280zx Rb25?

[savageskaterkid]

I have been told that there are a few ppl on this board that have 280ZX's with RB motors.

 

Can i find out the names of sum of them, cuz i need to know about the swap.

 

I've been told that with the SBC swap, that there is problems with the Power Steering, is this still true with the RB?

 

What needs to b made to swap the engine and manual tranny into the ZX?

 

More questions to come, i just have to think about it.

 

one more, would anybody b willing to help with an engine swap later on this summer. Prefferably in central virginia.

[Guest b4ran2don0]

Yes, I am also very interested in this swap... but information seems to be slim, I've tried searching for members that have done this swap but I just come up with nothing.

 

can someone please help?

[savageskaterkid]

ok, with how my job is going, i will have the money saved up in about a month and a half, meaning i can start the swap around mid-july......and......heres the tricky part. IT HAS TO B DONE B4 SEZ!

Im gonna do my best to bring the RB25 280ZX down to SEZ this year.

This is just gonna b a bare bones swap, get the engine, and tranny in, get it running, and then i'll get the muffler shop to do my exhaust.

Im gonna try not to fall into the "while im at it" catagory. Like i said, BARE BONES. Hopefully i will b going to SEZ this year, my parents are saying that they may not let me go, but its not gonna stop me from getting the Swap done before it. If they see how much i put into it to get there, they will prolly let me go.

 

BTW...One of my best frends is gonna b helping with the swap, and doing an SR20 240SX swap at the same time, where both gonna do the swaps at around the same time.....it may help persuade the parents if i could bring a close family frend, would it b alright to bring him along, he doesn't have a Z, but its still a nissan.

[Dramier]

This may not help, but I have a Z31 with an RB25DET swap... if ya need to know..

[frank280zx]

There are a couple of japanese cars that have this, they where at the 2004 convention!! i have only pics of these, let me know if you would like them, not much tech help for you.. in the fututr i would like to go RB26DETT

[savageskaterkid]

georgia is a bit of a ways away, evans georgia is like 7 hours away, i'd appreciate the help, but i dont think u'd b intrested in traveling that far.....if my engine isn't in the car, then the car won't make it 7 hours there either.

[rusty260]

http://www.nissansilvia.co.nz/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11060

 

pm - r32line - already done the conversion.

 

i got this from him after pm him,

 

"The RB bolted straight into the existing engine mounts. There was just a little tab on the mount that was square and the rb had a round hole so just drilled it a bit bigger. The engine sits low enouth for the bonnet to close, apparently on a 280z you need to lower it for it to fit but not so on the zx the standard sump does hit the cross member as the member in the zx is a bit further back than in the skylines so all we did was cut around the cercumfrance of the sump and turn it 180 degrees and welded it back on again. the block actually has a blank hole to take the dipstck at the back of the block into the sump insterad of the front which was handy.. The driveshaft splines are all the same. the radiator hoses are all in the right sides. You do however need to use a bit of each gearbox cross member tto combine them to get the gearbox to bolt up. aparently a r30 lsd is a good upgrade and bolts up. we havent tried to put the r32 r200 on it yet. the loomas are prety easy to work out as nissan use a two piece loom so you keep most of the old loom and use the new one from the skyline purly for the engine. All up was pretty cheap. "

 

laters

[Guest b4ran2don0]

so you don't have to use the Z31 rb20det motor mounts in a 280zx?

[CUBAN]

here is a 280zx in Japan with a rb25. hope this helps you. i can also find you some other pics of 280zx's with rb engines

alex

http://s130.net/photo/p_sige_01.html

http://www.rockyauto.co.jp

[img/]http://www.rockyauto.co.jp/zaiko/rb/076_b.jpg

and here is a few links to a couple of my past posts

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=88768

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=89369

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=88973

http://rogue.northwest.com/~lakeside/home/1980.htm

http://www.turboclub.com/RTO/67300001/RB26280ZX.htm

[Guest SolidState]

ok so where are we at on this topic? still not enough diffinitive info posted on the 280zx Rb swaps. i've been on here reading everthing i can find about the zx for days now and still have lots of questions. I am planning my next build, and am thinking about getting an 83 280zx and doing the RB swap. it's either that or continue with my current project which is building an S15 240sx. this forums seems to deal mainly with the 240's through old 280z's and not as many zx's so a lot of the info i am reading is hard to compare because the zx is different in some ways.

 

do we have a for sure answer that the RB25 will drop in and use the stock engine mounts on the zx? how about tranny mounts?

 

does the drive shaft still have to be modified or with the position the stock mounts place the engine in will it fit?

 

is it confirmed then that the RB25 oil pan will work and not need to be modified for the zx?

 

what else am i missing here? what have those of you that have completed this swap have to do to make it work?

 

please don't answer unless you have a 280zx, have completed the swap, or have witnessed it youself. there is too much hear-say going around on this already. we need real answeres and not opinions.

[Guest JAMIE T]

please don't answer unless you have a 280zx' date=' have completed the swap, or have witnessed it youself. there is too much hear-say going around on this already. we need real answeres and not opinions.[/quote']

 

Hear-say? Why don't you do it yourself and tell everyone else how to do it? If you need to know all these things to perform this engine swap, then you can't do it yourself. It's like any other engine swap. Custom parts are needed. Period. The questions you're asking are typical of someone who has never done an engine swap of this magnitude. Think swapping a Small block Chevy into a 1932 Ford... This ain't no SR swap in 240SX you know!

 

Until someone does it, the smarter folks on here will continue to make educated decisions on what could work and what could not work. We are just trying to help NOOBS like you.

[Guest SolidState]

Hear-say? Why don't you do it yourself and tell everyone else how to do it? If you need to know all these things to perform this engine swap' date=' then you can't do it yourself. It's like any other engine swap. Custom parts are needed. Period. The questions you're asking are typical of someone who has never done an engine swap of this magnitude. Think swapping a Small block Chevy into a 1932 Ford... This ain't no SR swap in 240SX you know!

 

 

 

Until someone does it, the smarter folks on here will continue to make educated decisions on what could work and what could not work. We are just trying to help NOOBS like you.[/quote']

 

 

 

your right, i haven't done anything of this magnitude before. this is why i am trying to do a lot of research beforehand, instead of just jumping right into something and being way over my head. i understand this whole thing is going to be custom, but there should still be some standards here that can be pointed out by those who have done the swap already. believe me, if i had the time and space to dismantle the car and fabricate custom everything for it i would rebuild the entire car, but i don't. i have limited space, no garage, and basic tools. i have to rent a space at the hobby shop on base (i'm in the military) which sux and limits what i can do with my time. so what i do is research things all the way, gather what parts i need to do the job, then when i am ready i can do it all at once. i don't have the facilities to just leave the car all stripped down for weeks while i try and figure out how to do it all on my own. if i had a garage like jesse james then yes i could have anything done, but i don't.

 

 

 

you (the experts) act like we are trying to steal secrets or something. all i want is the basic engine swap information. the rest i can do on my own. i just need to know about getting it mounted, and fitted up to the drivetrain which is the main complication here. what i was getting at was there isn't enough info on how to do the RB swap on a ZX. there is plenty of info by searching on the older Z cars, but not much at all for the ZX so that doesn't help me cause a lot of things are different on the newer chassis.

 

 

 

we just need a good write up for this on here so everyone can have a reference to follow and then they will stop asking. i know there are people who have done it before, because we have talk of it and see pics. just need them to post for us.

 

that is why i said if you haven't done it then don't post cause you aren't contributing anything to the cause.

[stony]

Ok 2 posts and you’re stirring things up. Thanks for at least researching a tad before posting.

 

You said it yourself. The swap of any RB into a 280 zx is not documented.. Why you ask? I don’t know anyone in the US that has completed it yet. Have seen it many times in Japan. So to answer your question it can be done. Here are my recommendations.

 

#1 the ZX came with an L motor. The Block size is very close to the same as an rb block.

 

#2 the motor mounts the same way as the 240 so the rear sump will be a must and all the 240 swap info applies when it comes to mounting the motor.

 

#3 since you have one, measure the wheel base of the zx and compare to a 240-280. If it’s longer you will need a longer driveshaft therefore one out of the r33 wont work.

 

I did my swap on hearsay and rumors. Most of which were true. But I didn’t know it till I was done. Do the swap, document it, then you can answer all the questions. Till then you will continue to get answers from the “smart “people that have completed the swap in an older Z car.

 

Are you in the US or overseas? I completed mine in Japan and really give a lot of credit to the guys doing it in the states. If I had my Z here in the states when I did the swap I would have gone Buick or Toyota.

 

If you do not have a shop/garage/or space to do this on your own and your not rich (your in the military so I know you can’t be too rich :> I am too) I would not do this swap. A lot of custom fabrication needs to be done and paying someone to do it all will double the price of the swap.

[z_cars_rule]

Hey all,

 

I just thought i would chime in and let everybody know that i am curently gathering parts to swap a RB25DE into my 1981 280zx.

 

My R33 half-cut should be arriving next week, and then it is off to my mates place who can cut and change the sump and make my mounts, I should be able to get diagrams of the mounts i use. Please note that i am in Australia so I have a RHD.

 

Many photos will be taken and i will do my best attempt at a write up.

 

Hoping to hit the streets about 2 months after i start. (wish me luck)

[Guest kabestuble]

This is a FYI post. I am the Mechanical Fab Manager for Hallico Fab (we do custom fabrication for race cars, rods, muscle cars, and bikes as well as manufacture 1940 Willies from sheetmetal), and a customer came in today wanting this swap. It won't happen until this fall (non-racing season), but I will document the project. In fact, if there is enough demand, we may develop a kit so don't touch that dial.

 

 

 

The only substitute for cubic inches is RPMs!

[Guest JAMIE T]

 

 

The only substitute for cubic inches is RPMs!

 

And BOOST!

[Guest vector86]

Sorry to make my first post here a hijack but I want to know how much this swap will cost. I've seen prices between 5k and 15k which is it? I'm currently saving up for a body to do the swap on. Since I'm still in college I probably won't start this project for a while, but when I do, I should know everything there is to know about it.

[stony]

Sorry to make my first post here a hijack but I want to know how much this swap will cost. I've seen prices between 5k and 15k which is it? I'm currently saving up for a body to do the swap on. Since I'm still in college I probably won't start this project for a while, but when I do, I should know everything there is to know about it.

 

you could maybe get a 5 K swap done if you did everything yourself and got a good motor with no problems for very cheap but its more like 10K that would include most of the chassis mods needed to support the higher HP. rb26 = 15k MINIMUM

[Guest vector86]

Thanks for your repy.

[Z-Monster]

ey brother i understand your frustration as i have experienced the same thoughts you are having. no worries i have done the swap and i use my 1980 280zx with rb25det daily!!! so hear are the answers you ahve been waiting for. oh i live in malaysia and i completed the project in 3 months if thats good enough for you....with lotsa help from a friend.

 

do we have a for sure answer that the RB25 will drop in and use the stock engine mounts on the zx? how about tranny mounts?

-the engine crossmember mount needs to be cut and paste a little taking some off here and there and pasting the r33 crossmember parts to fit. i also had a nissan cefiero aka a31 engine mounts connect the engine block to the crossmember. i believe the s13 shares the a31 mounts.. same ****. oh the tranny mount needs the be relocated and its not a tough job just follow the tranny mount locations and get a s13/a31 rubber tranny to avoid your gear lever from excessive shake at high rpm.

 

does the drive shaft still have to be modified or with the position the stock mounts place the engine in will it fit?

-you should reuse your 280zx long shaft aka prop shaft. but you will need to cut it to fit. after installing the rb25det and its manual tranny the distance from your tranny to diff is decreased so chop it up and weld after making sure it is balanced!!!!

 

is it confirmed then that the RB25 oil pan will work and not need to be modified for the zx?

-bull crap!!! you will have to chop your oil pan where your crossmember crosses and use the part you chopped out to paste at the head of your oil sump to maintain quarts.

 

what else am i missing here? what have those of you that have completed this swap have to do to make it work?

-i went ahead and customized my suspension, installed a gtr34 aftermarket 2 core intercooler. maintained the 3 core radiator(works f*****g good) maintained the 280zx brake pump coz too lazy to install the r33's one( holes are different). used the disk and calipers of the r33 only in front. maintained the original disk and calipers behind. relocated the padels had to bring them up and relocate throtle cable output through firewall on side of brake pump.

installed a new r200(lsd) rear diff with cv joints.(my half shafts with coupling broke under power boosting to 140kmh=87.5mph) changed my power steering ball joints to rack and pinon. took a unit from a s13 tie rods needed to be shortened and crossmember needed to be moddified so make sure you do this before cutting oil sump coz i did it as an after thought so my oil sum needed to be chopped up again. do this only if you want your car to perform like a modern day road monster like mine. forget it if you like the free play of the old fashion streering box. so thats it for now i am too lazy to think of what else to tell you... there were hardware upgrades but you never asked so i'm not telling... i'm a 25 yrs old kid with too much power on my hands you had better ask all b4 its too late...hahahahaha lol. oh ya i just ran 240kmh last night and i think it will do 280kmh=175mph easy...all the best.