r34 Skyline 25 Gt four GTR conversion (ENR34)

[Auto Budha in training]

I'm a life long lover of the R34 GTR and whilst they were attainable when i was a kid now that I'm an adult they are totally unobtanium thanks to the collector car market. from My research it seems the ENR34 shares the Atessa AWD system of the GTR, are the only drive train differences between an ENR34 and BNR34 the gear box and engine? because if so would it not then be possible to "build my own GTR" (speaking purely in regards to drivetrain) with an engine swap to an ENR34 and maybe platinum racing Atessa ETS pro system? does anyone know what the differences are between ENR34 and BNR34 rear diff's? because if the only difference is that one has an LSD and the other doesn't that's also a relatively easy thing to correct. From research on this forum it seems that the ENR34 uses the same gearbox as the r32-r33 gtr. I don't care about an interior conversion nor do I care about an exterior conversion, the bottom line is that I'm asking if I can build an ENR34 that drives like a BNR34 with the above drive train upgrades and aftermarket suspension. even if it costs 30 grand to upgrade the drive train of an ENR34 to be close to that of a BNR34 it would still be a fraction of the cost of buying an actual GTR Afterall, and I don't care if I'm not driving the genuine article I just want a car that drives as similarly as possible to the BNR34. 

*EDIT ( I know the obvious answer to this question is "for how much this would cost you could just buy an r32 GTR" i know that, but I dont love the r32 GTR or the R33 GTR so I would never buy one of them, I do however love the R34 enough to be willing to spend even as much as 60k on this conversion even knowing that if i chose to sell it I would be lucky to get 20 grand for it later.)

Edited June 25, 2024 by Auto Budha in training

[GTSBoy]

Yeah, you could do it.

Better off putting the money into super though.

[Kinkstaah]

Drive one. Rent one. Meet your hero, be disappointed.

This is the easiest way. Everyone mods them for a reason, and that reason is they need the mods because OEM they are pretty bland. A 2015 Honda Accord will be a better drivers car.

[niZmO_Man]

Honestly not that great, you have to mod the shit out of them.
They (R34 GT-Rs) were good value when they were selling for 45-65k AUD but now there's no point, better off spending half on a modern performance car (which will chop the GT-R in every metric except maybe internet points).

[JarrettL]

I know this is an old thread but I have a particular attachment to the ENR34, so I don't think additional content hurts.

For starters, I agree with everyone here in that the performance of a stock R34 GTR is a pretty low bar and one that you're going to spend a lot of money "matching". Now if you're willing to deviate from that template as your goal, you'll be much better off and enjoy the car much more.

The engine in the NA R34s is a real kick in the nuts in terms of upgradability compared to previous generation NA cars. The NA heads on the RB2X NEOs have MUCH smaller intake port cross sections and are not compatible with any of the aftermarket forward-facing manifolds available for the RB25DET. This can be remedied with a RB25DET NEO head, but those are expensive relative to what they are. A full long-block from a turbo AWD Stagea is generally a better value and will run you about $4000 USD to get it to you. This will get you the stronger RB26DETT rods, as well. That would give you a base to build off of to be safe in the 400whp range. Not shooting for the moon, but if the stock R34 was your bar, this engine would buy you enough to be just North of stock GTR power.

A forward facing manifold would allow for the easiest method toward using Bosch EV14 format injectors such as those from Injector Dynamics and FIC, to name a couple. People hate them because they're copies, but Greddy fakes can be had for around $300 USD. With what the fuel rail, regulator, injectors, and the rail adds, figure $2000 USD for the whole setup including the manifold.

With the OEM brackets and a bit of trimming to the ends of the lower frame rails, the OEM intercooler mounting brackets can be used to mount an OEM GTR intercooler, or an aftermarket one made for a GTR. Those are handy vs a universale due to the angles that the end tanks have on them. Then your plumbing become super straightforward at that point despite having to cut a hole where the battery is an a matching one on the other side for the pipes. Battery can go to the trunk. I'd round up to a healthy $2000 USD here too (maybe even a tiny more) to allow for a nice aftermarket unit and some pipe fabrication. Or if you can find someone that's upgrading to something larger, the used market comes in clutch here for a decent savings.

I won't even get into turbo sizing as that's something that would be for yourself to determine. HOWEVER, for the purposes of your stated goals, a Borg Warner 7064 with an internal wastegate would be a perfect spooler and would make stock GTR power easily. It would also bolt up to your OEM manifold (that would come with the DET you purchased a couple steps above) if it were ordered with a T3 flange. More with adequate fuel. If you can stick with the OEM exhaust manifold then expect to be in the whole about $6000 USD for decent turbo like the one suggested, a down pipe, new O2, and full exhaust to mate up, and upgrades to the integrated BOV in an EFR or a standalone BOV for a different turbo, as well as an aftermarket IWG (internal waste gate). Those last two are definitely optional and unnecessary.

All of this stuff above does you no good without any way of tuning and or monitoring the engine. Bite the bullet on a standalone engine management solution. If your experience with wiring is limited, you're going to have to hand it off to someone else, though. Unfortunately, the adapter/patch harnesses available are typically made around the GTT which does not include AWD, and the GTR, which integrates into a lot of chassis features that aren't present in your wiring interface. So the ENR34 is the oddball. So you'll want to expand a bit on your selection and find an ECU that's capable of running the ATTESA pump also. I have a Link Thunder, but you don't need quite that much ECU to accommodate that. You WILL need someone with the know-how to tune it and code those features into whatever software it uses. And to wire it up. This will be your most significant expense. Call it $6000 USD with an ECU, an okay wiring job (no motorsport grade at this price), aftermarket triggers and R35 coils, and the time it takes to tune the ECU with added features (electronic boost control solenoid, MAP, IAT, the new triggers, and ATTESA) and don't be surprised if it's more if you want better work done.

Grab a clutch made for any RB pull transmission R32/R33GTR made for the power handling capacity you're looking for. Budget $1500 USD for a new good one.

That's about $20,000 USD for an engine you've upgraded yourself and had wired and tuned by someone else. That's no brakes (ENR34 brakes are pathetic), suspension (again, pathetic), or wheels and tires. So you're pretty spot on in terms of spending $30,000 USD extra on the car just to get it to perform a little better than a stock R34 GTR while looking like a bone stock ENR34 with some wheels and suspension mods. That doesn't include fluids, maintenance items, gaskets/seals, repairs needed or anything else discovered along the way. But you'll have a car you can take to the track and have fun without worrying as much about nicks and dings.

 

[AdiR34]

On 01/04/2025 at 11:59 AM, JarrettL said:

I know this is an old thread but I have a particular attachment to the ENR34, so I don't think additional content hurts.

 

Reading all this... hurts lol. I have an ENR34 5MT and I paid an inflated USA price for the car alone, had to do tons of preventative maintenance past that, and so I'm over $30K USD into the car already and haven't even touched power. 

I wanted to +t it. Not even trying to make GTR numbers, I'd be happy with 250hp. 

Can I get away with paying much less to make that happen?

Edited June 19 by AdiR34

[Kinkstaah]

Short answer: No.

Medium answer: No, because you still need to conjure the things out of thin air to bolt them to a NA to make it a NA+T.

Long Answer: No - The things you need to conjure - meaning a turbo, intercooling, manifolds, exhaust, intake/manifold/piping, clutch, injectors, fuel pump, AFM (?), ECU + Wiring (woo, N/A loom fun) have to come from somewhere.

You could have many scavenged these things from an OEM car that someone had upgraded from and use some of these. This will be cost prohibitive now, especially so in the USA.

You'd probably pay the same for newer, upgraded components that are better than old OEM stuff from 25-30 years ago. None of these big ticket items are re-usable for the N/A car. Why not buy new and upgrade while you're there?

The only real consideration is turbo and fuel sizing and determining whether you want to stay within the bounds of the OEM engine or get into rebuild territory. These limits ARE lower with a N/A motor and especially N/A gearbox at the starting point. And if you're gonna upgrade those then you may as well consider having them built to begin with. Because everyone here knows you're never far from that next engine rebuild once you start making the power you want...

The cars you see on the internet and SAU etc have been built over decades. If you're really clued in... you would sell your US car to somebody for what you paid for it. You would then scour AU JDM pages or SAU and buy a car like Dose's on this forum with your powerful American Dollar.

This will save you so much money in the long term. Importing it could be tricky. Or it might not because USA.

I have long said the only reason 90's Japanese stuff took off was because
a) Japanese people had Japanese cars so that is what they used
b) Australians could import these cars to Australia with very minimal changes and use them on the road here
c) Neither country had well-priced access to US or EU Sports Cars.

I don't believe the JDM scene would have taken off in Australia at all if we had EU priced EU BMW M offerings, or more especially the AUS V8 Scene would never have existed if we had the multitude of US cars like Camaros, Mustangs, Corvettes at the prices you folks do.

After all - Do the math. I would say put a V8 in your R34 and that's the smart way forward. It is. I did it. I know this from my own experience.

But at that point there's no reason to simply not buy a C5 or C6? It would be simpler and easier and cheaper and bette-

[GTSBoy]

Greg speaks wisdom.

These dirty old Datsuns are only value when they are cheap. When they are not cheap, there is no value. Sounds contradictory, but it's true.

We are now 20 years past the hey day of modifying cheap 90s JDM cars for small amounts of money. This is a different world. If you are rich and can afford not to care about what is effectively wasting money on an old Datto shitter, then I have no reason to argue against it. But if you are wanting to experience what we all experienced back in 2005 (and I bought my car last century!) then there is no way to do it.

[MBS206]

3 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

Greg speaks wisdom.

These dirty old Datsuns are only value when they are cheap. When they are not cheap, there is no value. Sounds contradictory, but it's true.

We are now 20 years past the hey day of modifying cheap 90s JDM cars for small amounts of money. This is a different world. If you are rich and can afford not to care about what is effectively wasting money on an old Datto shitter, then I have no reason to argue against it. But if you are wanting to experience what we all experienced back in 2005 (and I bought my car last century!) then there is no way to do it.

There is a way, but it's not with the same cars. You need to find the same vintage of car, that we had. Realistically, that was an affordable car with aftermarket parts around. So what people need to find is a car that had a decent base in its day, and can be modified. They're looking for a car year make of 2010 to 2015 really...

Aus could have done it if Holden didn't fold as V8 commodores were cheap, and if Ford didn't get expensive thanks to COVID, then you could cheaply play with FG Barras. Realistically, those are just a bit heavier, four door skylines.

I'm sure the US and UK have similar cars they could find.

[Kinkstaah]

2 hours ago, MBS206 said:

There is a way, but it's not with the same cars. You need to find the same vintage of car, that we had. Realistically, that was an affordable car with aftermarket parts around. So what people need to find is a car that had a decent base in its day, and can be modified. They're looking for a car year make of 2010 to 2015 really...

Aus could have done it if Holden didn't fold as V8 commodores were cheap, and if Ford didn't get expensive thanks to COVID, then you could cheaply play with FG Barras. Realistically, those are just a bit heavier, four door skylines.

I'm sure the US and UK have similar cars they could find.

This is the territory of the "Stage 1/2/3 Golf GTI/R" or otherwise off the shelf tune with (relative to before) minor mods.

It's easier now. Downpipe and Tune and boom, big increases. Stage 1 OEM+ is where it's at. This is where the niche evolved into and it's really easy to see why. It's rare to even NEED to consider changing turbos or going to aftermarket ECU's or building bottom ends for more power.

Stage 1-2-3 will get you a LONG WAY.

Civic Type R turbo
GR Yaris/Corolla
Anything with B58 (MKV Supra/x40i)
Anything BMW in General
Anything Audi in General
Any turbo AMG
RenaultSport Turbo offerings
Korean Elantra N/I30N
Ecoboost Mustangs
Focus RS?

List goes on.

I would argue in the future it won't even need to go on... M3P is pretty rapid out of the box...

[GTSBoy]

7 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

Civic Type R turbo
GR Yaris/Corolla
Anything with B58 (MKV Supra/x40i)
Anything BMW in General
Anything Audi in General
Any turbo AMG
RenaultSport Turbo offerings
Korean Elantra N/I30N
Ecoboost Mustangs
Focus RS?

Not in any way aroused by any of those, except maybe the big AMGs. And that would break my never a Euro, ever, rule.