I need a little RB advice (RB20DET)

[OutToWinPAHC]

I am picking up a rb20det vehicle in a few days. The vehicle overheated and intermixed. The head was removed, milled, checked and pressure tested. Some new parts are coming with it.

OEM gasket kit
OEM head bolts

My plans are to have the head rechecked by my machine shop, and I'll check the deck surface, have the lifters checked and shimmed if needed. And do some of the following parts.

Gates or OEM timing belt kit?
Use the OEM gasket kit with HG
ARP head studs
New water pump and T stat
New hoses
Pressure test Rad and heater core
Turbo lines
And send the turbo out for rebuild
"Custom built hybrid turbo by Evergreen turbo company 360 thrust kit, race bearing T3/T4"
Then TLC like cleaning harness connectors, injecor o-Rings and cleaning tips, etc basic maintenance.

Do you think I am missing anything? OR do you advise against any of the parts? This is my first RB, I am a LSX swap guy. Looking not to go huge on this one, a solid 300-350 hp is good, should I be looking into anything valve train yet?

[TimTurboZ]

Others will say replace the oil pump, I'm reusing mine. All of what you said sounds like the right start for sure. Keep us posted

[Lonismos14]

Really OTW. You know this stuff. You answered your own questions. But i would suggest that you get an oem timing kit with the tensioner and idler. So are you going with bigger cams and injectors?

[OutToWinPAHC]

after talking to raw brokerage i will inspect the oil pump and replace if needed. As far as cams no not yet. I want to get it running first and see how she is runs. Oem timing over gates? I thought the gates sets were good to go.

[Cjmartz2k]

Re-shimming the lifters? Did you do a solid lifter conversion on an RB20?

You would need to post up some kind of info about the turbo other than "T3/T4" for us to make a guess at the horsepower. OEM headgasket all the way, good choice there. Dunno about the timing belt.

[OutToWinPAHC]

hi these are " " quotes and thats the only info i have on the compressor. As for lifters, can the buckets not be shimmed? They are available parts from most vendors and dealers.

[OutToWinPAHC]

oh and I'm not looking for a HP guess eventually I'd only want about 350awhp. But Ill probably build another motor at that time for reliability.

[Lonismos14]

i sell alot of gates products at my job, i dont even mention house brand products. So by far gates is really good to be honest. Put i went with a pitworks belt and oem tensioners etc.
OTW you are a cool dude so i will give you my layout of what i did.

Oem full gasket set
nismo stat
oem tnsioners/idler dont forget the spring.lol
oem waterpump
a tube of grey permatex
oil pick up gasket replace
new plugs
and last but not least flush the coolant system 2/3 times.
oil pump was good. I did use gates serpentine belts though

[OutToWinPAHC]

Yeah I should probably just replace the oil pick up. I am going to stockpile the parts until I can physically work on the car and sell the 240sx. After I get done with it I will figure out of I want to build what I have, build a spare, or swap an upgrade. An autocrosser with AC, which gets looks because it's not USDM or a JDM vehicle.... Thats the goal here.

I need to read these stickies and check out my own list of build threads to see what some are doing. If I do just fix this and do a mild build up I would be interested in the RB26 ITB manifold, some head porting, build head and cams.

[LeD ippen]

Hey im usually in sw philly area so if you need anything hit me up. i finished my swap in september and upgrading to 750 cc this week. boy is it fun. Just make sure all a/c components is there inside the car already or its gonna be a b**** to put in back in ask me how i know. for a/c you just need the a/c compressor and low side line for everything to work. for the high side you can use the original, just bend a little but the low side you need to switch the fitting on one end. i'll post pics later.

other then that make sure you flush the coolant system good and get a good fan setup. i had brand new two isis efans die on me in less then 6 months with thermo switch.


and rb20 has hydralic lifter no shimming needed just make sure within spec.

[OutToWinPAHC]

AC is not an issue, this vehicle is not swapped the RB20 is OEM and so are the AC components. However I do need to finish putting AC in the 240sx of mine.

Lifter shims, its been a while the last engine I shimmed was solid lifter buckets.... I have been working with push-rod motors lately cant you tell.

[Cjmartz2k]

hi these are " " quotes and thats the only info i have on the compressor. As for lifters, can the buckets not be shimmed? They are available parts from most vendors and dealers.

They are available to RB26's which use solid lifters from the factory. RB20/25's (non-neo) use hydraulic lifters and don't need to/can't be shimmed.