Nissan R34 Skyline Tuning

"Thanks for reading my Nissan R34 Skyline tuning tips."
The R34 Skyline is a good car modification project to execute. The key to R34 Skyline tuning is choosing the right mods - a lot of money can be wasted if you do it wrong.

Our aim in R34 Skyline engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

Sadly with smaller engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

Engine tuning mods.

These mods modified mods are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you begin.

Getting the right modified upgrade kits for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 motor sport parts just won't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

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Stages of Tune

Stage 1 mods: Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Remap, Alloy wheels, Lighter flywheel, Panel air filter, Sports exhaust.

Stage 2 mods: Fast road cam, high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch.

Stage 3 mods: Engine balancing, Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).

Peak power is nice in motorsport but for a drivable and fun car you need a wide torque band and perhaps extending the rev range.

In this article we shall give your a good starting base to the best performance parts for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance mod.A fast road camshaft is one of the best NASP power mods you can do mechanically to your engine.

The intake & exhaust flow play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car impossible to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a cam upgrade with other mods and finish with a performance chip to fully release the power gain.

Don't forget to increase the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty.

Using high octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from pinking or premature ignition on your Nissan project after fitting other performance modifications. Uprating the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned R34 Skylines uprated injectors.

• GT – 2.0 L RB20DE NEO I6, 155 PS (114 kW; 153 hp), 186 Nm (137 lbft)
• 25GT 2.5 L RB25DENEO I6, 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp), 255 Nm (188 lbft)
• 25GT-X 2.5 L RB25DE NEO I6, 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp), 255 Nm (188 lbft)
• 25GT-V 2.5 L RB25DE NEO I6, 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp), 255 Nm (188 lbft)
• 25GT FOUR – 2.5 L RB25DE NEO I6, 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp), 255 Nm (188 lbft) 4WD
• 25GT-X FOUR – 2.5 L RB25DE NEO I6, 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp), 255 Nm (188 lbft) 4WD
• 25GT Turbo – 2.5 L RB25DET NEO turbo I6, 280 hp (209 kW; 284 PS), 343 Nm (253 lbft)
• 25GT-X Turbo – 2.5 L RB25DET NEO turbo I6, 280 hp (209 kW; 284 PS), 343 Nm (253 lbft)

Nur Spec models have forged pistons and are considered the ultimate Skyline for tuning up.

N1's are basically the pure racing versions, and the Nür-models basically inherited their engines. This means uprated oil pump, water pump, engine block, pistons, conrods, crankshaft and turbochargers.

The N1 engines are basically more efficient and reliable than the regular engines, but they can take about the same power - except the turbochargers (which have steel internals instead of ceramic) and the block itself.

The Nür ones are the ones usually considered the most desirable since they have better spec in standard version and they were manufactured in limited series (750 examples of V-spec II Nür and 250 examples of M-spec Nür).

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Air induction kits are only beneficial to increase power if the cars air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most stock engines will see LITTLE LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

Derestricting the air feed into the engine is the primary part of tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not do much to increase power and more often than not rob you of power on most cars.

Sports exhausts balance the flow of gases through the engine. But if the exhaust is too big, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of your flow rate and end up sapping power and torque.

Airflow through the head can be dramatically increased with some professional flowed (porting and polishing). These should match and be setup to take into account any other engine mods. A good heavy duty fast road performance clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never cut corners or assume a standard clutch to cope. The best mods that we recommend for your R34 Skyline are Remapping or piggy back ecu, fast road cam and air intake and exhaust.

NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give big power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block.

We've also come across some owners toying with twincharged conversions and making some impressively high power gains.

Adding forced induction will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Superchargers are often easier to add than a turbo. It is more challenging to map a turbo as the boost builds exponentially with revs.

Superchargers will give a boost which is proportional to engine speed so is easier to map. Alternatively you could add water injection to reduce the risk of knock.

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All comments received are used to improve the accuracy of our site and these articles which are continually amended, tweaked and updated.

Currently (2017) the choice turbo for an RB26 is a Borg Warner EFR. The way the RB26 engine fires makes a twin scroll turbo intake a solid bet for upgraders.

The nice correlating boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them simpler to map. Alternatively you could perhaps add water injection to reduce the risk of knock.

400-650 bhp

Going over 400 bhp requires some serious turbo upgrades.

The GT2530 was a popular option for large power gains but we recommend the newer and better twin scroll Borg Warner EFR 8174 or the larger EFR 8374 (good for 500-800bhp).

600-900 bhp

For a little bit more power you could specify a HKS T04Z, or T88-34D turbo or preferably the Borg Warner twin scroll EFR 9180, fit a stroker kit which will take the RB26 to 2.8 litres and matched to a suitable flowed and ported cylinder head and forged internals will take power levels up to around 800bhp safely.

Add in a high performance fuel rail, some 1000cc injectors and the EFR8374, GT2860-5 or GT2871R turbo with a good fuel pump (you should spec for around 280 litres per hour for this.)

RB30 is the next step for a large power project car.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Many R34 Skyline owners uprate the handling of their cars with sports suspension parts as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you R34 Skyline substantially benefitting your drive.

We would go to a maximum drop of 27mm - 38 mm on most models. You risk compromising your handling if you go lower than this.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are generally less heavy than the steel ones. Further improvements can be made to your cars handling with the addition of track legal slick tyre. The downside to large rims on your R34 Skyline is that you alter your final drive ratio so this will have a negative effect on performance and acceleration.

With this in mind try to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the recommended OEM sizes. In all cases without going above 16 inches.

There is a more updated version of this Nissan R34 Skyline Tuning article on TorqueCars.com.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss R34 Skyline options in more detail with our R34 Skyline owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Nissan tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Nissan. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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