Mike Rowe

Ultimately I just wanted to tidy up under the manifold area, so do away with the water pipes and onboard cooler and run a exterior front mount oil cooler. If you want to run an oil cooler up front you have to do what I have done with a sandwich plate so that you have the ability to run hoses forward and back. The filter just screws on to the sandwich plate (see my small photo attachment at an earlier post above (click on it and it will enlarge)

out of interest, if you remove the standard water/oil cooler from the RB26, what do you need to replace it with? i presume you have to get an oil filter adaptor plate from another RB engine? No I just put on an aftermarket sandwich plate (see photo above) and then used hoses to route the oil to a larger oil cooler situated at the front of the car

I have a very nice billet aluminium remote housing on my RB26 motor which I bought from Performance Wholesale in Queensland Australia. Aluminium billet sandwich plate & remote filter housing A$165 The thread size for the Ryco Z145A or a Valvoline V04 is 3/4-16-UNF-2B. I took the original oil cooler/warmer off the engine as I am fitting an external oil cooler. See photo of fitted sandwich plate.

ditto, unbelievable job, congratulations!

I am doing my fuel system at the moment. I have a website (see my signature) and the whole thing will be on that shortly, however if you email me I will send you photos and the blurb so far to your email address. In regards the circuit in general terms see below: Fuel tank feed line to the filter – dash 6 stainless steel braided fuel line Filter to the Facet pump - dash 6 stainless steel braided fuel line Facet pump to Surge tank - dash 6 stainless steel braided fuel line Surge tank to the Bosch pump - dash 8 stainless steel braided fuel line Bosch pump to the inlet manifold - dash 6 stainless steel braided fuel line Inlet manifold return line to surge tank - dash 6 stainless steel braided fuel line Surge tank return line to fuel tank - dash 6 stainless steel braided fuel line The fuel tank I am fitting bigger internal lines and screw fittings for the dash 6 hose attachment on the outside

Thanks Stony I will give them a tryregards

My apologies, I have just seen and read this whole thread after already posting a new Thread on whether the RB20 mechanical drive will fit into the RB25 gearbox. However the question I have raised regarding the RB20 mechanical sensor hasnt been covered - does anyone know whether it will fit into the RB25 gearbox? Second question some have mentioned in this thread that the R32 RB26 speedo gearbox drive is mechanical - has anyone tried interchanging this successfully into the RB25 gearbox? I want to maintain the use of the Z speedo.

My apologies, I have just seen and read the whole thread below (photo of a speedo sensor) which covers a lot of this. However the question I have raised regarding the RB20 mechanical sensor hasnt been covered - does anyone know? Second question some have mentioned the R32 RB26 speedo gearbox drive is mechanical - has anyone tried interchanging this successfully?

I believe the RB20 gearbox has a mechanical speedo drive and the RB25 gearbox an electronic drive. Does anyone know if it is possible to interchange the electronic drive for the mechanical drive in order to drive the standard 260Z speedo?

Hi WAZTTED. No not in a workshop, doing myself as much as I can at home, and getting help from mates with welding of the oil pickup etc. Had the block machined etc, head done, but built up the long motor with a mate, and am now working through fitting out the driveline and working out the next lot of fabrications for the intercooler pipework etc. The bulk of my time up til now has been spent on preparation, ie research (Hybrid Z main source), sourcing all the parts, checking out RB stuff etc. At the same time I have also rebuilt my 240Z as an historic race car so that took a lot of the focus off the RBZ, however will focus on that now in between travelling a way a lot overseas this year. Would be great to catch up with you and check out what you are doing. Can you send me your contact details to mike@bluevista.net.au? regards

thanks everyone for your positive comments. As you can imagine I cant wait to get behind the wheel and enter it in some events. It is going to be a real handful.

I have theRB26 manual if that is any help in pdf format. If you want it send me an email to mike@bluevista.net.au and I will forward

Hi Craig thanks. Check out my website there is a lot of info on there. Yes the gearbox crossmember is from CRS. No mods required, just need to weld the side pieces on (which allows you to make sure there is an exact fit to your chassis rails). Gearbox mount is Holden 6 cylinder regards Mike

thanks

I bought my RB26 halfcut from "The Toy Shop" BERESFIELD, Newcastle NSW. I would strongly caution anyone against using them based on my experience. The motor I received in my half cut ("one of the best we have seen") arrived with the radiator, on removal of the cap, overflowing with oily brown stinky gunk. On closer inspection all the waterways were full of it. (see my website) It was patently obvious that the engine had at least a blown head gasket or a cracked block, which as our first guess, was unfortunately indeed correct. A long protracted battle then took place to get a replacement block, even though it was supposedly fully checked (they obviously hadnt even taken the radiator cap off... or had they?) and warranted. This held up my install for well over 12 months. "Importers with a difference" says their website, you can bet on that .... BTW - I have read a lot of info on the RB26 block saying they are bullet proof - I personally have seen 5 cracked blocks at a machine shop so there has to be lots of them out there?

My absolute pleasure Stephen!! regards

Apologies Quong!!! I was thinking of the guy who is getting me an aluminium radiator - sorry mate. regards Mike

After a long wait due to cracked blocks and other issues (see my website for details) the motor & gearbox are now in. That now makes 2 that I know of in Western Australia (other Quoc Nguyen) Still a long way to go but at least I can now start fitting everything around it. The engine has been fully rebuilt, balanced, forgies, new turbos etc, modified oil pickup and sump. I have everything else eg accumulator tank, larger intercooler, ali radiator, Apexi D-Jetro etc, so now is the enjoyable job of fitting everything and fabricating pipes etc. I have taken the original oil cooler/heater off so the oil filter now screws straight on to a small adaptor for a remote cooler. A few pics for interest below. I will put the full story on my website as I go. regards

Attached is a pdf on how to install regards accusumpinstr.pdf

I have one for my RB26 Z - I havent fitted it yet, but from the research I have done, one of the quotes on this is: "The Accusump E.P.C Valve is offered at three different pressure settings. Each valve is designed to allow the Accusump to recharge when the engine's pressure is above the pressure setting and to discharge when it is below. When choosing the pressure setting that is right for your application it is important to consider you engine's oil pressure during normal conditions. You will want to choose an E.P.C valve setting that is below that normal engine pressure. This way when your engine is running normally the valve will allow your Accusump to accumulate oil pressure. Then when you engine drops below its normal pressure and the valve's pressure setting it will discharge its accumulated oil in the Accusump. If unsure of your engine's pressure it is best to choose the E.P.C valve with the lowest rating, the 20-25 psi valve "

With this mod you show, will a RB20/Z31 pan just sit right down on that block with out any mods, or are the usual mods still needed to the rim of the pan, to bulge it out around the added pick up mounting flange? Please explain the baffling mods needed, if any, to the pan also, if you can... ------------------------------------------------ Thanks JS, the pan does need modifying as you suggest. I will put photos of that on my site soon (I am in Europe on holidays at present for 6 weeks). The pan needs cutting and stretching out over the point of the base attachment & rightangle bend. The baffle inside needs cutting to allow the horizontal tube to run along to the RB20 standard attachment. We used a simple copper 90degree bend to get the pipe to go from the standard RB26 pickup point back to the RB20 pickup pipe work which kept it as low as possible and neat.

Here is another example of how the pickup can be modified when using the RB20 sump and RB26 motor in the Z. I will put up the whole fabrication on my website soon.

thanks all for your comments, makes me feel a lot better about it. Cheers

Hi can any one advise on what they have done when using the RB20 sump for the zed regards the gearbox bottom mounting bolts? IE The standard RB26 4wd sump has provision for bolting the gearbox bottom bolts into the sump. When you fit the RB20 sump as required to clear the crossmember in the Z, this does not have the bolt holes at the back for the bottom gearbox bolts. I purchased the two side plates that bolt between the gearbox and the side of the RB20 & 25 block but the RB26 does not have the side block mounting points. Hence the RB25 gearbox can only bolt to the RB26 by the top bolts leaving the bottom unsecured. I am concerned this will allow movement between the motor and gearbox and the consequent problems? Anyone got anu suggestions?

OK see your point. I wonder why they do a 2inch and a 2.5inch - handy for more room in the RB26 swap with intercoolers etc - do you think there would be much difference in cooling with 2 & 2.5 versus the 3inch? I live in Australia and therfore need to be sure which one I get before ordering regards