a couple of my buddys are trying to convince me to put an rb20 in my 280. since the rb20 skyline motor is turbo straight six i was wondering if anyone knew any info on this or if absolutly nothing would line up?

 

if you dont have $10,000 just laying around to do this swap then dont botther doing it...a lot of hidden cost in doing it and its not gonna be that easy.. theres a few threads on this topic already... try searching first..

 

head over to www.hybridz.org and search through their forums. You're bound to find ANY information you need on an RB swap over there.

 

if you do it yourself you can do a really good swap for about $5k witn an rb20, go with an rb26 the nyour looking at mucho money.

 

I don't know where you guys are buying your motors but, down here swaps aren't nearly that expensive, especially if you do it yourself. My old roommate had an RB20 in his S13 for under $3,000 I believe and that's a car designed for an I-4 so I imagine our larger engine bays would hold it with even less work needed. Good luck on making a decision.

 

i see rb-20det on ebay for 1999 plus shiping right now.. 10,000 dollars? wow i wish i was as rich as yall are.. give me a few months.. lol

 

He didn't say he could afford the $10k, just that it would cost 'around' $10k to do it.

 

It's not about how much the motor costs. Thats generally the cheapest part of the whole deal. Once you have the motor you've got to give it a COMPLETE tune up. Thats not cheap when we're talking about tuning up an RB, and you'd be a fool not to do so before installing the motor. Now if you're doing it yourself you're still going to have to have a driveshaft fabricated. That adds to the cost. Then there's all the misc. crap you need like exhaust, intake system and whatever else you'll need for the engine compartment that was in the donor car but didn't come with the motor. That's going to add up pretty quick when you also add in the cost of a decent motor and trans.

Now if you cant do the work yourself then shops charge outrageous prices to perform this type of fabrication work. $10k isn't an over exaggeration in this case. You've got to remember that the 240sx's have kits available already to swap in the RB motors. And there are shops where doing that swap is common place so costs aren't going to be as high with a 240sx. Plus there's not much fabbing left in swapping an RB into a 240sx.

 

Someone on www.HybridZ.org did a rb20 in a 280zx. It was a direct bolt up with minor modification there's pics too. Go search on that forum you can even pm the guy he might tell you what you need to get. RB20's around here go fo 1500 complete its a good bang for buck. I'm going with the rb25det paid 2500 for the front clip from Venus auto in Sac. If I was on a tight budget I'd go with the rb20 but if you got some cash get a rb25 0r 26. Goodluck either way.

 

The RB20 is not a great performer, I would not bother with that engine.

 

the rb26 has big issues with the bottom end, i just heard this from the local skyline dealer, they say there alright stock, but if you start adding hp to them without substancial parts to the bottom end, they tend to go. the rb25 is much more reliable, and can produce more than enough power.

 

The RB26, the older ones anyways, had some little quirks. Water pump failure and oil pump failure at higher RPM's. I do believe however that Nissan worked out the water and oil pump issues by the time the R33 rolled off the line. As for crank, rods, and pistons however, the RB26 was bulletproof up to a few hundered horsepower (of course thats only 100HP or less over stock). Its oil pump failure that caused the internals to go. So if you go RB26 make sure it's from an R33 or newer.

I've also seen a few cases where the cylinder head has cracked between two particular cylinders (cant remember which two off hand) when the RB26 is forced to put out massive power. Apparently the head has a weak point as it was always between those two cylinders.

 

Crap...I must have it backwards replacing vg30s with L28s.

 

^ Some would say you're doing the right thing I'll take an L28 over an RB20. Kind of a reversal of sorts if you ask me.

 

a VQ35 swap in my s130 is sounding better and better every day...

 

now that sounds yummy

 

ya if i had the money for a swap i would go rb25det ..as for it being hard ,
i dont know about all that! .i have put alot of thought in to this swap ..

The rb25det bolts right in if you get z31 oil pan and motor mounts ....drive line is just spendy but someone is going to do all that work for you , other than installING IT IN ...trany mount is A cut and reweild thing sounds tricky but anyone with two hands and a brain can read a post and DO the work if you put your mind to it ...pipeing can be a bitch but with all the new rubber hose turns for turbo setups you can cheat THE TURNS and intercoler would be eazy ...down pipe and welding it to the pipeing you have and that would be done ...
i have 2 1/2 pipe under there as do most of us ...
As for wiring it all in post post post ....
in the long run looking at the big picture it wouldn't be as hard as you think
but not everyone has the time or the money ....i have all the time in the world and not eff cash or it would be done ...some of my younger friends already have done the sr20det swap... in the the 240sx as you have seen in some of the recent post i have made ..we have limted tools and still got it done in fine style , along with building one off the sickest ae86's this side of the world ..it can be done you just have to be willing to team up and make it happen .....

 

Hey......a cadillac 500 will fit.