Hi everyone,

Well I thought this might come in handy here. I've done this conversion before, and I thought it may come in handy for others :grin:

So, to begin with, if you own an RB20DE/E powered Cefiro/Skyline/Laurel, the conversion is pretty straight foward.

MANUAL CONVERSION: First off, after removing the Auto Trans (and all corresponding parts), you'll need to remove the 3 bolts that hold the "foot E-brake" in place. Once this is done, you can bin it. next step, remove the "foot e-brake" release lever (and remove its mount by drilling out the spot welds), and source yourself a handbrake setup from either an R32 Skyline, or a Factory Manual Cefiro/Laurel (pretty hard to find these days though). Once you've done that, you'll need to find where the handbrake lever would go: this is pretty straight foward, as you can basically tell just by looking at the trans tunnel where this should go, not very hard really. With the handbrake cable, everyone has had different experiences in their cars, but I was fourtunate enough to find that my rear handbrake cable could be adjusted, and it linked straight upto the handbrake :) . If you've gotten this far, then CONGRATULATIONS!! you've just converted your handbrake.

Now for the fun part, once you've removed the torque converter and flexi plate from your engine, BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER, you'll need to remove the auto spigot bush which is located at the end of your crank (there are several ways you can do this I could explain it, but you'll be better off finding out what suits you really). Once you've done that, you need to go to your local Nissan dealer and score yourself a new spigot bush (these retail for about NZD$10.00), when you're putting your new Spigot bush in, be careful not to bang it around too much, as its only made of brass, so...a hammer is out of the question :lol:.

Now bolt up the flywheel, clutch and all that stuff, and wack your gearbox up (a common choice is the RB20DET gearbox out of the R32 GTS-t). You'll need a Manual S13 Silvia Gearbox Crossmember, as these bolt up perfectly to the Cefiro/Laurel chassis. If you can get your hands on an R32 Skyline Driveshaft (just the front part), then you're away - bolt it up and you're done. If not, you'll have to take the front half of your auto driveshaft in, along with an R32 or VL commodore Driveshaft yoke, and get you're driveshaft legthened it suit. Once you've done this, you now have a manual driveshaft, since the chances of you finding a manual cefiro one are near impossible.

Next is the clutch pedal. You'll need to get a clutch pedal from an R32 Skyline (these bolt straight up) however, you can use an S13/U13 clutch pedal aswell, but they will require a slight modification. remember where your "foot e-brake" was sitting?? well thats where you're clutch pedal is going to go. Once you've done that, go and get an R32 Skyline clutch master cylinder, and clutch line, and you're Sorted.

Now go to start it, and "damit the bloody thing aint going!!". what you'll need to do, is find the plug with 2 wires coming out of it (this plug is on the side of the fusebox in the engine bay), once you've located that, join the 2 wires together. If you've done everything correctly, it will start. YOU ARE NOW MANUAL!! It getting better isn't it?? :lol:

ENGINE CONVERSION: time for some grunt. If your Cefiro or Laurel is RB20DE powered, this will be simple. Take you're engine out, drop in the RB20DET that you sourced from an R32 Skyline, preferebly with a loom (it will bolt upto your engine mounts), run your loom into the passengers footwell (taking off the left front guard will make this easier), and plug your ECU up. You'll also find 4 - 5 plugs for the dash, and you'll find they plug up, and you're done already!!.

If you only have the engine without the loom, you can use your DE loom on your new engine. Now, on your cefiro loom, you'll notice that come plugs are square, and the Skyline plugs are round, theres a few plugs that have to be changed (computer temp sensor, crank angle sensor, knock sensor, oil pressure sensor, ignitor pack, TPS switch, and bot idel up valves) sounds harder than it is really. Just make sure to put the wires back in their corresponding locations (i.e: if you pulled a wire out of the left side of a cefiro plug, be sure that you put it back in the left side of your skyline new plug).

If you're not as lucky as some, and you're powered by the mighty RB20E, then you'll need you get hold of a DE cefiro dash loom and you're sorted (this is where getting an engine with a loom will come in handy, because if you don't, you'll have to change the dash loom, AND try and get hole of either an RB20DE loom (which will need modifying - as above), or an R32 RB20DET loom.

Once you've gotten this far, all you'll need to do is plumb up you're Front Mounted Intercooler, and you're done. Note - The factory FMIC on skylines have about a 2psi pressure drop, so try and get yourself an Aftermarket one as soon as possible...After all you only have about 7 pounds of boost, so you cant afford to lose 2 of the pounds can ya? :lol:

Now, since you're engine and box are in and running, go and score yourself some S13 coilovers, and whatever ajustable arms you want, go for a cert...

If you've done all this, then GOOD ON YA!! YOU'RE NOW HAVE A TURBO MANUAL CEFIRO/LAUREL :beer:

I'll try and answer any questions people may have.

regards

hey man, ive just done conversion and used my de loom. had a skyline loom but it didnt plug up in the passengers foot well or up by the washer bottle. so went with the de loom and just changed all the sensors etc around. iff i put all the turbo sensors etc back in and change the plug do i change the airflow plug too as at the moment i am running the de cefiro airflow meter. will that work. my car just isnt running right and the air/fuels are running real lean.

What engine have you got now? what engine did you previously have?

If you were DE powered, then everything under the dash will plug straight up (I've done 7 conversions all with the same results, Hence the reason I posted it).

Whats up by the washer bottle dude?

My turbo Cefiro ran a DE Air Flow Metre with no worries at all. The DET Air Flow Metre should plug into the DE Plug, you shouldn't have to change it.

Generally, as a rule, I'd change the fuel pump to something like a Walbro 500HP In-tank item. This could help with the leaning out issue - an adj. Fuel Pressure reg wouldn't go astray either.

Hope that helps.

true, um the engine i took out was a DE and the engine i put in was out of a m spec skyline R32. the skyline loom didnt plug up in the footwell only to one of the plugs and the green boxes and comp itself, and the DE loom has a square plug for the airflow where as the DET loom had a rounded one. would the coils and igniter be any different on the turbo set up?

oh and the loom also pluged back into another loom up by the washer bottle (the headlights etc loom) and this plug was different too and had more wires.

Yeah the plugs under the passengers footwell, should plug up directly, unless you weren't DE powered. Four of the conversions I have helped out with, have been DE - DET conversions all with the same results. There should be 3 of them I think.

where are you located? I could come n have a look for you??

i live in south taranaki aye man. um well i dnt know what the car came out with to start with but the motor that was in there was a DE and the chasis tag sez RB20DE so yea duno, but yea they didnt all plug up. im still using the DE loom and tried changing all the plugs lastnite but my airflow plug fucked now so i gota get a new one of those and ill c how it goes. also put a 500hp pump in so ill c if that helps too. thanx for the info ill let u know if i keep having troubles

Do you have the R32 loom of the engine? would be a lot easier. My cef had an RB20DE in it, and my RB20DET was out of an Mspec GTST aswell. Yeah let me know how you go