R34 Gtt 4 Door Help

[camr33]

Hey guys,

I have picked up an r34 gtt 4 door pretty cheap. Its a 4 speed auto, lowered with pod filter and 3" cat with 120k kms on the clock. There are a few thing I need to fix up on the car, just looking for a bit of advice.

The cars throttle respose is a bit poor, one of the guys at work has had a look and inspected the car. It seems the exhaust manifold gasket needs replacing. Is this going to have much of an affect on the performance of the car? the boost still comes on but not as hard as I thought it would and it seems to be using a bit more fuel than it should. I had another person inspect the car who said the same thing was wrong.

1) Is it going to do any damage to the engine whilst driving it like this?

2) how much will getting it fixed improve the performance/economy?

3) I hear changing the manifold is a bit tricky as you have to take out a lot of the internals to get to it/ I have sourced a replacement for about $20 wholesale through coventreys, labor wise how much will it cost and how long will it take to fix?

There also seems to be a clunking sound from the front tyre on the drivers side too when you turn the wheel at low speed. Any ideas what would be causing this, and is it a cause for concern?

Pretty new to the scene, any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Nic_A31]

Depending on how bad the exhaust leak is, it will have a big impact on performance and response.

Less exhaust gas going into the turbo will increase spool up time, affect peak boost/ability to hold boost, and it also means less air into the turbo and out via the dump pipe, which means less air passing over the O2 sensor, which will again affect performance and fuel economy.

You've also got the problem of excess heat in the engine bay.

It shouldn't do any serious damage to keep driving it like this, but I'd still get it fixed stat.

Not sure what the difference in performance will be. Your turbo should start singing at around 2000rpm and be making full boost at or before 2500rpm.

Exhaust manifold jobs are a bit of a bitch. Usually run the risk of snapping an exhaust stud inside the head (if this does happen, don't have a crack at removing it yourself, and don't let a mate try either, just suck it up, and pay a mobile thread repair guy to come out, charge you $50/$100 and take it out in literally 5 minutes tops, nil damage). Most of the intake setup and turbo itself need to come off before the manifold can be removed. Time for the job depends, I've done it a couple of times now, and I can do it in about an hour.

I jack the car up, and unbolt the dump pipe from the downpipe. Unbolting the dump pipe from the turbo often runs the same risk of snapping bolts, as unbolting the manifold from the head. The 3 bolts from the dump pipe to the down pipe always come off hassle free.

Also, with the gasket, nuts, washers, etc. don't go aftermarket. Nothing does the job better than genuine Nissan.

It might be the best part of $150/$200, but at least it won't start leaking again 6 months down the track. I've learnt that the hard way.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Nic_A31

[camr33]

Cheers for the advice mate, boost isnt kicking in til about 3000rpm so your info about spool up time makes perfect sense. My boss told me the manifold studs may need replacing, his brother owns a performance shop in perth and said it can be a common problem with R34's. He also said its possible (but unlikely) there may be a crack in the manifold itself, fingeres crossed this isnt the case.

With the head studs he said I might as well replace them anyway as if the gaskets are going, everything else may not be too far behind. Problem is that you dont know whats wrong until you take everything out so you kinda have to plan for the worst.

If I supply the parts, I have been offered to have it done as a cash job at the workshop for around $200 as a cashy, does this sound like a reasonable amount? Are there any other problems I am likely to encounter?

[Nic_A31]

$200 is decent.

Ring Northside Nissan, Steve is the man you wanna talk to.

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