Thread: 240sx swap

i'm buying an s13 and want to do an engine swap, i can not decide on which engine! iv narrowed it down to the sr20det black top, rb25det, and a 1jzgte. i'm not worried on about prices but what are some of the problems i will face in each build? iv done alot of research on other sites but i know you guys better so i felt more comfortable asking here. any feedback will be appreciated!

I dont know about how hard each one will be. However I have talked to a bunch of swapped 240 guys and all of them would like to change their setup to the 2JZ, not the 1jz.

The one RB guy does like his... he's pushing 500 on stock suspension lol its a scary ride.

i just got an s13 shell also. im going with the vq35 though

bolt-ons, 100-125 shot, and tune on uprev and ill be set. drift car by day, street racer by night(on spray)

i'd go with the rb25. the room for build in that engine never ends.

You also got to take into account parts and there availability. I'm not so sure how it is now, but back four years ago when I was in the 240 crowd, rb parts were hard to come by. My one buddy had to wait over a month for some of his parts. The great thing about the SR is parts are easy to come by. Either way the choice is yours. If I did it again I would go the SR route myself but I know everyone wants to be "different". Bottom line figure out you power goals and go with the engine that will be reliable and hit those goals easiest.

Originally Posted by NismoV240

You also got to take into account parts and there availability. I'm not so sure how it is now, but back four years ago when I was in the 240 crowd, rb parts were hard to come by. My one buddy had to wait over a month for some of his parts. The great thing about the SR is parts are easy to come by. Either way the choice is yours. If I did it again I would go the SR route myself but I know everyone wants to be "different". Bottom line figure out you power goals and go with the engine that will be reliable and hit those goals easiest.

^^This is very true. When i had my 240 and the ka24 started giving away i bought my buddies rb25 and everything that he had along with it. He just needed money so i got it all at a great price, but im pretty sure he said he put almost 8k into and it took him almost 3 years to get what few parts he had. I kept it tuned for 350hp and it had the capability to do alot more, but i couldnt afford to to go any bigger with it. Luckily another drift kid thought it was God so he payed big money for it and well here i am with a sentra

Originally Posted by SlowCarGuy

I dont know about how hard each one will be. However I have talked to a bunch of swapped 240 guys and all of them would like to change their setup to the 2JZ, not the 1jz.

The one RB guy does like his... he's pushing 500 on stock suspension lol its a scary ride.

the 2jz and the 1jz both have different advantages over one another. I cant remember what it is though

sr20det is easiest/best bang for buck.
I have a blacktop in my ae86 =]

Originally Posted by slyguy700

sr20det is easiest/best bang for buck.
I have a blacktop in my ae86 =]

Agree, plus with most cars that old pretty much everything needs to be replaced. To the OP I'm glad money isn't gonna be a problem.

i work at nissan, i'm gonna try and find out how hard parts would be if i ordered from the dealer... but other then that on each of the builds (i'm new to swaps) what would i have to do with the wiring harnesses? use stock, modify, or use what comes with the engines? again first swap lol

The Sr20 swap is the easiest swap by far for the S chassis, but any of the RB series engines will make great swaps as well, and the results are amazing once its running good but its just a bit more involved.

I think you also need to ask yourself how much power are you looking to make...If youre looking for 400whp you can make that with any of these engines.

Me personally would go with a vq though for a couple reasons. Huge support with aftermarket (still expanding), easy accessibility to parts, and reliability. More familiarity in the states as well.
Hell if you wanted you could bore it out and twin turbo it and be up in the 600whp range

Speaking from experience...
Like others said, sr20det is the best bang for buck...
If your looking for power go RB but beware parts are more expensive...

If i could do it all over again I'd go 2J. Hope that helps..

if i had a choice id go 2j, especially since money isnt an issue. There was a guy at the valley stream meet with an rb26 swapped s14 he said it was putting down upper 500s on pump gas.

I've built/owned several S13 and S14's.. including a 700+hp SR powered S13 hatch.

The RB25 is a great start, and you can simply slap a SC61 on, and make 450whp, all day long. But, parts are getting hard to come by, and it's a little more expensive to do this swap, versus the SR.

To me, the perfect S13 is one with a stock SR20DET (S13/red top), a nice top mount manifold, SC6176E, 750cc injectors, JWT or Enthalpy tuned ECU, Z32 MAF, Walbro, Ebay FMIC and piping (there's a bolt-in kit for like 250-300 bucks), and full 3" exhaust. Run about 15-16psi on 93 octane, all day long. You will make around 400whp, with a nice/fat TQ curve. The SC61 is perfect on the SR. Just make sure that you get it with a T350 turbine, and .82 A/R T3 housing. You can go with the .63 A/R housing if you aren't planning on making 400+.. and that'll give you about 5-600rpm less lag. The .63 A/R will get you up over 400whp, just not on pump gas.

Here's one that I built with this EXACT recipe many years ago..



Travis

From personal experience, I can say that the CA and SR's are easy to swap, decent power, and cheap-ish. The RB's we swapped in were fun, but sucked putting them in. Don't know about JZs though.

CA's not worth it IMO, SR's easy to upgrade and swap. I'd look into all the swaps your interested and go from there. All've been done many times, it'll come down to what you want. My friend has a shop here in AZ called Fueled Performance. They've been doing/selling LSx Conversion kits for the S13/14 and 350z's. Alot of guys been going that route.

I've done lots of SR swaps and had 2 SR swapped S13's. Lots of fun and really easy to build and work on. One had a 2871r turbo/740 injectors, maf, tuned on E85 and put down 365whp

Originally Posted by Trav4011

I've built/owned several S13 and S14's.. including a 700+hp SR powered S13 hatch.

The RB25 is a great start, and you can simply slap a SC61 on, and make 450whp, all day long. But, parts are getting hard to come by, and it's a little more expensive to do this swap, versus the SR.

To me, the perfect S13 is one with a stock SR20DET (S13/red top), a nice top mount manifold, SC6176E, 750cc injectors, JWT or Enthalpy tuned ECU, Z32 MAF, Walbro, Ebay FMIC and piping (there's a bolt-in kit for like 250-300 bucks), and full 3" exhaust. Run about 15-16psi on 93 octane, all day long. You will make around 400whp, with a nice/fat TQ curve. The SC61 is perfect on the SR. Just make sure that you get it with a T350 turbine, and .82 A/R T3 housing. You can go with the .63 A/R housing if you aren't planning on making 400+.. and that'll give you about 5-600rpm less lag. The .63 A/R will get you up over 400whp, just not on pump gas.

Here's one that I built with this EXACT recipe many years ago..



Travis

Are you the same travis that had the red S13 fastback?

travis that is one CLEAN ass motor. Anyone know a good site to get a SR20 off of? also its the black tops that can handle more boost am i right? I forgot the pro's and cons of each one lol. Im lookin to sell my sentra in Jan. and get a 240.

VQ, Its cheap to get a complete swap (engine harness ecu) nice torque curve, 260-300 horse depending on what model you get.
Way better weight distribution and way less weight than a RB-anything OR JZ-anything about the same weight as a SR with lower center of gravity. (all 3 of those have IRON blocks vs aluminum VQ)

If you want high power Build + Turbo the VQ easily do 600 WHP all day on pump gas with a V-8 like torque curve.

**EDIT**
You did state $$ was NOT an issue, a few shops offer VQ to S chassis swap parts.

This shop has everything u might need

http://intensepower.com/engine8.html