$8000 Junkyard V8 vs $30,000 Crate V8 Engine Swap

- Dude, this car is going to be dangerous. Let's go (beep). - Oh God, we have built a weapon that we are not necessarily able to handle. - Junkyard V8

engine

swap

for $8,000 - V8

crate

engine

swap

for $30,000. - More expensive means more is better. - Let's find out. We're back. (upbeat rock music) - Three years ago, we bought two almost identical Nissan 350Zs. - We then modified them to be fun daily drivers that you could take to the track. - Things went well. - Until they didn't. - Jesus, friend (beep). - The One Z got expensive parts. - And the other Z got cheap spare parts. - We then ran tests to see which components are worth spending your hard-earned money on. - After 16 videos of comparing almost everything from tires to turbos, we took both fully modified Zs to the track for an epic final showdown. - And they both exploded. - Oh, oh. - So we'll do what every smart person does.

We will put V8 in them. - And the goal is that at the end of this project both cars have more power and are more reliable. At least that's what we hope. - Just let me die. - Hi Car will receive a new 6.2 liter Chevy LS3525. Additionally, we have about $10,000 worth of additional parts and accessories stashed in boxes back there, but more on that later. This engine is the cat's pajamas. - Low Team, on the other hand, is pulling a used 6.0-liter Chevy LQ9 off a

junkyard

truck. - I think it's us. - This? - Yes, we are. - Oh, everything's fine. - Unlike the aluminum block of the Hi Team, this is an iron block, it is heavier, has smaller pistons and less compression. - Produces less power. - But the modifications we have planned should be good for around 400 horsepower. - It's pathetic. - We also have about $5,000 worth of parts to get this Chevy engine running in a Nissan. - We're going to install these V8s, we're going to dynamize them and we're going to take them to the track to see who makes a car, honey.

Well, before we put these guys in, we have to get our damaged engines out. - I forgot we had to do that. (Both laugh) - This car is sick. It's been over a year since we drove these things. I forgot all the cool stuff we put in them and I'm very, very excited to drive this eventually. - We got to work, but before the old engines could come out, we had to get rid of everything around them: battery, air conditioning pump, radiator, wiring. We had to drain the oil. There was a lot to overcome, but before we knew it, our engine was dying and we were ahead of the Hi Team.

Yeah! Turns out their fancy turbos are causing some major problems. - I wasn't going to let Nolan pass us, so I told Zach to step on him and he killed our engine pretty quickly too. Respectfully, Nolan, you suck. (fun music) (engine revving) - I've got a new engine, a bunch of cool new parts to bolt on to it. Everything is clean. Although our engine was fully assembled, there were still a few things we had to change to make it fit a Nissan, like our oil pan. Always use the smallest ratchet possible. That's a real mechanical thing. - Oil pan officially on. - Oh. - Meanwhile. - Before we continue screwing on accessories, we need to take this thing apart a little, give it a spin and make sure everything is okay because after all, this thing came out of a truck.

Oh, we've got a crack in one of our coils here. - The coil itself? - Yeah. - Oh (bleep) dude, that's really bad. - So we're going to have to replace that, otherwise we'll just be asking to be screwed. - Ready to go. - It's already out. - Nice. - Now let's see what this looks like. They are ready? - Looks like a broken LS. - It smells like a bad fish restaurant. - Now make an LS noise. - Let's go V8 baby. I have to have some headings, and those are good ones. - Yeah, those are really cute, to be honest. - Dude, this is sick. - I know.

Look at it for a second. Behold the glory of him. It looks like a grill middle-aged dads buy. We have our sick Billet engine mounts. They placed the engine as far back and low as possible to achieve the best weight distribution and center of gravity. That means the motor mounts are quite far forward on the motor and that, unfortunately, is a big problem for our air conditioning. The compressor just runs straight into the motor mount and I can't by any stretch just trim the motor mount a bit. I can't just take some of the compressor off.

It just doesn't fit. So unless there is a smaller compressor or a completely different setup we can purchase, it's going to be a hot summer. - Now that Aaron has worked hard, clean this thing up by giving it a spin. We know it's good and now we can tackle our big performance improvement. We're going to put a new camera in there. With this camshaft, it will increase the power, but it will also hopefully make it sound a lot cooler. -Our

junkyard

LS came with a pretty bad, high mileage valvetrain. To take advantage of our new cam and the power that will be delivered, we would also like to upgrade our springs and retainers to be able to handle the sustained RPM during drift. (Drill hum) So, everything installed.

Now the heads can return to the engine. - I'm glad I don't have to do any of that. - So Ellis heads, there is a very specific sequence that you have to follow as you tighten the head bolts, not with pounds, but with degrees of movement, which will generate a torque angle gauge to do so. It looks like it's going to fall at any moment. - Yes. - That's tense. - Watch out SpongeBob, watch out SpongeBob, watch out SpongeBob. - Meanwhile. - Okay, so we've got most of our fancy new parts bolted to our fancy new engine, and now it's time to unbox one of our new, bigger parts. - Yes, Low Team is reusing the CD009, which came standard on the 350Z, but that's a bit boring. - And poor. - And poor, what is more important.

So we have a new Tremec T-56 Magnum 6-speed transmission that will fit perfectly in our LS3 box. - It's just a little one. - It's very small. It is much smaller than the 350Z trans. - It may be small, but it's dangerous. - Yes. Those are good noises. - It's a pleasant noise. - Now let's look at this little dual disk setup we have here. A dual-disc clutch is basically what it sounds like: there are two discs. A normal clutch, as you may already know, has a disc, a friction disc. For any disc and clamp load with a clutch, you can maintain a certain amount of power, a certain amount of torque.

The higher you go, generally speaking, the clutch has to get stiffer, but when you add a second disc, you sort of split the entire load between the two discs. It can maintain a lot of power, but still drives quite well. (upbeat music) - Oil pan officially at OPO. - Thanks James. - Oh. (fun music) The headers are on the engine, that's very exciting. We are nearing the end of our engine build and I am getting very nervous. I think our headers will sound really sick. - I think our headlines are going to ring. - I think our headers are good. - Seriously ill.

Better than Hi Car, without a doubt. I think Hi Car will fall apart like a big pile of (bleep). (can spray) Looks good. They are approximately the same shade, they are almost the same shade. There's some texture, okay. - I hope the heat from the engine melts the paint a little. Even though we were behind Hi Team, things were going pretty well, which means there is time for things to not go so well. Alright, we have our kind of imitation throttle body, as you'll clearly see, the adapter is pretty good, but now it's getting stuck and hitting the intake itself.

So we'll have to spend more money and get parts that actually work instead of hoping this universal throttle body will. Very frustrating, but also somewhat embarrassing. We will have to reevaluate our game plan and come back with a new mind and pieces. - Now I want to make fun of Nolan, I do. It's my favorite thing, but we weren't having a great time either. - Okay, we got the transmission attached to the engine and it was super easy. (suspenseful music) Oh, okay. Oh Almighty God. Hello James, backwards, without hope. But we made it and now he's almost ready to get in the car.

After taking some really rudimentary measurements with a tape measure, I'm a little worried about how well this thing will fit. Now, as we've said, it's really cool that the sick engine mounts move the engine and transmission way back for good weight distribution, but I think you'll probably hit some things. Let's be very careful with our wiring harness. Okay, continue. That's all it has. It seems that this whole hump needs to be broken. So we'll get out the old sledgehammer. (hammer blow) - We use only the best instrumentation for a precise finish. - It is very tight. - Bang.

You have one more hit. - Meanwhile, Low Team was still stuck doing Low Team things. - We run into a big problem here. This is an exhaust bolt that has broken in the cylinder head. He arrived like this, someone pulled too hard and broke his head. So now we have to extract it and I'm not looking forward to it. (Drill hum) Okay, it's coming in. - Oh. - Broke the tool. - Dude, that was almost nothing. - Yes, that wasn't your fault. - That wasn't even much... That was like nothing. That wasn't... - It's day 100 of putting the LS engines in the Zs.

I try to mount the engine today or tomorrow at the latest because on Friday the car goes out to mount the custom exhaust and the engine has to be there. Plus, if we don't install this engine, my wife will leave me. - Hey, I'm going to take it down, I'll try to line them up. Everything looks pretty good down here. We have clearance at the top of the tunnel. There's only one point here on the left side where we're making contact. - We are planning to have the engine fully assembled and perhaps the transmission mounted by the end of the day.

Jerry and Justin will work in the back while I finish things in the front. Welcome to the Low Team guys. - Yes. - It's good to be here. - Woo. - Woo. - That was great, very synchronous. The oil starts spilling that thing, I was never here, man. So keep it moving. Ok, header installed. This is where you have to be amateur. It has to be neat and hot. - What an exercise. Oops, throw this out again. - Okay, so we have headers. I think the next step is to work on the clutch side. - Yes. - Let's get lubricated. ♪ Let's get lubed up ♪ - I'll be the lube guy.

Okay, let's not do it. We're putting this new flyer here. It's LS specific. Good reflexes. Specific for LS to CD009 transmission applications. Hello Jerry. - Am I on the way? - I'll probably want to put this in first, the adapter plate. - Oh (beep), it doesn't slide. - No. - Jesus, really? - Jesus Christ. We almost had a day where we didn't have to take anything off. That's a good day. - I understand. - Well. - That was a little stressful. - Okay, now where is this plate going? - Jerry, the website for this kit says, "With this kit, there is no need to modify the transmission." However, Jerry, a small modification to the LS block is required to be cleared to start. - Ah, beautiful. - Yes. - Okay, so we need to get rid of this little tab here. (grinder screeching) - Spark in my belly. - Going down.

Transmission assembly in operation. With that, the engine and transmission are bolted to this 350Z. - That's really exciting for me. - It is. - Especially when I look towards... - Yes. - That's a big step, but it doesn't mean we're done. We still have a lot of little things to do to make this work, but we will do them. - Our engines in our car. - Haven't they suffered enough, James? - Never. I will burn your crops and salt the ground. (all laughing) - Well, it's been a bit of a difficult day here at Low Team.

We have shifter problems, clutch problems, transmission problems. - I'm not supposed to do that. - Yeah. - Just a little (beep) right here. This bearing came in a little hard even when lubricated. So we'll use a little trick. We'll put this on dry ice to cool this part down. When it cools, the metal actually shrinks. You can hear him scream. Do you hear that? That's metal shrinking. That's the sound I make when I shrink. And then we'll heat up the side of the block. That will make it a little bigger so it should be able to slide back in and then once the temperature normalizes they will fit nicely.

There you have it, blushing like a mush. When you use a little science, intuition and perseverance, we can achieve anything with perseverance and dedication. - That's the whole theme of the show. - There is nothing we can't do. - I know. - We're going to the moon moon. - I've done it three times. - You have been to the moon three times. - No, I have done this program three times. The clutch and flywheel are tight. In theory, the stock transmission should fit this Chevrolet LS perfectly. In theory we will have a great time, butIt was a great decision. - Now that we've shaken up our own cars a little.

We'll change, get into each other's cars, and compare and contrast for the first time. I can't believe I'm saying that. I might get a little excited about the Low Car experience. (engine revving) - Lower it and slide it. (engine revving and tires screeching) - Oh my god, that sounds amazing. - It just feels amazing. - And it's like I'm not fighting the car. It's like we're working together. With Hi Car I feel like I'm fighting against it. Like I'm trying to force him to do something he doesn't want to do. (engine revving and tires screeching) - Dirt driving. -Come on, Joe. - By the way, I lost the clutch.

Sorry, Nolan. So we've all driven both cars on the track and we're still going to race them to see which one is faster because that's the most important thing. But Zac. - Yes. -Nolan. - Yes. - Does more expensive mean more is better? - Yeah, I'm really not so sure. - I don't think so guys. - Low Car feels great. It has plenty of torque wherever you need it. It glides incredibly. For someone who just wants to go out on the weekends and slide and move, what a setup. -But being in Hi Car, I think it feels like a more refined engine. - Yes. - You can definitely feel the money in it. - Yes. - It feels soft.

The power delivery is very smooth. - Transmission, nuts. - Yes. - It doesn't feel like Hi Car wants to take out the rear end like it should. I mean, if Low Car can do it, then this guy should be able to do it. - Performance aside, I still think Hi Car looks better. - Oh, there is no doubt, there is no doubt. - Without a doubt, guys. - The problem of clearance of the intake manifold with the hood. The fact that you have to have the big elephant nose sticking out, it's kind of a joke. - Yeah, I mean, that's a great joke. - I still think I would have to opt for an $8,000 swap instead of a $30,000 swap. - Yeah. - I mean, this is as fun as it gets.

This is all well and good, but we live our lives one quarter mile at a time. We don't have a quarter mile, we don't have an eighth mile. We have the front stretch of a kart track. So let's see which of these things goes from zero to 60 the fastest. From zero to 60, the fastest time wins, 3, 2, 1. (engine revving) What was it? - Well, our onboard team said we got from zero to 60 in 5.19 seconds. For reference, that's half a second faster than a stock 350Z. It's decent, but frankly I wanted more. - It looks like it's moving pretty fast.

Hopefully, we can beat him; Otherwise, the car is thrown away. You did it 3/100 better 5.16, zero to 60, of course. - He gave him the beans. (engine revving) - It seemed fast, it sounds good. - 5.12 seconds. Not as fast as I thought it was going to be, but I think that comes down to driver error, sort of clutch failure and all that, but still pretty quick. I stopped a G there, 1.06 max G-force, that's pretty sick too. - Okay, Joe, there are thousands of dollars at stake here. Can a 525 horsepower V8 beat a junkyard LQ9? - I can't wait, I'm shaking. - Okay Joe, whenever you're ready. - I mean it's great, that's for sure. - It looked really good, so... - Okay, I got a 5.29 off a pretty bad start. -If you can get a launch with minimal tire smoke, I think you can easily beat Low Car, yes. - That looked pretty good. - Yes. - Do you know what that was?

Tidy. - Yes, it was very organized. - It was 5:33. - Nolan friend, friend. - Yes man. Yes, low team. - Okay, this is it. This is the last race of the day. Joe needs to beat 5.1 seconds or this car sucks. All right, Joe, let it explode. (engine revving) - No way, you hate seeing it. Sounds good. - Okay, that's why I realized this car sucks. -It's okay, Nolan. - If I have time. - Yes. - 5.33. - Yes, we beat Hi Team with much less money. That's great. Joe, I'm sorry. - Yeah, whatever. - It sucks, man. - Thank you very much for watching this video and everything else on Donut.

Hit the subscribe button, hit the bell so you don't miss a thing. Make sure you check in next week at the same time because we're putting angle kits on these things and we'll see if we can beat Low Car in some drifts. Alright, go out with your friends.