Low-12s for Low Bucks

[R34GTRNUR]

‘Taken from ‘High Performance Imports Magazine’ issue No. 40, GT-R Special No.4’

The common myth with the GT-R is that many expensive changes must be made to the car’s basic configuration to get a decent power output and quarter mile time from it.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If you have a good-condition example (very important!), then getting genuine low-to-flat 12sec performance and 260kw at the wheels is only a handful of budget tweaks away. Here’s how it’s done.

Step 1 - Assess Its Health

Before doing anything to your GT-R, have a compression test carried out. Look for cylinder reading being even, around the 160psi mark. If you have this, then you will more than likely have a fairly solid base from which to work. If one or two cylinders are down, there’s a fair chance that the piston ring lands have been detonated out of it. Stop now and fix the thing. A healthy, near –stock car should have close to 175kw at the wheels, and be good for a 13.2sec quarter mile pass.

Step 2 - Turbochargers and Boost

The older and higher mileage the GT-R, the closer the turbochargers will be to their failure point. Both R32s and R33s have ceramic turbos, unless they have already been upgraded to Nismo spec.

It’s normally old R32 GT-Rs that dump the ceramic turbine wheel off the shaft. Later cars don’t have as much trouble, but they also haven’t had the ‘working out’ that an earlier car would have had.

Aim to run no more than 1bar of boost pressure through the standard turbochargers. A quick easy way to get close to this figure is to flick the restrictor out of the pressure like going to the factory boost-control solenoid.

The location of the restrictor is marked by a yellow band. Use some long-nose pliers, hook it out and enjoy 0.95-1.0bar of boost pressure. If you want more, then fit a bleed valve to the end of this line or wire up an electronic boost controller.

All up. For less than $300 (if you go the pneumatic route), you will have the target boost pressure. Don’t get greedy, as expensive turbo failure could result. At this stage you should already have around 200kw and 12.9sec performance.

Step 3 - Exhaust System

Search around wreckers for a stock GT-R car converter. They are of metal matrix construction a flow much bigger numbers than the ‘el cheapo’ things fitted at compliance time. Most compliance centers will have a good stock of them lined up that they have been removed from GT-Rs over the years. Get one, swap it for yours, whatever. You should be able to score the cat converter for no more that, say, $150.

There are also plenty of straight through performance exhaust systems available for GT-Rs from importers. They are common second-hand in Japan, so they end up being common here. I have seen systems such as HKS Super Dragers for as little as $750 second-hand. Budget around $1000 with the abovementioned catalytic converter, and for an all-up total of $1300 you will now have 215kw, 12.7sec performance.

[R34GTRNUR]

Step 4 - The Computer

You need to do something about the engine management to get much more in the way of power. From the factory, the R32 unit is overly rich and will have the 180km/h speed limiter still locked firmly in place.

You need to make an important choice whether you change the system to aftermarket (Power FC, Microtech etc) and spend the $2000 or so doing it, or stick with the factory management and have it ‘chipped’ for more like $600-$900.

If you have an ‘unchippable’ R33 GT-R, then a simple trick is to swap your factory computer for an R32 GT-R unit, which works perfectly. Taking the budget-oriented approach shows a real-time chip tune to be the best bet, which will optimize your package to run on Aussie 98-octance premium unleaded fuel mixtures that hamper GT-R top end performance.

At this stage, look for something like 235kw and the ability to run a 12.5sec pass. The modifications now owe as little as $2000, and you have some good numbers to show for it. You might have to look for a replacement clutch around now, though.

Step 5 - Induction Stuff

A set of cleaned second-hand pod filters, or maybe even some new ones will give a handy power gain by derestricting the factory inlet. A clever approach is to use the stock airbox and simply fit a panel of some kind to it. There are many choices available, as the Skyline shares its panel filter assembly with early Subarus and the Holden Commodore VN-VT Series One. Under $100 will get you an element.

From there, cut away the factory airbox snorkel that lives behind the left-hand headlight (R32), or sits atop the airbox (R33). You should be seeing 240kw about now.

Step 6 - Fuel System

The good thing about the GT-R is that everything other than the factory injectors is capable of supporting 300rwkw. Some push injectors to 100 percent duty and bump up the pressure to get more flow, but that is asking for trouble. A great replacement for the stockers is a set of low-impedance 550cc injectors from a Series IV RX7 Turbo. There are a few that have cottoned onto this now; hence supplies are becoming a little scarce.

However, some searching through the rotor specialists should net you a set for no more than $100 each, ($600 total), and then cost you $150 or so for a full clean and flow check. Beats spending $1200-plus for some name-brand Japanese units. You will need a reprogram now… but hang on, not yet…

[R34GTRNUR]

Step 7 - Airflow Meters

The stock 65mm items will start to add some of their own restriction now, especially with some taller boost in store, so go hunting for some 80mm units. Don’t worry about spending big bucks on Z32 300ZX airflow meters, as RB20DET 80mm airflow meters are identical in size and with only a slight calibration difference.

Good enough for what we have in mind. Pay $200 each for these. With bigger airflow meters changing the map rage of the engine, and the RX7 injectors adding more fuel, it’s time to get the package retuned.

This time, up the boost pressure to 1.2bar and get ready for 260kw of power, or near enough to that. A cost so far of around $3200 for buts, most of which you can fit yourself, plus another $500 for retune (do a deal with your tuner when you first get the car tuned) and for under $4000 you should be stopping the clocks in 12.1-12.2sec… though by now you definitely need a clutch.

The budget option is a single plate ceramic-puck type, but a better bet may be having a used multiplate-type reconditioned.

[hippy]

is this stuff copyrighted??

[Sumo]

not now its not

Sumo

[Guest INASNT]

‘Taken from ‘High Performance Imports Magazine’ issue No. 40, GT-R Special No.4’

The common myth with the GT-R is that many expensive changes must be made to the car’s basic configuration to get a decent power output and quarter mile time from it.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If you have a good-condition example (very important!), then getting genuine low-to-flat 12sec performance and 260kw at the wheels is only a handful of budget tweaks away. Here’s how it’s done.

Step 1 - Assess Its Health

Before doing anything to your GT-R, have a compression test carried out. Look for cylinder reading being even, around the 160psi mark. If you have this, then you will more than likely have a fairly solid base from which to work. If one or two cylinders are down, there’s a fair chance that the piston ring lands have been detonated out of it. Stop now and fix the thing. A healthy, near –stock car should have close to 175kw at the wheels, and be good for a 13.2sec quarter mile pass.

Step 2 - Turbochargers and Boost

 

The older and higher mileage the GT-R, the closer the turbochargers will be to their failure point. Both R32s and R33s have ceramic turbos, unless they have already been upgraded to Nismo spec.

It’s normally old R32 GT-Rs that dump the ceramic turbine wheel off the shaft. Later cars don’t have as much trouble, but they also haven’t had the ‘working out’ that an earlier car would have had.

Aim to run no more than 1bar of boost pressure through the standard turbochargers. A quick easy way to get close to this figure is to flick the restrictor out of the pressure like going to the factory boost-control solenoid.

The location of the restrictor is marked by a yellow band. Use some long-nose pliers, hook it out and enjoy 0.95-1.0bar of boost pressure. If you want more, then fit a bleed valve to the end of this line or wire up an electronic boost controller.

All up. For less than $300 (if you go the pneumatic route), you will have the target boost pressure. Don’t get greedy, as expensive turbo failure could result. At this stage you should already have around 200kw and 12.9sec performance.  

Step 3 - Exhaust System

Search around wreckers for a stock GT-R car converter. They are of metal matrix construction a flow much bigger numbers than the ‘el cheapo’ things fitted at compliance time. Most compliance centers will have a good stock of them lined up that they have been removed from GT-Rs over the years. Get one, swap it for yours, whatever. You should be able to score the cat converter for no more that, say, $150.

There are also plenty of straight through performance exhaust systems available for GT-Rs from importers. They are common second-hand in Japan, so they end up being common here. I have seen systems such as HKS Super Dragers for as little as $750 second-hand. Budget around $1000 with the abovementioned catalytic converter, and for an all-up total of $1300 you will now have 215kw, 12.7sec performance.

Most of us read HPI magazine so we already know all of this.

U didnt type all this out from the article did ya??? u must be very bored!

[Jimbo2000]

lol just what i was thinking.

read it already, but good on ya for the people who havn't

[junkie13]

although i read this already but good on you for spending your time to share this info

[CerealKiller]

If that's word for word from HPI then it's breaching copyright.

[Guest INASNT]

If that's word for word from HPI then it's breaching copyright.

it is

[R34GTRNUR]

1. Yes i did type all that... lol 2. but im a very fast typer (took me 15min) 3. yes, but i got info about this... as long as i showed statement ('Taken from ‘High Performance Imports Magazine’ issue No. 40, GT-R Special No.4’) i am allowed to copy it n put it on my site

[predator]

some good pointers.. maybe i'm sounding supercilious with this, but to get 12's out of a GTR is hardly difficult. I think more of a challenging is getting a good mid-12 from a RWD GTS-T which costs 1/2 as much. From that article what is impressive is the little $ required to get a lot more power.

yeah, you can include parts of article if you include the reference, for "research" purposes.

[R34GTRNUR]

'yeah, you can include parts of article if you include the reference, for "research" purposes' <--- yeh deres my man right there lol..... but for $4000 i reckon its madd seeing how some people pay $2500 just from a muffler n system........ all tho i would my slef tho LOL i'd neva put second hands parts in my car even if they have ran 3km

[Jamezilla]

Haha - Pred. Perhaps the title should be:

Low 12s for low bucks*

* note: requires $45,000 GTR

[Dominic]

* note: requires $45,000 GTR

Keep up with the times,

An 89 GTR is 20k landed. (13 arrived last week, 11 already sold)

A 33 GTR is $32K complied, registered and drive away.

Guys the gtr is becoming very affordable.

[junkie13]

when you say 89 gtr 20k landed what else do you have to pay to get on to the road and how do you know there were 13 coming ??where do you got your source??

thanks

[predator]

pft.. you can't even get compliance for a 32GTR yet.. not sure about 33GTR under SEVS though i'll admit (32k sounds too low), and 1989 GTR will soon be a thing of the past with the change of the 15 year rule.

* note: requires $45,000 GTR

hehe..

[Dominic]

If you want a $20 k GTR email: [email protected] and see if there are any left (2 left last Thursday)

If you want a Mint complied, registrered R33 GTR email me: [email protected]