Thinking Of Tuning Up My R32 Gtr, Need Ideas

[LoNgStAr]

Hey guys,

I want to increase power on my r32 gtr, need some ideas.

Firstly here is the spec of my car

-12/1993 R32 GTR

-Cat Back 5zigen Exhuast

-Apexi Dual intake

-Twin HKW BOV

-18" Bronze Works XD9

-Stock ECU

-Running @ standard boost

So my car is pretty much stock standard, what is the 1st thing that i should to do increase power? is it safe to run with my stock car? What is the cheapest options to go with? safest?

I always wanted to do full exhaust, but is it worth it? better performance? or just louder like hondas?

Any good places to get my car done? Im in western NSW (liverpool area)

thanks guys

[R34 Sedan]

Hi Mate,

I'm no expert (to put it mildly), however I would have thought a good place to start would be a turbo back exhaust (will give you more power than a cat back), and an aftermarket air filter.

When I 1st purchased my R34 GTT it was totally standard, and only put out 137rwkw on the dyno.

After adding a turno back exhaust and a K & N pod filter it went up to 180rwkw.

From there the skies the limit, but the further you go the more expensive it get's, also you'd want to take it to a good reliable mechanic who knows his GTR's.

Also do a search on the site to see what other GTR owners have done to theirs.

[evil_weevil]

step 1 get full exhaust fitted.

step 2 buy powerFC ECU

step 3 Greddy profec B II electric boost controller

step 4 goto unigroup to get it tuned.

/end thread

[LoNgStAr]

OK so seems like i need to get FULL Exhaust done right? have you guys been to liverpool exhaust? can i get my car done there? are they good? any suggestions of a better place?

secondly will custom exhaust be good enough? or need branded exhaust such as hks, apexi ect? (considering price for value)

cheers

[SECURITY]

just get a 2nd hand exhaust from the for sale section. if you want to go brand new check out ebay or justjap and get a mechanic or even livo exhausts to fit it.

DO NOT get a custom exhaust. they're a pain in the ass.

[LoNgStAr]

just get a 2nd hand exhaust from the for sale section. if you want to go brand new check out ebay or justjap and get a mechanic or even livo exhausts to fit it.

DO NOT get a custom exhaust. they're a pain in the ass.

OH, i was just going to get the custom exhaust done at liverpool exhaust.. shit, why is it a pain in the ass? not as good? crappy or what?

[Deano 1]

dude if u got a catback exhaust already, Just buy a high flow cat, or decat your one now (not recomended) and buy a front pipe. im pritty sure u can get JJR ones for about 300bux. than fit it yaself or get a shop to fit it. Thats all you need for the exhaust if u got a catback already. If u go getting a brand new full exhaust system youll be throwing half of it away.

[SECURITY]

custom exhausts are a pain in the ass to get rid of once you're done with it. nobody wants them. its much much easier to swap parts (dumps, cats, cat backs etc) when you want to upgrade just one part of the exhaust.

get one that is a direct swap and it will make your life a bit easier.

[evil_weevil]

custom exhausts are a pain in the ass to get rid of once you're done with it. nobody wants them. its much much easier to swap parts (dumps, cats, cat backs etc) when you want to upgrade just one part of the exhaust.

get one that is a direct swap and it will make your life a bit easier.

Agreed!!!

Even second hand (as mentioned before) will do good. I bought a 2nd hand nismo 3" catback from the forums years ago for a couple of hundred!

these forums you'll find alot of goodies.

[Beer Baron]

my advice from owning about 10 GTRs.

don't worry about a full exhaust at this stage with standard turbos. simply because to fit the dump pipes it's a turbo out job which is a lot of labour cost for not much gain.

what you needs:

a set of good, large front pipes

a high flow cat or de-cat (these can be a major restriction)

if your cat back exhaust is already good then keep it.

you already have pod filters so the intake is already pretty free flowing (the other option is K+N filter in the stock air-box)

add to this:

Power FC ECU or Nistune (power FC and hand controller can be found less than $900 second hand, you need either 32 GTR or 33 GTR model, 34 GTR model WONT fit your 32 GTR)

Trust Profec B II boost controller (they are great value and will give you good stable boost control)

optional: this is up to you, but personally at this stage I would add some adjustable cam gears. they give a good mid-range gain when set properly on a lightly modded GTR like yours will be.

Once you have all those parts take it somewhere for fitting and tuning.

Set boost at NO MORE than 15psi MAX. around 14psi is fairly safe, but to be honest it's always a gamble with stock 32 GTR turbos, they can let go even at stardard boost, so start putting away some money for a set of turbos down the track....

with your 14psi, your intake and exhaust freed up and your cam gears set, and your power FC or nistune properly tuned you should have at least 240rwkw and as much as 270rwkw. it will also be more responsive than standard, will be heaps more fun to drive and should be good enough for a low 12 second quarter mile. possibly a high 11 if you have good tyres and really ring it's neck.

once you get to this point the injectors are nearly maxed. the stock fuel pump is nearly maxed (may already be failing in which case buy a nismo direct fit pump) the AFMS will also be hitting max voltage. so you need to make a choice to be happy with this level, or be prepared to spend a lot of dough. stage 2 is a big step up in cost and involves:

new turbos (size depends on what you want, but at least $3K) and fitting

new injectors (again sized for what power you want)

new fuel pump

dump pipes (of some description, 32 ones are pretty poor)

possibly a slightly larger intercooler (like a 70mm ARC one which is a very good choice)

more tuning

new clutch

and to be sensible a brake upgrade of some kind and an oil cooler.

so you can see stage 2 will run you to $10K easily. but it will get you over 300kw atw and as much as 350kw depending on what turbo(s) you choose.

[dori34]

Fantastic write up mr beer baron, will definitely be using this as a guide when my GTR comes.

[gtr fan]

I've done all the stage one including injectors, and have most stage 2 stuff now.

Beer Baron, what AFM would you use? Any point is considering Z32 or just spend the extra ans use nismo?

[LoNgStAr]

my advice from owning about 10 GTRs.

don't worry about a full exhaust at this stage with standard turbos. simply because to fit the dump pipes it's a turbo out job which is a lot of labour cost for not much gain.

what you needs:

a set of good, large front pipes

a high flow cat or de-cat (these can be a major restriction)

if your cat back exhaust is already good then keep it.

you already have pod filters so the intake is already pretty free flowing (the other option is K+N filter in the stock air-box)

add to this:

Power FC ECU or Nistune (power FC and hand controller can be found less than $900 second hand, you need either 32 GTR or 33 GTR model, 34 GTR model WONT fit your 32 GTR)

Trust Profec B II boost controller (they are great value and will give you good stable boost control)

optional: this is up to you, but personally at this stage I would add some adjustable cam gears. they give a good mid-range gain when set properly on a lightly modded GTR like yours will be.

Once you have all those parts take it somewhere for fitting and tuning.

Set boost at NO MORE than 15psi MAX. around 14psi is fairly safe, but to be honest it's always a gamble with stock 32 GTR turbos, they can let go even at stardard boost, so start putting away some money for a set of turbos down the track....

with your 14psi, your intake and exhaust freed up and your cam gears set, and your power FC or nistune properly tuned you should have at least 240rwkw and as much as 270rwkw. it will also be more responsive than standard, will be heaps more fun to drive and should be good enough for a low 12 second quarter mile. possibly a high 11 if you have good tyres and really ring it's neck.

once you get to this point the injectors are nearly maxed. the stock fuel pump is nearly maxed (may already be failing in which case buy a nismo direct fit pump) the AFMS will also be hitting max voltage. so you need to make a choice to be happy with this level, or be prepared to spend a lot of dough. stage 2 is a big step up in cost and involves:

new turbos (size depends on what you want, but at least $3K) and fitting

new injectors (again sized for what power you want)

new fuel pump

dump pipes (of some description, 32 ones are pretty poor)

possibly a slightly larger intercooler (like a 70mm ARC one which is a very good choice)

more tuning

new clutch

and to be sensible a brake upgrade of some kind and an oil cooler.

so you can see stage 2 will run you to $10K easily. but it will get you over 300kw atw and as much as 350kw depending on what turbo(s) you choose.

Hey buddy, thanks alot man this is like a guide for me to follow now, think i will stay at the stage one for now, stage 2 is quite over the limit for me, but eventually will get there.

Should i get a branded front pipe and cat converter? because i wanted to get it custom made at liverpool exhaust what should i do?

think i will get the power fc and get my turbo back exhaust done, then get it tune, think will be happy with that for now if i can get to 250kw it would be nice

thanks man!! very appreciate your help

[Beer Baron]

personally I would not bother getting a custom made exhaust done. I've had liverpool exhaust make stuff for me before for other cars, but for a GTR there is no need. there must be more 32 GTR exhausts out there than just about any other car.

at this point (stage one) you don't need the dump pipes as the cost of good ones, and the labour of fitting them is not worth the small gain with factory turbos. so just buy a set of front pipes off the shelf, and a nice big 4" cat (don't waste time with the small ones) and you can add that to the cat back exhaust you have already.

[Beer Baron]

I've done all the stage one including injectors, and have most stage 2 stuff now.

Beer Baron, what AFM would you use? Any point is considering Z32 or just spend the extra ans use nismo?

I used genuine nissan Z32 AFMS on my last built (stage 2.5 lol) GTR. they were fine. the only ones I've had problems with have been the cheap bosch Z32s that hit the market in big numbers a few years ago. many have been fine but I've seen many of them with problems too, and also many with poor quality control, the GENUINE NISSAN ones though are great, but a bit expensive. I've also used nismo ones and have a set for my current build. they are good, very nice quality and not too expensive. some tuners don't like them as the voltage curve is slightly different to the Z32 afm (because they have the smaller 65mm body vs the 80mm Z32 body). but this can easily be overcome by a competent tuner.

my advice would be use genuine nissan Z32 afms if you want (but of course then you need to make some small changes to your intake as they are larger than factory) or use the nismo ones. both are fine. personally I like the nismo ones, but I guess if I wanted really big power I'd go the Z32s as their physical size will make a difference at some point.

[Brandon]

+1 on dumps = high labour cost. I bought a pair of HKS ones and now they're sitting in store because I have no plans on changing turbos (only found out turbos need to be out for dumps to be in after purchase).

[gtr fan]

Thanks Beer Baron, I was leaning towards the nismo ones so I eill just use those.

Regards,

[LoNgStAr]

personally I would not bother getting a custom made exhaust done. I've had liverpool exhaust make stuff for me before for other cars, but for a GTR there is no need. there must be more 32 GTR exhausts out there than just about any other car.

at this point (stage one) you don't need the dump pipes as the cost of good ones, and the labour of fitting them is not worth the small gain with factory turbos. so just buy a set of front pipes off the shelf, and a nice big 4" cat (don't waste time with the small ones) and you can add that to the cat back exhaust you have already.

Ive been researching to buy the cat converter, i found this Catco 3" highflow cat for the car, will that be good enough? or need to go for 4 inch. I also found some DE-cat but is it legal to have? i dont want to get in trouble with the cops.

thanks beer baron. <H1 class=vi-is1-titleH1>Catco High Flow Racing Cat Converter</H1>

[LoNgStAr]

Ive been researching to buy the cat converter, i found this Catco 3" highflow cat for the car, will that be good enough? or need to go for 4 inch. I also found some DE-cat but is it legal to have? i dont want to get in trouble with the cops.

thanks beer baron. <H1 class=vi-is1-titleH1>Catco High Flow Racing Cat Converter</H1>

Oh i also found 3" magnaflow metalic core catalytic converter, which one would you recommend me to get?

[N1GTR]

Richards done a big response, so as another person who's been in your shoes already, heres what i did;

Trust front pipes

Cheap sh!t catback

Hi flow cat

Microtech (insert aftermarket ECU of choice here)

ARC airbox

Boost bleed valve

15psi

262rwkw....notice this is without cam gears. If i bought another stocker id do cam gears at the same time as the tune

Swapped the ARC box for a stock airbox with a nismo Stune filter and saw zero difference.

Thats more than enough power for the streets if you dont drive it often.