 240's and 260's

Tomebagel

joedumper wrote: »

This one is actually irish,

he started of with a standard 240!

its on some forum i seen recently,ill see if i can find it.;)

ikillcopiers

joedumper wrote: »

These projects are no small task !

here's a guy who restored a 240z .... just look at the structural bodywork required !!! :eek:

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106731

I hear ya buddy!

I always used to say to a workmate of mine
"There's just something old cars have that the new ones don't"

His response was "RUST".

Unfortunately, having a sixties Italian car, I think I have to agree with him!

Japanese cars even in the 80's were fairly bad for it too!

There's a couple of places you could try for a 240z shell though,
Australia and South Africa (who are also Right Hand Drive),
or the dry states in the US (Arizona, California, Texas etc).

On these older cars it's usually quite easy (when you're down as far as blasting that is!) to change to RHD,
the main issue is tracking down the dash etc to suit.

It would be worth the extra cost to track down a rust free shell if it were possible though,
the amount of money you would spend on repair panels and the hours welding would clock up very, very quickly.....

carchaeologist

joedumper wrote: »

or

If either of those cars were women,id be straight into the bedroom with them..Haawt!!

B11gt00e

Tomebagel wrote: »

This one is actually irish,

he started of with a standard 240!

its on some forum i seen recently,ill see if i can find it.;)

Hey... Hey's on the first sticky on this 'classic cars' forum as he's selling it... on page 13. Handle - Jay28.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055672402&page=13

He has the rebuild on some other forum... he shows it starting off as a regular blue 240 in Australia, parked on something like Ramsey st.... can't for the life of me remember where... it was a co.uk forum from what I remember.


The two Z's in the photos there are mouth-watering... what a timeless design... no doubt, enhanced by two dedicated and style conscious enthusiasts in the two aforementioned examples.

B11gt00e

Cool.. I remembered once finding some swedish guys rebuilt a rusty(:eek:) old 240z from scratch on some obscure sight.... happily, I've found all episodes I-18 or so on youtube.

Chapter 1 is on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ITVcvN22s&feature=related

This is well worth a look by anyone intersted in restoration... I think the Z has a double hull which is notorious for rusting from both sides, but these boys are not put off by the challenge!

Hope some people enjoy this...

joedumper

I had actually watched that video series.

Amazing stuff !!

I fear my lack of skill and access to metal bending / fabricating skills would prevent going to the extremes he's gone to,
but i do intend this to be bare metal, with a full tear down and replace of rusty patches.

I'll just have to hope i can get one in a little better condition :rolleyes:

First on my to do list anywho, is build / rebuild my workshop .... complete with my planned gantry crane
( well chain blocks mounted to the steel roof structure :P )