thetopcow

Hey all, I'm Greg. My car, Minty, came into my possession less a motor. Since then it has had two engines in its bay: an SR20 - Failed, and the current KA-T - Awesome. Well as with all good things, they for some reason or another come to an end. This story is no different. Around this time last year, my brother Steve (irritatedmax on here) and I were discussing motor swaps, and he brought up doing a VK56 with a z33 trans behind it. Initially we were thinking we would find an S13/14 shell and use it to perfect the swap, but current living arrangements and transport of the cars made it a silly venture. So what do you do, you use what you have. So for the third time in its brief history my car will go back under the knife for the sake of awesomeness! Cue 1980s jumping high fives!

Some of you may be wondering what will become of the KA-T, no fretting needed. A few months back Steve and I purchased a motorless S13 shell with the sole intent of it becoming "have fun/don't care/missile car". Lets face it, Steve and I need something we can care a bit less about in terms of body condition. We have both owned beaters which we quickly did body and paint work too. So to all you newb drifters, leave that wreck haggard, and have fun with it - my 2 cents. Anyway the turbine housing will be swapped for a faster spooling unit which will put it down in power, but should make it fun like the Matsuri car we both enjoyed to no end.

Enough about that sweat heap, lets get on back to the reason I am even posting. Finding a motor and trans with ecu, a/c, p/s, intake, and all the rest of the necessary bits for a motor swap took about a month. Not to say you couldn't find one faster but I really didn't want to buy a good motor knowing I would be cutting, grinding, and welding around this motor. The motor we found came with low mileage and a knock. The gentlemen at the Joplin, MO, wrecking yard said he had seen the rods bend in roll overs and as time would tell he was right. No harm done though, this was the perfect price for what we wanted upon initial investment. This left me to start pulling out the old and trial fitting the new.

As I began this endeavor, and endeavor is the correct word, I began to wonder why I do this to myself. I honestly do believe I just like to be busy, enjoy fabricating and furthering my abilities. On that note ---> Roll that beautiful bean footage:

On the way back from Joplin, MO questioning if this is a smart move:


Rolling home from the last event Minty ran:


Out with the old KAT in with the "new" VK56:


Testing the adapter on the block:


Then on the CD009 Transmission:


Unsuspecting KAT about to get the boot:


Dropping the new hotness:


Touchdown!!!!


No surprise, intake manifold will have to get redone later:


H/I-beams ain't got nothing on the new "S" connecting rod:


Where the knocking was coming from:

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poundit

Fill us in with what kind of mounts and other products you are gonna be using to fit everything

Hatemy7

so is the engine knocking???

thetopcow

I will be fabbing up my own mounts. More on the mounts to follow. We had to wait to get approval of the build thread before we could upload more. Now that we are in you will start to see revisions of stuff that I didn't like or didn't fit once tested.


Yes the crankshaft is knocking the crap out of the piston. Haha. This was fine. We needed the engine for mock up. We may or may not rebuild this unit if it checks out after we get this fabbed in. More on that down the road though.

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ka-titties

subbed.

asdf

thetopcow

I feel like this build has more work than my pictures show. Haha. I have over 200 pictures of this swap but a ton of them are for reference for when I reinstall, etc. So anyway it looks like I left off just before I started working on the motor mounts and cutting the oil pan.

Motor mounts - these ended up taking some time as I had goals I wanted to accomplish. My initial goals were to mount the engine as low and far back as possible and have a good fore/aft angle; next was to try to clear the brake booster.

I did end up mounting the motor low and back. It clears the radiator with G20/Altima fans. Unfortunately the brake booster had to be removed. I tried and tried to make it work with the stock unit but just couldn't get the clearance for it. If anyone knows of a 7" dual diaphragm Nissan (or anything else that will fit) unit I would be interested. The current plan is to ditch the booster and just run a Wilwood master cylinder in its place.

Oil Pan - This things has been the biggest pain in the whole swap as you will see. I was very tentative in my cutting of the pan, never wanting to cut more than was absolutely needed. Ends up the whole bottom needs to go. I just wish I would have had a reciprocating saw sooner as it made my life easy. It was able to get some of the deeper areas cut. Instead I did most of it with my right angle grinder (RIP ol' buddy) and my hacksaw. FML. Got it done though.

Initial modified stock vk56de motor mounts:


Mocked mount Version 1:


Mocked Mount Version 1:


Mocked Trans Mount Version 1:


Attempting to clear booster. Maybe I can mod the valve cover down the road, but plastic welding scares me:


Clearing booster another angle:


Fan to motor clearance:


Motor to cross-member clearance:


Rack to trans adapter clearance:


Oil Pan to sway bar clearance:


Oil Pan starting to get cut:


Profile of cut oil pan:


Off and running again...

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thetopcow

Since early on in the build and sometime before that, I have been interested in CNC. Due to this build though I was forced to actually do something about it. I wanted to start basic and through some google searching I found Sketch-Up. It is easy to learn and for what I was needing it works great. Here are a few different parts for the build:

Exhaust flange idea stage:


Exhaust flange version 1:


Exhaust flange version 2:


Exhaust flange version 3:


Exhaust flange version 4:


Exhaust flange version 5:


Exhaust flange in .dxf:


Intake flange on paper:


Attempting different ways to get accurate enough oil pan dimensions:


Oil pan started:


I am by no means a wiz at this but with a little practice it keeps getting easier.

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thetopcow

Well after cutting the oil pan, and even prior to that really, Steven and I had begun talks of getting a pretty crucial bit of welding equipment. A big thanks goes to Miller for making a cost effective TIG welder with a baller warranty. I will say it doesn't have any crazy extra controls, but it is inverter technology and allows it to run low amps (under 30) which is the same as most laundry dryers. Plus it can be unplugged and put in the back of the truck without the assistance of a crane! Great for a track-side setup later on or helping out a buddy at their house.

On a personal level, this was a intimidating decision. I myself had never touched a TIG welder until this arrived. I had to learn a new way to weld. I will not accept good welds, I pride myself on my welding. So I knew I was in for a few nights of working out the movements and timing. Little did I know it would be about 3 weeks. I think I will finally know I can TIG when I am not ashamed to hashtag my welds on Instagram with #weldporn. All in due time, I am only a couple months in now and continually improving.

Miller Welds:


I love opening new stuff:


Hello there:


The front panel. Simple is great for the beginner:


My first welds with the machine. I thought they looked like ****. Oh, wait, you need to run gas?! My first few welds were hindered because I hadn't set up gas flow on a machine in so long I forgot about the gas drop when you start welding. haha FAIL:


My first try at aluminum and subsequent tries:


Getting there. I got the gas running right, my cleaning action is much improved, heat is more consistent:


This is a little later. I got the above positive, and I am starting to work on spacing of the rings:

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d_nice

oh yea looking good man..keep it up

Dolph_KYAS13

just the thought of using sketchup makes my brain hurt. Best of luck with the build.

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-Jordie Lewis
'93 Skyline Type M

EnvyS13

subbed, this thing is rad

Big Zee

love it!!! keeping it Nissan

subbed!!

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thetopcow

Thanks Everyone for the kind words! It really keeps the motivation up!

I have been wanting to get another post up but I have been torn with how I wanted to present things: Objectively or Chronologically. It seems most people post chronologically but the way my build has gone it is very scattered. Example being: I started the oil pan, but don't have the sheet material to complete, so I move to the power-steering setup, but then hit a road block on it, so then bump over to headers and so on. So my thought was to progress the build objectively. Also I think it will work out good to for those that want to reference a picture or post.

First up, is the power-steering setup. Why is this first? Honestly it was between this and the headers as I have both of them to a point I can make a jig off them and make the final part.

Oh yeah, I never mentioned that! I really hate having my parts look like the "trial and error" pieces that come from a project such as this. So all parts made currently are actually just to be used to test fit, initial start up, and will then be used to make jigs so that I can replicate the trial piece. This way the finished product has fewer cuts, cleaner welds and overall more factory looking.

Back to the power-steering. It may seem unrelated but I have wanted A/C in my fun car for sometime. So a VK56 power-steering relocation to the a/c location wasn't gonna happen. Also I wasn't keen on going to the MR2 pump right now as it was pretty expensive and just seemed unnecessary now that I had the ability to weld aluminum. So I decided to work with what I had, a really oily power-steering/alternator bracket. The issue with the pumps currently location is the P/S pulley will hit the batter box and the front apron under the battery box, it does clear the lower "frame" box section though. The pump had room to move in and down towards the block and alternator, but would it be enough. It turns out it is, just barely. I will say if you are running a tube front end with the apron sheet metal removed forward of the strut tower you will be able to run an unmodified power-steering/alternator bracket. The other option would be to cut a relief in the front apron for the pulley sit in. This last option was strongly considered with the use of a formed piece of aluminum to keep road water/dirt from entering the belt drive. If my current set up fails, expect this to occur next.

Also if anyone knows of a smaller pulley that will fit the VK P/S pumps splines, would you please post up what year, make, model it is from. I would like to try this route as well.

Lets get to some picture as my work can then just be used for reference.

Stock PS location. (huge pulley on the far left)


Stock PS location clearance - front.


Stock PS location clearnance - overhead.


About where I want it to be.


Taking it slow, removing parts of the brackets as the pump contacts it.


Realized the front needs a new piece altogether.


Front of bracket removed.


Getting artsy around the bolt hole.


Rear bolt hole getting relocated to new home.


New clearance to front apron. Kind of bad angle more room that it shows.


All lined up.

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h2v7

chase bays brake booster kit is needed here it def looks like

thetopcow

Sometimes when you are building something, you have to depart from the actual project to build other "stuff" that will help you to better complete your task. Thankfully I had a pile of metal I had purchased for a failed project that could now get used.

I now had a TIG welder and no good way to sharpen the tungsten electrodes. So, I did some quick research *cough, Google* and found a bench grinder with a drill is the preferred method. I already had a cordless drill so I picked up a bench grinder from the local big box store. The grinder looked pretty good out of the box but not so good on the floor. So surprise, surprise the bench grinder needed a small bench.

Next, was to address how to mobilize the TIG welder. I drug that thing around the garage for about a month before I figured I would put together a cart. And why? I don't know, but when you have one new weld cart it makes you want another to match. So I built one for the MIG too.

Finally, there was the issue of a small welding table. I had been tig welding in the most random places and couldn't concentrate of the feed, food, and heat that well. So I grabbed an old stool I had floating in the garage and figured the table height from that.

I made all the items as light as possible. Most things are made from 1/2" or 3/8" round bar, and 1" x 1" square tube. The best part is the time involved was only a weekend, and the progress you will make from them will be strides better.

These small projects helped to forward progress and quality so much. They put that little something extra in extraordinary! HAHA Name that movie!

The start of new bits of awesome:


The grinder on its new digs:


The reason you want the grinder in the first place:


The TIG cart:


The MIG cart:


Finally the TIG Table:

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hungryjoseph

having an AC tig welder and a comfortable setup to work with really does make builds go smoother...

thetopcow

Something to this effect will be happening. I am just not real big on having one outlet, thus one plunger, thus it fails, thus no brakes. Wilwood does make dual plunger units but they are 1" in size thus really heavy pedal action. Thus I will be doing some sort of dual wilwood master cylinder setup.









Thus..... Hahaha. I crack myself up.

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newkid99

I'm on Driftstl but never heard of kc drift. I'll have to check out the events sometime, Looks like you really know your fab work also, subscribing to this for sure

irritatedmax

Updates brotherrrrr!

Excited to see the next installment! I enjoy reading these posts just like any other member! Haha

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DNAmotoring

Oh Man, Looks like fun already! Keep up the good work.

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thetopcow

Well, that was a longer break than I expected. I have been making strides in the swap so when that happens I tend to get caught up. I have been working on the first set of permanent motor mounts. A couple of braces and that post will be coming.

As mentioned last time, the headers are the next item I have in a state where they will become the templates for the final pieces. As with most everything thing, there are a few revisions in the process. I started with the collectors in one place then moved them beside the transmission. The drivers header got remade entirely once, followed by getting half redone before working decent now. This is my first foray into header making. It is like a puzzle that you have the start and finish, but no middle. I am sure they will get tweaked a bit more when I am making the final set.

This like everything done on the build was discussed at great length between Steve and I. We looked at piping size, equal versus unequal length, material, coatings, powerband range, etc. What we attempted to do was focus power through out the power band. We decided to use steel 1-5/8" piping with an unequal length header and ceramic coated or wrapped. Unequal length headers seem to keep power in the mid range and add a bit on either end. The piping size should make good mid range power as well. Stainless seemed too expensive to mess with for the prototype set since we may change pipe sizing later. The one thing I was really sad to see get the axe this go round was a tri-y header. This is something I really want to revisit in the future.

The Start:


The bends in the box:


Stock VK56DE Header:


Only need the stock flange. Later I will get new flanges cut:


Here are the two flanges laid over each other. You can see what I removed with the die grinder, so much metal got stuck in my hands while doing this:


This was where I initially wanted the collectors, but there just wasn't enough room to maneuver the pipes around the steering shaft and into the collecter without many extra cuts:


Drivers side header version 1. I felt this lay out just didn't work:


Version 1 fit up in chassis:


Driver side header version 2. This version got nixed due to the pain of the extra cross in the pipes:


Version 2 fit up in chassis:


Drivers side header version 3. Pretty happy how this has come out. I look forward to the finished piece:


The passenger side header went pretty quick. I would like to rework the rear pipe to tighten it up to the rest:


Here is the rear view of the set up, with the driver side version 2:


This is the most important part of all, A/C!!!:

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ferrariowner123

Nice, keeping it classy with A/C, ill be surprised if it fits!!

Nice build, i know i wouldn't have the patience to redo the headers three times!!

-Kyle

thetopcow

It is already confirmed it does fit. So yay!!!

I don't have patience per say but I do have a drive to do my best. So if something doesn't work to my liking I redo it until I do. It is a sickness. Haha

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thetopcow

Here comes another tale of struggle and intrigue, masked with deception and mystique....hmmmm, wrong story. hahaha

Sometimes a guy just wants a awesome intro!

Well it has been another busy couple of weeks...at Gas Monkey Garage. hahaha.

Ok, I am done, moving along.

These past two weeks have gone awesome. Built stuff, Rebuilt others, trick or treated, helped a co-worker, and just all around hustled. I want to revisit the headers real quick since it is an update to the previous installment.

As noted previously, I wanted to tighten up my headers. I originally thought this would be a one tube ordeal aka passenger side number 4. Yeahhhhh, well as with most things it didn't go that way.

It was time to test fit the headers and new awesome-town motor mounts together at the same time. Install motor mounts, things are going good, install header....clunk...pissssssss. Jump to the other side. Install motor mounts, things are going good, install header....clunk...pissssssss. On both sides, both pieces are making contact. Decision time, remake motor mount or headers? Move one pipe or move six to eight. Easy or Hard. I really like the motor mounts simplicity, and I knew the headers were to be tweaked anyway. So I chose the lets-rebuild-six-to-eight-pipes way, duh! I would be interested to know what you fine people on the other side of screen would have chosen.

They ended up coming out even better than before. Very nice and tidy. Please ignore all the cuts. All the pipes follow preformed bends basic shapes so they should be about the same when I make the final headers.

This has really become its own post. So I will get a motor mount one up next. Enjoy the photos!

Unfortunately, I never got a picture of the version 2 driver side header on the block, so it is harder to see the changes. Driver side V2 top - V3 bottom:


You can really see the differences on the passenger side since they are both on the block at the same angle. Quality of photo is due to PICStich. Passenger side V2 top - V3 bottom:


Driver's Side better quality. You can see my 3" pipe in there for steering shaft clearance:


Passenger's Side better quality:


Headers from the front:


Headers from the rear:

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ka-titties

headers look sick! i'm starting the longtubes for my VQ next weekend. what gauge steel tube did you use?

thetopcow

They are 1-5/8" 16 gauge mild steel. It is pretty common thickness for mild steel exhaust bends.

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thetopcow

It feels like a double post kind of weekend. I have been wanting to get to the motor and trans mounts, but I needed to be 100 percent happy with them before doing a post on them. This is about the most basic part of any swap, but it sets up so much of what will occur in the future that you need to get it right the first time around.

Initially, I used the factory VK56 motor mounts to just set the motor on the front cross-member and a jack to hold the trans in place. I really wanted to use the factory motor mounts but just couldn't do it. They would have set the motor too high after the necessary adapter brackets were made and in place. Idea-bubble popped.

Moving ahead I decided to make some plates for the engine and front cross-member that would be bridged by 3/8" rod, or as I have been calling them "stick mounts". This was, by far, the best use of material and time. It allowed me to quickly and cheaply shift the motor right or left, up or down. Followed up by a very crappy but functional trans mount made out of 1/4"x1.5" flat bar. The motor has lived on this setup for the past 3-4 months until about 2 weeks ago. I finally got to a point where I was waiting for more material or parts to arrive. So I began thinking about how I wanted to build my mounts.

I decided solid bushings were out for me. I knew a polyurethane mount setup wouldn't allow too much movement, but would also keep vibrations down a little. I also figured by adding the poly bushing this would allow the mounts to work on Steven's S14 setup since there is a slight angle change between the S14 and S13 front cross-member "horns". I ended up using 1/4" flat bar for my bases and 1.5" round stock for the posts and bushing. Next up Jigs.

I had really been putting this step off. I really didn't want to invest the time in the jig, and then have to remake the motor mounts in some way. I knew the jigs would take some time, material and have some permanence about it. So in an effort to do it once, I procrastinated this until I couldn't any longer. The jig was fashioned out of some old metal I had laying around- c-channel, 1x2" rectangle and 1x1/4" flat bar. This was followed by a jig for the trans mount which was made from more c-channel and 1.5" square tube. The most challenging portion of this whole process was keeping things at correct angles and square. The last jig I had to make was more of a spacer. I needed a way to replace the polyurethane bushing during welding of the motor mounts. My solution came in the form of telescoping some round stock and welding a washer on either end. This solution took me far too long to come up with but in the end works amazing.

Words got me this far but picture tell the rest.

Motor and trans in - centered and level:


Attempted to clear brake booster, but had no room for an oil pan and still wouldn't clear:


Radiator fits. I use some sort of Nissan e-fan setup and it clears, barely:


Driver and Passenger side stick mount v1. I wanted to use aftermarket 240sx motor and trans mounts, but they were just too large once the headers started getting built:


V2 stick mounts just used to hold spacing:


The v2 stick mounts helped to create the jig below:


Next up was a template for the "U" portion of the new motor mounts:


Which allowed this:


Then I needed a spacing solution for the poly mount sleeves. It came in the form of this telescoping setup:


Which got me to a couple tacked up mounts:


Followed up with some TIG welding. It felt good to final weld something. It was a since of accomplishment and progression:


I wanted to poly mount the transmission too. I got a pretty decent idea one day and decided to see if the GM mount they sell at every O'reilly and Advance Auto Parts would work. Picture says it all, zero modding, bolted up no issue:


Utilitarian (read Rough) transmission mount:


Poly mount sorted. It was time for a real transmission mount bracket. So I put together a jig with the Utilitarian Mount:


Which allowed this prototype. I am not satisfied with this mount. It is too large and bulky but was necessary as it tested fitment and tested my jig. I will be remaking from some 1x1.5" rectangle and at the same time I will be raising the trans 3/8 of an inch:


Sorry for the filter but it lightened this picture. Prototype mount installed:


This is a fun picture to see where this has come from - v1, v2 with v3 on the way:


And in all this I dropped the TIG torch and broke the cup. It halted progress until I came up with this - wrapped with cotton string and zip ties. The ties never melted until I tried to weld continuous, I was very happy to be able to continue:

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future

Been a couple vk56 builds on here, I'd love to see one actually drive and not forgotten

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thetopcow

I totally agree with you!!! I purposely waited to start this thread to where I was far enough into the build that there was no going back. We are at a stage we need to order things like a driveshaft. We recently sent out our flexplate to have a flywheel made. We are also figuring our ecu setup. It is exciting times!!

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future

Good to hear mann only seen the swap done in FD, would love to see somebody else do it. Power wise it would be a awesome set up N/a 300whp/wtq to the wheels all day

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