Category Archives: Project SR20DE

Basically I have put an SR20DE from a 180SX Silvia + 5 speed in the roadster with factory computer etc.. This is not a game for sissys or is that sissies? Well the project is drawing to a close as I have finished the transplant (Is anything ever really finished?).
Apparently not! The car blew a radiator hose and a head gasket etc.. etc..  Here is a picture of the new gauges in the dash the angle is a bit funny but you get the idea. I cut the donor instrument binnacle to get the gauges that would work with the factory wiring and put them behind the dash.

Here we have a view of of the engine in its final position. There is a view from both sides as you can see there is not much room, but it looks at home similar to modern cars where there is almost no room left to work on it. I’ve since had it pointed out that the radiator hoses are arse about so that has changed.

When starting this project I thought it best to have a good hoist as the engine will be in and out of the car as many times for placement and engine mount design. As no one had done this locally I had nothing to go on.  It was always going to be a tight fit I had done some measurements with a tape measure and based on that thought it was close enough to give it a go. This is the hoist the I made with some help of course. It has a 1 ton chain block and a 1 ton girder trolley. It is really only rated to 1/2 ton due to the size of the beam and is calculated that the beam will flex 8mm in the middle under a 1/2 ton load this is a 4 or 10 times safety factor I can’t remember which. Anyway it doesn’t move at all. I used a sling to lift the Sr20 as it has no lifting eyes, I used chains and a bar to lift the R16 out.

This is how the half cut looked when I slid off the back of a tilt tray. The guy is my mate Jess helping to remove the left over glass from the windshield which was everywhere.

This is another shot of the half cut. There was only one guard and no lights or radiator behind the a/c one it was removed with a large knife by the look of it. I put dolly carts under the palate and pushed it about 30′ down the drive into the garage then jacked it up onto axle stands, bought an electric fuel pump plumbed in some fuel line into a Gerry can of petrol connected a battery and turned the key and it all came to life straight away. All accessories worked indicators a/c vents fan wipers etc… All it really lacked was wheels and a back half.

The SR20 and the R16 side by side they are very close if not exactly the same length in the engine as is the four speed and the five speed also being very close to the same length. The SR20 is a very tall engine though.

As well as being a very tall engine the SR20 has its oil pan at the front and I could see no reasonable way to move it to the back. This meant that if I was not going to cut the front cross member of the car to allow the engine to come forward it would have to go back as far as it could. As you can see from the photos above it is back as far as it can go and not interfere with the plumbing to the heater to much though there is no easy access back there. The photo on the left has a yellow line showing the area of the front cross member that was pounded in about 10mm to allow the oil pan flange extra clearance.