Wynona the wagon's resurrection!

[Laecaon]

Yea it was not easy. I used grade 10.9 bolts (m8), and about 1/2 thick steel piece across the nose of the crank.

[HRH]

Well I got the valve covers back on with new gaskets. Annoyingly enough, when I put the coil packs back on, I pressed on the connector housing. And it snapped. Don't press on the connector housing. Coils from 90-95 Infiniti Q45s fit, but they're super expensive. Ebay is a better option, all 6 for 125 bucks. But of course they're China cheap. Checked one forum, people have been using them without issue allegedly. Going to do some more looking before I bite the bullet, but may just go the cheap route and replace them all.

F me running, there are so many vacuum and water lines on the RB, it's just stupid.

Oh, and I was going to get some video up but my video editing software doesn't work on the new computer apparently. Looks like I'll have to get a different version next paycheck.

[Laecaon]

There are about 11 or 12 coolant lines on the CA. I reduced it as much as possible.

Vacuum, I only have the FPR, Intake butterflies, and the wastegate stock. I added a BOV.


Im gonna start with stock coils, but switch to VQ37 coils. You can shorten them to fit under the cover easily. And they are way higher powered. And they dont need the ignitor chip like the factory ones do.

[DRIVEN]

F me running, there are so many vacuum and water lines on the RB, it's just stupid.

Yes. Because Nissan.

[HRH]

Found another issue after finally welding up an oil pickup tube and bending/tweaking to make it fit the pan. Had to cut a little bit of the baffling out to be able to install easily. Anyway, when I had the engine on it's side, I noticed I have a broken exhaust stud on the front port. Boooooo. I'm beginning to think I should have just planned on rebuilding this motor anyway. Been sitting so long everything needs screwing with.

[HRH]

So I just yanked the number 1 rod bearing and it looked ok. Then I saw a little scratch/divot, and I took my fingernail to see how deep it was, and promptly dug a trough right through it. Good thing I ordered rod bearings. And now I realized I need more stuff for the engine. If I wasn't such a purist, I would have sold this and bought an LS instead. Sigh. Nickel and diming me too death!!

[DRIVEN]

Yes. Because Nissan.

[Laecaon]

I dont put mystery motors in cars. If I didn't hear them run, its a mystery and needs a rebuild.

[HRH]

Normally I would agree, but I'd rather just get it in and fire it up and go do donuts. Roadkill style. So if I've read the specs correctly, the plastigauge bearing clearance for the rod bearings is .00055 - .00137. The green plastigauge goes from .001-.003. So I hope I get lucky and it shows up right in the middle? Booo.

[HRH]

Plastigauge turned out hard to read, but other bearings read about the same. So I rolled them all out and stuck new ones in. There we go. On to the next problem.

I started getting all the rubber lines sorted. Vacuum, boost, water. I've found more sludge. I didn't realize just how many damn water lines there are on the RB, but it's a lot. And some of the lines have rotted internally. When I popped off the heater hoses, found more rust sludge in the block. Going to see if I can replace some of these lines if I can still get them.

Oh, and Nissan's biggest fuckwit moment ever: They built the upper heater hose/intake pipe assembly with some nice flexible rubber joints. Great, right? Wrong. They then put flanged tubes that bolt onto the bottom of the intake manifold, and the thermostat housing casting is directly in the way of the bolts on the flange. As in, you can't even turn it more than 2 or 3 before it hits the cast iron. So in order to take that whole water pipe out to replace very small sections of hose, you have to remove the intake manifold. Why Nissan, why?!!

On to dog's dinner, my dinner, and searching on the internet to see how much more shit I need to buy.

SIDE NOTE TO ANYONE READING: If you get an RB motor from the 90s, just plan on a complete tear down and rebuild. I'm about at that point seeing as I already have to remove the exhaust manifold to dig out a stud, and now I have to remove the intake to get water piping sorted out. Bah!

[Laecaon]

Dude it's a 25 year old motor. It's just due for a rebuild.

The CA has the same coolant line situation as the RB but the pipe at least can be unbolted from the manifold in car.

You can reduce the number of hoses greatly. Like skip the throttle body.

[DRIVEN]

Not jealous.

My engine has less than an L-series.

[HRH]

But that's the thing, even if it IS 25 years old, they should have stored it better! Dumbasses in Japan couldn't run compressed air through it to get all the water out? Bah! Cylinders and internals do look great though, so it won't get rings or a head gasket. Although I do need to bypass the heater core at install and do a few really good flushes of water out of the block. Don't want it crapping up my new radiator or heater core. Water pump should pass all the sludge just fine I think. I already cleaned out the passage decently, but I'm sure there is some stuff I couldn't get. I'll flush out the intake manifold once it's off. I took the small coolant hoses to the kitchen sink and ran hot water through them. They cleaned up ok. Thinking I may get a sacrificial pot and boil them for a bit to get the remainder of crap out.

As far as bypassing lines, I'm going to try and leave this motor stock. I'm seriously only upgrading things that are hard to get, but leaving them in the same orientation. More coolant equals more stable during boost and hot running with AC in the summer. And I want this thing to be zero maintenance after I get done putting it in the car and finalizing it. If I wanted to fiddle with modifying things, I would have kept the L series and rebuilt it instead. And if the RB doesn't make the cut, that might be what I do! Wait, no, fuck that. I paid a grip for this RB, it better run like a raped ape! (After I fix the water lines, and the wiring harness some monkey fucking a football dragged on the ground and squished some connectors, and flush out the block.)

And theeennnnnnnnnnn!!!

[HRH]

And actually, as I was investigating bypassing one or two hoses, I found this article. The guy in Australia says it's for when the temps get to 5 degrees (one reason) and that's 41 degrees Fahrenheit. And of course, even in spring in Spokane, overnight temps can get that. And I definitely don't want things to ice up. As we all know, ice can occur at any time in an engine, depending on moisture and pressure differentials. That's why I'm not bypassing anything. Factory for a reason in this case.

https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/220 ... rb20-rb30/

[HRH]

Holy crap, I got the intake and plenum off and the size of the intake runners is just dinky! It looks like a motorcycle head, lol! Makes sense for 2 liters in 6 cylinders but damn! I'd swear the A series is massive in comparison. The shape and angle of the RB20 intake passage is pretty sweet though!

[Gray]

Holy crap, I got the intake and plenum off and the size of the intake runners is just dinky! It looks like a motorcycle head, lol! Makes sense for 2 liters in 6 cylinders but damn! I'd swear the A series is massive in comparison. The shape and angle of the RB20 intake passage is pretty sweet though!

Pics?

[HRH]

I have some on the phone! Ok, those weren't sized down, way too large. I transferred and got them to normal size. For comparison, look at the thermostat housing outlet which has the normal 1 1/4 - 1 1/2" outlet. The two intake ports fit inside it!

[HRH]

Oh, and also, I need to give a shout out to https://rawbrokerage.com/ They've been first rate in supplying parts in a timely fashion, even if they are in Florida (quite far from WA). Reasonable prices too. Haven't had any phone dealings with them, but email has been good. I forgot one gasket the other night and sent an email in the morning requesting it, Don got right on it, send me an additional bill for the part and included it in the previous order so I didn't have to pay shipping twice. Communication is key!

[HRH]

So I knew the exhaust manifold had a broken stud, no biggee. So I was trying to ID the size, presumably 10mm, and I start removing the rearmost exhaust stud that is still attached. Nope, it's broken also, came out with two threads left head side. Booooooooo. So I'm going to be getting a lot of 10x1.25 53ish mm studs as I'm expecting they're all going to break now. Really wishing I'd gone LS now. Nissan purist or not. This thing just keeps nickel and diming me to death. I really hope the end result is worth it!

[DRIVEN]

Not possible. Nissan products never have exhaust stud issues. Clearly you're doing something wrong.