PureRush

My Name's Nico Neira and this is my build thread. I'm swapping an S2 VH45 into my S13 hatch

Took off my valve covers tonight and IMO what I see looks good. No extreme wear or sludge found. I was told that the engine was sitting for at least 8 months. The underside of the valve cover had barely any oil on it. My plans were to completely rebuild the engine but since it looks alright, I think I'm going to just run it like this until I'm ready to go F/I.

**EDIT** Wow I forgot that I bought an electronic dial caliper with my last shipment of tools. Here are the measurements:
OEM SPECS
-INTAKE: 1.4929 - 1.5004
-EXHAUST: 1.3889 - 1.3964

CURRENT SPECS
-INTAKE: 1.498
-EXHAUST: 1.389

Chaluska

hey dude, im putting a VH45 into my vert, i know all about what your going through

feel free to PM me with any questions, and ill try to help as best i can, i got the swap about 98% done. feel free to check out my build at...

Chaluska's Blog

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PureRush

Here are the timing components before disassembly. There were no marks on the chain indicating timing placement...




Broke my new Snap-On Extension trying to get the head studs loose. Lifetime warranty FTW





Cylinder 1 looked a lil rusty but not bad





Cylinder 2 was HORRIBLE! It had a good amount of liquid rust and other crap





The rest of the cylinders were fine.






Flipped her over to take a look inside





Cylinder walls looked really nice and you can tell this motor had been somewhat rebuilt.





Done for the night

PureRush

Prepping the heads before sending to the machine shop. Removing everything but the valves.







Cam caps removed





Cams out and caps torqued back on to take measurements





A weak bolt broke off in the head while torquing the caps back on :bang:







Almost ready to be sent out

PureRush

Been spending alot of time and money on this beast and I'm getting so close to first startup!
So the VH that I got was super clean but water had gotten into cylinders 1 & 2 which was a major setback. I had two options at this point:

1: Pay for the block to be honed, valve job, head decked, piston rings, and gaskets to put it back together.

2: Get a cheap high mileage S2 VH to throw in temporarily and not have to feel guilty beating on it. If it blows, it blows nbd.


I decided to look for a temporary motor and take my time rebuilding the first VH. Gonna go all out and take my time with that one. I'll go more into it later.

I stumbled upon an Authentic Tra-Kyoto 6666 Customs Rocket Bunny Spoiler for sale on another forum. Traded my NRG Quick Release and Steering Wheel Setup plus cash for the wing. I was gonna sell the setup anyway since the wheel was too close to me and I dont like ****ty fake steering wheels. It would bend and was out-of-round Installed and painted the wing and immediately fell in love with it.

PureRush

Now the rear end was almost complete but there was one thing missing! Had to get rid of those ugly faded stock taillights for some DMAX taillights. I was inspired by the Tra-Kyoto Rockey Bunny S13 with the same taillights with the red part tinted. Found a sick ass deal on the taillights pretty much brand new. Installation was pretty straight forward. Just gotta make sure its sealed up tight so water doesnt get in. I havent tinted them yet since I keep forgetting to order the tint lol.











Happy Wednesday

PureRush

Some guy on another forum was selling a '94 S2 VH45 for his buddy. Drove all the way to the Palm Desert to pick up the "Complete" motor. For those of you who arent familiar with SoCal, it's two hours each way from where I live. The motor was definitely not complete and was missing most electrical components and the timing cover and valve covers were off. I was pissed cause I wasnt looking to waste more money on putting together this motor but since I had the first motor completely disassembled, I could use the parts from that motor to complete this one and then switch it over when this motor blows or when I'm done building the first motor. I also convinced him to give me a complete S2 engine harness for free that I needed badly so I could send the S1 to S13 harness I already had to my guy Jimmy Simpson so he could convert it to work with my S2 VH.

If I could, I would take this whole engine apart and clean it but I have to keep reminding myself that this motor's a POS. The least I can do is make her look sexy on the outside so I painted the timing covers with high temp aluminum and the valve covers OEM Nissan white. I used the same paint on the valve covers that I used to paint the Rocket Bunny Wing. I also cleaned and painted the tranny with the same high temp aluminum paint cause I like to keep my parts looking fresh as ****.










The guys said it had around 120k miles on it... Looks about right


































Boobs

PureRush

Small Update:
I wanted to drop in the motor and see how the fitment was gonna be so I invited my friend over to help out. Issues found:
-Left valve cover is VERY close to the brake booster. A Nissan Sentra brake booster will solve this problem and one in on its way to me.
-The last part of the fuel hardline hits the block. It's the part where the hardline stops then it becomes a rubber hose. To solve this I had to gently bend the hardline up the firewall.
-The right valve cover is almost touching the brake lines but this shouldnt be a problem with solid motor mounts

















When I was bored and had no money to work on the VH, I took out the dash for my first time in about an hour . Removed The complete HVAC system cause I dont use it anyway plus weight savings. Its for sale btw if anyones interested. I also plan on removing the disgusting 21 year old carpet. Found a medical marijuana label under the center console lol. Ive heard alot of horror stories about the stuff people have found in their 240's. Gonna rip out the carpet the scrub the metal clean with some Simple Green and call it a day.




You're Welcome

PureRush

Installed the Xcessive trans adapter w/flywheel spacer on the second engine. I'm gonna write this post as a tutorial for installing the flywheel spacer since its requires modification and Xcessive's instructions arent the clearest and dont have pictures.




[1] Remove the stock Auto Trans Bushing from the crankshaft. This is the first step in order to get the flywheel spacer to fit on the crank. This requires the use of a bearing puller and a slide hammer. I rented both from O'reilley's for around $60 and once you return it they give you all the money back. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.











You gotta make sure the teeth are in the tapered part behind the bushing. Also the two arms have to be really tight inside because theres only a small lip where the teeth catch and it will slip out when you try to hammer it out.




Bushing out:
Inner side of the bushing.




Outer side of the bushing.





[2] Xcessive's instructions state that their flywheel spacer must sit flat/flush against the back of the crankshaft. I made a short video showing the crankshaft without the Auto Trans Bushing.




[3] With the bushing removed, now its time to grind down the crankshaft. I used an angle grinder with a rough disc. It's really easy to measure how much you've removed since the part that held in the Auto Trans Bushing will be completely ground off. Once I was down to that level, I removed around 2mm more just to be sure the spacer will sit flat. I also ground down the sharp edges.












[4] Instead of using a rubber mallet to get the spacer on, I took the stock flywheel bolts and tightened them in the OEM sequential order. This would ensure that the spacer is tight and flush on the crank.


Always thread the bolts in by hand first.







All bolts evenly tightened with the spacer flush to the back of the crankshaft.





[5] Installed the Trans Adapter Plate to the motor. It's very simple and self explanatory. The only issue I had was not having a thin wall socket to tighten the bolts that secure the Adapter Plate to the block. I was freaking out since I used a mild thread locker and with the bolts halfway in I wouldnt have time to go to the local parts store to buy a socket. Instead I made my own thin wall socket by taking a cheap Harbor Freight socket and using my angle grinder to thin the socket wall. Worked super sick wit it






[6] Installed the flywheel with the Xcessive Spacer. My OEM flywheel came with some kind of spacer that I just didnt use since the bolts wouldnt reach the crank with it on.




I torqued the flywheel bolts to 65 ftlbs (Final Torque)





[7] Installed the OEM clutch and pressure plate using a clutch alignment tool. Pretty Straightforward...


I torqued the pressure plate bolts to 30 ftlbs (Final Torque)














End of Tutorial

qwikspool

nice build
i like the extra pics

C. Anderson

You might want to get some longer bolts for the flywheel. If the bolts dont reach with that thin spacer you probably only have 2 or so threads holding the flywheel on.

Pinggg

+1 for this thread.
Love the extra pictures for us, i'll be sure to follow this build, haha

PureRush

Installed the valve covers. Lookin so baller with the valve cover dress up kit I got from Eric at PerformanceVH


Yes these gaskets are $60 each smh

PureRush

Xcessive Manufacturing shifter bracket installed. Just some pics showing the difference in where the shifter link sits.










Aftermarket short throw shifter that I got for free. I have some SPL solid shifter bushings that I will install once the engine and trans are in. The shifter will not be on when I drop in the engine and trans into the car.

PureRush

I'm almost ready to drop this bish in! All I'm waiting for is a couple things.

-Wiring Harness [In the Mail]
-Driveshaft [In the Mail]
-Brake Booster [In the Mail]
-Custom Headers [Currently being made at Limitless Performance and Fabrication]
-Custom Cooling System [At my local fabricator having modifications done ]
-Two new sets of SR20 injectors [Will buy this week]

sr20detox

Rad stuff. What are your plans for the VH that's getting rebuilt?

drunkmunky

how do you start the car w/ the starter removed?

PureRush

Bore it out, port and polish head, and cams/springs

You can probably push start it idk

future

More girls please

Oh and build thread also if you want

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PureRush

Right now I have everything I need to drop the motor in. The issue is that the mechanical timing on the left bank is off. The timing chain tensioner is bolted straight to the upper timing cover. If you rotate the motor counter clockwise, the chain will skip teeth... like ALOT OF TEETH. This issue only occurs on the left bank.

I stripped the first two bolts while trying to take the cam caps off. These bolts are weak and it wasnt' my fault. I decided that I'm going to take it to a machine shop and have them remove the bolts.

ka24debt

awesome build, the extra pic are my fav lol

PureRush

I have 8mm of thread engagement. I called Xcessive and they said I'm alright

C. Anderson

Cool! Coming together nicely!

JesusFreakDrifter

awesome build thread so far

thizzen4

looking good yeah alot of money but will be worth it when ur done cant wait to see videos of this beast runnig

Big Zee

Awesome build thread!!! love the fact you kept it Nissan
love extra pics as well, GAP shot FTW!!

tricky_ab

I'll have to make a mental note not to view this thread while at work...

je_decoy

Any updates to this?

boyou2

yeah, I need some abs and boobs for the WE ^^

mikey976

nice goin keeping it nissan, im doing same swap didnt have a slide hammer on hand to remove the auto bushing. but i had my mig welder and a bunch of wg flanges and a hammer
4 good tacks and 2 wacks of the hammer it popped right out

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KAe-T goal 400whp with A/C - Hatch VH45 track duty - Titan VK56 tow rig