Scarab Research

[Mike]

Sorry, I was trying to just attach the picture on my post. What did I do wrong?

The attachment shows up just fine. It looks like you attached a MS Word .DOC file with the image inside of that. If you attached a graphic file (.JPG, .GIF, etc) it would have shown up as a little thumbnail.

Anyway, thanks for the image! I like it!!

[texasz]

Check out the 3rd, 4th, and 5th pix on this page. This Scarab was at the Austin Z car show a couple years ago, I've seen it in about 4 shows since this one.

http://www.pape.ws/gallery/2003_capital_z_of_texas_show?page=3

[Mike]

Any idea where I can get one of those Scarab vents?

[Tommo560]

texasz that is one nice looking scarab, i love the kit he's got on it.

Tom.

[waynekarnes]

that list of options for the scarab was just that ... options ...

not every scarab built at the shop came with those items.

an old friend of mine's younger brother worked at the shop, wrenching on the scarabs. the shop was in campbell, about 3 miles from my house at the time.

another old friend, worked there for a while and had what looked like a bone stock z, and it had a pumped 350 and 4 speed. i'm wanting to say that Pat's scarab z was a 280.

mine is a scarab kit z ... thus, originally, there were no modifications to the body. looked like any other '72 240z, running 280z hub caps ...

as far as i know, you could get your scarab anyway you wanted, depending on how deep your wallet was.

a basic V8 swap, with auto or 4 speed, 4 core radiator no other mods.

deep wallet, your dreams just might become reality.

i was working on the street where my buddys parents lived back in the early 70's, looks like they've moved. last i heard, my friend was living in livermore ... oddly enough, where JTR is ...

my buddy's bro's name is Jonathan Sievert. his claim to fame, he was test driving a scarab, drove into the shop garage a little on the hot side, supposedly a bad master cylinder, and he racked up at least 3 customer's cars. minor body damage, fenders, bumpers, hoods, think he said he was going about 10 mph at impact. shoved one car into another.

[cardoc5]

Greetings all I just purchased a 280Z and want to do a V-8 conversion. I live in the Dallas Texas area. Anybody out there know of any companies that do that now like scarab used to?

[Bambikiller240]

Greetings all I just purchased a 280Z and want to do a V-8 conversion. I live in the Dallas Texas area. Anybody out there know of any companies that do that now like scarab used to?

No, I don't know of a place. But, the best place to ask a question like that is at www.Hybridz.org . The guys over there are heavily into engine swaps and major modifications like that.

[waynekarnes]

i think the msa kit is closest to the scarab kit.

why would you want to use the scarab style kit ?

it was good in day ... and still works

however, there are now better ways of doing things

if i were to build one from scratch, i'd start with the JTR kit ...

john in texas also makes a decent kit ... though the guys in the know, prefer the jtr kit.

hooker header's kit is almost an exact duplicate of the scarab kit.

http://www.johnscars.com/zcar.htm

http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Datsun_Z_V-8.html

you can get a V8 into a 240z, the avg price is around 3500. that's using a good junk yard engine and tranny, and modest modifications. i have heard of it being done for under 2 grand, but that was with very good luck gathering parts.

the scarab kit puts the chevy engine distributor about 2 inches out from the fire wall ... the other kits put the engine closer to the firewall.

the reason the engine is set back closer to the firewall, per Mike at JTR, is it allows the shifter for the camaro 5 speed transmission to come out close to where the stock shifter on the 240z came out of the console.

some people claim it changes the front to rear weight bias, and it may. the engine also sets lower, changing the center of gravity, and it may. i know it places the headers and oil pan closer to the road, but no closer than in a stock camaro or corvette. one thing, it does is allow one to use a wider choice of aircleaners and intake manifolds. the hood can close without danger of smacking the rod holding the air cleaner to the carb.

as cousin Carl suggested ... stop by hybridz.org ... they have a wealth of info on this subject. flamers are shoot down as soon as they start something. it's a solid site on topic. jerks are ejected asap.

[bpilati]

These are wonderful cars and photos, but you'd think they at least vacuum the floor before taking photos. :| One had a box sitting in the cargo area. It's like sending a model down the ramp with curler in her hair.

[bpilati]

What ever happened to Brian Morrow?

[Zrush]

What ever happened to Brian Morrow?

I've heard many rumors about him and I really don't know which one to believe. I've heard that after the state of California shut him down, he just disappeared. Heard he was suffering from some sort of degenerative (sp?) disease. The one that's most likely is the gag order that I read about in some performance magazine. I think the gag order was for 20 years and imposed in 1985 so that means if he is still around, this would be the time for him to speak out about how he was railroaded by the air-pollution/emissions board in California.

Many Scarab owners are hoping he pops up somewhere to tell his story. I know I would be interested.

Vicky

[lonetreesteve]

If he still lives in California, he may be one of the Brian Morrows listed under the first 8, the next 3 under "Public Records" (2 of them might be, but they are probably too young, the 21 year old could be his son) or the others listed under "E-mail" at the link below: (There is also an option to do a nationwide search).

http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiQA.dll?MEM=1&LNK=3%3A154&QV=822CAF75B81943DD8B35A4691EA1D1D0l02A33065925A0D4325313203O01A33165925A0D4327313203O07A30E65925A0D4320313203O03A32F3D925A0D43AF303203&SR=&F=brian&L=morrow&T=&S=ca&Z=&image1.x=27&image1.y=7