a c33 in L.A.? Whaaaa?!

[kumasan616]

Here's my new project:



RB20DET, 5 speed, coilovers, LSD, etc. already there... should be fun!

And YES, it is in L.A., and is for OFFROAD USE ONLY
Modified by kumasan616 at 5:04 PM 4/3/2008

[MinisterofDOOM]

Nice!

[RotaryHog]

Looks like a fun project....Did you get that from G-speed???

[kumasan616]

yes its still over there for a few more weeks until I can get it up and running...

[Gold Digger]

Love me some Zenki C33. Looks nice. Even the center pice for the 5 speed swap was done right, not the auto transmission piece hacked up. I have the same pieces on mine.

Hey, don't know if you know this or not, but the stock Laurel turbos are smaller than the Skyline RB20 turbos.

If you swap out to a standard Skyline turbo, you'll have to replace the coolant lines that come from the back of the block and the side of the block, as well as getting the bigger bolts.

I was lucky and had another spare RB to pull parts off of.

Just a heads up

By the way, if it's a stock rear end, it's a VLSD. Plus, does yours have HICAS? If so, you might want to check to make sure the boss on that aftermarket steering wheel is a boss set up for HICAS.

I don't know how much truth there is in this, but I have heard that if the boss is for a non HICAS car, you can run into problems down the road.

[kumasan616]

I asked my buddy about it and he thinks the car originally came 5 speed (unusual?) which may explain the interior pieces. As for the turbo, how can you visually identify the skyline turbo vs. this one? I have an RB20 skyline parked right next to it and can compare (it is possible it may have already been swapped out given it has some work already done to it (3 inch exhaust, aftermarket intake, cusco oilovers, etc.) but I'll check.As for the LSD, both wheels move and appears to make locking clutch-type noises, not known with viscuous LSDs. I will know for sure once i get her running and "tested out" and I did not see HICAS although it may have been converted over with all the suspension work done... what problems are you talking about?

[Gold Digger]

Well, your 5 speed is a swapped transmission. None of the C33, C34 Laurels came with a manual, they were all autos. Only the C35 Laurels had the option of a 5 speed in the Club S Turbo models.

Also, because of the placement of the power steering lines from the pump, the C33 didn't come stock with cross pipe with BOV on it. A lot of people just throw one on, put on an aftemarket BOV and vent to the atmosphere. That's because the Laurel doesn't use a BOV/recirc system. I had to hack and weld a recirc pipe and get myself a Skyline turbo inlet tube so I could recirc and not have a engine that ran like crap at idle. If you look closely at your engine and that of the Skyline, you notice many small differences.

As far as the turbo goes, you can visually tell if you have the turbos side by side.

If you have a Skyline turbo engine, take one of the bolts from the coolant lines into the turbo and try putting it on the Laurel's turbo. If it doesn't fit, i.e. to big, you have the stock Laurel turbo. If it fits, it's already be swapped.

I am not sure what problems arise with using a non-HICAS boss on a HICAS system. I have only heard that it causes issues with the steering. The only way your car doesn't have HICAS is if the entire rear subframe was swapped out, or it has a HICAS lock bar on it. If the fuse/relay is pulled, it will disable the rear steering, but it will still have play in the back, which can be kind of dangerous. The easiest way to tell if you have HICAS is to look down by your fog light switch and see if there is a HICAS warning light.

As far as the LSD, if I have both wheels up, both wheels turn the same direction when you turn one wheel. I am not sure how else to tell if it's a normal or viscous LSD other than to pull the rear cover off.

I am not an expert on the Laurel, but I do know more than the average bear. So if you ever have any questions, be sure to let me know.

Neal

[kumasan616]

okay that fits about the 5 speed... they probably did a clean job of the swap. I did notice a couple of small variations between the skyline and the laurel, although most of it was identical. As for the turbo, my guess is the stock one is still there, but I'll get her eyeballed to be sure. Damn thing has a fuel problem I think (maybe fuel pump? who knows yet) so while I am poking around in there getting everything corrected I am going to make as many comparative notes as I can.For the rear, I think the rear subframe was swapped over, becasue I did not see any evidence of HICAS (bar or otherwise). Let me poke around more with it and see what I can find. BTW, where the hell is the fog light switch? I didn't look for one yet...

[ILoveMyRHS13]

Nice find! I wish I had the money to import one to PA.

[Gold Digger]

Well, if there isn't any indication of HICAS in the back, it probably most likely didn't have it to begin with.

The fog light switch is right above your turbo timer or boost controller, what ever that little box is just the the right of the center counsel.If there isn't a HICAS lamp, you didn't have it.

As far as the 5 speed swap, all the mounting holes and what-not are already there on most cars anyway, so it's really not that much of a problem. I can usually be done in a day as long as all the parts are on hand.

And the Skyline turbo will fit, but like I said, you need to use the coolant feed and return lines from the Skyline RB or you're gonna have problems.

[kumasan616]

I may be able to swap out a skyline turbo from one of the extra RB20s lying around, although i think I am going to get her running first to make sure this engine is in good order before I start to do mods. BTW, do you know if skyline RB20s use different injectors and computer? Will the stock 270cc injectors meet the fuel needs fo the skyline turbo?

[Gold Digger]

The only difference between the Skyline RB and the Laurel RB were the turbos, cross pipe and power steering pump lines. That's it. The stock 270's work fine on the Skyline, they're fine on the Laurel.

I can't stress this enoughg...if you do the swap to the Skyline turbo, make sure you swap the coolant lines.

The one on the back side can be a ***** to get to, and it's not that long, so swap to the turbo before you put the turbo onto the mani. Then all you have to do is run the line down to the block and bolt it on.

The easiest way to get the turbo out is to remove the O2 housing from the turbo. There are 6 bolts if I remember right. Leave that part bolted up to the front pipe. And make sure you keep those retaing plates for the turbo to mani bolts. They actually do the job right.

Also, have a loooong set of needle nose pliers for the coolant line that runs behind the block. There isn't enough room from the firewall to the back of the block on the Laurel. It has those bitchy little ring clips that are a PITA to get on. The needle nose plires make it about 1,000,000 times easier.

Also, I am guessing that your car is an HCC-33 Medalist Turbo.

I have the Club S. No hood emblem, and rear spoiler.

[kumasan616]

hey ILoveMyRHS13 thanks yeah these are very rare over here (I think this is only the 2nd one over here)getting closer...well I worked on the thing all day Friday, got fuel, but no spark. Ran out of daylight (and the kitchen pass) and not sure why yet... I took the off the main coil pack (the one that feeds into the individual coil packs) and cleaned up the contacts (which had a bit of surface corrosion, nothing bad, just a little bit) and cleaned up the plugs, etc. Still no spark, although before I left it started to act like it wanted to fire (a few sputters). Next I need to check codes, individual coils, etc. Any other ideas?

[Gold Digger]

There is a ground wire on the ignitor pack that bolts between the coil pack cover and the ignitor. I had that problem once and it turned out I had it grounded to the ignitor...I was a dumbarse.

Check to make shrure that's ok.

Not sure what else is could be.

[kumasan616]

I have that ground wire in what looked like the stock location (I had a few others to compare against and they are all the same- grounded to one of the 4 screws that hold the ignitor to the valve covers), but I'll check it for proper grounding. I will likely pull the (HKS) plugs for some fresh plugs and see if that helps. If not, next would be to replace the ignitor and coil packs.

here's a few pics form the other day (we were messing around with some crazy 18 x 10 Wald rims for fun):

[dillards1234]

nice I was actually thinking about importing one of these for drifting but desided not to. I might go with the s13 silvia or the 180sx

[Gold Digger]

Is there any way you could get a couple photos of the engine bay and the exhaust. I like how the muffler tip looks on that. I was hoping to see the engine bay from a front/top of motor perspective.

Looks pretty nice though.

[NSR_s30]

Nice Laurel. Can't get over the pics, that car is clean and dumped.

[kumasan616]

I'll try and get some good photos of the engine bay and some clean outside shots when I get over there next (maybe sunday)

[Gold Digger]

Any luck getting that bish runnin yet?

[midnightsociety209]

niceee!!!!!!!!!

[kumasan616]

well its been a minute or two since I have had any free time to get her up and running (3 kids, 14 hr work days, and coaching baseball) but I did do a couple of small things the other day:-bucket seat in (Cobra Imola II w/modified S13 bracket)-steering wheel, snap-on screwdriver handle shift knob in-started rolling fenders to clear 18x9.5 wheels-started working on driver side rear window problem (will not roll down- could be bad switch)-sourcing brake parts

Next week- should be getting a bath, finishing up getting her started, get brakes up to snuff

[kumasan616]

okay here's some pics:

[Gold Digger]

No HICAS and no ABS, which means it's just a standard Medalist Turbo. And, unless the rear diff was swapped out, 10 to 1 says it's an open diff.

Looks a little more open under there with no ABS and HICAS units.

[kumasan616]

and I hope to have the engine bay even more simplified when I am done, thank god that extra junk is not there! oh and I am pretty sure it has a swapped out LSD, given the wheels lock up and turn the same direction... although (hopefully) when I get her fired up and running, I'll know for sure

[Gold Digger]

Any new updates on teh Laurel? Curious to see what you been doin with it.

[chris59]

i like it. it's cool.

[kumasan616]

UPDATE: IT RUNS!!!!!!!...well kind of. I worked all day Friday on her, and the car fired up but ran on 4 cylinders only, the result of what looks like grounding out coil packs. I pulled the packs and plugs out and tested them with spinning the CAS... numbers 5 and 6 (and sometimes 4) was arching outside the boot leading to the plug and hitting the metal housing to the coil pack. I tried swapping a few extra coils out of another zenki model RB20 with no luck...

ANY IDEAS?!?!?!

I though it may be either the battery wasnot procucing enough voltage (it is old but has enough to crank the engine) or I am really unlucky and have a bunch of bad coil packs...oh and life sucks when you cannot use coils off of a skyline RB20 (it uses a different plug from the harness, so if i want to use them I have to convert to a skyline harness)

so its close to running but not 100%

oh, one good piece of news- I think the turbo is in good shape- when I was revving the (4 cylinders-running) motor the turbo spooled nice and strong- should be fun once up and running...

[Gold Digger]

Well, good to know you are on the way to getting some problems taken care of.

One thing. If you need new boots or even new coil packs, the Nissan parts shop is just a few minutes away. Since we have pretty much the exact same car, I can get you just about any OE part you may need for the Laurel.

If you want to do this, be sure to let me know.

[kumasan616]

cool thanks that will definitely help! Now for my next problem- I need to do brakes but has some funky wheel spacer that converts from 4 to 5 lug... I think its Project KICS wheel spacers but not sure. Either way I think this is the right tool, I have to find one: