Here's my 1984 HC31 Laurel Pillarless Sedan. This is an odd one, it's kind of a mixture of a few old Nissans with a few things that were to be introduced on later cars. The engine bay contains a L20ET. This must be the biggest 2L engine ever made - the block is absolutely enormous considering the capacity. Yet the engine gets lost in the cavernous bay.
As far as I know the L20ET is the first ever Japanese production turbo engine, and the first Nissan ECCS engine. It was also in some DR30 Skylines. It's not a very fashionable engine as it's non crossflow, two valves per cylinder, SOHC, and doesn't make extreme power. The desirable engine from the era is the FJ20. Anyway the L20ET is pretty torquey from down low, and very smooth. (This engine shouldn't be confused with the L20B - a four cylinder motor.) This engine seems to have drawn inspiration from Mercedes, in particular the valve train, and the method of adjusting valve clearance is like a Merc.
I guess the main reason the block is so big is that this block is also used in the L24, L26, and L28 motors that the old Z cars had. The rear suspension is very similar to a Z car, independent trailing arms, good for losing it arse first. The front suspension is almost the same as an R31. The diff is an R200 open wheeler, so should be able to put a slipper in without any dramas.
The 5 speed box is a 5S5W71B. The older Z cars had a 5S5W71A, and the newer R31 Skylines had a 5S5W71C. They all look pretty much the same, just the ratios are slightly different. In theory an RB motor will bolt straight onto it.
This car would have blown me away in 1984. It's got air conditioning, power steering, electric mirrors, electric windows, adjustable tilt and extension steering column, individual lighting for each passenger, independent rear suspension, four wheel disc brakes, and a freaky deaky turbo motor. It still cruises very quietly.
Here is the engine getting lost in the engine bay. The engine and engine bay were just immaculate, which is why I bought it. The exterior paint is not so hot in places, but white is relatively easy to touch up. I had been looking for a rear wheel drive Nissan turbo car, Skyline, Silvia, Cefiro, something like that, and I saw this turbo Laurel in the paper for a giveaway price. It was a giveaway price because the clutch was rooted and the engine didn't idle properly after it should have warmed up. Stupidly I thought that I would buy it, fix it up, and flick it on. Unfortunately, after fixing it, I've become attached to it.
I didn't buy it straight away, um-ed and ah-ed a bit, pissed the seller off. Got the price a bit lower, and agreed on the sale. Next day came back to pick up the car, the wanker had taken a wet dog for a ride in it, and filled the boot with firewood. He'd only owned it for a short time, and thank goodness for that, because he was a total chump with no idea of how to maintain machinery. The interior and boot took a lot of cleaning. Fortunately he'd kept away from under the bonnet.
The engine wouldn't idle properly about 3 or 4 minutes after starting. It turned out that the thermostat was faulty, so the engine never got fully warm. There's an auxiliary air bypass which isn't computer controlled, it has a heater and a bi-metallic strip. When the car is started, the heater heats the strip, which eventually bends and closes the bypass, then the still-cold-engine won't idle. With the new thermostat, it worked OK, but I got rid of the heater feed anyway, as it is heated by the engine, didn't see the point.
Actually the whole engine control system is just bizarre. Looking at the intake manifold, every cylinder just about has its own individual vacuum control. It's crazy, there's a fast idle control valve, an auxiliary air control valve, an air regulator valve, a EGR control valve, a boost emergency vent valve, a good luck valve, and a thermionic valve. Well the last two are lies, but shit, it's insane! The other crazy thing is that the computer doesn't directly control half of them, and those that it does, it controls through remote solenoids opening vacuum feeds. Heath Robinson & Rube Goldburg working overtime have nothing on these idiots. Wait I just called Nissan engineers idiots! I will be eviscerated.
Here's the crazy dump pipe. The turbine housing shrouds the wastegate and turbine, stifling the free flow of exhaust, then the dump pipe forces it to take two sharp right angle turns. When I get the car going properly, all this is going in the skip bin. The fool I bought it from had put an aftermarket exhaust on, but it was only 2"! Why would you even bother?
The starter switch was a bit intermittent and the tail lights didn't work from the column switch. I made an interceptor loom because I wanted to have a start switch on the dashboard like a race car. This is because I have a small penis. My small penis has also made me get a large aluminium wing on the boot. Well anyway a few switches on this car didn't work so well after 20 years. However they were made so they could all be disassembled, unlike modern switches. I cleaned the crud off the contacts, put some electrolube on them, and they were like brand new.
For example the power window cluster shown here in pieces, it was a bit dodgy, and now it's not. Just took a little bit of time.
Conversely, this took quite a lot of time. Here is the Laurel levitating in my garage. Oh no! Somebody stole the gearbox!
Oh there's the gearbox! Well it's had a bit of a clean. I also thought I would replace the rear gearbox seal, while it was out of the car, so I'd gone and bought one. Imagine my chagrin when the old seal turned out to be almost perfect. Oh well, the new one went in anyway. I imported my dad to help with this, as two men can struggle around with gearboxes more easily than one man, and he is a pretty amazing mechanic, whereas my trade is electrical.
A brace of clutches and a newly machined flywheel. I would eat my lunch off it. The disgusting old clutch was beyond rooted. Strangely enough the car was actually faster with the slipping clutch, because the engine would spin up to about 5 grand and stay there, while the gearbox caught up. For a little while.
Here's the front, missing the big chrome Mercedes style grill. I took it out because I was dicking around seeing how an intercooler would fit in. I have an intercooler that last was employed by a Lancer GSR. So that will go in sometime.
Basically with this engine, I would change the turbo (because of the ridiculous turbine housing) possibly keeping the centre (to make oil supply easier), dump the dump pipe, 3" exhaust all the way (with disguised small tip), and front mount intercooler.
Other possibilities I've thought of include putting an L28ET instead, keeping it all period; putting a supercharger in (relatively easy because the engine isn't crossflow); and best of all, putting an RB30DET in, which explains the title of this page.
This would be a joint project with my brother. He's got an empty R32 awaiting an engine. He also has two RB30E motors, and he has two RB25DE heads. So there's the basic parts for two RB30DETs. That would be a bit of a sleeper, a 3 litre turbo 80's Laurel. That's my kind of car.
But in the end I moved overseas so I sold it. I covered the cost of my playing around with it, so it wasn't all lost.