Safari Spirit

[gary_in_nz]

i got an old 88 gq, great machine, saw a 96 gq spirit with a blown 2.8l in it. its an auto, but was wondering if the transmissions in this model are tough?? was thinking ls1 into it, would it handle it??

[turoa]

why waste time adapting a nissan auto to an ls1? you have to play with everything for it to shift. Just use an ls1 auto

A better conversion might be an rb25 or 30. you can bolt any rb series motor into an rd28 safari because the blocks are similar. Makes an easier conversion

[flyingbrick]

the 2.8's have little gearboxes. You'd want toswap everything over from the 4.2.

Workmate has a spirit. It has cool things like a center console cup holder.....and gay things like front sway bar.

[darinz]

The spirit has 4.6 diffs so a good starting point but the auto is too small. If you want to go the LS route then fit a 4L80e auto to it as the adapter kits to Nissan auto are a bit dogey IMO. The Nissan auto is plenty strong enough but swapping auto would be a better all round way of doing it.

[albundy]

And if you want to swap those 4.6 diffs for my 4.1's I would be more then happy to do so.
Al

[gary_in_nz]

ok cheers for the info guys will see what it all comes to, the old 88 gq is getting a bit rusty!!

[gary_in_nz]

just a bit of a rehash, im still looking at this option, would a rb25det series 2 ( i think from a r33 skyline) fit straight into rd28 gap and bolt straight onto the gq auto??

i have read funny things to do with fly wheels and basically recommend that the safari one is too heavy to be doing 7,000rpm so would i be looking at getting a custom one made up??

[DaveM]

RB25DET is still a tad under powered, you'd be better off with the RB30 bottom end, and the 25 head/turbo.
I looked at the option in the GU, but the auto wasn't going to be easy to mate up.

[darinz]

You can bolt a GQ Safari auto to an RB if you get the right bell housing. There is an RB that comes with an re4ro1a and the bell housing between the 1a (Terrano, 300zx, early Skyline etc) and the 3a (Safari, infiniti, 300zxtt etc) are interchangable. Basically there are bellhousings for RB, TB, TD, VG and VH series motors to fit the re4ro1a and re4ro3a. I'm not sure exactly which Skyline came with the right auto but it is an early one as the later models had a 5 speed auto and I think that is different but aren't sure.
I've also looked very seriously at an RB30det for my truck but decided for the hassle I'll just go for a lot more cubes.

[skidtoy]

rb25det will be more than powerfull enough if you mod it the right way.ive run heaps of different 20/25/30det's over the years in drift cars and 25's are still the best motors ive run.i had 257kw at the wheels with just some simple mods on one engine front mount cooler,bigger fuel pump,re mapped ecu,and a tidy up of plenum,ports etc and and all this was still running a 25det turbo but steel shaft.

i had looked at going the same way you are as my mate used to have a rb30e that we put a turbo set up off a old turbo commy we had as a padock basher haha the only thing that put me off was my new truck will spend alot of time in water so went with diesel...if it wasnt going to spend so much time in water i would have a rb30e safari with no motor in it but a rb25det sitting on my garage floor.

[Summit033]

Just put a RB30DET in my Manual GU Shorty after the head went on the RD28T. Downloaded a 26 page colour instruction manual from an Aussie site, including wiring diagrams! Have had it running for a week but she is going in next week to get a G4 Link and some time on the Dyno.

Keep thinking it has stalled when I pull up at the lights - Can't hear anything.

[DaveM]

rb25det will be more than powerfull enough if you mod it the right way.ive run heaps of different 20/25/30det's over the years in drift cars and 25's are still the best motors ive run.

I'd still stick with the 30 bottom end after advice given from those who have run the 25 then gone to 30's in their Safari's but each to their own.

[doby]

Just put a RB30DET in my Manual GU Shorty after the head went on the RD28T. Downloaded a 26 page colour instruction manual from an Aussie site, including wiring diagrams! Have had it running for a week but she is going in next week to get a G4 Link and some time on the Dyno.

Keep thinking it has stalled when I pull up at the lights - Can't hear anything.
Just put a RB30DET in my Manual GU Shorty after the head went on the RD28T. Downloaded a 26 page colour instruction manual from an Aussie site, including wiring diagrams! Have had it running for a week but she is going in next week to get a G4 Link and some time on the Dyno.

Keep thinking it has stalled when I pull up at the lights - Can't hear anything.

Can you post a link to this site?

Cheers.