DJZ's R30 Skyline

[DJZ]

I went about this project the wrong way, buying a motor before I had any idea what I was going to do with it.

63,000K Z31 200ZR RB20DET, I was mainly trying to get the sump and engine mounts but ended up with the whole motor, it is very very clean, no oil inside the inlet manifold, turbo looks perfect, I popped the top cambelt cover off, everything inside is shiny with an OE cambelt.

A friend of mine was looking at selling a few cars so I made a deal with him for a HR30 coupe and a 260Z 2+2.

I can't get a good picture of the car right now as it in the garage but overall it is in pretty good nick, some idiot painted two black stripes on the bonnet which my mate painted over (badly). There are a couple of bits of rust in the sills which is going to be patched.

Came with these seats, apparently 323? They have been welded onto the original rails.

14" wheels, maybe Volk? These will be polished, painted and then will go up on Trademe.

145 horsepower of L20ET grunt, this is already on Trademe.

My favourite part of the entire car.

Plan at the moment is:

Full 5 stud conversion, I already have the Z31 front and rear hubs and R31 CV axles if the R30 ones don't fit the Z31 companion flanges.

Clutch R200 LSD.

R32 GTR wheels.

Keeping the original gearbox and swapping an RB bellhousing I have from the GTS-t gearbox in my 280ZX on to it, this will let me use the original gearbox mount & driveshaft, it may not last very long but we'll see.

450x300 front mount, probably 2¼" piping.

2.5" or maybe 3" exhaust.

Black paint at some stage in the distant future.

New turbo, I already have a Turbonetics T04 front cover and a Z31 0.63 rear housing & wheel.

I have already fitted a 60mm throttle body in place of the 55mm one which should let me use the original R30 throttle cable, the hole in the inlet manifold was actually 60mm anyway so I didn't have to grind it out at all. I have also stripped the motor of the top mount, exhaust manifold and turbo, the exhaust manifold actually had to come off just to get the top mount intercooler mounting bracket off.

I kind of want to make the engine bay look like the Bathurst R31 race cars but in an R30 shell, I will try and copy the intercooler piping routing and retain the original inlet manifold and eventually make up a sort of replica of an RB20DET-R exhaust manifold.

[DJZ]

Am I doing this right?

[DJZ]

Wheels look like they're going to come up alright.

[DJZ]

Progress has been pretty slow so far, managed to cut out and repair all the visable rust in the sills and give the whole sills a couple of coats of chassis black.

These were the major repairs that it needed to get a warrant, it passed on everything except a low right hand headlight. Zac and I pulled the headlight out and the adjuster must have been broken, shimmed out the bottom of the light and checked it against the garage door, seemed a little high but pretty close. Took it back for a recheck, guy put the beam setter on it and said "It's a little high", I told him there wasn't much else I could do so he put his knee on the bumper and pushed down a little bit and said that it looked fine hah.

I'll work on pulling the L20 out tomorrow, still trying to find a front bowl sump and some engine mounts for the RB.

[DJZ]

L20 is out compete with uncut loom, for some dumb reason they decided to put the injector & temp sensor part of the loom behind a brake line that runs across the fire wall so I had to unplug all of that just to get it out.

And for anybody who is as dumb as me here is how to mate your L series gearbox up to an RB, now I've got a stubby RB box!

L20 bellhousing

RB20 bellhousing, note bigger countershaft bearing hole and one large selector shaft hole

Bellhousing removed, the countershaft bearing needs to come off

All the gears looked pretty good, well until I chipped a couple of teeth trying to get the countershaft bearing off

Old on the right, new on the left, just had to pick the seals out and it was ready to put on

Bush for selector shaft hole, it was a standard 16x12x20 bush that I had the ID drilled out to 14, it slipped in the lathe chuck which is what the marks around it are. I had to "hone" out the ID a little bit more to make it slide on the shaft okay

Bush fitted into selector shaft hole, yes I did clean this out before putting the box back together

After a bit of mucking around this is what you end up with

You'll need to fit the front cover from the RB box as the L series one won't work

The hole in the cover for the countershaft bearing is too small

Free short throw shifter modification

[DJZ]

Since I just deleted my whole post by accident I'll put these up here and write it again tomorrow. Does anybody know if R31 engine mounting brackets are very different to R32 ones? The motor is sitting about 20 - 30mm too far forward.

[DJZ]

So trying to use the L20ET flywheel didn't end up working. The center hole in the L20 flywheel is 1mm smaller than the spigot on the RB crank, I used one of the mag base drills at work and drilled it out to 36mm, took it home and bolted it up and the casting on the back side of the flywheel must be different as it was jamming up against the rear main seal housing, need to find an RB flywheel.

Engine mounts bolted up okay except I had to drill a new hole for the locating pin on the LHS engine mount about half way between the slot for the mounting pin and the slot for the stud. The Z31 RB rubber mounts are exactly the same as the original L20 ones.

The motor is sitting about 20mm too far forward which means that I can't get the gearbox mount to bolt up and the drive shaft is not quite all the way into the gearbox. If I can't get some R31 engine mounts to try I'll just have to slot some holes and see where it ends up.

You can see in the pictures of the motor the T3/4 turbo that I'm going to run, it's a Z31 0.63 rear housing with a Turbonetics front end.

[DJZ]

Okay, some developments. The RB can't go any further back without modifying the sump, it's actually in about as good as position as it is going to get unfortunately.

I bought an R32 GTS-t flywheel to use, it's away at the moment being lightened and surface ground by Mace Reconditioning here in Christchurch, pretty cheap about $80 to lighten it. It weighed 9kgs according to the bathroom scale, I'll let you know how much it weighs when it comes back, hopefully they'll be able to get it down it around 6 - 6.5kgs. I asked them to reduce the thickness through the middle (where the bolts go) from about 15.5mm to 12mm, I have no RB flywheel bolts but about 40 L series bolts but they are just a little bit too short in my opinion, if they can take a bit off in the middle they should be sweet. I'll get a new clutch on Friday, same as the one I'm running in my 280ZX, if it can handle 315 L series horsepower it'll handle an RB20 okay.

At the moment it's looking like I might have to use a C series box, shorten the drive shaft and remake the gearbox mount to sit a bit further back. I bought a box for $100, the guy said it needed a new front mainshaft bearing and gave me a brand new one in the box (probably about $70 worth), took the bellhousing off and there is nothing wrong with the front bearing but both bearings in the middle are rooted. Going to be fun fixing that!

Have been working on the turbo, got a price of $80 to balance it from a guy out in Rolleston, I've cleaned up a center section and removed a stud from the exhaust housing so I can use a normal down pipe. I'm thinking I might go with an external gate, should be pretty easy to do. Once I get it balanced it can go back together.

Also have been working on the wiring a bit, not very fun. When I got the motor it was supposed to have an uncut loom. One section of wiring has been cut off which is the wiring for the air flow meter and for some reason both knock sensors which are on the other side of the motor. I hate soldering shielded wire.

[DJZ]

As per usual my brilliant plans don't work out. Think I got a bit ripped by Mace, $157 including GST to surface the flywheel and lighten it, they managed to get less than a kilo off it. Down from 9.55Kg on their scales to 8.8ish.

Anybody got any NICS RB20DET parts? I think I'm missing the MAP sensor. I've worked out most of the loom, need to pull the gearbox which I'll try and do tomorrow, fit the flywheel and starter and then I'll be pretty close to being able to start it.

I'm probably going to end up using the spare 280ZX long gearbox that I've got with the RB bellhousing fitted to it. I haven't got the cash or the time at the moment to fix the RB20 box I have. They'll be interchangeable once the gearbox mount is modified and the driveshaft is shortened.

[DJZ]

Progress is still slow, these are the things I have done:

Bought a new RPM clutch.

Put my coil overs in the back of it, it's pretty slammed now. Need to try the front coil overs and see how it sits.

Installed the flywheel.

Swapped the bellhousing onto the L28 long box and have put the box in again, gearstick now will come up right at the back of the tunnel hole, mount still doesn't line up but I think this will be an easy fix, cut the tabs with the bolt holes off the sides, weld a plate to the top and redrill two new holes.

Took some measurements for a driveshaft, doesn't look like anything common will work, thinking about replacing the two piece shaft with a new one piece but I can assume it will be $$$.

I bought two more turbos, not too sure what to do now. I ended up with another Z31 VG30ET turbo, that makes 3 now, except this one has a watercooled center section which if I stick with a Garret I'll be using. I also bought a T3 flanged TD06 19C/20G? not 100% sure as it hasn't shown up yet. Apparently it came off an imported FJ20? Might be an old Greddy or HKS piece or something.

Did some more wiring, I actually hope to have it running this weekend, probably with no turbo, radiator or anything like that but I'd like to at least hear it run. I'm having to go away for work for 2 months later this year and not much will get done on it, will give me a bit of time to save up for the rest of the bits I need though.

[DJZ]

New clutch, what an awesome colour that no one will ever see

Drilled out the spare exhaust manifold for an external wastegate, broke a $250 odd dollar rotabroach cutter in the process, whoops.

Water cooled center section on top of my other spares

Rear coilovers

Front coilovers & rusty camber plates

Spare gearbox mount ready to be modded

Momo wheel, freebie! Pity the R30 boss kit I got doesn't fit

This is where the shifter comes up now, you can see the massive hole in the tunnel. Anybody know what length gearbox a DR30 runs? The engines in those sit really far forward. Hmm might have to have a look at my mates one at some stage.

My mate gave me these air filters off his Mini, so we made up some adaptors now my compressor is K&N filter equipped.

[DJZ]

Little bit more progress this weekend, got some more wiring done, filled the motor with oil and got it cranking over, little bit more wiring and I should be able to start it.

Got the plate for the gearbox mount welded on, just have to measure up where the new holes need to be and drill them.

Spent a while trying to figure out what some idiot has done to the fuel pump wiring, the bung in the floor where it comes through has been taken out and the hole filled with silicon sealant, the wires came up through that then were twisted together with some speaker wire and tape put round them, then they run under the sill trim to under the dash somewhere. Nice one idiot previous owner. I don't know if I mentioned the other speaker cable running around the engine bay that I don't know what is for either.

So I'll be running new wiring & a new relay for the pump when I replace it with an 044.

[DJZ]

Managed to get it kind of started tonight, I can keep it running but only with the throttle half open, sounds like it is only running on 3 cylinders and it could be quite rich. I can't run it for very long as it has no exhaust at all after the exhaust manifold (no turbo), it's pretty loud.

Had problems with no power supply to the air flow meter (I'm still not 100% sure the wiring is correct) and no power to the coils at all!

Hint: when you have a fat red wire left over after wiring it up with no power going to it you should probably do something about that.

I popped the coils out and two of the spark plug "tubes" were full of rusty water, nice one! Coil loom is really rooted and all of the plugs going to the coils are extremely brittle and broken. Will be going to a wasted spark set up sooner or later.

[DJZ]

Borrowed the wasted spark coil setup off my Z and temporarily wired it up to the RB, seemed to make a little bit of difference. Blocked up a whole bunch of extra vacuum tubes and also copied the AFM meter wiring from a VG30ET, pretty sure it's right now, the voltage changed with the air flow.

It's running a bit better now, won't idle but it still has no exhaust at all and no radiator either so I can't run it for too long. Sounds pretty good when revved and seems to be running on 6 now. Finally got the right boss kit so I've got the steering wheel fitted now.

Now I just have to:

Fit the clutch

Do something about the driveshaft

Radiator

Intercooler & piping

Get the turbo rebuilt

Build an exhaust

Get a BOV

Fuel pump

Pop a skid

Sounds easy.

[DJZ]

Bought some coils for the wasted spark setup, the fit pretty nicely here. Would prob be better the other way up but this works.

Bought some awesome silicon radiator hoses. Top hose it a little short so will cut and extend it with some alloy tubing.

New radiator, R32 GTS-t, seems to be worse quality than the one I bought for my 280Z but it'll do the job I think.

Going to mount the ignitor about here.

Pic of the steering wheel mounted.

[DJZ]

Got my driveshaft shortened by Circle Track Engineering, cost $90 which is pretty good I think.

Made up the new ignition leads, haven't found anybody with an ignition terminal crimper yet (not that I've looked very hard). Coils & ignitor are mounted, wiring for them is pretty much done.

Put the car back on the ground, it's sitting pretty low in the back but quite high at the front with the coil overs in it, might have to take the keeper springs out and get the shocks shortened but I'll have a better look at this later on.

I took the turbo in to get balanced and a new carbon seal fitted, the old one had a big chunk missing out of it, should get this back next week but then I'll be in Dunedin for 2 - 3 weeks which doesn't really help!

Got a 14" fan and mounted it to the radiator, made up a couple of plates to mount the radiator too but I need to bolt/weld these in and make up two mounts for the top of the radiator.

I'm going to try and get it moving under it's own power this weekend, this involves taking the gearbox out again and fitting the new front bearing, sealing it up, fitting the clutch and driveshaft, tiding up some more wiring and mounting the computer where it should be instead of sitting on top of the rocker covers.

[DJZ]

Managed to reassemble the gearbox this weekend, bit of a mission and I really needed a new spacer/shim for the countershaft bearing but I forgot to go and try and get one from Cockram's on Saturday so I reused the old slightly bent one, looks like it's been slightly rooted by a previous countershaft bearing failure.

Got the new clutch fitted and after 1½ hours of mucking around on my back with the car not quite high enough I managed to get the gearbox back in, drilled two holes in my modified gearbox mount and fitted that.

Fitted the new front half of the driveshaft, it's perfect which is good, I was a bit worried about my measuring skills.

And now I'm off to Dunedin tomorrow then touring round the rest of the South Island! Yay! I'll pick up my turbo tomorrow morning hopefully it'll be all good. Work on the car is pretty much on hold till Christmas, buying parts for it isn't though muhahaha. I'm still on the lookout for some wheels for it, either R32 GTR rims or something equally as cool, anybody got any 5 stud Watanabes?

[DJZ]

Got back for the weekend before heading off to Invercargill, going to try and get heaps done this weekend.

Second hand Racepro 600x300 intercooler

Some intercooler piping, hopefully it'll be enough!

Chassis punch set I borrowed from work, first I drill a 10mm hole, then punch a 20ish mm hole with the small punch on the bottom left, then put the big shaft and big punch in and punch a 75mm hole, easy!

Turbo rebuild in progress, got the shaft & wheels balanced and a new carbon seal now I just have to put it back together

[DJZ]

I couldn't really find any good pictures of R30 intercooler setups, I found a few of ironmask DR30s and it looks like there is enough room to sneak the piping through behind the headlights, this isn't possible with an non-ironmask R30 as the lights must be deeper.

The way that I've done it on both sides is the piping will come out of the intercooler into a 90 through the front panel into another 90 that comes up through the inner guard. I'll have to get a short piece of pipe welded onto the intercooler outlets and they are both just a little bit short. The AAC valve will also have to be moved but that will be pretty easy.

I ran out of piping so I need to get another 180 degree to finish the turbo outlet and also a 3" 135 degree to do the inlet to the turbo with, I should be able to sneak my filter under the turbo outlet piping up behind the LHS headlight.

[DJZ]

Got a little bit more done before leaving, pulled the wiring loom through the firewall which I wasn't looking forward too but actually ended up being not that bad. Now I can mount the ECU and finally finish the wiring.

Took the turbo off again so I finish bolting up the exhaust manifold, then realised I should probably make the heat shield for it first.

Got a battery box so I can relocate the battery into the boot, the intercooler piping is in the way now.

Realised I don't actually have a power steering reservoir for the RB so I'm on the hunt for one of those. I've bid on an LSD as well which hopefully I'll win. Also order the rest of the intercooler piping bits that I need.