Building an RB26 from scratch

[nickestevez]

Greetings,

Project: Build an RB26DET with all new parts

Goal: Reach 675 whp

Budget: $15,000

Time constraint: Must be done by 10/31/2022, only doing work on weekends or holidays.

 

Current Part List:

RB26 24U (N1) short block

RB26 05U (Std) Cyl. Head

[nickestevez]

Does anyone recommend boring/sleeving the block?

What about port/polishing the head?

[GTSBoy]

Porting is ALWAYS worth it. Except when your budget does not allow for it. There's about $3k of work involved, and you don't need to port it to achieve the stated power goal.

[r32-25t]

Looking at how he’s written the date he’s American, which will also make his power figure very easy to achieve. 
 

Not sure how far your 15,000 budget is going to get you, you’re probably going to have to keep it fairly simple to stay within budget 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

675hp on an American dyno can be done on stock motor with the correct bolt ons and someone that can tune well, i.e. torque limit the motor so it doesn't go bang through timing and boost strategies.

Bore & sleeve? Did I miss a 1 in front of the 6? Haha.

 

[PLYNX]

As GTSBoy states porting is always worth it . . . . however Rb heads are pretty efficient out of the box.

Realistically if you are paying some one to port a head it will come down to an hourly rate and that can add up very quickly.

Generally the RB26 heads I have done only need blending intake ports for uniformity, port matching manifolds to gaskets to intake manifolds and ( my preference ) knife edging the intake port divider and if your really OCD the exhaust side as well.

[nickestevez]

$15k is a conservative number, if I need to go over I will. I'm really just trying to build a motor I can beat on but will last me a while.

Im aware that my block is strong (stronger than the standard too) but I could use some suggestions on mods to handle extra power and extend life. 

a friend of mine has suggested boring/sleeving a few times - I really don't want to if its not needed

has anyone drilled the oil return to increase flow out of the head?

also, crankshaft recommendations?

I really appreciate all of your help!

 

[GTSBoy]

15 minutes ago, nickestevez said:

Im aware that my block is strong (stronger than the standard too)

Nope. N1 blocks are nothing special. Follow my advice in your other threads to watch the videos.

 

15 minutes ago, nickestevez said:

a friend of mine has suggested boring/sleeving a few times

He's got no idea about RBs, obvs.

 

15 minutes ago, nickestevez said:

has anyone drilled the oil return to increase flow out of the head?

Read the oil control thread, as advised.

15 minutes ago, nickestevez said:

also, crankshaft recommendations?

Stock will do. Any upgrade is an upgrade.

 

The biggest issue on any RB26 build is the oil pump drive.

Edited January 8, 2020 by GTSBoy

[Steve85]

As already stated, above, N1 blocks are not as special as was originally believed (that hurts!). There is almost zero difference between an N1 block and a standard RB26 block. It comes down to the individual blocks being compared. 

If you're going full crazy on this build you may want to consider an RB30 block, if you haven't already that is. 

Regarding sleeving your block, that would be interesting for sure and I'd be well keen to see the results, but would likely eat your entire budget (ok hyperbole, but still not worth the effort) for no effect. 

You don't need to upgrade the cams, but if you do you can gain top end power for not much outlay and increase in costs. I run 272, 9.1s and I would consider them larger than necessary, but I know of people running less power, with higher lift and duration cams just because they like them. It's really up to you. 

And oil control is the big one, really do your research on oil pumps and oil control. If this goes wrong, it all goes wrong. There's heaps of info here and elsewhere online, hit that search button and get into it!

Here's my car being built, it cost the last owner more than 15k (US) but no corners were cut. 

 

 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

If I had 15k USD to burn I would do the following:

• Nitto OIl Pump
• Oil modifications, head drain/crank vent
• Sex Spec Sump
• Basic Forged Piston Rebuild Kit, usual crap, King bearings, ARP it's mum left/right/centre
• Drop in cams, springs, retainer, etc.
• V-Cam setup
• Twin scroll manifold, modern twin twin scroll turbo
• No gay twin turbos
• Rest of the money on strippers, cocaine and a ticket to Tomorrowland 2020

[GTSBoy]

24 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Rest of the money on strippers, cocaine and a ticket to Tomorrowland 2020

That works out to about 1 stripper. Ugly Thai, possibly ex male. 1 line of coke that might be half chalk dust. And a ticket to the Deni ute muster. Last year's.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

7 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

That works out to about 1 stripper. Ugly Thai, possibly ex male. 1 line of coke that might be half chalk dust. And a ticket to the Deni ute muster. Last year's.

sounds like more fun that a pair of twin turbos though

[r32-25t]

1 hour ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

If I had 15k USD to burn I would do the following:

• Nitto OIl Pump
• Oil modifications, head drain/crank vent
• Sex Spec Sump
• Basic Forged Piston Rebuild Kit, usual crap, King bearings, ARP it's mum left/right/centre
• Drop in cams, springs, retainer, etc.
• V-Cam setup
• Twin scroll manifold, modern twin twin scroll turbo
• No gay twin turbos
• Rest of the money on strippers, cocaine and a ticket to Tomorrowland 2020

By the time you add machine work and etc there wouldn’t be much change and that’s not taking into account if he also needs an inlet manifold, injectors and etc

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

15 minutes ago, r32-25t said:

By the time you add machine work and etc there wouldn’t be much change and that’s not taking into account if he also needs an inlet manifold, injectors and etc

15K USD to AUD = ~ $21.8k

Ummm.. maybe drop the V-Cam

[BK]

For comparison, My 2.8 Nitto short engine (no head) for the blue 32 was around $19k, and only about $2k of that was labour, for machining. That is for rotating assembly, Nitto oil pump, modified Lewis engines sump supplying own sump and reusing my existing 05U block.

More actually if you include the $2k Quaife front diff in sump.... and that's pretty much that $21k gone as worked out above

[r32-25t]

And then add cams, springs, valves, guides, lifters, shins, head studs, gasket, port work, cam gears and labor plus any bolt ons, hoses, timing kit, covers and anything else no one has thought of and you’re looking at 30-35aud or 21-24us 

[Ben C34]

10 minutes ago, r32-25t said:

And then add cams, springs, valves, guides, lifters, shins, head studs, gasket, port work, cam gears and labor plus any bolt ons, hoses, timing kit, covers and anything else no one has thought of and you’re looking at 30-35aud or 21-24us 

Crate lsa is looking pretty good! Can buy 3

 

[r32-25t]

31 minutes ago, Ben C34 said:

Crate lsa is looking pretty good! Can buy 3

 

And you could bolt all three of them together and you’d still make less power then the rb26 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

1 hour ago, Ben C34 said:

Crate lsa is looking pretty good! Can buy 3

 

Rather BMW M4, OTS MHD flash, turbo back exhaust, larger W2A IC and run 10s with super low mph then run better times around Wakefield Park with just semis and climate control on.

[BakemonoRicer]

Budget 80k AUD there is no such thing as building a half spec motor, must be big spec OK . And for all the fruit around it add another 50k onto that for a full package. GTRs are big money so you’ll have to cop it on the chin m8

dont want a hamburger with cheese you want a hamburger with the LOT