Rb20 Det Discussions And Questions

[yoshiii335]

Hello

This thread is not about if I should change out the rb20. This thread is to dicuss the rb20 det and get peoples experiences with it.

I have a rb20 det with rb25 turbo with a HKS aculator on it. My car has a turbo back full 3" exhaust plus sports cat, pod, small return flow fmic, Nismo GTR fuel pump, stock injectors and a Mines tune.

Car drives cool. Positive turbo spool at 2000 rpm. Drives good off of boost and is cool. Going to add a boost controller to be able to control boost better and have it come on sooner.

Its fun to drive. Don't know what its like to drive one over 300hp.

Later going to get a rb25 or 26 but for now the 20 is good. Havent taken it to the track yet but will soon.

What is everyones experinces with this engine and what do you like and not like about it?

[Scott Black]

used to have a rb20 r32 gtst

now have a rb25 gts4

what i like about the 20
practically indestructable, limit bashed and thrashed all day, overheated it many times, abused so much and never gave me a single issue
what i didnt like about it
a bit down on power compared to the 25s and 26 id driven,

what i like about the 25
has more power earler
what i dont like
living in constant fear that the oil pump or ring lands are about to die

Edited May 14, 2016 by Scott Black

[r32-25t]

Rb20s are Shit, end of discussion

[admS15]

Rb20s are Shit, end of discussion

Since this has started, LSA conversion ftw. /thread. Bye

[iruvyouskyrine]

RB20's are fun as f**k and cheap as f**k and near indestructible. Best dollar/fun ratio you can have In a Nissan.

[R_34]

Got one in my S13, only around 300hp and I beat the shit out of it. It is fun to drive as long as I keep it over 4500 rpm because I got a kinugawa highflow which is a turbo a bit too big for the 20. It is more suited to the 25. This plus a PNT intake manifold which has very short runners.

Almost unbreakable like said before, I got on trackday with only 3.5b of oil pressure between 5000 et 8000 rpm when the oil was à 120°C+ and it didn't break a sweat, no water overheating, lot of revs and it still asks for more. I enjoy it a lot on track but it's a bitch to drive at low speed around city, and is barely OK on the roads. It only begin to be fun when on the highway.

That's why I retrofitted the rb25 intake cam and pulley and made a custom oil bleeding, the system is not actuated by the ECU and not tuned for it right now but the engine breathe much better in the 2500/6000 rpm band. Before 2500rpm I don't see any changes in torque or spool. After 6000rpm the torque drop quite badly. The turbo comes on full song around 500rpm sooner but my boost is pretty low, I expect more gains of it when I'll boost it up. More importantly the engine is nice to drive, still a bit low on torque for city driving but that's acceptable.

NVCS is really what the rb20 lack over the 25.

So far the only problem I got with it were coilpacks replaced for aftermarket ones, and a shortage between the alternator output and it's aluminium housing that fried the terminal and a small length of the output wire. Nothing that a crimping tool and a new terminal can repair.

[Roy]

Yeh RB20s are hopeless

260rwkws reliable track car on 98, 270 on 100. 306 on E85.

It aint perfect and you can of course do better. But BS to them being rubbish when a completely std engine with bolt ons can bag you the same lap time as 997 GT3s around Victorian tracks!

[XGTRX]

Love it Roy.

[iruvyouskyrine]

RB20 is way more fun than an RB26. Can beat on the relentlessly all day.

Hard to have fun in the pits when your oil pump is in 6 different pieces.

[GTSBoy]

Excellent on the track where you can keep it spooled up. Shit on the road. Well, shit as an engine for a daily/traffic/etc car. For flogging in the hills, see comment about track car.

Edited May 16, 2016 by GTSBoy

[Roy]

Each to their own. But I give no fux about driving like a retard on the street but I can tell you a 12.9 qtr mile car walked off the line with a 2.3 60ft is never going to be "shit" as you say. A track car with good drive off corners that is just simply quick everywhere is ...surprise surprise its going to be a very quick street car

Take Winton that has a load of slow 60km/h corners and I still take them in 3rd. Its even quicker if I rape it in 2nd but I am more about circulating and enjoying it and not raping the car that is largely std and drive it in a manner that reflects my hip pocket

Like I said it aint perfect...if you want a street car that drives like it has an LS and allows you to take corners in 4th when it is well within the mental faculty of the driver to actually grab a gear that puts revs at 3,600rpm vs 2,400rpm to drive out of the corner then there are going to be very few instances where a well sorted RB20 is going to leave you wanting.

The car makes 200rwkws at about 4,200rpm....how the hell isnt that a quick, fun street car? For me it is. Maybe not for everyone....but if you try to frame the discussion around facts and not...I spent 4k on a 200rwkws RB25 transplant so it has to be awesome because I like it....even though my car is a slow sack of shit

LOL, enoough 16yr old punk smack talk in my post to make me right

GTSBoy...what is your frame of reference for an RB20? Have you actually owned/driven one with a well sorted setup? I recall reading you own an RB25 powered R32...what was your starting point and where are you are with it?

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Used to own one over 10 years ago, was a load of shit in a 180SX. Laggy mf, gutless shit no torque no anything. Useless for track work unless you're always keeping it near the red.

A SR20DET non-VCT motor is even better than a RB20DET, the longer stroke makes heaps more torque, can spool turbos easier.

Sold it for an Accord 3.0 V6, that was more fun to drive, vtec yerrrrr.

[XGTRX]

Each to their own. But I give no fux about driving like a retard on the street but I can tell you a 12.9 qtr mile car walked off the line with a 2.3 60ft is never going to be "shit" as you say. A track car with good drive off corners that is just simply quick everywhere is ...surprise surprise its going to be a very quick street car

Take Winton that has a load of slow 60km/h corners and I still take them in 3rd. Its even quicker if I rape it in 2nd but I am more about circulating and enjoying it and not raping the car that is largely std and drive it in a manner that reflects my hip pocket

Like I said it aint perfect...if you want a street car that drives like it has an LS and allows you to take corners in 4th when it is well within the mental faculty of the driver to actually grab a gear that puts revs at 3,600rpm vs 2,400rpm to drive out of the corner then there are going to be very few instances where a well sorted RB20 is going to leave you wanting.

The car makes 200rwkws at about 4,200rpm....how the hell isnt that a quick, fun street car? For me it is. Maybe not for everyone....but if you try to frame the discussion around facts and not...I spent 4k on a 200rwkws RB25 transplant so it has to be awesome because I like it....even though my car is a slow sack of shit

LOL, enoough 16yr old punk smack talk in my post to make me right

GTSBoy...what is your frame of reference for an RB20? Have you actually owned/driven one with a well sorted setup? I recall reading you own an RB25 powered R32...what was your starting point and where are you are with it?

Out of interest Roy, how do you go with the other cars on the track.

A lot of people lose sight of the fact that everything you have mentioned is so true, however relative to other cars and engines of various capacities, how does your total package go and what are the things people should do to improve their RB20 skylines?

[WMDC35]

A 20 as said is pretty tough if it's reasonable condition to start with, they can be a bit flat but don't mind revs so use them, as Roy is saying they can go ok on a track if the car is setup & driven well. If it blew which won't happen easily I'd go a 25

[GTSBoy]

GTSBoy...what is your frame of reference for an RB20? Have you actually owned/driven one with a well sorted setup? I recall reading you own an RB25 powered R32...what was your starting point and where are you are with it?

Separate to my own car, I've driven a number of powerful RB20 R32s. Mid 200rwkWs for the most part. Hell, even drove the old JMS drifter when it first got TD06'd into the 265rwkW territory. That's starting to sound like nearly 20 years ago!

My RB20 was mechanically standard, with sufficient external mods, boosted and tuned to something like 170rwkW. So not fast by any means, but for the first 6-8 years I owned it it would have been in the fastest few percent of cars driving around Adelaide. Wasn't bothered by 5.7L Commodes for example. The chassis was and is well sorted, with good tyres. Probably nowhere near as well as yours is set up though.

But then our usage models are completely different. I drive mine 50km in heavy traffic every day that I am in the country. I used to love thrashing the 20 on a 4AM hills run, it had plenty to offer there. But just driving around it was terrible. Boost response was better than factory, via opened up dump/exhaust and good gated boost control, but it still did absolutely nothing until it came on boost, then you get a power curve like yours, with a really steep slope and it just breaks traction. Getting an RB20 off the line without bog or burnout takes a lot of management.

By contrast, the 25Neo pulled away from 400rpm in 3rd gear on this morning's commute. Will pull from <800rpm in 5th. Convincingly too, not the 10 minute wait you'd get if you tried it with a 20. The 25 is also mechanically standard with essentially the same setup as the 20, but less tuning. It probably actually makes less power than the 20, but it is faster everywhere, both at low revs and also when driving hard. It is simply because it starts making forward progress and covering ground, building speed before the boost comes along, instead of doing what the RB20 does which is no wheel speed no wheel speed no wheel speed, boost no grip.

What is true at my power level has to be true at every power level. There is no substitute for more capacity. Hell, if I'd been more brave I would have done a VQ30 transplant, but the gearbox situation was so much harder to get right back when I was doing the Neo swap.

[XGTRX]

......but it still did absolutely nothing until it came on boost........

........instead of doing what the RB20 does which is no wheel speed no wheel speed no wheel speed, boost no grip.

Sounds perfect.

Edited May 17, 2016 by XGTRX

[Roy]

Out of interest Roy, how do you go with the other cars on the track.

A lot of people lose sight of the fact that everything you have mentioned is so true, however relative to other cars and engines of various capacities, how does your total package go and what are the things people should do to improve their RB20 skylines?

Well for a long while it was the fastest rwd car in SAU Vic track days. It often nibbled at the back of the top 5 overall. The Racepace GTRs generally quickest. Russman and Richo obviously lifted the bar but i was never going to strip my road car and slap aero on something that is daily driven

For years a few of the S-chassis and RB25/30 folk joked that i was running a built RB25DE like i am these says. They didnt believe i was still running a std RB20 as they couldnt match my Sandown times and that place is largely a straight up drag race from 50km/h to 230km/

It got top 15 results at Winton, Sandown and Phillip Island at years of Dutton Rallies....including top 10 on occassion. That was in grids of 100 cars, Evos, STIs, Porsches etc etc

Ppl that go on about them being gutless...i get that but also means you dont end up with much of the torque of bigger RBs just giving you wheel spin. It uses all its power and accelerates the car vs going sideways. May be boring but effective.

As i said how can you say a car that is quicker than 997 GT3s is shit?

It aint perfect...and there are better setups out there. It isnt special either as others have done the same turbo setup and got the same result.

Oh...the JMS Onvia made good power but was running a 12cm housing off a rotary...not the correct 8cm housing do is a poor example

Thats the trick to a good RB20 dont be a JMS and usecwrong buts and bobs because they are cheap. Use a good quality 80mm exhaust and good 60ox300x65mm ic. Run a proper ECU tuned for your car....its not rocket science but most RB20s are in the cheaper end of the Skyline world and the quality of the mods reflect that...no better example being the RB25 turbo upgrade which i get is economical but ends up not being overly different to my TD06 on the street with regards to power and drivability at 3,500 and is left for dead from 4,200rpm

Thats the trick really...get a turbo eith a 60-70mm compressor and a turbine housing that reflects the fact its a small pot 6 cylinder and just use the 8,000rpm Nissan gave you. Hell Nissan gave you a 4.3 diff for a reason...i had a 4.6 diff i was going to install but never did...i reckon it would be the best $500 upgrade going...after all its the road speed where you make power that is important...not rpm

[Roy]

Oh...and if you dont know who Ben Manion is have a read on his Targa Tasmanis results...on public roads his car hammers...RB20 and hi-flow turbo

Not saying they are the ultimate...but you can't say they dont provide great performance when Ben Manion has won early modern and him and Ben Wooster always run competitively in the tarmac rallies in their lil GTSts

[XGTRX]

Oh...and if you dont know who Ben Manion is have a read on his Targa Tasmanis results...on public roads his car hammers...RB20 and hi-flow turbo

Not saying they are the ultimate...but you can't say they dont provide great performance when Ben Manion has won early modern and him and Ben Wooster always run competitively in the tarmac rallies in their lil GTSts

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/1453193/manions-nissan-skyline-in-a-targa-class-of-its-own/

"We built the car for about $40,000 over 18 months and it hasn't cost a lot since - the motor and gearbox are only worth about 500 bucks each," Manion said.

'That resulted in the 23-year-old Nissan clocking the third-fastest time of the entire Targa field over the final four stages and finishing the Tarraleah stage just two seconds slower than outright winner Jason White's Lamborghini.'

RESULTS 2014

RDA Brakes Early Modern

1. Ben Manion/Julie Winton-Monet, 1990 Nissan Skyline GTS-t

2. Peter Nunn/Keith Johnstone, 1990 Porsche 944 S2, +58s

3. Richard Perini/Chris Perini, 2000 Porsche 911 GT3, +3min 27s

4. Stephen Thatcher/Kelly Handley, Nissan ATTKD Select R SP, +3min 42s

5. Liam Howarth/Larry Howarth, 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec, +4min 35s

Got to laugh

Edited May 17, 2016 by XGTRX