Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

hi i know this has probably been asked many times but i cant seem to find anything on it. i got a vl calais with a carby v8 and 3 speed auto and its on gas. im about to buy an r32 4 door skyline with front end damage. its got a rb20det and auto transmission.

my question is how hard is it to drop the r32 engine and gear box into the vl?

wat other bits do i need?

do i need to get exhaust made up or will r32 bolt up?

much appreciated.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/254191-vl-308-to-rb20det/
Share on other sites

wen its done i will be selling it. wanna get a house

It will probably cost you more to do it than the end sale price...

Why not just get rid of both and not wasteyour time???

Not being rude, but VLT's are pretty cheap. What makes you think a non-original 2 litre version of a VLT is going to be an attractive car???

(attractive meaning get a few bucks from its sale)

IE> If I were looking for a turbo VL, id be going for an original 3 litre version where insurance and the police wont give me a hard time about mod plates

I mean the rb20 is not the greatest motor for torque or outright power, then you put it in a heavy chassis...

Why replace the 308? They are a strong engine, parts are cheap, a few bolt ons (or if you can be bothered tearing the engine down) or a stroker kit and you can push great, usable numbers with amazing bottom end torque. This isn't to mention it has 2.5 times, or thereabouts, the capacity of an RB20.

My advice would be to look at a 308 to 328/355 stroker kit with SCAT crank and conrods. Like these http://www.pro-stroke.com.au/stroker_kits.html

or if you can't be arsed doing that go with edelbrock heads, intake manifold and a nice mild/hot (depending on your preference) crow cam.

Also convert to PULP.

Of course if there is a reason as to why you would do such a conversion other than "because" fair enough and good luck to you.

Why replace the 308? They are a strong engine, parts are cheap, a few bolt ons (or if you can be bothered tearing the engine down) or a stroker kit and you can push great, usable numbers with amazing bottom end torque. This isn't to mention it has 2.5 times, or thereabouts, the capacity of an RB20.

My advice would be to look at a 308 to 328/355 stroker kit with SCAT crank and conrods. Like these http://www.pro-stroke.com.au/stroker_kits.html

or if you can't be arsed doing that go with edelbrock heads, intake manifold and a nice mild/hot (depending on your preference) crow cam.

Also convert to PULP.

Of course if there is a reason as to why you would do such a conversion other than "because" fair enough and good luck to you.

this post is common sense

put a 5 speed gearbox behind it, or do you only have an auto license? (lol)

cheers for the info guys. didnt realise the rb20 was so disliked lol, the reason i gonna go the rb20 was because the car its comin from has done under 100k and and at a good price. but yeah i might leave it as it is.

how much are rb20det and gearbox worth these days?

like 1000-1500.

go on calaisturbo and look for the rb20 thread. lists all the parts you need for the conversion, and everyone whose been nothing but let down by it. theres just no low down torque for big, relatively heavy car. most people start with an RB30, and the conclusion was your beter off to turbo that, starting from a V8, i'd do as suggested above

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the R32 and VL have similar weight? It would be moreso the 3.08 V8 diff, or even the 3.45 VLT diff that will let down the rev happy RB20 - IIRC most of the whinging about them on CT was due to the unhealthy fixation with drag cars on that website. You will find a ton of info there about a conversion though, just beware the amount of wankers and schoolkids that tend to congregate on there.

on the rego sticker on the vl i had ages ago it was 1200ish kg. the rego sticker on my R32 said 1300ish kg. i remember when i had both of them, comparing the two and to my supprise the 32 was heavier.

edit: and yes, a straight swap with the rb20 and they dont go that well. once i put 4.11s in my vl (rb20 conversion) it went alot better.

Edited by QWK32

rego stickers are bs for weight. my mates soarer says its 1250 lol

i dont think there would be much in it, either way, but its still got no low down torque, especially when you look at results of turboing the RB30, or mod the v8

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • New CAS just turned up from NZ Wiring. Looks like a nice bit of gear.  So, yeah. Triggered, bro. Realised I may as well do the cam belt while mucking about with it so will order one of them.
    • Even more fun, leave all the ADAS stuff plugged in, but in different locations, hopefully avoid any codes!   And honestly, all these new cars with their weird electronics. Pull all the electronics out Duncan, and just shove an aftermarket ECU and if needed a trans controller in, along with a PDM. Make it run basic but race car styled!
    • To follow up a question from earlier too since I had the front bar off again (fking!) This is what is between the bumper and the drivers side wheel And this is the navigator side, only one thing but its a biggy! So basically....no putting coolers in the wheel arches without a lot of moving other stuff. Assuming I move to properly race prepping this car I'll take that job on and see how the computers respond to removing a whole bunch of ADAS modules
    • So I prepped the car for another track day on Wednesday (will be interesting to see coolant temps post flushing out and the larger reservoir, with a forecast of 3-14 being 20o cooler than last time I took it out). Couple of things to mention; since I am just driving the car and not taking a support vehicle, I took the rear seats out and just loaded the back up Team Trackday style. Look at all that space! To cover off removing the rear seat....it is weird (note the hybrid is probably different because it wouldn't have folding rear seats) Basically, you remove the lower seat base, very similar to a r series but it is a clip that pulls forward to release the base rather than it being bolted down. Easy Then, you need to remove the side section of the rear seat on each side. There is a 14mm head nut at the bottom of the side piece, the it slides upwards off a hook at the top to release; you also need to unhook the seatbelt from the loop at the top. Then the centre piece is weird. You need to release/fold the seats forward with the tab in the boot on each side From there, there are 2,x12mm headed bolts holding the rear of each seat to the folding bracket, under the trim between the rear seat and the boot (4x christmas tree clips there, they suck). The seat is out but you can see where the bolts attach to the bracket
    • As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
×
×
  • Create New...