Engine building advice

[91SkylineGTR]

I'm not giving any, I'm looking for some.


I have a 91 R32 GTR.
I had it looked at and tuned by a shop who's name I won't include although they do fabulous work.
Compression test showed 150-150-150-120-130-130

The car's fine I can drive it to work and do a highway pull whatever but I can tell it's hurting on the track.
The shop tuned it for minimum boost and timing to keep it alive. We all know that isn't good enough.

I'm at a crossroads, sell it or build it? I obviously want to build it. But what do i do? That shop quoted me $9500 to build it for me. Although i thought that was a little on the high side i've seen some of the things they have built so i just accepted that as the benchmark. I have no problem getting the engine out on my own and disassembling it but I'm not confident i can build the bottom end. Anyone like the idea of sending the shop the bare block to save labour on the rest that i can do? Just hit me with your suggestions, i'm 20 years old so i will admit i'm young to own a skyline but i'm trying to make it work.

Is this silly car worth it?

Thanks guys.

[GTR_Russ]

I'm going to give you my perspective. I've had my GTR for 7 years. Got maybe 20 hours of drive time out of it and well over $40k into it. Been in the process of collecting parts for a total re-build. If I were to do it over again I would just save the money time and hassle and just buy a N1 long block. I've seen to many horror stories of 'built' engines blowing up due to small stupid mistakes. Way more reliable and cost effective to buy a new engine. But then again what do you want to do with the car? I chose the 600+hp route and it's ******* painful and I'm nowhere near done.
Just my $0.02

[Nexsys]

RIPS rb30 block, just had mine installed and love it to death little more then 9500$ to get it all installed and done, but well worth the coin

[tenkay]

What's your goal for the car? You can definitely just get a used replacement engine for cheaper.

[Bruizer]

I'm going to give you my perspective. I've had my GTR for 7 years. Got maybe 20 hours of drive time out of it and well over $40k into it. Been in the process of collecting parts for a total re-build. If I were to do it over again I would just save the money time and hassle and just buy a N1 long block. I've seen to many horror stories of 'built' engines blowing up due to small stupid mistakes. Way more reliable and cost effective to buy a new engine. But then again what do you want to do with the car? I chose the 600+hp route and it's ******* painful and I'm nowhere near done.
Just my $0.02

I agree with this. I have 2 GTRs since 2005 and combined I've driven for about 10,000km and wanted a show car, fast and reliable 500whp with a $70k budget. Currently eyeing up a cheaper but warrantied gt500 for 1/2 the money and reliable. So I'd have to part out cause no one will pay even half of my cost for a built race car I've yet to drive.

Rb30 is cool but takes some work to install. It won't be a genuine gtr anymore (with the frankenswap) but would be noodles of torque.

[Black BNR32]

If I did it again, I'd just keep swapping in used, stock motors instead of building.

[91SkylineGTR]

Wow I'm really surprised to hear that everyone goes the new motor route. I haven't seen any n1 long blocks for sale, am I just blind or are they hard to find? My goal is to race in CSCS so I won't be looking for more than 600hp. I did the tomei turbo swap which I regret now since I've heard there are better alternatives but they should be sufficient for my needs. Does anyone have any track experience they could share? I've had it out twice, first time I blew the OEM turbos and second time I felt like I was hurting the engine. None the less I was destroying cars 5 times the value of mine so I'm confident this is what I want.

[Bruizer]

No, most of us DON'T go new engine or used stock engines and spend more time building and blowing up or need seeming the end of the tunnel. You can get an engine build for decent coin but no company in their right mind would ever stand y the engine they built if you installed it yourself. Too sketchy to figure out who was at wrong if they only built it and you didn't the rest.

That's what I'm being recommended on my 2nd $10k+ engine in 2 years. Somehow my fault (the installer) that my engine failed due to shoddy work from the previous shop

[Bruizer]

No, most of us DON'T go new engine or used stock engines and spend more time building and blowing up or never seeing the end of the tunnel while pumping cash into it. You can get an engine build for decent coin but no company in their right mind would ever stand y the engine they built if you installed it yourself. Too sketchy to figure out who was at wrong if they only built it and you didn't the rest.

I highly recommend checking out build threads around Gtrc and you'll find many of em around running (some for years sitting at shops even) and others break and break. The guys running new factory engines or stockers are the happiest. They might not have 500whp but they run.

That's what I'm being recommended on my 2nd $10k+ engine in 2 years. Somehow my fault (the installer) that my engine failed due to shoddy work from the previous shop

[GTR_Russ]

N1 blocks aren't the easiest to find but I've heard of some Nissan dealers being able to get them... But definitely check out the GTRC forum sponsors. My biggest problem is that when I started this build I didn't think I was going to go all out but as I got further along I just kept buying this part and oh look, this one is on sale. Now looking back I could have just bought an N1 block and bolted on the mods I already had and been off. It's not just the cost of the parts it's the labour and machining, which of course is generally the reason for failure. Best way to avoid that? New engine.
Oh and I forgot to answer your question.... Are these silly cars worth it?

Hell yeah! Civics are so.... non-hetero lol

Wow I'm really surprised to hear that everyone goes the new motor route. I haven't seen any n1 long blocks for sale, am I just blind or are they hard to find? My goal is to race in CSCS so I won't be looking for more than 600hp. I did the tomei turbo swap which I regret now since I've heard there are better alternatives but they should be sufficient for my needs. Does anyone have any track experience they could share? I've had it out twice, first time I blew the OEM turbos and second time I felt like I was hurting the engine. None the less I was destroying cars 5 times the value of mine so I'm confident this is what I want.

[Black BNR32]

lots of the australian builds use new n1 blocks. maybe check those vendors. like i said, if i were in your position, i would buy a good used stock motor and swap it in over the winter. then you can repair the hurting existing motor and keep it as a spare. at those compression numbers, it probably just needs some rings or a valve job. maybe get a leak down test.

you could easily disassemble your existing motor with hand tools and it would be a neat job, if you're into motors.

[91SkylineGTR]

I'm pretty convinced its rings or cylinder wall scoring. I figure if I have to replace a ring I might aswell do the pistons and as previously stated you eventually get to the whole n1 block. Thanks for the input guys.

[Dragon Humper]

Meh........just pull the motor apart over the winter. You don't need an N1 long block, you can build a better motor for less money doing it for yourself. Rods, pistons and a pump drive collar and you got a motor that will pound out 800hp all day long......all for about $3500.

A machine shop that isn't run by a bunch of retards is a major factor though, a good shop will set up the brg clearances a little loose and the thrust a little loose as well. The N1 long block has none of that.





Jon.

[91SkylineGTR]

Thanks Jon, but do you recommend me installing the bottom end myself? I've swapped a few motors but never built one. I work in a shop and the general consensus from my colleagues is to have it built by an "engine builder" not a mechanic. A few have built and raced engines but claim they don't last. Its something i'd love to do but only have the money to do it once.

[Bruizer]

Even if you find a good priced N1, you still need to put your faith in local shops which for some of us have been the primary issues.

If you got money for a serious engine, consider a Rips engine. They are probably hands down better than any shop in Canada when it comes to skyline engines, only downside is it's helping the economy there, not here and shipping hurts. Best thing that ever happened to the US was the market crash. So many shops struggling (since there isn't as many people with excess money to spend on mods) so they have to go out of the way to become the best or much more competitive. With fewer shops come more monopoly if you know what I mean.

If I could roll my clock back 8 years or even 2, I would have bought a long block from a good company rather than get one built locally. I'd be running today for sure. As for cost, with all the delays, issues and extra cost of labour (for not being as experienced on these it seems) I would have paid off an Rb30 twice over now.