• Rajab Racing Intake Manifold
• Emtron KV8 ECU
• Radium Fuel Hanger Nissan Skyline Late R33 & R34
• Nissan RB Twin Cam – Race Series CAM Trigger Kit
• Outsider Garage R34 DBW Pedal
• Bosch 74mm DBW
• Rework of the catch can
• Replacement breather hoses

I was kept completely in the loop as ever by both Lee (for the mechanical side) and Mike for the mapping side, and it’s turned out beautifully.

Rajab Racing Intake Manifold

Well, being the nerd I am, I like to have the car modernised where possible, and lets face, it safety is flexibility is key. And looking through the ECU logs, the amount of trimming that had to do be done when tuning on the ignition map on the stock intake was crazy. So to kill two birds with one stone, I decided to change the intake and go Drive By Wire.
The Rajab Manifold is doing exactly what it said it would. Better turbo response, more power through the whole rev range and no sacrificing of low end torque like the short runner manifolds. The Drive By Wire gives us more safety controls, better torque management and CRUISE CONTROL.
The downside is the cold side of the intercooler piping needed a reworking and the catch can piping. Not the end of the world, but it’s not plug and play like the Nismo – although it doesn’t profess to be, but it’s cheaper and better But is it worth it? Absolutely. And it looks sexy, doesn’t it!

Emtron KV8

After the removal of the Link G4+ ECU, the Emtron KV8 gave so many more options and flexibility to the car. It’s allowed the intake to be fitted with the DBW throttle, and to move the map away from the ITB/MAP merge to a true VE and Throttle Mass Flow, like how the modern OEM manufactuers calibrate their cars. Efficiency is key! ATESSA control will be dialled in at a later date…
I’ve now got so many strategies to play with, much better safety and CRUISE CONTROL! So when I go on my trips away, I can actually rest my leg for the journeys on the motorways/authobahns/etc. I’ll report more on this after more miles in the car. Read more here.

Radium Fuel Hanger

When the fuel pump was upgraded, we noticed that the fuel pump hangar was looking like a bit of a disaster, so we decided to upgrade it properly. The Radium Engineering fuel pump hanger replaces the entire factory fuel pump assembly inside the Nissan fuel tank. It can be configured with 1 or 2 fuel pumps, I just chose a single Walbro 400 for my needs, I can always upgrade at a later date should I need. The pump is suspended down in the bottom of the tank, similar to the stock fuel hanger. From there, they feed through polyamide nylon tubing to the top hat.

The factory Nissan fuel level sender and low fuel switch are reused so full functionality is retained. A venturi jet pump is integrated into the top plate and provides means to draw fuel from the opposite side of the fuel tank.

Race Series CAM Trigger Kit

Anyone who’s tuned an RB knows one thing: the OEM trigger system (CAS) is CRAP. It has issues at higher RPMs, the timing can drift due to belt stretch. After talking with Mike @ SRD, I went for PRP‘s Race kit, with a 36-2 Crank kit. It uses a MoTeC ‘reluctor’ type sensor and a MoTeC Camshaft ‘hall effect’ type sensor, a completely sealed sensor with external plug system.

This has been proven on many 1000bhp cars, so my 500whp affair won’t be a bother. The nerd in me like that it will provide 3 times more data than the 12-1 tooth system and infinitely more reliable than the OEM. It’s basically a Supra set up! Controversial statement…

Outsider Garage R34 DBW Pedal

The final part of the equation was the DBW pedal. I found lots of options for R32 and R33, but the guys at Outsider Garage came up trumps for me. They quickly checked against a car they had in the premises and reported first hand that it worked. So I ordered the bracket, pedal and loom. Perfect. If only everyone was that easy to deal with. Bolted in, with lots of wire to allow it to be wired in neatly to the Emtron.

The car is now right up there with the modern way I wanted it. Now, I have to think of what’s next for it.
Do I do more, or do I get a Supra and start a fresh journey… Tuning never stops!

The post R34 GTR – June 2024 Tuning Updates first appeared on BlownByTwins.

As beautifully crafted as the Plazmaman and Hypertune manifolds are, they’re short runner, peak horsepower parts and not what I want for the car. And lets face it, the Rajab Racing ones are also pretty spectacular to look at. Andrew Hawkins at Motive Video did a video on the OEM, Nismo and Hypertune intakes, and the Nismo and Hypertune items were very, very close in the

I will going with the Bosch DBW install, to fully bring the car to the modern age. And I’m not going to lie, cruise control is a massive draw! It’s a good 6 hours from home to Inverness when we do the Scotland trip, so having a cruise control feature will be perfect for the right leg – I’m not getting any younger. And I want to really clean up the engine bay, getting rid of the idle speed control, and having the DBW sort it all out.

The additional features that DBW brings are improved tuning strategy, additonal traction control strategy, etc.

All in all, the car is looking more and more like something from the modern times. And that’s exactly what I want.

The post Rajab Racing Intake Manifold first appeared on BlownByTwins.

I haven’t written much about the R35 lately, not because I don’t love it, quite the opposite. It’s because it’s literally amazing, I can’t get my head around the words needed to convey just how good it is. I’ll have to buried in it, because I’m never selling.

I went for my monthly dinner with the lads, about 40 miles away in Oldham because Dominic has a McLaren and doesn’t like to go too far from his house. Just in case the car McLaren’s itself. Anyway, I’d not driven my R35 for about 3 weeks, I’d not been anywhere of note here, and I’d been in Florida and The Bahamas with the better half for a couple of weeks. It’s so easy to forget what a missile it is. The Tesla is 0-50 quick and 60-100 nippy. The GTR is just ridiculous.

No more than 4 miles from house, all up to temperature and I’ve got a shiteating grin all over my face. The mechanical noises of the transmission, the diffs clunking, the engine intake, the blow off valves, all accompanied by a High Performance Academy Podcast. Epic.

I come to join the motorway, I’m in the left lane and a 370z comes charing around the outside of everyone to try and jump everyone, and he sees me and mouths “f … in … hell”. Yea, that never happened. And because I was feeling kind, I absolutely nailed him. And then some. And a bit more.

I can’t think of anything I want to do to the R35 at the moment, it’s just perfect. Do I want to go to 1000bhp? Of course, it’s mythical number and becoming almost reliable now, but, can I use ALL of my 775bhp now? No. Being honest, no, I can’t. I can do 0-60 and even then that’s a rarity. So why do I spend £20,000+ for something I’ll never be able to use. The Litchfield 3.8 Sport Engine and LM Turbo Kit with G25-660s do seem a hell of a combination, but until I’m rich, they’re not on the radar (or until we move somewhere with better, more open roads)!!

Can you import UK GTRs to Texas …. hmm.

The post Just Went For Dinner first appeared on BlownByTwins.

Anyways, the time has come to make this car my own, put my stamp on it. Make it period correct, but also improve it and make it more modern where appropriate, right?

Parts going in …

• 6boost manifold
• G30-770 with T51R mod
• 50mm wastegate
• ID1050x injectors
• Tomei Poncams
• SFS Performance Hoses
• Fluids and Filters
• Tomei baffles for the sump
• Head drain kit

What will this give me? Well first off, it’s not more power, but it is more available power. The HKS Twins are amazing when they’re on boost, but coming out of a slow 2nd gear corner, they feel like they take 3-5 business days to spool. 2000rpm to 5000rpm with little to no boost before they hit is a long time.

The G30-770 should be bulding some boost at 2500, and have reasonable boost by 3500 and full boost by 4000-4200rpm (the dyno will see how far out my man-maths is!), so I’ll have more power accessible in more places, but no additional peak power. Or, for those who know, I’m gaining torque.

What else? Well, noise. Anyone who’s heard a T51R turbo will know about the whistle, it was synonymous with big singles in the 2000s. And that’s what this car is. A 1990s-2000s monster. Reponse and noise, that’s two good improvements. What else? Fuelling. The injectors in the car now are fine, but old. They’re based on the 1990s-2000s tech, and injectors have moved on so much since. Listen to this podcast from High Performance Academy on just how much they’ve changed in the recent years.

CAMS! Every engine needs to breathe better, right? These Tomei Poncams are drop in replacements, meaning they don’t need any machining to upgrades. They’ll allow more air in, which means more fuel, meaning more power. But how? They have more duration and more lift. Boiling it down, more lift means it’ll open the valve more, meaning more air gets in, meaning more torque. More duration means it’ll open more. Meaning that that it’ll breathe better in the top end. Given the 260 duration, it won’t affect low end much, if at all, but the turbo replacement will more than make up for that.

The SFS Performance hoses are a mainteance replacement. The OEM hoses on the car are aging now and can become brittle, so why not replace them and not only improve the look but also reduce the risk!? Right? Oh, and naturally, I’ve gone for blue.

What are baffles? Well, the RB26 suffers from oil surge. I can happily rev the car in 4th gear from 2000-7750rpm and the oil pressure will increase to about 5.5bar. Do that in 2nd gear and the increased G force will drop that to 3bar. Not terrible, but not great either. And whilst we are doing all this, we’ll get the baffles in the sump to prevent that and help the oil stay near the pick up.

Head drain? What’s that. The RB26 has an all too common issue of excessive oil build up in the head area. This problem is especially evident when the engine has a high volume oil pump installed, I won’t yet, but I’d like to be safe and help the engine breathe anyway. Whether you look at this as an oil drain or crankcase pressure relief system, there is no doubt that it is a highly beneficial product on any RB. I’ll have that returned to the sump.

I could be talking absolute gumf here, but once it’s been on the dyno, I’ll report back and we’ll see. Hoping for some power between 2500-4000… Excited!

The post The R34 GTR Upgrade Path first appeared on BlownByTwins.