Rebuilding a Monster

My Brother and I just finished a total refresh on a 1993 JDM R32 Skyline GT-R aka Godzilla. We imported it last year with the idea of doing something special with it down the road. We got it with: 

engine block was replaced with a clean N1 (05U Block) 14,500 km on the overhaul

head intake and exhaust ports polished

HKS metal head gasket (1.2mm)

intake and exhaust manifold HKS metal gaskets 

Camshafts: Tomei 260° intake and 262° exhaust with 9.15 lift

R34 billet turbine upgrade

HKS EVC boost controller

Reflashed ECU tuning

Fujitsubo exhaust

NISMO Super Copper mixed single plate clutch

NISMO 2 way LSD

Tein suspension aluminum arms and 2 way adjustable damping coil-overs

6-point Cuzco roll cage

Front and Rear brake rotors, slotted, Project μ

Front and rear brake pads, Project μ

NISMO stainless steel mesh brake hoses

Larger capacity aluminum radiator

Body is super clean and straight.

It was making a respectable 420 hp at the wheels and felt very solid. My first time experiencing the Godzilla legend and I was not disappointed. Insane torque from that RB26 and with AWD it puts power to the ground like a beast. With handling so nimble and confidence inspiring, it's hard to believe the car is 25 years old. Rear steering is something Nissan has been doing since the late 60s with it's "trail-through" outboard angle semi trailing arm rear suspension in cars like the 510, and Bluebird Coupe. When body rolls in a corner there is a toe shift that steers the car from the rear. Funny thing is us guys who race them do everything we can to keep the back end flat to the ground to eliminate that. The R32 uses the (HICCA) system that steers the rear via hydraulic actuators and compensate for speed and Ackerman angle. With front rear torque vectoring it's some kind of Japanese VooDoo magic that helps the car accelerate out of corners like nothing I've experienced. Brutally unreal is the only way I can describe it.

My brother and I were psyched, the car is an absolute BEAST, acceleration, handling, and breaks are ridiculous, and you can't stop anywhere without drawing a crowd. Everything you'd expect an R32 would be on American streets until... This  

At freeway speed it threw a rod bearing that ate the crank and scattered shavings everywhere. Once the engine was torn down it was revealed the rod bolt was not torqued properly, one fell completely out and the other was finger tight. It also revealed the cams were stock, and the ports had not been touched. Needless to say we brought everything we had to pursue a cash settlement from the exporter and after a few months of tense email exchanges we got $6K 50% of the cost to rebuild the engine to it's as "advertised" condition. 

Instead of hobbling it back together, my brother decided to use this as an opportunity to build a serious Monster, but reliable enough to drive anywhere. We started with components scattered all over the country, the chassis in Ashland Oregon getting buttoned up refresh, the engine in Seattle being built up by Ray Stonehocker with top end internals. The transmission is in Ohio at ShepTrans getting helical synchro gear set, with solid billet main shaft n selector forks from PPG (Pfitzner Performance Gearbox) all of it rated at 800+ hp, and when it's all back together it will be tuned at Portland Speed Industries. 

The goal is a super reliable 600whp with all the proper running gear to handle it. 

No disrespect....but this 240Z sleeper on steroids is the bomb!!! Does one still have to bring these up to US rules/regs(emissions/safety) before being unleashed on the general public? Count me in on this.....

So far, the block has been decked, line board and oil passages flushed with break cleaner. The crank has been modified to enlarge the oil pump drive, weight balanced to new rods and pistons, The head is being decked and built at another machine shop with new seats guides and seals.

Oil pump drive before

New oil pump drive

Enlarged oil passages

First Parts Order

parts delivered

Part of what makes the RB's aluminum block so stout is the main bearings are held by a super rigid one piece girdle.

Here's something you don't see every day, an oil pan/front diff in one. That's a LSD R200 tucked in there. It's designing crazy stuff like this that Nissan was able to make an AWD 4 wheel steering car weighing less than 3200lbs.

The power goal is in the neighborhood of 600whp. Making that much power isn't the issue though, it's making it reliable and controllable that's tough. The entire drive train from trans to tires is being upgraded to meet the challenge. We stepped up the trans build now using 5 speed

We're using a Link G4 stand alone ECU that can have switchable tunes with individual power curves in each gear, custom launch control, and full access in tuning the traction control system. The goal there is a fun daily driver street car with a monster hidden under the peddle. 

After tinkering away on my 510 for a decade I tell you, helping out on this build is like living in a fantasy world. Money flying in all directions and everything happening at light speed. As my Dad says, money is the lubricant of life.

I'm so curious about these cars and am nearly convinced to take the plunge one day.  I used to always think my Japanese car would be an FD RX7, but FD money Godzilla becomes approachable.  I will follow along intently.

My best friends 89 gtr car had a similar fate, after having tracked the car multiple times over the past few years one day he ran out to get lunch in it and it lost all oil pressure because of the crank snout, causing the rod bearing damage. We did a full rebuild using an N1 crank and nismo gasket set buttoning everything up with a set of n1 turbos, 750cc injectors and a apexi power fc. 

The only issue that came back to bite us was we did not recoat the ITB's while we where in there and later they began to leak. 

In reply to 759NRNG :

In California we would have had to do the full boat back to stock and a $10k inspection process. Fortunately my Brother has a place in Ashland Oregon so it was easy peasy and from here on there's no inspection so no limit on modification. ;o) Game on.

In reply to AnthonyGS : 

If you can swing it, now is the time to get one. The R32 is a REALLY special car and you can pick them up for less that $30K. Just make sure your state will let you import them without smog inspection.

Like the modern R35 it was a loss leader (way more expensive to make than what they sold for) meant to be a PR prestige race car. For it's time it was a truly cutting edge exotic super car. The street cars were de-tuned "emulation" cars, so they could qualify as a production vehicle. hiding under it's skin is all the same bones as the NISMO race cars.

All dressed up and ready to go.

After some research, we decided to remove the HICAS rear steering system from my Brother's car. It's not advisable to let the R32's mechanical 4 wheel steering system try and figure out what to do with all the power our RB will be throwing at it. Once you go beyond a certain point, it becomes more dangerous than useful. 

It's interesting how Nissan has developed all wheel steering over the passed 50 years. Like I said earlier, the 510's semi trailing arm rear suspension is accentually the same thing, using body roll to effect a shift in toe, eg steering the rear end around corners. Great for "spirited" street driving with 100 HP, but again, when you start pushing higher HP through a 510s body roll all wheel steering system, E36 M3 gets pretty squirelly coming out of corners. 

When I first saw the valves I was thinking WTF, it looks like a train wreck in there. Then Ray explained the valves are sodium filled and never look shiny new like a set of L series valves. leaving the marking graphite looks trashy IMO. Sure it will all burn off in the first heat cycle, but still I wish they'd have cleaned it. If you look close though, you can see the detail work that's gone into it like tapered and smoothed shoulders to reduce heating on sharp edges at the quench.

They did some port matching and cleaning at the intake.

Also the Tomei cam, titanium springs and retainers. 

God it's great when everything comes together and starts looking like an engine again.

Cams are in, head torqued to 30ft lb to sit over night. Timing backing plate installed, timing gears were media blasted clean, installed tensioner, VVT adjuster, and lower timing cover.

Diff serviced with new clutch plates, oil pan resurfaced and installed

Portland Speed Industries was able to take over the rest of the assembly and have it under one hat from here to final tune. Jason owner at PSI has the experience to navigate our goals. Normally a shop like PSI would never take over a build in the middle point, but Jason is good friends with Ray's shop where the motor was built. Not many out there know the R32 better, so it's a real win fall we got our car in there. 

Ray knocked it out of the park.

On it's way back to PSI.

Car has been shipped to Portland Speed Industries and everything is getting re-cataloged and organized. The Trans is on it's way to Ohio next week and Jason will prep and install the ECU, O2 sensor, do harness mods and get the engine ready to go in. Truly insane amount of strange nick knacks, doo dads and fiddly bits under the hood. Most definitely nothing like a 510. 

ShepTrans finished and shipped our freshly built transmission back to PSI and things are back up and running at light speed. Firing up the engine and doing some break in cycles late Friday and tuning early next week. 

On the stand ready to go

In and mounted

It's not a ragged edge race motor by any stretch, but it will easily make our power goals with room to spare. The drive train and chassis are set up to deal with what ever the engine throws at it, so this thing should be a blast to thrash for years to come. 

List of parts and upgrades

Two Garrett GT2867R turbos 

Link G4 Stand Alone ECU

E85 upgrades

Injector Dynamics ID1300 injectors

Walbo 450 Fuel Pump

Tomei Pancam type R

Tomei Titanium Springs

Tomei Titanium Retainers

Apexi Head Gasket 

ARP Studs

WIseco Pistons

Eagle Rods

N1 Counterbalanced crank

King main and rod Bearings 

Gates Racing Timing Belt

Deep cut oil pump drive

N1 Oil Pump

Enlarged oil passages

Tomei Stainless Down Pipe

Fujitsubo Stainless Exhaust

Pfizer Performance Gearbox Synchromesh Gear Set, Shafts and Forks

Exedy Twin Plate Clutch Flywheel and Pressure Plate

HICCA delete 

Driveshaft Shop CV axles

NISMO 2 way LSD New Clutch Plates front and rear

NISMO motor and trans mounts

Tein suspenssion

Project μ slotted brakes front and rear

6-point Cuzco roll cage

Sparco R600 Seats

Fired up and runs like a champ. Dyno Time Scheduled For Tomorrow! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13zj6YVo4p4

Break in cycling up to 6K rpm without a hitch and made 465 whp at 12 psi on pump gas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=3Mx3oScvPtM

The plan is to take it to 20 psi with a flex fuel tune for pump and e85 and limit it at 9000 rpm. Also programing launch control where the ECU holds the rpm at 4K to have it all spooled up, and traction control on hard starts. 

After weeks of shakedown and tweaking the tune it's making 620whp on winter E85 and the monster is loose on the streets of Oregon. Hide your children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFIJwWuchOI

Wow, very cool!

How long did this take in real time? From blown to back on the street?

Thanks for sharing!

damen