Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Problems, ideas and comments specific to engine swaps.
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

Heating and Cooling

When the car came apart, it was apparent that the original heater core had not been removed from the car when it was restored-- and I could see a lot of nastiness oozing out from the core, and Brian reported that the heater control did not work well. So out with the heater...

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Once removed, the heater control valve was found to be frozen too...

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When we do SR conversions, we prefer to put the inlet and outlet for the heater on the passenger side of the car. This works out better with the heater hose arrangement on the SR20DE(T) engines, but we like to crossover the heater hose on the inside of the car (since there is not much room between the cylinder head and the firewall).

This would also be a good time to upgrade to a nylon heater control valve that you can find on many Honda and Toyota cars as well.

The heater core was removed and sent out to our local radiator shop for rodding out and resealing:

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In the meantime, the heater box was cleaned and restored and the Honda heater control valve was installed and new hoses added;

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The firewall was cut to incorporate an OEM heater grommet from a Toyota:

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I don't see a photo of the final product-- but next time I see the car, I'll add one here.

Cooling:

Since the car was painted, we did not want to modify the core support to add a different radiator. Instead, a high-quality KOYO Datsun 510 radiator was used as it was a bolt in and would more than handle the SR20DE's cooling needs.

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Of course, we would need an electric fan added to it, so a set of mounting brackets were made and installed onto the radiator:

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Eric Straw going to town with the TIG:
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And installed into the car:

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The tight clearance between the engine and the cylinder head required a tight radius hose to be used on the upper neck:

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And then the upper water neck was modified to clear under the CAS (distributor) and back up to the radiator:

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The fan is controlled by a in-line 240SX water temp sensor that mounts to the lower radiator hose:

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This is basically a grounding switch-- when the water temp reaches 205-degrees F, it closes the switch, which engages the fan relay until the temperature drops below 205. Simple and reliable.

Michael
Michael Spreadbury
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

With the heating and cooling systems sorted, it was time to do a pre-lube on the engine before install. On Brian's engine, we went ahead and put a new oil pump in-- on the SR20DE(T) engines, the oil pump is part of the front cover, and the entire assembly is installed at once:

Like this:
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Since the oil pump was installed dry, we like to prelube the engine before it is started-- which is easily done while the engine is on the stand-- we have a simple in-line hose assembly that replaces the stock oil filter housing assembly:

Stock SR housing (with 510 sender) to be installed right next to it, unbolts from the block:

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It is replaced with a unit like this:

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We then hook up an electric drill powered inline oil pump and prelube the system as you can see in this YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/KBRERtNu500

Once we can see that we have oil dripping onto the camshafts, we know that the entire system is lubricated again and we should be good to go on startup. The temporary oil distribution block is removed from the engine, and the OE SR20DE(T) oil filter housing is re-installed with a new OEM Nissan filter.

On to the next step!

Michael
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icehouse
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by icehouse »

Michael if you use the S12 inline fan switch it kicks on at 185 instead of 205. They look identical but have a white stripe instead of a red stripe. I've always ran the S12 one, it seems to work great. If you find out the nissan part number let me know :)


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"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

That is very interesting Jeff-- I'll order one and try it out. Here is Nissan's part number (from what I can see):

21595-07F00

Looks like you can get them via Summit Auto Parts:

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https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fss- ... gK-cvD_BwE

Michael
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

The 6-speed

With the engine prep done, it was time to bolt up the S15 6-speed transmission. Since this engine was originally an automatic, we needed to remove the automatic flex plate bushing which is pressed into the back of the crankshaft. I make a special tool to do this and then it is a pretty easy job of walking out the bushing. (I thought I had a photo of this, but it looks very similar to this:)

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With that complete, we can now bolt on the flywheel. Normally, the 6-speed comes with a very heavy dual mass flywheel, which are designed to absorb the shocks and abuse from the turbo engines. Since this car is normally aspirated, and has nowhere near the HP levels of the turbo car, we prefer the lightweight flywheel which allows the SR to rev up even faster.

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A new clutch was bolted up:

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And the 6-speed bolted to the engine, put on the car and ready for re-installation.

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And a few minutes later, all bolted up and in the car:

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Since the S15 6-speed does not have a speedo output built into the transmission, we would need to do something for a speed signal. We used to make hall-effect sensor wheels and attach them to the driveshaft to run a speed signal (for an electronic speedo), but with cheap GPS sensors now on the market, it is easier to go that route.

So, a gauge conversion was in order. This car came with an optional factory tachometer which was non-operational, so it was a good time to fix that as well. The previous owner had converted the bezels to the silver look and Brian did not mind them, so we left that alone. The gauges got all new Autometer guts and were calibrated by an instrument restoration company in SoCal-- they turned out great.

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And operational:

https://youtu.be/svmvKK__Lrc
Michael Spreadbury
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

The Last Details

With the engine back in the car, it was then down to the last details to get it running again.

Exhaust System

A mandrel bent, 2" exhaust system was built from these components:

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We used the stock SR20DE exhaust manifold (which just clears the steering box with a little massaging and the oxygen sensor port welded up):

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The down pipe had just a little kick in it to clear the steering box:

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And the fully completed down pipe with v-band flanges:

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Other components:

Stainless steel radiator overflow bottle (being modified by Eric for better fitment):

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The MAF support bracket-- we like to make a mount for the MAF to help support the air cleaner and MAF assy-- here is the CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) mockup and the produced part:

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And installed in the car:

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Wiring:

The stock 510 engine compartment wiring harness was reworked to remove all the wiring for the stock relays, voltage regulator, and other unnecessary components:

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Scrap wiring:

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Underdash ECU mount with relays mocked up:

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New wiring terminals and ends for added components:

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EFI wiring:

We used a brand-new SR20DE wiring harness from Wiring Specialties http://www.wiringspecialties.com/datsun ... g-harness/ with their plug-and-play EFI setup, and that worked out really well... they are beautiful harnesses and make things really easy to hook up:

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Harness power supply-- I like to use these little fuse power supply boxes found in SAABs to add a fused power source to the main harness. I modify the stock mounting bracket to make it a bolt in:

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Bolted in the car:

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And installed in the car with 4 maxi fuses (one for headlights, one for radiator fan, one for battery power to the car), and one not used:

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Other details:

Hard line for brake booster to intake plenum:

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And the car all completed:

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And customer Brian upon pick up of the car:

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Summary:

The normally aspirated SR20DE engines are a fantastic upgrade to the 510 chassis. Light and lively, they beg to be revved, and they reward a good driver with an excellent power band. This car works really well, and you can literally turn the key, and drive it anywhere.

Special thanks to Eric Straw for his help throughout this project, and customer Brian for letting me work our magic on such a beautiful 510-- this was a great project.

Hope this will be a help for people in the future considering this swap.

Michael
Michael Spreadbury
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by James »

That is extremely nice! Well done
Finished is better than perfect......
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by icehouse »

Have you guys ever tried this? You can take apart and clock the heater valve while retaining stock function. (we stopped smoking years ago. Although I still drink tons of soda) It was just the best photo I have of what we do.


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Also do you have issues with idle with such a short intake pipe?
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

Jeff wrote:
Have you guys ever tried this? You can take apart and clock the heater valve while retaining stock function.
I have not tried that-- looks like an interesting solution-- in Brian's case the heater valve was junk, and I did not have any others (nor did I want to rebuild it), and we have had really good luck with the nylon heater control valves (though I did get a leaky one on this project), so we went that route.

Michael
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icehouse
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by icehouse »

spriso wrote:Jeff wrote:
Have you guys ever tried this? You can take apart and clock the heater valve while retaining stock function.
I have not tried that-- looks like an interesting solution-- in Brian's case the heater valve was junk, and I did not have any others (nor did I want to rebuild it), and we have had really good luck with the nylon heater control valves (though I did get a leaky one on this project), so we went that route.

Michael
Yeah the good old days of buying a cheap 620 valve from Nissan are gone :( I loved the easy of slapping the guts into the 510 body.

Was the nylon valve easy to hook to the stock controls?
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

Jeff wrote:
Was the nylon valve easy to hook to the stock controls?
It took a little fooling around, but it was not too difficult.
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

Jeff wrote:
Also do you have issues with idle with such a short intake pipe?
No, the car idles fine-- we have run into issues with short pipes on roadsters, but in this application, this works fine.

Here is a YouTube video of the car idling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bNsYC4X0Sg

Michael
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by icehouse »

spriso wrote:Jeff wrote:
Also do you have issues with idle with such a short intake pipe?
No, the car idles fine-- we have run into issues with short pipes on roadsters, but in this application, this works fine.

Here is a YouTube video of the car idling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bNsYC4X0Sg

Michael

Huh. Fix mine. It idles like hell. Then I put big cams in it. Now it's even worse.
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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spriso
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by spriso »

Jeff wrote:
Huh. Fix mine. It idles like hell. Then I put big cams in it. Now it's even worse.
Do you have your AAC valve hooked up? Do you have the air bypass connected to the intake tubing? The SR's won't idle worth a crap if they are not hooked up correctly.

Michael
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Re: Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports

Post by icehouse »

Yep got all that hooked up. I've done 3 or 4 NA SR's and they've all idled fine. Of coarse mine is the only one with issues. Cleaned the MAF, new cap and rotor, plugs. It idles perfect with the MAF unplugged. All I can think is when the PO had the engine he pulled the intake to polish it. Maybe it's got a vacuum leak.
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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