I've been consdering this since before I even bought my car. It's a 1989 Nissan 240sx hatchback. Now that I've been researching it and finding stories of people doing the swaps, I keep hearing that the rb26 swap would be expensive and require a lot of custom work. While the extra power would of course be nice, should I just settle for the rb25? I've heard it's much easier. I've also heard the rb26 wasn't expected to last very long in a 240 too. If you can't already tell, I'm an idiot once the hood is lifted, I've still got tons to learn. But I love my car, I love driving it, and I want it to be faster. So, anyone that can suggest one over the other with reason, or give me an estimate on how much I'm looking at to install the engine, since I won't be doing it myself. I'm guessing atleast a few grand? But with the rb26 I read that I should expect to spend 15k or so due to all of the custom work involved.

Sorry if I come off as an idiot, I'm just looking for help

 

then swapping in a rb is not for you just yet. You need to learn more about the car you have now, work on that. Putting any other motor in is definately not for someone that hasnt had experience under the hood. If you are planning on swapping an rb25/26 in, thats great, just keep reading and working on your car.

If you do swap with an rb26, you will need a rb25 transmission. Since the rb's are awd motors, there is a transfer case. The rb26 transmission has the transfer case built in, rb25 is seperate.

 

And u'll need to get a new driveshaft. Mckinney has a kit. It comes with Motor and Tranny mounts to.

But I agree with nsn, learn workin on ur KA first b4 you make a dive into swaps.

 

also if ur just looking to be faster, just take the more simple/cheaper route and get the sr20..Im sure it has plenty of power capability for nething u will ever need it for.

 

considering you cant tell your *** from a sparkplug, I'd say forget about a swap and learn how to change your oil. Common sense if you don't know ****, don't go and do something you know even less about. Learn how to change your oil before thinking about a swap.

Hope I helped some...

 

did everyone just space out on the part where he said he wouldnt be doing the swap himself????? Changing your oil is great, but you dont NEED to know how to rebuild your car before you make it faster. There are lots of guys that would mop up any one you know on a race track, but couldnt swap out a tranny if their life depended on it.
bty- as for your questions, you deff want to go with an RB20 or RB25, the 26 is not for people just looking to get some extra power. But before you buy anything from McKinney, contact me first. They sell some good parts, that is if you are filthy rich and can throw thousands of dollars on parts that should have only cost you hundreds.
If you are on the east coast I can help you even more.
good luck with whatever you decide to do with the car.

 

Granted there are plenty of "racers" who have fast cars but couldn't swap a tranny to save their lives, however, I am sure they have some remnance of a clue as to what is going on under their hoods, which this guy does not have.

So I stand firm in my previous statement, learn how to change your oil before you even start thinking about swapping your motor.

 

heh yeah i definately won't be doing it myself, although i'll be watching and hopefully learning a good bit from it.. and thanks to those of you that didn't jump up and flame me right off, but yeah I know I've got lots to learn about my car before I do something along these lines. But it never hurts to think ahead, does it? It'll probably atleast be half a year if not more before I started this little project, if not longer. I'm just wanting to get a good idea of what my options are and wanted a few different opinions on it. And for the guy that the sr20 would be enough, bleh.. You can never have too much power! Not to mention I've seen quite a few locals with the sr20 swap.. seems like everyone and their grandmothers have done that swap. Yeah I'm not really in any position to go for bragging rights, I still don't really want to do something you see almost every day either..

And I'm somewhat east coast-ish.. moreso eastern central heh..
I'm from Memphis, TN.. but yeah, any help\suggestions on where to buy, what to look out for, price estimate, anything.. it's all very much appreciated. So thanks again, just trying to learn about my options and atleast get an idea of what I'll be able to do with this car further down the line

 

go with the rb25det....it is 250hp stock...so with just around 3-4k dollars in upgrades you will just about beat everything...

 

what are you... the rb25 man? jeeze... with 3-4k in any motor you can beat a lot of cars