Been a while since I've updated this thread. I've been enjoying the car alot this year. This has been actually the most I've driven in the past 6 to 7 years. However there is a reason for this. I'll explain later.
So last year my friend Zack found a RB25 turbo for a very good price local around the area. I decided to pick it up as its a very easy and budget upgrade for the RB20.
Changing this turbo on the RB20 is very easy but for me that was not the case.When I got this engine back in 2015 I was a bit of idiot at that time. I'm not saying Im still not an idiot now but back then I was a pretty big one. Anyway, at that time I had got the motor from Japan and as soon as it got delivered to my dads front door. I just dropped it in my car. No maintence whatsoever.
This has bit me in the ass so much in the past decade. As I've had to do all of the primary maintenace items in the car. I bring this up because as I was doing my turbo upgrade. All of my gaskets on the exhaust side were shot.
Turbo to Manifold Gasket
Exhaust Manifold Gasket
I also realized when removing the exhaust manifold that I had 3 broken exhaust studs!!! I had a huge massive exhaust leak the entire time I've owned this car and had no idea. So I bought all new exhaust studs & gaskets to reseal this engine.
I was only able to remove 2 of the 3 broken exhaust studs. The last exhaust stud at the back of the engine, I got extremely close but I broke a carbide bit inside of it and could not penetrate it. I tried drilling a bigger hole but stopped as I did not want to damage the block. For now I will be missing 1 exhaust stud at the end and used a bit more permatex copper exhaust gasket on that portion to until I get it properly fixed. Most likely will have to use helicoil.
When I put everything together. I was blown away about how different the car sounded. It had a much different tone. It sounded alot quieter. This made me realize how big the leak was. I upped the boost to 13PSI and the car rips. It's less punchier than the stock RB20 turbo but it pulls to all the way to redline which is much better than the original. Once I get a Haltech ECU & get it tuned and I'm pretty sure it will pull even harder.
Shortly after I got this done. I was involved in a car crash in my daily driver.
I was T-Boned and luckily okay. It was at a weird seattle intersection and the guy did not see me & hit me. It was pretty calm and we got each other information but when it came to filing the police report. This was just dissapointing. We tried calling the police to file a report but in Seattle its all online!! They will not come to file it which is bullshit because it just makes it a he say she say ordeal. The crazy thing is there was a police offier passing by & as I asked him to assist with filing a report. He said to just do it online.
Aboslute bullshit. Then to make matters worse, this guy insurance is just not compliant at all. I was forced to use my deductiable but my insurance company mentions they are going to continue to fight to get my money back. At first when I heard that I had no faith, however my sister was in the same scenario a couple of years ago and she actually did get her deductible back. So maybe theres a chance.Hopefully.
Anyway. With this, I had to daily drive my 240 for about 2 months. I honestly thought this was going to suck but actually I enjoyed it so much!! This is partially due to all the hardwork I spent last year with the heatblocking & sound deadning. The car was actually quite comfotarble and I took it everywhere.
I was honestly very glad I daily drove it because it really motivated me to do a few more things to the car that would make daily driving even more enjoyable. Obviously install A/C which I plan on executing this winter. I got the last piece of the puzzle (the Compressor) last month. The other thing is to have keyless entry as this car was original a base model and has no door locking system. Unlocking the doors manually, although period correct is kind of annoying when you're using this car daily.
I plan on using the OEM 180sx keyfob for this but there is a trick to do this. You must have the correct keyless entry unit. Currently you can only get these overseas by buying a 180sx, Late R34 or S15 keyless entry module. However...... I'm recieving a package next week to test a theory, but after alot of reasearch I think I found a car in America that actually shares the same keyless entry module. I'll share more info whenever I post again. & Of course I will be making a guide on this.
Lastly after 2 months of driving the 240 I finally got me a new daily. Have always been against SUV's but I get the hype. 2021 X3. Having a hard time getting used to the ZF transmission coming from a CVT. Extremely smooth and puts power down real well.
Thats it for now, but I promise the next update will be pretty good. Will be a very indepth overview of the 180sx keyless system.