Lookin awesome man!

I saw a build thread on yellowbullet forums, and the guys car was in the shop with yours. I could see it in the background! haha

Cant wait to see what this thing will do.

nolan

Was it a black Malibu? Yeah I'm anxious to see if I'll be able to get it done with the RB as I'm committed to being competitive. If not I'm working on a back up plan :-)

Well they got some more work done, the suspension is now done and the steering rack is in. It was moved as far forward as possible while still allowing sufficient turning ability and the oil pan should come out with nothing else needing to be removed which will make working on the car alot easier. However as normal it wasn't without a new setback, the moroso oil pan doesn't fit. Even though I'd sent them in the dimensions they went with an RB30 pan they'd made before but that particular RB30 wasn't running the stock girdle and my pan didn't bolt up. Called moroso and after some review they decided to refund me the money due to the fact that they are super backed up and would take too long to make another custom pan. Enter Rob@RIPS whom I contacted and is able to produce a pan to my needs in the time frame I needed it by and he obviously knows these motors inside and out. Heres some pics:

Steering Rack and where the new pan will be fitted






Custom Strange Struts and front suspension






Car finally on the ground and rolling!!


Jay, who has done 90% of the work on the car showing how low it sits


Back bumper on with tube for the parachute mount


They also put her on the scales and she weighs 1522lbs as she sits now. Thats with the completely stock doors with the glass still in them which I think they said the two doors weighed around 115lbs. I'm waiting on fiberglass doors and will be receiving my ProGlass preformed and tinted Lexan glass for the whole car this week so I'm hoping to get the doors and windows down to about 30lbs.

awesome work there... those front frame rails look crazy

100% bad a**

That has the perfect stance.

BTW I have a RB26 oil pan that Rob@Rips made for my 240Z. It turned out perfect and have had no problems with it yet. Your going to love it.

Here is a shot of it being welded. (a couple of years ago). All high quality work.

Well were almost on to the next stage of the process. The chassis is pretty much done and I could go pick her up this week but of course I have to be out of town this whole week so It wont be til next monday that she returns home. As mentioned before Rob@Rips was making me a pan on short order as I didn't want something else holding up the car. True to his word he built me a great pan quicker than I asked for it. Here are some shots he sent me and a few more of the pan on the car already.

Rips Custom Dry Sump Pan












I'll probably hit the pan with some wrinkle black powder or polish or something to make it match more with the rest of the motor but it looks good and should be easy to pull off if needed without any trouble. Tubing for the intercooler is done and were just waiting on some pieces for the DP and WG's from synapse.









Next step is to get her all wired up then the engine goes back to Proline for the engine dyno and initial tuning and the chassis gets stripped again to get powdered and painted at the body shop.

Holy Hell. Most amazing work I have ever seen!

Rob at Rips is a stand up guy man, all i hear is good about him and is operation... hes very active online as well which is cool..

I cant wait to see what kinda power this thing is going to make... well done sir

It gets better everytime I glance at this build thread....

So jealous.. Any updates??

michaelwinne wrote:So jealous.. Any updates??

Not much unfortunately, I picked up the car from NRC 2 and a half months ago to take it to get wired and it's been in limbo ever since. I expect to have an interesting post on Friday with an update and more of an idea of how things will progress going forward. Thanks for the bump and trust me I'm pushing for this thing to be done ASAP as 50% of the racing schedule has already flown by and I rather large X275 race will be held this weekend at Silver dollar raceway which is pretty close to me and where I wanted to debut the car.

You are in southern GA? I have been to silver dollar a few times in my 240!

Nah I'm actually about 30 mins north of Atlanta and SDR is 2 hours from me but of the "nearby" tracks it's the one I like the most(commerce is only like 45 mins away from me). I've been to two import events at SDR and seen some nice 240's there. This Friday and Saturday they will have an awesome small tire race, I'm staying in Byron to be there both days.

I have made the trip 2x in my 240. I live in Madison, WI btw. I had a group of good friends who would meet up down there for a weekend. car looks great man, keep up the good work.

JimeFan lives literally 10 min from my house......I have yet to see the car lol.......he has yet to see mine lol........

Ramius83 wrote:JimeFan lives literally 10 min from my house......I have yet to see the car lol.......he has yet to see mine lol........

A situation we need to soon remedy! I'm dying to see your car and now that I've read your sig I know I can see it in action. I'll PM you maybe you can give me a ride in that beast! Anyways since I'm on here I may as well put something up, I said I'd have a more substantial update soon the last time I posted but alas the damn wiring still is a problem. I actually went to NRC today as I was supposed to pick up the motor to bring home and run the oil and fuel lines and finally put it on the dyno but we'll see, why is it soooo hard to find people that will do what they say? Anyways I've gotten ALOT of stuff in lately but its been mainly going straight to NRC so not many pics. Car is ready to go to the body shop save for a few minor things for which we are waiting on the wiring but once that is done(or maybe if?) I'll be dependent on professionals again and things will be wrapped up fairly quickly. Meanwhile:

Me checking out the wiring blissfully unaware








The car visiting for 2 days


Bob's Dog guarding my fiberglass doors which weighed in at a whopping 11.7lbs, if I could have found OEM fiberglass or CF fenders I would have been able to have all new panels to go with the CF hatch hood and roof but I dont like the stylized one's available.


Rips dry sump pan on the motor


Dry sump pump mounted and measured up for pulleys and a belt which I've since gotten in and attached but dont have a pic


Prolite 16V Lithium Battery to run the whole car since I'm ditching the alternator, I'm loving the battery and from what I've seen with cars that have them on the track I should be good to go






And since these dudes in X275 keep dropping the record before I can even get out there(now a 4.59 which is a 7.teens or better) I have picked up a plan B or should I say plan VK?

WOOOOO, Did you see the VK build rips is doing for there rear engine deal? It is nutty.....I am assuming your VK will be the same when its built! Cant wait to see your rig road ready! Keep up the good work

nolan

bmxarmy wrote:WOOOOO, Did you see the VK build rips is doing for there rear engine deal? It is nutty.....I am assuming your VK will be the same when its built! Cant wait to see your rig road ready! Keep up the good work

nolan

Yeah that is gonna be a monster when he's done, also he sent me some pics of a Cnc'd intake he's making which is also a beauty wait til he posts that up! I also saw your build on YB I sooo wish I had your fab skills I'd have built a Promod by now. The VK won't be messed with too much though as I need to get this finished and I also need to buy a new trailer and tow vehicle so we'll see.

Glad to see the progress and the VK

Need any heads or timing cover crap or upper/lower oil pans for that short block? I did an engine on a Titan last month. I don't think there was a core on it.

Ramius83 wrote:Need any heads or timing cover crap or upper/lower oil pans for that short block? I did an engine on a Titan last month. I don't think there was a core on it.

I've got the heads but I could use valve covers as both the ones I've got are cracked, not sure about the timing stuff as I haven't even messed with it to much. Wanted to take the short block apart but a damn oil pan bolt is stripped and I haven't had time to drill it out. Any factory weaknesses on these?

lots.

Jimefam wrote:

Ramius83 wrote:Need any heads or timing cover crap or upper/lower oil pans for that short block? I did an engine on a Titan last month. I don't think there was a core on it.

I've got the heads but I could use valve covers as both the ones I've got are cracked, not sure about the timing stuff as I haven't even messed with it to much. Wanted to take the short block apart but a damn oil pan bolt is stripped and I haven't had time to drill it out. Any factory weaknesses on these?

Factory weaknesses? Not really, none that I can think of. When you start modifying it and adding non-factory power adders, I have no idea. We don't see any of those, just the usual exhaust and intake guys. I have owned a 300,000 mile 2004 Titan that gave me no problems engine wise, even til the day I traded it in for my 2008. We only see issues when the cats come apart, which are part of the exhaust manifolds, and the cats get sucked back into the engine, destroying the rings, valve seats, valves, powders the oil, etc. That is why I had to do that one last month. The engine, in factory form, is one of our most reliable engines in any of our vehicles. VQ35s burn oil, have timing chain issues, new VQ35s have head gasket failures, low oil pressure issues. VQ40s have timing chain issues (but are pretty reliable), QR25s suck butt-hole, MR16/18/20s blow dog balls. I'll take a VK56 any day over any of those engines, just don't know much when it comes to adding power to them and what happens n the long run. I'll pull the valve covers off tomorrow, I know they are missing a lot of bolts a someone jacked them, just let me know about the timing cover stuff soon.

Sounds good thanks, I'm in Hilton head for the next week on vacation then out of town for work til the 19th. Maybe some time after that we can meet up so I can check out your 240. I'd love to see what I can expect from mine lol.

Wow this is a very nice setup... no stone left unturned. The block being the biggest weakness on the Rb25, I must say you got all your bases covered. I plan to stop my tuner at 800whp on e85 or if its unsafe lower... Congrats on the jaw dropping build truly inspiring to us all.

Beanstalk wrote:Wow this is a very nice setup... no stone left unturned. The block being the biggest weakness on the Rb25, I must say you got all your bases covered. I plan to stop my tuner at 800whp on e85 or if its unsafe lower... Congrats on the jaw dropping build truly inspiring to us all.

Well that's quite the change in opinion from the last time when you posted that I should have stayed street not strip? And just curious but since you say the 25's biggest weakness is the block how pray tell are you going to identify the blocks limit while tuning? Also if you don't mind linking me to all these RB25 blocks that failed because of too much power perhaps I could learn something. I didn't find too many when I looked. We did try to prevent as many issues as possible while building the motor and I think the front and mid plate take care of one of the larger issues on any drag motor and that's the stress the motor mounts put on the side of the block at launch. Thanks for the kind words.

Oh while I'm updating this I may throw up some pictures shortly. The motor is now out and the car is off to the body shop. I should be getting ready to dyno the motor but due to the crappy job Chase Bays did on my harnesses I'm having to get NRC to go back and repair or complete a good bit of their work. I'll also make a post or maybe a thread warning people to stay away from those clowns soon just have been crazy busy.

I know a tuner and I was going to take mine to and he showed me pictures of an rb25 that broke at the skirt and the crank was still in the main girdle. He said 1000hp was to much for an rb25 and that I'd have to go to the 12mm rb26 head studs and push it til it pops but he assured me that the 25 just has to thin of a block casting. Seeing as I am no machinist or engineer I figured that he must know something I dont. I don't care if your car is a drag or strip. I just hope it rewards you as much as possible due to it being such an inspiring build. I think you have set the record for money spent on a rb25 and it shows... Bravo can't wait to see some videos.

I dont think 12mm head studs have anything to do with block strength, if anything it would make it weaker, rips uses 11mm studs on there rb30's making big power...

having the plates are gonna help block strength quite a bit.. i think it will be fine