Advice For Tuning My Mate's Skyline

[jezzamundo]

Ok, first post here and I wasn't sure whether I should put this in the turbo or non-turbo section.

First off, my mate has just bought a skyline, and I think he got an excellent deal:

1998 R34 4dr, 2.5L straight six (non-turbo), 4 speed tiptronic auto. Recently imported from Japan, no mods, everything in excellent condition inside and out (RAC inspector rated highly), 16 inch alloys, double barrel exhaust (not sure what size but it looks nice), no spoiler, metallic gunmetal grey paint. Came with 3 year unlimited warranty from dealer. $19,000.

When he first told me about it, I thought that he was getting very good value, but also that it was just about the least sporty skyline he could possibly have bought. Personally I would have preferred a 2dr manual non-turbo, but my mate said the cheapest of those he saw were nearing $30k, plus he specifically wanted a 4dr and was not fussed whether he got a manual or auto.

Basically the car looks great right now, and the only changes he wants to make in the short term are to fit some of the wheels that come as standard on the R34 GTR (I think they are 5 or 6 spoke 18 inch wheels in a sort of charcoal colour, but I could be wrong), and a nice (but not too low) body kit.

However, once his warranty is over, he would like a performance upgrade, and that is where my question lies: What would you reccomend as being the best way to upgrade the performance of his car? Would it be possible to fit the engine from the R34 GTR, or would it be too much torque for the auto to handle? Could he swap it for a normal R34 turbo engine (I have no idea what they are called)? Or should he simply have a turbo fitted to his current engine?

Also any advice on finding the wheels from the R34 GTR would be nice.

Thanks

Jezzamundo

[mait32]

It all depends on how much money he wants to spend, the best bet is to put an rb26 (gtr engine) under the bonnet and start from there.

[paulr33]

easiest and cheapest: bolt turbo onto current engine, theres a howto in the n/a section of the forums, dan666 did it. wont be able to run a massive amount of boost pressure cos of the standard compression

hardest and most expensive would be complete swap to a different engine such as an rb26 from a bnr34, firstly youd have to buy the engine, then swap over all the parts and sensors and change sump and what else has to be changed to go from 4wd to rwd.

medium in cost and good gains could be a det head swap and then bottom end swap, with this you retain all the sensors and wiring and crap but get the det head and you could go the rb30 bottom end if you wanted for a bigger displacement

[jezzamundo]

Thanks for the replies people. Does anyone else have any more advice?

My mate seems to think the most likely option will be swapping his current engine for a turbocharged R34 engine, but I have heard that entire engine swaps are always expensive and never simple.

I don't know what he will want to spend, I will speak to him and ask him exactly what he is looking for and what he wants to spend.

What sort of performance gains could he expect from putting a turbocharger onto the existing engine (2.5L L6 non-turbo. 142kW@6400rpm, 231Nm@4800rpm).

[the stink]

easiest and probably cheapest thing to do is sell it and and get a factory turbo version of the same model... imports 101 have 2 reasonable looking R34 4 door turbos for around the 21k mark imported and on the road. Add 1000 to get the inevitable scratchs/dents fixed and your probably still ahead of what it would cost to get someone to do a turbo conversion.

[josip]

Tell him to take it to Rajab racing, for 3000-5000k it will be doing Mid 11 second passes, 1 of my mates spent arround that much for his 180sx, turbo,cams, cooler,injectors, exhaust, ECU, tune

[The Mafia]

how how long did this "rajab" racing built motor last? $3k - $5k sounds a little low for 11 second passes

[Freeman]

Tell him to take it to Rajab racing, for 3000-5000k it will be doing Mid 11 second passes, 1 of my mates spent arround that much for his 180sx, turbo,cams, cooler,injectors, exhaust, ECU, tune

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And did the 180 come nonturbo from the factory?

[Dee 33]

Tell him to take it to Rajab racing, for 3000-5000k it will be doing Mid 11 second passes, 1 of my mates spent arround that much for his 180sx, turbo,cams, cooler,injectors, exhaust, ECU, tune

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WTF... even if it was stock turbo I call bullshit.

Unless we're talking slicks and nitrous (tuned to get this pass at least once before blowing up)

[Freeman]

lol yeah i call bullshit too