Starting RB Swap

[juliarosario]

Hi guys, back again!

So from where we left off the car was not running, the harness was shot, we were all pretty discouraged. Then the great idea came: BUY ANOTHER HARNESS. However it was a pretty hard decision to make because we weren't sure if buying an aftermarket ecu, harness, and engine management system would be the way to go, or just buying a wiring specialties plug and play. We definitely wanted to do some pretty cool engine upgrades in the future and wanted a fueltech or an aem infinity box to specifically play around with the tune, so engine management software was 100% in the future. But then again, we didn't want to spend upwards of 2k on engine management system for an engine that we didn't even know ran. 

We came to the conclusion that a plug and play harness would be the smartest option. It would get the car up and running, drivable so I could rip it around for a while before it gets too cold and also gives us a chance to start working on other parts of the car, suspension, rear end, appearance, etc. Then around this time next year when we decide to do the engine upgrades, we can just sell this harness we bought or have it rewired for whatever engine management system we decide to go with. Sooooo, within the next two days I ordered an rb20det to 280z wiring specialties plug and play harness. The harness was ready in under an hour so after work I drove to their store in Brookfield to get it. I was so damn excited. Also, those people were so nice! When I went to pick up the harness they gave me a tour of their business and showed me their 2jz bmw in the works. They also talked about aftermarket ecu's with me and told me when I'm ready for that swap to send the harness back and they will rewire it for me.

That harness was beautiful. 

Edited October 17, 2017 by juliarosario

[juliarosario]

Okay, so we got the harness all plugged in within an hour and we were so ready to see what would happen next! We were expecting the engine to come right out and start but unfortunately, that did not happen. The engine would crank, crank, crank, but nothing else. The fuel pump was running but we were not getting any spark. The ecu was getting power, we checked our grounds a thousand times, we had no idea what it could be!

A day later, we found our issue! Well, one of many, many issues I should say.

But first, let's backtrack a little bit.

When I first got the car, stock l28e engine, the car would not stay running. I got to drive it down the street, the car would just die all of a sudden and for the life of us all at the shop, we couldn't figure out why. Then we saw the aftermarket fuel pressure gauge hooked up, and figured it was an issue with fuel and fuel pressure. We figured the tank was rusty and lines were clogged and that the engine wasn't getting sufficient enough fuel, and that is why it kept dying, maybe even a bad pump?, who knew. HOWever, the previous owner told us that the gas tank had just been cleaned and the fuel lines rerun. SO, we then thought, maybe the lines weren't clogged?? Heck, we didn't know what to think. But, we knew we were engine swapping very soon so I guess I figured since the previous owner said the lines and tank were clean, we wouldn't have this same fuel issue with the new engine.

Alas, back to current times!! We found our issue!! Fuel was not getting to the engine! It was getting clogged up. Who would've knew this problem could've followed us! We dropped the gas tank and sure enough we found it rusted out completely. It looked ridiculous. We blew out the lines and also found nothing but dirt, rust, and clogged lines in general. 

The tank was sent out to get boiled, cleaned, and recoated. 

brb.

Edited October 31, 2017 by juliarosario

[juliarosario]

Hi guys!

Okay so from where we left off, the tank was sent out to get cleaned!! I got it back about a week later and it looked amazing! The inside was coated with what I presumed what Red Kote. Who knew a clean tank would make me so happy!

We had some extra time so we decided to also repaint the outside of the tank and make that look just as new as the inside did. We scrubbed all the gunk off the outside of the tank, scuffed it up a little bit with a scotch pad, wiped it all down again, primered it, and then finally sprayed it with the black. 

I snapped some pics of the tank and also one of me spraying a very uneven, horribly straight coat of primer (needed some proof for instagram of me being mildly productive). Who gave me a spray can and a project car jesus christ..

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by juliarosario

[juliarosario]

While the tank was drying, we took some time to troubleshoot the engine and see if we had any other issues stopping the car from starting.

We took a little red gas container, filled it up with some gas, shoved the send and return lines in there, yes with a fuel filter too, we are not savages, and had a temporary gas tank to work from.

We adjusted the fuel pressure, sealed up a TON of vacuum leaks and found an old fashioned OBD1 scanner that actually helped us start this engine way better than anything we had tried before. We had it running in a matter of minutes.

The scanner was a big help, telling us lots of things we were not aware of before! Alas, the clouds come raining in again and we find cylinder 3 misfiring. But damn, that engine running on 5 cylinders sounded amazing. 

We were getting spark at the cylinder and when we removed the spark plug we found some oily junk on it. The exact moment I thought, wow if this engine has a blown ring seal I will kms. We removed the coils, spark plugs and compression tested each cylinder, just to be safe. Two of the cylinders came back at 165, three at 155, and one at 145. Good enough, for now. Next we checked the injectors.

brb.

[juliarosario]

So, we did a noid lite test and indeed found one bad injector exactly on the cylinder that was misfiring. I unbolted the fuel rail and took the bad injector off. So my problem here was that I couldn't find replacement stock 270cc injectors anywhere! Only aftermarket ones, which was fine if I was upgrading, but I'm not ready for that yet! I figured if I upgraded injectors I would need to tune the ecu so it would know about more fuel coming in, and without a nistune, I don't know if I could easily do that. Alas, thinking of the cost of a set of new injectors and a nistune didn't seem that interesting to me, considering I was planning to upgrade to the Infinity box in the summer anyways!

SO, we decided we were gonna send that injector out to get cleaned and tested, maybe it was just clogged? But if we were gonna do that, okay okay fine, I will send them all out to be cleaned. I knew a place that would do the injectors cleaning and testing for dirt cheap!!

Sooooo, I took all of the injectors off and put them in a bag ready to be shipped off. But then, for some reason, someone at my shop was like hold on, before you send those injectors out just test them one more time.

So, okay we lithium grease them and just hold them them right on the fuel rail, with our hands, yes ready to spew fuel over the entire shop? Yes. And just like we suspected, one injector did not spray fuel. Also, side note, one hand did not hold an injector down all the way and it came off the fuel rail and angrily sprayed all over my eyeballs. Yup! Lesson learned from that one!!

ANyways, while I'm off rinsing my eyeballs out, they're still over by my car playing with the injectors and suddenly, SO SUDDENLY, all the injectors are shooting fuel. ALL OF THEM. Even the one we thought was bad or clogged, suddenly got unclogged!!! What a beautiful sight (although at the moment I couldn't see it happen??).. So yes, the sacrifice was worth it. I had two painfully red eyeballs but also six working injectors soooo seems like a pretty good day to me.

Edited October 31, 2017 by juliarosario

[juliarosario]

Okay! So I put all the injectors back on for good, got the fuel rail bolted down, everything is back to normal! At this point the car is running awesome! It sounds great when we're revving it, we adjusted the idle just right. Then we realize that our alternator is bad! So, the alternator has come off and we ordered a nissan quest alternator to replace it. I've read on some forums that they're plug and play, and just some minor modification to the bracket has to be done. After that, we just have to get all of our wiring sorted out, to the ignition, fans hooked up, fuel pump and tank back in. After that, we will be ALL READY TO RIP IT. I am so excited for my first drive with Dirty D, and the rb!! 

I included a little video of it up and running. I didn't really get on it that much, next time I'll be sure to rev it like a maniac!!

IMG_8361.mov

[Annunaki]

Awesome!! Without sacrifice there's no victory...hmm..I heard that before

[juliarosario]

23 hours ago, Annunaki said:

Awesome!! Without sacrifice there's no victory...hmm..I heard that before

hahaha yes! Trust me it was so worth it!!

[juliarosario]

Hey guys! Had a little more progress going this weekend and last. I've been dedicating all my weekend time to my babe, since school and work on the weekdays leave me with little or no time to spend with Dirty D. Anyways! So last weekend we put the new alternator on and it looks amazing!

First we had to remove the pulley off the rb alternator and put it on the quest alternator. Next we had to drill some bigger holes in the quest alternator and also put a space in between the bottom bracket to get it to line up perfectly right. We test fit the belt and it went on just right. Then we grinded down the upper bracket and made the holes just a little bigger and that was it! A couple hours of work and it was snug and fit perfectly! 

Only problem we have now is that the alternator is not getting any power. We reran the power and ground wires and checked them twice, but still only getting 12.5 volts at the battery, and nothing with the alternator. I read on some forums that the car has to be up to at least 2700 RPMs for the alternator to charge but I don't buy that. SO pls hold for further investigation!

Also should be noted that we are still running the car off of a gallon gas tank! And as much as I liked the sleek mobility of my little red gas can, I felt the need to put my old (BUT VERY CLEANED UP ONE) back in .

So, we rewired our fuel pump back to the back of the car, connected the send and return lines and strapped that tank back in. It should be noted that during this process it was a communal shop decision (still very unsure the technical reasons as to why we did, but we did) to remove the vapor canister from my car. So, we did it!! We also capped the hole on the gas tank where the ventilation line was running to and also capped the ventilation line on the filler neck. THINKING BACK. THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BAD IDEA. WHY DID WE CAP OFF THE LINE ON THE VENTILATION NECK. I think it was a very late night decision that I am dying to go change. Pls hold and you will find out exactly why!

 

Anyways. okay back to where we were. We put the gas tank back in ran the lines in the back or the car. Lowered the car back down and added a new fuel filter and connected those lines as well. By that time we were getting our dyno customers in so we had to cut the Datsun work short. 

 

I included some picture for you guys to look at!

One just my little inside setup, that I am very much dying to sit in (WHILE THE CAR IS MOVING, don't worry, I sit in it plenty while the car is stationary!!).

Next is the old alternator I took off. And then it compared to its much superior (but also not working right now) quest daddy alternator.

And finally just my babe on the lift taking a little break from the world.

Edited November 27, 2017 by juliarosario

[juliarosario]

Meanwhile, besides the slight Z progress, the shop has been fairly busy! Ever since the dyno has been in we have been crazy busy! 

I included some videos of some of my favorite cars we've had on our dyno!

Other than that we have also become registered VP dealers so now our shop always has the coolest race fuels in stock and readily available. If anyone ever needs anything specific, don't be scared to shoot me a message!

Also the transmission broke on our Factory Five 818c so that's gonna be a project just to get that transmission out to replace it. I mean, we have to take EVERYTHING out to get to it. So right now its sitting happily broken in the garage. 

We also are feeling the spirit of Christmas down at East Side, so we decided to make our own Christmas TREE. 

 

 

FIRST CLIP where my Datsun and I made it on youtube  IMG_8146.mov

The coolest 240sx to come on the dyno so far! IMG_8281.mov

Black GTR gif IMG_8496.mov

Red GTR, the full pull, this thing was insane! IMG_8511.mov

First VP shipment gif IMG_8470.mov

Really sick Civic that came in! IMG_8230.mov

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by juliarosario

[juliarosario]

Oh and I forgot to mention I ordered a wide body kit for Dirty D. I had been eyeing this kit for a long time and finally I decided to pull the trigger! They will actually be in tomorrow, says USPS, and I can't wait to see them in person!

I would love to know what you guys think of them! They won't be on the car for a pretty long while, we are not nearly close to that stage but damn just having them to look at will be amazing!! 

Note: Obviously not my Z in the picture, this is just straight from the website. I'll update you guys tomorrow when I see mine in person!

[datsun_dom]

5 minutes ago, juliarosario said:

Oh and I forgot to mention I ordered a wide body kit for Dirty D. I had been eyeing this kit for a long time and finally I decided to pull the trigger! They will actually be in tomorrow, says USPS, and I can't wait to see them in person!

I would love to know what you guys think of them! They won't be on the car for a pretty long while, we are not nearly close to that stage but damn just having them to look at will be amazing!! 

Note: Obviously not my Z in the picture, this is just straight from the website. I'll update you guys tomorrow when I see mine in person!

I've been looking into getting this kit for a while but couldn't find enough pics to see how it turns out....hope it looks awesome if so ima place my order

[juliarosario]

On 11/27/2017 at 12:34 AM, datsun_dom said:

I've been looking into getting this kit for a while but couldn't find enough pics to see how it turns out....hope it looks awesome if so ima place my order

I will definitely keep you posted! As well, I am looking forward to see how it turns out!

[juliarosario]

Hi Guys!

Back with a little update: MY FENDERS CAME IN! There was a point where I definitely thought they were slowly becoming a figment of my imagination, because they were not showing up! I think I ordered them October 1st, so they should've been there by the end of October, but I guess the company was having some mishaps and said they had to end up remaking one. However there was a point where the fenders went on sale and mine still had not shipped, so at that point I was like UGH, this sucks, do I cancel and reorder? I didn't. Then I didn't get tracking information until like November 15th but USPS didn't get the actual package until the 22nd I think. And since then I have been anxiously awaiting the USPS man, jumping to get the door at the shop every time it opened. Alas, it has been a long wait but MY FENDERS CAME IN. 

 

I like them! They are very light weight and thin. I think that'll make blending them into the body a lot easier. The fitment is very nice as well, the backs fit perfectly. I have to take the fender turn signal off in the front fender, to see how well they go there but they look spot on! I included some pictures so you guys can check it out as well.

 

Last time I talked to guy who will be doing the body work on these fenders, he said that we were probably gonna have to take the fenders to bare metal and adhere them that way, or buy a set of fiberglass fenders to work off of, saving these. I'll be sure to get a plan with him soon because I think lots of paint stripping is in the future anyways. Blue is not my final color choice.

 

 

[AkumaY]

link to these flares?

[juliarosario]

On 12/3/2017 at 1:30 AM, AkumaY said:

link to these flares?

Their instagram link is right here. The company is called fiberglass mafia. https://www.instagram.com/fiberglassmafia/?hl=en

[juliarosario]

Hey all! It has been a busy week and weekend, I didn't have any time at all to work on the Datsun. 

 

First, my daily had some issues. Check engine light came on, misfiring and then found oil on all of the spark plugs! So not a great day. No worries though, the problem is now in the works of being fixed. You guys should know by now I love adding pictures and let's face it, it looks so damn good even on our flatbed.

 

Then a very, very, very clean 2.5RS came up on craigslist and we could not stay away. SO, let's welcome the newest addition to our car collection. I'm thinking there is some very cool things to be done to this car in the near future. There it is next to my babe and also next to the z28. 

 

THEN, we had to hustle our way down to Florida in time for a drag racing weekend and NOW it is just about finals week! So bare with me, hopefully a ton of progress will come this winter break seeing as though I'll have a whole month off!  

 

Threw in another picture of the datsun with that kit on it! I really like it! I think once the fit and finish is done, bodywork, and a new paint job, it won't look half bad!!

[boosted300]

I'm really enjoying your build...love the details!

[juliarosario]

On 12/23/2017 at 11:13 PM, boosted300 said:

I'm really enjoying your build...love the details!

Thank you! I definitely appreciate your interest, I love knowing people are reading

[juliarosario]

HI guys!

We have not talked in a long time, it has been a very busy, yet relaxing, winter vacation! Where to begin...

 

So if I recall correctly, we left off with Dirty D having some alternator issues, and some issues staying running. Believe it or not, both of those were easy fixes that seemed to be fixed in a relatively short amount of time! We decided to first deal with the idling issue. If you all remember, the car was idling beautifully while the temporary gas tank was hooked up in the front of the car, but as soon as we reconnected the tank and the lines, NOT IDLING AT ALL. Hmm, turns out that just by adjusting the screw on the AAC, our idling issue was fixed! It was amazing, in a matter of minutes my baby was back and breathing well again. However, I am running without an IAC and was fighting myself for the longest time, debating whether that was my problem or not. I almost dug through my parts bucket to put it back on, but now with the idle running great, I didn't dare to touch anything.

 

Side Note: If anyone is also running without their IAC or has any advice whether to keep it on or not, please share! I would love some opinions, and I love learning so shoot!

 

ANYways, so yes. Car is running great, now we're like shit we only have to figure out what's wrong with the alternator now. We're like, what could be wrong?? Is it in the ECU? Is this a bad alternator, no its brand new it's gotta work!   Then, we maybe discovered.... and  I don't want to admit this. I mean, really, you guys should just skip over these next few sentences to spare me the embarrassment. The alternator was not charging because I didn't screw the wires down all the way. OKAY OKAY, I said it. Easy fix, like I said! Still learning here okay

 

So now, I'm feeling awesome, I'm smiling like stupid smiling. I'm so happy that now I have a working alternator, my idle is good, my engine is running good. It's almost time to rip it.