My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap

Post by **cdorhout** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:10 pm

So I broke a forged piston in late July that ruined my RB25 block. Rather than rebuild another RB25, I decided to build a RB30DET instead. I had a goal to get it running by this last weekend to make a big road rally that we had this weekend and I accomplished that!

Heres a pic of the block after being bored to 86.5mm

Pic of the front of the block after drilling and tapping the second timing belt tensioner location

Pic of the micro polished crank with JUN crank collar installed. This crank ismuch heavier than RB25.

Pic with RB25 OEM oil pump installed

Pic with water pump and second tensioner

I reused my ARP hardware from my RB25 build, and due to the longer stroke the rod bolts came dangerously close to hitting the side of the girdle, so I took Darius' advice and ground them down at an angle.

Pretty pic of new Mahle forged pistons installed (on stock RB30 rods btw)

Block and oil pan painted

I wanted to keep VCT, so I had to drill and tap a hole in the front of the head to supply oil to that galley as the RB30 block doesn't have a oil source in this location like the RB25

Had to plug the hole that orginally supplied oil to VCT, because in the RB30 block there is a water galley below that location.

Beginning the many fittings required to make and external oil supply for the VCT

Cat in a tiny box

Audi 2.3L timing belt installed

VCT oil fitting supplied from my Greddy sandwich plate for my new external air/oil cooler.

Covers back on and crank pulley back on

Had to grind down the power steering bracket that used to bolt to the head, now bolts to the block. Had to grind down roughly 1/2" of material to get all 3 locations flush.

Had to grind some material off the water galley as it wouldn't allow the stock RB25 exhaust manifold to bolt up.

Ready to drop in the car

Pic of motor in the car, sticks up pretty high.

Car back on the ground, first time since July! The hood does close, but I had to trim a very small section out of the hood support structure.

The car started right up! Did an idle learn on the PowerFC and it idled like stock. Car ran perfectly out of the box with 02 feedback turned on (my wideband is set up for stock o2 simulation).The GT3076R spools much quicker and it seems like I'm always in boost. It sounds bad *** now when I take off from every stop sign and my turbo is whining already.

Post by **Cjmartz2k** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:19 pm

Looks sick man. What do you do with the car? I vote ditch the GT30 and get a GT35r, or HX40 or something like that

Where did you get the bottom end?

Post by **onepuff** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 7:39 pm

Awesome looking build man. Vids pleaze!!!

Post by **BoostFab** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:41 pm

you got it finished sooner than i had expected... good job!!!! that's the same belt i'm using on mine.what are you tuning it with ?

Post by **raremotive** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:40 pm

glad to see that you are up and running again!

Sorry I was no help to sourcing you a new block.

Post by **Coolwhip** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:40 am

so sweet, nice work man.

now be a better person than Matt and actually post vids :P

Post by **Shocker** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:12 am

One of the best builds on here so far! Hell of a Job!

How did you go about lining up the 2.3ltr audi belt so it was in proper timing locations?

Post by **300Plus** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:30 am

awesome man! I would love to do this one day. you made it look easy

Need dyno chart and matching video!~!~!

Post by **240z4u** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:56 am

Well you certainly didn't waste any time there!

That was fast!

Nice job man, everything looks top notch!

Whats your CR with those pistons??

Evan

Post by **Abdo** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:13 am

Impressive build man!

Videos or BAN! Dyno #'s or BAN!

=]

Post by **cdorhout** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:14 am

Thanks for the props guys. It may look easy in pictures but its been the source of my stress for the past 8 weeks trying to get it running before our big road rally here.

Yeah, a 35R would probably be the perfect turbo now with 3.0L. I'll see about that maybe next spring if I'm lucky.

I'm tuning with PowerFC. It still amazes me how well the PowerFC allowed it to run out of the box with no tuning, just 02 feedback turned on. Perfect 14.7 everywhere (until you hit boost). I tuned a little WOT, but not much. I didn't do much WOT on the road rally. I have to run low boost right now because I broke my PowerFC map sensor, so I'm running at 14lbs right now. I used to run 24lbs on my RB25.

I bought the block from Pirate87. They're a little pricey, but he was good to me and shipped it fast like I needed and it was in good shape for a 1986 block.

Installing the timing belt is no different than a stock timing belt. Just wrap it around and tighten it. All timing marks line up like they should. I did run 2 tensioners rather than one tensioner and one idler. They say to do that to balance out the tension better. I'm not complaining cuz tensioners are cheap.

Yeah, I definately want to tune it on the dyno, and I will it will be a while before I do. I have to get a new map sensor first and also move my knock sensors higher up. I didn't have a 1/4 BPT tap to move the knock sensors up to where they should be.

Compression with Mahle is 8.5 to 1, but I shaved the block and the head so its a little higher than that.

Post by **eh?** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:27 am

Def need a street video.

Post by **Darius** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:40 am

I've got a vid of cdorhout, but it is a boring cruising video on our way to the road rally in the morning. Knowing my apparent video lameness, I won't post it. LOL

To tell you all how big of a bada$$ cdorhout is here's a short story:

The motor developed a big coolant leak immediately before the rally started, so he drove home overheating, pulled the front of the motor apart, regasketed the water pump, and made it back out to the 3rd checkpoint of 6 and finished the day with the rest of us without issue. If it was me, I would have gone home and cried in my beer. Mad props yo!

As for difficulty, if you have a running RB, the RB30 is not that different or more expensive than rebuilding the RB25 besides the price of the block. If anyone is seriously interested in doing the RB30 hybrid, e-mail me.

Post by **Carl H** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:51 am

awesome build.i like the implementation of the greddy plate as well as your clean install for the vtc.well done, should be quite interesting to see some numbers when all is said and done.i'd imagine the 30r with a slightly larger housing would be complete tits on the rb30, proly similar to the 2jz with a 30r...

Post by **gawdzilla** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:29 am

very nice build. props for getting it done so fast too. what happened to your original motor? how did you crack a piston?

Post by **cdorhout** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:05 am

gawdzilla wrote:very nice build. props for getting it done so fast too. what happened to your original motor? how did you crack a piston?

Well, last winter I built the internals on my RB25 using CP pistons and RB26 rods. Instead of using the supplied wire locks with the pistons, I used the stock RB25 wrist pin c-clips to hold the wrist pins in. I only did this because I couldn't figure out how to get the damn things in there, and was in a hurry. I've heard of other people doing this with no issues, so I figure what the heck. Well, it went for about 2,000 miles. The c-clips were moving around inside the slot and eventually wore the slot down until the bottom of the piston actually cracked off. The wrist pin then slid against the cylinder wall and gouged a big groove in it. The groove was deeper than 1mm, so boring was out of the question.

This time, I had the machine shop assemble my Mahle pistons using the supplied wire locks. Kinda embarrasing.

Post by **wetwilly8690** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 7:23 am

how much money did you end up putting into it because my rb25 is starting to go down hill an really would like to do the RB30 so a rough estimate on a price?

Post by **Kalypso** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:40 am

Thread revival!!!

that search button is miraculous.

Post by **Cjmartz2k** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:16 am

Nice old thread find. I love this build and have always wanted to see results. The only thing creative left he has to do is go RB26 ITB's, and I don't think that thing could be any more responsive if it was a small block V8 (ok, maybe very small block). Pics/vids/dyno #'s or BAN mutha fooka!!

Post by **l0nestar** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:00 am

This thread still makes me happy in the pants.

and you still have _yet_ to post a chart or video.

Post by **Nissan2367** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:26 am

Nice! I am glad you brought it back from the dead! I have always wondered what it takes to build a RB30!

Post by **cdorhout** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:05 am

You will get your dyno video hopefully this spring. I put it together so fast last fall getting ready for our event, that I have to pull it out to change a couple things.

1. The RB30 block had the knock sensors really low on the block, and I didn't have the correct tap to move them up to where they're supposed to be. I now have the tap, and when I pull the motor back out I'll be moving them where they're supposed to be. Once I have sensors in the correct location, I'll feel better about pushing it.

2. I have an oil leak and a small coolant leak. I'll be addressing those when I pull the motor as well. Surprisingly, the oil leak doesn't appear to be with any of the external oil lines. It could be as simple as a valve cover leak, I'm hoping.

3. I have tons of blow-by now. If I'm in boost for a while, it practically fills the catch can. Not sure whats up with that. I might have too much oil in the head and probably should make an external head oil drain as well.

Thanks for the kind words, and I'll keep ya posted once this thing gets on the dyno.

Post by **Darius** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:10 am

Honestly, once you have a running RB25 swap, doing the RB30 conversion is not that different from tearing down the RB25 for a rebuild.

Post by **Kalypso** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:11 am

I know you can do it, and it'll be exciting to watch.

Im an rb amatuer... what about the tensioners?

you can choose which arrangement you'd like to arrange them in - am I right?I see there are three places to mount them.

Post by **Nissan2367** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:33 pm

Kalypso123 wrote:I know you can do it, and it'll be exciting to watch.

Im an rb amatuer... what about the tensioners?

you can choose which arrangement you'd like to arrange them in - am I right?I see there are three places to mount them.

Not really... you have an idler and a tensioner on a stock rb30/rb25. he drilled out and tapped the third hole to mount another tensioner instead of running an idler. correct me if i am wrong!

And it sounds like you have to much oil in the head which would cause the amount of blowby and also the oil leak in the valve covers!

Post by **Shocker** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:48 pm

Check the manifold side valve cover on the rear for an oil leak. I had this issue as well. I ended up sealing my half moon with RTV and the leak stopped.

As for the blow by I had this issue as well... it ended up being melted pistons. Check your compression then do a leak down test on a warm motor.

Post by **cdorhout** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:36 am

Correct. There is a location for a stock idler and tensioner on the RB30 block, but when you use those locations the timing belt comes dangerously close to itself. So you drill and tap a new location above the water pump for a second tensioner (not an idler). You can use an idler, but I didn't.

Shocker wrote:As for the blow by I had this issue as well... it ended up being melted pistons. Check your compression then do a leak down test on a warm motor.

Don't even go there. But I really don't think I'm in that boat. I've had blow by since day one after the build and I've never pushed it that hard. I pushed my 25 way harder without issues like that. But I will do a compression and leak down test just to make sure.

Post by **Shocker** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:38 am

cdorhout wrote:Don't even go there. But I really don't think I'm in that boat. I've had blow by since day one after the build and I've never pushed it that hard. I pushed my 25 way harder without issues like that. But I will do a compression and leak down test just to make sure.

Hey I'm with you man, I hate going there. I cringe when its time to get the ole' compression/leak down tester out. But its an easy step to eliminating/diagnosing your problem. I hope for the best, I love your build! good luck.

Post by **tony10** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:49 am

this is what hot sex with sophia bush looks like

Post by **Kalypso** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:02 pm

how did you know to use an audi timing belt? that hit me out of no where

My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap

My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (cdorhout)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (Cjmartz2k)

Re: (BoostFab)

Re: (Coolwhip)

Re: (Shocker)

Re: (300Plus)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (cdorhout)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (Abdo)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (cdorhout)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (eh?)

Re: (gawdzilla)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (cdorhout)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (wetwilly8690)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (Kalypso123)

Re: (cdorhout)

Re: (l0nestar)

Re: (Nissan2367)

Re: (Nissan2367)

Re: (Darius)

Re: (Kalypso123)

Re: (Nissan2367)

Re: (Shocker)

Re: (cdorhout)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (cdorhout)

Re: My RB30DET with VCT build -- 56k go take a nap (tony10)

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