Project SR E30: Part 5 – Installing the SR20

SR20 engine sitting on the subframe
After taking some time off to paint our brake booster and all our fabricated brackets, we can install the engine for the final time! We decided to install it through the bottom to avoid scratching our beautiful new paint since it’s a bit of a tight fit. We started by placing the engine on the subframe and bolting in the motor mounts.
Rolling an engine under a car
We jacked up the car as high as the jack stands would go and slowly rolled the whole subframe assembly in.
Installing driveshaft
As we explained in the last installment, the driveshaft can only be installed by sliding the engine into the yoke. This means we had to install the driveshaft now, before the engine is in it’s final position.

You may also remember in part 4, we had to take the driveshaft back to the driveshaft shop because the pinion flange bolt pattern was wrong. Well, they made us a new driveshaft, however, when we went to install it, the pinion flange fit but it wouldn’t sit flush. It turns out, for whatever reason, the centering lip on our new flange was too long preventing the flange from sitting all the way flush.

Machining driveshaft flange lip
Tired of wasting time dealing with driveshaft shops, we snuck into our friends machine shop after hours and milled off part of the centering flange.
Driveshaft hardware
We also picked up some new hardware for the driveshaft as well as nord-lock washers to prevent the bolts from coming loose with vibration. We opted for zinc-coated 10.9 grade hardware for corrosion resistance and to allow us to achieve higher torque. The bolt is actually an M10-1.5 x 30mm FLANGE bolt. After taking measurements, we found that it’s impossible to fit a 17mm wrench on the bolt thanks to the added thickness of the new driveshaft, so we opted to use flange bolts since flange bolts have a smaller hex size (15mm in this case).
Driveshaft all bolted up
After machining the centering lip down, we were finally able to bolt the driveshaft in with all new hardware.
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9 comments

  2. Hey just a heads up: when using a bolt and nut with Nord-Lock washers, you require a Nord-Lock washer on the bolt and the nut. There was a video posted up by the Nord-Lock group explaining how and when to use their washers. Looks like you only have one on the nut.

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  3. Are there any special considerations for using a brake booster from and NA on a turbo car? I’m finding very little information on this topic. I’m installing a B210 brake booster on my 4G63 turbo swapped Datsun 510. Although this booster swap seems common in the 510 world, very few people have information to share about making it “turbo safe”.

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  4. really nice work guys!! Techline coatings makes a really effective coating for manifolds.. The effect is two fold. You’ll get about 100 degree drop in temp off the surface of the manifold and increase velocity of gases and aid throttle response. Also, the gold isn’t very effective. The silver heat reduction material :DEI heat shielding….is much more effective. So you would coat all you manifolds, Turbo housing (hot side) and if you want to get fancy you would coat all the parts you want to keep cool in their thermal dispersant coatings to shed heat. There stuff really work.. I’ve used them .. No affiliation what so ever

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    1. Thanks for the advice, we will definitely look into that. Currently we were planning on using DEI’s Form-a-Shield thermal barrier to help protect the brake master.

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