jamo240

No problem at all John...i did all that to get my RB in the right place, so happy to help you out with your project. Cheers Jamo

Hey John..I can give you a hand with some welding and such on the day if you want... Cheers Jamo

Agree with Scando...there are more effective ways to do the rear mount. I set my engine up on standard L series crank centre line and rear face of block, so the RB is in a very similar position to the L series, and it is this location that allows you to use the standard front half of the R33 propeller shaft (Yes Shane, it was me who flagged that!!). Although a 25mm rearward location would be a better location for weight and balance and gearstick location, it would preclude using the standard propeller shaft, and clearances between the gearbox and tunnel would get that little bit tighter than they already are. As Scando says, you can use the forward facing inlet manifolds, but I was keen to retain the long inlet runners of the standard manifold to achieve better torque.

Hey Peter T...I have just completed an RB25DET installation, and did the packaging on a RB30DET installation before deciding not to do it and stay with the RB25 (it fits better if you are using the standard inlet manifold)...but you could get an RB30 in if that's your hearts desire. I did the wiring too, so let me know what you want help on, or if you're in Melbourne, you can look at mine and see how I did it...probably easier that trying to explain it all. The engine installation is relatively straight forward, but I would advocate doing a custom arrangement for the rear mount (see my build thread for details and pics), as the aftermarket ones don't leave much room for exhaust, which can lead to a low spot right where you don't want it where the exhaust has to come down to go under the cross member mount. If you're smart about it, you can recess that left hand part of the mount up into the tunnel, and leave room for the exhaust to come through with minimal deviation. CHeers Jamo

Good call RB30X....as an engineer I once worked with used to say in these situations "...without data, you're just another person with an opinion"! We will know soon enough....it will be going on the dyno in the next few days. Cheers men Jamo

Hey RB30X...it's quite ok to have the turbos sitting out in the open with no filtration etc (like on racing boats), provided the air is relatively clean and a very long life is not essential. The key to stablising the flow is the design of the smooth approach orifice (SAO) going into the turbo. The 'bell mouthed' ram tube on the front (a bit like the shape of the cowling on an aircraft engine) is designed to accelerate the air into the compressor while stabilising the shape of the incoming air column. The distance between the orifice and compressor is also significant in achieving stable flow (ie avoiding standing pressure waves ahead of the compressor). Cheers Jamo

Hmmm....I'm a turbo guy. My experience with normally exasperated engines is that hot cams give away a lot of bottom end to get top end, so unless you're racing it, it becomes a dog for street driveability, all to make top end power that you use hardly ever! Peter Mc will know what to do though...he's all over NA engines and cam selections and where to get the work done.

THanks Dimitri...will measure and find what's out there. If all else fails, I will have it sleeved to 1-2mm smaller than what's there now. Hey, on another note, I followed your advice from another forum on temp sensors for RB's that jive with the standard gauge, and settled on the RB20 sender. Works perfectly (81 degrees C = half gauge, which is the temp at which the thermostat started flowing an appreciable amount of coolant, so that's where it will run at most of the time...and the fans come on at 91C and go off at 86C), so saved me a bunch of trouble getting all that to work! CHeers Jamo

I wouldn't swap engines...you will then have to advise of an engine number change and all that. It sounds like you are keen to learn, so why not fix the head and learn something? The Frank Honsowetz books on NIssan L-series engines are very informative for newbies and experienced alike. The likely cause of your head gasket failing is a warped head or just plain age-related (there could also be issues relating to the cooling system or thermostat that could have caused those problems too). As the other lads have said, ensure the cooling system and water pump are clean and serviceable, then removed the head, leaving the block in place (you will need to wedge the timing chain when you remove), then send the head to a competent machinist to be checked for flatness/machined, and pressure checked, clean the block face, new gasket, reassemble, and then you will know something you di'dn't before! You can also inspect the bores and valves too while you have it apart. Good luck! Jamo

No...L28 is 86mm bore, L24 is 83mm. You don't want to take it out 3mm as the bores would be on the thin side. Get an L28 block. Jamo

Hey guys...here are a couple of pics of the car on the trailer. Dimitri...do you know which Skyline the smaller slave is off? Kato: Yes...I have fiddled with clutch ratios over the years myself and it can get tricky. The R33 Skyline actually has a spring assisted pedal, so that's how they dealt with high efforts. For that reason I am not wild about increasing the master or decreasing the slave, but I will have to do one or the other (or get a different pressure plate configuration) to deal with the issue. The clutch at present is not super heavy, but it will be at the heavier end if I have to move 1/16" on diameter...might have to see if i can integrate the spring assisted R33 pedal box?! Gareth: I will do a video of the dyno run if I am there when they do it (we didn't do it today, just shook it down to get it ready to rumble!). It is a L series shifter. It was not a straight swap...i actually took the RB shifter and cut if off then cut the piece left (that goes into the gearbox) longitudinally. I took the L series shifter and did the same, but with the bit you hang on to...picture the cut looking like an inch-long semi-circle in section. I then vise-gripped the two together and set up the angle to the shifter so that it was at the height and position i wanted it to be. I then TIG welded it together, and then linished and polished it until it looked like one-piece. Then I had it re-chromed so it looks like a standard L-series....Voila!!!

Well lads, she runs! After much rooting around to get the car on the trailer (my drive is steep), I got it down to the tuner to begin sorting out the no-start issue. After about.....ohhhhh......45 or maybe 50 seconds of looking, my tuner asked me why I had the fuel feed and return hoses round the wrong way. Have to say lads, I didn't have a very good answer. Anyway, I changed them around the right way, and it started right up. The power steering is glorious...with 235/40R17's on the front, it turns.....well.....like it's got power steering! I warmed it up, put coolant in it and cleaned up the basic fueling and timing which was way out from the last owner of the Apexi ProFC that is running it. Set the timing too, and now it will take it's turn on the dyno. One little bug though, I don't seem to have enough travel on my clutch....it is the same 5/8 bore master cylinder that the R33 Skyline has, so that shouldn't be an issue. One of the mechanics at the workshop had seen this before on skylines, and said there are different clutches suited to different master cylinder/slave cylinder combos, so we are chasing that solution down (I may have the wrong cluch for my hydraulic setup). But, does anyone know if there is an 11/16 master cylinder available that will bolt into the 240Z bolt pattern?? Cheers Jamo

Turbochargers actually require stable and laminar airflow into the compressor, but anytime air is flowing at speed, odd dynamics can happen that upset it, which can upset flow into the turbo, as well as the measurement of air by the AFM. This could have been the case with dat240Z. I am not sure that will happen in my case, but we will see when it's all happening on the dyno. Cheers Jamo

Hey Dat240Z..thanks for the tip...I will keep that in mind when we dyno it...if there are issues, that's one place to look. CHeers Jamo

Hey silverZ...the new ones should glue onto the flange on the body where the old seal (metal channel) pinched onto. From vague memory, the metal channel seals were not OEM fit...they are a universal seal that is used to replace OEM seals, so it's possible they are not the originals. I had the metal channel ones on my car which I'd used to replace the damaged original ones. The new ones i used were the glue on type. You just put the contact adhesive on a foot or so at a time and then work your way around the seal until it's all glued on. Works quite ok and will effect a better seal...mine are actually water tight now...I can wash the car and water doesn't come in. Jamo

Well gang, project 250Z is now ready to go on the dyno and make some noise. It's been a frustrating few days while I have been trying to track down a gremlin in the Apexi engine management system. While all my sensors and outputs appear to be working, I can't get a clean start, so it's off to the tuner for some higher reasoning. I need to tune it on the dyno anyway, so I figure I'll kill a couple of birds with one stone. Here's a few pics of how it came together...there are a few wires to be tidied up once it's running right, but otherwise it's about there. Oh, and the bonnet is back on after the pics. Right while I was adjusting it, the cable broke, so it was a bit of fiddling around to pop the bonnet and then repair the cable by silver soldering the slug back on the end of a slightly cut down cable to get it all going again! CHeers boys Jamo

Hey Jap Metal Probably the best person to talk to about a custom made sump for a RB26 would be Nat0_240_ChevZ. Nathan is well equipped to make that sort of thing. Cheers Jamo

Fair enough boys, fair enough. Up to you Dave. Mine won't be getting one though. I changed the roof turret on mine 20 years back (it had been jumped on) and replaced the lead with plastic filler after welding. No cracks then and none now, and it's had 245/40R17 Yokie AO32R tyres and a very torquey 400HP turbo engine for 12 years, now going up to 500. I will let you know if any start showing up though. Whatever floats ya boat! Jamo

Intesting comments all round...but, what makes you think Z's have flexing problems in road guise (which Dave's car is...it's not a racing car)? Having worked in Holden engineering for many years, we flogged Commodores around the 'rough track' circuit (which is absolutely brutal) for thousands of KM's to create cracks in the body shell from flexing (which is what causes cracking...if you're not getting flexing, you don't get cracking). I don't know about you guys, but i sure don't drive my Z on rough roads, and just how hard can you push a road car even if you do some spirited driving when conditions permit. I simply cannot imagine a condition you can create in a road going Z that would create sufficient loading and flexing in the body to cause cracking or sustained and repeated suspension deflection. The sort of loads you can create in racing cars with slicks (eg going round corners on two wheels and all that) are not present in road cars. You really need to think through whether it's justified to add 50 or so kilograms of steel tubes into your road going Z fellas..... Jamo

Hey Nato...you beat me to it! The sump is sold to the SA king of custom RB sumps! Mars...the radiator is yours for $100...let me know. Brabham...a ZR200 sump will indeed fit an RB30. Cheers lads Jamo

Gents The exhaust header I put on my other clearing sale generated a bit of interest, so I thought I would do a separate entry for it. It is an original Nismo header from when I worked at Gibsons. These were the factory header that was put on the 800 cars Nissan built for Group A homologation. I can't recall whether this header came out of a donor car or off a donor engine before it got turned into a race engine. It actually looks like it was brought in as a spare part, as it looks like it never got used...there is no evidence of old gasket, carbon in the ports or nut/washer marks...so it probably never got put on an engine once we started using the Facey race headers. Anyway...it would suit any R31 Skyline owner who wanted to build up an authentic GTS-R car with the red-top RB20. I also have an RB20 cylinder head and inlet manifold if that's any use to you! Let me know if you're interested! Jamo

No problem Dave...over to you Agno! Jamo

Hey guys Here are the pics of the welder and seat. For those interested, let me know, and we'll go from there. Does anyone else want any other pictures? Jamo

Gents...for clarification, the manifold is a Nismo R31 Skyline GTS-R factory manifold...one of the ones that came out on the 800 factory R31's for Grp A homologation.

Simon: An Adelaide member has asked for a freight price on the welder, so I'll give him first right of refusal on it, but if he is not keen on the freight charge, it's over to you...will let you know in the next day or three. St_Mok: If you're doing an RB26DETT, you will need to ditch the cast aluminium sump and go with the ZR200 (has the rear bowl to clear the cross member). I will take what i paid for it ($300). 1600Dave: The GT8 seat is yours for $80...note the cloth is worn, but the cushions and bolsters are fine. It's configured for 5 point belts. Also....there are a few other bits: A. Greddy (Chinese copy) of a forward facing log-style inlet manifold for an RB25...never been used, but it's Chinese quality, not Japanese! $130 B. Genuine Nismo R31 Skyline competition Exhaust header manifold (think Peter Jackon Skyline race cars)...this is the real deal, and collectors item these days. C. Tial external 44mm waste gate. Brand new, never used. $250 CHeers lads Jamo