Rebuilding An Rb On The Cheap

[CEF11E]

I am putting an Rb20 in an old R31 i have and the engine has a cracked piston but the bore is OK and the engine is otherwise fine.

The car is for daily driving and i wont be chasing big power it will just be 12 psi on the standard turbo.

What is the minimum ammount of parts and labour needed to to get operational.

I want it done properly not dodgily. but dont want to spend a forturne. What bits am i going to need.

Cheers!!!

[Duncan]

cheapest? get a second had rb20 bottom end bolt the head back on and off you go.

or if you want to rebuild yours you will need at least 1 piston, new rings, new bearings, machining of the block.

[R34GTT-R]

Buy another RB20 as said, cheap as anything now

[CEF11E]

hmmm. I know it will be cheap to buy a bottom end but if i rebuild mine at least i know what i have running. so i think i might still go ahead with it.

any ideas on how much the folllowing bits cost>

bearings

head gasket and other gaskets needed

set of rings

What needs to be done to the block and how much?

[Duncan]

main and big end bearings are about $100 from ACL for an rb26, not sure about rb20. About 300 from Nissan.

rings, sorry I can't remember what they cost. If you buy new pistons you get rings with them. If you are reusing old pistons you need rings, probably from Nissan not sure about the price.

Gaskets, Nissan sell what they call a VRS kit which includes all the gaskets and seals you need.

Bottom end machining - at a minimum you need to check the piston to bore clearances and the bearing clearances and make sure they are OK based on the factory tolerances, and hone the bores. From there other things you might want to do are:

chemical clean all the upy downy bits

xray or crack test the crank, rods, block

shot preen / cryo freeze the rods

balance everything from clutch to flywheel.

[Guilt-Toy]

when you put a second hand piston into the bore that it was not used in before they dont last very long. your best option would be putting a second hand bottom end on and then rebuilding that if you really need too..

[Duncan]

Well if the clearances aren't right sure, but if it is machined properly there is no difference between any given second hand piston.