Not sure if i can turbo my rb30 motor HELP

[JohnnyR31Silo]

Hi I bought a Nissan Skyline R31 Silo.

Basically I had to swap my motor because it was buggered, ended up buying another rb30 motor which came out of a wrecked VL wagon from Sydney. 

The thing is I am not sure if I can turbo it.. I am not to familiar with A8 blocks and what not.. would not know the difference so if anyone could help me find out if I can turbo it please let me know ill send some photos through, of what I think is the hole for the oil feed 

Any tips in general especially when it comes to what type of turbo and what not to get would be greatly appreciated   

 

[Ben C34]

Definitely  can turbo it. Been done a billion times.

[Ben C34]

You can turbo engines that don't have turbo oil feed ports or oil return ports  on the block. None of that stuff matters to turboing something.

 

 

[Shoota_77]

You can run an oil feed from the cold side to feed the turbo. Normally -4 (4an) braided hose is the go. If you haven't got a spare 1/8" npt port on the oil filter housing you can buy adapters that give you extra ports.

Something like this-

 

If there is no oil drain in the side of the block you'll need to weld an AN fitting onto your sump to return from the turbo into. Something like this-

[JohnnyR31Silo]

Then whats the whole big deal about A8 or whatever its called ? 

i can see now that it can be done maybe they just say that because theres more f**k around to it ? 

as well i was told if its not an A8 that it wont be able to have as much boost is this true? 

im gonna get some photos of my motor in a few minutees just waiting for my phone to turn on 

[JohnnyR31Silo]

Here is some photos 

[JohnnyR31Silo]

Not sure if im taking photos of the right things 

[JohnnyR31Silo]

I basically want to know what block i have..

 

[Ben C34]

What difference do you think the block makes?

There is clearly a plug in there you pull out for the oil return. So that's handy . Oil feed is super easy to sort out as per above post.

 

Are you going to turbo a 30yr old wrecker engine? Sounds fun.

[JohnnyR31Silo]

yeah well i plan on thrashing it a bit first then getting it rebuilt then chucking in a turbo.. but i want to make sure i have the right motor for it 

Im obviously new to cars im asking for questions i know im a noob no need to bust my balls some advice would be greatly appreciated.. so if this motor is fine for me to turbo like you have said since it has a plug.. then sweet unless use have some advice for me that would be apprecaited as well man.. i just want some advice im new to cars 

[JohnnyR31Silo]

in genreal any bit of advice i would appreciate im new to cars.. 

for thr 1st question does anyone know if its an A8 ?

i know im a noob lol sorry to bust balls just a lot to take in 

cheers 

[Duncan]

You've mentioned A8 a couple of times, what is that about?

You can certainly turbo your engine, you just need to understand the turbo oil and water plumbing, intake and exhaust to suit, ECU, injectors etc. 

Depending on the block it can be harder to do a twin cam conversion because some blocks don't have the machined flat surface for the second tensioner required for that, but it doesn't sound like you were thinking about going that way

[Duncan]

Oh, and BTW, don't turbo it, leave it stock, repair anything you can and sell in in 10 years for a fortune. You have a collector's car.

[GTSBoy]

And if you turbo an RB30 in front of an old RB30 NA manual gearbox.....the gearbox will not last long. Even at lowish boost. Too much torque for the poor little thing.

[Shoota_77]

On 03/02/2022 at 9:58 PM, GTSBoy said:

And if you turbo an RB30 in front of an old RB30 NA manual gearbox.....the gearbox will not last long. Even at lowish boost. Too much torque for the poor little thing.

It's like catching a 50 pound Murray cod on 10 pound line, the thrill of holding it all together is all part of the enjoyment of the sport! 🤣

[Ben C34]

On 2/3/2022 at 8:04 PM, JohnnyR31Silo said:

in genreal any bit of advice i would appreciate im new to cars.. 

for thr 1st question does anyone know if its an A8 ?

i know im a noob lol sorry to bust balls just a lot to take in 

cheers 

Definitely not an a8 

They were vl turbo only.

Doesn't matter.

[niZmO_Man]

Very handy guide on R31 Skyline Club

[Shoota_77]

So judging by the photos you've got the turbo oil drain point (so don't need extra fitting on the sump apart from if you run a head drain/catch can drain (would recommend both), run your 4an oil feed from oil filter housing, coolant feed is probably there too but need to see more photos of the hot side of the block under the exhaust manifold to confirm.

The trickiest part is the provision for the additional timing belt tensioner probably not being there and potentially being the non machined version (there seems to be a few variations in this area).  Mine was a rough cast block so when I was gettig my block prepped I got my machinist to machine down an area about the size of a 50c coin and then made a spacer the same size to bring the level up to flush with the other mating surfaces on the face of the block.  A bit hard to explain without photos...

Either way, ANY RB30 is useable with a little more or a little less work required depending on the block.

[Ben C34]

On 2/4/2022 at 8:12 AM, Shoota_77 said:

So judging by the photos you've got the turbo oil drain point (so don't need extra fitting on the sump apart from if you run a head drain/catch can drain (would recommend both), run your 4an oil feed from oil filter housing, coolant feed is probably there too but need to see more photos of the hot side of the block under the exhaust manifold to confirm.

The trickiest part is the provision for the additional timing belt tensioner probably not being there and potentially being the non machined version (there seems to be a few variations in this area).  Mine was a rough cast block so when I was gettig my block prepped I got my machinist to machine down an area about the size of a 50c coin and then made a spacer the same size to bring the level up to flush with the other mating surfaces on the face of the block.  A bit hard to explain without photos...

Either way, ANY RB30 is useable with a little more or a little less work required depending on the block.

As he isn't putting a 25 or 26 head on, so tensioner area is not a  concern in this case.

 

Should really do an LS swap instead!

 

[GTSBoy]

On 2/4/2022 at 8:57 AM, Ben C34 said:

Should really do an LS swap instead!

This, or 3rotor.