One day I was getting something out of the garage and saw the ol girl staring me in the face. She’d been my day 1, my first ever car. What kind of person would I be to let this thing sit and rot?
Mulligan?
So I purchased this
I was tired of all these jank setups, I wanted a newer engine with new connectors and good parts. I’ve always eyeballed 1JZs but the transmission options were always so cost prohibitive, atleast to me, a college student. It was at this point I started considering the RB engine.
I did a ton of homework on the ins and outs of the RB engine. After enough time I decided that I wanted a RB25 NEO. If you’re unfamiliar, this is the most up to date RB Nissan ever made. As a result, it was the most robust factory RB ever made (26 aside). The top end features a solid lifter versus a hydraulic lifter which is both more reliable and will withstand lower oil pressures.
Additionally, Nissan fitted oil restrictors in the galleys of these engines which helped prevent oil rushing to the head which was a major problem in earlier years. Allegedly some of these engines come with the long nose crank collar which prevents oil pump failure at raised RPM levels and high power. I have yet to confirm this.
I painted the valve covers gold and redid all of the timing components. I mated the engine to an rb20 transmission that I cleaned up and painted.
So this information might be useful as I’ve barely managed to find a single post on this. An KA24DE Short shifter will fit on a RB20DET transmission if you switch the shifter strikers. Unfortunately for the KA trans, you’ll need to find a blown one or find the striker part because you will need to cut out the striker. Otherwise you simply need to tap out the pin on the selector and be carefull not to lose it in the transmission. I used a shop towel placed underneath it to catch it. On the RB side it’s just pop out the pin and swap the strikers. Super easy. This enabled me to use my KA short shifter on my RB20 transmission.
The KA trans I cut up was actually blown, so don’t worry about that. I also was able to reuse the bellhousing for a friend’s car.
At this point I mated the trans to the RB20 trans to the RB25 NEO with a KA flywheel and clutch. Yes, you read that right. I utilized the RB25 starter that came with and everything was fine and dandy.
Utilizing ISR mounts, I slipped this badboy in. I used a KA crossmember for the transmission and used my KA driveline as well. The RB20 transmission is shorter than the KA but with the ISR mounts atleast, the shifter was dead center! I cut my core support in two places and unbolted the bottom fasteners so that I could easily slip the engine in without having to come in at an extreme angle.
It wasn’t shortly after this that I purchased some stance coilovers, I have to say, these things are WONDERFUL. I didn’t mention it in earlier posts, but I do have adjustable mounts all around. I sourced a local vented hood to assist in cooling the engine. The real pitfall of this is that it rains in Washington and this thing sat outside. I’ve had to clean water out of the sparkplug valley more than once due to leaks in my tarp.
After buttoning up the swap, I took it out for some drifting at Evergreen. Man, what a dream to drift. The low end torque is wonderful and exhaust screams the sound of the gods, INLINE 6!
It was at this point I knew I should take it easy and not burn myself out. This way I could save some money and gear up for what I tried to do last time. I took off all the beat ass panels and took inventory of what I needed.
I purchased some Origin front fenders from 425 Motorsports as well as KBD side skirts and rear bumper.
She’s finally coming together.
I just recently purchased a set of Weds Ratzinger 18x10 +14 and 18x11 +14. They remind me of my KFs a little!
I wrapped them in Falken Azenis up front and burners in the back.
I’m now waiting for the money to get a couple parts to finish it up. Hopefully I can remember to take more pictures and post more frequently.
Glad to be on Zilvia again.
