R34 Gtr Build Plan (track / Street)

[Got Boost?]

Hey guys,

So basically i got taken for a drive in a 350 - 400awkw R32 GTR setup for track.. i was blown away and i loved it so much it got me thinking about my own car. I want to take my car to track days on weekends but still be able to drive it whenever i want during the week reliably. I don't know everything about modifying cars, and i'm not a mechanic so the list i'm putting together is just from opinions, my limited knowledge and general information i have come across. Feel free to correct where i have gone wrong and suggest something completely different if you like!

Engine -

Either Tomei 2.8L Kit or Full house 2.6 (Leaning towards 2.6 for responsiveness and revs)

Head - Unsure exactly, but definitely light to moderate head work with cams, valves, springs, cam gears etc)

ARC twin entry cooler (Brand doesn't necessarily have to be ARC i just love their gear)

ARC oil cooler

ARC trans cooler (Do i need this?)

ARC 3 core radiator (Or other brand)

Upgraded Thermo Fans

Upgraded Oil / Water pump (Unsure what type, still deciding)

HKS 2530's (Currently have R34 N1's)

HKS Dumps / Fronts and Exhaust (Already Have)

700cc Sard Injectors (Already have these)

Pump (Current probably wont support new mods)

Sump extension (Do i need this?)

Pod Filters in closed induction box

Z32 AFM x 2

Custom Water / Oil catch can combo

Thats all i can think of

Suspension -

Nismo LM GT4 19" (Will most likely use standard wheels for trackwork though)

Bilstein PSS9 kit (Sydneykid package)

Camber Kits

Caster Kits

Swaybars

I'm sure there is some other stuff i should be looking at here??

Driveline -

Nismo Coppermix twinplate

Thats it off the top of my head, im sure i have missed some little bits here and there.. and i know there are a million of these threads but i'm just chasing opinions from people with experience! Thanks guys.

[Beer Baron]

My favourite combo of bits for what you want is as follows:

engine, either the 2.8 or 2.6 with the usual mods.

head with squish zones removed on one side, and inlet and exhaust ported and port matched

cams around 270-280 duration and around 10mm lift

valve springs to suit

ARC intercooler (no need for the twin entry really, but ARC coolers are a good choice)

tomei exhaust manifolds (or standard ones are good too, but I really like the tomei ones, they are a great design, use appropriate thickness and grade of steel and I had good results with them)

tomei dumps (much better than the HKS ones)

HKS front pipes (the new ones that are twin 70mm and welded on the inside)

ARC radiator (or koyo are quite nice too, no need to go too thick as the ARC intercooler allows lots of airflow through to the radiator)

Greddy oil cooler with remote filter mount (get the duct mounted kit not the radiator mounted type, and the remote filter mount gives you easy options for oil pressure and temp senders)

Sard 700cc injectors (good size for what you need without going too big)

nismo fuel pump (and if track use consider a surge tank too, Sard ones are very nice, make sure you do a direct feed of power to the fuel pump too)

nismo engine and box mounts

for ecu I would go with power FC with nismo airflow meters, or go power FC DJETRO if you prefer to run map sensors

I would also get a full hard pipe kit, either Greddy or HKS (I prefer Greddy but there is much of a muchness between them, more a matter of personal preference) full kit means everything from the airfilters to the plenum

good idea to use a sard or trust fuel rail as well as you can run a feed into each end and a regulator off the middle

Trust sump extension is a must (or hi octane sump is a good option too)

jun oil pump is a good idea providing you do the enlarged sump option

mines cam cover baffles and a good catch tank set-up are needed too

nismo super coppermix clutch is a great choice

Turbos the HKS 2530s will be a good choice and easily get you into the high 300rwkw or even low 400rwkw range and still be fairly streetable.

exhuast is a matter of personal preference, but at least 80mm pipe diamter and really 90mm would be preferable.

For track use the stock 18X9 inch wheels are good or some 18X10s even better.

Look to run some upgraded brakes too, something like some AP 6 pots with 350mm rotors up front is a good start and lots of available pad types

Also consider putting a 1-way or 1.5way LSD in the front (stock diff is open) and the rear diff can be upgraded too either with clutch pack upgrade for the stock 2 way, or just a new centre

I had a car with a pretty similar recipe to this engine wise and it was awesome fun to drive and bullshit fast on the street, but running smaller HKS GT-SS turbos. it's now putting out mid 300rwkw with about 20psi boost. and does it with ease.

My current 32's recipe is pretty similar too and about to be put back together.

It wont be cheap, but all these parts are proven performers and you will end up with a great result. enjoy.

[INVRTD]

this is a bloody nice thread, lets me dream to what i want in my 34 in 5 years time, lol

[R31Nismoid]

Yeah, its the how to eat a house deposit thread

[Got Boost?]

My favourite combo of bits for what you want is as follows:

engine, either the 2.8 or 2.6 with the usual mods.

head with squish zones removed on one side, and inlet and exhaust ported and port matched

cams around 270-280 duration and around 10mm lift

valve springs to suit

ARC intercooler (no need for the twin entry really, but ARC coolers are a good choice)

tomei exhaust manifolds (or standard ones are good too, but I really like the tomei ones, they are a great design, use appropriate thickness and grade of steel and I had good results with them)

tomei dumps (much better than the HKS ones)

HKS front pipes (the new ones that are twin 70mm and welded on the inside)

ARC radiator (or koyo are quite nice too, no need to go too thick as the ARC intercooler allows lots of airflow through to the radiator)

Greddy oil cooler with remote filter mount (get the duct mounted kit not the radiator mounted type, and the remote filter mount gives you easy options for oil pressure and temp senders)

Sard 700cc injectors (good size for what you need without going too big)

nismo fuel pump (and if track use consider a surge tank too, Sard ones are very nice, make sure you do a direct feed of power to the fuel pump too)

nismo engine and box mounts

for ecu I would go with power FC with nismo airflow meters, or go power FC DJETRO if you prefer to run map sensors

I would also get a full hard pipe kit, either Greddy or HKS (I prefer Greddy but there is much of a muchness between them, more a matter of personal preference) full kit means everything from the airfilters to the plenum

good idea to use a sard or trust fuel rail as well as you can run a feed into each end and a regulator off the middle

Trust sump extension is a must (or hi octane sump is a good option too)

jun oil pump is a good idea providing you do the enlarged sump option

mines cam cover baffles and a good catch tank set-up are needed too

nismo super coppermix clutch is a great choice

Turbos the HKS 2530s will be a good choice and easily get you into the high 300rwkw or even low 400rwkw range and still be fairly streetable.

exhuast is a matter of personal preference, but at least 80mm pipe diamter and really 90mm would be preferable.

For track use the stock 18X9 inch wheels are good or some 18X10s even better.

Look to run some upgraded brakes too, something like some AP 6 pots with 350mm rotors up front is a good start and lots of available pad types

Also consider putting a 1-way or 1.5way LSD in the front (stock diff is open) and the rear diff can be upgraded too either with clutch pack upgrade for the stock 2 way, or just a new centre

I had a car with a pretty similar recipe to this engine wise and it was awesome fun to drive and bullshit fast on the street, but running smaller HKS GT-SS turbos. it's now putting out mid 300rwkw with about 20psi boost. and does it with ease.

My current 32's recipe is pretty similar too and about to be put back together.

It wont be cheap, but all these parts are proven performers and you will end up with a great result. enjoy.

WOW! Really appreciate you going to the effort to write that mate, i will take your advice on board! Some very good points you made there which i didn't think of at all. Your right, not cheap at all but i figure i've spent the money on the car it deserves to have a package of equal quality! I need to look into the brakes i didn't consider that as heavily as i should have and they are an extremely critical part of a track car of course...

[Beer Baron]

suspension wise the bilsteins are quite good.

If you are serious about some track times I would then get:

ikeya formula front lower control arms (these include redesigned and improved castor rods too)

noltec front upper arms or cusco fixed length upper arms

cusco front and rear sway bars (they are good quality, and hollow so light weight, much lighter and easier to fit than the solid ones and still good priced, ARC ones are nice but very expensive)

Ikeya formula rear traction rods

cusco rear upper arms

ikeya formula lower rear control arms

if you want a more street bias then consider using adjustable urethane bushes in your standard arms, but still get the cusco sway bars and good shocks and springs

Also get hicas removed and install a lock bar, and a proper power steering cooler is a good idea.

for the average bloke a trans and diff coolers is not really necessary but if you have the dough they certainly don't hurt. ARC make excellent kits for GTRs that come with everything you need for diff and trans cooling.

Shock wise I would look at something like Tein RA or Tein RS, nismo R-tune or the Ohlins equivelant. They are all very good, all alloy shock body, mono-tube design with remote canisters and more adjustment than you will ever need. it's a good idea to get them dyno'd somewhere that knows what they are doing so they can give you some good initial damper settings so you don't spend forever chasing a good set-up. The teins are good as they can take their EDFC which makes it easy to adjust damper settings at the track and feel the difference straight way meaning you can instantly get an idea of if you are heading in the right direction or not. The bilsteins are good too and of course with less adjustment they are easier to set-up, but they miss out on a few of the nicities that the others above have.

[Huy]

Keep the suggestions coming!

Looking to do the exact same thing.

Edited September 17, 2008 by Huy

[Beer Baron]

WOW! Really appreciate you going to the effort to write that mate, i will take your advice on board! Some very good points you made there which i didn't think of at all. Your right, not cheap at all but i figure i've spent the money on the car it deserves to have a package of equal quality! I need to look into the brakes i didn't consider that as heavily as i should have and they are an extremely critical part of a track car of course...

no problem, there are lots of little things I've skipped over which you need to think about.

replacing the rear coolant/heater hoses with good silicone ones is a good idea while the engine is out.

a header tank system is also a good idea to keep air pockets out of the head (ARC make a very good kit for it and not badly priced either)

The engine build I haven't gone into any detail on as there are lots of thread on RB26 rebuilds and we could have a whole topic just on all the little details of the engine build.

you may also need new coil packs, or even an ignition amplifier (HKS gold magic box of sparks works well even with standard coils)

plus you'll want some good engine monitoring (heaps of options here, personally I use Defi gauges as they have easy to set warning levels, and peak hold and even better can records whole laps of data to look over in the pits and they are super easy to read and very accurate, but like I said there are so many choices here).

also for track use in any fast GTR you really will need a proper fixed race seat and minimum 4 point 3 inch harness and a better sized wheel. Seat and harness is easy to swap in and out for track days though, maybe 20 or 30 minute job.

Of course lots of the stuff I've suggested is not 100% necessary, and other stuff that is necessary could be substituted for other brands that will be cheaper. BUT nearly all that gear I've either used, or had experience with and it is all top quality parts at what I think is fair prices considering the quality you are buying and will all give you piece of mind, and a great overall result. So in my eyes it's worth the extra dough over cheaper gear. The other thing to bear in mind is often with other gear the parts maybe cheaper, but may need mods to fit, or more labour to install, or may not give quite as good a result, or may not last as long or even worse may fail and if you cost up those things often cheaper parts 'cost' you more in the long run.

[Nacho Vidal]

Wow Beer Baron has really got the bases covered here!

Just to add, ARC gear, HKS 2530's and 34 GTR's in blue are awesome.

How to eat a house deposit indeed Enjoy the build!

btw Beer Baron, could you elaborate on the how the air pockets form in the head and how the ARC air separator works? also what happens to the majority of street/track cars that run a conventional setup without an air separator?

cheers!

Edited September 17, 2008 by Nacho Vidal

[R31Nismoid]

btw Beer Baron, could you elaborate on the how the air pockets form in the head and how the ARC air separator works? also what happens to the majority of street/track cars that run a conventional setup without an air separator?

They are all fine, its not something thats required.

Its just a part to spend money on. Kinda like BOV's.

[Beer Baron]

Wow Beer Baron has really got the bases covered here!

Just to add, ARC gear, HKS 2530's and 34 GTR's in blue are awesome.

How to eat a house deposit indeed Enjoy the build!

btw Beer Baron, could you elaborate on the how the air pockets form in the head and how the ARC air separator works? also what happens to the majority of street/track cars that run a conventional setup without an air separator?

cheers!

any really serious track car should have one. basically there are parts of the head coolant system in a RB26 that are the high point of the cooling system. any air therefore collects here and you get pockets of air and steam which give you uneven cooling in parts of the head. the header tank creates a new high point basically. the new high point is a little 'header tank' and this allows any air or steam to bleed itself out of your 26 head into the new header tank. sure it's not 100% necessary but it's a good idea and not overly expensive to do.

[R31Nismoid]

Ah come on, every serious track car should have one...

Not one person here in Vic has one, and i wouldnt be calling them non-serious.

[R31Nismoid]

Oh... maybe its like SBS (sump baffle syndrome) that only seem'd to affect NSW cars for a few years

If thats the case - then carry on

[Beer Baron]

mate, just because they don't have it, doesn't mean they wouldn't be better off with it. I can make 400rwkw through a 3 inch exhaust, but I'd be better off with a 4inch one...

ash, it's a well known problem with RB26 cooling. they can be a bitch to bleed up properly and they do get air pockets in the upper areas of the head cooling system. the more power you have and the more sustained high rpm running you do, the more sense it makes to fit one. I'm not saying your engine will explode without it, and it may not even affect your power or anything you care to measure, but is it an improvement? yes. is it a good idea? yes. is it worth doing on a serious circuit car? yes. I have seen plenty of heat damaged 26 heads that are cracked, or slightly warped etc to know that 26 head cooling needs all the help you can give it. I'm amazed that you somehow know that not one single person in victoria has ever fitted one. I will have to get my head under some bonnets this weekend and see if I can find just one... as I said above sure it's not 100% necessary but it's a good idea and not overly expensive to do. I'm also baffled as to how you somehow turn this into a nsw vs vic thing? that is just plain weird. I can also tell you that no body in romania has one on their serious track GTRs either, doesn't mean I wouldn't use one...

[paulr33]

change the rear diff gears

from memory bnr34 is 3.7

crank it up to 4.11 and youll get some more acceleration out of it

[Beer Baron]

change the rear diff gears

from memory bnr34 is 3.7

crank it up to 4.11 and youll get some more acceleration out of it

yeah that is a good point too. but you can't just change the rear gears, must do fronts as well. i'm not sure if 32/33 gears will fit on 34 diffs, but if they do you will have plenty of 4.11:1 gears available for not much money. or if you like you can even go to 4.375:1 out of a 32 GTS4 (I did for my 32 GTR). just remember that of course the new diffs will reduce your potential top speed, but considering the factory gearing gives some stupidly astronomical top speed that you will never reach on any australian circuit it's not a real problem. it will mean highway cruise is at a higher rpm, but for me it was worth the trade off.

[Marlin]

change the rear diff gears

from memory bnr34 is 3.7

crank it up to 4.11 and youll get some more acceleration out of it

lol... if you're going to do the rears you'd better to the front as well

[Roy]

But its an R34 with 6 spd! Gear ratios are already staked closer then the 5 spds, so i wouldnt presonally be throwing the shorter final drives at an R34. 5 spd though could have some merit without making it too busy

[R31Nismoid]

mate, just because they don't have it, doesn't mean they wouldn't be better off with it. I can make 400rwkw through a 3 inch exhaust, but I'd be better off with a 4inch one...

ash, it's a well known problem with RB26 cooling. they can be a bitch to bleed up properly and they do get air pockets in the upper areas of the head cooling system. the more power you have and the more sustained high rpm running you do, the more sense it makes to fit one. I'm not saying your engine will explode without it, and it may not even affect your power or anything you care to measure, but is it an improvement? yes. is it a good idea? yes. is it worth doing on a serious circuit car? yes. I have seen plenty of heat damaged 26 heads that are cracked, or slightly warped etc to know that 26 head cooling needs all the help you can give it. I'm amazed that you somehow know that not one single person in victoria has ever fitted one. I will have to get my head under some bonnets this weekend and see if I can find just one... as I said above sure it's not 100% necessary but it's a good idea and not overly expensive to do. I'm also baffled as to how you somehow turn this into a nsw vs vic thing? that is just plain weird. I can also tell you that no body in romania has one on their serious track GTRs either, doesn't mean I wouldn't use one...

Easy does it. I was more having a stir in jest as much as anything else

When I say Vic cars, I refer to club members that attend the track - there is a good number of them that do. Most of the cars run more stock parts than most would deem 'reasonable', like stock cams, intake piping, manifolds, dumps and everything else that people will tell you 'you must change' when realistically (as an example) the cars are going faster with stock cams than they were with bigger ones, and this is cars over 330rwkw.

So who is right? Hard to say. Who is wrong? No-one. Each person has their own choice where/what/how they spend their money and I simply believe a header tank is pointless.

You can class any part as an 'improvement' but unless its realistically offering a tangible benefit, I'd rather go with how Nissan intended it. They did a pretty damn good job

However if people are at least posting about it them people can decide what they want to do based on their own merits.

Are all the big budget parts offering anything over the stock ones? In what ive seen over the years, in some cases not at all.

Each to their own, im just offering a different view to what ive seen over there years where people are going back to more and more stock parts and going faster, its all interesting to me.

The whole NSW/VIC thing was just a stir over you guys and your sump baffles (where you all needed them for your motors to live), yet built motors down here never had issues with stock sumps +1ltr on the overfill. This is going back a few years now... so maybe you've forgotten some of the more amusing and comical posts surrounding it all.

[fatz]

by a r31 they break down less

ya fags