Chris Wilson

Opinions sought on controlling oil surge on race RB26 engines used in road course track cars. I know one of the main problems people racing a GTR have is oil surge. I have an RB26 GTR engine in my R33 GTS-t track car. I am using a cut down GTR sump (diff hacked off) with a Trust extension and Trust baffling. I am not entirely happy this is going to be enough. What are people using in slick shod GTR race cars to control surge? Has anone dry sumped a GTR engine? I am toying with using the stock location mounted Tomei high capacity oil pump as a pressure pump, and having a 2 stage external scavenge set up. Not sure if the pressure side oil routing can practically be plumbed to suck from an external dry sump tank though, not fully weighed that up yet. What did the Group A cars do? Thanks.

RB26, Tomei 280 degree cams, 10.8 mm lift. TO4Z turbo. Tomei cooling channel 87.5mm pistons, standard stroke on billet steel crank, Tomei (Carillo) rods. Mildy ported head, chambers as yet untouched, on 50mm GTR throttle bodies, stock GTR plenum. MAP sensor only Motec M800 ecu. Intended usage, track car. Head gasket is 1.3mm multi layer steel. Fuel, well, I will have 2 maps, one for UK super unleaded (98RON) and one for unleaded race fuel (112 RON). Engine will be mapped on proper engine dyno, not rolling road. Opinions sought on best static CR, and onn squish band removal, if removing or reducing the squish helps STOP det then this is the ONLY piston turbo engine I have ever heard of where this helps. I was intending reducing compression by milling piston tops, and was considering between 7.5 and 8.0 to one CR. Thanks.

Does a copy of the gearbox workshop manual, in English preferably, exist online anywhere? Failing that anone got the Nissan part number for it? Thanks.

Yes, that sure looks like the fella! Thanks a lot!

Short of a bit of fettling, a quick bead blasting and a thorough cleaning I have finished hacking off the front diff from an RB26 cast alloy sump with a Trust sump extension to go on my RB26 engined R33 GTS-t. I wanted a cast sump as it ties in the block and gearbox more rigidly, adds rigidity to the bottom of the block, aids oil cooling and allows known and tested commercial bafling to be used. All preferable to the admittedly lighter pressed tin RB25DET sump pan normally found in an R33 GTS-t. I also removed the front driveshaft tube and bearing housings, welding up the resultant holes with alloy plugs. Pics Here

Skyline R33 GTS-t aftermarket rear LSD, plate type. Very tightly set. Lots of knocking and skipping when manouvering. Can anyone ID the make please? In one of the pics a stock R33 GTS-t diff is alongside it. Thanks. Pics Here (large...)

BHDave: Fronts are done and fitted, see Pics Here and More Pics Front calipers, like the rears, are Brembo, but with a much better pedigree, being off a Group C Porsche 962 Le Mans car, with fully floating discs, of, err, adequate size One of the perks of being in the race car engineering game is your junk box gets some good stuff in it from time to time

Finally got the brackets back from the anodisers today, so I thought I'd post up a few pics of my custom rear brake set up, albeit for my Skyline GTS-t, not a GTR. However, the principle is the same. I wanted to use some Aston Martin DB9 calipers left over from a brake upgrade, and they were a bit of a bitch to fit, needing some milling off the backs of the caliper radial mount area and a slightly more complex than normal pair of brackets milling up, but it's now done and they sit well on 330 mm x 25 mm AP discs. They were handy money, came off a brand new 100 mile car, and have the right sort of piston sizes and pad area, and are radial mount calipers, often easier to fit in a custom application than lug mount. I made bells out of alloy with integral drums, as a sap to the MOT. They'll work fine as a parking brake drum and they allow the use of proper lightweight race discs. A set of Performance Friction 01 compound race pads completes the set up. From experience these will work fine from cold, on the road, as well as full race usage. I'll fit them to the car as soon as I can spare the ramp for a couple of hours, which is helping make me a living right now, which, of course, has to have priority over "playing" Pics Here

Has anyone got a link to the gearbox loom wiring diagrams for both manual and auto versions of the R33 GTS-t models please? I am converting an auto to a manual and want to check out the wiring for the neutral switch. I believe the Power FC needs a mod to this line to give correct ignition timing. Anyone know in what way the neutral switch controls timing? Thanks.

If I wanted to fit the lighter alloy rear uprights from an R33 GTR onto my R33 GTS-t what else do i have to change? I know the damper mounts are different, that's no problem, I am having custom dampers made so the lower end fitting can be changed to suit. I am also using custom calipers and discs, so the bigger GTR discs are no problem either. Driveshafts the same length and inner C/V PCD? Thanks.

Anyone know for sure if 300ZX and R33 GTS-t manual boxes are interchangeable? Ratios I am not worried about, just casing, bellhouising and shafts. Thanks.

Is there any preference between the external amp ignition coils and those with the amp built into each one, as far as output or reliability is concerned? At this stage of the wiring I can use either type. ECU is Motec M800, engine is RB26. Thanks.

Anyone using Pfitzner dog box internals in an R33 GTR / GTS-t casing? Independent opinions as to fit, quality, torque handling capacity, car usage et cetera welcome My mails to Pfitzner have been replied to slightly ambiguously, I am FAIRLY sure they do dog as well as synchro straight cut internal gear sets... Thanks.

As subject title, please note, must be cast iron, NOT tubular construction, and must take TO4 turbo flange. I believe HKS used to make such a manifold a few years back. Also looking for Apexi cast iron RB25 / RB26 top mount cast manifold that has the RX-6 turbo flange. These were dual drilled for both RB25 and RB26 head / manifold stud patterns. Thanks. Will pay cash and carriage for right manifold in unwelded, un-cracked condition. I am in the UK, but will arrange collection and pay for delivery if the logistics of this put you off.

I am running a fairly high power R33 GTS-t with Apexi RX-6 turbo, cams, injectors, low comp pistons and Apexi FC. I am now building a serious RB26 all steel single turbo (TO4Z) engine. I use the R33 GTS-t as a daily driver and would like to put this new engine in a later, different chassis, so it will have to be an R34 GTT. What issues am I looking at with this swap? Any sump issues, was hoping to use my cut about GTR cast sump (diff hacked off and made into a more basic, deep sump extension, 2WD one). What am I missing, I am not very familiar with the 2WD R34 models. Thanks

The upcoming new Motec sofware release will handle cut very elegantly, I am told. Also much better traction control and other improvements. Not even in beta here in the UK, but i KNOW it's in testing in alpha.

I have heard that there are various tricks to getting a better or maybe more even water cooling effect for race usage RB26 heads. Does anyone have info, or links to info on this subject? I am building a circuit car and want to give due consideration to all aspects of water and oil cooling options open to me. Thanks.

Well, it's a brand new, in the Nissan box, N1 block, with N1 part number and it's a 96 mm bore. So not sure how to respond to that... I chose 96.5 to allow at least one more bore out of it for wear purposes, or a minor whoopsie.

I am now close to assembling my RB26 lump. Spec is as follows: New N1 block, Tomei cooling channel forged pistons @ 86.5mm bore. Tomei forged rods, Farndon billet crank at stock stroke (same as HKS steel crank), Tomei high capacity oil pump, Tomei 280 duration cams with 10.8 mm lift, stock valve sizes, in new RB26 head casting, mildly ported and matched to manifolds. Intake side is stock plenum with 50 mm (bored out stock) throttle bodies. I will be running a single TO4 family turbo, and aiming for 600 BHP max. I will be running Motec M600 or M800 ecu. I want to ideally ditch an AFM and run MAP sensor system. has anyone real world experience of a well mapped single turbo engine of broadly similar spec on a MAP sensor system? How was drivability? Throttle response? Do you regret not sticking witha MAF sensored system? Usage for the engine is track days in a stripped out R33 GTS-t bodyshell, with a possiblity of dropping in an R33 GTR rolling chassis at some future point for some fun on the roads. Thanks.

Anyone able to offer words of wisdom please? getting to the point where this is now an issue. Cheers.

It takes the place of the head itself, and preloads the block with the stresses that bolting a REAL head down would do (supposedly, see later) and thus allows the boring of the block to be more accurate. The thinking is that torquing a head down imposes stresses in the block, making a round and parallel bore hole distorted once the head is bolted on. However, my own thinking is that heat stresses probably cause more bore distortion than that of the head bolt or stud torques, so maybe the block should be bored at operating temperature? It can all get very subjective and complex. Just how appropriate the torque loading from a solid block of steel clamped onto the top of the block is in comparison to a cast alloy head is almost anyones guess. All IMO.

I have converted my automatic R33 GTS-t to manual transmission. I am about to fit a modded R33GTS-t manual engine from another R33 shell I used to own (a manual car) into the auto shell, along with an Apexi Power FC,on which this engine used to run. What ecu and engine bay loom issues can I expect? Can I totally remove the auto box ecu from the loom? The gearbox loom extensions and plugs differ, I have a manual box loom, can it be adapted to mate up with the rest of the auto shell loom? I have found the clutch switch connector taped into the auto cars loom and have attached that to the clutch switch, any other issues in the pedal box region? Should I try and get hold of a full manual car engine bay loom and swap that over? The throttle body potentiometer also differe, from auto to manaual. if I swap loom connectors will the auto pot work with the Power FC, or do I need to find a manual throttlebody asembly complete with throtlle pot? All and any info welcome, elecronics are NOT my strong point Thanks!

AFAIK you can just add the R32 / R33 / R34 GTR air temp sensor that's in the GTR plenum, to the plenum of the GTS-t, wire it up to the Power FC and map it the offsets you want V temp.

If I wanted to fit an HKS cast iron, top mount, remote wastegate turbo exhaust manifold, made for an RB25DET engine, to an RB26DETT head casting, can I drill stud holes for the 2 ports where the studs are diametrically opposite on the 2 head types? Without going into water galleries et cetera? Thanks.

It could have been done to put preload into the rear suspension on one side. This may help traction if it's been used as a drag race car with an open or none spool type LSD. Of course, with stock struts and springs the car should sit level.... So this infers some chassis or suspension damage. an inch is a hell of a lot, I'd start doing some chassis measurements on a known flat surface. Sounds a bit ominous to me, good luck.