Rocker Cover Gasket Repair

[trel]

So anyway, today I was out and about with a few mates of mine, one of which has an RX-8 which he wants to turbocharge, so we went to promaz out in thomastown today to get a rundown of what needs to be done. On my way there I noticed this place on Mahoneys Road called "Nismo Performance Centre". My car lately on high boost mode has been cutting out on WOT so I thought I'd go there and ask him for a few ideas as to why, he took my car for a spin and reckons that my car is pinging and its overboosting so fuel cut hits. He then asks me where I got it tuned and starts bagging the SHIT out of the tuner that did it...

At this point im thinking ok, bit suss here. As far as my car pinging is concerned I thought that was absolute BS, I know what pinging sounds like and my car aint pinging lol.

So we go back to the shop pops the hood and has a look around, now i KNOW i have an oil leak from the rocker covers on the back i've seen it, just never had time to get around to it, but im on holidays now so I can do a bit of work to the car. What I never looked at closely is that there is a shitload of oil near the turbo on the side of the block and on the piping. He reckons the last tuner who worked on my car shouldn't have tuned it to 13psi (with an avc-r i'll run 13psi once every few months), on stock turbo.

We went inside and he quoted me $280 to fix rocker leak, then $110 to remove afm, piping, heat shields etc to check condition of the turbo and do a comp. test on the engine and change my plugs as he says I shouldn't have put in iridiums. I think this guy seems to be talking a bit of shit...

If anyone wants to ask me who my last tuner was feel free to PM me. If anyone has any opinions on nismo performance, again PM me, dont leave any neg. comments on the public forum I dont want to get banned ! lol.

Sorry for the longwinded post here, but it's got me a bit worried...

Thanks!

[dezz]

Don't really have an opinion of them from experience/friends experience or anything like that, but from what you've written, it sounds like he's talking sense..

Iridiums are a waste of money, 13psi is not considered safe on the stock turbo, and the prices for the work he quoted don't seem that bad to me...Most places will charge you ~$70 just for a comp test, so an extra $40 to pull off all the piping etc isn't bad at all...

[trel]

Hmm yeah, I'm not so much worried about the prices, it's what he told me. I cannot hear any pinging unless he has supersonic hearing or something? I'm just worried that if it IS pinging i've done damage... I guess the comp. test will reveal all. When I did my plugs 2 weeks ago I had a look around at the pistons, no oil or damage apparent. The plugs were dry as and a very healthy colour, just worn out. So yeah, judging by the nature of the oil leak, if my turbo is shagged, what am I looking at to get it fixed? I'm not aiming for crazy power out of my car, just a nice streetable car.

[dezz]

Replacement stock turbo will cost you $2-$400, taking a risk on how long it will last. You can make 200rwkw with the stocker on 12psi, with supporting mods (ECU/piggyback etc). It could last a week at 12psi, it could last 3 years...luck of the draw really.

Various highflows can be had for $1-2k, depending on what you go for... Obviously this option will allow you to pass the 200rwkw mark (with supporting mods), which then puts your engine under further strain. Again, could last a week, could last forever.

200rwkw is plenty if you're just after a nice street car, but as with anything else, once you're there, you'll become used to the power eventually, and 200rwkw won't feel as quick as it did initially...

[trel]

The skyline is my daily, I have a ZC Fairlane that I'm putting a 460 into which will be more than enough power! So yeah, keeping my 33 reliable is my first priority.

[dezz]

Best bet would be to keep it stock-ish then. A nice free flowing exhaust will put you at around the 150-160rwkw mark, and will be reliable enough, barring anything being wrong with it engine/gearbox wise already...

[Al]

Iridiums are a waste of money, 13psi is not considered safe on the stock turbo, and the prices for the work he quoted don't seem that bad to me...Most places will charge you ~$70 just for a comp test, so an extra $40 to pull off all the piping etc isn't bad at all...

Iridiums are a waste of money, but would you go as far as saying "I shouldn't have put in iridiums". Nothing wrong with using iridiums, expect the price and the fact they aren't any better than using copper plugs.

I ran 13.5psi on my stock turbo for 2.5yrs and sold it without any shaft play, etc. Some die at 10psi others last at 15psi. I know one person that wanted to upgrade turbo, so he boosted it to 16psi and got it tuned, lasted years with that boost/tune, till he pulled it out because he wanted more power.

[trel]

All I have on the car at the minute is a 3 inch turbo back system, fmic, avc-r, exedy heavy duty clutch and the tune. Other than that its fairly stock and mechanically sound, bar that oil leak.

I'm not too proficient with turbo's and turbocharged cars, but i LOVE the skyline that's why I got one.

[dezz]

Iridiums are a waste of money, but would you go as far as saying "I shouldn't have put in iridiums". Nothing wrong with using iridiums, expect the price and the fact they aren't any better than using copper plugs.

I ran 13.5psi on my stock turbo for 2.5yrs and sold it without any shaft play, etc. Some die at 10psi others last at 15psi. I know one person that wanted to upgrade turbo, so he boosted it to 16psi and got it tuned, lasted years with that boost/tune, till he pulled it out because he wanted more power.

Well if something costing $100+ isn't any better than something costing $20, yes I would say "I shouldn't have put in iridiums".

As for the turbo, you basically repeated what I said, just in more words...

[ashneel]

rock cover gasket you can do yourself if you are a bit hands on. its pretty easy i did my 33. took me 2 hours to do but thats cause while TB and all the other crap was off i gave it a good clean.

gasket kit from nissan will cost under $50 im pretty sure.

[trel]

Only reason I got iridiums was the fact that they will last longer from what I have read and heard.

[Rekin]

Recustoms replaced my rocker cover gaskets.

The gaskets are ordered from Nissan for about $50~.

Im not too sure how much labour was, but i reckon it will under $150 total (including gaskets ordered by recustoms)

give recustoms a call to find out a proper price. http://recustoms.com.au/Contact

Iridiums last longer than copper spark plugs.

However copper is the best conductor for electricity and that is why they are better than iridiums.

Duration Vs Conductivity

[Rowdyr32]

I'd be really sus on replacing the turbo. Rb's of all types breath (oil fumes) and half of it goes into the inlet and the other half into the inlet manifold. Just remove all the inlet piping and clean it including all of the intercooler piping with degreaser. Don't let the degreaser sit on the aluminium parts to long. If the car doesn't use oil and the intercooler isn't full of oil I wouldn't bother touching the turbo. If it isn't burning oil the turbo shouldn't be to bad. From what I have seen there either good or bad. Just sounds like a leak and copper washers are cheap and easy to change. If you turbo was gone why would oil be on the outside of the piping etc??? It wouldn't so you just have an oil leak most likely.

For the boost issue put a known good boost gauge on the car as most gauges you buy are rubbish and can read 2 psi or more out. See what it is really doing or just take it for a dyno power check at a known good workshop and they will answer all your problems for $60ish with boost pressure, air fuel and pinging in 10 minutes on the dyno.

The rocker cover gaskets are rubber and never need replacing. Your just wasting you money. They come loose and leak. Removing 25 ones might be a pain working around the inlet manifold but if you can get it off just a light coat of gasket goop will solve it for $10. I've never had a problem ever on rb26's and their pretty much the same.

From my experience any workshop that continually bag's out another workshop when they talk to you, talking themselves up all the time should be avoided. Genuine mechanics are genuinely the good guys as the don't need to justify themselves.

[R31Nismoid]

They last longer in a stock car. (iridi)

However if your running more boost and so on, they can foul pretty easily (more so than coppers)...

So be wary of that as they are more sensitive, i killed a set once (was conned into putting them in by a workshop), and they lasted about 5,000kms as the car then shat a fuel reg... never again.

Overall though, that stuff is pretty easy DIY mate.

All you need is a mate, a few tools and some beers and you could do all that in 4 hours. Ensure you lay each part out so you dont loose any and its pretty straight forward as you have to take piping off to fix the rocker gasket, so getting to the turbo after that is a piece of piss as half the stuff is already off

[trel]

Thanks everybody for the assistance! As RowdyR32 said, I don't blow any white smoke indicating failing seals on the turbo and I checked the cooler piping before and there is no oil in there, so basically this guy is talking a whole lot of shit.... I'll suss it out tommorow and see what I can do myself at home. I'll borrow a mates comp. gauge and do a comp test on it myself. Will let you know how I go soon.

As for the iridium plugs, I will check them on my next 5k service. Best 100 bucks i've wasted lol.

Cheers!

[khunjeng]

rocket cover gasket is a 30min job. a few screws and they are off. you just put the gasket in and ur set.

main thing is to get some half moon seals or make sure u re-use the old ones and use gasket goo stuff. Pretty easy overall.

Buy the bits from Nissan, cant remember but its about $50-70 for both sides plus 2 half moon seals.

[trel]

Ok, it's been a while but I took my car in today to RE Customs. Fixed rocker cover leaks and fixed my "cut out" problem. It was fuel cut as my AVC-R was spiking.

Ray chucked it on the dyno and had it sorted in about 20 mins, if that. Nothing wrong with my turbo, no oil in cooler piping, car runs fine, timing is spot on, running max 12psi.

So moral of the story is this last workshop I had gone to talked abosolute BS basically... My car made a nice 168.9rwkw. I was quite pleased with that result. The line in green was the last AVC-R settings, boost control issues, not a very smooth curve. Blue line is Ray's work. A much smoother curve. Car drives like a dream again and boost comes on nice and strong now, my love of driving my car is back!

I'll definently be going back to RE again, great work, great price and excellent service, hard to find a workshop like that.