Well, I joined about three or four hours ago and have been reading and searching and reading more. My new project is an 89 240 coupe. I have owned a 91 tsi awd, a 98 318 5spd dakota, and several different motorcycles. I really miss the turbo of the dsm and therefore would like to have a turbo s-13 as i’ve always liked the looks of them. I am fairly competent and comfortable working on my own vehicles.
Now, my questions (keep in mind that I have searched, I just want to be clear on a few things, hehe)
1, do you need to use the rb20’s tranny for the swap?
2, do you need the rb20’s ecu?
3, is it easy to swap to a lsd
4, anyone have a typical timeslip of a rb20 powered s-13 running 12 psi?
Thanks for the look. Hopefully over time I can contribute myself to this site.
first off
SEARCH!!!
Then after that u can ask questions for what u didnt have answers to.
http://www.son240sx.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=21714&highlight=rb20det+swap
holy shit one easy search and look what i came up with
Im trying to help u so u dont ask stupid questions and get banned
I read all of that prior to my post. I just asked for clarification. There is alot of info here, and on other sites, and it is a little overwhelming. I apologize for frustrating you, it wasn’t my intent.
yes
yes
depends what your def. of easy is
no
ur not frustrating me, im just letting u know, a little reading can go a long way.
U need a custom driveshaft
RB20DET and tranny(i would say get an RB25 as ive talked to a few guys and they said they would rather have spend the money for 2.5 litres)
U need the ECU and wiring harness, the maf sensor and all of the other goodies that engines need
Turbos, manifolds, sensors etc
and then theres the wiring to make the tach work and the speedo work, that i do not know anything about but im sure on the link i posted there is information for that
U can get mckinney mounts that make the install way easier
LSD’s are easy to get out, i found it a bitch to get in but its not very hard of a job to do, just tideous
rb trannies use a mechanical speedo cable
From what i’ve gathered, I’d like to use the rb20 because it’s alot cheaper mainly. Also, i’m not looking for huge horsepower. It seems I can use the stock driveshaft and just have to get the x-member from the r32.
BTW, Rob, what swap have you done in your car, and are you happy with it?
^^^ so u wanna go rb20 eh!!! when im done with the nightmere i will tell u about it, well its not so bad actually,
You don’t need a custom driveshaft for an rb20det, but rb25det yes… but regardless custom mounts and or r32 x member are a must and of course custom wiring and harness. Then miscelanous things like bigger MAF, upgraded fuel pump, etc…
If I recall correctly fullrace has designed a custom mounting kit which is the lowest and the most further back with some firewall mashing (apparently without using a custom driveshaft), but its somewhere in the 500$ range if memory serves me right… could be worth it, and apparently that’s with using the stock x member not the r32 one… I’m tired/lazy go find it yourself, just thought i’d share this.
I’m tlaking rb20det here though, rb25det needs a crap load more work including a custom driveshaft whether you like it or not.
I’ve been contemplating btw sr20det swap and rb20det swap… there’s just too many swaps that are possible now, LS swaps, chevy swaps, rb swaps, sr swaps, ca swaps, vq swaps, vh swaps, whatever else is out there…
time and money… anything can happen. RB20DET and SR20DET are the most viable solutions imho… everything else is steep in price and potentially too heavy up in the front end.
ive done swap from sohc to dohc…ive taken out numerous engines out of cars and am currently building my car…as for what engine is going in my car thats Top Secret but it will be VERY powerful…my cars just getting ready for stitching and a cage so theres not a thing left in the car
EDIT the reason i was saying go rb25 because a few guys i have talked to at meets said it wasnt worth the time and money when they could have gone rb25 instead of rb20. .5 litres more can make a huge difference in horsepower numbers…personally if im going to spend $4000 maybe $5000 on an engine swap and all the stuff needed for it im going to do it proper and get good stuff and not cheap out. And if u check out https://www.tigerjapanese.com/ u will find the rb20 and rb25 there isnt a huge price gap and i for one would say its well worth the extra money.
Not a big price difference? The rb20 lists for 1023.50 cdn, and the rb25 for 2415.00! Plus the cost of a custom driveshaft for the rb25, say 300 bucks conservatively. That’s a total of 1700 dollars difference. I’d rather get the rb20, and a bigger turbo, injectors and nice front mount set-up and still have enough for a 3" exhaust left over. The 2.5 liter is rated at 40 more hp stock, that could easily be made up with the $1700.
i think ur misunderstading the point…im only going to assume u know nothing about turboing a car and what litres means. The difference between 2.0 litres and 2.5 litres is alot. with high horsepower goals u want that extra .5 litres, u need that extra .5 litres. It means u can run bigger turbos, bigger everything!!! Thats what im trying to get across is by the time u invest all this money(probably 5 grand in the end) u will say “Shit, you know what, i should have just looked around at more places and found me a rb25”
Oh and BTW it doesnt matter what a car is rated at stock, what matters is the difference in numbers these engines could put down with mods/in reality. Maybe u should just go RB30 that would be the ideal way to not cheap out at all!!
Ya, that’s just it. My question was about installing a rb20det. I’m on a budget, and money is an issue. My goal is a cheap 250 hp 240 that’ll be a blast to drive. I’m not looking for a 500 hp monster, so the rb20 will do just fine. 500 cc’s isn’t going to make much of a difference in making 250-300 hp imo. Btw, I am very expierienced in working with turbochargers and am a licensed technician with a diesel endorsement. I’ve helped build 600+ hp cummin’s engines, built my own 12 second talon, and helped with a friend’s 94 tt supra make 400 + hp. Again, I just asked a couple of questions about the rb20det, i’m not looking for opinion’s on what is the best swap as I read and researched for about 4 hours last night and made my choice as to what I wanted to do. Thanks for your opinion though, but in the future i’ll ask you for it.
Many of the people against the rb20 really have no idea of what they’re capable of putting out on a budget. Or for that matter ever dealt with a rb or skyline. I know of another 2 people making more than 380whp on stock, un-opened motors. Stock intake manifolds, cams. Just exhaust, giant turbo, 550c injectors and a tuning device.
The funny thing about the 20 and 25 is that they both need forged internals to run past 400whp all day long. The only advantage to the 25 is the extra.5L but why put the ONLY rb never used in racing in a car?
good luck on your swap. If you have more questions, come search over at Gtrcanada.