Blown Gasket On Rb26 - What Parts To Get To Strengthened While Im At It?

[nsta]

Hey guys, i just blew the head gasket in my rb26 engine (r33 gtr), im going to get it all rebuilt and was wondering the best parts to get while it's all out?, thinking of strengthening everything i can...im after a strong street car able to handle close to 650hp.....

what size/type gasket to get, and also other things to buy at the same time while its all out?, maybe rod bolts etc.....whats the good stuff to buy for these engines to make them way more reliable for the street(daily driven)

cheers.

[trism]

rebuild like that wont be cheap.....

[Simon-S14]

HKS gasket or something.

if your going all out, expect to spend 10K at a MINIMUM on parts and machining

[nsta]

We are doing most of the work ourselves, so long as the head has not been warped, well be pulling it out to get crack tested, but i was just wondering what type of head gaskets people use on the 26's that are reliable.

[Brockas]

HKS Metal head gasket, or if you're going for a full build for 650hp, try this (all prices from greenline):

TOMEI Forged Piston Kit 86.5mm - $1420

Argo Forged Conrods - $1100

TOMEI Poncam Camshaft and Pulley Kit Type B - $900

TRUST Timing Belt Cover - $75

TOMEI Gasket Kit 87mm 8.6 comp - $380

TRUST Oil Pan Upgrade Kit - $370

TOMEI Conrod bearings - $210

Valve guides - $400

Head service - $450

Pressure test - $55

Remove and resit vavle guides - $240

Will be more if you need oil/water pumps and more extensive headwork.

Edited December 26, 2007 by Brockaz

[nsta]

Cheers mate, im pricing up everything right now, im thinking of doing it all right the first time.....what headgaskets are good for street rb26dett, that are strong for up to 600hp max....i think that would be my goal - 500-600hp max and for street, responsive car. Theres so many different sizes for the headgaskets, and i guess the forged pistons will have to match this size too? or not??? Wanting to order everything asap as i need the kit fast.

[Brockas]

Yes if you go for oversized pistons, say 86.5mm, you will need an 87mm bore head gasket.

Head gasket choice will be affected by piston choice.

If you go for tomei 86.5mm pistons, go for a tomei 87mm head gasket.

if you go for HKS 87mm pistons, go for a HKS 87.5mm head gasket.

I'd chose both 1.2mm thick.

[nsta]

Thanks:), manage to do half of it today - will be finishing the second half tommorow, and get it taken to specialists to check the head for cracks, warped head etc....

Can i check the bore size using like a vernadial? - so basically .5mm difference in gasket size is alright to do(so long as it's .5mm increase?), and do i need to seal the gasket with anything, ive been searching the forums, alot of people say metal head gaskets don't need to be sealed with any sort of sealant, others reccomend it be done....

P.S: I have wiseco pistons already (as per the rebuild notes - i will confirm this tommorow when head is apart though)...

Question ive been dying to ask, and one that i had removed not so long ago when posting a thread(even though io searched alot of times)....

What is the stock rb26 compression ratio and gasket thickness?....

And why would i go say 1.2mm over say 1mm? - for a car aiming not for high hp, but street response and around the 300awkw-320awkw maybe down the line max...what compression ratio would suit?.

Either way im really thinking of going the 1.2mm route now anyways, after searching miliions of threads on this topic:)

Thanks for all the help!

Edited January 2, 2008 by nsta

[GD51LA]

you should put some oil restrictors in the head. if you hav'nt already.

[nsta]

Hey - the tomei head gasket kit comes with a oil restrictor gallery orifice.....is this something that the specialists needs to do when dissembling the head - or something that i could do myself when putting the mototr back together once the heads been tested/repaired?

[Simon-S14]

its a simple DIY that takes all of 2 mins to do. read the oil control thread from sydney kid

[nsta]

Head nearly off - intake side all done, just oding the last bits of the exh side tommorow - do the turbos need to come off to remove the head?, or could we get away with removing the exh manifolds from the turbos and leave the turbos intact?

Also, i had a very hard time with the Oil/water feed lines on the exh side, as whoever tightened the nuts last, done them extremely tight!!!, we ended up having to pull the whole feed out from around the back of the head....in the process the lines had bent abit, but i assume we can bend them back into shape and all is ok? other than that no real dramas.

Thanks.

[benm]

You will need to completely strip it anyway to get it cleaned, checked and bored. My advice is get a couple of cardboard boxes and put the head stuff in 1, exhaust in 1, intake in 1 and front stuff in another box.

[nsta]

Thanks for the advice, ill get onto removing the turbos tommorow - just wanted to know if there were other ways around it, should take any longer than an hour tops now maybe two....

[benm]

It took me approx 5hrs to do the top and sides and half the front. Considering I have no idea what most of the parts are and I had to go and buy some tools to get afew bolts undone I was happy with the effort (and saved money at the same time).

[nsta]

Hahah im in the same boat, just going bit by bit trying to figure it all out one by one - not that hard so long as i make sure i do i go by manual - and do it all by the book i guess.....timing belt may be something ill take my time to do.

thanks.

[rockabilly]

hi mate, my old 26 was 620bhp @ the fly. homebuilt here is the spec.

block bored to suit cp forged pistons, std rods,

std crank acl bearings, n1 oil/wtaer pumps.

hks 25/30,s @ 1.5 bar tomei turbo elbows, decat 3.5" full system

720ccinj, tomei in tank pump, hks fuel adj reg.

1.2mm tomei headgasket and restrictor fitted

jun stage one cams 264/272 9.7mm lift.

apexi power fc d-jetro

made 612bhp and 450lbs @ the fly

hope that helps.

p.s std rods are good for 650bhp tops.

Edited January 3, 2008 by rockabilly