Nialls' e21 story and build rb20det

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niall
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Nialls' e21 story and build rb20det

Post by niall »

My e21 adventure started with this car
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it was the first car i bought when i moved to australia in 2004. It was a 1979, red, paint was fairly poor, not original and it had evidence of a small front end impact at some point. it had a poorly fitting motorsport front bumper as you can see from the pic

mechanically it had a 2.7 bottom end with a 325i head and small cam, the engine was fantastic , best bit of the car. it had a 4 speed manual and a non limited slip diff so traction was poor especially on 14's

E21's were abundant in australia back tehn so i got this car for a bargain price of 1400. i thought it was a pretty good deal then but when i look back now it was a fantastic deal !! I liked the engine that was in it but i always wanted more power, i had plans to fit nitrous to it and i actually had it all installed but before i was going to use it another e21 owner wanted to but the engine, i think i sold the engine alone for 1800 , at the time this made sense because i thought i would fit an m30 3.5.

I wish i never sold that engine.........

I bought a m30 3.5 cheaply but the motor was destroyed, the cylinder head was seized on and everything was in poor condtiotn so i ended up scrapping the engine using some of the money to buy a car i could daily and the rest got wasted. throughout this time i was an apprentice mechanic so i was very poor. I had an e21 with no engine and i was driving around in an old suzuki sierra
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I was quite upset, i also had a fling with some mk1 golfs,, with plans to build a 2.0 G60 engine for one, an idea that i may come back to some day.

I got a big loan out and bought the 300zx in 2006 that you have seen in the other threads, was driving this as a daily for along time but it was not ideal, went through fuel, brakes and tyres very fast and i couldnt drive it slowly, lots of speeding tickets !!

Throughout the ownership of my 300zx i began to understand Nissans very well, i like their engines and turbos. I discovered that the RB20DET was very popular adn quite unloved by the nissan community. This meant i could buy one cheap. I picked up and entire RB20 engine conversion package for 700 dollars, the catch was the cylinder head needed to be overhauled.

I started fitting all this stuff to the red e21, i initiallly made good progress but overtime my enthusiasm and finances ran short, i was spending alot of time and money on my 300zx and other things. The red e21 needed alot of work even on top of the engien conversion

so i was looking for a daily driver e21, had to be a 323i manual. So i found this one on ebay
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to the untrained eye it was horrible but for me i could see the potential ane value. BBS 15x7's , BBS front bumper. Sporty seats and a straight original body. Teh seller wanted 1600, i paid 850 :D

repaired hole in roof
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replaced steering wheel
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prepped for paint
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you can see my old red e21 in the backround that i had started painting matt black
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it already started looking good in primer
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paint on
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Done
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this was my daily for a long time
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I dailyed this car for a long time, then eventually i went back to my 300zx full time as i had built a new engine for it and it was very powerfull, my e21 was not being used and one friday my young apprentice asked me to borrow the car so he could pick up a date, long story short he destroyed the engine, over heated it so badly it was beyond reasonable repair.

i was quite upset, and realising i coudltn do 2 major e21 projects i took teh engine and all the work so far out of my red e21 and fittied to the silver car, with a heavy heart i scrapped my first e21 and the damaged m20.

fitting the RB20 to the silver car was easy adn quick as i had done all that work before. I then parked the car up and didnt touch it for a year or 2. I finally revived teh project when i had a little more money and a clear head. Moving house gave me a larger shed to work in. Here is the moment when i cleaned out the shed and revived the e21 rb20 project

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looking at the project i realised there was not much to do, i plumbed eveything in, wired it up and it started almost first try

then i went on the hunt for my dream e21 wheels, Borbet A
i found a set in great condition in Germany, but the centers were painted, i got a good deal and figured i could paint them silver myself
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fitted a genuine nardi s line wheel from an Audi s4 i think
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some day i will change the audi badge

I got the rb20 running perfectly after a bit more wiring work, the engien was totally standard but ran well and very smooth , power was only 180-200hp though
i ran it like this for a while and did important stuf flike rear subframe bushes, exhaust etc.

The economy diff ratio was not good for the rb20, 3.5 :1 i think witha rev limit of 7800, it was doing 120kph in second gear, i wanted a ratio more like 4.1 :1
i also wanted LSD, lookeing for a bmw diff was expensive, and least 1000 dollars and i was concerned it wouldnt be strong enough, i already had a spare diff for me 300zx which is a 200mm crownwheel, 4.1:1 and LSD :D

so i started to fit this, it was a big job
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subframe removed and both diffs together

the axels were different of course, in length adn diameter

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custom axels were expensive so i wanted to make my own,
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many hours on a lathe got me to here, you can see i trued them up, drilled a hole through the nissan axel, and turned down the bmw axel, machined them very finely and extremely close for an interference fit
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then using a diamond bit i drilled a hole through where both shafts join and pressed in a hardened steel pin, plug welded both ends of that.

then back to the lathe, i preheated, welded and post heated about 30 mm of the bmw shaft to build it up to the larger diameter, turned it down super smooth, then made an interefence fit tube 6mm wall thickness to press over the top, i preheated the shaft, welded both ends and let cool in a bucket of sand for 6 hours
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finished item
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this is the nissan dif fon bmw subframe test fititng before axels were welded

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almost finished, the rear mount was temporary

had to cut the boot floor and make a strong mounting point for the rear of the diff
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the rear end works great, but it was alot of work

Then i set about doing the front mounted intercooler. I bought a cooler nearly new from a ford falcon xr6, australian made, very good quality for 45dollars ! for the falcon owners they are too small, but perfect for me.

The e21 is a difficult front end to fit an intercooler and make it look nice so i mounted it low and thought i could modify the bbs bumper around it to hide it a bit.
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did a turbo upgrade at the same time
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here it is now
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Last edited by niall on Wed May 21, 2014 10:39 am, edited 1 time in total.


Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
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luke
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by luke »

Good to see the RB20 project sorted Niall - nice project post about it.

The Borbets look great on there, and I bet even with "just" 200hp, it's a hoot to drive.
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niall
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by niall »

hi again luke. i should have added, the 200hp was before the turbo and intercooler. with the new turbo the performance is mental lol, probably over 300hp now , combined with 4.11's it really flies.

ive been embarassing SS commodores haha
Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
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e21-Mark
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by e21-Mark »

Hi and welcome back!

The engine swap looks great. Nice work with the diff swap and driveshafts. Am liking those seats too! What are they?

So do you have any more plans?
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niall
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by niall »

thanks ! there will always be more plans for this car, more power , better suspension, brakes, interior, etc etc. lol

the most immediate thing is a fuel system upgrade though, its draining the stock pump dry under full load so ive got a bosch 044 and a swirl pot waiting to fit over the easter holidays, then ill dyno it and tune it as much as i can with the current injectors etc.
Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
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Mihajlo
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by Mihajlo »

very nice job there!
did you have lot's of cutting and welding to fit engine?
did you use bmw front subframe?
any pictures of in swap progress? :)
Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you.
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luke
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by luke »

with the new turbo the performance is mental lol, probably over 300hp now
with 300hp & the 4.10 you'll certainly be smoking those SS Commodores (I give them a mighty scare in the e30, and I only have 210hp).

Good to hear.
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Jeroen
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by Jeroen »

Now there's an update! :thumbsup

Hope ur ok with me moving this to the modified section in the Owner's Gallery though.

And, what's next?
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
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croma_man
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by croma_man »

now that is a long story short, was really interesting to read about it and look at the pictures.

I'm also interested in the mounts, firewall, exhaust....more technical pics of the RB20DET install if you perhaps have them.

Also I like the work that you did to the rear differential.
steed
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by steed »

This is a really nice build thread but as croma man says, a bit more techinal detail would be nice if you have it? there are many idea's i could utilise/steal.
'79 316 (sepiabraun, awesome!)
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niall
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by niall »

i did a huge build thread when i was first putting it together, i had posted it on a few forums but where ever i hosted teh images must have deleted them as they are all broken links now. I will try my best to restore the thread so there is detail for you guys.

I will be remoiving the engien soon for a basic rebuild, i may make a few more sets of the engine mounts, maybe someday supply a basic conversion kit.
Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
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niall
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by niall »

e34 headlights done, and what a horrible job it was. i would not recommend anyone using e34's, buy the e30 headlights instead, the e34 items are just too big. So much work!!

this pic here represents about 6 hours work. all wired up and done in a way that i can return to stock very easily

this should be all worth it when i can fit HID bulbs :D

Image
Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
User avatar
niall
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by niall »

bosch 044 and swirl pot fitted :D

i had a big day doing this work so i havent had time to pretty it up yet, but it is all in and working, no leaks !!!

now i have consiistent fuel pressure, plenty of flow and with teh new lift pump i can run it down under 1/4 tank :D

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the swirl pot is a standard item on a jaguar XJS. I got this one for free, i like them because made of steel means easy to repair, and the center piece comes out for cleaning and also has a strainer filter on the bottom of the pick up to make sure no dirt gets into my expensive fuel pump

So the lift pump feeds fuel into the side of the swirl pot, the center pipe in the swirl pot has a long extension inside so it picks fuel up from teh bottom, that goes to the 044, then fuel filter, then injectors. The small pipe on top of the swirlpot is return to tank when the pot is full
Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
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polov8
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by polov8 »

Nice set up, I might look into the XJS swirl pot for other projects! good find!
Andy
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niall
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Re: Nialls' e21 story and build

Post by niall »

So now that my fuel system is up the scratch the car is perfroming well.

short vid here


So well in fact that now i am hitting the air flow limit in the ECU , which shuts it down for a few seconds. This happens when the air flow meter is maxed out for a period of 3 seconds. It does give me an idea of how much power it is making as this occurs at around 275bhp.

The solution is to either scrap the stock wiring and ecu and go haltech, but this is expensive, or you fit a programmable board to my stock ecu, this way i can real time tune.

I may put the paint job on hold and do this first.
Niall Phillips------ too many cars
E21 RB20DET
E46M3
E34 52???
Ford Sierra v8
Range Rover v8
300zx Twin Turbo
Audi A4 daily
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