Best place to buy an RB26?
 

Copy and pasted from a post I made on an S30 forum:

If anybody here could help out, that'd be great! :tiphat:

Sub'd,

I've been looking as well for my S30 project. There's a place here in Chicagoland that imports them I need to go check out. I'm still contemplating this though. Leaning more toward an RB25 honestly.

If I can't find an RB26, I'll probably settle for an LS3 or something ridiculous like that :roflpuke2:

Hi TheWolfe, you can give Tay's Automotive a try. Shop's owner is Tay, his cell is 469-585-1344.

Tay has a strong reputation in the 240sx circle, he does lots of SR/RB swaps, sometimes even 2j swaps, onto S chassis. He owns a giant turbo RB26 S14 and a R34 GT-T, and his S14 car was featured on SuperStreet not too long ago.

https://www.facebook.com/tayautomotive/?rc=p

And $4500 for a clean RB26, I don't think that's far fetch. My friend paid the same amount (some 10 yrs ago however, and he ended up selling it to Tay, which ended up in Tay's own car lol).

i did an s13 build a few years ago and bought a RB25det from a local drift shop that did lots of nissans, they literally had containers full of clips and did my harness for easy swap

Funny, in my head I was thinking $4500 could cover the entire swap, not just the engine :roflpuke2:

Do you have any idea how much a complete swap would be from Tay's? I haven't heard of the guy until you mentioned him, and my uncle was saying that one of his buddies could do it for around $1500-$2000 for the swap (this includes mounting, custom pipes, etc. but no engine or anything like that). Are those accurate figures? I've never done a swap before, sorry! n00b questions, I know haha :nutswinger:

I use to work for a shop and this is where I would order engines from:
JDM Engines Corp.

If they don't have what you want on the site, call him. They know what is in the containers they are getting monthly. Side note, they are close to Dallas. ( i am not affiliated :) )

I'll check these guys out when I get home! :excited: I feel like I looked at their website before (it looks familiar). Do they do a good, clean job, installation-wise? Like I said in a different comment, I'm kind of a n00b at engine swaps, and this will be my first. I want my RB26 all pretty-fied, you know, I'm sure they can work something out like that haha. :rolleyes:

The link is to a company that ships engines, front clips, and full swaps ( engine+ecu+tranny+harnesses ) from Japan to USA. I think they are just an importer, i have never been to the business only ordered.

Honestly I do not think they do installs, however every product I have ordered has been top quality.

A performance shop would be the place to talk to about getting the swap installed and customized to your liking. While the engine is out is the time to clean it up, paint it, or whatever you feel like.

I assume you are wanting to swap this into an old school Z? Either way, i'm not sure what the labor cost will be.

However, Tay did a motor swap for me on a 240sx, it was just taking out the old tired stock motor and swapping in a younger stocker, no custom work whatsoever, my cost was within that $ range (include cost of the replacement motor which was a few hundred bucks). So my 2 cent guesstimate is $2k could be a little light if custom work is needed.

Tay does not advertise on forums, only word of mouth.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around doing an LS swap. My mechanic is actually trying to convince me to do a 2j swap. But I'd really just like to keep it in the Nissan family.

I'm doing the swap myself so not sure on $$$. I'm REALLY lucky, my neighbor owns a shop here in Chicagoland and him and I spend most weekends drinking beer and working on our own projects in the garage. Plus, I worked for my father years ago at his auto restoration shop so I have experience too. I don't think $4500 is bad for the RB26 motor though. I think I may shy away from the RB26 and go RB25. Can probably get similar results with a single turbo and less problems down the road

I'm a bit amped up today too! I just ordered an air compressor and picked up all the air tools I needed to start getting down to business on my S30 project!! :) :happydance:

good info in this thread guys...thanks!!

If I can't find an RB26, I'm definitely going the RB25 route! I want a single turbo anyway (the bigger, the better!), so I don't think I'll actually even see a huge difference between the 25 and 26 anyway.

Good luck with your project, man! :tup:

thanks! keep in touch, lmk how your project is going.