RB25 questions/concerns

[domokouki]

Hey to the RB community here at Nico, always look forward to browsing through this forums pages to see the s-chassis engine bays looking sexier with an RB under the hood. Hopefully I will be able to post my new car in here, assuming I can find the RB that doesn't completely kill the bank. I have been on the lookout for an RB engine since I found the shell that will hopefully be converted into my new daily/fun weekend car. I really like the ease of the RB20 swap, as far as much easier and less consuming for money, but have always been attracted to the RB25, it's just always been a hope to end up with one under the hood, and seeing as how my new shell needs a new engine, might as well take the plunge now.

I have located a RB25 series 2 long block online which seems to be in better condition than most of the engines I have found under a grand, and at the 500 dollar price tag, I really don't want to let it go because that cuts down costs of the swap substantially.

The cons: The engine needs a rebuild, this I was figuring would be slightly necessary on any engine I located for the price, and since I won't need it in the car for a while, it's good timing to take care of any problems it may have. The engine has been tested and when it was pulled cylinder 6's compression was off, running at 30 psi. Turbo has a small amount of shaft play at the motor pull, but was apparently working fine at the boost levels.

I am trying to research everything I can on the RB25 as of lately, and even more of late looking into the series 2 engine trying to become as familiar as I can with known issues so that I could take care of any problems, and this will be my first complete rebuild and motor swap, so I am trying to be as prepared as possible. I am curious as to what everyone thinks as far as the time/money that I will have to put into the engine as of right now to have the long block rebuilt and ready to be prepped for installation. I don't want to plan for one schedule, to only find out that both funds and time become slimmer.

I already know of the need for the basic installation from reading the swap faq and various posts, but would like to hear a bit more from you guys who have done the swap.

Feel free to flame or tell me to search, I am currently trying to learn as much as I can, and would just like to know about this engine in particular as soon as possible to know what to look for, check for, ask about, be concerned with to deem it worth getting or not.

Sorry for the wall of text.

[Joe]

you want to buy a RB thats blown to help keep your costs down?

[domokouki]

It's not that I want to buy a blown engine to cut costs, it's just that if I can spend less than 700 on getting this engine to working long block, than I will still break even on what I would have spent on any other. The cheapest RB25 I have found otherwise was 1200, and that was just barely above a long block.

I'm curious as to whether or not there are any other issues I should know about, such as the crank collar destruction that some RBs have faced, that I should be concerned with to get this long black back up to par. I know I will need the ~150 for the rebuild kit for when I tear down the engine to rebuild it, so if I can fix the compression on cylinder 6 for under 500, I still have gotten a cheaper engine for my s14. A rebuild would be done on any engine that I got, I figure as long as it is out of the car, I might as well do a full prep on the engine and save myself any preventable troubles later on.

[b00stinbmx]

honestly read other threads on here, if its what you really want then don;t cheap out. honestly the amount of money you are going to spend on the re-build, and sourcing out all the little parts and s*** that it didn;t come with you might as well just go buy the swap which you can find at most places for around 2k right now. thats a perfect price cause figure you are looking at a blown motor for 500. well if you just buy the entire swap you get a running motor for 1k, transmission for 1k cause thats what they typically go for.then all your wiring and sensors and ecu for free. ts way more worth it to just go with a running swap. if you are that worried about money you need to go with a different engine. my rb20 was like 1k for the swap but trust me there was a lot more money put into it from the time i got it till it was running.

[s13_240_rb20]

I am a bolt-n mechanic. Like you have done (i think), I have always gone for cars that had blown engines. I buy them cheap and whole, then yank the bad engine and bolt-n a good one. a reallllllyyy good one. Rebuilding is never an option for me. Personally, I think a rebuild is never as good as a factory built engine unless it is done by a nascar team...then I might trust it.

Go for an engine that works with no rebuilding necessary. Two years ago, I paid 2k for my ENTIRE r32 clip; 70,000 km on the dashboard; super clean; still running strong. It even came with the r32 fog lights and I had the guy throw in the r32 LSD, WITH the axles and the r32 tail lights. I sold a bunch of clip parts on ebay and "minimized" the cost of the engine swap down to like 800 and that included all my MISC costs like fuel pump, gauges, etc.

If you are worried about the money it costs to buy the engine then DONT buy one that needs rebuilding.

--TJ