Project 180. Stage1

This little project was not our undertaking and nor were we intended to be heavily involved. In the beginning of this project the owner (Nick) would call us in on the odd job that required specialist tools or if he wanted his handy work double checked by a qualified mechanic.
When visiting his home to do these things it did not take long before Nick had talked us into becoming a serious part of the build. We were impressed with the level of mechanical knowledge and skill set the bloke had. Here was an IT professional who was a better mechanic then most of the blokes currently in the trade but it was his infectious attitude towards the car scene that we loved.
Before long Nick had us convinced of his dream. He wanted an RB26DETT. A GTR motor in his 180SX? The conversion was serious talk as the RB26 was a six cylinder twin turbo engine that went into Nissans top line four wheel drive sports car and the 180 ran a four cylinder non turbo rear wheel drive. The conversion has been done by others before but there is a reason why most avoid the job.
The most obvious and the first hurdle to overcome was the engine. We got one of the much loved engines and started with what was believed to be the hardest part, the sump. The GTR is a 4WD and the front diff unit in them is combined with the engine sump. So the holes where the axles run through the sump had to be welded up and there were some other modification needed to be made to the sump to allow the sway bar to fit. This was all outsourced to a aluminium specialist. So whilst waiting the RB26 was almost completely stripped down and put back together with new parts. This was where we joined the party, if you get a timing belt wrong its all over. Short of a complete engine rebuild this motor got the works. Every seal, belt, gasket and plug was replaced. Every bolt was replaced with high tensile ones every visible part was given paint and before long we had a motor ready to go.
Exeedy heavy duty clutch was added and after the automatic flywheel was removed and a manual one fitted, the RB25 5 speed manual box from a R33 Skyline was bolted on the back. All that was left was to drop it in.