Nissan Skyline GT-R s in the USA Blog

Tuesday, July 07, 2020

How Fast Does It Go? Nissan Skyline GT-R

NISMO 320 km/hr speedometer (198 mph) These were not factory installed

When I was a kid, I would always look at the speedometer of a car, and use that to determine how cool a car was. A higher top speed on the speedometer, had to mean that the car was faster. Then the 80's came, and for a little while, it seemed that putting too high of a speed on the speedometer was something that wasn't cool anymore. The national speed limit was 55 mph, and the speedometers stopped at 85 mph.

In Japan, the R32 version of the Nissan Skyline GT-R came with a 180 km/hr speedometer or 112 mph speedo. All the R32 GT-R, got 180 km/hr speedometers, even the 560 Nismo versions. I have had this discussion with a lot of people, and from the factory, just the 180 km/hr. The R32 also had the ding, ding, dinger when you went above 100 km/hr.

An R32 GT-R speedometer cluster. Notice the front torque meter, 10k rpm tach.

However there were other speedometer clusters that were sold, even some through the Nissan dealers. 260 km/hr (160 mph) were first available, then later 320 km/hr were available. That 320 km/hr speedo puts the car right at that sweet spot of a number. 200 mph or actually 198 mph, but lets just say its close enough to 200 mph. In real life most speedos read high, so even at 320 km/hr indicated, you would have probably only been about 188-190 mph actual.

Since top speed was sort of a taboo subject in 1989 when the R32 GT-R was released, there is not a lot of hard information about the unrestricted top speed. The ECU cut the fun at 180 km/hr or 112 mph. However it was common for people to retune the ECU, add a defeat device, or even cut the input into the ECU. The R32 GT-R has the aerodynamics of a brick. Most information you will find, will say the R32, R33, and R34 all do around 155 mph unrestricted. This is a fairly believable number, but not that satisfying to the fanbois.

It takes about 600 horsepower to get an R32 GT-R to around 200 mph. An R33, and R34 will do it with less. The R34 has some gearing advantages, and a little over 400 hp will do nearly 320 km/hr indicated(professional driver, closed course, of course).

Whenever we were racing cars professionally, people would always come up, and ask us "how fast is the car,truck,van." Since absolute top speed is not something we really care much about in road racing, the actual answer we would give people, generally wasn't very satisfying for them. You would throw some realistic answer at them - 145 mph on the straight here at Willow Springs, or "we saw 138 at the end of the straight", they seemed to walk away unhappy. If we said - it did a 1:27 at Streets of Willow, another look of confusion. 1:59 at Buttonwillow, nope doesn't do any good. Most non hardcore car people can't relate to those numbers. Do you know what makes most people happy, and they walk away with a smile on their face, even if it isn't at all true?

200 miles per hour.

So when they ask, I just say - 200mph. They are satisfied, they generally find that answer agreeable. It is a nice round number. If anyone calls BS, we give them the other numbers, but 200 mph is an easy answer. Try it one day, you might like it.

White face Nismo 320 km/hr speedometer cluster. 11k tach

Buy USA Legal R32 and R33 Skylines at Importavehicle.com!
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Japanese cars for rent in Las Vegas : RentJDM

By Sean Morris 8:08 AM R34

RentJDM right hand drive car rental in Las Vegas

RentJDM in Las Vegas is really coming together. The original plan was to open in April 2020, however COVID, and the closure of Las Vegas, and most of the world put a damper on that. The wall art came out great, and the arcade has been put in place. There are vending machines with Japanese snacks and drinks. Las Vegas is all about experiences, and RentJDM wants anyone coming to the shop at 5360 Procyon St, to have a fun experience.

A couple weeks ago, we got a chance to film a safety video, and go out and drive a few cars. Craig Lieberman shot it for RentJDM. He even got a chance to drive a right hand drive Supra, and what RentJDM wants to turn into the Worlds Fastest Suzuki Cappuccino, #doubleshot. Check out Craig's Instagram account here.

657cc turbo. This is #doubleshot Suzuki Cappuccino

Will a stock RB26 turbo work on a 657cc engine?

The #doubleshot Cappuccino won't be for rent, but will be a demo car for RentJDM. They have an entire gaggle of kei car. Honda Beats, Autozam AZ-1, and Cappuccino.

Right hand drive Toyota Supra for Rent. The R34 GT-R is Show or Display, the front car is not a Mitsubishi Eclipse. A few people have told us that now. Also, the Supra does not have a Bomex kit.

NSX, Hakosuka, R32 GT-R, MotoRex R34 GT-R, Liberty Walk R35, and Suzuki Cappuccino

The JDM rental fleet in Las Vegas, will feature a number of cool cars from the 1970's to the 1990's. Most of the cars are right hand drive and manual transmission, but there will be a few automatic cars. The red Honda NSX above is an automatic.

Calsonic livery R32 GT-R, R34 GT-R at Red Rock in Las Vegas

AZ-1, Beat, Cappuccino. The ABS of Kei Car. A gaggle of R32.

Directly behind RentJDM, just a block away is the new Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders

Entrance area to RentJDM. MotoRex R34 GT-R, they call the "Beast"

One more inside view of RentJDM

When they are able, RentJDM will open, even if it is at a limited capacity. We are looking forward to a soft opening in the coming weeks. In addition to renting JDM cars, RentJDM will also be selling JDM cars in the Las Vegas area. Mostly kei car, as they really like the Cappuccinos.

Buy USA Legal R32 and R33 Skylines at Importavehicle.com!
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LeaskSpec Radiator Ducting for R32 GT-R

By Sean Morris 1:19 PM Featured

LeaskSpec R32 GT-R Radiator ducting kit

Air is free. Getting air where you want it to go, isn't. LeaskSpec has just released some information about radiator ducting for an R32 GT-R.

I wanted to share something I’ve been working on for a long time that’s finally ready to release to market after quite a lot of tweaking and revisions. I’ve developed a complete ducting kit that forces all air collected through the intercooler and grill directly to the radiator as efficiently as possible. The kit comes in multiple pieces for ease of install, has multiple upper plate finishing options, adjustable slots at each mounting point, soft edging for a tight seal against the fmic and soft liner anywhere a line or hose gets close to the side panels. The kit requires no alteration to your ac system or lines, emergency overheat pusher fan or ps cooler. It does NOT allow the bov crossover recirc tube to bolt in the factory location, this must either be deleted or relocated via a small bracket. The entire lower portion of the kit is aluminum while the upper plates come in aluminum for base pricing, ‘i’ weave kevlar or carbon fiber can also be purchased for extra. All hardware is included to bolt kit on, all soft edging is included as well as a unique titanium product tag up top. Kit has (2) different upper side brackets to suit N1 halogens or standard projectors.
What are the benefits? Air is your friend but it does whatever it wants to. Ducting is the most crucial part to any car and (in my experience) any car that has an odd pressure zone inside the front bumper created by a tight fmic seal. We can pull said air through with fans but at speed you want to collect whatever you can with whatever bumper openings you’re given and utilize it. There’s plenty of open spaces between the fmic and radiator, the more you close up the more efficient your radiator and condenser become.
I’m making this post to introduce the official group buy for this product. I’m releasing an order to the machine shop soon and am extending an introductory price to you of
$340 +ship
$170 deposit required, $170 plus shipping remainder due upon machine shop completion
Estimated completion is 4 weeks
(Final product cost will move up to $375 +ship after introductory group buy)
Optional carbon/Kevlar panels are $150 extra

Contact LeaskSpec here

LeaskSpec R32 GT-R Radiator ducting kit

Buy USA Legal R32 and R33 Skylines at Importavehicle.com!
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Exhaust Outlets : 02 Sensor Housings : Twin Turbo RB26

By Sean Morris 4:55 PM exhaust, Featured, turbo, turbocharger, Twin turbo

OEM R32/R33 turbocharger outlet pipe ~54mm at the flange

These parts of the exhaust on a twin turbo RB26 connect the outlet of the turbo charger to the downpipe, or front pipe. Some terms are different, depending on what region you are from. Like calling a soda drink, a coke, a pop, soda, soft drink, etc. It all generally means the same thing, just regional. On the exhaust side, post turbo, the best exhaust is none. Larger is better, less restrictive is better. Less weight is better.

The R32 and R33 outlet pipes are cast, and the same other than the oxygen sensor threads/boss. The R32 uses a small sensor (11/16th or17mm nut), the R33 a larger sensor (7/8th or 22 mm nut). More information about the sensor differences - https://www.gtrusablog.com/2019/02/oxygen-sensors-r32-vs-r33-o2-sensors.html

https://www.gtrusablog.com/2017/12/nissan-skyline-oxygen-sensor-02-sensors.html

R33/R34 GT-R oxygen sensor on the left, R32 GT-R on the right You can see the Bosch sensor didn't come out nice.

It is possible to put an R32 02 sensor into an R33 outlet with an adapter, but the opposite would be a trick.

R34 turbo outlet pipe ~60mm at the flange

The R34 outlet pipe is a stamped formed piece of metal. It is an interesting piece. It is about 1 lb lighter than the cast pieces, and also has a larger outlet flange diameter of 60mm vs ~54mm mm on the R32/R33. Depending on exactly how you look at it, because the wall of the tube is inside the flange, you don't get the full benefit of that 60 mm flange. Next onto aftermarket outlets.

This is a Mines outlet tube. Even lighter. This piece has been Swain coated 70 mm flange 65 mm inside

You can see on this outlet tube that the diameter of the flange is 70 mm, but because of the tubing wall, you only actually see about 65 mm of cross section. It is still larger than the OEM by about 10 mm.

This is a Mines outlet tube. Even lighter. This piece has been Swain coated

There are two different lengths of the turbo outlet pipes, so make sure you don't get them switched up.

This outlet has an R32 oxygen sensor adapter, and an EGT bung in it. This has also been Swain coated

On Nismo #500, we are running Tomei cast outlets. The Tomei cast outlets are 68 mm

Tomei Exhaust outlet pipes for an RB26 - 68 mm

The largest ones we know about come from either HPI or Midori. The HPI are 76 mm, and the Midori are 76.3 mm.

Midori 76.3 mm outlet tubes

If you are putting aftermarket turbos on your car, you really want to replace the outlet tubes with something larger and if possible lighter. You also want to pay attention to the front turbo outlet as it just about sits on top of the rear turbo compressor inlet. There is a reason that the R34 Vspec II, got a NACA duct, to try and cool the rear turbo.

This engine we did a lot of heat shielding on the outlet of the front turbo, and inlet to the rear turbo. These are Nismo cast outlet pipes. HKS GT-RS turbos