GTRNUR

If the valve guides are within tolerence then new guides aren't needed. The new guides should only be fitted if the existing ones are worn beyond acceptable tolerances. If they arent broke dont fix them. A good machine shop that is capable of properly inspecting the head can measure to see of the valve movement is within manufacturer specification (0.0007-0.002" intake and 0.0016 - 0.0028" exhaust at 15mm lift). Cut back valve guides is normally a race only thing, and in my opinion more of a back yarder race only thing at that. Less valve guide supporting the valve causes more lateral valve moment, which means less consistent seat wear and therefore worse seat sealing over time. The cut back guide will also wear faster. You see cut back valve guides in heads where the guy that did the porting wasnt able to properly remove the valve guides first. A properly ported head would have all the guides pressed out and replaced either before or after the porting process depending on how the porting is done. I think you will find that most valve stem failures occur because of the tune being wrong, which in turn causes a material failure. Its not a rich/lean issue, rather its more related to high EGT's. So E85 and alcohol tuned engines will have more issues on average than an unleadded fuel tune. High EGT's cause the bronze alloy of the guide that is exposed to high temps to expand at a faster rate than the rest of the valve guide. The aluminium around the unexposed part of the guide acts as a big heat sync, drawing away heat from the guide. So you get a thermally induced stress at the point where it is exposed to the exhaust gas stream. This is where it cracks. Moments later the cracked part off part of the valve guide can fall down onto the head of the exhaust valve. Finally it gets hammered enough in all of a few seconds to come apart. Then it all goes pear shaped from there resulting in spun rod bearings, piston and head damage, turbine damaage etc. Richer tunes keep EGT's down to a point, but once you reach a certain power level and you want to hold that level for a sustained length of time (not just for 15 seconds on a dyno), water injection is about the only thing that will keep EGT's down. If the head you are using has been used on a radically tuned engine before and the guides werent replaced, that could be a reason to consider swapping them even if they are within tolerance.

IE8 stops loading content after the banner is displayed, and then you get the familiar yellow esclamantion mark at the bottom left ( done with errors). Yes no doubt its security related. The add hasnt come up in testing this morning though.

Am I the only one having issues with IE stopping display of content after the DAS AUTO VW Golf add is being displayed? Any suggestions to get around this?

Has anyone else been watching the daytime air temps for Shepparton lately? 18 degrees in the middle of the day is awesome! Daytime temps like I get to experience a few months ago in winter... at night! The cars are going to love that climate! http://local.msn.com/worldweather.aspx?q=Shepparton-AUS

Thanks Rowdy, I just happened to have a few more of those hoses around so here is the restrictor pill/wire christmas tree... or more accurately the bubble buster and oil dam. I should have posted these before because my explanation probably makes a lot more sense now you can see what I am talking about! MLR, very radical approach you have taken there. Sometimes frustration results in that sort of radical over-engineering, but hey, so long as it works thats the main thing! Fatz, frankly even taking off piping gets to be a bit much sometimes. Im sure many of us have reached a point occasionally when you just get sick of working on your cars. Fortunatly this project is more or less finished now and I am planning a 'Version 3" build of the engine. I just want to fine tune this package a little more.... and all I've learnt along the way can be built into the next engine before its even fitted to a car.

Have a look in the MAPS folder that FC Edit installs into... C:\Program Files (x86)\FC Edit Universal\Maps There is a stack of sample maps there.

That makes sense as the catch can is also functioning as an external oil return as well. This wasnt an option for me as I didnt want to pull the engine and weld an external return onto the sump. Interesting that the external returns setups in the RIPS cars arent visible from any of the pictures or video's Ive seen of his cars. It seems that all the tricks that make for the best systems are made possible by things you cant see. I considered something similar to the Nismo catch can system, which replaces the rear turbo oil return to the sump with a T return allowing the catch can to drain back to the sump. But just getting access to the rear oil return is a mission on an assembled and fitted engine. The rear turbo has to come out and thats something my laziness just won't let me do.

Hard to say what kind of effect that would have. If I were going to mess with the baffels i'd be looking closer at the mines ones to see what they've done. I'd imagine they would have tried all sorts of things before settling on their super expensive special baffels.

Thanks, glad you got something out of it. The spacer plate under the head has the equalivent of a a 1.5mm restrictor drilled into it for head-oil supply. All of the head-sump oil returns are all drilled out a little, and are the same size from the top of the spacer plate through to the sump. The cam baffels are standard.

Quick update. Im getting ready for a drive to Sheperton VIC for SAU Nationals. Which means replacing tires (new RT615k's), brake pads (EBC Yellows) and continuing with the fine tuning of the engine. The engine is continuing to run sweet as. And now for a little story: My Catch Can Adventures... (Its a long read but if you struggle with oil control its worth your while.) Truthfully, I have had a few problems getting a breather/oil control system sorted out that actually works properly. On two occasions I had filled the catch can and created a huge mess under the bonnet to clean up. One of those occasions was after the high speed attempt down Ingham's runway, and cleaning up a huge oil mess in front of a croud of people was not a fun thing to have to do. To try and resolve the issue I did a lot of research. Starting with looking at other people's setups, pictures on the internet etc. But none of these told me what I needed to know to make a crank case breather system that actually WORKS VERY WELL. I also read a heap of forum topics on the subject and came across pictures of people's engines where they were running 2-3lt sized catch cans so they didnt overflow on the track. The HUGE oil catchment area stopped the over flow issue, but it didnt control the blow by issue. And I wouldn't dare think of how empty a sump would be if a catch can could hold 3lt. It seemed that nobody has a good fix. The first atmospheric breather setup I tried was using -10 size hoses to a catch can from each cam cover, which is typical of most of the high power setups you will find pictures of. The concept is basically the same as the High Octane catch cans etc. Two big hoses and a forward mounted catch can next to, or replacing the washer bottle. This first setup fills the catch can very quickly, and was responsible for both of the oil baths I gave the engine bay. I finally had a break through when I had a closer look at how the factory setup works. For the most part the factory setup works ok for street cars, but struggles to keep things under control under track driving conditions. I say street cars, because when driving on the street most of the time the car isnt operating above 5000 RPM. The factory manufactured car isnt designed to operate on a race track. The key to the factory setup is that it has a little hidden secret that makes it work. That secret is that the breather hose that connects the passenger side cam cover to the rear turbo air intake is more than just a hose. The hose contains an oil bubble breaker and oil trap. The reason I think this has been overlooked by so many people is that the hose itself is covered with an aluminium foil heat deflector to protect it from radiated heat from the rear turbo. You can't feel the restrictor through the foil shield, but tear off the alloy heat reflector and cut the hose apart and you will find what looks like an 8mm restrictor with a wire christmas tree like attachment. This is the oil bubble breaker and oil dam. In factory form at high RPM (and tune) the cam covers fill with airated oil which begins to bubble out the breathers. As the passenger side breather is lower than the drivers side, some oil but mostly oil bubbles will come out there first. The bubbles move up the hose and are burst by the wire christmas tree bubble burster located before the restrictor (oil dam). Oil begins to dam up against the lip on the restrictor and blow by gas can escape through the restrictor into the engines intake. The dammed up oil can then be drawn back into the cam covers when the engine is operating under vacuum conditions and during gear shifts. The breather hose fittings on the cam covers are at 90 degrees from each other for a good reason as well. Moving oil carries momentum like any moving object. When the liquid is drawn back into the 90 degree fitting, it woild have to change direction 90 degrees twice (with the linked cam cover hose), in order to be drawn into the PCV valve. So instead as the oil enters the fitting, most of it will fall back into the cam left cover and only a very little bit of oil will ever make its way into the right side cover where it can again return to the engine. So for moderate bursts on the street this is why the factory setup does for the most part work. Its only when your regurly reving well past 6500, and are pumping in higher boost levels most of the time (track conditions and long dyno puls), that there isnt enough vacuum conditions to pull oil back from the oil dam into the engine. What happens instead is that it overlflows into your intake. The downward angle of the breather hose, and its oil dam volume are the limiting factors of its effectiveness. If the factory hose had only gone up as high as possible to the bonnet, and then over the top of the output pipe from the rear turbo and then into the intake it would have been a much better system. This brings me to my revised setup. I have silver soldered two -10 fittings to replace two of the slip on hose fittings on my breathers. I have also altered the positioning of the hose fittings on both cam covers by turning them 90 degrees towards the center of the engine. This is to allow oil to drain completely out of the fittings and hoses. Both cam covers are linked again with the factory linking hose. The key part that makes this work is that I have inserted the wire christmas tree/oil restrictor into the passenger side hose, so that it is about 2/3 of the way in towards the strut tower brace. Last of all, the hoses now go over the top of the strut tower brace not under it. This provides a greater downward angle for oil to gravity drain back into the engine, and also makes it harder for oil to flow forward when being pushed that way by blow by gas. There is a few reasons this new setup works so well. 1. The restrictor in the passenger side hose means that more blow by gas will leave from the drivers side cam cover, which is higher therefore and less likely to blow oil and bubbles into the catch can. This allows more blow by gas to escape the engine before oil bubbles even begin to be pushed out the top of the engine. 2. The wire bubble breaker and oil trap in the passenger side hose serves as an oil dam, preventing oil flow and bubbles to be blown into the catch can. The -10 size hose holds much more volume of oil as well. The higher downward angle from the oil drain greatly improves drainage back to the head too. 3. The hose that links the cam covers provides additional out-of-head oil/bubble holding area, and it returns to both covers via a 90 degree connection which will cause oil to drain back into the engine. The catch can is about a 1/2 litre in capacity. I have had this arrangement in place for 3 weeks now, and so far not a single drop of oil has made its way to the catch can. I haven't exactly been babying the car around either. 1.75kg/cm boost and frequently revving the engine to 7000ish. This 3 week period includeds 9 full power launches of the car where I revved the engine a little past 7600 (go-woah competition). I hope someone finds this a little useful. That is all.

Reminds me of Detroit Rock City... Start at 1:03.

Much Congrats! There is nothing like hearing an engine you have build yourself start for the first time. Its like man child birth. (too much? )

And help with the under steer issue too. I've had a perverse idea of an AWD sump adapter under a 20BT in a GTR for a while. Picture an R32 GTR with a R34 Getrag and GTS4 diffs. The 20BT would be setup with a pair of GTRS's. 4lt of effective displacement, 10000 RPM no problems. 500kw with a ludacrisly wide power band. I'd wager this R33 is RWD though.

Hot ran and compression tested the engine today. Results were all 155-160psi. Pictures and video attached. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9zoaiio9g4 The engine is running rough but the main thing is that its running on all cylinders. The rough tune is because I had to build a base map from scratch, and it is only tuned by ear. I havent got a wideband sensor on the test rig at the moment as it is in someone elses car. Call or email me if your interested.

Thanks, and yes the O should be suspiciously familiar to anyone that buys Nismo product! Yes its not an original '34 rod. Awesome piece of gear it was though and it sounded amazing. Ventilated 4 wheel disc brakes helped it stop, and those rear wheels were at least 12" wide. Its probably a 9-10 second car for anyone that is brave or silly enough to try. The owner had never dragged it or even dyno'd it.

Cometic are correct to a point, but there are 2 risks. The first risk is in the surface preporation of the head and the flatness of the surfaces. Any combined variation between the two surfaces that is more than 4 thou can potentially cause a leak. Different machine shops achieve different degrees of tolerance when decking blocks and shaving heads dependant on their tooling. All are generally fine for standard head gaskets, but metal shim gaskets need <3 thou variation to be reliable. Even the viton rubber coated shim gaskets. The second is due to distortion of the block when the head studs are torqued. While torque plate honing ensures the cylinders are machine true, you cant deck an engine with the head studs in place and torqued to spec. The effect is that the trueness of the blocks deck is compromised around the head studs. This alone will not cause a problem, but if your head or deck were already running the threshold it can put you into the danger area where leaks can happen. Ive never seen any metal shim gasket provided with a specification stating what degree of surface preporation is acceptable. It would be interesting to ask cometic what they say is acceptable while being able to guarantee a seal. After all, gaskets are supposed to take up differences in surface variation, not just create the desired deck height. The gasket should be fine to be reused, especially since its been used on clean surfaces and the engine hasnt run yet. Give it a good coating of spray on hylomar on both sides once, let it tack off to blue and then give it a light 2nd coat in the area's that arent evenly blue. Clean the head and block with prepsal and bolt it on again. All good. When doing the head removal, unbolt the head studs in the opposite method of assmebly as per the service manual so you dont distort the head.

Thats a thick gasket! Nearly looks like 2 gaskets! Did you spray it with hylomar before putting on the head? If you didnt it would be worth considering unbolting the head to do that before you proceed too far further with the build. Ive seen and heard of too many metal shim head gasket leaks because of bad sealing (due to dry surface assembly) to ever forget using that stuff. It cures all machining imperfection evils. Its a quick job to do. Cam covers off, 3 x 10mm bolts and the head studs. You don't need to remove the cams. Just use a good long tube socket and extension.

For sale or swap I have a complete R34 GTR engine. It is complete from intake plenum, turbo's and dumps, and block to sump. Engine mounts are included. I have a 2 genuine R34 front pipes here too if needed. No power steering pump or AC compressor. The engine has around 95,000km on it, and was removed when I fitted my RB315DETT. I have bolted the engine into my engine test rig and will compression test and hot run it if anyone wants to see it run. Location: Cairns, QLD I can arrange freight to anywhere no problem and can mount the engine to a pallet for transport. Asking price is $8000, not including freight. The reason I am selling is that I am preparing to build a version 3 of my open deck engine, and it would be a shame to disassemble a perfectly good engine and then overbore a virgin 86mm bore R34 block, and then have to part out the parts I dont need. So, for swaps here is what I am after: At least 1 R34 GTR block and R34 sump with ALL the accessories. So that is the (original cradle, main bolts, water fittings, oil squirters, AC bracket, engine mount stalks, power steering bracket, turbo oil lines and all the coolant hard lines). I would prefer the sump already have a high octane or racepace extension welded onto it. Next is the cylinder head. Specifically I am after a bad ass RB26 ported head with R34 spec cams running at least 10mm lift, step 1 springs and 260-272 duration (no larger). The heads must be complete, from plenum/throttle bodies thru to the exhaust manifolds. I need cam covers, idle control valves, cam sensor, all the hard lines, rubber breather hoses, the works. I will also need a sets of cam gears (os giken, tomei or trust). If you know any workshops that have what I need lying and would like to have a good spare motor in exchange, please pass on the word. Call me on 0434 147 478 if your interested in making a deal, or prepare a detailed list of what you have and PM it to me. I'll put up some pics tomorrow and have some compression test results by then as well. Cheers, Ian.

Is anyone bringing a dyno to the show and shine day?

Thanks, and YES that is what ended up happening! I took out the GO-Woah event and also Top Jap Import in the show and shine. If they had the AWD dyno there I'd have had that too as the highest power 6 cylinder car was a turbo'd v6 3.8 GM ute that made 380hp. The Go-Woah was great fun again. The 39 willys got quicker and managed a 6.1 second pass, but I managed quicker too and did a 6.06 at 84km/h. Very close competition. Had a chat to the guys running the car and aparently it weighs a lot less than 1000kg, its more like 850. Its engine was a 351 clevland with a 671 blower geared to 14psi. No idea of power though as its never been dyno'd. Probably around 600-700hp. Their fast pass was made possible by adding weight. They put the heaviest people they could find to sit in the back seat which is right over the diff. So all in all it was an awesome weekend! First car show I've put in an effort to win in and came away with two trophies. The editor of Queensland Street Car was there and also wants to do a feature on my car in their magazine too, which should be good fun. I've set the next goal for the engine now to be getting the final power result of something well into the 400kw range, which it is already doing but I don't have the dyno sheet in my hands yet. Its going to be a few weeks till the local workshop has their AWD dyno back together again, so this may well happen at SAU Nationals instead if there is a dyno there. Trophie pic attached!

First day of Cairns Auto Spectacular has gone pretty well. I decided to go all out and setup a propper display considering I havent done this in a few years. I scored the first display spot as you walk in the front door of the pavilion, which was great because I needed the room. No judging results as of yet, but I did speak with one of the judges and my points are apparently at champion level. I doubt i'll get it though as there are some very pretty muscle cars there as well. Time will tell on that one. I am leading the pack in the go-woah event with a 6.1 second pass. Best speed was 80km/h so sayith the AVCR on speed recall. My next quickest pass was a 6.26, which was also the same time of the nearest competitor which was a 1000Kg fiberglass bodied blown V8. I launched the car at 5000 rpm and had a lot of wheel spin despite the rubberised launching area. Im not sure of the length of the go-woah area, but I think its less than 100m. I'll try and find that out tomorrow. Here's a video of the run. Ive also attached a couple of pics of my display and one of the Rat rod that is my closest competition in the go-woah. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aZZEmEcpeU Till tomorrow!

Quick update. Ive re-worked the tune a little further and am now squeezing in 1.75kg/cm of boost (25PSI). There seems to be a little more headroom left so I may still be able to take that to 1.8-1.85 yet. I havent had the car on the dyno again yet, but I can say it feels far stronger in top end. The last dyno session had boost dropping to ~20psi at 7000 because of a boost controler issue as well as incorrect cam timing, so with these issues fixed I am hoping it is now over 400kw to the tyres and well past 700nm. I am entering in Cairns Auto Spectacular (2 day car show) this weekend and have registered for every event class. These are the Show and Shine, Go-woah, Motorkarna and dyno. So I will get to see what power the engine is putting out then. I am really looking forward to the go-woah most of all, as last year a stock R34 GTR set the best time by a fair margin with average tyres. So long as a local semi slick wearing 400+hp 2.3lt stroked evo 8 doesnt show up I should have virtually no competition!

Amazing stuff Bobby! Certainly is a one of a kind exhaust system.

Good article. The only error I found was the mentioning of 10mm head studs in the RB30, where as they are actually 11mm.

Have you drilled out the original oil restrictor and tapped the hole so you can screw a restrictor in? If so you could try using a brass grub screw that you could source from a fittings shop such as pirtek etc. It will drill a lot easier than a grade 12 grubscrew. The only way you can drill grade 12 accurately is with a carbide drill bit, and good luck finding them in sizes between 1-2mm. I doubt such a tool exists. 1.6mm is far too big as well. I'd honestly start with a 1.25mm and then talk to someone with a set of carburator jet reams to take it out to 1.35-1.4. I am basing this on the use of the Nitto pump and it also appears you havent drilled the oil returns any larger in the block. Add a 500kw goal and you can guarantee you will have some blow by that will add to the oil return issue. For future reference, oil restrictors are normally just a mild steel or alloy plug with the appropriate sized hole, machined to an interference that will tap into the oil gallery. Really lazy people buy the tomei restrictors.