Good Idea Or Waste Of Money?

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Ok so I finally got my R32 4door on the road after about eight months of it being "defected"

Gave it a service myself, oil, gearbox oil, coolant, brake fluid etc... before I took it out on the weekend for a run to see what it would be like.

So after about 200 ks of nanny driving, everything being fine and checking oil/coolant, I decided to give it a bit of hell. lol rb20de so not very fast just noisy....

seemed to be fine, ran well, didn't even move the temp gauge at all.

but now after checking the coolant it was pressurising and sending most of the coolant into the overflow bottle. also the idle became a but rough. So pretty much yeah the head gasket is most probably farked.

Anyway. was thinking replace the head gasket and get the head shaved to up compression and do some mild porting work on the head myself. also get some second hand gtr cams (correct me if im wrong but They just drop in yes?)

Im not looking for massive gains but just wanna see what i could get out my little 20 with just these things.

And a question about the tune, would it be a good idea to get a tune done or will the stock ecu just handle these mods?

Any Criticism or advice appreciated, as long as it isn't the usual... Get a turbo motor lol

[zebra]

GTR cams dont drop in as they have solid lifters and you have hydraulic

Sure shave the head, dont touch the ports unless you know what you are doing or you will go backwards

all up, you will gain maybe 5hp from the slight increase in compression..

Save your money for the head work and get a Nistune board and a tune

[AngryRB]

why bother those motors are a waste of time especially with no turbo.

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Yeah i know but i don't have the funds at the moment to go turbo motor and may as well get the head machined whilst its off.

[zebra]

why bother those motors are a waste of time especially with no turbo.

RB25s are a waste of time

[Super Drager]

Wouldn't waste my time with a 20DE to be honest, get the surfaces machined flat and put the head back on. Too much money wasted for no end result IMO. If you wanted an NA Nissan that performs well, you got the wrong car lol.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Super Drager

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Yeah I bought it to get used to rwd cause its my first rwd car and when this would have eventually happened drop a turbz motor in. But this happened way too soon (like 3 days) so yeahhhhh

[iseekool]

Are you sure the head gasket is the problem? ie. oil/water mixing and poor performance.

Issue could be something else and an easier/cheaper fix.

If you have to go to all the hassle and labour of changing the head gasket (I imagine you would maybe change the timing belt, tensioners and water pump while you are at it), it's better to just get a good RB25DE as a direct swap - they can be had for cheap or buy an RB25DEt if you have a bit more coin to spend.

[central coast person]

i would check your AAC valve if the idle is rough as it is most likley gumed up with carbon. Its very simple to do just go to the DIY section in the forums and look for the thread to walk you through it. There are other threads on how to get the most out of your car just by tweaking and cleaning other things.

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Yeah I like the idea of the 25de or 20det. But turns out it may have been just an air lock in the coolant up neer the bleed screw thingo, so got that out and hasn't done the pressurising thing just sitting in the driveway idling, will take it for a drive on sun to see if its all good. Bit off topic but what would you choose between a 20det or 25de. considering that i would rather an NA motor, but have driven a few 20det with the usual mods, Exhaust, FMIC, and VG30 turbo and i liked that but yeah id rather the NA but obviously not as powerful.