Silvia

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JordanTr
Posts: 1006
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 22:27
Location: Kimberley, BC, Canada

Silvia

Post by JordanTr »

I had another project fall into my lap this summer. I ended up purchasing it off of a friend who didn't really have the time to finish it off. I had seen the car in late 2014 when I purchased the RB20 engine mounts for my Golddust project. I immediately fell in love with the clean white car and the aggressive wheels. At that time the car still had a stock NA SR20DE and R180 diff and rear subframe. The original owner talked about doing an RB25 swap and was, naturally, quite interested in the RB26 swap I was undertaking. He pulled the SR and swapped in an R200 diff/rear subframe in preparation for an RB25 swap but had to let the car go due to some changing priorities.

Fast forward to June 2016 and I was headed to Abbotsford with truck & trailer to drag home another old Nissan! We came upon the car sitting in a field and immediately had to get it!

ImageSil-5964 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-5993 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-5992 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01741 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

When I picked the car up, I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. If the car was a basket case, I could swap all the cool kouki bits and aero onto Golddust and part it out. This would also require paint and bodywork on Golddust which I was not interested in. To my surprise, the car was in way better shape than Golddust. I washed Silvia and parked it in the far reaches of the shop and dreamed of various options for the Silvia over the summer. I initially thought of just doing a quick and dirty KA24DE to get it going but the car was too nice to justify that. I toyed with the idea of LS2 power but was discouraged by the price of T56 transmissions and the fact that it would not be in the family. I thought about VH45 V8 power (my coffee table) but I didn't really want to go down that path.

After putting about 5000km on Golddust this summer, I was in love with the RB/S chassis combo so I decided to go that direction. It was something that I knew how to do and it kept the engine in the family. In mid October another buddy called and told me that I should buy his RB25DET engine set so he could focus on other things. I couldn't have said yes fast enough on the phone!

ImageSil-6874 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

S14 KA FPRs are the same so I swapped one over from my treasure trove.

ImageSil-6869 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Ready for the trip to Van from PG!

ImageSil-6948 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Now I had the two biggest parts to piece together another project. I roughed out a bit of a plan in my head that resembled a lot of the same things as Golddust:

Engine:
R33 Skyline GT25T RB25DET Series 2
R33 accessories
Modified steel RB20 upper engine mount brackets (to drop engine 3/4" down)
RB26 OEM aluminum backed engine mounts
RB20 2wd crossmember
R34 Neo Side Mount Intercooler (SMIC) [bigger than R33]
Modified Silvia AC lines/ WORKING AC!
R33 GTR fuel pump
3" SS exhaust with cat, resonator and twin 3" blast pipes

Powertrain:
RB25 push type trans
Custom 3" driveline (43.5" yoke ujoint CL to flange face w/ ABS diff), Spicer 1310 sealed U joints, 3103-30 yoke, 3102-21 flange for S14 diff
R32 GTR 2 way diff or R34 Stagea Torsen
6x1 early R32 GTR 30 spline output shafts
R32 GTR half shafts
Q45 hubs/ebrake assemblies

Brakes:
Originally 350Z Brembo (front) 324x30mm rotor but replaced with Brembo 17Z 6 piston (see below)
Z32 rear brakes with ebrake assy
BM50 (1 inch) master cylinder
ABS
R33 ebrake cables

Interior:
Stockish
Double DIN stereo

Wheels:
Currently Niche Targa 18x9.5 + 40 with 1.5" spacers (effective +2) 215/35 and 225/40 tires
I'd like to be able to run 17x9+30 R33 GTR rims with a square setup of 255/40 but that may come later
The current tires are toast. I would like to run square 235/35/18 on the Targas.

Suspension:
Currently has a full suite of cheap ebay arms and Kei Office front and Tein rear coilovers.
I will re-spring the coilovers and try to make the most of them for now.
I will run with the cheap arms for now and likely upgrade select arms to GKTech later on (RUCA, rear toe). I plan to modify the rear traction arms to match Nismo spec.

Now we can start on the actual progression!!..

Got lots of new parts including timing belt/water pump/idlers/gaskets etc. New rear rotors/pads for Z32, new BJS, tie rods, sway bar links etc.

ImageSil-01739 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Given that I had a clean white canvas to start with, I had to pick a contrasting color to go with it. I ended up choosing Illusion Violet (4514) from Prismatic Powders. It's only a 2 stage so it saves some time compared to the 3 stage candy red I've been doing. The plan is to do purple valvecovers, diff cover, brakes, a couple other small things.

Purple applied
ImageSil-01749 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Purple flowed out
ImageSil-01751 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Once the clear is applied over the purple base (now silver), the plastics crosslink and make the purple pop. Pretty crazy cool stuff.
ImageSil-7955 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-7786 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01765 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Engine to trans brackets
ImageSil-7768 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Modified R33 RB25 trans crossmemember
ImageSil-01808 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-7961 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-7792 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Powdercoated some things with 20% black as well.

ImageSil-01747 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01774 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

RB20 coil pack cover powdercoated black (RB25 one is plastic)
ImageSil-01779 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Front LCAs, new BJs, energy suspension bushings that don't fit.
ImageSil-01816 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01817 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Crushed silver 2 stage and 20% black
ImageSil-01789 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01793 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Upon getting the engine home, I stripped the whole hot side in preparation for new exhaust manifold studs (3 were broken off from manifold stress on cyl. 5/6). After undoing all of the manifold nuts that remained, the manifold wouldn't budge. I double nutted and extracted stud by stud until only 2 remained. The manifold still wouldn't budge. Finally, I got down to one stud and the manifold came off. Now I had 4 broken studs to deal with. I drilled the studs and extracted them without issue using a SnapOn bolt extractor. What a stressful process that was!
With all the studs removed, I chased the threads and ordered new studs.

ImageSil-01753 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01742 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-6975 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01765 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

All the stress in the manifold had caused a crack between cylinder 2 and 3. I had it repaired and the manifold decked and some of the mounting holes elongated to eliminate the stress that held in on before.

ImageSil-7881 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Painted with black BBQ paint and reassembled.

ImageSil-01784 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01770 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

R32 RB20 2wd crossmember

ImageSil-7912 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Modified RB20 upper bracket on my jig.
ImageSil-7899 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Done and powdercoated 20% black. 3/4" engine drop.
ImageSil-7904 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01781 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01782 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

OEM RB26 engine mounts
ImageSil-7902 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01785 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

1988 Z31T trans (Golddust trans) vs. RB25 trans. I was terribly mistaken to think that the cases were the same when I built Golddust.
ImageSil-6953 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Z32 brakes
ImageSil-6903 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Z33 front Brembos. They require reaming the knuckles to 14mm which I wasn't super keen on.
ImageSil-7963 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Shaved rear Z32 brakes ready for reassembly
ImageSil-7996 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Pops insisted on cleaning up the bay a bit before bae went in the bay.
ImageSil-01756 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01797 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01798 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Made little lifting jigs that bolt onto strut towers. Pretty slick stuff. This is for lifting the car up and dropping the car onto the engine. It makes for a safe and easy 1 man engine install.

ImageSil-7885 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01799 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Got the engine/trans on my dolly and prepped for install.
ImageSil-01796 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01794 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01820 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

I bought a wrecked GTR for parts (again).
ImageSil-7081 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Sought after diff
ImageSil-7962 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Will be using these cool GTR aluminum TC rods on Silvia.
ImageSil-01745 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Did a spring inventory to find a good option for this car. Measured some D, d, N and L and ran some calcs. I'm very happy with the 11kg/mm/9k springs in Golddust. I ended up replacing the 7k front springs with 10k springs and getting everything freed up. Hopefully the shocks can handle the 10k springs. I haven't looked at the rear yet.

ImageSil-01809 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01815 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Next big item on the list is a stainless exhaust.
ImageSil-01806 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now on to my favourite part of the whole project!

I bought a pair of Brembo 17Z calipers off a Porsche Cayenne a year and a bit ago but I ended up selling them since there is excessive mounting ear interference between the knuckle and caliper when used on a 350Z Brembo rotor (324x30). The calipers are 6 piston forged monoblocks with 6 titanium pistons! The kid I sold the calipers to made them work on 370Z Akebono rotors (355mm!) which had me intrigued. The problem with such a large rotor is that the pad coverage becomes an issue since the large rotor does not fit inside the caliper designed for 330mm rotors. I had drawn the caliper back in 2015 but decided to try a little harder this time around. I created a database of a bunch of different rotors until I found one that met the following criteria:
1. minimal caliper ear interference (read: maximize rotor diameter)
2. minimize rotor clearance mods required on 17Z calipers
3. maximum size to still fit in R33 GTR rims (17x9 ET30)
4. off the shelf rotor with minimal mods required

ImageIMG_4328 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

345x30mm rotor pictured with 5Zigen FN01RC 17x9 (downloaded off internet)
ImageIMG_7836-2 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

R33 GTR rim I drew. Same 345x30 rotor.
ImageSil-7985 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

There's clearance!!
ImageSil-7986 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

On Z33 track rotor for now. Real rotor will be ~20mm larger.
ImageSil-7978 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

R33 rim trial on real parts. There is still clearance. About 3/32" to rim barrel. Real rotor will be ~20mm larger.
ImageSil-7981 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Rays 19x10 ET30 on 17Z. Real rotor will be ~20mm larger.
ImageSil-7979 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-01819 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-8011 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-8007 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-8008 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Fleet pictures.. Which one would you drive?!

ImageSil-6962 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSil-6954 by kayakdude07, on Flickr


That's it for now!
Last edited by JordanTr on 01 Jan 2017 17:54, edited 1 time in total.
'72 2 door KA project | S14 Silvia RB25DET | S14 RB26DETT (sold) | '90 Audi 90Q20V (sold)
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RonM
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Joined: 16 Aug 2010 20:42
Location: SF, East Bay, 510 area code

Re: Silvia

Post by RonM »

Epic first post on this project man. I'm covered in drool.
Sometimes people loose touch with subjectivity, because they've got they're heads stuck too far up they're own,,, Reality.
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JordanTr
Posts: 1006
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 22:27
Location: Kimberley, BC, Canada

Re: Silvia

Post by JordanTr »

Thanks Ron! You're covered in drool and we're covered in snow up here. I convinced myself that it was a good idea to push the car outside and winch it back in to take some pics.

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'72 2 door KA project | S14 Silvia RB25DET | S14 RB26DETT (sold) | '90 Audi 90Q20V (sold)
User avatar
JordanTr
Posts: 1006
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 22:27
Location: Kimberley, BC, Canada

Re: Silvia

Post by JordanTr »

I've made a little bit of progress on this recently.

R34 SMIC showed up. Note how thick it is! Comparison pic with SR SMIC sometime soon.
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I bought a set of R33 GTR wheels. I've been half heartedly looking for some since early 2014 so it's been a long time coming!

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Chased down OEM center caps.
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Got 345mm rotors to suit 17Zs.
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Finalized CAD model.
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Hoping to have the brackets jet cut and get home to fab IC and exhaust in the semi-near future.
'72 2 door KA project | S14 Silvia RB25DET | S14 RB26DETT (sold) | '90 Audi 90Q20V (sold)
Colbino
Posts: 631
Joined: 19 Sep 2007 12:58
Location: Bellevue, WA

Re: Silvia

Post by Colbino »

Love this body style. Nice work!
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duke
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Joined: 26 Oct 2005 14:21
Location: Santa Rosa, CA

Re: Silvia

Post by duke »

Very nice! I don't know what it is about white cars...they just look so damn good in my eyes!
Duke Schimmer

'72 2-Door 510
"Simplify and add lightness."
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PoorMtnKid
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Re: Silvia

Post by PoorMtnKid »

Thos headlights are amazing! Nice color combo too with the white/purple
looking for pass. side arm rest
User avatar
JordanTr
Posts: 1006
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 22:27
Location: Kimberley, BC, Canada

Re: Silvia

Post by JordanTr »

Thanks guys! I've drooled over the Kouki S14s for years now so this has been a long time coming. I thought a lot about going for candy red (Eric Straw style) but thought this would be an interesting colour combo too. Glad you like it as well.

Duke, I've wanted a white car for years. If Golddust was painted, it would likely get a white job as well!
'72 2 door KA project | S14 Silvia RB25DET | S14 RB26DETT (sold) | '90 Audi 90Q20V (sold)
RONSLYCHUK
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Location: Abbotsford B.C.

Re: Silvia

Post by RONSLYCHUK »

Hey Jordan, you are doing some really nice work there. Silvia is looking great!
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JordanTr
Posts: 1006
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 22:27
Location: Kimberley, BC, Canada

Re: Silvia

Post by JordanTr »

I've made some progress on a few recent weekends.

Got the 17Z brackets WJ cut and installed.

ImageIMG_8389 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageIMG_8391 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageIMG_8390 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Everything is very tight BUT it all fits!

Pops and I got a little 11" swing metal lathe last summer so I wired it up this past weekend so I could open up the center hole on my exhaust flanges. I drew them all nice prior to waterjet cutting but I neglected to actually dimension the middle hole. A few minutes on the lathe and all is well.

ImageIMG_8451 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSilvia-8476 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Played with the R34 intercooler and got it mounted up. I got some 60mm to 2.5" silicone elbows so that was helpful for making the charge piping fit seamlessly.

ImageIMG_8385 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageIMG_8386 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageIMG_8461 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSilvia-8462 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSilvia-8464 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSilvia-8468 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

I got halfway through building the 3" downpipe before I ran out of time. Pretty happy with the way things are turning out.

ImageSilvia-8471 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSilvia-8472 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

ImageSilvia-8473 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

Assembled the shaved and powdercoated Z32 brakes the other evening. I can't wait until the front is done to match!

ImageIMG_8490 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

I ordered some goofy purple rad hoses.

ImageIMG_8369 by kayakdude07, on Flickr

A Wiring Specialties Pro harness is on its way along with some miscellaneous OEM parts, electric fan, front control arm bushings, custom braided brake/clutch lines. Pretty soon I'll have all the bits to put all the last bits together.
'72 2 door KA project | S14 Silvia RB25DET | S14 RB26DETT (sold) | '90 Audi 90Q20V (sold)
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Byron510
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Location: Maple Ridge, BC

Re: Silvia

Post by Byron510 »

You are doing some pretty nice work Jordon - good job.

Curious - since you've been playing with the RB motors quite a bit, do you feel this is an equally good swap compared to the Toyota J2Z swap in stock form? From the installation and electrics side of making the RB work, how do you feel about the complexity of the swap? I know you add lots of nice looking components, but the swap itself - what is really involved to make the ECU work and package run like it should?

Byron
Love people and use things,
because the opposite never works.
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JordanTr
Posts: 1006
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 22:27
Location: Kimberley, BC, Canada

Re: Silvia

Post by JordanTr »

Thanks Byron.

The RBs are really lovely engines but they have a bad rap -mostly for oil pump failures. From what I've read about them, it seems that many failures are due to fatigue stresses in the oil pump gear when at the rev limiter. That combined with a narrow oil pump drive can often be catastrophic. With that aside, they're pretty fun out of the box and sound great. I'm going to run mine with fingers crossed.

The 2JZ has sequential turbos so it would be a bit of a job to get that all working but probably no worse than an RB26. Costs for both RB26s and 2JZs are skyrocketing. Bank on spending $5-$7K+ for a decent engine set. In a perfect world, 2JZs would go in LHD cars and RBs into RHD cars so the hot side is opposite the drivers side.

For both the 2JZ and RB25/6, you can wire them up yourself with some time and wiring ability or buy a swap harness. I went with the latter this time in the interest of time. I would love some extra displacement but it's tough to justify the cost of an RB30 block from Australia. Maybe one day...
'72 2 door KA project | S14 Silvia RB25DET | S14 RB26DETT (sold) | '90 Audi 90Q20V (sold)
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Byron510
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Re: Silvia

Post by Byron510 »

Input appreciated Jordon, thanks.

Byron
Love people and use things,
because the opposite never works.
OUTthere
Posts: 88
Joined: 18 Aug 2014 15:57
Location: Coquille, Oregon

Re: Silvia

Post by OUTthere »

Here in the southern coast of Oregon, RB's are impossible to find and 2JZ's can only be found in the Lexus SC300. The only six cylinder that I find of interest are the BMW n54's. How would you say they(n54) compare to the more popular and harder to find rb/2jz?
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Heinrich
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Joined: 11 Jan 2013 03:37

Re: Silvia

Post by Heinrich »

very nice build.you make it look so easy.
Progress is slow, but it is progress non the less.
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