ch1873857
05-22-2010, 08:08 PM
this is my second s13. and things are going much smoother now. my first car was a 90 hatch, ca18, s15 turbo, megasquirt. the project got scrapped after attempting to upgrade to an rb20 and running out of time before i shipped out for the military. i ended up getting stationed in DC (close to home) and after 8 months of doing the most important stuff first ( wheels, tires, coilovers, suspension links) i decided to shell out some real cash for a swap.
this was before the swap, as it sits
17x9 +15 Grenades 4 lug, Corner8 coilovers, CS tension rods, wicked tie rods and rucas, nardi suede wrapped steering wheel, ceramic brakes and slutted rotors.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs184.snc3/19153_308996586372_631021372_4018863_6429743_n.jpg
love the way the car handles. the coilovers were 490 shipped. thought i would give them a try since i havent seen anyone else try em. hey why not? ended up loving them. felt just like my buddies stances. plently of adjustability and understeer is virtually non existant. got them on in the dead of winter in the midatlantic region which some of you know got hit pretty hard. i drive from hagerstown md to dc quite often and definately put these things through some abuse. put roughly 12k miles on them and they feel just as strong as the day i got them. if you love feeling the road, they are definately DD material. price on these just went up to 750. ridden/driven on quite a few different brands of coilovers. these are up there just under stance, with tein basics being the bottom of the barrel :keke: id recommend them to anyone.
however, i had a very worn out oil spewing KA. oil spewing from the front main, rear main, and the oil pan. still pull decent but a quart a day kept the reaper away. so i told myself and my buddies, time to give the 20 another go.
went ahead and ordered the mounts, fans, walbro, and fpr, few other things too. i hooked up with J3 Performance in Hagerstown MD which is run by ole papi Jorge Aguilar. Told me about JEI in sterling, Va and i wont have any problems with a motor. heard they had about 12 rb20s a week or so before that so i went down to pick one out. turned out they were flying out like hotcakes. Phil @ JEI, being the ganster he is worked with me, discussed my budget of 1500. max. luckily i caught him on a good day and he hooked me up with an rb25 long block, ecu, harness, maf, for under my budget. :bow: traded my ka motorset for an rb20 trans, and told Jorge i would weld in his cage for letting me use the shop for the week.
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs585.snc3/30870_125390947488156_100000517543333_258950_17018 43_n.jpg
after the first night.
painted the valve covers because i needed cleaned up. i could tell this motor had been sitting around for a long time. the engine i got had fallen over in the container, put a dime size hole in the intake manifold, snapped out the oil filter, and dented the oil pan pretty bad. so after fixing the manifold i decided to paint that too. i wanted a clean swap. that was done right. took my time with everything. didnt come with a coil cover so i stole an rb20 one and started playing with paint schemes which i still havent completely finished.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs565.snc3/30870_125390977488153_100000517543333_258954_21009 92_n.jpg
the engine set in perfect. perfectly cleared sway bar and crossmember. stock o2 housing required slight grinding but fit fine after than. these were Top Hat mounts for 250 bucks shipped. and it was worth every damn penny. with the rb20 trans mounted, shifter placement couldnt be more perfect. wish i had pictures but ill take some if someone is interested in the mounts.
i totally lucked out from here on out. a good friend, ole Charlie "repo man" Hamilton, had recently repoed a cxracing front mount, mishimoto rad, split downpipe, and hks honeycomb filter which he gave me for an awesome deal. except thats another person i am "welder bitch" for. so after all thats installed, and a few days straight getting shit done. looks like this.
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff310/megasquirtCA/IMAG0106.jpg
Jorge at J3 is a straight up wizard with wiring. hes done a ton of rb20 s13/s14 and SRs, never an rb25 s13. all the write ups were for series 1. so he did it off a pinout. and if the resistors for the tach were wired up right i would have had a fully working stock dash. trimmed out wiper crap, and automatic trans crap. harness was bar minimal and after priming the engine, this thing started pretty much before i turned the key. with a perfect idle. sounds super healthy, revved quick. couldnt have been happier. Jorge loves wiring and has offered to do wiring service. pm me for more info.
that pretty much sums up the swap. i dont tell people what i paid for things but all in all i spend 2300 bucks. full swap. running.
threw a welded diff in there while i was at it and i have a few things planned..
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs292.ash1/21942_333885006372_631021372_4105155_4304071_n.jpg
what else could you do with 113 feet of 1 3/4 inch DOM steel tubing :yum:
hopefully doing the cage in the next week or so. and next month picking up a BN kit silvia brick front end. repainting red, and the wheels white. ill post more when ive got something. thanks for reading my book.
i love criticism, flaming, advice, ideas. you wont hurt my feelings. so bring it on.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs604.snc3/31817_128984553782179_100000119057980_356961_49863 83_n.jpg
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs603.snc3/31769_124302710917030_100000119057980_336935_49267 98_n.jpg
Jorge's current car. hes been through like 35 of them so it probably wont stick around. if your in the Mid-Atlantic area call this guy, car is for sale also..
this was before the swap, as it sits
17x9 +15 Grenades 4 lug, Corner8 coilovers, CS tension rods, wicked tie rods and rucas, nardi suede wrapped steering wheel, ceramic brakes and slutted rotors.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs184.snc3/19153_308996586372_631021372_4018863_6429743_n.jpg
love the way the car handles. the coilovers were 490 shipped. thought i would give them a try since i havent seen anyone else try em. hey why not? ended up loving them. felt just like my buddies stances. plently of adjustability and understeer is virtually non existant. got them on in the dead of winter in the midatlantic region which some of you know got hit pretty hard. i drive from hagerstown md to dc quite often and definately put these things through some abuse. put roughly 12k miles on them and they feel just as strong as the day i got them. if you love feeling the road, they are definately DD material. price on these just went up to 750. ridden/driven on quite a few different brands of coilovers. these are up there just under stance, with tein basics being the bottom of the barrel :keke: id recommend them to anyone.
however, i had a very worn out oil spewing KA. oil spewing from the front main, rear main, and the oil pan. still pull decent but a quart a day kept the reaper away. so i told myself and my buddies, time to give the 20 another go.
went ahead and ordered the mounts, fans, walbro, and fpr, few other things too. i hooked up with J3 Performance in Hagerstown MD which is run by ole papi Jorge Aguilar. Told me about JEI in sterling, Va and i wont have any problems with a motor. heard they had about 12 rb20s a week or so before that so i went down to pick one out. turned out they were flying out like hotcakes. Phil @ JEI, being the ganster he is worked with me, discussed my budget of 1500. max. luckily i caught him on a good day and he hooked me up with an rb25 long block, ecu, harness, maf, for under my budget. :bow: traded my ka motorset for an rb20 trans, and told Jorge i would weld in his cage for letting me use the shop for the week.
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs585.snc3/30870_125390947488156_100000517543333_258950_17018 43_n.jpg
after the first night.
painted the valve covers because i needed cleaned up. i could tell this motor had been sitting around for a long time. the engine i got had fallen over in the container, put a dime size hole in the intake manifold, snapped out the oil filter, and dented the oil pan pretty bad. so after fixing the manifold i decided to paint that too. i wanted a clean swap. that was done right. took my time with everything. didnt come with a coil cover so i stole an rb20 one and started playing with paint schemes which i still havent completely finished.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs565.snc3/30870_125390977488153_100000517543333_258954_21009 92_n.jpg
the engine set in perfect. perfectly cleared sway bar and crossmember. stock o2 housing required slight grinding but fit fine after than. these were Top Hat mounts for 250 bucks shipped. and it was worth every damn penny. with the rb20 trans mounted, shifter placement couldnt be more perfect. wish i had pictures but ill take some if someone is interested in the mounts.
i totally lucked out from here on out. a good friend, ole Charlie "repo man" Hamilton, had recently repoed a cxracing front mount, mishimoto rad, split downpipe, and hks honeycomb filter which he gave me for an awesome deal. except thats another person i am "welder bitch" for. so after all thats installed, and a few days straight getting shit done. looks like this.
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff310/megasquirtCA/IMAG0106.jpg
Jorge at J3 is a straight up wizard with wiring. hes done a ton of rb20 s13/s14 and SRs, never an rb25 s13. all the write ups were for series 1. so he did it off a pinout. and if the resistors for the tach were wired up right i would have had a fully working stock dash. trimmed out wiper crap, and automatic trans crap. harness was bar minimal and after priming the engine, this thing started pretty much before i turned the key. with a perfect idle. sounds super healthy, revved quick. couldnt have been happier. Jorge loves wiring and has offered to do wiring service. pm me for more info.
that pretty much sums up the swap. i dont tell people what i paid for things but all in all i spend 2300 bucks. full swap. running.
threw a welded diff in there while i was at it and i have a few things planned..
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs292.ash1/21942_333885006372_631021372_4105155_4304071_n.jpg
what else could you do with 113 feet of 1 3/4 inch DOM steel tubing :yum:
hopefully doing the cage in the next week or so. and next month picking up a BN kit silvia brick front end. repainting red, and the wheels white. ill post more when ive got something. thanks for reading my book.
i love criticism, flaming, advice, ideas. you wont hurt my feelings. so bring it on.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs604.snc3/31817_128984553782179_100000119057980_356961_49863 83_n.jpg
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs603.snc3/31769_124302710917030_100000119057980_336935_49267 98_n.jpg
Jorge's current car. hes been through like 35 of them so it probably wont stick around. if your in the Mid-Atlantic area call this guy, car is for sale also..