arghh waterlines/turbo swap!!

[cul202]

My car is at the mechanics getting a major service & an R33 SII turbo fitted. He just called to tell me there is problems with waterlines. He said i will need parts from a wrecker which is not good as most state these turbos as a 'bolt on fit'.

If anyone who has performed this swap can point out the oil or water lines that dont fit & how they got around the problem it would be greatly appreciated.

I will check it out at lunch and edit the post once i have had a good look at the problem... i really dont want to hunt around in wreckers unless absolutely necessary

[nissky]

It is a straight fit...i bolted on a r34 turbo myself (not r33) and everything was still a straight fit!

It was new so didnt come with any water/oil lines, all the original connections

bolted up, i think one of the water lines i loosened one support to allow me a bit more slack but it all lined and bolted on.

All i bought was an oil gasket for the oil drain.....

100% without a doubt its a bolt on job for the oil and water lines. The compressor outlet pipe you need the r33/r34 one though. (usually comes with turbo).

[cul202]

cheers nissky i'll have to check it out.

the mech has the r32 stuff & r33 stuff to play with including the i/cooler elbow from the compressor & both rigid lines

[whistla]

yeah, when i replaced my turbo with "bolt on item" i had to take off some of the water line support bushes/bolts off the block to give it alittle slack

after that, it was straight fit

[cul202]

well i just got back from the mechanics & apparently some skyline turbos have different diameter banjo fittings as the ones on the new turbo dont fit through the original lines!!

new turbo is the one 45v2 on the compressor & is currently bolted onto the car but the lines will have to be fitted with the bigger banjo ends to finish the job.

lesson: check the banjo fittings before doing this swap.

[nissky]

hmmm wierd, just for reference

my original rb20det turbo was stamped "16V"

my new r34 turbo was stamped "45V1"

"45V2" is what the r33 turbos should be

[browny]

I have come across this as well.

The "RB25" turbo I have has about 2mm larger banjo bolts than the RB20 turbo, I'm not 100% on what the sizes were but I think it was 18mm vs 16mm.

The oil feed line was the same on both (12mm?)

[cul202]

yep thats the one. bloody waterlines.at least i'm not the only one i spose (means i'm not swapping to an unknown turbo).

most say that they have had no probs. it must have been for a certain year/model. maybe the early r32s like mine had the older (smaller) size banjo fittings.

looks like i'll be visiting some wreckers...

[BHDave]

I've done the swap too with no probs. Mid 92 GTSt to a GCG highflow, 45v1 on the comp cover if memory serves. Not that its any help now

But i did do a turbo swap on my S4 rx7 and Mazda had changed the oil banjo bolt sizes mid run, the bastards.

[Cecam]

I think its a SII turbo thing with the banjos? I know of two turbos that needed different banjos and both were series two... I assume its the series one RB25DET turbos that are a straight swap over for the RB20...

[cul202]

hmmm... now the tedious task of ringing around wreckers for the pipework with larger banjo's. if its a SII problem that makes it more difficult again as wreckers are less likely to let go of small parts on newer engines

[cul202]

according to the boys at just jap (see the sponsor at the top) the turbos changed during the r32 not between 31 & 32!!

apparently the first if the r32's had a similar turbs to the red top rb20, this is why some people have had probs and others haven't.

lesson: early 32s = not bolt on fit

later 32s = bolt on fit

will add to this if there are any further differences (i'm really hoping not!!)

[MattyB]

i changed all mine over to flexi lines. the water lines are larger which should improove water flow. also i returned the water to the frount of the water rail insted of the rear. try keep the extra head away from the manifold.

[BIGBLOCKR31COUPE]

Roller bearing turbos have larger banjo fittings than earlier non roller bearing turbos. The core on the roller bearing turbo is also larger. R32s initially came with non roller bearing turbos.

[cul202]

yep thats what the just jap lads said. probably why my car felt a little laggy than others i've been in. it seems the popular belief is that the bb's came in when the R32 did - not during the R32 model run.

but, as it turns out, not all R32's ran ball bearing turbos.

at least the SII turbs should be a decesnt improvement over the old one!

[BHDave]

If you're going from a non bb turbo to a bb turbo make sure there is a restictor in the oil line or it'll blow smoke like a biatch.

The stock oil line off an rb20 with a bb turbo will have it in but a non bb wont.

[BIGBLOCKR31COUPE]

I put a RB25 BB turbo on my old NICS RB20 about 5 years ago using the RB20 oil and water lines. I just bored out the banjo fittings until they fitted. I used this turbo for over a year and never had a smoke problem. I ran 13psi and found that the turbo spooled up quickly and the car produced power all the way to the red line. It was a nice improvement.

Geoff.