r32 Barra swap R32 plan

[Kai.exe]

Hello all,

I've been contemplating about putting a red top Barra engine into a R32 gtst coupe to make it a good reliable weekend warrior drift car and a daily driver at the same time. That's why I am here to ask some questions and learn from yall.

Since the Barra makes a lot more torque even in stock form, should I use a stronger diff from other brands or will a Nismo 2 way LSD do just fine? Also what axles would you recommend? (preferably if the items are compatible with the R32 without a lot of fabrication)

I've heard the Barra comes with a T56 manual 6 speed gearboxe, does the shifter still sit at the OEM location as the R32 original one?

In terms of the Barra engine itself I've done some research and learned that you need to address the valve springs and change to billet oil pump gears and so on, more suggestions will be appreciated as I want to learn as much as possible! (I am most likely going to go about 550whp/410kw and keep the power at that level, not chasing too much power.)

Also here is one big question: How much kg does the Barra long block itself weight? I've been searching on the internet and couldn't seem to find a confident answer. I want to know this because I want the car to have good handling, some people say the Barra is heavier than a RB30, some people say its actually lighter than both a JZ or RB, if anyone here has measured a Barra long block on a scale please let me know ?

If there are more things that I should look into please feel free to add ?

Thanks in advance!! ?

 

[KiwiRS4T]

45 minutes ago, Kai.exe said:

Hello all,

I've been contemplating about putting a red top Barra engine into a R32 gtst coupe to make it a good reliable weekend warrior drift car and a daily driver at the same time. That's why I am here to ask some questions and learn from yall.

Since the Barra makes a lot more torque even in stock form, should I use a stronger diff from other brands or will a Nismo 2 way LSD do just fine? Also what axles would you recommend? (preferably if the items are compatible with the R32 without a lot of fabrication)

I've heard the Barra comes with a T56 manual 6 speed gearboxe, does the shifter still sit at the OEM location as the R32 original one?

In terms of the Barra engine itself I've done some research and learned that you need to address the valve springs and change to billet oil pump gears and so on, more suggestions will be appreciated as I want to learn as much as possible! (I am most likely going to go about 550whp/410kw and keep the power at that level, not chasing too much power.)

Also here is one big question: How much kg does the Barra long block itself weight? I've been searching on the internet and couldn't seem to find a confident answer. I want to know this because I want the car to have good handling, some people say the Barra is heavier than a RB30, some people say its actually lighter than both a JZ or RB, if anyone here has measured a Barra long block on a scale please let me know ?

If there are more things that I should look into please feel free to add ?

Thanks in advance!! ?

 

Sounds good! If anyone  over here wants to try it I have a Fairmont with 186,000 on it they can have for $500 drive away!

BTW I think the RB diffs are pretty bullet proof and will take a lot more torque and power. Its the half shafts that break after 500kw.

[robbo_rb180]

Don't bother as engine sits higher than r33/34 conversion unless fabricating custom mounts and sump. Motor is heavier so need to run heavier springs. Nothing wrong with the Nissan diffs they can take the power just need a good centre (nismo, tomei or cusco). Don't know about the shifter position but you'll be cutting the tunnel anyway. 

Buy a BF XR6 Turbo, get modded knuckles, trutrac diff and enjoy.  Much nicer than a R32. 

[Kai.exe]

I still want to swap a Barra into the R32, that's the whole point, it's ok if some fabrication is needed in the engine bay

[Rusty Nuts]

12 minutes ago, Kai.exe said:

I still want to swap a Barra into the R32, that's the whole point, it's ok if some fabrication is needed in the engine bay

Just plug in Barra swap into the search function and see the fourth thread down, this has been done before.

[GTSBoy]

Good for drag. Debatable as to whether it is any good for anything else. Arguably a Gen3 makes enormously more sense.

[WR33KD]

There is a guy here in NZ that out one in a red and black s15, did a track day and he blew my doors off. Was crazy fast. Whispers in the wind where saying upwards of 700whp.

Dont no what the cost difference for the swap vs modding a rb25 would be tho

[Kai.exe]

2 hours ago, KiwiRS4T said:

Sounds good! If anyone  over here wants to try it I have a Fairmont with 186,000 on it they can have for $500 drive away!

BTW I think the RB diffs are pretty bullet proof and will take a lot more torque and power. Its the half shafts that break after 500kw.

I've heard of all the cool stuff about the Barra lol, some people told me the swap will be a lot cheaper than doing a JZ swap that's why I'm so keen on it!!

[GTSBoy]

23 minutes ago, Kai.exe said:

some people told me the swap will be a lot cheaper than doing a JZ swap

Bah! The only thing that would be cheaper is the engine. There are no cheap JZs any more, but basic Barras are almost free. But that barely even begins to scratch the cost of ANY engine conversion, which always costs shit tonnes more than you expect.

[Kinkstaah]

Yep. The engine is only a very very small part of the cost.

You would be far better off with a RB30, or a stroked RB30, or if really really serious just start with a billet RB30.

Only having 2 tyres to deliver power is going to be a problem with any of the engines, all will easily do way more than the job required.

[Kai.exe]

BTW I am determined to do a Barra swap on my R32 instead of using any other engines because I want to make cool things happen instead of doing it the traditional way, not saying the traditional way is bad but I want to do something unique even though it's been done before.  

So please do provide me some good info about what's best for a Barra setup on an R32 instead of telling me to use other engines, thank you!

[Kai.exe]

29 minutes ago, Kinkstaah said:

Yep. The engine is only a very very small part of the cost.

You would be far better off with a RB30, or a stroked RB30, or if really really serious just start with a billet RB30.

Only having 2 tyres to deliver power is going to be a problem with any of the engines, all will easily do way more than the job required.

I appreciate your reply but that's not what I want to do. Everybody knows the Barra costs very cheap. If I wanted to swap to RB30 my post would've been about asking what's the best setup for an RB30.

[niZmO_Man]

Thread cleaned up. Please try to keep it civil.

 

Also, since you're new around here, try searching before posting vague questions. If you don't get answers, that generally means people don't know or don't want to share the info (which means you're on your own).

[robbo_rb180]

No just sick of people trying to get the answers they want to hear. 

If you have never done an engine conversion that requires a lot of fab work and need the internet to tell you how it's done, you shouldn't even do it. 

How about you find some local workshops that do this kind of thing often and pick their brains or go buy an engine and tools/equipment to do the job 

BTW I am the saltiest fu(k3r you will ever meet.... 

cross member to sump clearance, steering shaft to exhaust, heat at brake master, will factory clutch master work, gearbox to tunnel clearance, fuel lines on the right side, radiator size, the extra 100kg over front Axel, how to unlock ecm, engine wiring, speed input, factory guages work, exhaust on wrong side, mod Castor brackets or rad support........ 2 mins and I have got that with out looking at an engine in the car. That is why I suggest to go buy an engine and sit it in there if you're not willing to do that then this idea will never happen.......

[admS15]

LSA 

[Kai.exe]

2 minutes ago, niZmO_Man said:

Thread cleaned up. Please try to keep it civil.

 

Also, since you're new around here, try searching before posting vague questions. If you don't get answers, that generally means people don't know or don't want to share the info (which means you're on your own).

Hey man, just because I am new here doesn't make me any inferior than others and doesn't mean that I should just sit here and be bashed on only because others have their own opinions. I did search for multiple posts about the topic but didn't see any... lets say valuable information, and that's the whole reason I made a post asking for VALUABLE information instead of being told this is a bad plan. 

Ah, and about being civil, I was being pretty civil until someone tried me, if there is anyone who feels like to be a dkhead towards me for no reason at all, I'd be gladly returning the favor, I believe you would do the same. 

Also isn't there any guidelines in this forum about that your replies to a post are not supposed to be off topic?

Say if you ask a question about how to fix your suspension and people just simply tell you to just buy a brand new car, then isn't that off topic? And what's the point of a forum if comments like that are all over the place?

Lastly, if people don't want to share the info, they can just ignore the post, instead of giving off topic feedback, its really that simple.

[Ben C34]

What researc have you done in particular?

https://rbfactory.shop/products/r31-r32-skyline-barra-conversion-engine-brackets

 

 

That wasn't hard, and I still think it's a silly option. But hey you are determined as you say.

 

When you are done with the conversion get in touch for the 50 bucks.

 

[Kai.exe]

34 minutes ago, robbo_rb180 said:

No just sick of people trying to get the answers they want to hear. 

If you have never done an engine conversion that requires a lot of fab work and need the internet to tell you how it's done, you shouldn't even do it. 

How about you find some local workshops that do this kind of thing often and pick their brains or go buy an engine and tools/equipment to do the job 

BTW I am the saltiest fu(k3r you will ever meet.... 

cross member to sump clearance, steering shaft to exhaust, heat at brake master, will factory clutch master work, gearbox to tunnel clearance, fuel lines on the right side, radiator size, the extra 100kg over front Axel, how to unlock ecm, engine wiring, speed input, factory guages work, exhaust on wrong side, mod Castor brackets or rad support........ 2 mins and I have got that with out looking at an engine in the car. That is why I suggest to go buy an engine and sit it in there if you're not willing to do that then this idea will never happen.......

Well thank you very much for your input, that's some valuable information for someone who has never swapped an engine before, that's some good suggestions I was looking for, except for the rant part, and of course I will be working with a workshop for the engine swap, but there is nothing wrong with learning from the internet if people give out good information and knowledge, unlike someone called Ben. 

Just to be clear I'm not the type of person who are "trying to get the answers they want to hear". I just don't appreciate the off topic answers, like if you ask someone how to fix a laptop and they just tell you "why not just go buy a new one." You feel me?

Edited April 29, 2020 by Kai.exe

[Kai.exe]

1 minute ago, Ben C34 said:

What researc have you done in particular?

https://rbfactory.shop/products/r31-r32-skyline-barra-conversion-engine-brackets

 

 

That wasn't hard, and I still think it's a silly option. But hey you are determined as you say.

 

When you are done with the conversion get in touch for the 50 bucks.

 

Hey thank you for the link for the engine mounts that I was looking at about 5 months ago. Also keep your opinion to yourself, just like how V8 guys should when they try to convince everyone to swap to V8s

[Kai.exe]

15 minutes ago, robbo_rb180 said:

the extra 100kg over front Axel,

Also is it really extra 100kg or are you joking? Why does no one know the exact weight of a Barra bare long block for sure? This is a bit absurd.