admS15

If some freakin idiot would actually sell me a half decent condition engine, this thing would be running next week. There are various engines for sale and various options that could eventuate if I could just get some sort of engine first. FML right now, lol

Surprisingly RB30 is obtainable for non drug money. My hand may be forced, lol. I completely stripped down the bottom end yesterday. Much carnage, no pics yet, take some tomorrow. The girdle was in 3 pieces, bits of block, rod, piston everywhere. 5 pistons and rods survived and are in great shape, ring lands all intact. A couple of bearings, I think it was towards the front showing some wear, otherwise the rest of it "was" looking pretty good considering the use and abuse it copped over the years. Just remembered, the other day when I was at the engine shop and showed the builder the pics of the busted rod, his verdict was that it was definitely rod bolt failure.

Yep, fair enough prices have gone up as less is available but trying to ask 3.5k for potential scrap is just ridiculous.

Decided to take the box out to save on potential headfarks when reinstalling. Removal went smoothly, engine bay is ready for something new. Finding an engine and the people you have to deal with is demoralising. Engine builder I saw the other day told me of an engine he saw at a local wrecker. I went and enquired at said wrecker, they get back to me today saying the engine has slight damage to a cam cover and throttle body. I get there to check it out, it's covered in like 5 years of dust, has been dropped or had something heavy dropped on top of it. Had a box with it too, cracked rear housing. I try turning it over, locked solid. Looks like something is jamming up the cam or could be bent from the impact it took. These idiots thought they could ask 3k for this thing, they don't even know if it was running when they got it. Unbelievable. I'm trying to get it for scrap/rebuild value, so at least I have a block and hopefully good crank to work with. They're going to get their mechanic to pull some stuff off it tomorrow and see if it'll spin over and get back to me. They also had an R34 na neo there, couldn't give me a price on it as they want to do research on it. I've got a feeling both these motors are gonna stay there for a long long time. Other bloke who was selling na neo started being all evasive about organising a time to inspect and possibly make a deal. It's like these people don't want to sell. Kind of against the point of advertising something for sale. Anyway, patience is going to be required here. This is going to take a while.

Yeah, call Queensland TMR

Does the car have an Australian vin number stamped onto it or plate (silver stainless) with said number riveted on? Has the car been previously registered and what state. I have heard people of getting imports re registered with missing import plates in certain states (not sure which) if the car had previously been registered in that state and had Aus vin. I would contact your state authority and tell them the situation. Might take a few goes to actually find someone there who isn't a numpty and knows what they're on about. What car is it by the way? Early imports had metal compliance plates, later ones (around 2010on) had the purple sticker.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Just need an engine now. @MBS206 I have a clutch alignment tool for RB25 shafting. Back in my P plate days, I had an RX4 coupe, blew many many gearboxes. Used to align the clutch with a cut down broomstick and eyeball. Got really good at it by about the 3rd time. Could do a gearbox swap in under an hour on that thing. Was awesome to work on, you could get inside the engine bay and stand next to the rotor motor Dorito.

I'm trying to remove the least amount possible, there is obviously a shitload of stuff already off. I'll try offering bush to shaft first and see what happens. Hopefully ends up balls deep without much fuss.

Offer is noted and thank you

I'm very good at getting shaft into bush😂

Engine block is ready to come out. Hopefully get some time later today or tomorrow morning.Gearbox will remain in the car for now. PS and AC pumps have both been unbolted and tied off to the side. Anyone see any issues with trying to get the replacement engine back in (when I get one) with gearbox in situ? Is it doable or a major ball ache?

Free motor, yes please. Please supply all parts (nitto only), machine, assemble and ship to me. 😂

Thanks very much @GTSBoy. It's a workable scenario. We'll see what happens.

I did see that somewhere but quite weary of something sitting that long that looks like that

Didn't miss a thing, I agreed on all points but sometimes a cheap head job is an illusion. Costs you dearly in the long run. Anyway, I received some info today that the 25de neo head is 52cc. @GTSBoy rough dirty calc time 25de neo 10.2:1 comp with 52cc head Where would it end up with roughly with 25det head with around 62cc head? My rough head calculation says around 20% less. So around 8.2-8.3:1. Am I in the ball park or way off?

Agreed on all

The bottom end won't cost any more, will probably be a little cheaper as there are less expensive piston options for them if wanted. It's more the fact my turbo is not really big enough, will be an emap roadblock, injectors won't be big enough for the bigger required turbo. May as well get a decent exh manifold, custom dump pipe. You get the picture. The replacement vanilla 25det is the best and simplest option but finding a good one for non drug money is another story. I enquired about a long block today and the bloke wanted 5k for it. Yeah, nah. Fark, I almost feel like rage quitting. As well as all the things GTSboy said

Just been to an engine shop. Head is easily fixed. Guy wants to replace all 4 valves on the damaged cylinder to be sure. Couldn't say exactly how much it would cost without tearing it down but did say won't be much. I may get a 2nd opinion if I could be bothered. Edit. Apparently the dent around the chamber won't matter but he could weld and machine it if I wanted.

Yeah I got that but buying your car is definitely not K.I.S.S Too many extra $ for RB30 extras required.

Options so far in the pipeline Cheap rb25de neo Disassembled RB25DET NEO minus head, good condition. Reasonable $ but apparently pending. He's going to let me know if the buyer doesn't turn up. Idea here was to rebuild with correct forged pistons and put my head on it. Would be a good fresh motor. It's unlikely though. Good running RB25DET. Prices unreasonable so far.

May have to open an account Me too, rb25/30 would be nice but then would have to upgrade everything are it. Turbo, injectors etc. are all too small. I am seriously considering this route, trying to arrange to go have a look at this particular motor. The problem with this scenario is that the bulk of the $ is in the machining and parts. Wouldn't be saving all that much by assembling it but the chance of me messing it up would be too great. I'll send you the windowed block to practice on, 😂

You know any suppliers that sell it by the bucket?

Possibly but don't think it's related as it looks like the rod definitely let go before any bit of piston did, turbo survived this time. How about a straight swap? I know what I've got.. Unfortunately LS doesn't align with the K.I.S.S method Thanks Dan. Engine building an RB is not something I think I can do to the level required. So the only DIY will be limited to installing an engine or properly repaired head on a good block. Surprisingly other than the viewing window, the bore looks great. There is one gouge that you can feel. Im pretty sure I created that when trying to get the piston out with a crow bar😂

And the head, looks like 2 intake valves got bent and a bit of a dent on the edge of the chamber. Should be repairable if I can get my hands on a couple of valves. Dent at edge of chamber Rest of the engine components looked good. Definitely less cross hatching in the cylinders than last time it was open. Surprisingly, from what I could see of the crank through the vacant no. 5 the journal didn't look that bad, there's more damage on the counterweight. The crank will be scrap but I expected to see more significant damage. On the hunt for 2 intake valves so I can get the head repaired, if anyone knows anyone with a couple to spare, please let me know.

In today's episode of total carnage we have this Oh dear