Racinjitter

Ahhh, I was thinking that there was already 2 in MI, but then I seen you are in Midland. If you need any help send me a message, I will help you out with what you need. Take a look at my thread on the swap I am nearing completion on. I just did the final fit and plan on having it done by january. Wiring is a real mess on this swap. Fell free to PM and AIM me.

Friggin Saweet! How was the clearance for the back turbo to the steering shaft? Looks like a good home for the RB! Hopefully I will be at SEZ 8 with mine.

OK the top wire looks to be in the right spot, but there should be 2 wires going to the a/c reciever drier there. (the part you have it connected to) The middle picture is one of the battery terminals, most likely the positive as the negative should not reach. The black with yellow tracer is the ground wire and should be connected by the bracket to the frame rail. To make sure that the wores are correct, follow them to where thay go. If it goes directly to the starter = positive, if it goes to the block/bellhousing bolt = negative. If it still doesnt start check fuseable links right above the battery on the passenger side.

Try out Redz31's forums. Every bit of information is in there about the build up of a VG30et. http://www.redz31.com/forum/

here is a link to a whole car, engine is already pulled. But would be great for extras. http://detroit.craigslist.org/pts/227684646.html

Dramier, Thank you for weighing in on this one. I am suprised that you had to massage the tranny tunnel. As I did not have to. I figured that you may have more insight than me about certain things about this kind of swap.

As far as I know the RB series engines are not illegal, however they need to be smog compliant depending on your state. The 25 uses the same internals as the Z32 and same sandwich plate so the bellhousings can be interchanged. If the rb bellhousing is used on the z32 internals and tail section the shifter will sit back about 4" further.

I acutally used the factory tranny mount in the factory place, I just put that rusted bolt in the wrong hole, so I dont lose it. The engine mounts to the tranny mount distance is exactly the same for the RB and the VG at 39.5". I believe that the only difference between the rb20det tranny and the earlier vg tranny is the bellhousing. hence the 1c. The rb20det trany is much smaller than the rb25det tranny, I dont think there will be any interference with the rb20det tranny.

OK let me get this straight, You are planning to make the the engine brackets that bolt to the engine right? But if you plan on making a drop down bracket to hold the factory z31 mounts onto the crossmember, it just wont work. There wouldnt be enough clearance for the mounts to sit in the "new" places. As of right now I am going to air hammer the original crossmember brackets so that I can get a wrench on the bolt for the engine isolators. On the tranny tunnel issue, if you decided to move the engine forward more it may help, But the only clearance issue is the speedo sensor. The tunnel only needs about 7/16" massaging to clear well. The speedo sensor hits the transmission tunnel support arch. Also if you decided to move the engine forward you would also be moving the tranny forward, so a custom tranny mount would be needed. Tunnel arch support Speedo interference

Have you already tuned your factory ECU to its limits? If not try out nistune These guys should be able to help out further http://ecu2.forumwise.com/

you will need to use yor VG bellhousing

It is just the same internals, not the full case. However the sandwich plate in the middle is the same, making the front halves (or bellhousing) interchangeable.

Vinnchan, The driveshaft will be custom made. It has a Z32 output yoke and my factory Z31 rearend companion flange. Of course it will have removable and greaseable u joints also. I will be measuring for the driveshaft length this weekend and hopefully I can have one made in a week.

The 300zr does not come with a VG30DET, it comes with a VG30DE. To locate the turbos in the factory position he will need to modify the strut towers. There is no way around it. The piping will be an issue if he decides to make front mount turbos, or the firewall will be and issue if he decides to make the turbos rear mount, then ground clearance comes into play. Dont get me wrong it can be done, and has been done. But unless you plan on spending more than 10k on the build of the DETT and installation, go with the vg30et.

Yes you are correct. The TT swap would cost way more than you think. As someone said above you will need to fab up just about everything just to get the DETT into the engine bay. You would also have to modify the shock towers, firewall and possibly the core support. Then imagine trying to work on it once you get the engine in there. Have you ever looked under the hood of a TT? Now take all of the room under the hood of the TT and minus about 75% of it. The ET is a more than capable engine and as Jason has proven time and again it will produce 500 crank hp or 450 whp reliably. Mind you this is all coming from a guy who has and RB under the hood of his Z31.

So I got everything bolted up on the Z, The crossmember bolts directly in now. It went pretty smoothly only a little bit of prybar action. The turbo elbow has more than a half inch clearance between the heat shield and the steering shaft. I did encounter a clearance issue with the speedo sensor on the passenger side, I will bring home the air hammer soon to fix this issue. I also had an issue with the tranny mount bolts, they were too wide so I ground the head down to the bolt itself. Now I am wondering if the driveline angle is correct. I guess I will have to bring home a magentic angle guage. Here are the pics...

Hey Jason, Just an FYI 595 WHP on factory RB25DET internals with more to go... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=115487. Thanks to Jtayor for the numbers.

I made up some brackets for the tranny today. I havent gotten around to putting it in yet, but I am 85% sure it will work with no problems.

Oil pan gasket is silicone/RTV.

As Dramier suggested I cut the core support/ hood latch out to get the engine/trans assembly into the car. I plan on making some brackets to weld onto the removable hood latch portion, so that the timing belt will be easy to access instead of removing the whole engine. I finally dropped the whole assembly into the car, and wouldnt you know, I dont need to modify the tranny tunnel at all. But on the downside, I do have to make a bracket to mount the tranny to the trans crossmember, this should be butter to do. Z31 tranny mount on left, RB tranny mount on the right Z31 tranny mount on top, RB tranny mount on the bottom The shifter lines up perfectly in the old automatic hole in the tunnel. There is about 1/4 inch clearance between the steering shaft and the turbo elbow/downpipe. And there is plenty of clearance under the hood.

To see if the engine is locked up, grab a socket and a breaker bar and put it on the crankshaft pulley bolt and turn. It doesnt matterwhich way. If it does turn, then the motor is not locked up. Also when you tried to push start the car you should use at least 2nd or 3rd gear as the gear reduction in the trans will cause less speed and more torque to be applied to the engine in 1st gear causing the tires to drag. A lot of times when the starter goes bad it will simply "click" or even grind. What causes it to click is the solenoid engaging. You may want to check the connections going to the starter and your grounds, make sure all of them are good, as a bad power or ground connection will cause the starter to not get the appropriate voltage/amperage to actually turn over the engine. Now if the engine does turn over with a breaker bar and all the connections are good, look into a starter replacement.

I did a test fit today, and it looks pretty good so far. I need to bolt up the tranny for final fitment. Aslo there is going to be a revision in the mounting plates that I made. They are going to be an inch longer and the bolts are no longer going to be staggered. like this... So here are some pics of what I got done today... There are just a couple of interference issues so far, most notably the power steering lines to the rack. The other is the steering shaft it clears but not by enough yet... Another issue is the ride height, right now with just the rb in there it seems way too high, seeing as to how much the tranny weighs it will still sit a little higher than factory. No biggie, I plan on getting coilovers anyhow.

The RB swap is very time consuming and pretty costly. I am in the middle of my swap right now. I am swapping in a RB25DET into an 88 Z31. The VG30 is a very capable engine and rather inexpensive to build, but dont let me sway you one way or another. Here is a link to my swap in progress... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=109458

Ok so I finally cut the engine mounts for the RBZ31, Now I am waiting for the harness (two weeks). I plan on welding up the new mounts tomarrow, well as long as the test fit is good. Then I will move on to the transmission fitment. Enough talk here is a pic of what I did today.

you can use the tensioner spring from a VG30E or ET on all RB series engines.