70 Cam Guy

Last update for today. Odds and ends.... The latest engine bay shot. The intercooler had to move in closer to the core support so the hood would closer lol The bottle on the fender is the coolant bottle from Jegs Just a gratuitous shot of the mount, exhaust, and coilovers.. The mock up of the air filter. This will eventually be my catch can. It started life as an MSR brand white gas bottle.

They are pushing hard to finish up the loose ends. This is the kind of project I would love to do myself but just don't have the space to devote to the swap. Right now the project in the driveway is my Toyota truck project (solid axle swap and suspension). The oil pan was more work than we expected. I started it by cutting the flange off and cleaning up the edges. I ordered a small block chevy pan from Summit to try cannibalizing into my RB pan. It was almost the same width but fitting it together was still a lot of work. Joey did the work on the pan after I cut the stock one. Here's the pan with exhaust. It's braced against the transmission like the SR's We definitely have much respect for Pat after doing this ourselves.

Today I asked about the motor mounts again. They discovered them on accident one day when a customer car was in the shop. Joey said they are early Volvo 6 cylinder mounts, still unsure of model but I don't know how many 6 cylinders Volvo made. He told me one our friends said they don't last long in (dirt) rally but for street they should be fine. They are made for a heavy old 6 cylinder so we figured they should work with the RB. It's not totally perfect but I think it will be ok.

Thanks! I think it's down below the battery but I haven't actually looked too close yet. You can kinda see it in a pic I took tonight but I'll remember to take a closer look next time I'm at the shop

Thanks Pat! Your threads were a great help when I was deciding to do this and when ordering parts. I can't wait to drive the rev happy baby brother of the 25

I can't lie, I held off on making the thread til work on the swap started. Part of it has been a severe lack of free time juggling everything. I started the motor work back in January and progress has been Saturdays and after my day job. The swap itself has gone quickly since the mounts worked out in my favor and everything lined up. I'm getting anxious and have been watching/listening to youtube videos of RB's and dreaming

I have to apologize for the iphone pics in this one. This is very close to the current state. Still mocking the intake piping here And the stunning radiator from PRC Racing arrived. I started with their 24x19 GM double pass but asked them to cut it down to 17" height and angle the upper neck. For $40 they will cut down their cores and cap the top or bottom of your choosing. Since my water neck was one piece, that was no extra charge. Those guys are awesome! We are doing the exhaust so I can unbolt the back half of the exhaust at the diff to run the muffler/tip I have been running, or bolt on a straight pipe I should have more pics in the next couple days. Juggling this project with my Toyota truck axle swap and a house search. My last couple months have been crazy!

We are going for a partial wire tuck. All the wires are routed under the intake manifold and the idle control is also underneath. There was room for the ignitor on the back of the head. Starting to run the intercooler piping

Here's more of the test fitting: I'm afraid I don't have clear shots of the mounts themselves. All I really know is they are earlier Volvo mounts. I actually bought hockey pucks if these didn't work. All we had to do was slot the mount brackets to make it work.

Definitely! I can't wait to drive it, getting very close now There's a handful of hybrid Z's around the bay. I definitely love the RB. They sound, as I like to put it, untamed.

I wasn't sure what the rules were on talking about the shop, but it's Performance Options, in Oakland, CA. They do old and new performance, fab and general repair. http://www.performanceoptions.net/ I'm no pro but I do their web site, I wasn't sure where the line was there on the rules. And yes, you do spy a 26 in the background. It's another customer car. There's a bit of a story there too. They put the car together with the motor he supplied assembled. The problem, and there's a lesson here, was the valve covers were powder coated. They weren't cleaned before being bolted on and the PCV baffles were full of sand. Can you see where this is going? So the end result was a dead quiet and smooth engine that didn't last very long. It's getting rebuilt. If you ever have your valve covers powder coated, be VERY careful and clean them thoroughly. It was an R33 GTS Spec V and they installed the 26 with AWD transmission. The tuner is Frank from Garage Boso in Southern CA. He comes up and tunes on the dyna-packs.

Thanks! No problem, there are bound to be distractions in the background. Afraid I don't have any good pics of his car but I found one on his flickr. My friends wired up everything to get his 4AG (16 valve) swap finished. As far as I know it's all smog/emissions legal. The exhaust is silly loud too DSC_0449 by HELLLA KENNY, on Flickr Edit - found one of mine at night...

Time for one update before I call it a night, The engine is in for test fitting. Everything actually bolted in, and as expected it is sitting high. We are actually using some Volvo motor mounts that dropped the engine perfectly. The mounts were slotted a little so the holes lined up. They're routing the harness underneath the manifold so it's a partial wire tuck

Thanks! My understanding is that it's a 964 (late-80s) with a 993 turbo body swap, lots of carbon fiber. The engine was pretty crazy, twin turbo, ITB, lots of work. Afraid I can't find a regular pic of the car. I believe it made 360 hp at the wheels and was maxing out the injectors. It was supposed to be built for 600 to the ground. Apparently it would really rip and break all 4 tires loose The S2000 behind was in for an LS1 swap and he was going for his BAR / Ref sticker

The exhaust manifold is back and I am REALLY happy with how it came out. All that time was worth it I painted the runners textured black to match the exhaust side and I'm happy with how it looks. You can see how we routed the water lines underneath the manifold. We just cut the bends from the original line and TIG'ed it together.

Thanks dude, one of these days I'll make it to the south bay meet and check out the fairlady. That thing oozes cool

Engine ready to be dropped in... Somewhere along the way I painted the block basic black. The starter was missing so I used the (now) famous NAPA reman unit that someone here discovered. I happened to see the link back here on a 240SX site or nico

Work continued on the engine. Head studs installed and head torqued down. I re-sprayed the coil cover flat black to clean up the look. I painted the valve covers with Hammered finish Rustoleum. It's cheap it really came out looking great. The timing belt came with the sticker for the cover and I fully plan on using it.

Parts started rolling in, factory turbo from the RB25. The intake side is larger than the 20's turbo and bolts right on. Flywheels and cylinder head back from the machine shop with fresh valve seals and pressure test. The flywheel lost 4 pounds on its visit to the machinist Hooray boost gauge! I spent a whole Saturday grinding and shaping the stock exhaust manifold, and shaving the heat shield bosses. My buddy helped fill in the holes as best he could. I sent out the manifold to Jet Hot in Oklahoma City for the JH2000 black coating.

Welding is almost complete. Done! When I unbolted it, it was completely flat. Saved some cash buying this but it was a lot of time/work to make it usable. DSC_2217 by AYates Photos, on Flickr

The intake manifold turned into a good amount of work to fix. It came bowed like crazy. The seller was very cooperative and refunded some of my money. There was no way to bend it or work it straight. We decided to cut the runners and re-weld it flat. So you're not worried, I was wearing my welding helmet taking those pictures... I like my vision I cut the runners and evened the lengths. My friend welded it up. They have a Miller Synchrowave (it's awesome)

On to the tear down... The head looked brand new, the cylinders were pristine, and the bottom end also looked as good. I probably could have run it without opening it but this is good peace of mind at this point. On the stand in a sea of other engines. The original owner must have regularly changed the oil. There was no sludge or even an oil stain under the valve covers I had never seen a main bearing cap like this before. Talk about stout!!

It's about time I started my build thread. Progress has moved forward enough that I decided to start this. A little background... I had originally planned on building a modest NA L28 and was massing parts for that. However my friends run a shop in Oakland, and an RB20 with transmission practically fell in their lap. We made some arrangements and it was decided I could get more power from the 20 for not much more, and plans changed I started selling my L parts and ordering bits for the RB. I found Skylines Australia for info on basic mods and dyno info. The parts: Nissan gasket set for a reseal and inspection Nissan Pitwork timing belt, water pump, tensioner, idler ARP head studs RB25 stock turbo w/RB20 actuator Thai ebay intake manifold with front facing plenum ebay split dump pipe into 2.5" exhaust ebay front mount with custom piping HKS air filter pod Nismo thermostat Nismo adjustable Fuel Pressure regulator Bosch 044 fuel pump Hallman manual boost controller Apexi AFC NEO I plan on running 13-14 psi and adjusting AFR's with the AFC. I know it's no Power FC but the Australian guys seem to be getting good AFR's on their dyno runs with them. Anyway, on to the beginning of the pics. I apologize in advance for any gratuitous artsy sh*t with the camera. Photography is my other hobby The engine as received, wasn't thrilled with the Fram oil filter but oh well:

That is what I was thinking, the stock driveshaft will slide right into the RB20 5speed. Make, or buy a rear sump oil pan and bolt the thing in. My current build is an RB20 swap. I got the motor and trans for less than I could have built a stout L28 so I ran with it. I 'upgraded' to the stock RB25 turbo with rb20 actuator, freddy ebay intake, and ebay front mount. Budget turbo elbow, and Jet Hot coated shaved exhaust manifold. I resealed the engine with the Nissan gasket set and ARP head studs. Nissan timing belt, water pump, tensioner, and idler pulley. I didn't need to do most of that stuff but the install will look cleaner IMO than that cross over intake, and now I know what the inside of the engine looks like. But to answer your question about the pistons, the RB25 rods are probably longer, and so you would need a shorter piston height so it doesn't poke above the deck with the long stroke. The stock 4AG pistons are probably the correct height, but with a larger stock bore. They are also probably plentiful/cheap from all the Corolla guys

Good looking start! That turbo manifold looks intense! I've ordered a good amount of OE parts from West Covina Nissan aka thenismoshop.com. They carry quite a few RB parts. The website also has the service manuals in pdf form in their resources section. If you know the fasteners you need, I'm sure you can go to a local Nissan dealer and get bolts from them. There are standard lengths and sizes that all vehicles share. It probably won't be cheap though but Class 10.9 or 12.9 fasteners aren't what I would call cheap at Ace Hardware either. What kind of engine management are you planning on running? stock? Power FC?