RBZ 260

i sure can vouch for the Gav on the rotaries. they did sky rocket in last 3 years expecialy the smaller ones. even the non rotaries fetch good money these days i had a 77 1600 capella with rx2 rear lights was 4cyl Auto. fairly clean car. cost me all up $500 on the road. had it for 6 months and sold it for $1700 i thought i did good. as it was one of the more expensive ones advertised. though now same car in lot crapier condition fetches 5-6k and the rx versions gone through the roof. if i only held it for 3 more years :'( thats why im still sitting on my 74 RX4 coupe for a while longer before i load her off. s30 Z will go up in price it just takes time in laid back OZ. i got my 260z 2+2 insured for 16k without them even looking at it. so it gives you bit of a guideline what they worth and what insurance is happy to cover it for. i had a look at the carsales too. that green does look nice. though originaly from Tasi. also that blue moded 240z with L20 turbo. asking price 25K good luck with the hunt. like someone said,offer bit less they may be bit desperate to sell if being for sale too long you never know.

heheeh are we talking about Micheal here with red 240z? that car is getting better and better. hes a good guy to know for pointers with issues of RB20DETs in s30. top bloke. i enjoy his stories vs other cars. also has lot of experience with s30 models. i got rb20det vg30 turbo with 4.4 diff cv shafts etc...... on stock boost sure its lethal. i just cant wait to sort out the tiny bugs and let it realy rip on 1bar. i got slightly moded s14 and its a quick car. though my 260z with 0.65 bar stock boost will kill the s14 on the mid setting of 0.8bar.. though 1 bar on the s14 will kill it. Only till the boost goes up on the rb before the tables should turn around once again. S30 is fairly light car any of these engines will dramaticaly improve over the stock. Aftermarket support for rb and sr is astronomical.

funny thing i had a red porsche trying to hunt me down on the way home... did i leave a supprise facial expression on him when i pulled away finishing with a whooooosh before going back to 60. though love porsches my dream car but i do like the underdog datsun/nissan putting the prestige in shame. they were killing them in the 70s and still do as for how many looks you get well mate had a 911 cabrio with wide body and that turned lot of heads while on the road... but even with my bus s30 it turns just as much for fraction of the cost and it quicker back to the topic. depends what you after an ultimate street machine that kills porsches and ferraris or a elegant cruise car or a realy interesting daily. you eaither buy a good z for 12-18K and enjoy it straight away after some poor bugger spent 40k or like some of us here enjoy grazed knuckles greasy hands and enjoy working on them to save a few bucks and get the result you want and take pride in your own work. or if u lucky enough you have a decent daily job that can finance it and let someone else do the hard work. hope i didnt step on anyones toes , sorry if i did.

nice car mate very impressive.. should be better when new 30yr ago when finished... lucky you.. love to have a clean 240 like that one.

sr20det vs rb25det well being the nissan freak expecialy modern ones driven countless skylines and silvias/180sx/200sx i will anyday go for the sr20det... sorry for the RB fans... though my z has a RB20det and its brilliant in the 260z. but i wished i went for the sr20det. they have fair bit of torque (and u dont need it in a car that has 1000kg, unless u building a burnout machine) but its the weight of the engine that saves lots.... including fuel (and lets not say nobody complained about consumption or fuel prices, cause ur kidding ur self), rego etc.... as gav said sr20det fits behind the cross member and u need to fabricate some brackets which in your case doesnt seem to be an issue. as far as i know thats pretty much the main issue.. with RB u have to rotate the sump and change the oil pick up from z31 200zr. u could also buy the sump of the same car but it will cost you a small fortune approx $550 from nissan. otherwise choping the original and rotating it will cost money if u paying someone to do it. than there is the issue of gearbox mount if u preffer to stick the engine as close to the firewall as possible. y i chose rb20det instead of sr20det or rb25det, it was $$$$ my rb front cut cost me 1300 with brakes and bigger turbo. at the time Sr20det engine only was approx 3.5k for red and 4.5k for black plus anotehr 500 for other bits to get it running and rb25det were 4.5k to 6k for neo. performance between all this engines in stock form in a zed would be similar if not in favour for the sr20det for its weight advantage. though my ultimate mod for s30 would be rb26dett if i could afford one. than again whats the point of having 300kw+ and 600nm of tourque if u cant put it down.

i agree with zzz8. it gives new people ideas what can you do for what money or how much u save by knowing the right people. and sites like this do help novices to steer away from traps most of us had. i think i had wasted at least 1.5k of my budget build going the wrong way and finding it out the hard way. Good thing is we have variety of different cars and mods. another difference between most cars is that some a street cruisers while others are racing machines (regardless if they registered and used on the road) therefore budget for these are very different.

ive started on mine too but the story is too damn long LOL...... also still working on the interior and waiting to collect 17" rims that will go on the car. So new external pics have to be taken as well.. though dont hold your breath.... but it will be done.

well i had a budget of around 6k to spend in total, for my 260z 2+2. car was 500, front cut was 1300. was on the ball till i started thinking cv shafts and LSD diff for the rear which easily ate over 2k. than came the new seats and rims. and kept going more than anticipated. last official tally i did on the car was just over 5.5k but as it stands probably close to 8-9k and probably another 1k to finish it off and whos know how much for engineering. but i did 99% of the work on the car. if i paid someone and didnt know the right people in the right spots it would be in excess close to 40K + and its only a RB20DET. at the same time i managed to add to collection a 240z that i paid 1.8k plus probably another 600 for parts that were missing from it. ie badges rubbers and other hard to get insignificant pieces.my next project that will take LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time to finish...

ive picked up 3yrs ago a silver rb20det out of 93 r32 skyline for $1300 for front cut minus panels but did include rear brakes as well... though since than prices for rb20det has gone up. but u can still find a front cut for around 2K mark... installing one will set u back few more expecialy if u paying someone to do it.... if u retain factory loom ecu and wiring its very easy to get it going after the mechanical fittment is sorted out..so no need for big bucks for aftermarket ecu... and expensive tuning time. and u can squeze a fair bit of hp on stock ecu out of rb20. with few add ons and reprogrammed ecu 220kw @ the rears is no issue. other engine that is affordable now is the SR20det.. much lighter than rb and produces similar power with few add ons. but it is a 4cyl... if u thinking budget probably one of these two motors or if u can find a relatively cheap VG series engine cheap from the importers i did see a VG30DET front cut as low as 1100 with auto.. again still cheaper than rebuilding the L series with some hp and they have been installed in s30 many times. good luck with the purchase of the car and if u need any pointers for converting a rb20det or RB series engines into a zed let me know as i have converted mine myself.

Well said... i thought of pulling the plug few times but i wanted to see it through one way or the other. and mines only an RB done countless times. In SA rules are different too... they go by power rating.. and dyno papers are useless.. has to be printed manufacturers statment from eaither a brochure or service manual.. they allow 20-25% increase in power from original (which is crap) without engineers. With engineers report u can pretty much stuff whatever u please... having chatted to Adelaide RTA Inspector they did inspect a 240z with LS1 with twin superchargers and producing an excess of 600hp.. and it went through... all i knew it was engineered and car was done properly to show car standard..how they fit twin super chargers or what type they were in the bay with a 350 is beyond me Still trying to find out who the owner is,as i dont see it driving around. its either still not finished or wrapped around a tree. who knows.

its been done few times... a guy called Nick aka 240ZR in the www.thgezgarage.com. hes from NSW and hes done a real nice conversion with the engine mounts and brackets... though theres many ways u can do this depending on your budget.. one of the guys ive seen he used factory sr20det engine bracket and mounts but he made a small extension bracket that was welded on the chasis rails. personaly i dont like that idea but it works and it was quick to do... unlike Nicks which is work of art... apperently no changes to the sump or anything else like on the rb conversion... not sure about the transmission mount but being the 240 it has simple transmission mount similar to the s13 and s14 s15 silvias... so wouldnt have too many issues... as for guages... speedo has to be recalibrated and u have to use rb20 speedo cable conection instead of the speed sensor that sr20's has.. u could possibly use the speedo cable carrier even from L series box cause nissan retained their basic style the same through the years... got to love nissan.. Rpm would be wrong cause the original is for a 6cyl not a 4.also s14 uses a pulse to determine rpm. but the do have a impulse loop that u can tap in and get it to work... again needs recalibrating etc..... maybe better getting autometer or vdo guages probably cost the same by the time u get around doing the calibration and conversion... but check the pricing first it may be worth while... if using factory loom and ecu... which i recomend its not hard to get it all to hook up... its a matter of a single plug being readapted to 240z ignition barrel... but keep in mind that the acc line and ignition have to have 12V when in start position... some datos break the acc and /or the ignitin when in start... it will save you days of trouble trying to start the engine... another good reason to use factory ecu is that u can use apexi powerFC ecu which are fairly cheap to get and they plug and play... depending or state regulations u probably have to run factory ecu for the emissions issue...also most of the polution gear has to be present and operational.. (dependign on state regulations.. SA and VIC it is required to run factory ecu's,James aka JP or drunkenmaster has just found that out the hard way in VIC) hope i helped.... and havent confused you.... all the best for the conversion

im not sure how much and if he be sellin it for sure. but he did mention maybe getting rid of it. as for rust wise it doesnt have any previous accident or repairs wisible but it is faded and rust in usual spots but i think it could be resurected. try calling nissan u may have luck getting new one. as for mine i dont like your chances geting it off me . even though mines 72 240z but i do like the vented hatch look. though currently the vents are bogged up but the hatch is in very good and rust free condition. including perfect rear glass with complete and working vertical demister. ill find out and let you know.

hmmm i got one but dont see myself parting with it . there could be another one that i know off it has some rust but could be repaired. pm sent.

no problem guys. ive mounted the surge tank and fuel pumps in the same location as the original fuel pump under the car near the fuel tank. surge tank and internal pump is bolted in the same spot as fuel pump while external holley is bolted besides it on the surge tank itself.its a tight fit but its out of the harms way. can post a pic bit later

point 6: on the crossmember ur engine brackets where the engine mount bolts up has a round hole. where u bolt the moung and engine. if u hava a look at r32 crossmember engien brackets they have a slot not a hole where ur engine mounts bolt up. i guess they done that to align the motor and give larger tolerance when fitting the engine. or who know for what other reason maybe aligning the box with diff but dont see would they. only nissan knows y. so i basicaly replicated that slot on the s30 crossmember. this allows u to drop the engine lot lower and to square it up. also if u try to use original holes of s30 and r32 engien mounts u find that they wont fit and if they do, they be stressed and fail. i think u can see that on one of my pick where i got my power steer setup. not sure if on viczcar or thezgarage could be on both. as for surge tanks and fuel pump. high flow high pressure pumps are mounted in efi cars usualy intank with built in surge tank. its to ensure that u have fuel at all times when cornering. u run a high pressure high flow pump without few even for very short time it will fail. (been there done that, runnin low amounts of fuel and booting the car = 3 x fuel pumps)make sure u got lot of fuel. if engine missing while being pushed around corner could be fuel pump runing out of fuel. so all your internal efi fuel pumps high pressure ones need to have enough fuel so they dont run dry. ur carby pumps are lot more tolerant. so hence cars liek VL commodore have low pressure boost pump followed by high pressure. this is what i did to mine: have high flow low pressure holley blue pump filling a 2L surge tank. in the surge tank i have a internal walbro high flow high pressure pump feeding the engine.so i have approx 1.5l of buffer before i run out of fuel in the surge tank. hopefully enough till the fuel level comes back to the first pump and refills it. so far had no issues other option was to have a new fuel tank with internal baffles and surge for internal fuel pump. or do the VL trick. but the VL hasnt got a buffer of fuel so u still run a risk of running the pumps dry. so u dont need to replace a fuel pump if u use custom fuel tank with inbuilt surge tank. im gona check what i wrote before. sorry for the long post. hope it more clear now.

i think more sensible aproach would be to have rb30et block and than add rb26de head but even easier is the rb25 head less modifications. . and choice of twin or single turbo. that engine that u just dreamt up will cost most of the 50k to make up. blocks dont realy match to rb heads. even with rb blocks to rb heads are not exact replacement. mods are necessary. not sure exact but there is mods to water and oil jackets from memory etc. some need welding some need driling etc.. not certain. s30 are fairly light u dont need 1000nm/kg of tourqe to push it around. if money no object go infinty v8 with twin superchargers or turbos. if u like smoking rubber in every gear. with good realiabilty. and u can't beat the V8 sound.

nobody said its imposible or amazing fitting a sr20det in a 240z u can fit a v12 if u realy want. but the scope of work Nick did and how he went about it is work of art. not you slap together by so called proffesionals. the 240z that was done in SA with sr20det had a l28 turbo prior to it. He is also a track guy and has few race cars so he knows what hes on about.balance of the sr20det vs l28 wasnt even comparable, while still quicker of the line quicker around the track more relaible and lot easier on the fuel. hmm havent seen any disadvatages yet. besides having a huge gap infront of the engine to fit a "v" shaped radiator intercooler setup. hmm another disadvantage dont think so. all i said that theres is a sr20det powered S30 in OZ. back to the topic. its whatever you looking and expect from the car. every conversion has its gains and setbacks. its not rocket science and any person with will to learn and understand how things work can do it. u dont need an expensive workshop to do the work. i spent 10k on mine with pretty much all things done to it. on the other scale you got SCO_AUS that spent close to 50k. its what you can do your self that saves you lot of $$$. my way of doing a conversion u got to let at least another 1K on top of the engine just to bolt it up. regardless what engine u chose. (though installing a nissan V8 may cost a bit more if u want a manual behind it.) best thing is do your reaserch do a table form spreadsheet and compare side by side. than decide. i can tell you the details to install rb20det and other bits i done to mine but my price is cost of materials and not including work. so a quick check what u need to do a rb conversion 1. sump needs to be cut and rotated 180deg or buy an z31 200zr sump 2. oil pick up from z31 200zr 3. new exhaust fabricated 4.intercooler installation and fabrication of pipes. 5.if u want the engine close to the firewall rb20det engine brackets need to be redrilled to accomodate this. by doing this u need a modified transmission mount or custom mount. If not on 260z rb20det engine brackets will line up to crossmember and trany mount. may need to cut a larger hole in tunnel for the stick to come out. expecialy if auto previously. (though u just remove the extra plate that is spot welded to the gear box hole. 6.sloting the crossmember mounts instead of the two small holes. this lowers the engine down as far as possible. i used stock rb20det engine mounts. if want lower need custom or chase a lower profile ones from another car or use L series ones. 7.u need a high flow high pressure fuel pump with a surge tank. no surge tank ur high pressure fuel pump will be replaced on regular basis.UNLESS u put a custom fuel tank with inbuilt surge compartement than its fine. also need a high flow low pressure pump to fill the surge tank if using original fuel tank. 8. wiring. nissan has one of the best setups when it come to engine wiring. its mostly plug in. and easily seperated from main loom. on the end u only need to hook up 5-6 wires to your ignition barrel and u ready to run. than u can run apexi power fc and other plug in play ecu's 9. Tailshaft need to be crafted but depending on original setup and setup of the engine u could get away using a different tail shaft without mods. look outside the s30 square. nissan has very good adaptabilty accross their range. 10. all left is wiring the engine to the guages.though to make it legal depending where u are u may need few other things installed like the polution gear and cat converter. but depending on the state u live in. 11.cost. doing it myself engine and box $1300 + few new parts (oil and water pump gasket seals etc...) approx $1500. other materials and tailshaft intercooler piping $600, big intercooler $200-350. labour to do it if i was to do it all prob around $1k if u have a front cut available and original engine box out. time probably 3-5days full time.

erm i would like to point out that there is several Sr20DET powerd s30. i know of one in adelaide that has a red top SR in his 240z with ABS system from a 300zx. also a guy called nick in woolongong has done a s14 black top in his 240z.visit www.thezgarage.com to contact him.also theres few pic of the setup very impressive.so theres at least two 240z powerd in OZ. but also theres a few with fj20et and lots of rb conversions. ive got a rb20det in my 260z 2+2 with pretty much all the stuff u want plus extras. its taking me all my spare time after my full time job at least 3 years to redoo the whole car. almost done but still a fair bit to go. RB conversions are fairly easy as well as sr20det. though sr20 needs engine brackets fabricated. which could cost.. as zedevan said u need tailshaft made approx $250 to $300. gearbox on rb20 and sr20 fit easily almost align up to factory mount. but rb25 may need the trans bracket moved slightly down depending how far u push the engine towards the firewall. another chap to contact is JP or Also known as James. he has a 260z with rb30DET and rb25DET gbox. on RB sump needs to be turned around with new oil pick up $67 which can be bought from z31 200zr from your local nissan dealer as well as a sump $580+ last time i checked. ive been qoted to fit my rb20det to the 260z $400 for mechanical bolting plus parts. i still ended up doing it myself. wiring is another issue. if u get a complete front cut than everything is almost included to turn the engine over. all u have to do is adapt the ignition switch to factory engine loom. which is fairly easy. aftermarket well u gona spend another 2k for a basic system. other bits like plumbing the cooler and new exhaust system, LSD diff, brake conversion etc.... also adds up. my rear end LSD diff, cv shaft conversion and disk brakes cost me more than the engine conversion in parts only and for machining done externaly. my 260z so far cost me $10K+ for car and all the mods done to it. but i did 99% of the work myself. if i paid someone to do it it will cost close to 50k though if u dont know how to do it yourself it will cost u a typical engine conversion will set u back $5k to $10k depending what u need done, and a rough ball park maybe another 5k- 7k for the rest of the driveline. so lets hope u got friends that they know what they doing and willing to do it for "fun" so to answear u question there are few issues with every engine conversion which is easily overcome when using nissan engines nowa days u can buy kits to install rb engines in s30. time wise if u work full time and have bit of cash it will set u back approx 10k and good 6months at its best. if doing it yourself u may have that cost cut down to half and add about 3x more time wise and few grazed knuckles. another tip if buying engine get it from a wrecked car or 1/2 cut. makes things easier than trying to find what went where and what is missing.if u find cheap engine and box but theres lot of other things that go with it. and u easily blow that budget collecting missing bits.

not realy lot of japs use autometer as well cause its american and different in jap land. japanese like diversity hence millions of brands while yanks only have one so called decent one. as for things more gadgets and thigs going wrong i think i confused with the issue with the top of the range gear. i was comparing autometer boost to apexi mechanical boost. roughly same price. but performance and quality was if they were from a different planet. like i said i had autometer guage for about 2yrs in my car. and half the time i didnt know what it was actualy reading. got rid of it and bought the jap one. and never looked back. all my other mates had autometer as well and after they seen the light quickly changed over. as for liquid filled there is a little rubber grommet on top of the guage. u pop it open and let it vent for 5 to 10 min till the gauge resets to its proper 0. otherwise u wont be getting the correct reading. at least these models can be corrected. but other ones ive seen an error of up to 3psi. if boost guage has that much error jsut look at their tachos. had a play with tachos as well and i dont realy like them as well. needle not reseting to 0 rpm and startin of at 1500rpm till u do a manual reset. i mean for the $$$ u pay its just not acceptable. returned back for warranty and apperenlty no issue with it. and that wasnt one off case. its a prefrence. im just saying that autometer is not that great as people think they are and for some reason accept the sub standard operation. not me. i want it right everytime i turn the car on. at least for 5yrs. im not a hardcore jdm fan but stuff from japan does crap all over others..sorry. also high end racers with huge sponsors dont bother with analouge guages.they use digital consoles which are directly wired up to ecu's and car itself for data recording and quick easy readable instumentation.also they are all wireless wired to the pit crew which monitor the car constantly. also they are lighter. so therefore again if they have been sponsored by the autometer they will use autometer regardless if its accurate or not. my relative had a race car sponsored by various companies. even though other manufactureres were better he couldnt use it he was basicaly given what the sponsor allowed. the z warning center guage. well its designed for efi engines and having all the indicators in one cluster.as in check engine, demister, handbrake,brake,power steer, alarm, and anything else u want to show that u are runing. ts a round guage looking thing with 8 leds indicating different things. though it looks like a factory warnign cluster with a bit of a twist and a Z glowing emblem in the middle of it. i havent finilised this board yet as in havent put it all together as im deciding what colour led to display what and tryign to find a correct enclousure. will take few pics while its running hopefully some time next week and will post the pics up. i made my own gauges cause i couldnt justify paying lot of $$ plus i wanted my indicators and warning lights on the guages no aftermarket gauge does it. like i said dont get me wrong autometer is ok if it were half price or free. and than maybe i could live with wierd operation and dino era technology behind it. (RUNNING FOR COVER )