rb30 ideas- PROS & CONS

[dirty_leppa]

i have a rb30 waiting to be rebuilt for my laurel. i will be keeping it single cam to be sort of different but im not to sure what i should do performance wise.

i would really like to build a decent turbo set up to keep my speed addiction going, but i love the old skool side of things with 3 big dirty side draft carbs and low massive exhaust headers, or even maybe independent throttle bodies.

i know either way i go its gonna cost me money, so im not really worried about that.

the main thing is i wanna know the pros and cons of each so i can make a more detailed choice when it comes time to get it done.

i will be using it on the road regularly but not to bothered about a bit of lag or having to rev to get anywhere, and it will maybe used for some trackdays, but mainly just for me to enjoy driving it.

any help or ideas would be mint,

cheers

[spanners]

Its kinda gona depend on how much power youre after isnt it? I would think a snail would be better bang for buck. Although trip carbs or ITB would buzz everyone out

[Brock-Lee]

me and lowgan had this same dicussion a couple weekes back. the stock rb30e bottom end will only handle about 7000 rpm until the crank starts getting its wobble on. for an n/a motor you would want a rev monster and I would be looking towards an rb25de if I was going to triple carb/itb a nissan 6.

Over in aus they get huge power from tubo setups stil using the single cam head.

[Testament]

you could probably still get around 250hp with pretty good torque N/A on the single cam head I would think. if you can get highish compression pistions 10:1 + and then run triple carbs (ftw) or a tuned length intake with a large plenum and single throttle plus nice long exhaust pipes (750mm-1000mm). Would still be a good engine in a relatively light car e.g. less than 1250kg.

but yeah for not all that much more money/maybe less money you can get a ridiculous amount of power with a turbo.

whats it going in and whats the intended usage?

[ZedHed]

My nephew has a rb25de in his r32,hes up for swaps too.

[Testament]

ok I just read the first post again - going in a laurel

probably just go turbo, pistons are cheap enough cast is probably fine if revs are <7000rpm

find some big dirty turck turbo turbo or something. Then find someone good to tune it.

probably get 300kw atw easy enough if done right according to all the ones in my zoom magazines.

[Brock-Lee]

^Dylan is a diesel mechanic so im sure he could get his hands on a decent sized turbo. Also to keep it below 7200(which is the magic BOOM number) make sure you run a ignition cut limiter and a straight through exhaust for mean backfires

[dirty_leppa]

its going into a c31 laurel which isnt the lightest of cars and its main use would be daily driver. not really in need of huge power, as i just want a fun car with about 200hp.

i am heading towards a big snail but would love to see and here a rb30 reving like nothing with triple carbs or itb's.

its all just talk at the mo as i need to pay off all my shiny tools and new bike

[slipsittin]

The skylines and vl commodores cam out RB30 sohc turbo.

They took out Bathurst with the twin turbo version and I worked on a lot of them.

The parts are easy to get in aussie and there are still a lot hanging around over here.

A guy called Kevin Williams used to race one at Pukekohe and also had a street version of the race car engine.

They are awesome but you need to make sure the head is tested properly as it is their weakest link.

Corey

[T-Rex]

Me and my brother are building a rb30det at the moment for his car, he lent towards big snail, T70 etc. Tbh I dont see why you want to run the rb30 head, have read that you gain 70% more flow with the rb25 head, although its not a simple bolt straight on boe conversion, its worth it, and athetically more pleasing

[dirty_leppa]

this is what confuses me as in my mind a twin came head has better flow etc, has more scope for after market parts etc, but why go though the trouble of a head conversion when i just throw a snail on and be done with it.

might pay just to look around and speak to people who have done both sides of this.

[Brock-Lee]

25 head bolts on, all you need is turbo valve springs and a X number tooth cam belt. can fund that shit out for you if you eed. T-rex boe, apart from the cam belt. everthing else is bolt up. 3 litre twincam turbo will be so men. 450-500 horse can be had relatively easy.

[slipsittin]

Have built twin cam version 425KW at rear wheels of R33 skyline.....Head bolts on but 25DE head is better performance and Franklin Cam Services have supplie the best cams so far.

SOHC heads can get up there also though.

[T-Rex]

25 head bolts on, all you need is turbo valve springs and a X number tooth cam belt. can fund that shit out for you if you eed. T-rex boe, apart from the cam belt. everthing else is bolt up. 3 litre twincam turbo will be so men. 450-500 horse can be had relatively easy.

Yeh ours just needs the manifolds put on it at the monent then its complete. However just bolting it on like that, it will just blow up. Need to get oil restricters, make oil drains, do a bit of grinding to exaust manifold, block off vct and get oil drain for that(if you have it etc). Not saying its not hard its just not just put the head on it and go. They make power very easily but need to do that stuff first

[d.p.n.s]

if you looking for esy power mate just turbo it.

in saying that tripple carbs or 6 bike carbs would sound mean turbo is pretty easy.

when i was going to put 1 in my escort heres a place i had a look around

www.calaisturbo.com.au

or you could try LURK1N-G8KEPA on here he done a lot of research into turboing

rb30s and has some good ideas. he does chips for standerd ecu as well

otherwise as far as im aware you can just bolt the turbo on and run the water and oil feeds. The series 2 Rb30e block has blanks in it for these lines. you can just use standard n/a loom and ecu with the chip installed and get 8-9psi boost. but ideally in a perfect world where money grew on trees, you would upgrade injectors (can use mitsi magna ones) and use a link ecu

hope this helps

dan

[Raizer]

or you could try LURK1N-G8KEPA on here he done a lot of research into turboing rb30s and has some good ideas. he does chips for standerd ecu as well

If you can't get hold of him on here tell me and I'll text him for you

[happyvan]

Alittle off topic but can you use a rb20 dohc head for the rb30 engine build.

[dirty_leppa]

as far as in know you cant use a rb20 head without massive modification.

im not worried or bothered with the stock loom, ecu etc as i cut it out when i took the motor.

will be running aftermarket ecu and custom loom

[kyteler]

as far as in know you cant use a rb20 head without massive modification.

im not worried or bothered with the stock loom, ecu etc as i cut it out when i took the motor.

will be running aftermarket ecu and custom loom

It's port size that's the problem rather than anything else. Why would you put the tiny ported RB20DE head onto a 3.0, just doesn't make any sense.

I see no problem with maintaining a SOHC RB30E, depends what you're after really. A nice set of pipes and increased induction on a 3.0 would be sweet in standard form, if you wanted more over standard though and power was a demand, I think you'd be silly to not go to the DOHC head, even if just for ease of upgrade parts (ie. camshafts etc)

The good thing about a RB30E is that it still runs a simple distributor setup, so slapping on some triples wouldn't cause too many other issues in regards to the ignition.

HOWEVER. For the amount of pissing about in remaining SOHC. You might as well build up an L28 for it. Bore it out to 3.0, F54 block, N42 head, to dome porting work, add a mild cam, some triples, a wicked set of headers, increase the comp ratio. Bang you're done. It'll sound better than an RB too.

[Brock-Lee]

in a laurel? lol thatd be a bit weird wouldnt it?

Sorta like shoehorning a big block chev on carb into a new holden. except way less cool