pete8717

Hey guys. Just out of curiosity for now how hard would it be to do an RB26DETT conversion in my 81 280zx, and what would I have to do?

007max

well the hardest part would be tracking down an RB28tt then you need custom mounts, fuel management, transmission...

check out hybridz.org , there's a steep learning curve over threre in engine swap land

DynamicJ

roughly.... at LEAST 10 grand...

Bleach

Space wise, easier than any other car out there. If you can fit that engine in a 240SX, then you can fit it plus a refrigerator into a 280ZX.

007max

well put Bleach!

here is the indusrial freezer that will be going into my Z down the road

Dorifto

w00t for QOHC, torque-monster goodness. Now, plop some ITBs on that ***** and call it a day.

lww

ITB's are gonna be hard to do on a V8 DOHC. Totally custom intake manifold required. Anyway, I would prefer the stock manifold and FI for the torque. You'd probably loose some with an ITB setup with really short intake runners but it would look cool as hell with 4 TWM dual TB's on top.

RB26DETT is gonna be very expensive. As mentioned, AT LEAST $10,000+ if you can't do the work yourself.

pete8717

I'd be able to do most of it myself. Would I have to transfer over all of the drivetrain? Also is it possible to give it the skyline allwheel drive?

Bleach

uhh, yes it is possible. Fab, fab, fab, and throw in some more money. You can give your Z a rocket engine if you want. But do you really want a $40,000 280ZX?
Just buy a Skyline!!!

icice9

tring to transfer the AWD from a Skyline is almost near impossable.. you would have to change over your car to right hand drive... get the transmission from a GTS version of the skyline.. even if you were to do most of the work yourself its still going to be around $10,000 and more to do the swap. theres going to be a lot of fabrication involved in this swap. id sudgest you go to hybridZ.org and do a search on it. theres a whole write up on what your going to need to do..

007max

have you seen the numbers the vk56 puts down with the Stillen SC?







i would be quite happy with 400hp pushing my 2800lb car

icice9

your gonna have to cut through your hood to fit that bad boy in it..

007max

not if J ever makes those cowl hoods for us

pete8717

40,000!!! screw that! I do plan on buying a skyline someday, but not till after I get a twin turbo 300zx, but I wouldn't do that till I get the 280zx fixed up first. I'll never get rid of this.

lww

A Skyline GT-R34 will run about $80 or $90,000. Are you sure?

lww

uhhh... does it count if you already have one?

lww

Do you have a lot of experience with complex engine swaps?

pete8717

Mechanical work wise and some fab smartass

lww

I'd rather be a smartass than a 'dumb'***!

I do know a guy that will do an RB25 Turbo swap including transmission for just under $20,000. He's done two already and they came out freakin' awesome.

I just got back from Australia and have decided that I want to do an RB30 Turbo with an RB25 DOHC cross-flow head. I'll be heading back over there in February when I plan to work out the shipping back to the states. This will fit nicely in my other '72 240z.

007max

or he could just buy a g35 and throw some Skyline badges on it

jfairladyz

I looked into the whole RB swap deal and it wasn't that difficult if you can do precision fabrication work. You gotta make sure everything lines up right. The easiest way is with the RB25 trans as mentioned earlier. The AWD can be (and probably has been) done. But from what I've researched it causes the engine to sit so forward in the engine compartment that you have to mount the radiator on the opposite side of the radiator support. That's the only way the AWD will line up. And that will just kill the handling of the Z without making some major modifcations to the suspension and weight balance of the car. We're talking a good deal of Understeer here. Plus if you want the rear end to stand up to the power levels of the RB it's probably wise to swap out the rear end. I can't say that it's neccessary though. This is all on top of fabricating mounts and then there's the fact that if you have a steering box then it's gotta go. The RB has it's exhaust on the same side as the L so the turbo's aren't going to clear the steering box. Concerting to RHD would make life much easier, but also more expensive. So that would add even more money. All in all, A RWD RB conversion would be a much more reasonable goal. The AWD would be purely for show and bragging rights. You'll be handling like you're in a FWD car which sort of defeats the purpose of the Z in the first place.

Oh and 007, it wouldn't be a 2800 lbs car with that beast in it Well unless of course you made up with it with plenty of CF

VenomousZX

Talk to Doug @ Fairlady Z motors in Tacoma... he will hook ya up, last I checked he can do the RB25/RB26 swap (not all wheel drive) for about $10k +/-

Bleach

There was a guy at the Golden Gardens meet in Seattle that said his shop does SR20DET swaps in a 510. Turn key for a pretty much stock engine would run in the range of $5500. Drive your car in with an L-series, come back a few weeks later and drive the SR home. They had a couple cars there that they did the work on.