My RB20 Swap Has Begun: Pics from Start to Finish (no 56k)

Andrew85cm said:

It's on the motor side where the shaft of the tranny goes into the engine. Its the bearing that surrounds that shaft. Just put the NA 300z one in and you are good to go.
~ANDREW~

Click to expand...

So you are saying, remove the auto pilot bushing and put the n/a 300z in and not worry about the other bushing that modestmouse is talking about?

I believe you only take that inner bushing out. Just look at the new bushing you get. Check the outer diameter and which ever one the outer or inner bushing that the new one matches than pull that one. You might have to pull both but if so you replace it which just hte one new one. If I remember correctly from like 2 years ago you just replace the inner but you can tell in 2 seconds from looking at the new one you got. Hope that wasnt more confusing and we cleared the air.
~ANDREW~

my ca came from jhot as well, good people they know there stuff

modestmouse said:

The new bushing won't clear. The bushing for the auto tranny needs to be removed. I did this very recently, trust me. Less than a month and a half ago.

Click to expand...

I know exactly what you are talking about. It's a pain, and trust me accell junky, DO NOT install the motor without removing it, you'll be grinding into 2nd 3rd etc and be wondering why. In doing an auto to manual conversion on even KA's this bushing thingy must be removed. It's a pain to get it out but it's necessary.

Day 4, 5, and 6: Motor prep, clutch install, motor install, intercooler install.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time to remove the auto bushing (or pilot bushing if you have a manual Rb20 motor). The auto bushing is a beastly bastard and needs to be removed if you are swapping a manual trans onto the auto RB20 (why would anyone drive an auto RB20...).

Take that you !@$!@^*& bushing!!! I cut the bushing almost all the way through and back, then used the chisel to break it apart. I managed to avoid any crankshaft scarring by doing this step carefully.

Special thanks to the dremel/chisel/hammer for the auto bushing removal.

N/A 300zx Oil Filter on, old is off.

Be sure to remove the Rb20 temp gauge sender and replace with the 240's temp gauge sender for an accurate gauge reading.

Keep the white dash plug from the 240 as it will be necessary for the wiring process. The extra KA wires will come in handy as spares for the wiring process.

N/A 300zx Fuel Filter installed. Much beefier than the 240 one. You may want to go ahead and replace the fuel lines with some longer pieces since the motor has them cut and they may not reach. Easier done while the motor is out.

Top Hat's RB20 Mounts. Special thanks to Mike, Tim etc... for getting these fabbed up on short notice.

Removed the A/C components. Come on, this is the deep south, you've gotta have a good excuse to drive with no shirt on...

Bumper was removed for a/c removal etc... Crossmember removed to get those pesky KA mount bolts off. @(*^@#)&!! ka mount bolts, you've done me wrong soo many times. Guess they didn't like cutoff wheel too much....mua hahahaha.

KA mounts removed, courtesy of a cutoff wheel to the lower nut. Also, clean that biatch off while its easy to get to.

Did some shopping: oil, gear oil, 14" electric fan, fuel hose, etc...

Use a socket to tap the pilot bushing in. The socket should be approximately the same diameter as the bushing. I had to give my bushing a slight grind on the inside because the clutch "input shaft" tool did not go in.

Flywheel installed. Please get your flywheel resurfaced if you are replacing the clutch. Its only about $25-35 at any automotive machine shop. Install flywheel bolts. The KA manual trans bolts will work fine if your Rb20 was an auto. Torque to spec. (I did 80ftlb, but that was based upon my memory and not the service manual).

Use some acetone to clean off any oil that may be present on the flywheel and pressure plate surfaces.

Insert alignment tool and then put the clutch disk on the alignment tool and snug against the flywheel.

Install the pressure plate over the assembly using the dowel pins for alignment. Tighten the bolts to spec. (I did 35ftlbs from memory).

Remove the old throwout bearing assembly from your trans (I used a KA 5spd trans, I wouldn't reccomend it for fitment purposes). Remeber the orientation of the retaining clip relative to the shift fork... or just reference this pic when if you forget.

Using a screw driver and/or chisel, pry the old throwout bearing off of its mechanism. After I did a little prying I gave the bearing itself, a "love" tap with the small sledge hammer I had. Yeah, that'll do it. Try not to damage the smooth part of the mechanism that goes inside the bearing.

Installt the new bearing onto the mechanism. I **gently** tightenend the bearing into the vice, then put the mechanism in from the top and tapped it into the bearing carefully. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN THE VICE, you don't want to damage the bearing. Make sure the bearing is oriented with the spinning side facing away from the mounting mechanism. Put some lithium grease on the inside of the mechanism when you are done.

Take the assembly back to your tranny and install the TO bearing onto the input shaft and reinstall the retaining clip. Make sure to grease the pivot ball of the fork before moving on. Gently move the fork back and forth. It should move the TO bearing assembly fore and aft on the input shaft.

Install trans onto the motor. If you are using a KA tranny (which I don't reccomend), you will need to drill out the top right bolt hole to be able to get a bolt in there. I managed to get all but 2 bolts to line up. Also, you MUST cut the top dowel pin off of the RB20 block... it doesn't line up.

Remove the stock motor mount bracket and install the Top Hat mount that is the longest on the intake side. Torque to spec.

Remove the stock motor mount bracket and install the Top Hat mount that is the shortest on the exhaust manifold side. Torque to spec.

Install the lower Top Hat mounts onto your crossmember as shown. Contrary to the pic, I reccomend not tightening the bolts yet because you will have to do some SERIOUS jostling to get the motor mounts to go in.

Motor going in at 3am. Damn it took us from 2am-7am to get that thing into the mounts. What a ridicualously tight fit.

Ahh..the morning after. Feels good to have it in. Doesn't feel good to go to sleep when the sun is coming up.

Install the Tranny bushing and then the tophat trans mount. It actually worked good with the KA trans.


Driver's side mount. Make sure the rubber isolater is not preloaded. This process is outlined in Top Hat's mount install guide.

Passenger side mount.

This is why you should dent the firewall before installing. This is the starter bulge in the tranny contacting the firewall. Of course this is with the KA trans, so maybe the bellhousing is slightly bigger.

Oh $%!^! Shifter woes... from using the long as KA trans.

Thats ok! Just cut out a notch for the shifter hole and flip the shifter in reverse and you won't contact anything while shifting. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do about a dust boot and shift boot. This is in 4th gear, and you can see there is no hitting anywhere.

Thanks JHOT.... I appreciate the lack of main relays... Thats ok though, because the SR20 clip that a buddy got from Jarco had some spares...that I took.

Route the harness into the interior. Don't be a dumbass like me and forget the grommet.

I used a jack to hold the sidemount intercooler into place while I measured everything for cutting to install it. You may want to use a wood block so the jack doesn't damage the lower row.

I cut a rectangle out with the cut off saw, but if you are clever an careful you can cut individual holes to make it look cleaner.

Side mount installed. I made a bracket for the lower left hand side from cutting and bending the original sidemount brackets. The right side is supported by a few strong zipties.

14" Electric Fan from Discount Auto. Rumored to work. We lined it with insulating weather stripping foam to give it a good contact to the radiator so all of those CFM's aren't blowing out the side.

Fan installed using provided hardware. Not wired up yet.

Intercooler piping installed and tightened up. Current status of the swap.



Next weekend I will go home to try and finish up the swap by wiring, installing driveshaft etc...

NOTE: With the KA trans the stock 5spd driveshaft is TOO long. I am in the process of ordering a shorter one-piece version from The Driveshaft Shop. Oops, there goes the cost advantage of buying the Auto RB20 motorset.