Progress over my spring break.

[raremotive]

I finally got a week of spring break from my diligent engineering studies. This is what I made progress in one week. I was out working in 10 *F weather during Sunday through Wednesday morning. After that it began to warm up.

Hood and Bumper Removal.


Rear Bumper, differential, and mufflers gone.




Fenders




Damage assessment.










All the front goodies removed.


Someone stop me I gone mad. Nice shot of my shoes. Thanks mom.


It's sinking.




Engine coming out.














Yes. I have gone very mad.






Most interior gone.



Last shots...




I cleared all the interior besides the wiring, the the left over engine bay items. But it was a busy Saturday, I had to clean up the junk I stored in the garage so the car can get back in it. So no pictures.

I did manage to pop off the oil pan of the engine so it can fit under a table for storage. The rear two rods failed, everything that section is just grenaded, even the main cradle is shattered. So far, it's showing signs of a leaking head gasket. But I will investigate and show the carnage at a later date. I did bring with me few busted parts as souvenirs... I will post a picture later when I get the time.

This marks the end of my progress so far. I will hopefully get back to working on it this coming May. Time will tell.

[Z_Fanatic]

Wow nice, its always good to see someone getting they're hands dirty.Are you going to be rebuilding the current engine, tt swap perhaps? Give us some more details, and keep this updated looks interesting

[raremotive]

The motor cannot be rebuilt, it's only worth the metal it's made of. I am not too fond of the VG series. But I am looking it back to it's heritage of how it should of been built.

That's as much I am willing to expose at this moment.

[Z-owned]

I just hope it's an unuasually warm winter next year when i go back to lincoln.

[Jaykit]

Nice work. Looks a little sketchy having it jacked that high to get the engine out but very impressive that you cleaned the front end out in just a week.

[raremotive]

Nice work. Looks a little sketchy having it jacked that high to get the engine out but very impressive that you cleaned the front end out in just a week.

sketchy, yes, once that high you need to work quick to remove the engine. I wobbled the frame quite a bit.. it's strudy.. but not enough for me to trust working under it. The whole week I had kids jumping inside the car.. playing space ship... when I got it that high... they were begging me to hop in... "umm... NO!".

I got the title cleared monday. Began removing the goodies around tuesday. Dropped the engine wednesday. Thursday, I disassembled the engine for storage size. Friday, I cleared all auxiliaries, and most the interior. saturday, I continued removing the interior.. no more carpet... and I also removed the left over goodies that was in the bay. Then I had to clean up to put car back in storage.

Weather was not on my side during the first three days.

[Outkast]

Very nice, An RB will fit in there nicely. I picked up a Z for a buddy in Afganistan last weekend and the guys neighbor I got the car from in Mobile, AL had a RB swaped Z that sounded great. The only regret I had was not asking for a ride

[raremotive]

You mean this?



No way... it won't fit in it...

[billabong093]

Thats sick, now im excited to see how this ends up.

[raremotive]

The 6th Rod and the remains of one of the pistons that came out of the vg motor.

[graftonmcnair]

Im on spring break also so i now how rough it is to have to rush everything i have my moms old 90' 2+2 N/A but the only thing i have to do over the break was ha timing belt... but i will be doing or attempt to do what you have done with yourz,which is remove/rebuild motor/transmission. if things do not work out then i just plan to buy a 93 2+0 TT

[Z32TT]

damn that rod and piston are f*ked up

[Jaykit]

So is that rb sitting outside your house ready to go or just planned on picking one up? Insides my sure be messed up bad if thats what the rod and piston looks like.

[raremotive]

A little calling around... and... 6 months of waiting...

My package came to me.. at my dorm in college...I had to quickly disassemble it, and bring it to my dorm room. I didn't have a roommate.. so the engine became one. I bought a couple of $1 scent spray cans to get rid of the oil/grease smell...





What helped most was that I disassembled the short block to bare. Then I bagged it, to be stored in my room for the rest of the semester. Ultimately... I am too cheap and lazy to find other storage. Also I requested for a R33 motor, this is a R32 motor...but the block is so clean, especially the cooling channels. So really no complaints...for the price I paid.. a base motor.

During that time I did take the time to disassemble the head

And Cleaned it

As soon as the semester was over and I moved in my new off-campus house.. I sent the block to be hot tanked...



I forgot to remove the oil squirters from the block before hot tanking.. in my mind it was best to keep it with the block...so the machinist was kind enough remove them... however one was too stubborn so they welded a nut on it to remove it. It's useless now, the internal valve won't even compress... so I am looking for a replacement squirter bolt.

During the summer break, I bought me a adjustable routing tool, abrasives, and a 1/4" flex shaft. And spent time deburring the block.

First I masked off areas I wanted to be protected...





Then I began deburring the outside on the hotside...



Deburred cold side..

Upon completing each side... some touch of high temp enamel. And all this work cannot be done without my signature...

And this marks my short progress so far... I had to stop working on it because the basement I was staying at was flooding. I had to pack it all up and put in storage. Now the new school semester has begun, and I am still working my job at night. However one of these days when there is a long enough break, finally the windage tray of block.

Time is something I knew this project will take, and if I spend money wisely... I can try to spend the least amount for the most amount of work for me to complete. This way I can think about what I need to do next or purchase.

[JDMZ32]

wow good work man. you certainly have been VERY busy the past few days.

I picked up a Z for a buddy in Afganistan last weekend and the guys neighbor I got the car from in Mobile, AL had a RB swaped Z

O RLY? i haven't heard of that one. get in touch with that guy and tell him to join up on Bama GZ (www.bamagz.com). we have meets and stuff!

[Weber3211]

this is a sick project. any Z with a motor other than a VG is pretty unique. mad props bro.

[JDMZ32]

any Z with a motor other than a VG is pretty unique.

believe it or not, i see several Zs with VQ motors every day! just kidding; i know what you meant and agree:bigthumb .

[H3LR4ZR]

nice work bud ;-)

[raremotive]

Finally got a week off from school, but only got a few days to work on the car. First day, I worked on disassembling the VG motor so I can carry them away. Turns out that the driver side head gasket gave in, the first two cylinders were full of water/oil/fuel mix. I didn't get much pictures due to my time crunch over the two days. Second day I got the entire rear end assembled. The only thing that remains on the frame is the doors, the rear hatch, windows, and wiring.



Few parts to mention...

GTS/GTST rear differential with 4.363 ratio to replace the 4.08

and somehow to fit a z33 transmission on

I also have a 260z manual rack and got a gts/gtst front cross-member which was included with my rb order, but it took a while for it to get to me. So between the stock cross-member and the skyline member, something will workout to get the engine fitted.

Next up is removal of final components, then you guys will have to hold me back as I chop away at the frame. Then it will be paint removal and roll cage construction.

Until next time.
Modified by Rare_f8 at 9:55 PM 3/13/2010

[Weber3211]

wow that thing is naked.

so you're going with an RB26, a R32 rear end, a Z33 transmission and 260z front suspension? talk about a frankenstein car haha.

[Pieceofsand]

I worked on disassembling the VG motor so I can carry them away.

you disassembled the motor and carried it away? how heavy is the block, and the heads? i need a way to transport my blown motor and i considering doing that. thanks, and nice project, great job!

[raremotive]

wow that thing is naked.

so you're going with an RB26, a R32 rear end, a Z33 transmission and 260z front suspension? talk about a frankenstein car haha.

260z steering rack.

you disassembled the motor and carried it away? how heavy is the block, and the heads? i need a way to transport my blown motor and i considering doing that. thanks, and nice project, great job!

Based on arm estimate:The heads were 40-60 lbs each.. the block by itself is 130-160 lbs..

I am a 6'1" tall guy with weight of 175 lbs, if you can figure out what that means in carrying capacity.

My inline 4 block from my escort weigh a bit more than the rb and the vg...

[REDWINTERZ]

Man, just when I was proud of my transmission pull... Lol

very nice dude!!

[DMeN Z]

Holly hell man that's some dedication. Aiming for a complete track beast or will your monster be driven on the street at all? (touring the nation how...cannon ball run?)

[raremotive]

Holly hell man that's some dedication. Aiming for a complete track beast or will your monster be driven on the street at all? (touring the nation how...cannon ball run?)

As time passes. I have been dedicating this car to being a track car and find another poor car to do the touring part.

[Ghut300zx]

you painted in your dorm?

[simmode1]

Good stuff, Rare! I really gotta see how you pull off mounting up a VQ35 transmission to an RB26... Seriously, has anyone done that before?

[tg]

Good stuff, Rare! I really gotta see how you pull off mounting up a VQ35 transmission to an RB26... Seriously, has anyone done that before?

you can probably take the r32 bell housing and put it on the vq transmission... whether or not it will require an adapter plate I'm not sure... that or keep the vq bell housing and have the adapter plate between the block and that. Definitely going to need a custom drive shaft and mounts.

I'm guessing if f8 has considered a 260z manual steering rack and rb26 engine and r32 rear end... he's not a stranger to making things fit where they shouldn't

GL with the swap, looks like you're making very good progress so far but give us some details

[raremotive]

you painted in your dorm?

No, I was renting at that time, I did it in the unfinished basement, I hung up plastic sheets to keep the fine metal particles contained.

Good stuff, Rare! I really gotta see how you pull off mounting up a VQ35 transmission to an RB26... Seriously, has anyone done that before?

Hmm.. no idea. I'd like to believe that it has been done.

you can probably take the r32 bell housing and put it on the vq transmission... whether or not it will require an adapter plate I'm not sure... that or keep the vq bell housing and have the adapter plate between the block and that. Definitely going to need a custom drive shaft and mounts.

I'm guessing if f8 has considered a 260z manual steering rack and rb26 engine and r32 rear end... he's not a stranger to making things fit where they shouldn't

GL with the swap, looks like you're making very good progress so far but give us some details

Yeah, it's been interesting trying to decide what to do. You can't really swap the bell housing of the Z33 transmission. It's a permament fixture to the transmission case.. ie.. the bell housing is the transmission case.

I thought about cutting the bell hosing and bolting on the skyline housing. Problems are the shape of each and the input shaft length to be considered.

So far it's easier to make an adapter to fit. Problem is the you need the crank to be in the motor, I will be holding off assembly until the motor will be cranking within weeks. So, the work around is to build a wood chuck to fit inplace of the rear main and mimic the pilot bearing position. Now you can make a transferable(between transmission and engine) template. From there is deciding thickness for the adapter.

Once the adapter is made you now run into the problem that the input shaft no longer sits inside the pilot bearing. So a steel spacer will need to be made with a it's own pilot bearing. This is where it might come beneficial once I get pass the 6 bolt rb26 crank and 8 bolt 350z flywheel dilemma, I would be able to bolt on the 350z flywheel goodies, and use it's starter. And just to be a sneaky bastard, the 350z uses a crank angle sensor at the flywheel. And since I will be running a standalone ECU, it's more likely to fly.
Modified by Rare_f8 at 6:30 PM 3/14/2010

[NolimitZ32]

Very nice man, cant wait to see how this turns out.