Mike's Burnt KA to RB25 to Chevy 350 Build

[Michaelwinne]

Ok guys I have been cruising around on this forum for a good while now, and figured I should start a build thread finally. I have had my 1990 hatch since December of 2011 and after a lot of BS it is finally drive-able. My name is Mike and I am stationed in Little Rock, Arkansas with the military. I have a wife and a kid and I have the only income so I am truly on a tight budget lol but anyway here we go. This is what I started with in 2011, the stock single cam KA caught fire on the guy that owned it and the car looked like shit, but hey it was only $350. It had no brakes at all when I got it, the reg brakes were fucked and the e-brake cable had snapped somehow, the passenger side window was broken and there were a few rust spots, but all in all it was a pretty clean hatch, the interior was pretty much perfect, so I brought it home.

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/6506/img2206sk.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/img2206sk.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img836/7545/img2207ga.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/836/img2207ga.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img546/788/img2208au.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/546/img2208au.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/9606/img2209yd.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/img2209yd.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/9185/img2210jb.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/img2210jb.jpg/)

So as you can see from the pics, it was in pretty rough shape, and it's pretty obvious where the fire started.

So at the same time this was going on, a buddy of mine was undergoing an SR20 swap into his hatch, so obviously I couldn't do the same damn thing that would just be silly, so I decided to start searching for an RB25 to toss in there.

So first things first, lets get this nasty-ass KA outta here. Started by ripping out pretty much anything I wouldn't need for the RB25, and tossing it all in the trash. And until I could afford an engine/tranny, I went ahead and replaced the damaged brake MC and clutch MC, and tossed in a braided stainless steel clutch line.

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/1108/img2216nx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/35/img2216nx.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img441/4979/img2220rt.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/441/img2220rt.jpg/)

And while I had it out I decided to paint the brake booster real quick, since the fluid had leaked out and caused the paint to peel off.

http://imageshack.us/a/img339/7931/img2213js.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/339/img2213js.jpg/)

Next thing I did was move the battery to the back to make room for the intercooler piping to run in the engine bay.

http://imageshack.us/a/img811/8978/img2211g.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/811/img2211g.jpg/)

Then I decided to start tackling the rust spots/holes in the hood, and fixing it with bondo. This is my first attempt at all at an engine swap or anything of this magnitude so I think it turned out ok.

http://imageshack.us/a/img27/4868/img2212g.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/27/img2212g.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img59/6521/img2224s.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/59/img2224s.jpg/)

Then I managed to find a pretty good deal on an Rb25 engine and tranny, and made the 8 hour drive to pick it up! And here it is on the engine stand, engine was actually in pretty good shape, and I was originally planning on tearing it down and rebuilding it, but I figured I'd toss it in and give it a shot and see what happens lol

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/2413/img2226cx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/img2226cx.jpg/)

Then I scored a badass deal on this Syko turbo elbow, only paid $60 for it!!

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/8666/img2228t.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/img2228t.jpg/)

I painted the valve covers also, they were supposed to be one of those color changing purples, but it pretty much just turned out purple lol

http://imageshack.us/a/img15/4350/img2229dc.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/img2229dc.jpg/)

I thought it turned out ok, and it actually looked really good in the sun.

http://imageshack.us/a/img109/9158/img2231e.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/img2231e.jpg/)

And here's how the hood turned out after all the bondo and patching and rattle-canning black, didn't turn out too bad, you can also see my ebay intercooler down there mounted and ready to go. I picked up a set of Top Hat mounts from a guy here on Zilvia, and with the help of a buddy, decided to try and toss the engine/tranny in.

http://imageshack.us/a/img202/2600/img2230t.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/202/img2230t.jpg/)

Only took about an hour of persuasion, and it sat right in. In our defense we were dropping this thing in at midnight lol but hey, I have an RB25 in my hatch :drool:

So I started running all the intercooler piping and what-not, and picked up a McKinney Motorsports steel one-piece driveshaft and tossed it in there. Picked up a new set of tail lights and got the car pretty much all primer grey for the meantime, and picked up an ebay catback and SR downpipe, which I ended up having to cut and have a buddy reweld it for me.

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/4883/img2237rf.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/img2237rf.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img823/1541/img2239ek.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/img2239ek.jpg/)

Also picked up an eBay aluminum radiator, don't mind the kinked up radiator hose, it was just not cut to size yet.

http://imageshack.us/a/img203/9646/img2249bz.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/203/img2249bz.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img195/8209/img2250mf.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/195/img2250mf.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img46/5239/img2247r.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/46/img2247r.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img33/5984/img2242b.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/33/img2242b.jpg/)

And here's what I ended up doing to get a straight cut with my angle grinder to rotate the flange so it would mount up to the Syko elbow, but when I got it back from my buddy it was too close to the bottom of the car to fit, so I ended up getting another 3-bolt flange and some longer bolts and gaskets and stuffing it in between there, and it actually worked! Looked totally ghetto but hey, no one is gonna see it without looking kinda hard so fuck it!

http://imageshack.us/a/img442/4934/img2253f.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/442/img2253f.jpg/)

Also don't mind my buddies pretty nasty welding job, he's not by any means a pro lol


So after finishing everything else up, running the fuel lines and finishing up the radiator hoses, I was about 95% of the way done. I managed to score(or so I thought at the time) a badass deal on a Chase Bays wiring harness for $575 or so, and I was pretty stoked, tossed the harness in and couldn't get any spark, I couldn't even get the ECU to come on, so I knew something was messed up. I started replacing parts, like the ignitor, all the coils, swapped the CAS with another dudes, and nothing changed at all. I spent a bunch of time on the phone with Chase Bays, who has awesome customer service by the way, and I ended up sending the harness into them, and they "spent hours going through the harness and replacing plugs/wires/etc", and got it back, tossed it in, and nothing...again.. so I thought it was an issue with the ECU not getting power, and after looking at numerous wiring diagrams, I decided to try and wire in a hot wire to the correct ECU pins, and being the genius that I am, I had them backwards and fried my ECU

So this was the last straw.. I had been working on this thing for almost a year and dumped(to me) a bunch of damn money into it and couldn't stand the idea of having to save up another $500 for a Wiring Specialties harness. So I tossed the engine/tranny on Craigslist to see what I could get. And lucky for me, a guy came along who had a small block 350, with mounts and everything pretty much ready to go. So I pulled out the RB, tossed it in my buddies truck and went on the 2 hour drive to Memphis and traded. The guys name is vahan240 on here, and was actually a pretty badass dude, he let me keep my radiator and a few smaller things I would need, and we got together and swapped projects, and I came home with this!

http://imageshack.us/a/img571/7010/img2262m.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/571/img2262m.jpg/)

A rebuilt small block chevy 350 with vortec heads, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake manifold, a huge Comp cam with valve springs, lifters, all the goodies, and it was all sitting in front of a T-56 transmission.

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/7448/img2261dn.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/img2261dn.jpg/)

vahan240 actually picked up the McKinney swap oil pan, and made his own mounts that he modeled after the McKinney ones, and they came out really well, he seems to have some pretty good fabbing skills, way better than I could do, and after another hour and a half, she was sitting in my hatch ready to go.

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/339/img2268x.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/img2268x.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img189/2720/img2269ua.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/189/img2269ua.jpg/)

It actually sits nicely in the 240, pretty far back and pretty low.

http://imageshack.us/a/img23/7273/img2264ml.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/img2264ml.jpg/)

Here's my awesome daughter giving me a hand with the engine :)

So at this point I was just waiting on funds/parts. I just needed to figure out what to do about the headers, pick up a new carburetor, water pump, pulleys and belts, an alternator and then weld up the exhaust.

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/6492/img2271xk.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/534/img2271xk.jpg/)

I used the same radiator that I was gonna use with the RB, and it fit perfect.

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/96/img2276mv.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/img2276mv.jpg/)

New water pump and chrome pulleys.

http://imageshack.us/a/img33/6463/img2277yu.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/33/img2277yu.jpg/)

Shiny :P and still a good amount of clearance for some fans on the rad.

http://imageshack.us/a/img14/8656/img2280s.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/14/img2280s.jpg/)

More shinyness, new valve covers :)

http://imageshack.us/a/img15/5766/img2279rf.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/img2279rf.jpg/)

Picked up an alternator from a buddy for cheap, and tossed it on.

http://imageshack.us/a/img580/650/img2272oi.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/580/img2272oi.jpg/)

So these were the headers I decided to go with, they're Hooker headers made for an LT1 impala/caprice, and after a little ass-pain, they actually kinda fit.

http://imageshack.us/a/img826/5034/img2285p.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/826/img2285p.jpg/)

I had to pick up an S14 brake booster since the S13 one was too thick and one of my brake lines was touching the header. I was already aware that I was going to have to cut the drivers side collector flange off and rotate it around the steering column, but after thinking about it some more, I was just pissed that I was going to have to cut up some $400 headers to make them work, so I sent them back to Summit, and picked up a set of Patriot tight tuck headers for about $160, and actually got really lucky, they fit pretty well. I ordered a new eBay cat-back, and some 2.5 in piping to run the exhaust.

http://imageshack.us/a/img211/7149/img2287k.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/211/img2287k.jpg/)

Here's how the new headers looked. A buddy of mine came by and we loaded it on the trailer, and headed to his house to weld up an exhaust :naughtyd:

http://imageshack.us/a/img546/9666/img2289h.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/546/img2289h.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img213/8100/img2288w.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/213/img2288w.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/4329/img2290df.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/img2290df.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img812/4641/img2291ld.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/812/img2291ld.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img43/2065/img2292i.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/img2292i.jpg/)

So after cutting, welding, cutting and welding for two days straight, we finally came up with this monstrous ass Y-pipe.

http://imageshack.us/a/img259/8308/img2294u.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/259/img2294u.jpg/)

As you can see in the back, we welded the 2.5in piping together into the 3in cat-back, and I assumed that the resonators and big ass muffler on the back would tone down the volume of the V8, and boy was I wrong..

http://imageshack.us/a/img248/1685/img2298x.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/248/img2298x.jpg/)

And here's the money shot!

So that was pretty much it, I had a custom driveshaft made from a T56 Camaro driveshaft, and we dropped it down and fired it up. After some carburetor tuning, we had it running pretty well and idling nicely at 700 RPM's

http://imageshack.us/a/img17/3048/img2299uo.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/img2299uo.jpg/)

Here I wired up the fuel pump and fan to a switch and have an indicator light for my alternator.

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/4937/img2301ju.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/img2301ju.jpg/)

And here's how the interior looks after tucking the wiring and relocating the tach.

I will post up some vids of the exhaust sound and the first drive here in a bit when I figure out how to post videos lol

[Michaelwinne]

Here's a little clip of how the exhaust sounds.

eEZFsoTos38

[Michaelwinne]

And here's a shitty cell phone video of the first drive!

Y3L49WHPkas

[Michaelwinne]

Hey guys got some good stuff done this weekend. Went to pick n pull and they had a 1996 J30 that just hit their yard! :naughtyd:

So I went and got me a VLSD!
http://imageshack.us/a/img845/5022/img23421.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/845/img23421.jpg/)

VLSD goodness!

http://imageshack.us/a/img442/42/img23411.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/442/img23411.jpg/)

Swapping the back plates.

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/4853/img23441.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/843/img23441.jpg/)

Installed after a few hours of fuckin with it. PITA!

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/1962/img23451.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/705/img23451.jpg/)

Little test and it worked great! Not too bad for a few hours of work and $110. Professional driver closed course blah blah blah..

[s13livin]

no ones hating, no ones even commented hahaha. good work man, just need to resize the photos so we can actually see them

[blockedwizard]

I personally love the 350 Chevy swap, the engine looks good in there and those headers looked they worked out well. Can't wait to see more of this thing in action!

One thing is you should make the pics smaller next time cause its a pain when they're this big

[Michaelwinne]

Oh shit sorry fellas I'll get to resizing them ASAP!! Lol

[Oakville]

Holy giant pics batman

[Michaelwinne]

Alright guys I got all the pictures resized! Sorry for the ass-pain!

[blockedwizard]

Looking good

[Michaelwinne]

Looking good

Thanks man!

[Michaelwinne]

Little bit of an update. I decided to ditch the pignose and throw on a chuki front bumper, I also decided to try out some flat white paint instead of black. I have chuki fender extensions I just haven't gotten them fixed up and painted yet. I'm missing a passenger side turn signal housing so if you have one please let me know I need one.

54756

54757

[lbkid180sx]

wow the swap looks amazing .... im waiting for my 350 to be done at the machine shop ... im going with the th400 trans, so glad you can use the Patriot tight tuck headers bc the impalla ones didnt look good at all

[Mr.Clerc]

thats awesome you can use the tight tucks ahah that was the last thing holding me up from starting my 350sbc swap and especially for that cheap! looks and sounds great man good shit!

[Michaelwinne]

wow the swap looks amazing .... im waiting for my 350 to be done at the machine shop ... im going with the th400 trans, so glad you can use the Patriot tight tuck headers bc the impalla ones didnt look good at all

Thanks a lot man, you won't be disappointed that's for sure! It's a freakin blast to drive and torquey as fuck! And yea I couldn't stand the impala ones either and they were gonna be a pain in the ass to modify.

[Michaelwinne]

thats awesome you can use the tight tucks ahah that was the last thing holding me up from starting my 350sbc swap and especially for that cheap! looks and sounds great man good shit!

Appreciate it bro!

[Bumpkin203]

Nice I like the sbc in there, sounds amazing. What branch are you in?

[Michaelwinne]

Nice I like the sbc in there, sounds amazing. What branch are you in?

Thank you sir! I am in the Air Force.

[Bumpkin203]

Thank you sir! I am in the Air Force.

Nice as am I, Im a 2W1. Always good to see other military members doing work on a s-chassis.

[Michaelwinne]

Nice as am I, Im a 2W1. Always good to see other military members doing work on a s-chassis.

Armament right? I'm a crew chief on C-130s. Where are you stationed?






Edit: I guess I could've looked and saw SC, are you at Charleston?

[Bumpkin203]

Yeah weapons, Im at Shaw FML lol

[ultimateirving]

Sweet swap, i always wondered how easy it would be to toss in a sbc.. And with your limited knowledge looks like it came out well. Im actually surprised how well the headers fit in there too!

Only problem is you put the wrong bumper on there... shuda kept piggy!

[lbkid180sx]

did you use any of the wires from the engine bay harness>? or all hard wired?

[Michaelwinne]

did you use any of the wires from the engine bay harness>? or all hard wired?

I ran a power wire from the back where the battery is to the engine bay, where I hooked up the power wires that run to the alternator and starter. I also hooked up the wiring under the passenger side fuse box up to the battery wire so the rest of the car would have power, and I hacked into the ignition wiring for the distributor and starter solenoid, and that's about it lol that's the entire engine wiring.

[Michaelwinne]

Sweet swap, i always wondered how easy it would be to toss in a sbc.. And with your limited knowledge looks like it came out well. Im actually surprised how well the headers fit in there too!

Only problem is you put the wrong bumper on there... shuda kept piggy!

Lol thanks man, and I don't mind the piggy front but I prefer the Chuki! :P

[lbkid180sx]

I ran a power wire from the back where the battery is to the engine bay, where I hooked up the power wires that run to the alternator and starter. I also hooked up the wiring under the passenger side fuse box up to the battery wire so the rest of the car would have power, and I hacked into the ignition wiring for the distributor and starter solenoid, and that's about it lol that's the entire engine wiring.

im having my wireing guy do the work but thanks for the info on whats needed, ive never been more excited to finish a swap and this thread makes me even more excited

[Michaelwinne]

im having my wireing guy do the work but thanks for the info on whats needed, ive never been more excited to finish a swap and this thread makes me even more excited

Yea the wiring is cake, how's the build coming?

[Big Zee]

nice build, I like how you didn't scrap the whole project when the RB started to give you issues, just swapped onto a different path.

looks good dude! keep up the solid work!

[Michaelwinne]

nice build, I like how you didn't scrap the whole project when the RB started to give you issues, just swapped onto a different path.

looks good dude! keep up the solid work!

Thanks man! Yea I wasn't gonna get rid of this car I dreamed of that first ride for a long time so I'll be keeping it for a while, I may just try out some different engine swaps.