Best Reliability Mods for R32 GT-R?

[jimbojones]

Have you thought of trading the skyline for the corolla? It's the only way to keep it that reliable. You bought a 20 year old sports car (a car that makes power and is normally beat on) but you want it to be really reliable. Shoulda got a newer evo or sti with warranty and call it a day. Welcome to the money pit

Heheheh......AMEN! Anyone who has owned one of these cars for a while/knows anything is going to keep saying the same thing. We're not trying to burst your bubble and hope you enjoy the car but AGE is going to be a factor all in itself...let alone modding the car.

Here's a biggie: Do you have original (ceramic-wheel) turbos? Do you know that boosting over what the factory controller manages (~1bar) may break pieces off of your turbos and in the process destroy the engine?!? Sure you still want to think about screwing around with standalone ECU and new boost controller...?

[gtrbubba]

Here's a biggie: Do you have original (ceramic-wheel) turbos? Do you know that boosting over what the factory controller manages (~1bar) may break pieces off of your turbos and in the process destroy the engine?!? controller...?

It's very unlikely that having the exhaust impeller crack/break will "destroy the engine", what will happen is that you will suddenly lose at least half of your boost (or more), and maybe have significantly biased exhaust backpressure on three cylinders.

Here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_BDEoFcEc

Not at all catastrophic unless you keep blindly driving for a long time, even then, as long as there wasn't a huge problem in exhaust backpressure , you'd probably never notice... (other than the lack of power!)

[TheKidd147]

Hey man. I've got an r32 gtr and I'm running 3" dp to 3.5" exhaust, gt2530 turbos, intakes, boost controller, and soon to be tune.. But my car will be fast enough for my daily driver and will be as reliable as these cars get lol. Ohh, I've also replaced my r32 engine for an r33... Not by choice but because I was running 1 bar on stock turbos.. Good luck with ur car man. Just stick with exhaust, intakes, rad, and (depending on budget) tubos, with nistune and u should be good ;-)

[NismoS-tune]

Hey man. I've got an r32 gtr and I'm running 3" dp to 3.5" exhaust, gt2530 turbos, intakes, boost controller, and soon to be tune.. But my car will be fast enough for my daily driver and will be as reliable as these cars get lol. Ohh, I've also replaced my r32 engine for an r33... Not by choice but because I was running 1 bar on stock turbos.. Good luck with ur car man. Just stick with exhaust, intakes, rad, and (depending on budget) tubos, with nistune and u should be good ;-)

to be that reliable, where's the reliable partS? All I see here is a stock engine with 500whp turbos. that's bad news, more so since you have no tune.

[bellis_GTR]

For cooling, air to oil engine oilcooler is must have an any car, including GTR. Thicker radiator is good if you can run a higher pressue radiator cap, but water plugs can pop, etc with higher pressure, so probably best to stick with factory until engine can be upgraded to suit.

Could this be why my car leaks coolent everytime I turn the car off? The car had a 13psi rad cap on it and I changed it to 16psi. The leak happens when the car is turned off and drips from over top of the bell housing.

[aN4rk1]

Well so far I have bought:
- Mishimoto Aluminum Rad
- Mishimoto Fan shroud
- Mishimoto 1.3 Bar Rad cap
- Mishimoto low temp thermostat
- Mishimoto Engine oil cooler

Plan on getting:
- Tranny oil cooler
- Power steering oil cooler
- Z32 mafs
- All braided hoses

I ditched my plans to put on bolt on parts and went in the way of efficiency. After that I plan to get it tuned to 91 octane @ .95 psi boost. That should be absolutely perfect.

[NismoS-tune]

and next thing you know you pop a frost plug.

you have a power steering cooler, which your oil doesn't overheat usually.
Tranny oil cooler means a pump, hoses and some custom work.

[Skym]

bellis_GTR, can pop the welsh / water plug on rear of head or water hoses that run near rear of head can leak.

When using a higher pressure radiator cap, replace rubber water hoses with braided water hoses, upgrade to higher pressure brass welsh / water plugs (common mod on Group-A RB26 engines), metal headgasket, thicker radiator. Also replace waterpump if it's old (could fail with higher pressure) and reseal thermostat housing, etc.

[bellis_GTR]

bellis_GTR, can pop the welsh / water plug on rear of head or water hoses that run near rear of head can leak.

When using a higher pressure radiator cap, replace rubber water hoses with braided water hoses, upgrade to higher pressure brass welsh / water plugs (common mod on Group-A RB26 engines), metal headgasket, thicker radiator. Also replace waterpump if it's old (could fail with higher pressure) and reseal thermostat housing, etc.

I have an appointment coming up to get the car looked at. Thanks for all the info I will let them know!

Also Sometimes after turning the car off it wont drip at all. Have you had this happen to you before? Im going threw coolant like crazy!

[aN4rk1]

and next thing you know you pop a frost plug.

you have a power steering cooler, which your oil doesn't overheat usually.
Tranny oil cooler means a pump, hoses and some custom work.

Thanks for the tips. I will take those out from my plans then.

[QUOTE=Skym;404591
When using a higher pressure radiator cap, replace rubber water hoses with braided water hoses, upgrade to higher pressure brass welsh / water plugs (common mod on Group-A RB26 engines), metal headgasket, thicker radiator. Also replace waterpump if it's old (could fail with higher pressure) and reseal thermostat housing, etc.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for tips, you are a wealth of knowledge. I have upgraded the hoses to Samco Silicone ones. Water pump is also BRAND new!

[Skym]

bellis_GTR, might be a coolant hose leak near back of engine if when hot (hoses expand).

It's said to be a common problem for welsh / water plug to fail on front or rear of head. For example on one R32 RB26 engine with rear welsh / water plug failure -

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vhpEGyEVhes/Sdk1bmGUmHI/AAAAAAAABsQ/JTCXlCfoRM4/s1600-h/IMG_2366.JPG

Close up -

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vhpEGyEVhes/Sdk1bzRwsiI/AAAAAAAABsY/X3sFqmc7Yeg/s1600-h/IMG_2367.JPG

Aftermarket waterplug for RB26 -

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vhpEGyEVhes/Sdk3pQWFslI/AAAAAAAABso/lItmO5ZVPvk/s1600-h/sr_water_bypass2.jpg

I wouldn't have a clue who makes the aftermarket water plug for RB26, but Daryl at TunerLab might know -

http://forums.gtrcanada.com/members/daryl-%40-tunerlab-jp.html